Mod of the Month - September 2007

Artifact

by RobinMessage
Worklog

From tables to WMDs, one thing is for sure - computers no longer need to come in a box that even resembles our traditional ideas. In fact, some of the most interesting cases don't have anything to do with computers at all, but instead make that computer blend into something else that's visually interesting in its own right.

So....why not an alien pod?

Newcomer RobinMessage thought that exact question when he came up with the idea for Artifact, a case designed in the idea of an alien creation discovered by mankind. Well, that's my theory, anyhow. What's important is that it's a great scratch build with lots of slick details, and it looks like it will be finished within his self-proclaimed timetable - three weeks. That's right, the whole mod has been started and will almost wrap up all in the month of September. Let's see how he's getting on:


The basic pod shape is held together by an interior frame that was laid out in Sketchup and will be cut from aluminium U-brackets. The whole creation will stand on legs which Robin has already fabricated from aluminium and plexi. Will they hold the weight? We'll just have to see.


The frame itself was cut very carefully, then painted with a base coat of purple. Robin wanted ancient glyphs to be visible on the frame, so the purple was covered carefully with Pritt stick (with some help!) and then painted over with black. After some careful removal, each piece was clear coated several times and given a wax and polish job to make it shine.


Artifact is filled with neat little extras, including a passive hard-drive cooler strategically positioned, and a lightbus to control the LEDs. Of course, the dials of a lightbus don't exactly fit the theme - but Robin already thought of that. After a little "surgery," the lightbus is now hinged to slip out of the way when not in use.


The outer panels of Artifact are designed out of sheet metal, carefully constructed and then trimmed for ventilation. A test fitting gives a great idea of the size of the project, but it still doesn't show quite how it will look when it's all done!

RobinMessage better move quickly, because by the timing on his project log, he only has two days left to finish it. You can check out whether he succeeds or fails by checking in on his worklog.

If you think that Artifact is a worthy enough accomplishment, make sure to vote for it before you go! Voting closes on October 9th 2007.