My Attempt At An Xbox Mini, inspired by ghostavel's mini Options

[MasterGouken]

First off i just want to say, yes i know its not an original idea. Unfortunately ghostavel has stated he will not be making kits and i really loved his xbox mini, so i decided to try to make one.

Mine will not be identical (it will only have 1 controller port on the front, i am using a v1.1 xbox, i will be using a proximity/reed switch for the power switch) and the dimensions will be slightly different as i had to guess most of it.

Done so far:
Cut base, top, side and back pieces of 3mm plexi to size:



made 2mm motherboard mounts:



Fit the first iceberq (im waiting for the other to arrive) and fitted a second fan header:



Made a wooden "mould" to bend the side piece of plexi around:



Started working on the pico psu (PW200-M) and sickmods atx to xbox adaptor:



Made a HDD mount for a 250gb laptop hard drive (no pic)

I will be using this wifi bridge (the pcb inside is exactly the same as the one ghostavel used in his mini):



And finally a test layout:




Overall outer dimensions are slightly smaller than ghostavels:
Mine: 23.5cmx20.5cmx5cm
His: 24.5cmx21.5cmx5cm

Ive also made a custom bios with "xbmc" instead of "xbox" on the splashscreen and flashed it to the TSOP.
I'll update when ive got more done (i have to cut the vents on the side pieces by hand (all my cuts are by hand, no lasercutting here lol) so dont expect my progress to be rapid.

This post has been edited by MasterGouken: Mar 22 2009, 01:36 AM

[olnoeve]

Nice work so far man. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

I was actually just starting a mini inspired box, myself. Could you tell me how you cut the plexi? This is almost exactly what I was planning on doing, except I cut out the bottom of the xbox right along the edge of the logic board and psu (for the time being, since I'm a poor college student, I am gonna stick with the stock psu) and I was just going to make the top and sides out of plexi. Nice job on the cuts, they look nice and clean.

This post has been edited by olnoeve: Mar 22 2009, 05:27 AM

[sumdude]

Impressive so far. But I'm worried about how the ventilation would be..

This post has been edited by sumdude: Mar 22 2009, 11:25 AM

[MasterGouken]

Could you tell me how you cut the plexi?

I just measured and marked out with a steel ruler, then cut close to the line with a dremel and cut off disk. Lastly i sanded, then wet sanded until smooth. As long as your measurements are right and you take your time, it should come out ok.

@ sumdude:

It worked for ghostavel and he hasnt posted any heat issues but i will of course monitor the temps on completion. I will be cutting ventilation holes on the side pieces and on the back for the 40mm fan. There will also be vents on the top piece directly above the iceberq's. Hopefully that will be enough.

[olnoeve]

So no problems with the dremel on the plexi? I would think it would melt it, or since its going so fast it might crack it, thats why i didn't want to use it.

Thanks man, I'll give it a try

[MasterGouken]

So no problems with the dremel on the plexi? I would think it would melt it, or since its going so fast it might crack it, thats why i didn't want to use it.

Thanks man, I'll give it a try

I made sure that i used it on a slow/medium speed and cut a small amount at a time to prevent the cut off disk from getting too hot and melting the plexi.
A word of caution, use eye protectors, those tiny bits of plexi that get thrown up really hurt when they get in your eye!

[Galvatron898]

Sup,
Looks great can't wait to see finished result!

[MasterGouken]

Heres the hdd mount. I used 6 2cm diameter tap washers with a screw through the middle to raise it above the motherboard:



I know the edges need cleaning up and yes, its still within the height limitations. Im still waiting for the other iceberq 4 so i'll work on the power switch for now.

[MasterGouken]

Finally got the other iceberq and fitted it. The reed switch is connected up and ive wired up the internal dvd dongle. Ive also started making the fan supports:

[sumdude]

It worked for ghostavel and he hasnt posted any heat issues but i will of course monitor the temps on completion. I will be cutting ventilation holes on the side pieces and on the back for the 40mm fan. There will also be vents on the top piece directly above the iceberq's. Hopefully that will be enough.

Alright, but I still worry about heating.. possible to get some low power peltier units or slim heatpipe system? Also thinking just for heck of it add the extra ram to it?go have a laptop fan/heatsink from a p3 laptop that could work for the cpu if you like. Same cpu that's in the xbox as well oddly enough.

[ghostavel]

I just measured and marked out with a steel ruler, then cut close to the line with a dremel and cut off disk. Lastly i sanded, then wet sanded until smooth. As long as your measurements are right and you take your time, it should come out ok.

@ sumdude:

It worked for ghostavel and he hasnt posted any heat issues but i will of course monitor the temps on completion. I will be cutting ventilation holes on the side pieces and on the back for the 40mm fan. There will also be vents on the top piece directly above the iceberq's. Hopefully that will be enough.

Alright, but I still worry about heating.. possible to get some low power peltier units or slim heatpipe system? Also thinking just for heck of it add the extra ram to it?go have a laptop fan/heatsink from a p3 laptop that could work for the cpu if you like. Same cpu that's in the xbox as well oddly enough.

nice job on the xbox,can't wait to see it .as for air flow i dont have problems but the holes directly on top of the fans helps alot and i mean alot.other than that very nice.

[MasterGouken]

Alright, but I still worry about heating.. possible to get some low power peltier units or slim heatpipe system? Also thinking just for heck of it add the extra ram to it?go have a laptop fan/heatsink from a p3 laptop that could work for the cpu if you like. Same cpu that's in the xbox as well oddly enough.

I'll look into laptop heatsinks/fans but i would need to find one that could use the existing mounting holes and still fit into the space i have available (which is very little).
For now i will go ahead as planned and if heat is an issue, i will address it.

Ive thought about a ram upgrade, anyone in the UK still do this? If so how much? It would be great as the Horizons skin i like to use really slows down the menu animation in xbmc.

On to what i've got done today. Ive put together the power led (im only using 1 blue/red 3mm led), the hdd activity led and the wifi activity led and i've configured the wifi adapter. I've also been considering how to cut the vents (sides, back and top) without it turning out like a kid has gone mad with a dremel.
I want it to be neat, either a grid of small squares or rectangles and im not sure i can afford laser cutting so thats not currently an option. Any ideas?

nice job on the xbox,can't wait to see it .as for air flow i dont have problems but the holes directly on top of the fans helps alot and i mean alot.other than that very nice.

Thanks ghostavel, i appreciate you posting here, after all it must feel like im ripping off your idea. I honestly just love your mini and wanted to make one too. Thanks for affirming that you have no heat issues, thats a relief!

Just a quick question, how much roughly was it to get your plexi laser cut? If i can afford it, i will just get the vents done.

[MasterGouken]

Another update (now that this site appears to be back to normal).
Ive been working on the backplate:



Here you can see the horizontal grooves on the inside of the backplate which the top and bottom panels will sit in (and will be epoxied, for extra strength):



I'm still trying to work out the best way to cut the vents which i have to do before heatbending the main front/side piece.

[olnoeve]

Are you going to have the top piece like slide in? I couldn't figure out how ghostavel got his flush. Did you use the dremel to get that router like groove??


Looking good man, can't wait to see the finished piece

[MasterGouken]

Are you going to have the top piece like slide in? I couldn't figure out how ghostavel got his flush. Did you use the dremel to get that router like groove??
Looking good man, can't wait to see the finished piece

The top piece will slide in as the side pieces also have the grooves on them. The back piece will be the part that goes on last and will hold the top and bottom pieces in place. I saw that ghostavel did something similar for the base piece on his mini.
To get those grooves on there was a little tricky. I had to clamp my dremel (with a 3mm grinding disk) to my workbench and using more clamps and wooden blocks as guides, i fed the plexi along the grinding disk.
If i'd had a proper router i would have probably made a neater job of it but it all fits so far