There have been quite a few changes to Project Frostbyte, my computer case mod, since I last uploaded any pictures.


First of all, my new blue UV-reactant acrylic arrived from Hindleys. It’s a much more vivid colour than the stuff I was using before, so even though this means repeating some work I’m glad I switched.


That meant it was time to start work on a piece to go on my side panel.


As you can see my cutting isn’t all that neet – I wish I had a smaller bit for my not-quite-a-Dremel.


Eventually I got the whole piece cut out, now it just needs some filing down and sanding.


And since I was filing this with the rotary-tool-which-isn’t-a-Dremel, I really regretted cutting this shape. How am I meant to get into that corner?


After some time though, I got it all filed smooth, which meant it was time to start sanding by hand.


Luckily, Phil was willing to help. For a while.


Here’s where the piece is going to sit – on the side panel in front of the window. There’s going to be a similar piece on the back side as well. The piece looks a bit long here, but actually the front panel of the case sticks out quite a bit and needs to be covered as well…


…Though in fact, the piece was about a centimeter too long. Time for a trim.


Much better


But still much more work to go.

When complete, the case will have at least 4 pieces of acrylic cut into flame shapes – one down either side of the case, one on the front, and one covering the harddrive rack. Whilst I want to work on preparing the metal case for painting quickly to give it as long to cure as possible, I figured I best get started on the acrylic work to make sure I won’t run into any huge problems with it later.

The design for the first side piece drawn out.

Since I don’t have a scroll saw or a jigsaw I used a Dremel engraving tool to trace over the outline then a cutting tool to… you know, cut it. Honestly, these aren’t real Dremel bits, they’re cheap replicas. But they got the job done fine. Apart from when I snapped the cutting bit in half.

Super-amazing-close-up-macro-photography of the edge.

Aaaand the whole piece cut out. Luckily the rotary tool didn’t get as hot as when I was cutting aluminium, so I didn’t have to keep stopping during this.

So after filing this down with the not-quite-a-Dremel it’s time for some wet and dry sanding. We could be here a while – all the spots round the edge of the acrylic have to go. I’m almost tempted to go buy a chef’s flame thrower thingmy but given that we’re renting this flat and our landlord expects it to not be on fire I guess this isn’t a great time to experiment with flame polishing.