Merc Bravo I. Introduction This is my first post on this website, ever, so I figure I would make it semi-memorable. I'm Toasted Rofls, and over the course of an amount of time that I currently do not know, I will be modding a BitFenix Merc Beta, because I've never done a case mod before and wanted to try it, the case cost $40, I wanted to try watercooling, I wanted an excuse to buy more powertools (I picked up a Dremel 3000 just for this project, holy god this thing is awesome), I wanted to make a LAN box to put my terrible last generation components into (Sabertooth P67, i7-2600K, GTX 570, 8 gigs of 1600 DDR RAM, and an OCZ Vertex 4, just awful ), and seriously, why haven't more people asked for handles on a small form factor tower computer? The last case I saw that I really liked with handles that I liked was the Cooler Master Storm Trooper. That is a FULL TOWER case people. A sexy full tower, I may add, but a big heavy full tower none the less. My ideal LAN box would probably be a micro-ATX Antec 1100 with big, beefy handles on it. I think the core of modding, is that someone looks at something, and says "I wish it had this feature" or "Man, this would be so cool if it was painted green!", and other things like that. Improving upon something to meet your needs. In my case with the BitFenix Merc Beta, I said "Wow, this case would be so much better if I just fabricated a new front panel, heavily modified the roof to make room for watercooling, bolted on handles, completely re-painted the case, added a window, modified the internal structures, and of course, added 4 more fans and LEDs." Basically I am taking a budget case and spending waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much money on it to get capabilities I could have gotten had I just purchase that previously mentioned Cooler Master Storm Trooper. Who water cools a $40 case and has two thumbs? This guy! (You can't see it, but I'm holding both of my thumbs up right now.) Anyhow, pictures. I'll go over plans after you look at my terrible initial pictures. Also, I just re-read this intro, wow, it sucks. I am going to change it later. You can see the fingerprints on it, yet the drive bays are not fully visible. Did I mention I am bad@photos? This side panel probably cost like 25 cents to make, but it doesn't feel that cheap. Seeing as I paid $40 for the entire thing new, I have to commend BitFenix on that. Buying cheap things that don't feel like total junk is a rare experience. I'm doing something to the other side panel too. Probably. I hate the look of this plastic front cover and I am replacing it. It looks better in the photo then it does in real life, somehow. This case doesn't look that small right? Lol, just kidding, it is that small. It could be mistaken for a micro-ATX case easily. Both fans in that picture are 120mm, by the way. Yes, that ruler is a full 12 inches. Anyhow, first off, about me. As I said before, this is my first case mod, and first time using a Dremel, which has impressed me immensely in the short time I have had it. I enjoy writing stuff, so expect long type ups from me on stuff. I live in Amurika, so if anyone wants to send me stuff for some reason, well, keep that in mind. What am I expecting to receive? Well, I'm kind of hoping that Intel will send me a Ivy Bridge-E i7 Extreme Addition whenever those are released. Then, I plan on buying AMD branded RAM and running the two of them together while pouring Coke into Pepsi. Minds will asplode. I would also like a crumpet. Bit Tech is a British, right? Just make one, put in an envelope, and send it my way. I'll send you back some sort of distinct North American food in return. Like, uh... something or another. I don't know. I can promise it will be edible though! People generally consider me a pretty cool guy, the type that doesn't afraid of anything. I am going to give my three warnings about me and this mod now: 1. I have no idea what I am doing, just a rough mental plan for this case and rudimentary knowledge of proper usage of power tools. 2. I like to type alot. 3. This project log will probably need to be revised later due to terrible organization on my part. You where all warned. Now, about this case mod. My plans are to move my current system, which is as follows, into this new case when I am done with it. i7-2600k Asus Sabertooth P67 MSI Twin Frozr III GTX 570 4 gigs x 2 Sticks of 1600mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM Corsair HX850 PSU OCZ 128gig Vertex 4 Boot SSD WD Cavier Black 1 TB Secondary Driver Here are my current plans for the case: -Completely repaint it. The current case is black, and not sexy sleek black, but more like bland, seen it before plasticy black. Do not want. I'm painting it grey, with blue and black highlights. -Mount handles onto the case, on the roof. Big, easy to grab, practical handles. -Put a window on the side panel. So I can show off my cool ass components when I go to LAN Parties/want to take pictures of my computers internals but am to lazy to remove the side panel. -Watercool it. I'm getting a 240mm radiator into this case through modification, which, now that I think about it, is kind of sad, my current case (Define R3) can support a 280mm rad stock I think. No all-in-one liquid coolers either, this thing is getting a basic XSPC watercooling loop in it! I am not spending the money on another rad and graphics card block, so only the processor is getting cooled by glorious liquid master race cooling. To compensate, I am probably going to overclock it to 5 ghz, because f*** you Intel recommended clock speeds. I don't even know what I do that requires that much processor grunt. Wait, yes I do. It's called Skyrim, and it's way to damn CPU dependent for a game that looks like they just slapped some new textures on Oblivion's engine, added dragon models, and called it a day. I've never watercooled before either, so this too will also be new to me. -Flashy LED fans. Probably Spectre Pro's. I'm going to have a BitFenix theme going on with this case. -Speaking of BitFenix, I have plans to adorn a large BitFenix Logo onto the left side panel, once I can find a way to do it. BitFenix, if you are reading this, please send me a large ass sticker I can put on it. Also, a Recon Fan Controller would be nice too, if you have any spares lying around that you don't really use anymore. I'll even pay for shipping, assuming it cost less then $50. I am a generous person. -LED strips. I may use the BitFenix ones, if I can get them for cheap/free. If not, I plan on using Modeler's Brand LED's. They are obscenely bright and the company is only like a two hour drive from where I live, so they are semi-local. -New case feet maybe? Those MNCP Tech machined ones look sexy. They also cost as much as the entire case.... The rubber ones are a more reasonable purchase. I may order some. -New front panel and front panel stuff. This is being planned out as we speak. I think I am going to make it out of Tantalum (Not really), and if it turns out that is too expensive, I am going to be making it out of either some sort of polymer (most likely acrylic), steel, or aluminum. Also, this case is getting USB3 Support! Anyone have one of those "Super Speed USB 3" stickers I can slap onto the side of this case? -Modifying the roof somehow to house the rad. I'm still working this out too. -Modified internals. You'll see what I have planned, it is not original in anyway whatsoever but I don't even care. -Other modifications I forgot, probably maybe. So, that is my plan. Here is what I have right now: -An actual system -The watercooling loop (just arrived today!) -The case -Spray paint -Handles Here is what I still need -4 BitFenix SpectrePro white LED fans -BitFenix Recon Fan controller -White LED strips -New case feet, preferably sexy MNCP Tech machined feet, realistically slightly less sexy MNCP Tech rubber feet. -Big Ass BitFenix sticker/stencil for painting. This case is going to be a big advertisement for BitFenix, and they are not even sponsoring me. I am a nice guy like that. -New front panel and components for the roof modification and internal modification. I'm still working what exactly that all, but I know I am going to need to buy/scavenge/steal some more stuff for it. -Asus Extreme Ultra Kitchen Sink Edition Omega Alpha ROG Board of Death. I don't even need this, I just want to see if I could make it fit. -Phenom X4. My i7-2600K is starting to feel slow. Just to prevent confusion, yes, those last two where jokes. So, yeah, that is my plan, please feel free to tell me what is wrong with it. No, seriously, please tell me, I have no idea what I am doing. Anyhow, pictures of what I have done so far. Feast your eyes upon my modding incompetence! This is my side panel window hole, made with a combination of a Dremel making initial cuts and a jigsaw making the main cuts. Those cuts in the middle where practice, this was my first time ever using a Dremel. I was amazed at how precise it was, and also by how many sparks where generated. Here is a random shot of stuff on the table I was working on. Here you can see my extremely high tech painting system and two cans of self etching primer. You can also see my rad grills, which I am going to incorporate into the design. The ladies love men who have octogonally cut windows. This is a thought provoking picture of a hand file. I am about to touch up some sloppy cuts with my new favorite ultra-high RPM tool, the Dremel Model 3000. Someone should watercool a Dremel one day, that would be the ultimate tribute to this fine, highly versatile tool. It cuts... ...and it sands too! This is the front panel that I hate. One of two handles. These things fit perfectly. Before power drill. After power drill. The drive bays need to go, for reasons I am too lazy to expla.... Er, I mean, its a secret! Yeah, that's it... These things wear down much faster then expected. I guess that's the price you pay for an abrasive based cutting tool. Old disk v. new disk. Guess which one is which! This was done with the Dremel. Sizing up the radiator. It just came in the mail today! A shot of the cooling fluid, pump/res combo, and my messy table. My liquid cooling stuff. That's all I have for now. I'll be updating later once I make progress on the build or have updates or want to answer a question/accept an award. Also, one final section: Why is it called the "Merc Bravo"? Originally I had planned out a military themed mod for the case, and my working title was Merc Bravo, the "tactical" name evolution of the Merc Beta. The name stuck, and is still sticking. If anyone can think of a better name, please suggest it! You may now post stuff about stuff regarding this stuff I doing right here with my previously mentioned stuff, and stuff. Stuff. -Rofls
O.k, so I know it's been a bit of time since I've said anything about this, but that is because my schedule was quite full up until very recently. Now, I have a ton of time on my hands, and I plan on kicking this project, which I had on hold until my schedule cleared up, into high gear. Tomorrow, I plan on priming the parts I plan on painting, as well as installing the window, which is a sheet of polycarbonate. Acrylic is by no means a bad material, but I can drill polycarbonate much, much easier, and I plan on bolting the window on using some large threaded bolts. It will look good, be very secure and rigid, and, best of all, easily removable. Tonight, I sanded down my parts to be painted. I have a few shots of that, which I will now post: It may be hard to tell, but I have just started to sand in this picture. In this picture, I have started to go in and manually sand down hard to reach spots. It turns out my mouse sander isn't to good at working on things that are not flat or rigid, so hand sanding turned out to be the thing that did the most overall. In this last shot, I am displaying all my completed sanding work. There is alot of black paint dust covering the pieces, so I am going to need to wipe it off tomorrow when I prime. Hopefully, this is enough sanding for the etching primer to be effective. As always, questions and comments are welcome.
Thank you for being the first to comment, as well as your nice words. I greatly appreciate it. Anyhow, I had planned to take care of priming earlier in the week, but I have relatives in town, so I've had to do things in pieces over the course of the week. I've decided to adopt the strategy of describing pictures in the words above them, and change from what I did before, where I talked about them below the actual picture. First off, here is a picture of my polycarbonate window. It's 12 inches by 12 inches if I remember correctly, or for those of you who use the better of the two major measurement systems, 304.8 mm. On top of the sheet is a bag full of my bolts, which I will shown in use in later pictures. Up next, here's a shot of the information posted on my sheet of polymer. Nothing to interesting, I guess, but I am sure someone will find this intriguing. Maybe. Polycarbonate is a material that is used to make bullet proof glass. Think it could stop one of these? For those of you who want to do some math that I am to lazy to do, the cartridge pictured is a .22 LR. Your standard loading sends a 2.6 gram piece of metal at 330 meters a second. The overall diameter of the projectile is 5.6 mm, with a rounded pointed tip. My sheet of plastic is about 4.8 mm I believe. If anyone wants to pay for another sheet of polycarbonate, I will be willing to put your math to the test the non-theoretical way, and also test to see how well you can make authentic bullet hole effects in your case window. This relatively larger cartridge is a 5.56x45mm NATO round, and believe it or not, you can shoot both of these rounds down the same barrel, because they have the exact same diameter. The biggest difference is that the 5.56 travels at over 900 meters per a second, and the actual projectile weighs 4 grams. I don't think this sheet will stop it, but I will extend my offer once more to test that theory if someone gets me another polycarbonate sheet. My side panel is about to go under the knife again, only, it's not a knife, it's a rotary tool, this time my trusty power drill, which is more suited for the task of drilling through thin metal sheets. In hind sight, I should have drilled these holes while the panel was still taped up from when I cut out the window hole. It may be a bit difficult to see in this picture, but I have just drilled my holes for my bolts. In hindsight, I should have measured better, the holes look more sloppy then I would like. Because the metal bent a little from drilling it, and because I wanted to make sure everything was good to go before I moved onto the next stage, I installed all the bolts sans the window, and tightened them down a good deal, which flattened the metal back into position. Not much to say here, I am about to drill through the polycarbonate. I have finished drilling the holes in this picture. This whole process was far, far easier then I expected. The first hole I drilled, I made a pilot hole, and then moved onto my more substantial full size bit. For the next hole, I decided, "why not?" and just went straight to the full size bit, no pilot holes, and much to my surprise, it worked perfectly. Seriously, it was as easy as line up the power drill, press the trigger, apply pressure, bam, done, next hole. I didn't need to heat anything or even spray down stuff with water. It was literally that easy. Not only that, there where absolutely no issues with the polycarbonate, no cracks or anything. Try doing that with acrylic! Honestly, I don't know why more people don't use polycarbonate for their windows. I'm sure someone who knows more then me about this type of stuff can answer that. This is a picture of everything put together. The clear protective sheet is still covering my polycarbonate sheet, but everything fits and it looks very good in my opinion, or at least looks like it will when I am done. Right now it looks kind of stupid do to the green tape. Here is a picture of the back. My window is incredibly easy to remove. Well, there's alot of bolts to take out, but it's certainly easier then drilling our pop rivets, and I bet it's easier then popping out a window that has been secured by the, as the good people over at MNCP Tech put it, the "tape of the gawds". Silver bolts are ugly in my opinion. I wanted to get them in black to start out with, but my local hardware store didn't have any, so these little guys are getting sprayed down with some etching primer along with the rest of the case. I'll go over them with a flat black paint coat once the primer has dried. Sorry about the bad lighting, I was working at night. Normally I have the almost always present California sunshine to make things look good for me. Anyhow, these are the parts before I primed them. And, after a can of etching primer, I ended up with this. Trust me, they look much better in person. I promise when I am done with this project, I will try to get a hold of good camera and take some nice shots of the finished case. So, yeah, that's where I am so far. I'm going to see if I can get access to a machine shop soon, so that I can make myself a less terrible front panel (sorry BitFenix, I just hate how it looks, the lack of air intakes for the front fans, and the non-USB 3 front panel) and make the parts for the roof. I don't want to make them out of plastic if I can help it, the theme of this case is rough, none of that fancy racing red car themed stuff. I like my things to look practical and sexy at the same time, preferentially through how practical and rugged they look. As always, I welcome all comments. I'm going to go play World of Tanks now, I am tired of doing things today.
Can't you shoot just a small piece of polycarbonate? I'm sure you don't need EVERYTHING... nice beginning, keep on moddin'
Sadly, I have none to spare, I only got one piece. Next time I am at a plastics store, I will check the scrap bins for some scientific testing materials. I am actually interested in seeing if real bullets can make good bullet hole effects (technically there is no way they could not, but you know what I mean) for case mods. I figure a straight forward approach could be the best one. Or, I could totally ruin a piece of plastic. Either way, it would be interesting to find out. My current theory on how to make a case look authentically beat up involves good boots with reinforced toes and throwing the thing around in the dirt.
