Hi guys...

As craig invited me to this site, I'll share my preliminary designs and also the build process when I start. I'm basically just copying my thread on TPU here:

So, I've decided to scrap my old mediaBIN2.1 project (crappy idea and would've been a waste of space ) and instead invest my time in a new project - reproducing the weighted companion cube from Portal in it's full glory at (a rather downsized) 25x25cm . I'm going to try to match the exact dimensions as I can gather them from pictures of the actual in-game cube. I've seen this tried before, but I wasn't happy with the efforts since they weren't reproduced correctly and the dimensions and thicknesses of the corners were off.

A few things that are still in need of attention:
1) Air vents are made by offsetting the middle hearts by 5mm spacers at the moment, but will see if it can be made more authentic in some way (maybe using the indented pink lines?)
2) The back connectors of the motherboard doesn't have access in the preliminary design yet since I couldn't yet figure out how I can do it without cutting out 'n huge section of the cube.
3) Placement of power/reset buttons as well as power/hdd LED's have not been determined. Thinking of using a stainless steel panel mount push button hidden somewhere...

Oh, the specs of the design is:

• Intel Little Falls 2 w/ Atom Dual Core 330
• 2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 RAM
• D-Link PCI Gigabit LAN card (needed for dual networking capabilities)
• 1TB Seagate 7200.12 3.5" SATA drive
• D-Link DWA-120 Wireless Adapter 108Mbps
• Vizo Super Muffle Ultra quiet 80mm fan for a tad of airflow
• picoPSU-120 and a 108W brick to power everything

I've rendered the preliminary design in Solidworks (well, the most important features anyway ). The inner box frame will be made from either plexiglass (Perspex) or masonite board (hardboard). The corners will be handmade from 25mm MDF and other layered materials to give the right height. I've followed a tried and true way of mounting the motherboard on hex spacers in a multi-tiered system.

I'm going to start building basically as soon as I get the components (already ordered, maybe I'll get them on Tuesday or Wednesday) and I can measure them properly with the digital vernier.

Here's a scene from the game with the cube... Awh, isn't it cute?


Here is the inside construction drawing, showing the placement of the tier system:


Here are two outside perspectives. Notice the holes behind the hearts currently used for ventilation. They will be fitted with filters.


Here's another view showing the inside tier system more clearly. Next to the hard drive I will mount the Wireless adapter and the hard drive will be SATA and not IDE as shown (I originally wanted to use a 320GB IDE hard drive so I modeled that first and I'm too lazy to change it )

Just thought I'd quickly make the D-Link wireless adapter so I can show the placement.

Will remove the plate off of a USB extension bracket that plugs into the motherboard header and plug the wireless USB adapter into it so I don't have to mount it externally

Ok, I've decided on what I want to do with the connectors.

Luckily, the Little Falls 2 motherboard connector placement puts the video connector toward the middle of the board, so I can get away with cutting a little slot in the back panel that will be covered by the heart under normal use (when I don't need video, only LAN) by threading the LAN cables probably through the opening between the panel and the heart circle thingy.

When I need video I'll make the heart removable so the video port can be accessed

Thus the whole motherboard will be moved forward about 18-20mm to make it possible for the LAN cables to plug into the motherboard and make a sharp bend out of the whole in the back panel. I've also thought about making extension adapters so I can mount the LAN ports on the cube with cables leading to the network ports...

Here's the basic layout then:


With the wire routing shown here:

Sad but true:

The only parts I've yet received for the project:

• 30/40/50mm hex spacers
• 2x Super Bright 20kmcd White LED's (Left)
• 2x Super Bright 4kmcd Blue LED's (Right)
• 12V P4 Extension for picoPSU120W

Sorry for the horrendous photo quality - cell camera. Will definitely use another camera when I'm home. That's 450km away because I'm staying in a flat on campus. Home is where the action is going to happen and where all the tools are... haha LED's are for power and HDD. Not yet decided what colour I'm going to use... Maybe I'll get UV or Purple LED's as well just to check.

Welcome to Losias zAAm!

I love the idea of a removable panel for the rear of the case. Will this be used primarily as a media PC?

The new idea is to put a sprung hinge on the back heart so I can open it to access the video but that it'll snap back when not in use. Also, I'm going to route the network cables out of the bottom opening instead of the back as in the pictures.

The main purpose will be a Ubuntu NAS server/router/firewall. She is called mediaBIN because we dump all our media files (music/series) on the NAS drive and access it directly. Will also use a gigabit switch to really push the speed of the streaming. That's why I normally don't even need the video output since all the management is done through SSH.

Gotcha, that makes sense. That's a great use for the box! I've often thought about having a dedicated box for such things myself. I'm currently using my main rig, which isn't exactly efficient.

Damn, I'm having some trouble with stock availability on some of the items, so it's delaying my entire order. Hopefully I'll get some news tomorrow... Until then I'm pretty much in the waiting chair.

That sucks... It's always hard enough to wait for parts to arrive without any delays, let alone with them!

It seems they are STILL waiting on the suppliers for the Little Falls 2 motherboard. All the other items are confirmed.

This is really starting to tick me off since I'm ordering from another store as well and I'm having just as much trouble with them not giving me the bank details where I'm supposed to actually pay for the items and "forgetting" that I need an invoice and such. This was NOT a good day for me or the project!

On another note, I'm thinking of putting some expanded aluminium (if I can find some here in SA) over the ventilation holes so there isn't a huge gaping hole in the case where you can look inside. Something like this:


Also, I'm thinking of buying this type of switch in stainless steel. Will need to think about its placement though because it's got to be discrete. Maybe on the bottom panel? Any ideas?

Man, sorry to hear about further parts delays!

I think the mesh is a great idea. It would certainly give the cube a more finished look in areas where the interior might be visible. The only downside is that all mesh blocks airflow. For most of the staggered hole mesh, it can be anywhere from 35%~65%. If that's workable, (and to most people it is), then go for it!

The bottom panel is likely the only discrete place. What would be awesome though, is trying to integrate a custom switch. For example, pressing on one of the hearts could start the PC or something like that.

The components won't be generating a lot of heat so I'm not too worried about airflow... As long as there is SOME airflow it would probably be sufficient.

Also, I've thought about pushing the heart or something like that, but since it's pretty big the risk is great that if anything leans against it or someone tries to rotate it or pick it up it will push the button, starting (or shutting down) the cube. But will definitely play with the idea, especially since the back heart is already going to be hinged, I might add a sprung push button in there so if you indent the top part of the heart it will be the switch... And then you can open the heart as well. Going to be tricky to get all the springs and so on operating correctly, but I might just be able to pull it off with some careful planning

I'll be driving to Pretoria tomorrow (about 185km) and there I'll get the rest of the supplies and parts. Going to stay a day or two to see someone, and then I'm off home (another 250km) to start on the project. So I'll keep you informed

If accidentally pushing the button is a concern, maybe you could use two switches wired in series. Use a heart on each side of the case, and only pressing both at the same time would start it. Either way, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Safe travels!

Thanks craig, that might just do the trick. Will see what I can rig up. Stay tuned everyone

Update (if you can call it that):

Seems the store are having problems with their suppliers. I've ordered quite a few stuff from them and contacted the owner. He said he is really pushing them for the parts, but they're giving him a hard time. I mean, how hard can it be just to say: "Hey, we don't have stock yet" or "Hey, we have stock". It's not like they throw all the parts they have into one big pile and have to dig through everything to see if they have the Little Falls... *sigh*

Anyway, today I'm going to see if I can get some electronic parts... Will get some LED's, switches, push buttons and connectors for the project. Maybe I'll also check if I can find a plexiglass store near here for some translucent pink and clear Perspex.

Waiting is the hardest part. So, they don't even have an ETA for you?

Okay, finally some progress!
I'm in luck, the suppliers are out of stock but the store said they'll be able to source the motherboard from another supplier but for a little bit extra so I went for that.

Today I also got some perspex and some UV LED's. I decided I was going to make the whole cube out of perspex instead of masonite because it will leave a smoother finish. Thus I got some gray 3mm perspex cut for the cube and some frosted perspex that I'll use with the UV LED's to shed some light on the project. Unfortunately I couldn't get cut pieces of pink translucent perspex since they only sell them by the sheet (guess because only a handful of people every buy them ). So I'm going to see what I can work with. Maybe I'll combine red and UV LED's to give a more pinkish tint.

Also, I got the 5mm standoffs (at a ridiculously expensive price I might add), and I think I'm going to use tactile switches for the power and reset buttons. Will see how I'm going to wire them up.

I don't have a camera with me atm so I'll take some pictures of everything later. Definitely as soon as I receive the parts!

At least the project is going somewhere again now!

So, I got some super bright 1800mcd red LED's as well today. I'm going to try and MAKE pink light by combining purple and red LED's which SHOULD (if everything goes well) make a sort of pink light. Then I'll play around with the intensities by adding series and parallel resistors (or variable resistors) till I get something that's at least sort of believable

If you don't follow me, look at this chart:


Combine red and purple and you get a sort of pinkish magenta hopefully. Since purple is already a mix of red and blue, more red should shift it towards the red spectrum and thus make it more pink...

Now the big question is how will I combine the light so it doesn't look like discrete spots but rather a swash of the right colour? Guess I'll have to experiment and see what I can get?

Excellent research on the LED's! I hadn't heard of anyone combining them to get a specific color for a mod, although the principal is sound. I'm anxious to see what real world results look like. Good luck!

Update (albeit without photos)

I've got all the hardware components except the picoPSU with me (I'll get the pico a bit later ). Will take photos of everything the moment I get home on Sunday. Of course it took me 3.5 hours in traffic to get it, but it's definitely worth it. I think everything will work together nicely. Looking forward to see everything together and to check the fit.