Case Mod - In Progress Hardware@Wall - *Update* - Overlay

Hi everyone,
last year I decided to start with my first mod.
I’m a beginner and most of the topics are new to me.

Here I would like to show you this first project.
It's a Wall PC.
I like the idea and I have also enough room for it.

At the moment the mod is nearly finished.
In this thread I will show you some of the main milestones and a summary of my worklog.

I will give you an update step by step, because this is my first English post and I have to translate everything.
Feel free to correct my English.
I would try to release the updates on a weekly-base.


My materials:
MDF 16mm
MDF 3mm
Spruce for the frame
Imitation leather black and white
LED RGB Strip
Cardboard tube
acrylic glass WH17
acrylic glass 2C01


My hardware:
HDD - Seagate SV35 1 TB
SSD - Samsung 840 EVO 1 TB
DVD/Blu-ray - LiteO iHES112-115
Power - Corsair AX850
Graphic Card - Asus Strix GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5
CPU - Intel I7-7700K
RAM - Corsair Dominator 3200 16GB
Mainboard - Asus Maximus VIII Formular
Radiator - Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 360mm
Fan - Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition
Shroud - Phobya 7mm
Pump - Alphacool VPP655 - Single Edition
Pump Top - Aquacomputer D5
Reservoirs - Aquacomputer aqualis Basic 880 ml


Here can you see the development of my concept.

I would like to use the following components:
• Radiator
• Reservoirs + Pump Combo
• Mainboard
• Graphic Card
• Power Supply
• HDD
• SSD
• Blu-ray
• some kind of front panel with on/off, audio und USB

The components with the water cooling should be in one area of the panel. So that I don't have to put the acrylic over the complete panel.



I don't want to do the piping over the hardware, so I need more space below the components.



This concept looks better, but the wiring will be chaotic.
So I will create an external unit with the on/off, audio and usb. I also moved the SSD, HDD, DVD and the Power supply to the right side.



In this concept the outlet is on the front which is not very sexy. To fill the system I have used the top of the reservoir.



To fix this "optical problem" I decided to go with the water to the back of the panel. Here can I insert the outlet for a better look.



After I thought a few days about the concept, I decided to start with this design.



I created the whole thing inside a 2D CAD program.
I measured everything directly on the object or looked inside the datasheet
Now I have the exact dimension of my MDF Panel.

I also insert all holes that I have to drill or cut with the router into the drawing.



On the next update i will show you some work on the frame.
thx
cu

 

The frame (Part1/2)

Let's start with the frame.

It was made of spruce with the dimensions 2x 2000x80x60mm.

But first I had to do some preparation work.
Planed, jointed, sawed and sanded









Done with the basics.



After that I made some Cutouts in the frame and cut the endings to mitre at an angle of 45°.
So in the end the panel will fit "inside" the frame.





I also cut some slots in the corners. I used this for the lighting in the frame.



Then I adjusted the panel (this will be part of a future update) a little bit to the frame, because the leather needed also some space.



I drilled all holes in the frame. I needed them to screw the panel to the frame.



I didn't want to work with Spax screws.
So I used some Threaded screws and installed some drive-in nuts on the back of the frame.





I leathered the frame with white Imitation leather and



cut some ducts to the inside of the frame. This is for the wiring and the LED strips.



Then I soldered the LED's to some wires





After that I checked the work with a short test.





The color of the main mod is black and white.
To color it a little bit I used light.
Blue is the main color, but I added also some small areas with orange

Here you can see the combination of these two colors.



I cut some pieces of the acrylic and





glued them into the frame.



This is the final result in close-up.



The topic of the next update are the spacers.
cu

 

The frame (Part2/2)

After I was finished with the frame, I started to work on the spacers.
They was made out of cardboard tube.

First I marked the cutouts on the tube.





Then I cut everything and leathered the tube with black imitation leather



I cut the top of the tube out of a peace of scrap wood with a holesaw and sanded them on the drill







The top was leathered with white imitation leather

And this was the result.
Frame + spacers





In the next Update I will show you the MDF- Overlay.
cu

 

The MDF Panel part 1

The core element of the mod was a 16mm thick MDF panel.



I printed out my CAD document and fixed it with some tape to the MDF
After that I centre-punched all holes for the mounting of the componentens, the LED Strips and all breakthroughs for the cables.
Then I drilled und cut everything.





At the end I marked and drilled all holes to mount the frame to the mdf panel.
The black and white color in the photo was just a test.



A cutout was missing on the main panel, so i transfered the info from the CAD document to the MDF panel and cut it out.



I also used my router to add a little cutout to this area.
This was for my inlay (wich was another part of this Project)




In the next update i will show you the overlay.
cu

 

Habedere everyone,
today I show you my overlay.

Overlay part 1

I installed an additional overlay to my mod.
I hope this will give the project a special look, a little bit 3D

The overlay had the same size as the main panel and was made out of 3mm MDF.

I used my CAD document, cut out the areas and fixed it to the panel.



With a spray can I transferred the sections to the overlay.
To identify the parts better, I highlighted them with a red marker.



At the end I cut out everything with the jigsaw.



Overlay part 2

I cut the black leather to the right dimensions and applied glue to the two parts.
After the drying time was over I brought them together







After 24h I cut out the different parts und glued them to the back of the overlay.
I didn't use a stapler because the overlay is not thick enough.
But no problem the glue was insanly strong





And this is the final overlay.





What's next?

I'm going to work with some plexiglass.

Servus and cu next time.