thebes Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 Am I the only one tired of looking at black boxes and wooden cases. Have been thinking awhile about making an acrylic case cover for my tube gear. As a first step I decided to do a practice run by building a cover for a Yammie CDX 1110u player I recently acquired. With two power supplies, a metal changer and three different ciruit boards it looks pretty cool inside. An additional benefit, it was very clean so no prep work inside. Bought a sheet of 1/4 inch acrylic at Home Depot($16 for a sheet large enough to do one case), a glue gun an a 40 tooth saw blade. A few cuts and some glue and it was done. The result: kinda poor. I need to use glue specified for acrlyic and I need to measure better. Did learn a few tricks though. One, cut slowly it prevents chipping. Two, use masking tape over your cut line. It prevents chipping and it's easier to see the cut line. Three, Leave as much of the film in place to prevent scratches. Overall result. Good enough to go forward with cases for my Scott 299 and my Fisher 500c. These cases will require that I elevate the height of the amp a couple of inches to handle the heat from the tube and to drill holes (I have an estate sale drill press) or use a plunge router to cut venting groves. A couple more holes on each to attach handles and I'll have a case showing of the innards, some protection against a wayward liquid spill and good protection from a dropped object or nosy kid. Picture attached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Robin Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Practice makes perfect. cut the peices large and then sand to fit takes a lot of time but makes for the best fit. I have seen a lot of computer's lately that have clear case's and they will add colored neon light's in them to accent the componets Bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 Now that's a thought. Little neon lights to bring out the tubes. Wonder how I'd wire them in without blowing up the amp. Your idea about sanding seems right on. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 One of the neatest installations I've ever seen was an acrylic cabinet six feet tall and about two feet wide, with Revox A-77, and a McIntosh 2505 and MX 110 mounted in it. Way cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Thought I'd pass along something I saw done on one of those home improvement shows. Once the acrylic was cut, they used a small propane torch to heat the edges. It made the edges look like a glass edge and not an acrylic edge. The end result being an acrylic panel that looked like glass. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 Thanks Tom that's atrick I needed to know. For the Scott case I'm going to use my drill press to spell out HH Scott in the venting area. Hopefully with tips like yours and a bit more patience I'll have a cool looking case. Will post pics when it's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 ---------------- On 6/5/2004 1:06:41 PM kj5dq wrote: I have seen a lot of computer's lately that have clear case's and they will add colored neon light's in them to accent the componets Bill. ---------------- Most computer case mods actually involve adding a "window" to the steel case... a steel is easy to work with... has nice edge/finish details... and can be custom finished. Take a look at case mod 101: cutting a freestyle, low-profile window for an idea. Obviously the window can be made full size and you just keep a 1/2" metal frame edge if you wish. Other ideas can be found on the same Computer Case Mods Site including lighting and the like.... Have fun... Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Like tom said, you can flame polish the edge of acrylic sheet. I found that it didn't work so well for me on the 1/2" thick acrylite sheet I cut. Using a jointer/planer, I planed the edge ( make sure you are working with long enough pieces ) and then sanded the edge with p400 hookits, p600 wet/dry, p1200, and then called it good enough. The thinner 1/8" lexan that I used to make a winter front for my older cutlass, I cut slightly oversize, then jointed the edges to make a nice tight fit. Cutting it to width, I used a tablesaw, and again, I cut slightly larger, and took off 1/16th" at a tine to make a nice tight fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 20, 2004 Author Share Posted June 20, 2004 Thanks Formica. Good mod article and a good mod website. I also found some useful information on acquarium building sites. Michael I don't have a planer, but I do have drill press so I'll probably attach a sanding block and tighten up the specs from the overcut that way. Don't have CAD so I went low tech and bought some layout paper and a protractor. What I want to do for the 299A is drill holes with the press to spell out HH Scott in the venting area. I've polished up the inside of the amp and just painted the transformers with a high gloss black this weekend. The case comes next. Can anybody recomment a good glue for joining these pieces? I'll post pics when done. Hopefully this one will go much better then my first attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCharletta Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 Thebes, The clear cover is a bad idea. That Yamaha is a poorly assembled, mass produced electronic item. Why would anyone want to see such a bad example of manufacturing? I suggest you purchase a well made piece of equipment and put that under gless... but not the Yamaha-ha-ha-ha. -Manfred Charletta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 21, 2004 Author Share Posted June 21, 2004 Manfred: Dual power supplies, weight 14 kilos, steel case, steel whisper quiet loading tray, three seperate circuit boards, 18 bits, Toslink Direct and Filtered, Coax and analogue connectors. Originally $1000, bought it for $70. You're right. It's a piece of junk! I think I'll throw it in the trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 21, 2004 Author Share Posted June 21, 2004 Manfred, forgot to add how does one retire at age 54? That's my age and I'm still stuck in the grind. MD, professor or what? Oh, looked at your system I;ll trade you the Yammie for those Macs! (straight up deal, or course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 thebes: what kind of glue are you looking for? Are you trying to glue the plastic to itself? Or are you trying to bond the plastic to something else? There are a few different types of adhesives, depending on the type of plastic you are working with. I have used water thin solvent cement before, and it can be a pain, unless you set up the joint so that it is elevated with the corner at the lowest point, kind of like a v-shape. Then you can apply the solvent cement in the joint and any excess will drip through, not inside the project. You can also dissolve small chips of the plastic in the solvent to make a more viscous paste, but is used for filling, more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 22, 2004 Author Share Posted June 22, 2004 Michael, the case will be glued corner to corner so I want a clear glue. One of the acquarium sites recommended glue that seeps through by osmosis and another guy on the same forum recommended something I never heard of before. Sorry I can't give you brand names until I track down the link back to the thread on the site. By further explanation, the case will have four pieces, the top will have holes driled in it for ventilation, two sides (probably with some handles atached via screws) and a cross-piece at the front of the case. I 'm bringing the top of the case up a couple of inches so the heat won't deform the acrylic. This means I'll need the front piece for structure with the rear left open for further ventilation. Need a clear seal so it won't look crappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 Thebes, how about bending the clear acrylic to form rounded corners at the top? You can use an oven element, and heat the plastic until it starts to become soft at the area where you want to make the bend. The only downside to this is that the bent edge will become slightly white. This way, you would have less joints to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 Michael, sorry I'm just responding. I finally found a local plastics store, dropped by and came home with glue, materials, handbook etc. I'm going to do the cutouts and he will run the flames over them for free to clear up the plastic. Apparantly the little held held torches leave bits of soot in the plastic. Will post pics when done. Thanks for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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