LUMINA by Design_Master
Author: Luciano Cezimbra
Published: 14th December 2007

Forewordby Brett Thomas
Acrylic is probably my favourite material in the modding world. You can do so much with it - mould it, cut it, shape it, frost it, engrave it. It comes in almost every colour of the rainbow, it's affordable, and the tools to work with it are equally cheap. What does a strip heater cost nowadays – fifteen quid?
亚克力是我在modding世界中最喜欢的材料，你能做好多事情：塑造，切割，打磨，冷冻(这个我实在想不通怎么翻译,frost=霜冻,霜冻亚克力？)，雕刻。它能反射出彩虹里所有颜色，它可塑性强，而且有关加工工具很便宜。
Of course, for all of its benefits, acrylic comes with some drawbacks, many of which are design related. It's easy to make an acrylic box, slap some hardware into it, and call it a day - but that doesn't really create anything special. No, when you make a case out of acrylic, you're really making part of the case just disappear - which means you need to be all the more careful about what it's revealing underneath.
当然，除了优点之外，亚克力也有缺点，大部分和设计有关。
And that's why Design_Master's project, LUMINA, has turned so many heads. By carefully blending smoke and clear acrylic, he's made a case that stands out in places, disappears in others, and provides a unique visual presence everywhere you look. As Luciano says himself, "I didn't want a fishbowl."
And with that, I'll turn it over to the maker himself.
IntroductionFirst, let me introduce myself: My name is Luciano Cezimbra, and I am a 31-year-old Brazilian civil engineer. Since I was child, I have been linked to computers – by age 14, I was writing my first personal programmes. Some years later, I was developing automation software for companies and stores. My last software was a complex project to simulate and compare video cards performances called vgaindex. Despite all of my modest knowledge about software and hardware, there was still a computer element needed to be explored by me: the case design.
I discovered the art of modding two years ago and I started to test many materials, including acrylic. Immediately, I was impressed with its strength, its incomparable luminous reaction and moulding capacity, allowing me to create pieces of nearly any size or shape. It was enough to convince me that acrylic was the best choice for my future projects.
Obviously, to reach the desired technical level, I had to perfect the skill of cutting, paring, polishing and moulding. I learned these by visiting the factory installations of a friend of mine, who is my acrylic supplier. Through the observation of big machines, I learned that I could recreate the same effect (in reduced scale) by using inventive manual techniques. This is my way: To be able to reach a perfect execution level that looks nearly manufactured, but by using only the usual manual tools, specific methodology, simple procedures…and a bit of craftsmanship, of course.
显然，为了达到一定技术水平，我必须完美各项技术如切割，削，打磨，塑造。我从一个朋友的工厂里学的，亚克力也是那里提供的。通过观察大型机器，我想我也能通过手工达到那些加工效果。我就是用这样的方法：用普通手工工具、特殊方法、简单程序和一大堆技术，做到看起来像加工那样的效果。
I always loved clean and bold projects, mainly the architectural building ones. This is my style, and LUMINA was not different. I sought to keep away from “aquarium look” that the most of Plexiglas projects follow, by inventing a new design and lighter structure. Undoubtedly, the engineering helped me to plan the project – to fix the alignment of some pieces and to find a solution for little building issues, such as adjusting the horizontal inclination angles of the two hinged doors to prevent them from being jammed.
BuildingThe first step for starting the project was to design and build all the case’s structural parts. All the other complimenting and accent parts would be made later. The end project combines 114 acrylic pieces – 14 structural ones and 100 complementing ones. The pieces are finished to be smoked, crystal or foggy. The final case reaches the following dimensions: 520mm height x 285mm width x 545mm length x 2-15mm thickness (this includes thumb screws and foot stands).



It started as a plan, and ended up being an acrylic design masterpiece.
For fabricating all 114 pieces of the LUMINA project, I performed the cuts, mouldings, finishes and polishes procedures manually by using a Dremel, sandpaper, drill, soldering irons and aluminium heat moulds. I only requested the factory to mould some of the 14 structural pieces because of the technical impossibilities of moulding parts this big at home.

The Main StructureI started off by mounting the structural parts, connecting the bigger parts by screws and checking out the dimensions. The attention to this phase would ensure the best stability and rigidity of the case.
Every measurement was important, and there was really not a lot of room for error -- which is hard, because bent acrylic is not necessarily an exact science. Though you can get close to a ninety-degree bend, it will always have a little rounding to it. This makes screw hole positions especially dangerous, because it's easy to forget the slight bend and end up with a hole that's about a half of a millimetre off.
Because of that, I needed to be extra careful with my planning, particularly for the final hinge placements on the doors. Each half millimetre deviation from the right place for the first screws means bigger deviations for placing the last ones. Believe me, it’s a really arduous job!







Thanks to some careful measurement, the structural pieces of the case did not take long at all to come together. I used a smoked acrylic for the structural supports, as well as the back, top, and bottom of the case. The side panels and front panel are made from clear acrylic, but they'll get some considerable modifications as I start adding the accent pieces.







On the motherboard tray, I added two 80mm diameter holes for improving internal air circulation. This doesn't have any external ventilation, it's simply to help air move around inside of the case and provide a little cooling to the back of the motherboard. As so many motherboards have bunches of heatpipes stuck back here, I felt this was important. Rather than stand-offs, I used ten acrylic cubes, which are drilled to hold the screws for the motherboard. The extra elevation from the tray helps add to the airflow of the case.







After some days of planning, I decided to create a new PCI board placement system. My idea was to build a "back door" system to make toolless PCI slots. To do this, I used a Dremel and carefully cut slot bays onto the new backplate. The parts were mounted and set firmly in place by two hinges and the slot plate rail piece, built from smoked acrylic.







The next step was to build the front panel controls, using a 12mm acrylic piece. I had to sculpt each button hole manually to reach the desired shape. It was very, very hard work and took me three days to do what seems like a simple task.
下一步就是前面版的制作，用12mm厚亚克力块。我必须全部手工雕刻按钮洞以达到预期形状。看似简单，其实他很难，花了我三天时间。














The face of each part was sanded to diffuse light, as I wanted a more uniform lighting effect. After finishing the panel, I secured the LEDs and switches with cold-heat glue. To hide the wires, I made a new foggy part that follows the original lines of the main panel.

Detail work



With the structural supports complete, all that was needed was to secure the top and to the supports and add the side panels. As you can see above, I countersunk the screws for the top into the acrylic in order to make a perfectly flush face. This was necessary for some detail work that I would add later, and for now it helped maintain a sleek look aside from the thumbscrews holding the side panels in place.
Speaking of the side panels, it's time I introduced what I was doing with them -- they are actually hinged doors, with each attached to the back of the case with a pair of hinges. Thumb screws on the front supports hold them closed, and when unscrewed they swing nearly 180 degrees, allowing a tremendous level of access to the internals.







With the top fitted, there was one last pseudo-structural piece -- a hinged door on the front of the case. Because I wanted it bent precisely so that I could maintain that sleek, flush finish that I had with the doors, I had to ask that this piece be moulded at the factory. I did not have a strip heater that would allow me to make a bend that size.







With all of the externals affixed, it was time to start on the largest detail work -- some smoked acrylic cut with a carefully designed curve pattern. You can see the lines on some of the images above where I designed the curve - I then taped smoked plexi to the outside of the case to retrace the lines, then cut the piece using my trusty Dremel. Some filing and polishing later, and I had two accent pieces that would be attached to the insides of the doors.
Because they were on the inside, the cuts had to be essentially perfect. If the piece was too short or off-angled, there could be gaps between the smoked acrylic of the roof and supports versus the accent piece. If the piece was too large, the door would not close.







Two more accent pieces were incorporated into the air filter area, turning the right angles of the 120mm fan into harmonic curves.
The fan filter itself was assembled by using 0.5mm double layered metallic netting. For that, I cut two 120mm diameter wheels and placed them side by side surrounded by “U” type 4mm rubber ribbing. To hold the fan, I took two small pieces of iron and bent them into S shapes. One part of the S slides over the front panel acrylic, the other part holds the fan grille slightly out in front. This lets me easily remove and clean the grille without removing the whole fan assembly, but it also provides one other benefit - it hides the cut in the rubber ribbing, making it look like a single, perfect circle.







Drive cages were given their own special touch, by cutting a curve similar to the one on the door out of their back sides. After all, none of the case has been left with harsh lines or sharp corners, and catching little details like this becomes the difference between a good mod and a great one.

The Feet



The feet on LUMINA were sculpted from 15mm long rectangles of clear acrylic. After cutting a rounded end on each of them, I drew divider lines and prepared to sand down the excess.







Using some sanding wheels and my Dremel, I sanded down the excess into a rounded foot. Of course, this had to be done four times, so I had to keep comparing them to each other for uniformity.







I then used my Dremel again to cut small "caps" for the feet, covering up the section that was not rounded with a small piece of smoked acrylic. Now, once these are attached to the base of LUMINA, you'll only be able to see the rounded portion.







I then angled a few pieces of smoked acrylic and trimmed them down as well, creating "skirts" for the feet. This allowed me to prevent yet one more hard line from showing on the case's exterior, instead leaving another harmonic curve down to the feet.
The PCI door, revisited







In order to help add some curve to the back PCI plate, I developed a curved "handle." This piece started as one long strip, but was later cut into three pieces -- one was left the size of the backplate, and the other two would be turned into "endcaps" for it.







The pieces were polished up and attached to their respective portions of the case. The endcaps were glued directly to the case back above and below the PCI door. The middle section was glued to the door itself, providing a handle as well as a new fixing point for the thumbscrews.

Nameplate



Building the nameplate was one of the most intensive parts of the mod. I started off with a printed version of the logo where the width of the font was equal to the thickness of the acrylic. I then took 20mm wide strips of acrylic and began bending them into the various letter shapes, using the printed copy as a guide of how the piece should look from the edge.







When the pieces were finally cut and shaped, it was time to break out the Dremel again and sand them down to a frosted finish. This way, the letters would catch and scatter light within them, making them light up better.







The finished letters were then cut directly in half to make two sets. This way, I didn't have to try to bend the same thing twice, and working with smaller widths would have proven difficult. I affixed these letters onto two clear backplates, so the back can seem to disappear while the logos light up.
Corner Guards







In order to smooth out the harsh corners on the outside of the case, I designed corner guards. These were four pieces of acrylic that I bent into corner shapes, then cut down to curved patterns.







The curves were given the same frosted effect as I've used in the rest of the case, which helps bring them into focus against the smoked acrylic of the top and supports. The front guards are designed to follow the curvature of the top and front door without impeding its ability to open.

Fans



For the rear exhaust, I used two Cooler Master 80mm fans. I started off by cutting down the corners of one face on each fan, leaving only one full plate to attach screws through.







Next, I wanted that remaining face to disappear as much as possible, so as not to detract from the rest of the mod. To do this, I masked off the cut face and applied black spray paint to the the full one. When the mask paper was removed, it became a frosted white fan with a black edge, which should blend in against the acrylic.







To mask the wires and the edges of the fans, I brought out my heat moulder again. I used a strip of smoke acrylic that was the width of the fans and bent it into a shape that would fit around them, including the trimmed edges. I then put some brushed-steel sticker over it so that it was not transparent.
Wiring







Rather than waste money on sleeving and have to make every wire look the same in LUMINA, I took a different approach. Since acrylic meant people could see easily into the case, wiring had to be carefully designed and as attractive as possible. So, I created my own sleeving kit by buying a bunch of nylon mesh and painting it the three colours I wanted in the mod -- blue, black and silver. I could then wrap this mesh around the wires and cover it with flexible tubing.
A couple final things...








All of this being completed left me with only a couple things to finish on the case proper -- lighting, and a last acrylic touch-up. To help continue the harmonic curves I had started on the front, I wanted the DVD drive to get a little extra treatment with some smoke acrylic, so that handled that last little detail.
Lighting, on the other hand, would be a bit more complex. The case features LED fans, two cold cathodes and a strategic array of 10 blue LEDs, for spotlighting main internal elements. Curious? Well, there's a couple more things to do that aren't quite part of the case itself, first...

PSU Modding



I couldn't have a mod of this size and scope and leave the PSU alone. So, I decided that I would redesign its outer cover completely. As all things in this mod, the new PSU cover started out as nothing more than a flat piece of acrylic - this was not a PSU modding kit.
The process started by taking a sheet of acrylic and slowly turning it into a box with one open face. When I had made the shape, I took another piece of acrylic and cut the "bottom" for it. Then, I began adding the various holes for fans, mesh, and wires.







I frosted just the back piece of the PSU, and cut smoke acrylic accent pieces for the corners and sides. I also bent four small strips and attached them to the inside of the box as screw supports for the bottom plate, which was given a hole and grille for a 120mm fan.







I then measured and cut more of the brushed-steel sticker that I had used on the fan edges. I used the opposing curving pattern that I used for the smoke acrylic accents on the PSU above, making it look like it was a smoke and steel shell, splitting open to see inside the PSU. I also added some mesh to the back of the PSU to serve as a grille.







I used my old 550W PSU for the case, sleeving it with the same wire-sleeving style that I had done before - this time, it was silver mesh, with flexible hose over top (black was used for the lights and fans, and blue was for drive connections). At this time, I realised that a 120mm fan was not going to fit in my new housing, so I opted for an 80mm blue LED fan instead, which I placed at the back. It still draws air up through the 120mm fan opening at the bottom, so cooling is largely unaffected.







Lastly, I added some detail stickers that I printed out on laser transfer paper. After plugging it in to give it a test, I was quite happy with the way the final PSU mod came out.

The VGA mod



I wanted a complete redesign of the cooler for my ATI Radeon X1950 Pro graphics card, as the current one didn't fit the theme of my new mod. So, it was back to the drawing board. I wasn't looking to completely lose my old cooler...so I just focused on a new shroud for it.







I started out with the actual card and cooler in hand as my measuring guide, placing it on the acrylic to make exact measurements. Once I had my measurements, I began to bend the edges.







After the new shroud was bent, it was on to giving it the definitive LUMINA shape of curved, graceful lines. I notched the new shroud to fit the heatpipes, then cut a new set of vent holes for the fan. I also made sure to trim up the edges to add curve to them.
The next step was to create the graceful corner pieces in an effort to mirror those that were on the outside of the case. Once again, I cut and bent clear acrylic until I had the shapes I wanted, then gave them a frosted finish.







Since the shroud was almost complete, it was time to create a fan for it. I took another 80mm blue LED fan and began to trim it down. First the square edges, then the whole other side of the moulding, then the blades until it was sufficiently thin enough to fit under the shroud. Two LEDs of the four were kept, just enough to provide some subtle lighting.







Rather than leave the PCI bracket as it was, I created a new one out of smoke acrylic. This would help to better blend the card in when looking at the back of the case. I also made some more stickers for accent pieces.







With the shroud in place, all that was left was to attach it to the card and plug the fan in. The completed ensemble really ends up fitting the look of the LUMINA project, I think!

ConclusionSo, there you have it, folks - the completion of my magnum opus to date, LUMINA.
I am glad to see that LUMINA has pleased a lot of people from all over the world in terms of aesthetics, but it is also an excellent performance case. The air cooling system is set to keep up a positive internal pressure, avoiding undesirable dust accumulation and keeping it cleaner inside; there is absolutely no EMI (electromagnetic interference) due to my strengthened wire sleeving and the wiring layout; and my greatest accomplishment -- the VGA cooler is so efficient that the fan automatically shuts off until starting any 3D application, which saves power and raises the life cycle of the heatsink components.
Also, I am very grateful for this opportunity to share my hard work with all of you, and I wanted to thank you all for your interest, support and praise of my creation. I will be reading the log for the article, so please feel free to comment or question as I welcome your feedback.
I hope to see you around the forums -- and I look forward to bringing my next project log onto bit-tech!
Gloria Lux Aurora





























Gloria Lux Nocturna
































[ 本帖最后由 mnzc 于 2008-1-9  17:02 编辑 ]

路过的,顺道B4下LZ..谢谢

LSSZ!谢谢！

LSSZ!谢谢！

LSSZ!
LXSZ!
无该萨~