Case Mod - In Progress Project Evolution by PEXON. 13th Jan 2K13 - FINAL (nearly) photos!!!!!! OMG1337SAUCE

what optic drive you going to use?
I have a similar case pc77 and used a slot load dvd in the right hand side of the front panel, granted it looks like I hacked through mine with a chisel but its a work in progress

 

I'm not sure yet, as I am toying with the idea of a slot loading drive. I need something very streamlined however.

 

Another little update. I needed to make a support bracket for the 5 1/4" drive bay to stop it from bowing and sitting at a nasty off vertical angle. I used 90 degree 1.5mm ally to fit in with the ally used on the main build of the case.



In the top of the case, I measured the distane of the bay from the inside of the case frame and cut two notches on either side of the top of the case.



To create something like this.



I simply drilled some 4.5mm holes for some M4 counter-sunk screws, purely for aesthetics.



I also needed to make a little bracket on the bottom of the bay to again, help kick it out to make it sit and a nice 180 vertical.





Well that's that.... I also started making some 240mm radiator mounts for the bottom of the case. Simple case of cutting the 90 to length, measuring the holes on the rad, drilling and tapping some M3 holes.







Down the bottom, instead of having a single 240mm rad, I think I am going to squeeze two in tandem, basically a 480 and instead of having a 360 up top, due to actually using the 5 1/4" drive bays means I can't physically squeeze one in, I can only use a 240mm.





I need to get a larger hole saw, the one I used for the 240mm fan grill was a 92mm saw and obviously, it cuts down airflow, so I need to invest in a 110mm or 111/115mm hole saw (as that is all I can find).



I mounted the 240mm rad cover up top to see if my drill centres were ok and they were.



All good from the underneath, mount and solid. Thats it for know, I need to wait for payday to order the other 2, 240mm radiators and fans. I may also start getting the stainless fittings for the rads too, so fingers crossed, next month I can start to get the ball rolling.

 

Me neither, but it stangely looks good anyway :O

Keep up the good work !

 

looking good mate keep up the good work

 

Been a while since I've updated, I'm sorry. I've been away working and various other things have come up, not a massive update, but whats new?! Lol, Christmas is coming and money seems to be going elsewhere for some reason.

The fan bus and bezel covers slotted in great. I may have to work a bit of magic on the side panel to be able to get the fan controller knobs through, as I doubt the panel will go on with the bay rotated the way it is. Anyway, I think I'll need to do a fair few measurements and work out where to drill a few holes, fingers crossed it shouldn't be too hard.





For mounting the 1st 240mm rad in the front, I needed to make a few brackets, as the case came with standard 140mm fans in the front.





I made 8 and chose the ones with the best centres, problem is though, I had to use some cack, I mean CACK Black and Decker 240v drill. Its terrible, tap the trigger and it revs up to like 10000rpm, its not good, the drill bit danced around everywhere.




BEWARE OF NASTY TOOLS (NSFW LOL)



I used a scrap bit of ally that I cut the top rad air outlets to make a few middle supports.





I chopped down some screws so they wouldn't be jutting into the front bezel.





Pretty inconspicuous.



Not the prettiest solution, I will neaten them up later on, at least they work well.





I also got some paint, enamel this time on some of the PCI-slot covers, in white. I want the rear all white. I used a heat-gun to stop any cracking this time due to the cold, damp weather.



I also bought a shiny new 114mm Bosch holesaw, which is identical to the inside diameter of the Enermax fans I'm using. Awesome, makes life much easier now, plus more air flow than the smaller 92mm fan I used on the fan grill, I'll have to make another one with the new saw soon.



Lastly, a shed load of cap headed screws, washer and nuts for the build. No odd screws and bolts now, all matching shiny chrome cap heads, which look good, well I think they do! Thanks for looking as always.

 

looking good mate keep up the good work

 

Update 8th Dec '11. Sorting out fans, spraying parts and mounting fan hub.

Update time. Another small update, even though most of the day I have been playing with various parts on the case. I has about 5-6 hours on it today, so you can get an idea of my pace, not fast!

Righto. The front, mesh styled grill; I thought accenting the front white would look pretty nice, black and white is a great contrasting combo. Again, I used a heatgun to dry the paint thoroughly to stop any cracking from the cold weather. I used Halfords white primer, 3 coats and 3 coats of Enamel white. Of course, I sanded the old powder coat off first.







I'm really happy with how it came out, the finish came out really nice, for a change, I'm sure using the heat gun helps seal the coat and stops or at least lessens the chance of the paint cracking whilst drying naturally.

On the fan frames, that I have coated in Di-Noc and sprayed the rear black, needing touching up. I sprayed the backs black as the raw ally didn't look nice, but after peeling off the masking tape to protect the front from spraying, a few parts of the film lifted and some residue from the tape was left; I had to use my craft knife to lift off some of the gunk. I touched up the edges with some Tamiya model paint and an old paint-brush from my Warhammer days. Yes, I'm cool!



Before and after....



Other bits and bobs I sorted out were the fan cover for the rear 120mm fan. I will be using spring washers and regular penny washers to stop any vibration creeping into the ally case and resonating creating a nasty hum.







Finally, I wanted to have the control knobs on the fan hub poking out the side panel, for easy access due to the orientation of my desk and where I have my PC at the moment, the front would be awkward. It was quiet a task, I took an hour measuring, double checking marking out the drill holes, checking marking and double checking lol. I was over the moon when the fan controller poked right through the drill holes! I needed to chop a bit out the panel to get the steel rule and the set square through.





It looks pretty snazzy I think, I am really happy how it turned out, the checking and double checking paid off, let me know what you guys think, I'm sure it will be like marmite.




That is all for today, over the weekend, I am going to try and knock some of the carbon on the fan frames on the head; it takes forever to do it, but it looks smart so all the effort is worth it. I may update this page later with some RAL colour ideas. Thanks for looking and any feedback is appreciated.


First post updated too

 

looking really good this one is. The carbon fiber on the fans and grills is a really nice touch. Not some thing I've seen done before.

 

Sorry for lack of updates. Money is tight as its Christmas and all. Fingers crossed will have some more rads and stuff to be mounting after the new year!



I got my hands on an Aquatube from Aquacomputer and started making a retaining bracket out of some electrical channel material, its a tough steel so it should be able to hold the full res. I am going to cut a slot out and bolt it in, I'll try and do it tomorrow and do some photos as I can't explain it for toffee! lol









I got some acrylic cut to size for the fan grills. 240 x 120mm 4mm black acrylic.



And managed to get most of the fan frame supports nearly done.

 

I've narrowed the RAL colours down. I was thinking, 'Traffic Black,' exterior with a few bits of 'White Aluminium' inside? Let me know what you think.

 

Amazing work so far mate . +rep and Traffic Black + White Alu would look awesome. Happy New Year mate .

 

Thanks dude. Traffiv black is a deffo on the exterior. Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! Fingers crossed an update will be coming in the next few weeks; lack of cash is getting in the way of progress!

 

Scratch the original mounting system. I wanted the mounting plate to unseen to keep the clean look, so, I had a think. I thought up of a way using the existing threaded inlet and outlets. I simply drilled a couple of holes in some Bitspower end stops deep enough to hold some M4 bolts and fixed the bolts in using metal glue. Heres how they look. Oh, I did drill the holes slightly off centre, so I could pull them slightly off cock, so they would dig in/ grip on the acrylic back mounting plate, just a bit more piece of mind I suppose.

Excuse the crappy mobile pics!!!



Pretty simple really, I just used a series of washers, from M6 penny washers, down to M4 spring, as I drilled the holes in the acrylic mounting plate larger to fine tune how the res sat, to ensure a nice level mount.



And how she looks inside the case.



Note, it looks like there is no mounting paraphernalia, securing the res; just like I intended, nice and clean! Rock solid too, a little extra weight shouldn't be an issue once its full, it really is solid. Thanks for looking as always!

 

great idea

 

Thanks dude!

 

There's a lot of work going into this looking forward to seeing it all clean and finished

 

Damn, this looks so clean! I need to see more, love it!

 

I wish I could, but I ain't got no bloody money!

 

Very awesome way of mounting bro I really like it .