This was the sixth or seventh computer I had built. Construction on sonic occured sometime around 2004. My previous computer was built in an Acrylic case. Since I love Sonic so much I decide I would build my next PC as a tribute. The hardware in this machine was pretty basic. I believe it had 2 gigs of ram and a 1.8ghz single core AMD Athlon processor. The graphics card was a Geforce 4 with 128 megs of onboard video ram. Amazing at the time! This computer is proudly featured on the Sonic Gear website!
Construction:
I picked the design of the case from the Sonic CD box. First I traced sonic grabbing the Emerald. I scanned my trace and enlarged to take up a page. I traced him on the inside of the case and started to drill... And drill some more... and drill some more. I wasn't getting through the case. I enlisted my father who pointed out that the drill bit I was using was not the best for the material I was going into. A new drill bit designed for steel not wood got me through the case.
Cutting the window:
My father and I drilled a few pilot holes and then used a jig saw to cut the rest of sonic out from the case. We used a large hole saw to cut the fan. The streaks of him jumping were drill bit holes and then 1-2 passes with the jig saw. When complete we filed down the edges.
Painting:
The case was originally beige. After a good cleaning I broke out the Rustoleum and sprayed it out with 2 coats. I unfortunately was a bit heavy handed on the top and had some runs that needed to be sanded and redone. Be careful when spraying and don't get too close to the surface.
Handles:
At the time I envisioned hosting many LAN parties at my college and I wanted the case to be easily carried. I commuted and my car was not the best for moving large/heavy items. I found handles at home depot that I liked and after drilling the holes mounted them.
Glass:
With sonic cut out I had to cover the inside so dust would not get in. Home depot sells sheets of thin Plexi glass which work great. They can be easily cut with a table saw and then attached to the inside via plastic cement/liquid nails (it comes in a calking tube) from a caulking tube.
Lighting:
I lit the fan green using LED's so it would look much like the Emerald on the box of Sonic CD. The inside used 2 cold cathode tubes in blue to light it.
Decommisioning:
This case is still used, but it is hidden inside my Arcade machine.
