Intro So I got the idea to mod my case whilst trying to fix the headphone interference issue on my antec 1200v1.. using nothing but a knife. It's still WIP and probably won't be completed until at least next weekend as I need parts that I can only get from Antec (the header). I thought to myself.. how hard can it be.. the answer is.. a little more difficult than you think. Needs more patience than I thought too! I started taking photos a little bit into the disassembly process. In retrospect.. that would've helped a lot as I went along! Feedback welcome of course Taking it apart The case Giving the filters a little clean PSU flipped over - turns out the cabling doesn't run too well that way up.. so put it back fan down. Disk Drive Had to remove the flat panel at the front of the tray first then after sliding it back it I pried off the edges using a screwdriver and soft plastic removal tool Painting it I decided I wanted to have Red or Blue mesh around the fan at the top and at the front... then I realised I had neither of these colours and went for white! Coat after coat.. I was starting to get a little impatient but you can see the colour starting to take The morning after: I'm not 100% happy with all the paint work You can see where I've gotten impatient.. the consistency is terrible Now on to the reassembly.
Case Mod First try at a Mod - Antec 1200 V1 (Pic heavy) - last update 09 Nov 2014 Re Assembly - drives and caddies After removing the masking tape... oh dear. the disk drive didn't turn out great.. neither did the colour.. Maybe I should've left this black? Now at this point I'm thinking.. what have I done? I tried to organise a few so that the thickness isn't too apparent. hmm.. not bad! A little nick on the hand whilst installing.. But it looks alright! Don't mind the pink make-up case.. its where I keep my tools Took the opportunity to do a little wiring as well The last two going in Last two needed another touch up of paint.. Have managed to go through 1.5 cans at this point. I managed to damage the paintwork on the top mesh and realised just how fragile it all is.. great! It doesn't seem to hold too well. Had to remove it and give it another coat of paint.. will do a second shortly.
Case Re-Assembly continued The last two had some chips I wasn't happy with. Fed up of repainting I turned to a little correction fluid. The colour was off but with a little smudging it looked ok and hid the chips! Everything back in Cable Management The antec 1200 v1 is not great for cable management. For the disks at the bottom I managed to tuck them under the unit Threading things though... ... and tying them off nicely .. Panel work done Put things back together minus the front header as that's still WIP Pretty nice! I/O Panel Mod Have managed to slice my finger open shortly after the 3rd pic here looks like injection moulding inside the plastic bit. It's easy to cut down to the components.. but the whole thing is sunk in moulded plastic. Figured I need to continue by cutting the back off of the plastic so I can remove all of the white stuff THEN make the needed incisions. So after a little offering of blood.. and must cutting and prying with a screwdriver I managed to get part of the outer casing off. I figured out that the earth wire is the white one and proceeded to snip out a 2 or 3 mm section of wire to prevent any accidental contact. Next up I need to put everything back together. I had contemplated upgrading the USB2.0's to USB3.0's but figure that it's drawn on long enough and I need to get it all back together. Re Assembly - The rest of it
Paint can make a massive difference in bringing life to an old case. Black and white is also just a great choice! I remember painting all the mesh on my thermaltake armor case gunmetal, and it looked really nice since the entire front was mesh.
It wouldn't be proper modding with out a few cuts and bruises. If you ever read one of my logs there is always blood, temper tantrums and stuff getting thrown about. The black and white works well with that case, coming along nicely.
Thanks for the re-assurance I'm nearing the end of the modding journey and have a much greater respect for what people do here. I appreciate your comments and feedback. Hoping to wrap this up over the course of the weekend. Two photos added to show a little progress with the header. I picked at it every few days until I managed to get enough out.
