[Project] Bender : Low Cost, High Performance Folding Unit Enclosure

[Patramix]

Good news everybody, Bender is here :D

now i need to find my futurama dvd's

[Photograph]

The last $5.00 has been spent:

$2 - Scrap piece of white acrylic for front panel
$1 - Scrap piece of hexagonal mesh
$1 ea. - Two switches

The piece of white acrylic was just big enough to work but did crack a few times when cutting (I a complete noob when it comes to acrylic but I am learning ), I used the sheet anyways after a few repairs as to keep within my budget:



So the front panel is completed, and if you are wondering about the 200mm Antec Big-Boy in there it was a freebie as well as one of the blades had snapped off. A dab of superglue and a few minutes of patience and I have am almost as good as new fan for free

More updates to come soon.

[Photograph]

To continue my progress:

I built a sleeved power switch from my $1 button and a reset header pulled from the initial case:



I installed the switches including an on/off switch for the case lighting:



The Silverstone 850W PSU fits...after a little coaxing:



And now it's motherboard modding time

First target will be the CPU MOSFETS seen below:



Small Heatsinks with a penny for size reference:



And the taller heatsinks and thermal adhesive:



So I dabbed a little T.A. on the MOSFETS and got to work:



And voila; I should be able to pump a little more voltage through here now and you may have noticed the pressure mod done to the Vendetta 2 by adding some spacers to increase spring tension:



The next target was the Northbridge, after replacing the stock TIM with MX-2 (I did the Southbridge too) I added a 40mm fan. You can also see that I have added heatsinks to every MOSFET on the entire board.



A fan is OK and all but why not make it work better with a shroud? So I made a little acrylic shroud for it (that's a dog hair on the table if you were wondering):



And here is the installed shroud:



And then i got to work on something for the Bender figure using Nylon ball bearings and 1/8" metal rod:



Can you guess what it is yet?



And here's Bender with the finished product in his new home:





All parts have been assembled:



Shot of the cable routing:



And powered up with lights on! It lives!















Thanks for looking everyone, now to get this machine set up for the Chimp Challenge

[misterlarry]

Nice work Photograph & great build log. Gotta love Bender.

[chrisk]

Like I mentioned in another thread, good work! The Bender figure was an excellent touch, as was the protein!

[crazyhorsejohnny]

I'm jealous of your talents !

[gingerbee]

very very nice build great use of an old case.

[Dead Things]

Excellent imagination and even better execution! Superb work! Here's hoping the boss allots you a little more budget room to work with next time!

[Photograph]

Thanks a ton everyone, I am happy to report that Bender is now folding with very respectable temperatures so far

[stoanee]

I love it!!