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Some old guy's Mac Cube

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Got the surgery done on the case bottom . My goal in doing this was to deal with the vacant port openings and neaten things up a bit . I cut out a rectangular opening in the baseplate which included all the port openings . I then cut out a piece to fit the opening from some steel sheet I picked up at Lowes ( 22 ga. ,I think) . Tried to solder it into place using a torch with a fine tip but the insert warped big time from the heat . Cut out another piece and this time used a heat gun set on high to distribute the heat more evenly . Worked great . I also soldered in some 1/4"wide brass reinforcements over the seam on 3 sides .

fillpanelinstalled.jpg


Before I cut out the opening for the backplane ,I made up a template of the hole pattern on the bottom .

bottomholepattern.jpg


This pattern was used to drill the ventilation holes in the fill panel . I then used JB Weld as a sort of body filler to smooth out all the seams . Sanded everything down , primed it and here you go.....

alteredbottom.jpg


Still have to finish paint it , as well as fasten the lower optical drive mount brackets to the inner side of the panel , and drill the hole for the psu power jack .
 
Got the hard drive carrier made . Mounted 2 pieces of acrylic with slots cut into them onto the sides of the heatsink . Glued 2 pieces of acrylic into the bottom of the slots to act as stops .
heatsinkslotsandstops.jpg


After determining where I wanted the hard drives to be positioned , I drilled and tapped 2 holes on each of the hard drive carrier plates . These were fitted with sliders made from some 1/4" nylon bushings I got at Lowes and some flathead screws that were countersunk into the bushings .
slidepinsonhdcarrier.jpg


THe hard drive carrier now can be slid into the heatsink , and the hard drive assembly removed from the cage by pulling it up through the opening in the top plate.
hddsinheatsink.jpg


Space allocation is working out better than I'd hoped . Looking into the cage with the top plate off , there's lots of room around just about everything . Once the laptop DVD get's fitted in there should be somewhat more space available between the drive and the heatsink .
spaceallocation.jpg

I've temporarily given up on the proximity switch and ASRock board , and am using the Gigabyte board I've started with . Just getting grief getting 10.7.2 on the ASRock. I'll hang a tactile switch out the bottom for now for a power on switch and get back to the proximity switch when I get 10.7.2 happy on the ASRock.
 
How do the drives not slide in and out of the new (and very elegant) bracket? Or is it simply due to gravity when the cube is in the upright position?


The level of modification on this forum is unbelievable! So many designs and new ways of doing things, can't wait to get started myself.
 
Right now it's just gravity that keeps them in place . I'll probably adjust their vertical position downward some before final assembly . Once I'm totally happy with where they sit , the plan is to tale a piece of aluminum and make a bracket that will fit into one of the slots and screw into the acrylic to prevent any movement if the case is inverted .
 
Still have to finish paint it , as well as fasten the lower optical drive mount brackets to the inner side of the panel , and drill the hole for the psu power jack .

I am nearly ready to repaint my bottom panel. Do you have a source for a matching paint?
A major brand spray can would be ideal.

neil
 
Neil .... much apologies for the delay in replying , been held hostage by the medical profession for the last few weeks . The stuff I used was Rustoleum auto touch up paint in 'Wimbledon White' the can # is ATU 5007 . Got it in AutoZone. Its not a match, its actually a sorta white with a bit of yellow tint as opposed to the metallic silvery white on the original . If I can get a decent side by side image later today , I'll put it up .

OK ....Here's the comparison ..... the stuff I used is on the cube on the left , factory color on the right .

2colors.jpg
 
I took the release handle to the hardware store and tired to match the color. I choose Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover "Satin stone grey" which was the best of several poor choices.

Anyway, it hides the patch job on the un-used openings and I'm the only one that see the bottom plate.

cube-bottom3.jpg


neil
 
Looks Good , Who'll know it's not factory? Can't wait to get back to work on my cube !
 
I just gotta say wow!

Can you take a pic of the little wonder cube standing up in its normal position? And I wish you the best of luck with OSX install!
 
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