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Case Mod - In Progress Silen Flux

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Egami, 9 Sep 2013.

  1. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Right. I’m only going to go gushy on you guys this once so here goes.

    You know those little lists of things-to-do-before-you-die that people keep? I don’t have one. But if I did, having a project log here on Bit tech would be one of those things.
    I can’t draw, sing or dance to save my life. I can however build things. I also happen to love computers. They make sense to me. I understand them. And I think when built right they can be incredibly beautiful; real pieces of art.

    As this is my first major mod, posting it here will be as much about sharing it with you guys (and enlisting your help :)) as it will be about learning and recording my development as I go. I have no set time limit for finishing but neither am I planning on making this an eternity project. Since the case I will be working on carries unique design and meaning I want to take my time and make it perfect.
    This is my art.

    The Plan

    Like the banner above hints, the victim will be the NZXT’s Phantom with which I couldn’t help but fall in love with the moment I saw it, err, two years ago. Despite having been described as looking like the 70’s idea of today’s pc, I found it beautiful with its for an atx case spacious size and unusual design.

    The name Flux got chosen for two reasons; firstly because my plans kept, and still keep, changing no matter how many times I tried to set them in stone, and secondly because I wanted to create a case that was a keeper in the world of nearly yearly changing hardware.
    The fact is that mobos and colour schemes come and go - what many modded cases don’t do, is change (easily) with the hardware. I therefore wanted Flux to be something that you could to toss in a new mobo, change the sleeving a bit and flush the loop with a different coolant - and be as fresh as ever. Or should I say, that’s what I want Flux to be. For now I think I’ll just worry about the journey there.

    The ever evolving plans and renders scribbled unintelligibly on random bits of paper, the colour scheme of the planned eye candy will be white, white and more white, laced with black, red and silver/chrome. I’m also planning on reproducing some of the Phantom’s edgy designs on the cover plates in order to make the build more interesting and keep it from turning into a miniature hospital operating theatre (though I do find myself somehow strangely fascinated by the Umbrella corp-like you’re-all-going-to-die-down-here laboratory freakiness...)

    The plan is to produce cover plates for the psu, radiator and the motherboard tray, but with a twist: Behind the white cover plates I’m planning on crafting separate acrylic, led lighted “light stripes” that will echo the Phantom and the motherboard’s design. Furthermore the light stripes will not be limited to white but will have a selection of colours to choose from, adding to the case’s versatility of theming. All three (psu/rad/mobo) plates will have independently controllable lights, so that should one wish, one stripe could be set red, another white and the third missing entirely. The idea behind this is the ever playful now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t.

    In the mean while ambient lighting will be provided by two top fans. At the moment it looks like the fans will be two NZXT FS 200s. There however are no white led versions so I will be creating my own.

    The radiator will be mounted on the front using a specifically crafted mounting plate. I’m still working on dealing with the warm exhaust air dumping issues that this will be resulting in.

    Tubing? Mandatory, they say. We’ll be using hard acrylic routed sneakily through the luminous stripes on the cover plates.

    The cables will also get played with, but I’m not only meaning sleeving them silly colours now. I actually want to do something a little different with their routing. The anal army two rowed 24 / 8 / 3+4 are nice but... boring. The lighting stripes will feature heavily here as well.

    Externally only little will change: The power indicator and fan control leds will be changed, most likely to white (or possibly red). Also the mesh covered areas, mainly the top and bottom front will see some black added to the case structure to stop the now white parts from glowing like beacons through the mesh. I’m also thinking about adding some semi-hidden surprises to these areas but we’ll keep the details a secret for now. ;)
    The side panels will see some tidying up but that’s all.

    What you won’t find here is cnc milled or laser cut go(o)dness; just plain old time and effort. The hardware will be what I have running now, while the tools will be limited to my hands, the old trusty dremel, an ancient power drill, some files and an iron saw that’s probably twice my age.
    Ok, the sandpaper can come too.

    Hardware

    Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Gene
    CPU: Intel 2500K
    GPU: EVGA 760 SLI
    RAM: Corsair XMS3 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz

    Cooling

    CPU: EK-Supremacy - Nickel
    GPU: EK-FC670 GTX - Nickel
    Pump: Swiftech MCP35X
    Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 360
    Reservoir: Alphacool HF 38 Cape Cyclone 150 v.2

    Updates Index

    Let's get the party started!
    Party on
    Striking the pose
    Sideshow 3AM
    Staples & Snakes
    Janus smiles upon us
    Jailbreaking the rad
    Testing 1 2 3
    Jimm's sugary goodness
    You're all going to die down here
    EK, you sexy thing!
    Open. Close.
    Plumbing yoga
    Mario ate my brain
    Not very French balconies
    Seriously...
    And there goes the lid, the boilerplates, everything
    Bridge to perfection
    Dreamy creamy
    Getting loopy
    Time flies when you're having fun. Not.
    Little things
    EK-Supremacy EVO


    Patronage & Sponsorship by

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    As a fledgling modder still finding my way around the tools and materials, any and all comments, questions and thoughts are warmly welcomed. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride! :)
     
    Last edited: 27 Aug 2014
  2. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    As I’m going to be using a single 360 rad instead of two 240s, the first thing I had to do was to modify the case into accepting one. Most people seem to have opted for the top fan slots placement but I didn’t like the way this compromised the radiator’s fan setup and affected the aesthetics so I decided to go for an alternative solution by opening up the space originally occupied by the HDD slots and 5.25" drive bays and making a support plate for the radiator.

    And here it is; the gorgeous Phantom pulled apart and everything refusing to pay rent tossed out.

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    Time for some quick 3D renders the good old 60’s style!

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    The third fan exists but it wasn’t needed for the measurements exercise and hence got left in the box.

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    The truth is that I can’t use 3D rendering programs to save my life.
    ...also the cardboard models are turning out perfect for weeding out initial design bads.

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    Time to cross the point of no return.

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    Front fan brackets gone.

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    Filing time. None of that will actually show from underneath the radiator support plate but that’s no excuse for shoddy work.

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    Rad support plate first cuts.

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    Not for eating.

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    It will be pretty, I promise.

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    The filing queue grows.

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    53cm is a long way for a small dremel disk to go. Didn’t even notice how small the poor thing had shrunk until taking it off (and breaking it) :(

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    Note for the pending filing queue: Must invest in a larger file!

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    While waiting for the new files to arrive, I decided to have a go at sleeving as it seemed like an easy enough thing to try. Armed with Kamaster and Vestito's guides and the Sunbeam pin removal tools, success seemed inevitable. Except that the pins would not come off. They just would not, no matter what I did. The quick 15 minutes I thought I’d spend with the pins and sleeve had turned into three hours and all I had to show were deep cuts on both my thumb and index finger as even the eight pin connector seemed to have turned on me. It was only when I was just about ready to scream like a girl and give up that one of the pins popped out!
    I’ve never felt that victorious.

    Victory!

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    The acrylic thankfully turned out much more placid than the sharp, pointy sleeving business and I managed to run some initial drilling and painting experiments. Cable management plans started taking shape too. Don’t mind the four wobbly holes; that’s just a spare piece to test things on.

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    Some paint testing. First layer’s looking promising.

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    The second however... Not.
    The worst thing is that I have no idea what or why it happened.

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    While the paint dried the rad plate got its share of new, larger file powered love.

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    After filing it was time to jut down some helpful lines, which soon turned into a serious information overdose.

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    Thankfully there's always the dremel option to cut out the unnecessary information! :D

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    Looking neat.

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    Or what do you think?

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    Finally a sneak peek of the future plans. In short you’re looking at a rather thorough revamp of the famous murderMod luminous panel. Times three and with multiple lighting options.

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    Last edited: 20 Jan 2014
  3. Margo Baggins

    Margo Baggins I'm good at Soldering Super Moderator

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    Hello Egami,

    Welcome to Bit-Tech

    I have moved your post to the modding section as it still falls under conceptual - once there starts to be a concise build log with pictures of your build coming together I will move it back to Project Logs :)

    Sounds like it's going to be a fun build though!
     
  4. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    When attempting to craft my megalomaniac plans into flesh it turned out that the actual light panel works like a dream, but the top white acrylic kept bouncing the light inside itself creating a halo. Thankfully it looks like the halo can be dealt with by reducing the opaque acrylic’s thickness.
    Oh, and the lumistripe lights the case up like a Christmas tree. Great when viewed in full daylight as you get good clear, colour intense stripe but holy mother of a cow once the world goes dark. And there’s supposed to be three of them. An elegant solution is under intestimigation.

    All in all there’s starting to be a bit of a work order queue as I’m having to wait for the white fan-to-be-leds to arrive. Before the fans there cannot be mobo panel and before mobo panel there really can’t be any of the other panels either.

    At least I’ve managed to cook up some candy cane spaghetti.

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    8-pin route testing. It’s going to be tight up there once the fans are in place.

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    While waiting for the thinner acrylic to materialise I decided to spend some time with the freshly cooked candy cane spaghetti and see if I could find an interesting way to arrange the cables.

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    The experiment may have gotten slightly out of hand as I soon found myself thinking what if I redid the colours a little?

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    Well, the colours and the routing. I think I need help.

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    What do you guys usually do when watching Futurama btw? I took the opportunity to bend over some hard tubing.

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    Thankfully the new, thinner acrylic took only a couple of days to materialise. I doubt the store has ever seen anything get picked up that fast. Gief! Now! Raa!
    At this point I decided that fans or no top fans, I was going to attack the shiny new 2mm acrylic and make the mobo tray cover into flesh. It’ll get cropped down to size once the fans are available.
    But what’s this? When taking measurements I discovered some strange bits for which I couldn’t identify any use for. So I cut them out.

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    The weird bits out of the way it was time to show the acrylic the saw.
    Did I by the way mention the condition of the “shiny” when I went to pick it up from the local plastics shop?

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    Yeah... Enough said there was a hefty discount involved.
    But the mobo tray cover is alive!!!

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    ...man those half torn acrylic scratch cover plastics sure make for one ugly sight.
    By the way, those thinking cardboard modelling as a cheap and inconvenient design method - I dare you to do this casually with your real mobo! :D

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    Ahem. The rad plate has also received some paint. It’s not quite prrfect though (nature attacked mid painting) so I’ll be sanding that and doing a fresh coat once I get the chance.

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    Had to try it on regardless.

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    Hmm. Now just need to decide which cable arrangement to run with.

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    Thanks for watching. Any comments and suggestions are warmly welcome!
     
    Last edited: 20 Jan 2014
  5. mansueto

    mansueto Too broke to mod

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    Looks like you've got quite the plan already. Looking forward to seeing this develop!
     
  6. Margo Baggins

    Margo Baggins I'm good at Soldering Super Moderator

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    Moved back to Project Logs :)

    I also added the "Case Mod" Prefix to your thread.

    The build is looking nice!

    I can't believe your post ninja'd my post about it not having pictures, and your post was full of pictures!
     
  7. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Oh the plan is strong in this one. Just hoping I will live up to the conjured expectations!

    Woop! Thank you. :)
    I had actually prepped all the three posts for a rapid start before getting entangled in the admin red tape and realising that the initial post indeed only carried the Silen Flux banner. Oops.
    It’s good to be among the Project Logs now. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride!
     
  8. Concept73

    Concept73 Wannabe modder.

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    The time, effort and planning that has gone into this build is amazing, not going to lie i may pinch an idea or two from you ;)
     
  9. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Righto. With the mobo tray cover finally finished we’ve officially reached the first milestone. For once I can say that everything went roughly as planned and with the light channel done and the rad support plate painted, I feel happy. That said, a lot of work remains to be done and so far I’ve been advancing much slower than I initially hoped I would.
    The next big thing will be lighting. I got my soldering station today and will be starting work tomorrow provided I can get my back sorted out. I can currently barely turn my head and even just being still hurts. But I have coke and a bottle of Mt. Gay rum so... we’ll see.

    But enough waffling, we all know what you’re here for. :D

    The rad all tuxedoed up.

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    So far the case has indeed needed very little cutting up and modding in itself. I’m seriously starting to think if I got this modding thing all wrong – or if NZXT did a really good job with their Phantom.
    One thing I did have to get my dremel out for was for the re-routing of the 8-pin power.

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    It indeed took a while, but what started as an eye sore...

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    ...slowly turned into a practical plan...

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    ...that made it to field testing. And more...

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    Preparing for the first outing.

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    24-pin set.

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    8-pin.

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    Add the sata cables...

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    ...and zoom out.

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    Finally, striking the pose: Love me like a loaded gun!

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    With that, I’m off to fix myself a drink with some rum from Mt. Gay. Enjoy, please comment; all and any input will be highly appreciated!
     
    Last edited: 20 Jan 2014
    Asouter likes this.
  10. Azariel

    Azariel Minimodder

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    Very nice! Love the offset holes for the different sleeve colors!
     
  11. Phame

    Phame COOOOFFFFEEEEE

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    Perfect start dude!

    :thumb:
     
  12. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Thanks! I was looking to make the cabling a little more interesting but yet discreet. Happy that you like it!

    Aw-shucks... Thanks! Means really a lot coming from you guys :blush:
     
  13. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Bender Bending Rodríguez Cheesecake!
     
  14. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Cheesecake!? On the first page of my first build!? :jawdrop:
    I can die a happy man now.
     
  15. Z0DIAX

    Z0DIAX bending alloys

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    nice way you did the 24 pin through the motherboardtray, very promising. :thumb:
     
  16. LegendaryScott

    LegendaryScott Trying to live up to the name

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    Very clean man
    offset holes are lovely.
    and I love the sata cables, I stared at them for a good 5 mins. Awesomely done

    Will be watching this:

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  17. siliconfanatic

    siliconfanatic Johny-come-Lately

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    Woof. I'll bite! Really like the idea for the offset cables. Gives it a sort of "pop" that most cable routing is sorely lacking in.
     
  18. Asouter

    Asouter --------

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    Really like the cable management, Very clean. I have an obsession for cable management. Dunno why cos I'm pretty bad at it.

    But man I really like that
     
  19. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Looking super-clean. I like the layer of black on the motherboard tray.
     
  20. Egami

    Egami Why is the dremel on fire?

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    Makes me want to say “wait till you see what I have in mind for the tubing” but the truth is I’m struggling with the cpu routing. It. Just. Won’t. Turn. Out. Clean. Enough.

    Thanks Scott! You have to thank Asus and blind luck for the sata cabling though; I had no idea the sata cables would be the gorgeous black and white they are when I bought the board.

    Rauf! Glad to have you aboard! Is it a bad thing that I’m already thinking of changing the said cables to black and white (BBWWWBBWWWBB) to make the red sata ports pop instead? Good idea? Bad idea? Very bad idea? The offset would stay the same of course.

    One takes a bow. I understand what it means to have an obsession. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at it, or like doing it, after that - you just do it. :worried:

    The layer of black? If you mean the little pattern slithering up the tray past the sata ports and 24-pin, I’m afraid master Cheaps it’s not black at all. In fact, allow me to demonstrate…

    But first, it’s back to technical stuff with this update. It was a beautiful day outside so I decided to have a go at tidying up the Phantom’s side panel.

    Naturally I forgot to grab a photo pre-op so a picture from the Hardware Heaven’s review will have to do.
    Not really what you’d expect after ogling at the marketing photos.

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    Some of you already know the exercise but before any cutting the mesh had to come off. Gently.

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    A gratuitous amount of masking tape, measuring and marking later it was the time to start cutting.

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    The operation yesterday must have left me with some sort of queer brain damage as, instead of changing the disk when it started shrinking, I decided to see just how small / far I could get.

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    Thankfully I ran out of guts before breaking the disk or causing something equally catastrophic to happen. What the fcuk was I thinking?

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    The patient post operation.

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    The dark reality of modding: Fine file and a pot of touch-up paint. Love it or hate it, you ain’t going anywhere without it.

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    It helps if you love it. I’m yet to get that far. Thankfully the results make it feel less... like torture.

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    Zooming in.

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    Finally, add the previously removed mesh and voilà, we have a nice clean side panel.

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    That’s all for this time folks! Thanks for watching; comments and proposals are always much appreciated!
     
    Last edited: 20 Jan 2014

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