Project :blingGreen(04/03/2005 - MaximumPC's June issue! Rig of the Month!!!)

Sounds good!
I'm not sure how little space you're gonna have, but u could apply 2 CCFL's to the inside of the door, or, since that is often unwieldly, you could wire some LED's right onto the backside of the flames. That would let you be a little more selective about where the lights are.
As for the color of the CCFL, green would make the mobo glow green, but it wouldn't accent what you painted green as well as white light.
Looking great!

 

Top wondow flames fleshed out

Finished fleshing out my top window flames... I was up waaaaaaaay too late last night. Exhausted right now, so please forgive my lack of eloquence...





I'll have more time to dive in to this tomorrow. I hope to have the flames filed out and smooth, then I'll hit them with a couple of coats of highfill primer, sand them down to a nice smooth finish... and start gearing up the painting and light mounts! I have some touch up painting to perform on the frame, I found some areas that the paint did not get to, and it would drive me nutz if I did not fix them.

After those are dry and ready, I'll start crafting the case together!!!

 

Nice flames! did it take long to cut out?

keepin' an eye on your project

 

Lots of shifting between the reinforced wheels and the regular wheels. The regular wheels allow for much more slender tips to the flames.

Thanks for the compliment! I hope to have made significant progress on the case this weekend. I Have my bondo and sanders ready!


Thanks again!

 

Prime the case!!!!!

Ok... so I FINALLY have some time where work is not pulling me into broken machine "hell", so I can really crank up some time on the case! Here are the first 3 progress pics. I'm letting the sandable primer dry for a bit. Then I'll go out and prime it again. After a few coats of primer, I'll sand it down, nice and smooth!

Then start working on the painting!


Just a general pic there.... I have not primered the front bezel yet, only the side and top. I'm off to go and buy some more sandable, Hi Fill primer. The bezel will get regular primer to even out the color. Using the hi fill to try and remove the "dremel dings" on the flames!!






More later!

 

Learn from me, if you have significant dremmel dings in your cutting surface, and are planing on displaying it to the world... take the finish down to the metal and work out the ding from there.... primer, high fill, or bondo, (at least in my case) were nearly impossible!!!!

I tried some experiments on this case, on damage reduction...

Anyway, about to tip over now (needing sleep), let me get the preliminary color paint pics up and progressed:








Not done by a longshot, just teases you to know a bit more about where it's going and what all has been done!!!!

Going to bed!!!!
ZZZZZzzzzzz

 

Nice color choise and very well done flames (if I can put it like that )! /me subscribed

 

Beautiful

I love the flames. I liked them so much I decided to cut a window in my case too (originaly to be just painted). I just got the small disks and will be trying them out after I finished my long cuts. I'm running out of quiet mods to do in the morning.

 

Not to stop you from the flame work, but please understand, it is VERY time consuming, and quite nerve racking to make cuts that are constantly curving. You will eat dremel disks (the reinforced ones) like they are going out of style if this is on a steel case. I tried to use my Jigsaw for the bulk work, and with a little more creative planning, I might have been able to use it on more of the flame work than I did. Smooth curves that dont rapidly change direction are the bread and butter of a good jigsaw.



If these are going in on an aluminium case, I am unsure how well those thin flame bases will handle the weight of the flame tops. As I have not performed this on alu, please be very careful if you do. There were several times where, while I was cutting, the dremel hopped, and I caught the side of a neighboring flame, and bent the flame a bit. I dont think Alu can handle bending as well as steel... anyone have any input on this?

I just want you to be watching for these possible issues. I am flattered that my flame work has inpired you, however I would hate to have that inspiration cause harm to other mods, especially if this mod you are talking about is Beast. That machine is beautiful! I love those flames! And the paint scheme and planning on those flames is nothing short of spectacular!

Oh yeah, another thing... I used the Krylon Fusion paint on the front bezel and the sides/top in order to see how durable the finish is. I bought it more so that I could have a consistant color all the way around (plastics and steel) and had been burned in the past on my vinyl dying on the plastics. I'm going to go out and check up on the paint this morning, and see how it looks in the daylight! Liking what I saw last night b4 falling into bed!

Thanks for the comments folks! I'm thinking that while the blue is drying, I'll start test mounting hardware into the case frame today, maybe some test fits of the skin on the frame!

Oooooo, I'm getting all tingly!

 

When you strip somthing down to the metal... dont cut corners and only do those areas... do the whole thing!

I tried to push this thing to the next level by cutting some corners... now I have to take most of the metal parts all the way back to raw metal, polish out the surface, and reshoot the primer and paint.

It is my own fault, I got impatient... but at least I've go a glimpse of what color the paint will be once completed! I'll take this afternoon to strip down the skin parts and then get them ready for painting. The back wall came out delicious on the outside, but there were no cuts and I had hi fill primered that panel, sanded it down, and painterd it.

It is the other case pieces that are a train wreck of unevenness and scratches. I did not "see" them last night (maybe I did not want to...) but results are results. And I cannot tollerate these imperfections on the finish.

More later.

 

Just went out and bought a stripping wheel for my drill, I'll get after this later this afternoon. playing with the kiddos now, (spent most of yesterday working on this stuff...)

more later!

 

looking forward to the pics, mate

 

Crap!!!!

I have stripped down the flame window and am about 1/2 way through the top ceiling piece of the PC...

... I NOW I start hearing/reading about "glazing putty"....

Hehehehe
(maniacial laughter) HAHAHAHAAAAH AHAHHAHAAHAAA...(/maniacle laughter)

Jeeze... I feel like I have gone to the corner store via the downtown bus route! Cripes!!! What a waste of time!

Well... looks like I get to make the best of it.. at least I "know" now of glazing putty and I know that 95% of all of my surface imperfections are gone now!

Headed out to finish up!

 

Very nice.. The color is outstanding. As for the painting we all have made those mistakes before. Don't let it get you down.

 

hehe sorry about the paint. well I'm sure you can do it again (just take it as an experience ). good luck mate.

 

You know what the most horrific sound in the world was for me last night?

The *ting* of steel as my stripper wheel made improper contact with the end of one of my flame sets, bending it 90 degrees to the case.... ARRRGH!!!!!

Slowly bent it back down, and heated the metal and flattened it against my vise.
Ow, ow, ow....

Stripped and primed last night. I'll have it back painted hopefully in the next day or 2.

Niiiiice and smmmoooooooooth!!!

 

ive learned the hard way that taking your time is the best thing to do, it saves alot of head aches later on, and with that paint you have to be sure u use it properly of else it will peel on u.

 

You mean the Fusion paint is prone to peeling?

 

Well... I had about an hour to work on the case... not much time to get much of anything done. So... I applied a 2nd layer of hi fill primer to the flame cut skins, and while that was drying, I meditated on the mantra of "Patience..." and then slammed my Mountain Dew and went to work sanding out my front bezel!!!!

Man, that thing had some lumps in it!!!

(teacher voice)
"Class? What is Mr. Tech-Daddy going to go get tomorrow???... Say it with me everyone.... "
"G-L-A-Z-I-N-G P-U-T-T-Y...."
"Very good, class..."
(/teacher voice)


Learned a ton from this experience. You know what the kicker is? If I had gootn off my butt and watched the Bondo video that they were so gracious enough to send to me, I would have SEEN the Glazing putty in action and would have known to use it!!!!!!



Oh well, live and learn. One thing is for sure... this surface will be smooth!

I hope I can keep the Patience thing going on... I want to get this thing on my desk and admire it!
Oh well... I've learned my lesson for rushing this.
(Frikken hard time to teach it to me though!)

 

After watching the video, the best way to visually gauge your hardner/putty ratio, is to spen $2 and buy yourself some Bondo brand putty blades. Your color should end up the salmon/pink that is the color of those utensilts. As for the exact way they put it, I'll need to re-watch and write it out. Makes sense though.