11 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

I'm still contemplating lighting for inside the case.

12 volt strip lighting.  You can RBG and change the color or pick a color you like.  Nice thing about it is you can cut to fit just about any size.  Even has where to cut printed on the ribbon.

 

Just an idea.  I keep 3-4 rolls of super bright white in stock as well as all the leftover pieces.  Ya never know.

Progress was slow today, Sorry no pictures today, I'll post some in the morning.

I glued up the remaining pieces from yesterday along with a few other pieces that I added today.

The bottom half of the case is now sanded to 180 grit. I'll go to 220 grit tomorrow, and then it should be ready for finish.

 

 

Hello again,

Time for todays progress update.

 

Before final finish sanding I added cleats to the top edge of the lower case section.

These cleats help to keep the two case sections aligned.

 

 

I also added a pair of feet to the bottom. These will allow running cables under the case if the need arises.

They will also later be used for locating the case to the lower cabinet.

 

 

Here is a front view of the lower case section with the feet, and drawer which has had 1/4" added to the top edge of the drawer face panel. I still need to add two mounting cleats to the rear of this section before I finish it. I ran out of 1/4" X 1/2" Oak strip again. Once this section is in finish, I'll be assembling the computer part of this build.

 

 

This is the finish color I'm leaning towards, I hope to find it or something similar in an all in one varnish/stain.

 

 

I have to make another Menards or Lowes run, so I'll see what I can find in a varnish/stain along with a couple other things I need to pick up.

 

That's all for today.

 

Until tomorrow..

 

 

 

Plugging along well Larry. Color's good...FWIW, I'd go with a either a tung oil for rattle can lacquer after staining vs combined stain/varnish.

Lookin' Good so far!!!

Thanks for the updates Larry, I love watching! Seems that's all I do these days.

After this build, are you going to build a custom case for the monitor? Why not? That would look insane!

23 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Plugging along well Larry. Color's good...FWIW, I'd go with a either a tung oil for rattle can lacquer after staining vs combined stain/varnish.

Thanks Dave,

The color looked much better in the MINWAX web photo that I sniped than it did at  the display at Menards.

Spray would be rather difficult to use doing both inside, and  outside. The box is to small to maneuver well.

I thought about using Shellac but only had $20.00 to work with, what I got came  to $17.31.

13 hours ago, lew said:

Lookin' Good so far!!!

Thanks Lew, it's getting closer. 

12 hours ago, John Morris said:

Thanks for the updates Larry, I love watching! Seems that's all I do these days.

After this build, are you going to build a custom case for the monitor? Why not? That would look insane!

You're welcome John, The computer case is basically just the start of this build.

I'll be doing up one of those "WHITE CLAD" little cabinets that looks like an "OLD ICE BOX" for the base cabinet. The printer/scanner, and supplies will fit inside.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a retro monitor in the future. I'm going over the top with this build. 

 

On to todays progress report.

 

Today I changed my as to my choice of stain color, after looking at the display at Menards the Sedona Red didn't look as good as it did in MINWAX's web photo.

So I went with MINWAX's GUNSTOCK STAIN, and CLEAR GLOSS POLYURETHANE.

I got the lower case section in stain this afternoon, and so far I'm pleased with the results.

Here's a few photos of how the new color choice looks on the case.

 

 

And here's a view of the front with the drawer unstained to better show the color versus bare wood.

 

 

I noticed I missed removing some glue in spots, even after all that sanding. 

I may mix a bit of the stain into the Polyurethane to help hide the missed glue.

And I didn't bother to putty the small gaps in my fit ups.

I want the case to look somewhat "OLD" in appearance, so these actually help to achieve that look.

I'll have to get some better photos taken outside to better represent the actual look of this color.

It appears much darker in these photos than it is. It might be the LED lights in the house.

 

Well that's all for today.

 

More tomorrow. 

Edited December 17, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

A little early, but I'll have more later today.

 

The lower case section is in polyurethane and is now drying.

Surprisingly the missed glue spots have all but disappeared. 

 

As to the subject of lighting the case, I discovered a cold cathode CCFL light in one of my boxes of goodies. 

It's the perfect size to fit in the front of the case between the Hard Drive, and right side of the case just in front of the motherboard tray assembly. 

 

 

I'll be posting more later today.

 

15 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

cold cathode CCFL light

Now that's going to be COOL!

What do you do when you're waiting for Polyurethane to dry? 

You paint the rest of the metal brackets, and the ends of the CCFL light so you can wait for them to dry! 

 

 

And while you're waiting for that to happen, you stain the wood Hard Drive bracket. 

This photo better shows how the GUNSTOCK STAIN looks.

 

 

Now while I'm waiting for everything to dry, I'll be looking at eliminating the unused Power Supply cables, and shortening the lead lengths of those that will be used. I don't want a bunch of unused cables, and extra length cables that I would have to try to hide. 

 

So that's about it for today. 

 

Until tomorrow. 

Edited December 17, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Like the color results...perfect for a retro look IMO.

You getting excited to see this come together? I know I am!

1 hour ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Like the color results...perfect for a retro look IMO.

You getting excited to see this come together? I know I am!

Thanks Dave,

I really do like the color choice, and as you stated it's perfect for the retro look I was after. 

It's taking me a bit longer than I had hoped, but yes I am getting excited that it's coming along as nicely as it is.

I've still got a long way to go, but once the lower case section is done I will get the computer part up and running.

After that I'll get the top half of the case done, and move on to the lower cabinet which will be stained to match the computer case. I've got some ideas for the lower cabinet that will compliment the case build.

Edited December 18, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Todays progress report.

While I'm giving the other things a good period of drying time I started assembling the computer section of the build today. 

 

First I installed the backplate, and motherboard into the motherboard tray. The object next to the tray is the Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive.

 

 

This is the drive installed on the motherboard. It installs like a memory module except the connector is on the end of the drive.

 

 

 

This photo shows the AMD RYZEN 5 2400G Processor.

 

 

Here is the processor installed on the motherboard.

 

 

This photo shows the Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 3000Mhz Memory Modules. (Sorry about the blurry photos I've been taking 3 photos of each step, and picking the best. I've got to get better lighting, this camera doesn't like LED lighting.)

 

 

Here is the memory modules installed on the motherboard.

 

 

The following two photos are of the ASUS ROYAL KNIGHT CPU Cooler that I'll be using. It's actually about 10 years old, and was originally designed back in the AMD PHENOM Processor days which fit an AMD2+ Socket. The AMD4 socket is capable of using the CPU coolers from the AMD2 Socket, and up.

Looks kind of like an old tube radio tuner.

I haven't installed this yet, as I want to work out the power supply wiring.

 

Top photo.

 

 

Front photo.

 

 

That's about it for today.

 

Until tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Hope you got a good, lighted magnifier? I'd certainly need one...

This is really gonna' be cool...

2 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Hope you got a good, lighted magnifier? I'd certainly need one...

This is really gonna' be cool...

I used to have one, but not sure where it is. 

I'm using a pair of 1930's-40's glasses I got from my neighbor. ( Green Tint John Lennon style)

They really make me look like Cousin Itt. 

Coming along nicely!

Here we go again, todays progress report. 

 

@Grandpadave52, Thanks for mentioning the lighted magnifier, I could have used it today! 

 

Today I worked on modifying the Power Supply.

It had far more cables then I needed for this build, so I went about removing those that weren't needed.

Here's the 600 Watt Power Supply before disassembly. 

 

 

The following photos are of the disassembly process.

 

 

The following photo shows the 5 cables (26 wires total) removed, and the LED fan that I replaced the original with. I also replaced the cord receptacle, and power switch with one that lights when in the on position. These parts came from a dead power supply from one of my sons old computers.

 

 

I also rewired the CCFL light so it could be plugged into a SATA plug. The cord below the lamp is the SATA plug.

 

 

Here's a photo of the completed lamp. I used a piece of the cable wrap removed from the power supply, and shrink tubing to match the rest of the wiring.

 

 

Here's the CCFL lamp, and vent grate mounted in the lower half of the case.

 

 

And here's a look at the motherboard tray, power supply, and hard drive installed in the lower case section.

 

 

Tomorrow I'll be installing the CPU cooler, and making a temporary control panel. When I'm done with those I'll be installing Windows 10, so my next project update should be coming to you via this PC build. 

 

That's it for today.

 

Until tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome build!! Really looking forward to seeing that ccfl lit up!

Awesome work.

Lew, It puts off a light red light almost the same color as the fan I put in the power supply.