Case Mod - In Progress Bitfenix Shinobi remake, scratch built front/top/side - Oct. 2 update

Yet another crazy Swede with a case mod.

I was looking for a case for my new workstation but i couldnt find anything i liked, so i bought a Bitfenix Shinobi (standard, not XL) to modify to my taste and needs.

Hardware is not ordered yet and i really dont know what to put in the box, but it will come later. Some kind of watercooling (cpu only) is going to be used, dont know yet if i buy a ready kit or buy parts to make one myself. We´ll se what space i got left later
I´m not a gamer, so you will not see a graphics card woth more than my car or any other gaming stuff

My taste of whats nice looking are a little odd from others, i really hate 5,25" visible slots and really like shapes, lines and something more than a box.
I have looked at Silicon Graphics Onyx, Altix & Indigo, SUN and IBM servers & racks for inspiration.
I will completely rebuild the front panel, old one will be gone. Roof part i may use some parts from, not sure yet.

I have some sketches and ideas about the case, but there´s no idea to show them, i will probably make many things different than the sketches on my way to the finish

Well, enogh talking.

The box, brand new. Sad to destroy it, pretty nice for the price.




Sketched the logo to CNC mill for the roof fans. (yeah, i know, the logo is 100%, fix later)




The bird is naked!




Good afternoon modding




More naked ?



Allright, one sketch for the side Black is window, Bitfenix logo in acrylic.




Some lines for cutting...
The lower line at the bottom is just a extra, if the window is too small i just cut on that line to get it a little bigger. Double choices




I managed to cut the power cord to the jigsaw, with the jigsaw, so i thought its enough modding for tonight

 

Cut some 2mm plastic to the bottom frame of the front. I will build the new front on this and connect it to the case later
It will not be visible, so i´m not 100% with the measurements

Also bought some wood today and stain, going to put some inlays in the front with dark stained wood to keep a clean but nice look.
I really puke at visible 5,25" bays so i will not have a single one, its 2012 and if i need a compact disc in my computer i´ll use a USB drive.




And, a sketch again. This is going to be CNC milled to hold the SSD´s.
Three pics, first is from the side, green is SSD disks, second from the front, and third from the front, without disks.
They will be recessed 5mm in the "thing" and cables hidden in the structure.
Noticed now that the legs at the bottom where different thickness, going to fix that before its milled.
My idea with this strange thing is to bend it more and have the top go over the cooling reservoir on eaither side.
My brain has the perfect picture, you guys have to wait until you see more pics

 

Made some progress with the front piece.
Got alot of sanding on the wood.

Testing the pieces...


Sketch of the front, how i think it will be
(have not put any time into details, i put my time into construction, so the front piece is a little naked here)

 

Love the idea so far. I can't make hide nor hair of the SSD mount so will be interesting to see where it goes.

How's the structural integrity with all they bays gone? Are you going to put anything back in there? I'm modding a Shinobi myself and I want to change the HDD bays but Bitfenix insisted that there be a support structure there so I'm trying to decide what to do.

 

With the bays gone it is a bit rickety/unstable if i move it front to back, but i think i can fix that with a support bar from back to front in height with the PSU.
And with the sides on, its much better.
I will also have a new "floor" on top of the PSU so that will also strenghten the case a bit.

 

I like where this is going keep it up

 

Time to unveil the next step.
This is a "shield" that goes in the front, about 5 milimeters outside the front of the case, backlit with white leds.
Dont know the colors of it yet, but probably brushed aluminium on the bottom, the black frame around and red Bitfenix logo.

Frame and logo will be CNC cut from plastic (my cnc can only cut plastics, thats why).
This will hide the wood a little, but also make the case more alive.
"Shinobium" is the project name, a little lame i know, but what the heck, i dont want to spend hours on thinking out a great name

CNC running right now, hope to get the SSD-rack and front shield ready soon!

What do you guys this about this, use it or throw it ?
Shield almost the same width as the case, and position about 5-10cm from the top (2-4 inches)

 

Fan testing, not real colors on the fan, just to see how it looks.


And some more



I will probably use black net behind the logo and not whats shown above.

 

Looking good so far subbed

 

Not so much work done on the case yet, cutting and thinking mostly

Been talking to some sponsors, got some neat stuff on its way!

A new file for the CNC is ready, this will be the new "rack" for the SSD´s.

I will try to warp/twist it, like a DNA-string, but not a complete turn, the top will be twisted ~45 degrees compared to the bottom of the "thing" so i still can make baseplates for fastening the SSD´s.

 

This looks great.

 

That fangrill looks damn pretty!

 

the fangrill with the metal backplate look fantastic! i think it'll be a lot less goodlooking without it :/ however i think it's needed for the airflow

 

I agree, it looks fabulous!

 

Got some PRO-help today
My daughter sanding the side panel

 

Made a order of some components this friday.

The list...

pcs: Item: Item No.: Single price: Price:
1 x MagiCool Copper Radiator II - 240 mm WARA-091 2
1 x Akasa AK-455-5G High Performance Wärmeleitpaste ZUWA-032
2 x Akasa SATA 3 Kabel 50cm gewinkelt / gerade - black ZUSA-111
1 x XFX RADEON HD 6570, 650M Passiv 1024 MB DDR3 DUAL DVI GCXF-039
1 x Logitech G400 Gaming Maus GAMO-304 25.13 EUR
1 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H, AMD A75 Mainboard - Sockel FM1 MBGB-039
1 x AMD APU A8-3870K Black Edition 3,0 GHz (Llano) 100 Watt - boxed HPAM-029
2 x Intel 330 Series 2,5 Zoll SSD, SATA 6G - 120GB SSIT-011
1 x Corsair Vengeance Series Blue DDR3-1600, CL9 - 16GB Kit

Pump is a EK DCP4 and a Phobya 250 reservoar. hoses and fittings i´m going to order later.
The two Intel 330 SSD´s i will probably run in raid 1. Again, its a work-computer and i think the performance of SSD will be enough, and i dont need Raid 0.

But, on another thought, i do not keep any files on my computers, all files are stored on a HP DL360 in my closet with raid 1+0 and shared trough my gigabit lan in my home. On a disk crash i can restore a image pretty quick.
So... maybe Raid 0 is a option, suggestions ?

Im not a gamer, nor a overclocking freak, i may boost it a bit but not going to hunt for the last Mhz.
Just a stable working computer, the focus are on the case

I hope i will get some steel in the mailbox tomorrow, i have ordered alot of water jet parts for the case

 

Test fitting the side panel and PSU.

BeQuiet Dark Power 10, 750w will be far enough for my setup

Here you can see my vision better, i wanted to show the PSU, but not the side of it.
Space to the right will be used for water pump and some electric stuff.

A ton of sanding left on the side panel

 

Time to pick up the new "wood".

The wood i bought earlier is to much curved to sand down, i do not have a planer so i will go the easy way, with floor panels, or click-floor as its called.
I get a ready to use wood surface, and maybe top off with some clear coat.

But i have not yet decided wich to get.

The case is going to be dark red metallic like this example



And the front piece how the "wood" will be placed.
The curved sides are really wings, i didnt know how to draw it, they are not solid as shown here.



And.. the three i need to decide about.

Two wood look, one stone look.
Picture in the middle is wood grains, but stained white.

If i go on the first one, i probably stain it darker a bit more.

 

Be Quiet! is sponsoring the build with PSU and fans, so i will go with their fans on the radiator.
The new Silent Wings 2 are a little different with two types of mounts, none of them really suitable for mounting on a radiator.
So i took one of them, drilled a hole trough it (its only half way) and made a new top to it.
Added bushings between fan and radiator, and also on the bolt, i probably ad a washer too there.

The bolt is to long, so i didnt want to tighten it
But, here´s the prototype change of the mount, and its working great!

 

Time to add fans and radiator in a test-fit to see what and where i need to cut.
Noticed something i didnt think about, the holes is not lining up. I totally missed that little detail.

Well, time to wake up my neighbours and start up the drillpress.