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A clear Cube with a few differences.....

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Re: Yep, another Cube!

Blind alley number one.......

Experiment 1.jpg

This was a bit of an experiment to see if I could come up with a complete alternative back plate for the Cube cut from a single piece of Perspex.

The answer is maybe, or possibly not.

I used 5mm acrylic for this. The slots top and bottom of the plate are to engage with ends of internal plates, the lower one being a support for a laptop DVD drive, the upper one being a support for 2.5" HD and picopsu.

The lower support worked out okay, as did the MOBO tray on which the Mini-ITX is sitting. Idea was that the four metal posts in each corner of the Cube would be retained and take the strain with the various other supports not being load bearing - great, but the rear plate will need to be at least 8mm acrylic I think to stand a chance of surviving particularly at the weak points on either side of the backplate cut-out.

Obviously the mini-ITX in the pic cannot go into the Cube as it is....but I'm using my old Zotac board here just to get the measurements sorted.

Anyway, probably time to go back to the drawing board again.
 

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Re: Yep, another Cube!

Even though it isn't even the final design it is beautiful! Wonderful job.
 
Re: Yep, another Cube!

That's GREAT !!! Even if it is just a trial run . To get that kind of fit and finish without hours of drilling and polishing is amazing . Any problems removing the plugs from the holes , or are they free standing after cutting and just fall out ? What a great toy ( Just be sure to turn some cash with it ,too)
 
Re: Yep, another Cube!

minihack what was the laser machine run time to generate the piece shown? And have you tried other materials? I am biased towards black ABS sheet stock and would like to know if cuts as well.

neil
 
Re: Yep, another Cube!

neilhart said:
minihack what was the laser machine run time to generate the piece shown? And have you tried other materials? I am biased towards black ABS sheet stock and would like to know if cuts as well.

neil

About 15 minutes. I haven't tried ABS yet, but I gather it cuts fine.

@ Gus and 61mg73 - thanks for the kind words.

I'll post some more pic.s tomorrow.
 
Re: Yep, another Cube!

Okay, so I decided to carry on with the fully acrylic backplate for this and have re-cut it. Dimensions are pretty much there, the final cut will see a few changes though.

In the pic.s below, the protective film is left on all the acrylic bits and pieces, so you'll need to use imagination.

The number of pieces modded is almost done. The DVD drive is in, the hard drive support is sorted, the mobo tray is done and a pico psu shoved in there.

DVD.jpg

Back.jpg

Side.jpg
 

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Re: Yep, another Cube!

As others have said, it is a tight fit especially front to back and in my stock of stuff I found a front plate I modded a couple of years ago when I first thought of sticking the Zotac in the Cube so I have tried that one out for size too......the cut out around the front does ease the pressure on the internals and I might just use it this time around.

Cutoutfront.jpg
 

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Re: Yep, another Cube!

One thing is clear - how ever you convert a Cube there is a never ending choice of which compromise to make.

The way I have it now with the board on top of the DVD drive is good in some ways - more room then sticking it behind the touch switch (and meaning you can use that). A bit more room above the board to allow the air to circulate. In other ways though it is not so good......

RAM.jpg

When I first trial fitted the core into the Cube it was obvious that it would not go all the way in. So I took out the trim and had a look at what was happening. The front ram was hitting the two metal locking brackets.

The photo above is after emptying the front ram slot and then putting back in the pico psu to check it would shut. The good news, yes it does shut but the middle trim piece if present would knock against the Pico PSU and, of course, you would be one RAM slot short.......

You can modify the brackets to dremel a part off of them both and that will bring back the other RAM slot as useable I reckon. And to keep the trim (that fills up the chimney) you could saw off the bottom part and it'll fit and still look stock.

One alternative in my head is to do this:

cube.jpg


Now, of course, the powerlogix Cube enclosure is very nice, gets rid of the "metal" box and is actually a lot bigger. My thought though is to look at the option of lasering off the original top from my acrylic case, designing a new top plate and grill and attaching that onto the base. Then off course having acrylic internals apart from the handle assembly etc. would be a feature. Also, the Cube I got off eBay does have a damaged vent slot so lasering off the top and replacing it is not like I am destroying a work of art.

I am sure the purists will be horrified though.
 

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Re: Yep, another Cube!

minihack - did you thread the 4 corner rails at the bottom plate? If yes, what thread size and was there any trick used?

neil
 
Re: Yep, another Cube!

neilhart said:
minihack - did you thread the 4 corner rails at the bottom plate? If yes, what thread size and was there any trick used?

neil

Hi Neil,
Yes it's a very easy M5 threading job. Just run the tap in slowly by hand, withdraw when you feel resistance, scrape the swarf off the tap and go in again. Cuts really nicely. I shall replace what you see with countersunk M5 when they get here.
 
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