Project CURV3D: Finishing the structure

This blog series is about how you can build your own case from scratch.

Part 1: The Beginning - http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2015/september/project-curv3d-the-beginning

Part 2: Hardware and case - http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2016/february/project-curv3d-hardware-and-case

Now it is time for Part 3. So last time I finished the frontplate, now it is time to make the backplate for the case, which will house the I/O-plate, the power-connector for the Pico-PSU and some ventilation holes.

The principle is the same as for the frontplate. I started by cutting out the entire shape.

Next thing to cut out is the hole for the I/O-plate, it can be a bit difficult to measure out where it should be. What I did was to install the motherboard into the case, and then push the backplate as close to it as possible and then mark out where to cutout.

When cutting out make sure you cut less than you marked out and then file down the rest by hand.

Next thing to do was to figure out how to design the ventilation holes, this was my first idea.

But it ended up being two lines instead of three.

Cutting out the hole for the Pico-PSU connector was easy, mark out where it should be and use a regular drill.

I/O-plate fits, power-connector fits, frontplate fits, success!

I installed all the hardware to see if everything works, which it did. So let’s keep on working, next thing to do is to paint the front and backplate.

Painting aluminium with spraycans can be very difficult, the paint does not stick as good as it does on steel for example. But I will go through how I think the best way of doing it is. What you need:

• Self-etching primer for aluminium.
• Regular paint.
• Clearcoat.
• Fine sandpaper.
• Time and patience.

So first of all you have to sand the surface down to get the paint to stick better. Next thing is to start with the self-etching primer, do 6-7 thin layers and let it dry for 24h.

Sand it down with very fine sandpaper to remove any scuffs and then go on with the regular paint, same here 6-7 layers with 10min time between. Let it dry for 24h.

Let’s sand it down again with fine sandpaper and then finish it off with a few layers of clear coat.

If you do it right and let it take time to dry properly, you will get a good result.

This was all for this blog, in the next one I will go through the Pico-PSU, sleeving and how I made a custom-part for the SSD.

See you next time!