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ROGBot
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Time to start a new project, This one is something I had in mind when I finished my first build but because of time/money it didn't start. This is going to be a long termer but hopefully it should be finished by the end of the year as there is a lot of work to do and hopefully it should help spread the cost of the hardware.
The name should give away the concept of the build, basically I have a couple of old minimotos that I can't run on track anymore (noise restrictions) and so I thought it'd be a cracking idea to utilise one for a build.
Ok some pics of where it's at
The bikes have been stored under a table in one of my sheds, it will give you an idea of how small these little motorbikes are.
A bit of a zoom shot, you can make out some old bodywork there too, this body work might still be used but I figure that i'll have to make some new bodywork or at least add acrylic windows and modify these ones.
Here it is next to my road bike.
So now the bike has been rescued from a life in a garden shed, this is what it looks like in isolation. The reason I have chosen this one is that it has a very nice trellis frame with plenty of points to mount the hardware.
Ok so now it's time to remove the engine, don't worry it won't go to waste, I have another frame that it can go into.
The bike without the engine, there's plenty of space for what I have in mind. I will keep the throttle and brakes, It will need brakes to help it stop....err yes you did read that right, I plan to put an electric motor in the bike so that it will still run and i'll still be able to ride it. (it'll raise a few eyebrows at Lan parties)
A view from the front, the PSU to run the PC and battery for the electric motor will fit under the seat. It'd be good to figure out a way of running the PC and the electric motor off the battery but failing that it will run off two different circuits.
I have made out a board that is the same size as a mini ITX board to give me an idea of how the mobo will be mounted
The system will be water cooled, I test fitted a rad, which is just a little too big so I will have to use smaller items. The reservoir will be in the obvious place, the petrol tank (gasoline for our American friends :eyebrow: ) There will be two rads mounted inside the frame on both sides of the bike.
So hang on tight and watch where this project goes, you should be able to guess what direction I'm going in with the coolant
Time to start a new project, This one is something I had in mind when I finished my first build but because of time/money it didn't start. This is going to be a long termer but hopefully it should be finished by the end of the year as there is a lot of work to do and hopefully it should help spread the cost of the hardware.
The name should give away the concept of the build, basically I have a couple of old minimotos that I can't run on track anymore (noise restrictions) and so I thought it'd be a cracking idea to utilise one for a build.
Ok some pics of where it's at
The bikes have been stored under a table in one of my sheds, it will give you an idea of how small these little motorbikes are.
A bit of a zoom shot, you can make out some old bodywork there too, this body work might still be used but I figure that i'll have to make some new bodywork or at least add acrylic windows and modify these ones.
Here it is next to my road bike.
So now the bike has been rescued from a life in a garden shed, this is what it looks like in isolation. The reason I have chosen this one is that it has a very nice trellis frame with plenty of points to mount the hardware.
Ok so now it's time to remove the engine, don't worry it won't go to waste, I have another frame that it can go into.
The bike without the engine, there's plenty of space for what I have in mind. I will keep the throttle and brakes, It will need brakes to help it stop....err yes you did read that right, I plan to put an electric motor in the bike so that it will still run and i'll still be able to ride it. (it'll raise a few eyebrows at Lan parties)
A view from the front, the PSU to run the PC and battery for the electric motor will fit under the seat. It'd be good to figure out a way of running the PC and the electric motor off the battery but failing that it will run off two different circuits.
I have made out a board that is the same size as a mini ITX board to give me an idea of how the mobo will be mounted
The system will be water cooled, I test fitted a rad, which is just a little too big so I will have to use smaller items. The reservoir will be in the obvious place, the petrol tank (gasoline for our American friends :eyebrow: ) There will be two rads mounted inside the frame on both sides of the bike.
So hang on tight and watch where this project goes, you should be able to guess what direction I'm going in with the coolant
Some updates on the some of the small jobs that I've been doing. Lots of little things and just tying up loose ends
First up is the front mudguard, I'd originally planned to put a ROG logo there, but on second thoughts I thought that it's taking away some attention from the guys that actually sponsored the build ...so I chose something non-PC related and used a Ducati Course shield. The paint finish is a blue flake over the white ... I'm glad I done this small part first as I just don't think that finish all over the body work would look right ... It's ok for the mudguard.
Next up is the fans, I'm going for the 80mm Cooler Master ones... had a big hunt around and found these items, I like these as they're different than the usual generic design of the shrouds that most fans use
These were given a dusting with blue flake just to make the matt black a bit more interesting...
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
I have now got the RAM, I'm going with Corsair Dominators, Nice understated design and they'll give out some subtle lighting around the M'board
Really like these, but tricky to find the right ones .... Had to check the Vendor list in the ASUS manual
Next up is the dash...
I made a template to fit the curve inside the nose cone, difficult to get right and found it easier to fold the card in half, so that it kept both sides equal.
The display was torn down to its basic screen and I made a template of that too. This was to get the holes in the right place .. eventually the template was transfered onto the acrylic and cut out
Here's how it turned out
and with the display on ....
It just needs fitting to the bike now ... getting closer 🙂
OOPS nearly forgot about this photo,
I've revised the loop around the M'board and also fitted the break out point, the tray has been painted and lacquered and also I have started to look at the last bit of cabling. I'm using some clips that keep all the lines nice and tidy, those clips will be stuck onto a bracket and will keep them all in place.
Also the ram has been slotted in 🙂
UPDATE 3/11/13
With the dash made. it needed to be fitted to the bike. This was done with a couple of simple brackets which were bolted in place. I mixed up some araldite, applied to the brackets and used clothes pegs to clamp the dash in place.
The screen was glued in place in the same way with some brackets, so that it can be removed if necessary, The end result looks like this.
A view through the screen (screen decals have now been added too)
Now it was time to tackle the paint work finish ... It's no good paying for all that paint and leave it all unfinished, otherwise it'll look crap, All the panels have now been Lacquered but after lacquering you'll be left with something like this :
Under close scrutiny it has that horrible orange peel effect, Here's how I got rid of it.
The tank/seat unit was dragged into the kitchen sink and sanded down with 2500 grade wet and dry, (THE LACQUER HAS TO BE HARD WAIT AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE DOING THIS)
You'll notice some washing up liquid, this just lubricates the wet and dry. Dunno if this helps with the finish but it feels better :naughty:
after a quick going over you'll see this : The low spots are still shiny
So we keep going until that lacquer is "flat" (no low spots) Don't go mad with this you're only sanding the lacquer, we don't want to sand through it into the paint. This is what you'll be left with
So now we have a nice flat finish it's time to polish it back up, I've used Meguires products, I'm sure there's other brands but used this because they have an excellent reputation. I don't have a polishing machine, So I have used a polishing mop that fits into an electric drill (a couple of quid from Halfords)
First I have used a cutting compound, this will get rid of the sand paper marks.
The mop has been rinsed out in cold water and used when wet (extra lube) Don't dwell in one area keep the mop moving.
I rinsed out the mop again and repeated this process with the finishing polish. This is how that area ended up like, I've left the top of the tank "flat" for comparison
The other panels have been done too, here's the top/ nose cone fairing all assembled and polished ready to fit onto the bike. Sander from Mod With Me has sent through the last of the decals and it finishes off the panels quite nicely. Top work from Sander, he's had to put up with a lot from me So a huge thanks man :thumb: I'm very happy.
Ohh go on then another pic of that assembly
I have some really good news, EK Water Blocks are sponsoring me with a new block they have coming out. A big thanks to you guys.
I look forward to sharing with you what EK is about to release and the build will be complete by the end of the month.
Update 17/11/13
I've been finishing off all the little things, First up is the Cooler Master fans. I've shortened and sleeved one of the cables. the other one I soldered on a male connector so that the fans can be "daisy chained" and run direct to the motherboard.
Next up is the LED's for the Res, nice and simple, the Res was already pre-drilled by Phame so all I needed to do was secure the cable with a P clip and slot in the LED ... real easy job (Thanks Phame)
Next we have the cables into the Motherboard, nice simple solution again. I have basically stuck on a couple of clips on a bit of plexy, but it keeps those cables really tidy. (the camera is picking up all the dust will have to wipe before taking final photo's)
Something I very nearly forgot about was the front brake :wallbash: although it would have made things more interesting when riding the bike, it really needs brakes. I fitted a nice wave disk to add a bit more "bling" to the front end.
So It's pretty much done, Just need to slot in an ngff drive and fill the loop. Waiting for the block from EK but that can be fitted later. Talking about filling the loop here's what I have got, some lovely Aurora 2 🙂
Here's the pre final photo's of the bike. next update should be the last 🙂
I've added some EK decals, seems fair as the other sponsors have theirs on the bike 🙂
