Drilling a hole in the motherboard for the wires leading to the Spengler plate I believe this was the last hole that I needed to drill through the motherboard for my pack build.
I found a good spot next to the bottom-right "L" bracket to drill a 1/2" hole in the motherboard. This hole will be key for threading wires through the motherboard to the Spengler plate.
I copied another one of GohstTarp's ideas and I bought a rubber grommet (13/16" outer diameter / 1/2" inner diameter) to surround the aluminum edges of the hole, both from the interior and the exterior.
The grommet should do a good job protecting the wires even if I plan to wrap them with heat shrink as well.
As you can see, the 1/2" diameter of the hole/grommet is perfect for feeding through the battery charger connector. This is the largest end that needs to fit through the hole.
Paint it black Once I removed everything from the motherboard, I painted both sides using Rust-O-Leum Universal Satin Black spray paint (the same paint that I used on my shell). I put masking tape on the outside of the mounting "L" brackets because I thought the bare metal could help me see the tapped hole for the mounting screws. Everything else was painted black.
Modified loom clamp As I unmounted the components on the motherboard before painting it, I was able to take a better picture of the modifications I made to the Bionic Labs standard loom clamp. As I noted earlier in the build thread, I had sawn off the base of the clamp so that 1) the loom sits flush against the motherboard and 2) to remove height. I also cut the bottom portion of the left ear of the clamp so that it may overlap with the bottom-right mounting "L" bracket.
Fixing the cyclotron reflectors and the Cyclotron TVG lights to the cyclotron shelf While waiting for the paint to dry on the motherboard, I worked on permanently fixing the reflectors and lights to my cyclotron shelf that I made from sintra.
The first thing I did was to label each light "1," "2," "3" or "4" (with some masking tape) in the order of their lighting sequence. On the inside of the sintra shelf, I did the same for each hole. I really did not want to glue a light in the incorrect order by negligence, so I thought this was a necessary precaution.
Originally, I used hot glue to secure the reflectors, but it did not take very long for one of the reflectors to pop out. So I went to the other extreme. First, I doused the hot glue with isopropyl rubbing alcohol to break down the glue and remove it from the sintra shelf and the aluminum reflectors (this worked incredibly well). Second, I used Lepage Ultra Gel Control super glue to fix the reflectors to the shelf. That alone probably would have created a sufficient bond, but since I was planning to attach light bulbs on the reflectors, I thought the wires might place stress on the bond. Third, I decided to reinforce the super glue bond with Bondo (I have tons of this stuff and I need to use it, haha).
After the Bondo had dried and hardened, I super-glued the black discs (holding the cyclotron TVG lights) to the back of their respective reflectors in the manner that I described in an earlier post. It worked quite well... And I do not think they are going anywhere!
That little piece of light blue plastic that you see caught under the black disc of the bottom left light is actually a piece of the glove that I was wearing while I was holding the disc/light in place (for five minutes) while the glue was drying. Please don't try this bare-handed!
Here is a view from the top. You can see the Cyclotron TVG Lights board and the Vent Relay board mounted to the upper face of the cyclotron shelf:
In sum, I really like how the cyclotron shelf, reflectors, lights and circuit boards are cohesively grouped as one piece or module. It is easy to mount and unmount the whole from the 6.5" speaker, while the whole is only tethered by one cable coming from the Powercell. This, to me, is a simple and elegant way of organizing the electronics.
More updates coming tomorrow, so stay tuned.