Case Mod - In Progress NZXT Lexa -Experimental Modyssey - June 5 - new CCFL, lighting question

amen
on the positive side, I should have some of the order soon at least.
I really wanted those scroll saw blades. my local ace (4 blocks away) and the home depot had no blades when I last checked... so I'm stuck with the 10tpi blade for now.

I'll try and stay positive....

 

This was on my neighbor's doorstep when I got home today. I know Harbor Freight has nothing to do with that, but somehow, it seemed appropriate. :shake head:
I'm really glad I decided to get it, and will unbox it later.... I still need to get a drill press... , and most of my bits are on the way. (I hope... I couldn't really hear what the 2 other canceled items were.)


Here's the Newegg BF pickups. The DLink 108G DGL-4300 router was $60 on Friday, and then Monday was $50. Getting Newegg to agree to refund the $10 was relatively quick and painless. I appreciated that.
That's a samsung HD103UJ (for those that like to keep track of these things) 1 TB drive that was $100. I got a 500GB drive last year at this time for about the same price. I'm running low on space, so I need to upgrade. The 1.5GB model they had on sale for only a little more had some bad reviews for failure, and the Green version model they were offering was apparently a worse version of a slightly different model number. the samsung had some good reviews, was $100, and I needed the space, and so I pressed the buy button.
I needed a sata DVD/R drive for this build, and these Lite-Ons were cheap. ($20)
The router... man, it has Gamerfuel! It's like Brawndo for gamers! I've never owned a DLink, and it got good reviews, and had all the features I needed and more... so that went in the cart as well. I'll see how it goes, I haven't heard bad things about DLink, but I'm a little less enthused about it at the moment... I thought it had N, but it's only G/B compatible. The linksy wrt100 was looking good, on sale at $50, and from linksys aka cisco, but I went for the Dlink. I don't have any N devices anyway, and I just got that G adapter, so it should definitely work for now. Gigabit ethernet is important, but most of my NICs are still at the 100Mb/s mark. Still, it's future proof for upgrades.

Did I show you this pic from last night?

I went through the pics of last night, and this one is ok, but needs a revisit. A little blurry, especially around the black/white UV green piece. That kinda adds to the effect for me... then again, I suffer from the effect of too many late nights modding. (inc reading/writing/responding to project logs... & shopping research) and my vision is blurry and my judgement may be slightly off. The shiny-ness and clarity of the clear green sandwich looks fantastic to me. I think the curved piece had some pockets that didn't get glue or something, as there's too much 'gunk' between the layers.

I was trying to recreate of sorts the pic from the last step I liked the most:

Didn't quite make it as sharp and clear as a whole group. I've still got to sand the ends, so more pics will be attempted.

Oh yeah, and congratulations to all the nominees for MoTM. This will be a hard choice... I've read a good portion of most of these nominees except for that little break I took. They all have such good things to offer. I'm gonna hold off on my vote for now (no offense nominees) because I kinda didn't like the sweep of the last vote (no offense please, oldnewby, as you know I loved both your work and your log.) I guess I just want to see what else they can come up with before the deadline. All such interesting plans, logs, and craftsmanship, so it's tough. I want to see a mod win that I watched from start to finish, I guess, Show me what you can get completed and logged, and I'll vote... I'm rooting for John, not only cause he's got 3 degrees, was a biker, and responded to my log and offered interesting comments to the bit-tech community at large, but because he's cooled a C7 board with Cheapskate-made waterblocks! He's torn that thing up and down, and cycled ideas, similar to the way I work.
I could spend another hour writing about how good all the other options are too, but instead I'm gonna stop typing and go catch up on the contestants...

To all the nominees, I salute you. Keep up the good work.

 

Nice new gear.

 

I'm glad you got most of what you needed and sorry about HF, They are a hit or miss place even n their retail stores.

Thanks for the MOTM comments. My project has been a trial but there are secrets yet to come. Sponsored stuff?

I believe all of our mods - from MOTM winners to newbies first case mod deserve our help. I help where I can and I ask for help freely.
Bit-Tech is really a forum for the people. Very few forums I have visited treat the new peeps as kindly as Bit-Tech people do. This is my home.

Mod on!

john - off the soapbox

 

Oh, keeping secrets, are we John? Can't wait to see what develops!

I did get another box with most of the rest of my HF order. I didn't take pics yet (I'm trying to develop that skill (no pun intended) so you can consider that my secret for now. Shouldn't be long. There will be a big unboxing of unboxing (of cheap tools!)... do stay tuned...

I'm missing one box, and I haven't checked off the things I missing that should be in that box. Worse still, it's the USPS box that doesn't want to tell me anything about the number I was given over the phone. I still haven't received an email from HF, either response to the CS email, or status updates on my order/billing. I know I'm not getting the scroll saw blades, these cool little gauge rings with visors thingies that were $1.49, and something else I can't remember at the moment.

@john
Thanks for the comments about my comments! Yeah, I totally agree and feel the way you do about the bit-tech community minded modding. I really do like these forums and the talent and enthusiasm that it attracts, even though it feels like most of the folks are sleeping when I'm modding and vice versa! (It does add to the appeal, as well though, tbh.) Good luck with the competition! You're a very close second at this moment! I thought mineral oil pc would be up there as well.

Expect updates soon

 

Reality Check

Ok, I checked out the HF shipping list with what I got. Turns out there's one item unaccounted for: the fractional digital calipers I'd ordered. I'm wondering if that's what in the USPS box.

The other tool I was denied due to back order and not informed about is the 3 piece ball hex key set, which had 3 different standards, each in their own folding handle.

Showing up as backorders are my 50 pc set of mini drill bits, the 3in1 riveter kit, and 40pc SAE tap and die set.

I still haven't received any kind of communication from HF (they who must not be named). I'm thinking of directing them to this log in particular and let them know that their Customer Service practices are being demonstrated to a large group of potential customers. Do you think that would change anything there?

Wanna see what I got to add to the workshop?

I know I said I was gonna work on the photography skills, but not tonight.

The vise


One side is aligned to the centermark when fully closed.

The other side doesn't align with the attached rule. WTF! Luckily that's the back side.


The vise is posing with some of the other stuff

and more.


The big picture


This is 2x 6" metal rulers with diamond wire scroll saw bits, and a "tumbling" bender set. (It's for bending small tubes!) The rulers were so cheap, and I was so likely to lose one, I got 2! Anyone ever use these wire scroll saw bits? I think they'd cut acrylic pretty well.


I also got some stuff for the future drill press, and future drill! Holesaw set up to 5", 60piece drill set (numbered, not sized, which is weird for me), and a set of carbide tipped bits designed for glass, which I think would be good for plexi as well.

Here's the holesaw set opened:


And a better view of what was in those other little box sets:

Those are hex socket cap screws, and thread serts (aka nut rivets), grommets, and heatshrink. (pictured in the big picture above.)

I also got some tack cloth, microfiber cloth, some filter material, some Goof Off, and 2 6" bar clamps.

 

Got yourself a lot of new toys there, enjoy them.

 

Nice work!!! absolutely amazing, superb job on the IDE cable!!!
wow lot of hardware too... I need to be your neighbor

 

thanks for the comments guys. I hope to have some modding time soon to try out the new tools. I've been busy with a few other things and haven't been able to get to work.

PS, It looks like I may not even use those IDE cables... moving to SATA!

 

SATA is the way to go!!! I'm running all SATA and really like it I went away from all of the big cables.

 

Semi-Update

Yup, SATA is pretty cool, and will work well with this case/board.

Since I had the motherboard mounted and set up for testing a sata drive from my server (Thread in Tech Support for the detailed ordeal. Please check it out if you have some P4PE experience, or Raid Recovery Ideas!) I decided to throw all the hardware in and run all the wires as close to reality as possible to visualize some cable management plans. I'll get some pics up in a few. I took a bunch and now I have to sort and upload. I'll do that in a later, full update.

I also got the 3rd package from HF. As suspected it contained the calipers, which I promptly put to use. I've still got the 3 backordered items missing, and still no response from HF. I haven't called them yet, but that's next. They did send me a letter... inside was a bill for another $10.81! Nothing about why they were charging me more, or where the rest of the order is.

I've also made a few minor mods on the server I keep in the garage, right near my workbench... I'm undecided if I should post the pics and story here, or put it in the modding section. It's not really worth a whole thread, but it is a cool case (the first I ever bought, from Korea when I was living there.) and there was some interesting stuff inside. Let me know if you want to see it, and where you think I should put it.

Pics to follow.

 

if it aint worth a whole thread then just post the pics in this thread.... i personally would love to see it...

 

Ask and ye shall receive

Ok, spenc259, thanks for the comments, and as requested a few pics of the server and the minor mods I did to it while working on that SATA problem.

A little background. This is the first PC I ever purchased for myself (before that was the family AppleIIe which I used from Jr High to University, until it died, taking my 20 page paper with it!)
The Case was bought in Korea in 2000, when I was teaching English and living there. It came with a P3-733mhz, which has since been demoted, though I believe it is in my stash spot, still functional. I bought it, and ended up bringing it back home with me, and had repurposed it to a server, living in the garage next to the workbench.

Front:

I just like the look.

The shell is one piece, and slides off/on from the front. I like the latching mechanism:


Partially opened:



The back:

Note that again, I don't have the official backplate, and cut up another one I had lying around. This needs to be addressed.

Shell interior, showing latches:


Front Cover removed:


Interior:


Closeups of the 'interesting' interior bits:


(seems like the bugs like the warmth of the constantly running pc in the garage!)

So, the only things I've done to this (besides cleaning out the dust, plexi/saw dust, and dead bugs) is to put the new filter stuff I got from HF to use by cutting out squares and attaching them to the fan and other openings.




Still to do with it (now that i've got my Sata data drive on it's way to recovery) is to cover the i/o shield area, and the front 3.5 bays to seal out all the bugs and dust in the future. I may also have to do something similar with the ventholes on the shell side. I'm not too concerned with looks at the moment (you might have noticed!), but I might end up making this a mod project down the road, just for nostalgia's sake.


And for sitting through all that, a special sneak preview of the case with all it's wiring and hardware set up for planning purposes (more holes needed!):




YEah, lots of work yet to do, but putting it all together has helped me come up with a checklist of things needed, questions to resolve, and also helped me figure out that I'll need to assemble everything in a certain order to be able to make it all fit properly.

Until, later, happy modding to you all!

 

That's an original case. The only 2 things I see wrong with it are:
1: The bugs
and
2: It has more steel than my Hyundai
john

 

Thanks John,
The only thing worse than buggy software is buggy cases.

That case is pretty heavy, especially in comparison with the Nzxt case. I really do like the way its laid out, being able to pull the front of the whole case off is cool, though I'll probably have to chop the sides/top if I want to mod it down the line.

 

It took a while but the forum caught up with the stars I left for this project. Not for the tools but for the perseverance with the plexi and the different method tries.

john

 

Wow! I'm seeing stars! Thanks John, much appreciated!
Just... nobody nominate me for MotM, please... (just in case you were even thinking that, or the stars trigger it somehow... I'm not ready!)

 

Assorted updated w/pics

Alright, I promised more pics of some steps taken and to be taken (got a grip on the time-space continuum?)
Pardon the scattershot approach, as I just wanna get them up here for you to see, so I can get to the garage (and find a plumber, but that's something else entirely.)

Here's the 3 layers of the HD cage cover at a very rough stage:


Closeup:


Much more work needed on this part:
Sizing accurately to match up layers
Cutting hole for HDs
Filing in an angle on the top edge
locating and drilling HD hole
Working out cable runs (inside vs. outside)

Here's the edge of the front:

Note the 6 pegs from the front fascia. Those are going to interfere with placing the shroud cover unless I make some cutouts and place the fascia on as the LAST step of reassembly.
Plus, this means I will definitely have to cut the little metal tab that sticks out to allow me to slide it in front first, and then bend/futz with the back to get it into the rear of the case... (though I might still be able to slide it in from the top... I'm forgetting at the moment why I thought I couldn't do that, after cutting the metal tab down.)


About an inch short to get from the Front Panel audio to the location of the audio header. I'm still undecided if I will keep the FP audio active... I might just hide the cable up front, and just use the rear ports. I never use FP audio now, so it might not be a problem. Otherwise, I'll be lengthening the cables a couple inches. (and sleeving it)

 

Route the SATA power cable through the gap above the front fan bracket, that's what I did, works a treat. As for the front audio, just get rid of it, I didn't have a choice lol. The DFI mobo I am using says if I use the front audio I lose those 2 plugs on the rear so I thought stuff it, I will neae those rear ports when I get some new speakers.

 

Yeah, that front fan bracket has some nice space for cable routing. I'll have a few going through there already, but might be able to fit it through and come around front to the drive? What do you think about half sleeving (ie, only a portion of the wire... the visible portion)? I think it's kinda half assed. I did that with some of the PSU wires before, and think I'll redo it to get them all fully sleeved, even the hidden ones.

Yeah, I think I'll disconnect the front audio from the front panel. 1 less cable to route/sleeve, and I wouldn't be using it anyway.

Made a little progress with the HD covers, by gluing the 2 front sheets together, and carving out some relief for various case parts. Now I just have to figure out how I can make sure I line up the screwholes properly. I've got the height from the bottom, now I just need to see if I can measure in from the sides. at this point, I'm thinking I need to level the edges so I can get a reliable measurement in from the sides. My points of reference of the bay sides don't align with the plexi layers.