Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 4Installing the hardware
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I originally intended to only paint the box white from the inside and create this great depth effect with the 1/4 inch plexi but the amount of joints and some defects in the plastic made this less desirable. I continued to paint the front panel and left the rest for later.
now to fit everything in.
- first screw in the hard drive to its top panel support and make sure the IDE cable and the picoPSU are connected as well.
- next take the power LED and solder two cables to it long enough to reach the F-panel of the motherboard, then place it in the hole as shown in the picture below and hot glue it in place. keep the cables tidy with tape for now.
- attach the dvd/cd drive to the base supports we added earlier, you can use epoxy or gorilla glue, whatever works for you.
- now take the double USB cord and cut the excess plastic out of the heads making sure the ports fit into their respective holes in the front panel piece. the other end of the cable will have to be soldered to the motherboard later.
- next to position the power buttons and the USB ports I used the last of the rectangular plexi pieces and some screws. the yellow metal piece you see in the photograph comes from a metal lego set, but anything like it will do. this was my MacGyver moment. glue and clamp the USB pieces and put them aside and let them dry.
- the last piece to fit in is the motherboard but to do this I had to first connect the power / reset switch and the double USB cables to the motherboard. following the motherboard instruction manual and the information on pin assignments from the images below, I connected the power, reset and LED wires to the appropriate pins on the F-panel section of the motherboard and then tested.
- same thing with the USB cables, following the color coding from the image below I connected, and after testing, soldered the wires to the pins. I had to do this since my USB cable was not the right size for my board and this seemed like a sensible hack if the cable worked; which it did. so if you have to do this then just get the cables out of the casing and carefully solder them to the board.
- now that this is ready just glue the plexi piece that holds the switches and the USBs to the front panel and insert the motherboard along with them. wait a few hours for the glue to dry then come back for the board...
- and carefully screw the board in place.
next we add paint.
I originally intended to only paint the box white from the inside and create this great depth effect with the 1/4 inch plexi but the amount of joints and some defects in the plastic made this less desirable. I continued to paint the front panel and left the rest for later.
now to fit everything in.
- first screw in the hard drive to its top panel support and make sure the IDE cable and the picoPSU are connected as well.
- next take the power LED and solder two cables to it long enough to reach the F-panel of the motherboard, then place it in the hole as shown in the picture below and hot glue it in place. keep the cables tidy with tape for now.
- attach the dvd/cd drive to the base supports we added earlier, you can use epoxy or gorilla glue, whatever works for you.
- now take the double USB cord and cut the excess plastic out of the heads making sure the ports fit into their respective holes in the front panel piece. the other end of the cable will have to be soldered to the motherboard later.
- next to position the power buttons and the USB ports I used the last of the rectangular plexi pieces and some screws. the yellow metal piece you see in the photograph comes from a metal lego set, but anything like it will do. this was my MacGyver moment. glue and clamp the USB pieces and put them aside and let them dry.
- the last piece to fit in is the motherboard but to do this I had to first connect the power / reset switch and the double USB cables to the motherboard. following the motherboard instruction manual and the information on pin assignments from the images below, I connected the power, reset and LED wires to the appropriate pins on the F-panel section of the motherboard and then tested.
- same thing with the USB cables, following the color coding from the image below I connected, and after testing, soldered the wires to the pins. I had to do this since my USB cable was not the right size for my board and this seemed like a sensible hack if the cable worked; which it did. so if you have to do this then just get the cables out of the casing and carefully solder them to the board.
- now that this is ready just glue the plexi piece that holds the switches and the USBs to the front panel and insert the motherboard along with them. wait a few hours for the glue to dry then come back for the board...
- and carefully screw the board in place.
next we add paint.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
