Where to start? I think it was
sometime in 2003 that I held the contest on CaseModGod to see who could
create the best 640x480 CMG desktop background image, the winner scored a
6" LCD monitor as the grand prize. The following picture was one of
the contest submissions that did not win and I thought I had in fact forgot
about it, but unknowingly it somehow remained in my subconscious.
I came up with the
following rough sketch for a HellRaiser computer and the final design sketch follows
it.
After coming up with the rough
draft I sat down and thought about how making a 'monster' PC could best be
accomplished, the final design sketch was thrown down quick in pencil...
Here is a video
work log if you care to see the creation of the monster...
Below shows the result of over
a years worth of labor, other than a few minor aesthetic changes it looks just
like the original design sketch. I modified a hand truck to
make transporting it easier and I made a HellRaiser box mouse pad and custom
background images for both monitors.
A close up of the mouse pad I
made for the mod is shown below, I sacrificed a Screamin' HellRaiser puzzle box
model for the cause and glued it onto hand cut acrylic that was shaped and vinyl
dyed black beforehand, all things considered it works quite well for mousing.
The computer mod is detailed
to the point of anality, below shows a head shot taken at QuakeCon2005.
The head was hand sculpted and painted with a top window formed by baking flat
acrylic in the oven and then etching a brain pattern on the inside, there was a
lot of trial and error work involved in making it. The head has four
stripes of Glo-wire wrapped around it, the eyes are keyboard controlled to move
left and right with another button that lights up the eyes UV and a Laser-Pod that
shoots a tri-pattern laser array up onto the brain etch and out through the top
window.
The next picture shows the
chest section, installed are a CDRW/DVD slot loading laptop drive, a 6" TFT
LCD monitor that acts as an independant secondary display and the water
reservoir with a red LED as the heart of the beast. The chest section is
held in place by four screws and can easily removed in one piece, the upper
halves of the arms are speakers that also can be easily removed... this is a
fully self contained and entirely upgradeable
computer.
Below shows the belly
of the beast, an oven formed acrylic window allows for a full view of
the motherboard and components, three different types of red LED
lighting gives the guts their varying levels of glow. The memory
for the machine scrolls 'Project Lament' and other system information,
water is pumped through the spring covered lengths of blue tubing to
water blocks connected to every heat generating part and the power
button is hidden inside the HellRaiser puzzle box.
The back is every bit
as detailed as the front and has a recessed handle installed between the
shoulders to make lifting and moving it easier. There are two red
LED rocker switches installed on either side of the handle that control
the lighting in the abdomen, in and around the head and the spikes that
run up the back of the arms. The radiator for the water cooling is
mounted into the left shoulder blade and the power supply is mounted in
the right, there is also a ventilated pump access area in the small of
the back near the base (not shown).
The next picture shows
the lasers shooting out of the head, the laser patterns swirl and move
as they shine onto the ceiling above. Check out the complete nine page
project work log to see the build from
start to finish..
