Computer in a molded car drive

Order

One beautiful summer day in 2010, my phone rang.
It was he. The order that you usually wait, raking mountains of routine.
"It is required to build a computer into a molded car disk."


It sounded like a challenge.
This is not asked every day. I, without hesitation, agreed to take up work.
And then the customer disappeared. He just didn't call me anymore. I had his number, but I never impose myself, so all the joyful experiences associated with the upcoming work on an interesting project quietly subsided and forgotten.
A year has passed.
The customer calls. It turns out he lost my number. And after a year of searching, I found it!
And work has begun to boil!

Modding

Finally, after agreeing on the general concept of work, I was sent a cast disk - Diablo 18 ”chrome.



')
And we started work with a partner.
Infinite fittings in different positions did not give an answer, how can we put everything inside a small cast disk.
We were faced with tasks at that time:

• In the central part of the disc, you must place the optical drive, the tray of which will slide out along with the disc cap. It is required to come up with a fastening system, simple and reliable.
• Place the motherboard, video card, power supply and hard drive in the remaining space, which is sorely lacking.
• Find a rational way to give a stable upright position to a circular cast disk.

Regarding the placement of the optical drive - everything is clear, but somehow it needs to be fixed!
On the milling machine we chose a rectangular groove with a narrow through part - under the tray.


Inserted. It is worth the tray extends.
New problem - how to prevent the drive from “falling out”?
I love studs, ordinary steel studs. With their help, we secured the drive.


Wiring to the “Eject” button was connected to the drive, power was connected and played, played for a long time. The retractable and retractable disc tray fascinated and captivated our views.
Subsequently, the wiring was brought out on a special button that was placed exactly in the factory opening for the nipple.




The remaining free space did not allow us to install a full-size ATX motherboard (305 × 244 mm). Only trimmed in size FlexATX (229 x 191 mm).


It was at that moment that the client began to dictate his terms. On FlexATX, he did not agree, insisted on installing a full-size ATX, he, along with other components, he promised to send us.
Months went by. We waited. The disk was lying.
Every client who came to the workshop admired, but we did not advance in the work.
Components we received in the fall.
A huge ATX motherboard came to us with the words: “put it somehow”.
She became only sideways and bulging for the edges of the disk for a good 50 mm.


We prepared a pallet for the motherboard, made mounting lugs to it. Priladili. Starting from the position of the motherboard, they began to make a basket of fastening the power supply and hard disk. Two in one.
The video card could fit only to the side of the drive on the riser extension. Acrylic served as a carrier for the video card.


All manufactured parts of the inner frame were painted powder matt black.
Suitable for the design of the legs were found in the bins of the homeland, refined and installed.
Between the legs drilled hole - output for wires.
In this project, the legs - a crucially important point, because there are no legs in any similar case, instead of legs some ridiculous pedestals or just bars are used on the sides - so that the disk does not roll.
Began pre-assembly.


Along the way, decorative grids that were bent according to a pattern were made, which would close the space between the spokes.
On the edge of the disk, we drilled 8 holes for the M3 racks, on which we decided to install an acrylic shield acting as the back panel.
Initially, according to the project using the FlexATX motherboard, it was assumed that the acrylic shield would fit tightly on the edge of the disk, but our board is 50mm wider. I had to get out and trick with the racks.

Next was a long evening with monochrome wiring. Monochrome because in the workshop, at that time, only the blue solid wire remained, I did not want to wait.


Computer management needed to be carried out on some panel. Panel made of acrylic. For the control panel was made decorative speedometer. Decorative because no one was going to pay for the functional, and there was simply no strength to do it.
Decorative design - carbon drawing, inscriptions and the speedometer jackal itself were applied to acrylic using ultraviolet printing.
A button with a beautiful blue backlight is responsible for turning on the computer, the first toggle switch for highlighting the inside of the disk, the second for the speedometer illumination. The ability to conveniently turn off almost all the luminous elements is the basis for the comfort of further use.
The control panel is fixed on chrome curved tubes.
Before the final assembly, they equipped the disk with backlighting with the help of a blue LED strip.
The case is assembled. Photo shoot time.
















Video demo functionality:

The final

The name " Diablo wheel " will suit him perfectly.
All the tasks before us are solved.
The case is unique in its kind. The number of such cases in the world can be found on the fingers of one hand.
This building was built for specific components, the possibility of an upgrade is difficult. The customer has been warned.
The case is finished and sent to the customer, and we simultaneously took the first place in the modding competition.