Case Mod [COMPLETED!] Storm Scout Restoration

[Dudey109]

If you spray/soak anything in paint stripper cover it with something to stop it evaporating, will work much quicker. a bit of cling-film over the top and you'll be good

[stuartwood89]

Massive update!

It's been a while, sorry guys. Thankfully most of the PC case is finished now. The bulk of the work is done, and only the finishing touches and final build remain.

In the end I decided that the best way forward was to paint the case again. Luckily, fellow Bit-Techer and good friend ry@n was able to help me out! Those who have seen his LAN Cube project will know that his painting and filler work is awesome.

Unfortunately the following pictures are a bit nasty due to using my phone camera. I will upload some final photos once I have fully completed the case however.

The first thing I did was cut out some cable management holes with my Dremel. I did file down the edges, but they were to be protected by U-Channel after painting:



I also cut out the restrictive stamped mesh from the front and roof of the case:



The rear 120mm fan grille had to be cut out in a square, due to the fact that the mesh was raised and would silly if trying to cut like I did the others:



Unfortunately my cutting discs didn't last too long. The steel is only 1.5mm, but in places it really wore down the blades:



With the cutting and filing done, it was time for a dusting of primer. Because we sanded down the panels beforehand, only a light application is needed:



Paint followed. We used Halford's Matt Black spray paint:







After that, we riveted the case back together. Note that the side panels hadn't been done at this point:

[ry@n]

Looking forward to seeing some pics of it built up. Roll on our next project!

[stuartwood89]

Next up, the front panel. The idea was to use the Akasa Fan Control Junior I bought from the marketplace and integrate it into the front panel of the Storm Scout. As well as this, I wanted to use my anti-vandal LED button and key switch, so that the PC can only be powered on if the key is inserted and turned.

First up was to cut out the existing holes for the previous front panel layout:



I then drew the design onto paper and stuck it to the sheet of smoked acrylic I had for the side panel:



The holes were rough, but these would be hidden once the buttons were mounted. The original plan was to cut holes that matched up with the fan controller, but in the end, we cut out a rectangle to fit the whole unit in, then epoxy it all together:



Ryan then used filler to tidy up the back and secure the fan controller casing to the front panel:





He also started on the front of the panel:







After lots of sanding, the panel looked like this:





A coat of matte black. Ryan was not 100% happy with the finish, so sanded down some more and painted again:



Once the panel was finished, the fan controller unit was mounted:



The photo doesn't show it very well, but because the fan controller housing was added to the front panel, it meant that the top would no longer go on the case properly:





Some emergency post-paint cutting had to be done. The edges were then filed down and some paint added to heal any scratches made during cutting:





I mounted the fan to the front panel. The fan here is a Corsair AF140, with the white ring attached:



Now for the front fascia. The only modification done to this was to remove the plastic fan grille that was part of the piece:



As the fascia is covered with mesh, the cuts were well hidden, though I did my best to tidy them up:



The whole thing then had some paint:

[stuartwood89]

Now for the side panel window. The 3mm smoked acrylic was first run through the band saw, after tracing the existing side panel window onto the sheet:



At first I was thinking about drilling the holes as per the original panel, then using the plastic rivets to secure it back onto the panel again. In the end, we went with double sided tape instead:



With the acrylic mounted, it was clear that the double sided tape provided a much cleaner look than if I was to use the plastic rivets:



This picture does it no justice at all, but there it is mounted. I will be taking dome decent shots of this once it has been completed:



With that done, it was time to address the issue of cooling the graphics card. With the side panel window replaced with a flat window with no fan vents, I had to find another way of getting fresh air to the GPU. Luckily, Ryan had some stuff sitting around, so I was able to use this nice chunky Yate Loon 120mm fan. The fan is mounted in a plastic optical bay adapter, which I would use to mount the fan inside the case:







First I needed to clean up that bracket. As it was designed to clip onto a Coolermaster Stacker, it has lots of tabs and clips, so these needed to be sheared off:



As the hard drive cage was not going back into the case, I used the rivet holes in the optical cage to mount the plastic bracket:





With the fan mounted, I was not happy with the fan sticker on its side, and I wanted the fan cable to come out of the correct side to allow for better cable management. I removed the sticker and cut out a circle of carbon fiber effect film:



(We also found these great OEM stickers!)







Fan mounted, along with some more strips of CF film to cover up the blemishes on the side of the mounting:

[ry@n]

Any more pics, Stu?

[stuartwood89]

It's all built now, just need one or two things from Scan and I'm waiting for some stock to become available at Kustom before it's totally finished.

I'll get some nice photos taken soon. When I get home, I'll try and take some quick snaps to show current progress.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[stuartwood89]

Some final pictures!

Still waiting for the final two drive blanks to arrive from the friend who donated the case.

[ry@n]

It looks so much better than it did before, it would be cool to get some comparisons shots if you find a standard Scout at the I-Series. The cooler looks a good fit and the bi-coloured RAM heat spreaders are a nice touch. I might get some of those feet for my Stacker, the wheels make it sit too high.

[stuartwood89]

Cheers mate! Couldn't have done it without you. The cooler *just* fits, it was relieved to say the least.