EFIKube: Lego EFIKA case

[motorollin]

Ok, I was going to wait until this was finished to post anything but I'm excited :-) I am building a custom case out of Lego for my EFIKA. So far I have used about 320 Lego bricks.

The case was originally going to be a cube but it doesn't need to be that tall, so it is now square and will probably be about half as tall as it is wide/deep. However, I had already settled on the name "EFIKube" so it's staying, even if it's not geometrically accurate ;-)

Here is the case so far, which shows the basic design:
Link

The three small holes in the front will be for the power, reset and eject buttons. These will be made of coloured lego bricks with the pegs removed from the top, and the bricks at the bottoms of the holes will also have the pegs removed from the tops. This will allow the buttons to sit in the holes and operate switches behind.

The slit on the right hand side is obviously for the CD tray. This will be hidden by this piece:

Link

The pegs will also be removed from the top of the bricks on this piece, and from the bricks at the top of the slot in to which it fits. The whole piece will then be attached to the front of the CD tray and will (hopefully) be completely flush so the tray will be invisible.

Here's what is inside so far:

Link

The gadget in the top left corner is an IDE->USB adapter to allow the CD drive to be connected to the EFIKA. The black towers around the CD drive will hold it in place (but will need padding) and will also support a shelf above the CD drive for the motherboard. The tower in the bottom left of that photo will support the power/reset/eject switches. The wire running along the right edge of the CD drive is soldered to the eject switch to allow the drive to be ejected with an external button.

I need to go to the Lego shop and get the bricks for the switches, then to Maplin and find some suitable switches. Then I need to get my dremel out and try removing the pins from the bricks :nervous:

I'm also looking for suggestions on how to mount the ports in the back of the case. These will be extended away from the board so I don't need to mount the whole backplate. Ideas please! :-)

More updates (hopefully) soon!

--
moto

[weirdami]

Instead of removing the pegs, you could just use the smooth topped caps that Lego also makes.

There's a Lego "shop"? You in Denmark or something?

[motorollin]

weirdami wrote:
Instead of removing the pegs, you could just use the smooth topped caps that Lego also makes.

I don't think they make them in the same dimensions as normal bricks. They do them in pieces 1/3 of the height, so I could stack up two of the ones which have pegs and one on top which doesn't, but I think you would see that they weren't normal bricks and the CD tray would be visible, which would defeat the object.

weirdami wrote:
There's a Lego "shop"? You in Denmark or something?

Nope, England.

--
moto

[amiga_3k]

Hehehe... Weirdami beat me to it. The 'smooth' stones should prevent you from taking the dremel.

I saw some USB-memorystick-inside-Lego-bricks on the net the otherday. What type of connectors do you need? I can only think of USB and VGA.

[motorollin]

amiga_3k wrote:
Hehehe... Weirdami beat me to it. The 'smooth' stones should prevent you from taking the dremel.

As I said above, I can't find them in the same dimensions as normal bricks, only the thin ones. I would love to be proven wrong though! :-)

amiga_3k wrote:
I saw some USB-memorystick-inside-Lego-bricks on the net the otherday. What type of connectors do you need? I can only think of USB and VGA.

Exactly, USB and VGA. Power will be easy as it's 12v in to the mini PSU, so I can just make a hole in a brick. VGA and USB will be harder...

--
moto

[amiga_3k]

Moto,

You can cheat a bit by running a 'thin' layer (so, one layer of 1/3 bricks) across the whole case, probably in some contrasting color like grey. It's a trick used by most of the designers.

[motorollin]

amiga_3k wrote:
You can cheat a bit by running a 'thin' layer (so, one layer of 1/3 bricks) across the whole case, probably in some contrasting color like grey. It's a trick used by most of the designers.

Good idea! I'll definitely consider that! Cheers :pint:

--
moto

[amiga_3k]

@Moto:

Glad to be of help. Interested in how this project will grow.

[weirdami]

Interested in how this project will grow.

Brick by brick. :-P

[ZeBeeDee]

No 'chicken lips' lego errrrr I mean logo? :lol:

/shakes head and slowly walks away

[spihunter]

You should have some kind of lego battle scene going on the top of the case when your done.

[ZeBeeDee]

Or something like this would be nice...

Its PC but still nice and adaptable for a miggy project.

Outside:


Inside:



*ADDENDUM*

/me sneaks off and buys shares in Lego ... :-)

[kolla]

spihunter wrote:
You should have some kind of lego battle scene going on the top of the case when your done.

Yeah, blue vs. red  :-D

[Hans_]

For inspiration, here's the original Google storage tower.

Hans

[Zero]

@> Moto

How cool!

Love it!

 :-D