Project: Pappa Betalar with Sunbeam by Jani 'Japala' Pönkkö

EL Wire EL Badge Fan Grills Bubble Light Bottom Window Meteor Light Kit Etched Window Kit Smart Fan Controller Anodized Thumb Screws Installation Finished

Bottom Window

Now, some more modding. For some odd reason I decided to try my first bottom window. Don't know what would be better name for this but perhaps that doesn't matter that much anyway. So, like you may have guessed the idea here is to make a window to a case floor. Why? Well... I'm not quite sure but when I came up with an idea to use something else than fully transparent sheet of acrylic I was happy that I started to do this. :)

Bottom

After I saw the bottom of the case it was quite easy to decide what shape the window will be. Well, actually two windowses. I used the same method that I used with my Window Mod -article and from there you can find better step-by-step instructions.

Cutting

Basic shape was cut with a jigsaw and then I used Dremel copy to smooth out the cuts. Fast, clean and easy to do. Took around 20 minutes to do.

Cord

People often ask me what wire works the best as window trim. I have used wires from these power cables succesfully many times now and they worked out nicely this time too. There are many kinds of ropes and wires that have either plastic or rubber coating and these all can be used as a trim quite easily.

Just slice open the cord but be carefull not to harm the wires and their insulation inside. Then select the wire with the best color for your project and repeat the slicing. Try to make a straight cut because if it isn't it would be quite hard to apply it and get a clean look.

Window

People tend to use plain clear acrylic as a window. I happened to find something more interesting from my closet. You can see those small diamond head imprints? Anyway, they will reflect the light bit differently than a straight plate so it will be interesting to see how it works.

Glued

Installed

Here in Finland the safety standard says that the ground wire has to be yellow-green. Inside the power cord are also blue and brown wires. I'm not sure if my selection was a total success but the trim still serves its purpose. I glued the acrylic pieces to the case with some hot glue and it worked perfectly. You may use silicone or two component glues but hot glue is the best choice because it hardens almost instantly.

Two Cold Cathodes

To the botton of the case I installed two Bi-color Cold Cathode tubes. These will give a nice glow through the bottom window and also around the case againt the table. Hopefully my idea works and that acrylic with that odd texture bring us a nice effect.

Finished

Too bad that I had to use three separate pieces for the window but the end result is still really nice. Textured acrylic catches the light in a very interesting way and hopefully fellow modders will find this effect and the bottom window usefull in their future modding projects.

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