Project Angel Dust (PCp)

Hey guys, here's a sneak preview of the case and also a question in regards to the terrible clear coat. In the form of an unlisted video. Never done one of those so I hope it works with embedding. I was in the middle of moving stuff when I remembered "Crap, I wanted to record and post a video" which is why I was a little out of breath. Sorry for the terrible quality. Also, profanity.



Internet access gets turned on at the new apartment (well, duplex actually) on the 2nd, I think. I may not be able to login here again until then. I'm taking my computer over there in the morning. Hmm. Maybe I can at least read/respond with my cell phone. Yes, I probably could. Though for some reason our cell reception is crap at the new place. Probably has to do with the gigantic power lines way up above the front yard. Speaking of which, I need to get a florescent bulb and see if it'll light up from the electromagnetic field. Heh. But anyways, I'm rambling. I need to finish packing some stuff and get to bed.
 
Looking very good. I would try just sanding the flax out of that clearcoat. Although now I feel bad about worrying about how big mine is.
 
See, I told you mine was huge! Yours will be fine, trust me. Mine ended up so big because I didn't want the controls and screen to basically be ON TOP of the case, rather than flush. So, I ended up using two of those plastic enclosures epoxied back to back. It also gave me plenty more room for stuff and not have to squeeze everything in so tight that it might not even close. I'm still toying with the idea of making the batteries removable. You'd pop off the back control panels (you know, the sides that are blue), and then unplug the batteries and pull 'em out. Only problem with that idea is that I need some more interconnects to be able to do it. Hmm. Perhaps motherboard molex connectors... I will have to think on that. They're big, but I've got some. Hm.

So, sand paper? Maybe some really really fine stuff? I think I've got some here somewhere. Everything is chaos with the packing and whatnot. The only problem is that it removes the shine of the clearcoat, which is kinda nice. But it may be worth it to get rid of those spots. My dremel came with what I think are buffing or polishing attachments. At least, that's what I assume they are. I might try those but I packed my dremel up a few days ago. Ah well, this will all have to wait until after I move anyways.

Speaking of which, I shouldn't be on here. I need to pack this stuff up. Laters.
 
My PCI-E riser cable came today! I didn't think it would ever come. It was shipped on November 6th and arrive January 20th. That is insane. I haven't really touched this project since I moved. Partly because I was waiting on that cable. It was more of an excuse to procrastinate, really. Since I've been basically out of money since then, it made me want to rethink the portable. If I couldn't make use of the PCI-E slot, then there was no reason to make it so big. It made me think about possibly redoing the case smaller and whatnot. But, no.

No, I just need to finish the dang thing. I've got all the parts here. There's no point in not finishing it as I planned. No matter how ridiculous the design is. If I start redoing things, I'll never finish. I doubt anyone would ever want to buy the thing, so I may as well make it with the features I personally wanted.

One thing I don't think I've mentioned before is that I worked out all my battery charging and whatnot designs. This thing is actually going to have the ability to run off a cigarette lighter in a car (when the car is running). Not be charged by it, but run off it. Which is cool. Which means, if I make the batteries removable like I'm planning, it should be fairly light to hold and great for car trips. With the batteries in, however, I have a feeling this thing is going to be a heavy beast.

Now I just need to get a desk lamp so I can see well enough to solder in this poorly lit house.
 
Now that FAWM is over, maybe I'll get some work done on this thing ..he lied, knowing full well that he's a chronic procrastinator.

I've been thinking about the power brick for this thing when running off the wall. I can't find a high amperage 12v power brick. I'd want one that could do 16 amps (200w) or higher (preferably higher). And they just don't exist. Except for PC power supplies. I could get this, but there are drawbacks. Firstly, I really don't want to spend that much money. I've put too much into this project already. Secondly, no one 12v rail can provide that much amperage according to the stats page. But I thought they all go to the same place? Maybe not. If not, I'd have to run them in parallel with diodes, I think. And if I'm going to do that, then I might as well do my next idea.

I'm thinking about taking three identical 12v 8 amp laptop power bricks and running them in parallel. That'd be 288 watts, which, I think will be enough to properly power the system and the optional PCI-E video card when its plugged in. The Antec Power Supply Calculator says with my video card and CPU (and the two usb devices), the power draw will be 227w. That leaves 61w for the screen, which is more than enough (I think? Can't remember what it draws). Maybe I should do four instead. It's still cheaper than that power supply.

Or I can just buy the cheapest 300w (or more) full size ATX PSU I can find. But they're so ugly and bulky. But it would cost about the same as getting four of those laptop bricks. I do have a 250w PSU onhand but I don't think 250 is enough. Still, I could take it apart and see if the circuit boards (and fan) can be reconfigured into a more pleasing shape (similar to the 360 PSU, which, unfortunately isn't powerful enough or I'd use one of them). Hmm.

If I do end up doing one of those two things, and needing diodes, these would work, right? I've never used diodes before. Would I need anything other than the diodes themselves?

Any other ideas or thoughts are welcome.
 
Thank you, but, it wouldn't be enough. At least I don't think. It could power the system by itself (screen, motherboard, controller), but not the PCI-E video card. Which is an important feature.


Edit next day: Well, I took apart that spare ATX PSU I had. The PCB takes up nearly the entire bottom of the case and the way the heatsinks are set up, putting the fan in a different location wouldn't work. So rearranging it is out of the question in this case. Which means it is likely the same for most other ATX power supplies. Using one of these will be my last resort. Carrying a big honkin' PSU around for when you want to be wall-plugged does not say "portable" to me. The size and shape of a 360 PSU is about the biggest I'd want to go, really. I still think I can pull something that size off with several of those small laptop PSUs I mentioned.

For future reference, there are some scary-big 470uf capacitors in there. Along with lots of other useable components. People throw computers out all the time. Might be worth grabbing the PSUs for the parts inside.
 
have you measured the power consumption? normally its way lower of what one thinks it is....you can get an outlet device that measures it cheaply...i got one for about 10€ and last time i measured my computer it was way lower than what i thought....
 
That's a very good point. My multimeter doesn't measure amps though. Hmm. My father repairs large industrial machines for a living. I'm almost certain he uses one that does. I wonder if he can get one away from work for a day. Or maybe I could go to his work with all my stuff. Haven't talked to him since Christmas though. Maybe I'll call him.
 
Hmm. Could work. At the moment though, I'm considering getting a used power supply from a fat PS3. The APS-226 model can do 32A on it's 12v line (!!!). That would be waay more than I'd need. They can be had pretty cheap. And it's also somewhat smallish. Maybe half the size of an ATX PSU (height-wise), if not smaller. I'm not sure yet. It's looking like a bad time for me to be spending more money. We shall see.

One issue is that I don't know how the PS3 PSU gets its signal to turn on. I know what to jump on a PC PSU, but a PS3? No idea.


Edit: By the way, I'm trying to figure out how to get the 360 triggers on the controller to work like normal on/off digital buttons. Without the pots. I posted a topic in the 360 section.
 
I have a PS3 PSU. Not sure if it works (the ps3 it was on broke, never bothered finding out what broke) well or at all, but I'll check the model on it and all that. If you want it, you can have it for price of shipping.
 
That would be completely awesome, dude. Even the APS-231 model (designed to run cooler) can do 23.5A on it's 12v line (282w), which should be enough as well. Just make sure you don't need it though. I'd feel like a jerk if you sent it to me and ended up finding out the PS3 just had a loose wire or a component that needed soldered in place better or something. On the other hand, if I can't get it working, then you'd know just need to replace the PSU.

Let me know what you decide. It's awesome of you to offer, either way.
 
I know that Ps3 is not fixable (its not worth it anyways). Dang thing was totally destroyed internally. Had woodscrews holding the pretty bent heatsinks on quite crookedly. It had the plastic cut out above the fan and created a heat loop, making the solder melt. The chips ended up about 20 degrees off kilter with the pins bent. Not pretty, fixed it 2 times, and the last time it wouldnt come back up. So I just bought a new one. I really dont know if the PSU still works, or if the board completely died. Its yours if you want it.
 
I'll take it, for sure. On the off chance that it works, it'll save me a bit of money. Whenever you're ready, PM me your paypal info and how much you think shipping will be.
 
So, the last few days I've been working on the controller portion of this thing. Getting it all wired up, glued into place and whatnot. I even finally figured out how to get my analog triggers to function as digital buttons properly. So everything was good. But then I started sizing things up and figuring out exactly where all the other components will go inside my case. And I thought, "Hmm, you know, the wires I used for the controls are really thick. I could save some room with thinner wires." So I went out to my garage and dug out a PSX controller and used the wires from it (which I've done in most of my past projects). So, I rewire the entire controller with new wires. Plug it into my PC to make sure it's working right, and turns out the contacts for a button are bridged. No biggie, that's an easy fix, right? I grabbed my exacto knife to scrape between the contacts. But then I slip, and cut through about twenty to forty traces on the board in a big long gash. About two and a half inches long. I plugged it back in just to see. Pretty much everything was screwed.

ARGH. I'm not even angry really. I'm just depressed. BLAH. I have one other wired 360 controller, but it's my favorite controller. It's really run down and worn in - in a good way. It's a controller from the first generation of 360 controllers and the rumble is different (I think the motors are a bit burned out as well) and feels really great for games like Forza. I've got two wireless controllers but they just don't feel the same (the rumble, or the sticks themselves). I suppose I could keep the sticks and rumble motors from it, and put them into one of my wireless controllers. But, blah. This sucks.


Edit: Sam's PS3 PSU came today! Thanks, dude. I will be trying it out some time in the near future, hopefully. Right now these damned controls are giving me a headache.

So, the sacrificial MS controller is much simpler inside when compared to the Gamestop brand one I slaughtered. Though I'm having a Heck of a time getting the trigger brackets off. Probably going to just take the dremel to it. The vibration motors look identical to the Gamestop ones. I can't recall whether I actually tried that controller out to any extent before I hacked it up. Oh well. I still haven't decided whether to include vibration motors. If I have room, I may consider it. But then again, vibration inside a crazy project like this could shake something loose. Most PC games don't make use of it these days. But it'd be nice for N64 and PSX emulation. Hmm.
 
It's lives.

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Turned out much better this time around. I learned a LOT from that first controller and things went smoothly this time.


By the way, is the Guide button even useable in Windows? It doesn't show up in the controller button tester thingy. I push it and nothing happens. Even holding it in does nothing. I thought that I'd screwed something up with that first controller and that was why it never worked. But no, this one is the same. I've already got the button hole for it in my case. Hm.
 
The guide button works if you have xinput, and the official windows drivers. Not worth it though. its a call to GFWL, which is a monstrosity and should be destroyed to death and burned and stuff.
 
Here's a preview of close to what it will look like when completed (obviously missing some buttons and whatnot). Still a lot of work to do. And I never did fix the paint job. Eh. It doesn't bother me enough to fix it.

44444fv.jpg
 
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