Ok, that mousepad really is awesome.

This is so awesome. The suspense is hurting my belly!!!

doing everything with the monitor? or monitors?

This just keeps getting better and better! Good luck in that contest. I say it's rigged if you don't win

That TRON keyboard is going on my must have list.
 
 

Simply amazed by the amount of detail in this build, really makes me feel lazy! Very inspiring work! I keep checking back here everyday to see progress and im blown away every time, those ssd's look sick as with everything else! The keyboard and mouse is a great compliment to what you have going on. Great job!

That mousepad is pretty freaking awesome.

Thanks guys, I'm getting real close to piecing this thing together, hopefully this weekend!
 
@fq360:  Yep the wheels will be lit as well.  Read on!
 
More progress on the tubes.  Got them painted inside and out, after taping off the areas where the ribs will be glued.  Then after doing a light test, I decided to chamfer the ends to widen the glow area a bit.

I set up the router table with a 45° chamfer bit, and made a semi-circuler fence for the tube to fit in so it wouldn't go anywhere, then I slowly rotated it by hand 360°.


All four ends done.


For lighting, I'll be using these blue light strips wrapped around the tube center...


... like so.


A close up shot of the glowing end.


And an overhead shot. 


The part on the bottom is darker because there is about a 3" gap between the ends of the light strip (it's 20" long, and the circumference of the tube is roughly 23").  I will cut a 2nd strip down to fill in that area.  Otherwise, I think that is pretty much the look I was going for.  :)

Stunning ... don't know what to say ... awesome

Amazing build ideas.  The engine idea is just amazingly put together.  Cannot wait to see more of this build.

ILikeBeans
You prolly already know this but I'll throw it out there. I watched an episode of West Coast Customs and they made a little clear acrylic box with shelves in it for a display. I think was glasses. They heated the edge of the acrylic after it was made with a propane torch. It made the cut edge glossy and then they back lite it like you are doing. It really made the light shine through the edges.

 
Yep, they call it "flame polishing" and it really cleans up the rough edges after cutting and sanding.  I wanted to have more of a diffused look on the lit edges, so thats why I didn't polish them up.
 
Cheers Darron, thanks for posting about BSG.  Like the laser light show, but I won't have time to add anything like that to the bike.
 
Thanks all for the comments, here's a smallish upate of my progress today:
Playing with different lighting for the lightwall emitter.  I drilled a few holes in the side of the center rib to accept 3mm uv leds, and fired them up to see how they look. 
For some reason they look too purple here, not at all the same color as the SSD Engine.  Maybe it's because these leds are embedded into the acrylic, whereas the SSD engine had the uv lights hanging over the pieces.


So then I tried white leds and got a better blue hue, but the leds were too far apart and I could see gaps in the lighting.  So I went to a white led lightstrip curved along the inside edge.  Looks much better!  I think I'll be going with door number three, Bob.


So since I can't put the lightstrip where I'll be gluing the center rib to the tube, I had to cut a new groove in the side.  So I taped off the area and drew my cut line.


Using the rotary tool, I carefully cut a thin groove just wide enough and deep enough for the lightstrip.  I didn't want to cut through to the other side, so I put a mark on the saw blade for a depth guage.


Groove is cut, and the other side is unscathed!


The light strip fits right in.


It's just deep enough for the width of the strip.


With that taken care of, I can now glue the center rib to the tube.  I used various pieces of scrap wood and acrylic to keep everything level, square, and plumb.


Back when I first dry-fitted the ribs and tubes, I realized that the tubes weren't a perfect cylinder.  Holding the tube and center rib up to the light, you can really see how imperfect it really is.




I'll be filling in the gaps with some JB Weld, now that the two pieces are tacked together.

More tomorrow!

That's awesome. 
 
Good luck @ the contest. 

Louiiis

Remember a seat and some wheels; then you'll be able to drive off.

 
Hahaha, if only huh. 

The keyboard and mouse also make Tron sounds right?

NOOooooooooooo,  MORE MORE MORE!!!  OMG!