Case Mod Project: Predatory Instinct- Complete, pending final photos 6/2/13

[Mankz]

Awesomesauce.

[Cheapskate]

Originally Posted by SuicideNeil

headway.
fun, tight cushioning
with r/c battery upgrade drill out flex shaft work so much mount sticky yanked nasty will actually fit where I plan to stick it knock up legs
lumpy KYJelly oil spread

FTFY. Felt like doing an out of context edit just for you.

This case was another classic example of, "great idea / bad execution." The arms should have been metal and stashed under the faceplate. They kill the overall look.
There's also the issue of zero airflow. The heatsink face would have made a good grill, but it's sealed up tight.
Make it not suck. Maybe you can add stealth panels to the arms or something.

[siliconfanatic]

Pervvey Cheaps has a point. stealth up the arms and give those same cover panels a slightly angular/aggressive look. Ive been waiting for too long for an aggressive styled case. Aside from Scorpio. But that's layered and aggressive, not a closed case. Maybe make the panels move/tilt? just thinking out loud here Its your choice in the end. Just don't botch it by leaving those arms unattended. hate to criticize but i don't want this log to face its demise, at the hands of two stubby-yet-reallly-useful-while-looking-like-Mr-Pieface servo arms

[SuicideNeil]

I know what you're saying about the arms- I should upload some of my sketches where I left out the arms; it makes the case look much sleeker ( whilst still angular ). Unfortunately there really isn't much I can do to hide or stealth them- anything I attach to the arms just draws more attention to them as such.

What I would do if I had a workshop full of toys is build a rail system on the front & top of the case that the front cover could slide up & down on, allowing it to pivot from vertical to horizontal as it goes up & over onto the top panel as it were- that would be boss.

As it is, the arms don't bother me & once the case is assembled you don't notice them as much- they are thankfully not just flat bars, but an interesting 3 dimensional shape with different facets that adds a little something overall to the styling. Or something like that

More updates:

Addressing the lack of airflow issue ( this case is indeed sealed up tighter than a rude joke ), I decided to open up the front grill a bit more to allow better airflow for the front fan ( yet to be installed ). First I had to remove the half a dozen or more tiny tiny 1mm, or 0.5mm even, screws which were seemingly glued in place too, then I set about chopping up Broadway with my Wizard:







Not my finest work, and I did have a little mis-hap and snapped the clear part of the 'frame' at the top- nothing a small blob of epoxy resin didn't fix though. Mated the two parts together and sanded the inside edges so that they matched each other more or less, ditched the nasty red LED strip at the bottom, then reassembled it; you can only see the very bottom part just peaking up behind the black outer grill, and when the door is put back on the case it's even less visible. Was a pain to work on due to being a three-dimensional shape and the plastic melted as I cut it, either sticking to the masking tape or flying up my arm and sticking to my skin ( it burns, it burns.... ). Like I say though, most of it is hidden from view normally so it didn't need to be perfect.

I need to unbox the GFX card next and check it's dimensions ( nothing beats actually holding it and seeing how it fits in relation to other parts of the chassis vs holding a ruler and trying to visualise how it'll look & how much clearance there is around it ). The leather top panel is done now finally so I'll photograph that for the next update too

More soon.

[k.3nny]

Woow, nice Predator cases where the sh^%&*t back in the 90's !

Love how you doin your thing now !

[elAwesome]

A friend of mine has a Preditor, and I loved the case since I first saw it...

You're doing a great job so far, keep it up!

[Waynio]

Don't think I've seen one of these before, looks nice before modding so you have a challenge there on the externals anyway, internals though, heaps of room for making nicer.

cock-fag made me giggle BTW, so true though.

Continue the awesomeness.

[siliconfanatic]

Originally Posted by SuicideNeil

*snip*

Not my finest work, and I did have a little mis-hap and snapped the

More soon.

you neednt attach it TO the arms, merely make a sort of large scoop-plate thingy over them.ie, the bottom edge of the plate is angled down+welded/riveted to the side of the case, as is the back edge. but the front and top would just neet to be ingrated somehow.itd just hide the big,ugly, black-ar$e sticks on the side of the case. no doubt youll find a way tho so good luck

[SuicideNeil]

Time to get to work on the internals for real.

The PSU leads are a major headache on this project as there are so sodding many of them, and since I don't want to void any warranties, I can't be cutting or de-soldering the ones I don't plan to ever use; to get a ~600watt modular / hybrid modular PSU would have cost nearly twice as much, so that idea was a non-starter too. No space behind the non-removable side panel either so I came up with something else...







I didn't plan on having the PSU in the stock location, I was hoping to fit it in the front of the chassis at the bottom, acting as an intake fan, but the cables were just too.... excessive... to make that plan work. Anyway, the cable enclosure occupies the upper HDD/ ODD mount location and will screw in place on one side of the mount, and is supported on the back panel / mobo tray by a PSU-supporting extrusion that handily lines up almost perfectly ( maybe ~2mm higher, but close enough for me ).

One of my quick-release G-clamps decided it didn't want to clamp any more so I had to use my small vice to clamp the plastic panel to the aluminium L-channel ( ABS plastic with carbon fibre print on one side, had it for an R/C project I never got around to doing so made good use of it finally ) to hold it in place while the epoxy dries, though I'll also be using countersunk screws for extra strength too. Once that's dried it'll get a covering of faux-leather, and I'll work on stealthing the drive bays, then the sort-off mid plate I plan for the bottom of the case to hide the front panel connections and such.

I think the end is in sight, though it's still a fair way off at the moment...

[siliconfanatic]

frankly i hope you come up with other ideas... i cant make do with only 2or3 good logs, i need more than four gawdarnit!

[SuicideNeil]

I have a Fractal Design Define Mini that I have plans for, though that'll not see the light of day for 'a while'...

[siliconfanatic]

i can bolt a tanker of NOS to that gravytrain if you like

[bulldogjeff]

I love these cases. It's one of the few cases I have ever seen and thought, I wouldn't mod that, because it looks great as it is.
If I did I would have taken a similar route to you and got rid of the logos and maybe sprayed the chassis.

I shall be keeping an eye on this one. I like what you are doing with it.

Looking good dude

[SuicideNeil]

Yep, if it weren't for the logos I'd have left the outside pretty much as-is, inside just needs cable routing work & the rear panel needs a bit of a poke to remove some unneeded bits ( I considered spraying the inside too, though without dismantling it the results may have been a bit... runny... ).

Quick update:



I swear, I did not do a sex-wee all over the cable compartment...

[siliconfanatic]

LMAO

[SuicideNeil]

While that sticky mess was drying I got to work on the chassis again and ground down all the various little lumps & bumps that weren't needed any more & were getting in the way ( mainly quick-release related stuff, and since this case didn't have the quick release part.... bye bye time ):






Went threw several of the non-reinforced cut-off discs in the process and made lots of dust, but in the end we have a much smoother drive bay enclosure & rear panel now. It doesn't look it of course, but where I have bent the small tabs back in line with the rest of the back panel & ground them down, they don't protrude on either side at all any more & with also get the leather treatment.

I also did a quick test-fit with the cable enclosure and it fits fine, very tight but it ain't going anywhere; I also had a brainwave and realised I could grind the upper edge of the rear ( PSU ) support it sits on in order to make it sit level properly, so that'll be for tomorrow along with making the drive cage enclosure hopefully.

[Johnny71]

OH so much love for that case! Really would enjoy doing something with one, well well maybe sometime in future Keep up the good work!

[SuicideNeil]

Got loads of work done the last few days, finally the end is getting a bit nearer:



I'd been pondering for a while if a 120mm fan would fit in that opening ( originally for the SAS drives ), and as luck would have it with a little bit of dremeling they fit perfectly. Securing it in place required a little bit of thought but you'll see that later



Knocked up a drive bay cover using more ABS plastic & L- channel aluminium + epoxy, quick test fit & everything is fine there. It will be secured from underneath using a couple M3 ( 3mm ) dome headed screws and nyloc nuts.



Now, the mounting holes for a M-ATX mobo were all in place, but not all were threaded, so I had to spend £5 on a 6/32" tap for the sake of tapping two holes ( tried just forcing the stand-offs to cut their own thread but no joy with a steel chassis- aluminium maybe.. ). One hole was right next to the back panel so I used a pin-vice & some pliers to turn the tap instead.





Now for the last piece I had to construct for the inside of the chassis ( hopefully ), the 'sort-of mid-plate'. Not a true mid-plate as it isn't hiding the PSU or a radiator, but it does hide all the front panel wires and serves a more important purpose, that is, to channel the airflow from the front fan up towards the GPU & CPU cooler. As I ran out of epoxy making the drive bay cover, I had to use the next best thing I had which was JBWeld.... and some left over car body filler... The slot in the top is for the front panel connectors to feed up through.



Test fitting all three interior pieces, worked out just great in the end. With the mobo & PSU installed there will barely be any bare metal exposed around that area, just the rear panel & front panel areas to cover mainly and I have plenty of faux-leather left. I purchased 3 different sizes of P-clips for cable routing, just got to plan my routes as it were and then drill & tap some holes for them.

Due to how the cover plates cover mounting holes and such, it has become apparent that I will have to assemble the guts in a certain order which will be loads of fun I'm sure....

[SuicideNeil]

Closer:




Bit more leather work to fill in a gap- will need to redo the trim piece in one long strip though.





Rear fan grill had to go, mixture of dremel & hacksaw work which was surprisingly tough on a ~1.25mm steel chassis. New fan grill filter is rather nice- is made from magnetic rubber with a fine nylon mesh, so no need to stick it down ( easily removable for cleaning ).







Remember that metal tab I bent back ( yeah you do.. ), well, that was for cable routing; no space behind the mobo, but just enough down beside the drive cage to feed the font panel connections. Those will also be held in place by the P-clips I bought, as will the power & data cables when I come to install the electronics later on.





It's coming along nicely at the moment- few bits here & there to do & redo on the leather as I said earlier, and I had to tweak the top panel cover as I didn't account for the white plastic piece straddling it quite so closely at the rear end ( ooh err.. ). Fan was held in place with some carefully placed zipties; barely visible unless you look closely ( there is another magnetic fan filter placed behind the fan ).

Left to do:

(Re)apply leather trim where needed- rear fan hole, drive cage, front fan hole, slot in the sort-of bottom-plate.
Sleeve cables ( visible sections ).
Install cable routing clips- mainly on the fly depending on how compliant the cables decide to be.
Install components & cover pieces.
Hit the power button & hope for the best...

[SuicideNeil]

The day before D-Day:






Sleeving, sleeving & more sleeving. Unfortunately the rear magnetic fan filter ( a filter on the exhaust?, seemed like a good idea at the time... ) was just a tad too big to fit with the side panel fitted, and trimming it would ruin it really, so I went with option 2 and a standard wire fan guard instead. I also gave up trying to make the leather piping trim go around the inside corners of the cut out ( outside bends are easy, inside bends is a no-no, especially 90° ones ) and went with rubber U-channel instead. Couldn't make the U-channel fit on the front intake cut out though due to there not being a large enough gap on the outside edge ( between the panel and the fan ), so a Sharpie was deployed to disguise the white edge of the faux-leather. Not quite what I wanted but no one will ever see inside this case once it's assembled, mores the pity.

Tomorrow ( Friday ) we pull the pin & start fitting components, cable routing, and if it doesn't get too late ( early start required ) yank the heatsink & HDD + ODD from my current rig and transplant them over, then fire up the new rig and see what happens.

Wish me luck...