Project: GEARED UP. More tinkering! 10/3.

Been a long time lurker but I thought it was about time
to participate actively.

My subject is everyone's fav. The Lian Li PC V1000B. With the
likes of Black Narciscus and all the other Li's out there implementing
all the good ideas (just as I seem to think of them) I'm having a
hard time trying to come up with alternate ones. Heck, for some things I won't.

Here are the obligatory shots of the case stock (courtesy of Newegg).




I saw a bezel on a case mod at MNPCTech but they weren't then available for resale.
Getting frustrated and having no work area (living in an
apartment at the time) or tools, I needed a mod made
for me. Well. After working with Chris at Customwatercuts
I finally came up with a design for the side of my Lian Li PC-V10000B
case.

This



and this,



along with quite a few drawings containing necessary measurements,
is what I gave Chris to work with. I mocked these up using
Adobe Illustrator (didn't know about sketchup at the time. Anyone that
wants to do me a paid favor and mock these up?).

Chris kept in contact with me at all times. Even when we kind of
got sidetracked due to the holidays and my wife and I buying a
new house so progress was slow but Making many changes and
modifications we came up with the following.



Front^^^



Back angle^^^



Another angled view^^^



And the final CAD drawing he sent me.^^^

After getting a quote I received my aluminum rings. Didn't turn
out too bad. I'm pretty satisfied with the results. May try
laser cutting for a future project for comparison.

Anyways, here are some pics.



^^^
On the side panel which has yet to be cut to mount the rings and plexi.
The rings need to be polished up. Gotta buy a dremel with a polishing
wheel. Tried hand polishing and got fed up.



Angled view of the rings.^^^
You can see where the water/abrasive kind of "marred" the surface
on it's way out the other side while it was cutting. Polishing
should clean that right up.



120mm Evercool blue LED fan test fitted to the fan bezel.^^^
2 of these will be mountd on top of a piece of plexi to the top
of the case. Lighted BLOWHOLES!



My custom (made by me) 120mm & 92mm fan grills.^^^



Custom 80mm fan grill mounted in my Beantech enclosure. (.5tb!!)^^^



Closeup of the 120mm grill.^^^ The 92mm got mounted to my...



...XP90!^^^ How do you mount a 92mm Evercool blue LED fan to a
Thermalright XP90?
(Note the 120mm mounted to a Tweakmonster "fan holder".)



THIS is how.^^^ I took a 92mm fan I ripped from a dead PSU and
clipped the fan elements from the frame. I attached that to
the LED fan which made it possible to mount it to the XP90.

When I had some (rare) free time I decided to cut and mount
the case window after buying a dremel. Turned out alright
but my dremel skills need work. The rough (very rough)
opening needs filing to get even but overall not bad.



Side panel masked off, holes marked off and drilling commenced.^^^



Window/fan bezel ready for test fit.^^^



Hole cut and bezels mounted to case.^^^



Close-up. Note the rough cut of the hole.^^^
Couldn't wait a day for the hole cutter attachment
that I could've used. I didn't plan it but the
rings in the center seem suspended in mid air.



Even closer-up close up. Rings need polishing BAD!^^^



Wide shot (can you tell I used to work in video?).^^^
I plan on using the "dials" from a Coolermaster Musketeer
to mount to the case panel when I get more free time. The
opposite panel will get rings of it's own but will be installed totally
different. The problem with this case is that the side where
you would see the window on a mormal case is now just dead
space. Not on MY case. Possibly I can get this done later
this weekend if I budget my time correctly. Dual 120mm blowholes
get installed in the top when I can make sure the holes can get cut
perfectly. Add black mirrored plexi and it should be bangin'.

More later.

 

Wow what a fantastic start! Do you have any plans for the front bezel?

 

Of course! It's all in my head right now. I'm going to try HARD to get the blowholes and side panels finished off first. I'm wanting to relocate my Crystalfontz display to have the space available for WC components (read-Fass-O-Matic) when I finally go that route. My wife wants it to stay because it was a birthday present from 2 years ago.

 

Great start bro. Very nice indeed.

How long did it originally take to get a reply from Chris? I emailed him about a week ago for a quote and some information but never got a reply.

 

That looks good, maybe use a bit more silver in the front bezels to make it even.. or just use more silver some other places but for the rest that mod is rockin!

 

nice little started

 

I like your style...

 

Thanks guys!

He's gettin' pretty overworked so it may take a while. He's a cool guy to work with. He might actually be out of town as he does that a lot too.

 

Thanks for the OT reply bro. I did just get a hold of him and you are very right, great guy.

I will be watching this. I have the same case and the ring you mentioned on hellbound I actually used in my mod! Great minds think alike!!

 

If you don't mind me asking, but inquiring minds wanna know what did the water cuts set you back, and how long was the turn around time once you had settled on your design?

B.T.W. awesome design if I do say so myself! Mod on...

 

For polishing the watercut alu check out this thread for a great HOW TO.

http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=538&page=21&pp=10

That design was also cut by Chris.

 

Thanks again. We're talkin' a few hundred bucks. I thought it was worth it since I KNOW I couldn't have done it with any tools that weren't magic.

Edit:
After the final design was agreed upon I received the parts in a week.

 

Glo-wire SUCKS!!!



Bolted the other set of rings to the other panel. (Pardon my
lack of pics this go round but my camera just ate all the batteries.)
I left it a little elevated (will have pics soon ) for the other part of the mod-GLO-WIRE!
I planned to illuminate the entire ring with blue EL wire but the
light the wire threw off was so pitiful that you couldn't even see it
in an unlit room. I thought it should of been much brighter than it was.
Boy was I disgusted. I guess I have to break out the pack of LEDs I
bought some time ago. I was even thinking of using an 8" Luminglass
as it was my original plan. I found out that they might require a bit more
mounting depth (5") than I have. I may get one anyways just to tear it apart.

 

Camera's back in action.



This is what the glo-wire looks like in broad daylight.^^^
Pitiful.



You would think in a pitch black room it would get better. ^^^
It doesn't. I should of known since I never see anyone use this stuff
in any of their mods.



And with some camera trickery this is the effect I'm trying to get. ^^^

Oh well. 8" Luminglas on the way!

 

wow good idea never seen gears on a computer cases before good work wanna see it all now

 

That is ultra clean and sweet looking, nice job!

 

oooooo me likey!!!

 

I like this, clean and tidy (so far) yet still unique and visually striking.

Edit: 357th post, The MAGNUM post.

 

thats sweet, like the customed clear pc.

Like the gears too

- S

 

Those gears look absolutely awesome... can't wait to see what else you've got in store