Hi all,

I noticed the thread about the lack of new ideas here and as I am sitting in bumper to bumper traffic I decided to write a nice little post about my ideas.

Snow Cone Maker + 12V Motor:
This project is based around a hand cranked snow cone maker like this:
http://www.kitchencontraptions.com/archives/pictures/B00006IUYI.01-A2ICRI8H65U6XS._SCLZZZZZZZ_-thumb.jpg
The thing is cranked from the top and causes a 6" diameter cylindrical ice cube about 4" tall to grind against a blade and make "snow." I just got ahold of a slow-rotating 12V motor that came from the automatic windows in a car door. The plan is to attach the two and make a better snow cone maker. I am going to be responsible for a lot of events at my college this year and I'll be able to make a shit ton of snow cones quickly with this.

Computer Case Mod:
This one is fairly complex and nearly finished. The idea was to embed a 15" 1280x1024 LCD monitor in my ATX Mid-Tower computer case in order to make a completely "get up and go" computer system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196022 Look thru the pictures of it.

My desktop is primarily a DVD ripping machine (4 20x DVD Drives and a 2TB RAID 5 array of 5 500GB HDDs). I had to remove the structural "bumps" on the panel that supports the motherboard in order to make room for the LCD in the back of the case. The plan was to put the monitor behind the motherboard (opposite the 11" fan). I also had to cut away another bar that was used for stability in order to allow about 1cm of space between the door of the case and the motherboard tray.
The monitor was complete disassembled and then rebuilt with and LED back light rather than CFL and with a slightly modified set of diffusion panels so as to make it all about 90mm thick (for those who don;t know and LCD panel is about 2mm thick, its the glass panel that diffuses the back light that adds most of the weight and bulk to and LCD or TFT monitor).
After building and LED back light made of 3V 20ma ultrabright white LEDs spaced 1" apart all the way around the glass diffusion panel. I put the whole thing together and got ready to line it up with the case door before cutting a window out for the monitor. This is where I got lucky (ish).
The LCD panel has 8 1" wide ribbon cables with ~50 connections on them. Two of these broke off as I was lining everything up and they are virtually impossible to repair so a few friends and I got a little messed up and threw rocks at the LCD.

So this project is on hold until I can find a new LCD monitor to use.

I have also since built a custom PCI card that has all the contacts to the Motherboard removed except for the power contacts which power a small LED just for fun. This card is an old VGA/composite video card. I removed the circuit board and resoldered the pins of the VGA output (now the input) to a cable which will feed the monitor that eventually ends up in the computer. This little mini-addon will let me use the monitor for other purposes including (but not limited to) play Xbox and using other computers.

Hopefully I can get ahold of some pictures soon and update this post. More projects as I think them up.

Any Questions, Ideas, Comments, Concerns, proclamations of my aesthetic superiority?

RDP

That computer sounds like it's gonna be badass. I wanna see pics when it's done!

I have basically finished my computer. I have 4 500GB HDDs in there now with no RAID. A fifth drive is on the way and will be RAIDed wehn it arrives. Otherwise, please enjoy my pics:

Side of Comp (with 11" fan):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0290.jpg

Back Of Comp:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0292.jpg

Front Of Comp (doors closed):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0293.jpg

Back Of Comp (doors open):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0295.jpg

Behind MoBo Tray (all the extra wires basically):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0305.jpg

Zoomed on the wire cluster:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0304.jpg

Computer Opened up:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0269.jpg

Important Stuff Zoomed View (sans RAM, Video Card):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0270.jpg

With RAM and Video Card (They were removed to remove the HDDs):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0275.jpg

Zoom On HDDs (my favorite part):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0278.jpg

Commented View Of HDDs (Plus 140mm Fan I replaced with BIOS-controllable one on the right side):
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0278-1.jpg

All the HDDs and 20x DVD Drives (2 DVD Drives, 2 groups of 2 500GB Drives, 2x 80GB drive) Two more DVD drives are in the mail:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0287.jpg

Fan I replaces in front of case:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0288.jpg

Effects of previous halted mod job:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0297-1.jpg

My Desk in My Dorm Room:
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m22/RDProgrammer/Computer%20And%20Desk%209-6-08/DSCN0307.jpg



Let me know what you guys think. The comp is a 3.0 GHz Conroe Core 2 Duo (45nm chips). The RAM is 4x 1GB Sticks. The Mobo is a Gigabyte Board with on board overclocking features allowing FSB to go form 1333 to 1600 and proc up to 4.6GHz Stable (so far, hoping to go higher with new heat sink soon), and all sorts of other goodies. Monitor is a 24" Sceptre that has served me awesomely (considering purchasing a second if I can find the Money).

RDP

How loud is the 11" fan?

My thoughts exactly.

It is DEAD silent. My cat purring on the other side of the living room was louder than it. IDK how else to explain how quiet it is, but it is among the quietest parts of my comp.

RDP

I had a huge fan like that (but not that big) that came in a power supply. They're quieter, probably because they can use larger bearings or something?

That's a helluva machine.