Case Mod - In Progress Banished - 24.06.2010 BIG UPDATE.

Very nice idea and execution my friend. I am so curious how is going to sound when its done. Mod on brother!

 

I really like your color theme. I hope wee can see some more soon.

 

Well how good does a £30 speaker system sound?? lol

sounds ok at the moment, but I am hoping it will sound better when it has its side panels back on.


I have a smaller update coming end of week but its going to slow down for me as I am in need of some sheet metal and a couple of fans. When I have enough money I will order but it will be a while.

I am glad you all like my project.

Thank you for your encouragement.

 

Back again in quick succession, but here is where the updates will slow down...

I just did a few smaller things that i feel have really helped the case start to look like a case and more so like my sketchup design, i just really need to get my hands on some sheet metal then i can get to work on the front, the back and some of the insides.

Finishing off the speaker surrounds.



excuse the rough workmanship but it ends out good in the end... i think...



I wont type much and let the pictures do the talking



I dont know what the different bits for the dremel are really for but this is the one i use for grinding away at acrylic



Dont make me angry..... YOU WONT LIKE ME WHEN IM ANGRY.!!!!



see not that bad in the end



one more to make



violla ..... the 2 smaller surrounds are unpainted as i have ran out of green paint






The next part was simple... I just needed to finish off mounting the power stuff for the speakers all though thats not quite true as hopefully I will get my hands on a spare power supply as i want to use the kettle lead connector and mount it in the back of the case and solder the power lines to that so i have a removable power source... but i dont have that yet.

here is the other piece i didnt get round to mounting before






one of the front 140mm fans.... and yes once again the beginnings of the cut are terrible but i know where i am going... maybe.. lol





see that worked out well

It did actually mount central just i was a bit off skew with the picture taking



plenty of room above for the second 140mm



you will look at this picture and think i have nowhere to mount the second fan but obviously thats what i need the sheet metal for to remake an inside and outer front



I think this panel is a bit bare so i will think of something else to go here. Any ideas??

This is just with the outer shape cut out as i havent finished cutting out all the little pieces of the inner design, but here it is so far.





just one small rivet in a central position and a little bit of tape on the back as temporary support



Here it is so far





slowly starting to look like something now


hope you like..... stay tuned

ooooh here is the sig for the case mod.....

 

Will post a couple of pics soon showing my attempt at painting, though it is not finished as I have more work with rubbing compound to do but its not looking bad for a 1st attempt with spray cans.. hopefully will get a progress pics up next week.

 

nice work! keep it coming!

 

Very impressive so far, well done

 

SMALL UPDATE

This is a progress teaser more than anything...

I had a try at painting myself after looking at guides and videos of others that have done the whole paint your own case thing and it looks easier than it really is.

1st of all I live in the uk and to say that we dont have the best weather for painting in is an understatement!! and I dont have anywhere indoors to do this to protect what im painting from the elements, so this panel was more of a test run than a final product.

I had to deal with the wind and as soon as you finish your coat seeing it covered in bits that have landed on it that where floating in the breeze. grrrrrr

All I did here is sand ALL of the powder coat off (that took forever and a day)
(and its funny after a long session of sanding to notice you have no fingerprints left.. hehe

paint a couple of coats of primer and wet sand that down with 600 grit

then a couple of coats of engine enamel black

And a week and a half later I spend a good couple of hours rubbing it down with this



The end result...





I must say i really didnt expect this finish from how it looked before I rubbed it down, the difference that the rubbing compound made was incredible.

Now I will be wet sanding down the paint and giving it a few coats of a gloss black instead of the engine enamel as its cheaper!! And then Wet sanding the layers of black to ensure a better finish before I use the rubbing compound.

Hopefully I can end up with a really good result.. I feel really happy with how that panel came out as I didnt fully prep the layers and it was my first time to try and do this, especially with spray paint.. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Oh and I nearly forgot I have put on order a sheet of aluminium 1mm x 750mm x 1000mm and that will be enough to make the new back and front to the case inside and out.

Untill next update.. keep m0dding!!!!

 

Wow this is looking so cool!!!

I look forward to more !

 

Very nice finish. I should go get me some polish and buff up my case .

 

LED question

I am wanting to wire up 3 red LED's as the illumination for the window of my dvd-rom but I want to make it work as the activity light for the drive too...

can someone out there with the knowledge of wiring up such a circuit possibly pass on a little info on how i can get the led's to trigger as the activity with having external power source other than the dvd rom itself??

Also where is the best place to get the LED's and resistors plz...

I think it would be better to run the 3 LED's from my 12v line of my power supply instead of from the dvd drive as it wont have enough power for the 3 LED's what do you think??

 

You should be able to use the activity light output from your mother board. 3 LEDs in parallel aren't going to overstretch the system, that said I've not done it and I'm not sure what power that line has as standard. If nobody can give you the info over this weekend PM me and I'll get a multimeter to the output next week.
If it does stretch it you can wire it to a transistor which will allow it control a 12V line which you can run your LEDs off.
There are plenty of good places out there to get LEDs and resistors, I like to think we run one of them! Have a look on ebay or check out the FAQs on here to get some comparisons.
Sweet cuts buy the way I'm not sure if that's what that bit is if for either but you certainly use it to good effect.

 

Fantastic paint job mate

When the sub is on does it not rattel?

 

Just realised that I was talking about HD activity lights, you were asking about dvd-rom lights. I would have thought that the drive light would be ok to run 3 off, or again it could be used to switch the lights off a 12V source.
Also with all those speakers any plans to get your main lighting moving to the music?

 

@ DeadP1xels. Thanx, lots to come yet!

@ Skorchio. I am doing the best I can to eliminate possible rattling but there is a small amount of rattle on certain bass notes, then again this is only as the case isnt fully assembled and there are parts not rivited into place as I am still working on them so we will have to see how it sounds at the end..

I was planning to have the lighting work from sound yes and to be able to just turn them on and off......

Do you have a more precise idea on how i would wire the LED's to the dvd rom to allow them to function by the activity with having the outside power source? Surely it activates by sending power to the LED to turn it on, so if i am using my 12v line to power them how would I link the circuit to the drive to enable activity signal use?

I have opened up the drive and I see the LED etc... even better idea, I will post up a picture tonight so you can see how my drive is at the front.

I will check out your site..

 

Ok so I have done a bit of research and I have found what I need to do..

I need to wire an optocoupler to the dvd rom...

The LEDs I am now using are 4 of these:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=2058


Here are some optocouplers but i dont know what one to buy to correctly power my LEDs, what one do I need??
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?menuno=12418&MenuName=Optocouplers

 

I was wondering why you got rid of the box. Because subwoofers sound much better when they are in boxes.

 

REMOVE ME.. was a double post,, grr

 

Yes that is true but that box would have looked mighty ugly sat in that case!!!


I have had a very busy past 2 weeks or so working on this when I can and learning about wiring up this circuit.

But the parts are on order as well as a shiny new vandal resistant power switch so within the next week I will be proud to announce another big update..

I have waited to post an update as I wanted to get a bit closer to the finishing of the front panel and depending on how much work I get will depend on what I get done to the case next week, but fingers crossed that I can get these last few bits done next week and give you guys a big fat bottomed picture-fest..

And I want to give a big thank you to the awesome people that helped me out with my circuitry questions..

 

Ok been a bit longer than intended but here is a quick video I did.




Pics will be following shortly... not doing it today cos today is my BIRTHDAY .. getting old 27 today.. lol