Downing's Basement

Things are moving right along and I encourage you to check out the forums for some very deep updates! But to make it quick, I’ve got all the Nintendo systems wired up in their new housing and ready to have their video/audio and power hooked up via the control box! Still a lot more wiring to go but the tedious part is over with! Here is a picture of the rough system box. This will be faced with black plastic like the control box and be covered on the top. I can really feel this taking shape now and progress should be going quite a bit faster now! More updates shortly!

I love weekends, they are so productive when it comes to projects like this and even more so when the wife is out of town for a couple days! But anyway, just  a brief update of where things are at.

First off, I replaced the fan that had the burnt out LED’s originally with the replacement the company sent me. This became necessary because I changed how my fans are controlled. Instead of having the fans controlled off of their own 12V power supply, tuned on/off with a power switch in the control box, I soldered two-pin Molex connectors back to them and now have a digital touchscreen fan controller built right into the control box. This now allows me to control the speeds of each fan individually which is key for sound control as the green fans are much much louder than the blue ones, but they move more air because of it. It’s just not necessary at all times. This controller also has 5 thermal sensors so when the heat gets up there, it automatically kicks the speeds up to push more air. The unit fit perfectly into my control box, now I just need to play around with the wires to keep them out of the way. It’s also powered directly from the computers power supply so when I shut the computer off the fans go off automatically as well. I’ll be wiring the LED’s to this power switch on the control box too so that the on/off works with them also. There are more pics on all the forums so you can check those out.

Next on the big to-do list is to finish wiring up the Nintendo systems and start testing them. I have to make a redesign on the layout because I couldn’t get the wires long enough to fit in the table, so they will be kept in their own box that can attach/detach from the control box. We’ll see how that goes. Anyway, here’s a video and picture of the progress!

Being sick sucks! Though I’m sure it’s just a common cold and the Dayquil is fighting it quite well, I’m still miserable and feel today is going to be mostly wasted to movies and video games.

But, over the past week or so I’ve made a great deal of progress on the desk. I’ve used pretty much every LED I have in the house now for this, placing them actually into my power supply and computer PCB so most of the areas are well lit. Looks pretty cool too. Still having a problem with the noise these fans are putting off, but I have found a solution I think with a digital touchscreen fan controller I found online for $22 bucks! Basically this has a 5 fan, fully programmable interface which allows me to control the speeds and temperatures in which they are supposed to turn on! I’ll be building this right into the face of my control box! I’ll put up pics when I get them! Here’s a view of the inside!

I also finished off the the front panel where the DVD, Media Reader and USB plugs are mounted. This isn’t trimmed out or screwed into place yet, but the fit was perfect and outcome looks good! I also mounted the PC on/off button with a snap bushing and the B button from some old controller that I had. It just took a basic momentary tact switch and this button works better than the first one did! I then mounted the original LED that used to illuminate the Dell Logo right above the button so it can be seen when you’re sitting at the desk but from afar you’ll know the PC is on.

Anyway, I’ll be posting more pics on the forms so be sure to go check those out too! Thanks!

So I’ve got a basic arrangement down of how I want the lighting and the systems set in the desk. I think I’m going to order a few more LEDs because some place in the desk are still pretty dark and could use a bit of extra love. Learned last night though that my power supply has a surge protector build into it! Just got a bit careless and when trying to power some of the LED’s temporarily, I bridged some connection and there was a spark and my computer went dead! Needless to say I was still washing brown stains out this morning, but fortunately the PSU did what it was supposed to and nothing got damaged!

It’s very difficult to take low light shots though without a tripod so my good camera has to wait and my phone is responsible for these. I have more posted on MBB which you can check out as well as on ModRetro and Racketboy if you prefer one or the other. But let me know and if you haven’t subscribed yet to either my blog or YouTube channel, please do!

Got the trim work around the fans done as well as temporarily mounting the fan grills that came in this afternoon! Tested with 12V power supply which will be what is plugged into the switch on the control box but as you can see, I have a defective fan. The LEDs don’t work but the fan itself does. So I’ve ordered some more green LEDs and I’ll just wire it the connections. Now all that’s needed for the face is to just paint it black and the back I need to put the directional vents in place. Shouldn’t be too difficult. Will post more updates hopefully in the next day or so!

Just made a small amount of progress today on the desk. Got my 4 120MM Blue and Green LED fans roughly mounted to the back panel of the desk.

I still have to put the directional ducts on the back as the two left fans blow air out and the two right ones blow the cool air in. However without directional duct vents, there’s nothing to stop the hot air from bouncing off the back wall and getting sucked back in by the right fans!

Simple up and down directional ducts will solve that, hot air pointing up, cold air in pointing down.

The pic below just shows the rough mount. I have to trim them in, paint then wood and I have 4 fan grill covers on order to give it a bit of style. Slowly getting there!