Benevolance was asking about how I did some of the metal work on this frame, so I thought I'd reply here just in case anyone else was interested.
Just keep in mind, this is all from a +completely+ clueless metal working guy
what tools you needed/used to make that monitor casing?
Basically, I had some heavy gauge sheet copper (the kind you use for roofs) left over from a remodel I did several years back, so, being cheap, that's what got used.
I used various clamps, plus a few different jigs made from scrap wood to essentially jerry rig a break which is a metalworking tool that allows you to easily bend sheet metal to a crisp, sharp corner. But because it was all wood, the metal didn't bend completely true, that's how it got that ever so slight curve in the top (completely not intentional, btw).
For cutting, I used a set of, i think they're called horizontal shears. Essentially, imagine a pair of tin snips, but the snip part is angled 90' to the handles, so you can cut through metal without the body of the shears (and your hands!) having to be between the 2 cut edges.
The prob is they leave a VERY noticeable ding at each point in the cut, which is pretty unsightly.
To get rid of that, I used an anvil and hammer and just eyeballed it and pounded the hell out of it till I was reasonably happy it was straight. Then used a grinder to clean up the edge, and a foam sanding block to derazor it (otherwise, that sheet metal comes out ULTRA sharp!).
I used the snips to cut angles at the corners and bend them over to make "lips" and then clamped things together with wood blocks and clamps while I soldered the top 2 corners. I mitered the front and back corners so that the frame rails would mate up and be flush. Could have overlapped them and just butt jointed them, but I think it fits a little better mitered. But the corners ended up not showing anyway because those corner brackets hide them.
The corners and braces I recognize as being regular hardware I can buy. Did you buy them in brass and antique them, or did you paint them up?
I bought all that hardware. The corner brackets are "trunk corners", then a bunch of brass corner angle brackets and lots of short #10 brass screws and washers.
The tough part about that was that one of the main reasons for using a metal frame was space. Once the buffet folds up, there's less than 1/4 inch at the top and bottom of clearance, between the monitor and flight stick on the bottom and between monitor and front doors of the cabinet on top.
So that ruled out any wide ornate wood frame (which was my first choice).
BTW All those brass corners and screws are +soldered+ on, the I used a grinder in the back to cut the screws off flush. This is because the copper sheets fits TIGHT up against the monitor itself. There just wasn't any room for nuts inside. (I'm leave the door wide open here
)
I also drilled a few small holes to mount some brass grommets to, just for effect (they kind of remind me of the exhaust vents on old thunderbirds or something like that). You can see that here:
Then, as I was fitting things together I realized that I couldn't fashion the frame as a single piece, cause I wouldn't be able to actually +put it on the monitor+ Doh!
Sooooo, the bottom rail with the control pod I soldered all together, and I soldered the screws holding the corner brackets to it, but for the screws holding it to the side rails, those i actually threaded the copper sheet, screwed the screws into place, then cut off the screws to fit flush from the inside. It means that those screens +could+ pull out relatively easily.
HOWEVER, 2 back screw on each side does have enough clearance for a nut, so I put one on, and, well, people aren't gonna be hanging from my monitor frame so it's not likely to get too much abuse.
And finally, that control pod. It looks cooler than it is
I took a short piece of copper pipe, drilled holes all the way through it, cut some 1" long pieces of copper tubing, drilled holes in THOSE, and soldered them in place in the holes. Then wired up leds to illuminate the buttons and fished them through the holes, running the wires out the end. Wired up all the resistors inline and bundled all that in the end part of the tube (so there's only a 5v line and ground required), fished that wire through the copper pipe, bent and shaped that tubing (it's old refrigerator tubing, amazing what some polishing compound and a bench polisher can do
I used brass plumbing flare fittings and caps for the various end caps and such (spent a LOT of time in the plumbing section of Lowes for that stuff), and brass grommets I picked up at a sewing supply place
The buttons themselves are mother of pearl brass snaps I picked up at the same sewing supply place. They're translucent to the led's shine through nicely.
The tricky part was bending and twisting and cutting paperclip wire into little "dumbells" such that one end of the dumbbell sits just on each of the monitor's buttons, and the other sticks up just above the edge of the copper pipe.
Here's a shot of that in process (I posted this earlier in the thread too)
Then, I epoxied the pearl buttons on and viola! working buttons that are nothing more than straight mechanical links. No circuit board mods etc. The really nice thing about all that is that I can unscrew a few screws, take the frame off and the monitor is completely untouched. Stick the stand back on it and it's good to use as a monitor again.
Final step was to polish everything to within an inch of it's life, then Brasso everything, and finally slather it all with Future (floor polish). Dang that stuff is awesome for sealing stuff like this!
It took a while, but I think it came out pretty decent.
I plan on going back and some point and adding a little more brass embellishments, plus maybe some etching, and I'd like to mount several old steam engine oilers I found, and put a little methylene chloride in there, plus a small lamp and an led, and I'll have a mad scientist, bubbling glass beaker!
But, that'll have to wait for now.