Battle Dragon Bag - Update #30 - 9/4/2012

[bitterfun]

Battle Dragon Bag Case sponsored by:

TT eSports


Click Image To Case Mod Store









Greetings!

It’s that time again and I’ve got that modding itch. This new project was inspired by TT eSport’s Battle Dragon Bag.





http://usa.ttesports.com/products/product.aspx?s=22

When I saw this bag my eyes glazed over and I went to that happy place in a modder’s head. I couldn’t see any reason why you’d only want to tote around peripherals in that bag. Why not put a whole desktop in it? Why not make a desktop-monitor combo that easily fits inside this bag? I can make a sweet computer that can be easily toted around in the Battle Dragon Bag. When I spoke with a representative with ThermalTake eSports, they seemed excited by the idea.

To start things off, I made measurements to determine exactly how big I could make the computer case and still be able to fit the various components in the bag as well. I took into consideration that I can remove the middle partition of the bag then reattach it with Velcro. I've even consulted with a seamstress who can do it for me. The case height needs to be statically set to 12" (30.5cm). The length and width can be modified as long as the proportions oscillate inversely. The maximum length is 20" to a 5" width and the maximum width is 6" to a 18" length. I've designed this case to be 18.5" long by 5.5" wide. I've also designed the case to have the motherboard set reverse in the case. What this means is if you look at the open side panel of the case the I/O ports will be on the right side, rather than the traditional left.

The first picture is a view of what will be the front/top/bottom panel and the back I/O panel. The middle strip will be a piece of illuminated red acrylic that will run the whole perimeter of the case. It will be lit up with two custom made red LED strips. Both of the power and reset switches will be Vandal LED switches. The fan/radiator port on the front of the case will be framed by a MNPCTech Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill.



Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill


The back panel will show the Thermaltake TTeSports logo. The TTeSports logo will be back-lit with lighted piece of clear or red acrylic. The front panel will have a window with a Chinese dragon etched into the window and a small Tt trademark in the lower right corner.



Here is the general layout of the case components. I've left enough space to work with either air cooling or water cooling. The video card will be placed horizontally with the motherboard using a 5" PCIe flexible extender ribbon. Originally, I made this design for an enclosed water cooling system, so I’ll probably have to shuffle the hard drives around if I install a reservoir and a pump.



First question people have asked me when I describe this project is: Why not just buy a laptop? Simple answer: a good desktop will have more power than ANY laptop on the market. I like power.

So… what do you guys think? I apologize in advance for the simplistic drawings. I’m working on learning Sketchup and figuring out how to make represent my ideas in a better fashion.

[bitterfun]

Update #1: Material Gathering

I received my first two packages!!!

An extra special thanks to:

TT eSports

The first package had the bulk of the ingredients:



Battle Dragon Bag
Shock One Gaming Headset
Big Water 760+ (with CPU block) Water Cooling set
TR2 RX 1000w PSU
2 Thunderblade case fans
And a top I/O port assembly from one of their cases to add to this scratch build.

The second package had a Dell Monitor that I will be adding to the mod. I have some ideas that include a swing arm. So far my preliminary warranty voiding has come up with some interesting results and ideas. *plot* *scheme* *plot*



I made some runs to the local plastic and metal vendors picked up the .5” square rods and .25”x.5” rods for the framing, one REALLY big sheet of aluminum 8’ long sheet of .25” thick aluminum, and a smaller sheet of thinner aluminum. I picked up all my aluminum at $3 USD a pound at scrap prices (w00t! basically saved .50 to 1.00 a pound). The .5” thick piece of acrylic was free!





I decided to hit up a new acquaintance of mine that has a plethora of laptop HDDs. I was able to get a Seagate 7200rpm 500GB HDD for a decent price. I will also be using the Intel 510 Series 120GB SSD I received at PAX Prime 2011 in the BYOC.




I'm just waiting on one more package to arrive. In the meantime, I'll start working on the frame. Stay Tuned!

[Redmax]

This looks like a pretty cool mod and the SSD is a nice touch since it seems you intent to make the whole system portable.

[bitterfun]

Yeah... as 2.5 drives get more and more storage space, I'm starting to like the smaller size format. It really helps with casemodding too. less space I have to worry about with my scratch builds.

[bitterfun]

Update #2: Another Package!!

I received the other package I was expecting!!!

An extra special thanks to:

Click Image To Case Mod Store


MNPCTech was nice enough to supply this project with some pretty killer stuff.

First and foremost is the Overkill Honeycomb 120mm Fan Grill. This will end up being right on the front of this case and the center piece for a head on view. Online pictures of these grills only give you a portion of their awesomeness. These aren’t some flimsy piece of low gauge aluminum. They’re chunks of heavy-duty, in-your-face style. They’re clean, solid, and absolutely flawless.

Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill


I can’t wait until the frame is all welded together so I can slap this baby on. Here’s the in-person, unboxed view:



Next out of the box was everything I needed to give my cabling a little extra style.

PC Cable Sleeving




Of course, you can’t do your sleeving properly if you don’t have the tools. Since I already had a heat gun, MNPCTech was kind enough to fill a gap in my toolset:

ATX Molex Removal Tools





To help me set my acrylic in the case, I’ve asked to put the Tape of the Gods to the test. I’ve seen the videos. I’ve heard the hype. Now it’s time to work the magic.

Scotch 4010 Mounting Tape




The last thing in the box is quickly becoming my favorite item. After getting these glasses, I decided to take them for a spin. I had to run to the hardware store for some home improvement items, so I accessorized. I even got a compliment from one of the contractors at the store asking me where I got my safety glasses.

Safety Glasses


I've placed them next to my old pair so you can see the difference.




Now I’m just waiting for the seamstress to finish up with the bag and to complete the welding on the frame. Once these two things are completed you’ll start seeing the work log take off. Thanks for reading!

[NrKissed]

Cool project, and I think I want a bag of my own!

[bitterfun]

Cool project, and I think I want a bag of my own!

I know, I'm kind of stoked about this project. I like design challenges with cool products.

[bitterfun]

Update #3: It begins.

I just got the bag back from the seamstress after she removed the inner separator.

Link to unmodified Battle Dragon Bag


She’s still working on taking that insert and making it so it can be put back in with Velcro and so it can double as a monitor pad. I appreciate all the work she is doing for me because for all of my abilities, sewing is pretty low on the talent scale.

Also, I just received the frame from Rusty with Hazard Factory. While he is a fine instructor for both welding and casting, my skills are not quite up to par for doing a professional looking aluminum weld. So I’ve hired him to get me started. And here’s the welded frame he created to my specifications:



I’ll need to do some clean up around the couple of the corners but I am amazed how well he can weld. All of my attempts with steel and iron are usually pock marked and crooked.





Since I didn’t have any time to start work (received the frame 10pm in the evening), I started placing some of the parts on/around the frame to give me an idea of just how cramped this case might be… The Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill is going to look AWESOME on this case.



Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill


As one final double check I had to put the frame into and bag just to make sure it fits…


…and it does. I can’t wait to get home from work so I can REALLY start digging into this project. Thanks for reading! More to come later this week!

[rlkd82]

Fine job so far, can't wait to see this come together.

[bitterfun]

Update #4: Prep work.

Here is a quick little update. I needed to get everything ready for some serious work on this project. So I got all of my parts ready to be worked on. I cut two strips of 1.25” wide 30” long polycarbonate. I did two just in case I snap one of them in the bending processes. I’ve worked with acrylic but this is my first time with the polycarbonate. The people at Laird’s Plastics seemed fairly enthusiastic about the product (http://www.lairdplastics.com/product/ma ... ycarbonate). I’ve also cut out the piece two pieces continuous pieces that will be the top and front plates. Each plate is 32” long and 2.75” wide (although I’ll probably cut it slimmer). The bottom plate will be one single piece 10.5” long 5.75” wide. Both the plates and the panels will be a thicker gauge (8 or about 1/8” thick) for protection for travel. This will cause it to be a little heavier but if I don’t like it I can always use a thinner gauge.



I’ve also decided to void my warranty with the BigWater 760+. While I think this would be an excellent product for a comfortable ready-made case, I’m more interested in its individual parts. Before:



After:


I’m still debating (and leaning towards) doing a custom reservoir. I really want to utilize the handy “refill” indicator I pulled out of the reservoir. I might have to do some creative jury rigging to get the fan control to work with the Red LED fan I was provided. Also, I’ll have to find a use for the Thermaltake fan grill since I’m using MNPCTech’s Overkill "Honeycomb" 120mm Fan Grill in the front.

And then my wife decided to pop in and take an impromptu picture while I was using the table saw to cut the polycarbonate… you can tell how happy I am that she went paparazzi on me. These safety glasses go well with the Vespa in the background… I get negative hipster points for selling off my two `73 Honda CB450s. I miss those old café beaters.



My next steps are to shave down the inside of the frame so that the 120mm fan and radiator will fit snuggly. I will also have to cut out the groves for the polycarbonate in the columns of the frame so that the cover plates lie flat on the frame.

Thanks for reading! More to come!

[bitterfun]

Update #5: Tinkerin’.

I like to put in a little work every day on my case. Even I am only working on the case for 30 or 40 minutes. I still feel like I’m making some progress. These little sets tend to add up over the weeks and sometimes months. That and they’re great for documenting processes as well. He’s what I did last night.

I cut out the sections in the columns of the frame for the polycarbonate.


I didn’t get around to cutting out the spacing for the fan but it’s marked and ready to go.


I wanted to see if the polycarbonate is as workable as acrylic. So I started bending one of the pieces with my heat gun and let gravity set the angle. Note, I made a little notch on the back to help influence where the polycarbonate bends once it’s heated up.

First bend:


Second Bend:


Result of the first piece:


Bending the second piece:


Thanks for reading! More to come this weekend!

[bitterfun]

Update #5.5: Another Package!!!

I just received the last of the prizes from my 1st place in the PAX BYOC Casemod contest. And they’re perfect compliments to this scratch build.



The Azurues Mini FPS Mouse is as sleek as it looks on the TTeSports webpage. So far I’ve only played League of Legends with it and it is performing without a hitch. The DPI settings are nice… but is there ever a reason not to have it at 1600 dpi?



I am both excited and apprehensive about my other prize: the Meka G1 Keyboard. I’m an avid ergonomic keyboard user. I have one at work and at home. While I have no problem using a standard layout, I just feel (albeit psychosomatic) more comfortable using the ergonomic keyboard. However, there was something …nice… about the responsiveness of the mechanical keys that I don’t get with the ergo keyboard. In my future-dream world, there’s a mechanical ergo backlit gaming keyboard available for under $200 USD. Yeah, I know, I’ll keep dreaming.

[nilkilla]

on the mechanical keybaord side of things, this was the blog i used to pull the trigger on my G7. anyways, they do mention ergo mechs, but they look Crazy!

http://www.overclock.net/keyboards/4917 ... guide.html

and yes the craziest one is cheapest one at $300

[bitterfun]

Here's another one that's a bit more affordable:

http://www.trulyergonomic.com/options.html

[bitterfun]

Update #6: Mistakes I can’t live with.

It’s been a busy week for me. I started a new job on Monday so I haven’t had as much time to work on the case as I would have liked… and what work I’ve done I am unsatisfied with. I did get the front and back panels cut, drilled and tapped to fit with the frame. As you can see here, I have all the tools necessary to do a great job tapping.





After I attached both front and back panels with a couple of screws, I was able to begin cleaning up the edges around the panels to making sure they fit just right. For the most part, I did a pretty good job. When cutting I tried channeling the attention of detail of Attila. The back panel was perfect.





But apparently my Attila mantra was slightly off. My table saw ended up chewing up a little bit too much edge on the front panel. I was hoping it was something I could correct… but when I placed the top and bottom pieces next to the front panel you can really see how far off it was…





Unfortunately, I’m going to have to buy another 18.5” x 12” piece to replace this panel. It’s just a little too off for me. I did, however cut the two panels for the top/mid/bottom sides. They are nice and straight and I just need to start bending them into place.

A buddy of mine came over to look at the progress. He questioned why I made the frame so sturdy and the side pieces 1/8”thick. I simply flipped the case over and stood on it (I’m 205lbs or 93kg) and said no reason. Next update will have pictures from the perspective of me standing on the case.

Saturday To-Do List:
Buy a new sheet of aluminum to redo Windowed Panel
Look for black ½” 6-32 flat head machine screws (stainless steel or zinc)
Look for black ½” 6-32 pan head machine screws (stainless steel or zinc)
Begin drilling/tapping the top/mid/bottom pieces
Bend the top/mid/bottom pieces