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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Penguin Palace Mod, Part 3: Top Panel, Case Feet and Waterfall Panel Construction

Top Panel Construction
A shallow dome with a central depression around the fill port funnels overflows back into the fill hole. The Danger Den fill port reservoir was glued to the panel before installation on the case, and is centered in the 90mm fan hole that was on the top of the case. I concealed the four screw holes by carving the frosty edges around the dome.

I created feet using four layers of ¼" plastic, which were then carved to look like many thinner layers. Once the feet were glued to the bottom of the case, I drilled holes from the inside and anchored wide-angle blue LEDs inside with a blob of clear hot glue.

Case construction 2 Case construction 2
Clamps prevented the panel from shifted during gluing, and assorted heavy objects were used to maintain pressure until the glue had dried between the panel and the case.

Case feet construction
I created feet using four layers of ¼" plastic, which were then carved to look like many thinner layers. Once the feet were glued to the bottom of the case, I drilled holes from the inside and anchored wide-angle blue LEDs inside with a blob of clear hot glue.

[caption id="attachment_44" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Foot construction stages: clamping, glued layers, rounding edges, adding thin-layer detail."]Case feet construction[/caption]

Waterfall side panel construction
Visualize a hole, since this is where the water must flow. I created a series of short channels zigzagging down and back and forth through the door for the waterfall. Starting at the bottom of the case door, I enlarged the existing 90mm fan opening and then used several layers of plastic to create a reservoir.

The outside edge of each shape is similar to the irregular opening I made from the fan hole. The internal hole of a layer follows the bottom edge of the hole it will be glued next to, but is reduced at the top and sides with each layer. Once the layers were pre-assembled, the completed reservoir section is glued to the inside of the door and held in place with clamps until dry.

[caption id="attachment_45" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Clamps hold a section of the waterfall layers in place while the glue sets."]Side panel construction[/caption]

I drilled an exit hole and then tapped it with a 1/8" pipe thread tool so that it is ready for a brass hose fitting to be attached. I repeated the layering process, to build up a section on the outside of the door.

At the top end of the slope, I cut a hole through the door back to the case interior. Next, I added more layers on the inside with a slope in the opposite direction and another hole to the outside of the case.

To complete the waterfall, more layers create the irregular channel sloping down, and end at an upper hole made with another brass fitting for the inflow.

[caption id="attachment_46" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Rear detail showing the improvised slot covers, fan controls and USB penguin speakers."]Rear of case, detail[/caption]

Improvised slot covers were made by cutting a piece of acrylic and attaching it to a smooth steel cover. Fan speed controls are mounted inside the case, with the speed-control potentiometers mounted directly to the bottom of the rear panel.

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