nelsoncp21:

 oh believe me I know about sanding and repainting. I have been doing plenty of that.

Its totally worth it in the end when you get that perfect paint job without a single run or bubble. Painting takes more patience than most people realize.

 true dat! hence why it's taking me so long. Now I know why people charge so much to do this

 The finish work is always time consuming.But just keep on sanding and painting til your end result is a flawless but mirror finish! Its coming along Nelson Good luck!

hehehe...just a little tip for ya on the cutting of the plexi...water! keep a bottle of water handy and pour some on the plexi as you cut it. The heat and movement from the saw will kill it. : )

 good tip their enter. I had a feeling it was going to happen. I had to do so much intricate cutting leaving little acrylic to reinforce it. The ventalation slots are only 5/8" thick which doesn't leave alot to hold it together. I wanted to try with my dremel but I think I broke it. The button the locks the ferrel in place so you can losen and take out the bits won't hold so I can get the current bit out to put the cutting wheel back in.

On a good note I think I found a machine shop online that will make it for me now. waiting to hear back from them. sent them the specs and sketch yesterday. They don't specialize in computer parts but they do alot of custom laser cutting jobs so I think I may have a winner.I hope so cause it will look so much better laser cut then by hand.

nelsoncp21:

 

On a good note I think I found a machine shop online that will make it for me now. waiting to hear back from them. sent them the specs and sketch yesterday. They don't specialize in computer parts but they do alot of custom laser cutting jobs so I think I may have a winner.I hope so cause it will look so much better laser cut then by hand.

Good to hear!

bob_on_the_cob:

nelsoncp21:

 

On a good note I think I found a machine shop online that will make it for me now. waiting to hear back from them. sent them the specs and sketch yesterday. They don't specialize in computer parts but they do alot of custom laser cutting jobs so I think I may have a winner.I hope so cause it will look so much better laser cut then by hand.

Good to hear!

 

 It would be nice if they build a lazer cutter of water jet tool for home use! We would be very dangerous around here then!

 shoot those things ain't cheap. The do make a small, I mean small version for detailing but I am sure that isn't even cheap.

nelsoncp21:

 shoot those things ain't cheap. The do make a small, I mean small version for detailing but I am sure that isn't even cheap.

Anyone worth buying is well into the thousands.

 Looky what came in the mail today. it turned out awesome. I am going to put a peice of thin clear acrylic beind the lettering to glue the centers of the "o", "B" and "e" onto. Ignore the rough surface of the front panel on the second pic. It's still under construction.

sorry about the poor picture quality. Apparently my wife borrowed the camera and screwed with the settings and I didn't have time to mess with it right now

 Nelson is this what you had cut at the machine shop? Good detail.

It does look very good.

 yep. That's what I had made from the machine shop I found. It was actually fairly inexpensive too. If you already have a CAD drawing it's even cheaper too. For materials and cutting it ran about $125.

looking good man!

nelsoncp21:

I realized that no matter how slow and carefull you are a jigsaw, acrylic and fine detail just don't mix.

That's a fact, Jack!

When I was building my arcade cabinet, I cracked the acrylic on top of the control panel twice before I said "Screw this, I'm using Lexan".  You can cut Lexan like it was wood.

 hmm never heard of Lexan. I have cut acrylic plenty in the past with little problems it was just due to the fine detail that made the acrylic to flims to cut with a jigsaw. I could have probally used my dremel but it wouldn't have looked as nice. All in all it was worth the money to have it laser cut.

nelsoncp21:

I could have probally used my dremel but it wouldn't have looked as nice. All in all it was worth the money to have it laser cut

Thats true you would have never got that kinda of results with a dremmel! Looks great!

nelsoncp21:

 hmm never heard of Lexan. I have cut acrylic plenty in the past with little problems it was just due to the fine detail that made the acrylic to flims to cut with a jigsaw. I could have probally used my dremel but it wouldn't have looked as nice. All in all it was worth the money to have it laser cut.

Yeah, you have to have the right tools for acrylic...  especcially when drilling holes in it.  :(

Lexan is a polycarbonate.  It's more expensive, but it won't splinter/crack at all when you cut it (no special tools required)... and is bulletproof when thick enough.  :)  The downside is that it can be scratched easier, and supposedly yellows over time when exposed to sunlight (haven't had this problem, as my cabinet's indoors).

Yeah Fans are not cheap. I spent like $40 on the ones for my watercooling. Now I want to replace the blue ones in my new rig with red ones.