This is my first project and it's not going to be an easy one. My goal for this project is to make a pair of mac pro cases into a cube that will fit a full atx board with room for future expansion. One part that I haven't seen done very often is the side by side optical drives. The kicker is that I want to keep the stock door assembly since I am a fan with how it works. Here are two renderings of the case. Now down to business. So I'm starting with two mac pro g5 cases that i found on ebay. Time to take these beasts apart. After fighting with the nuts for a while, I finally got the backpanel/stands piece free from the inner cage. Way to many nuts on those two. After pulling the rest of the internal parts out, I have two empty mac pro cases ready for modification. The inner cage of this case is going to be 13.5in. tall by 15in. long by 15in. wide. It's not a small case but it'll do the job. To make this work, I cut one case down to size to make sure it was going to work. Masking tape is a great thing to get lines straight and also helps protect the case. Time to start cutting. The weapon of choice for these cuts. It's really hard to take photos and cut accurately at the same time so here is the aftermath. Here are a couple shots of the parts mocked up to give an idea of the size. More to come. Austin
Very interesting idea...That case is a pain to mod let alone what you are attempting....I can't wait to see how this will evovle...If everything goes as you plan, this is going to be the most amazing hackintosh ever....
This is a great idea! Although I don't own a mac pro I have always loved its case. Also I am a fan of smaller well designed cases and this would smash it! Can't wait to see this, how are you going to the joins invisible?
Very cool idea, definitely a departure from the traditional cube case. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
Thanks. So far the pain part is for sure. It's going fast right now but I know it'll slow down once i get everything cut. Thanks guys. The joints will be done with either aluminum strips held in place by epoxy or putty, or if i can find someone to weld the floor and top parts I'll go that route. I'd prefer that route so we'll see what happens. Hope I don't keep you guys waiting too long to finish it. Austin
Well it's time for the second case to come apart. Using what I learned from the first case I've changed a few things. First off, was to leave a little more of the case behind. I know it means more work, but if the holes are going to line up properly I'd rather do the sanding. Secondly, I got the door assembly out of the way before making the rest of the cuts. That thing is a beast to cut through! So now down to business and pictures. I found it much easier to have tape on either side of the cut. It makes cutting a straight line a lot easier. Should have thought of that sooner but what's a first time modder to do? Before I cut the rest of it apart I decided to take the top part of the other case and hold it up to get an idea of what this was going to look like in the end. Now onto the major cuts. I'm using the same procedure as last time so I won't bother you with pictures you've already seen. A half hour or so later we end up with four parts. I was really looking forward to this part: putting the pieces together and seeing what I had. I apologize for the crooked parts but it's hard to get everything level and since it's all got to come apart for sanding I didn't want to spend too much time on mock up. That's it for now. I know it's not much but it's a good place to show what I'm hoping to accomplish with this build. I've got plenty of sanding and test fitting to do, so wish me luck. More to come. Austin
Ooouuh... that'll be interesting to see how it evolves. I would've sold the G5-cases and build it from scratch, as it would've been much easier imho, then to do all the work you're facing in the future
I'm planning on a flat black inner case with the outside painted aluminum. Yeah it'll be a lot of sanding but if i do it right it'll be really sweet. I thought long and hard about starting from scratch but I like the optical drive assembly too much and it would be hard to replicate. The sanding will be the longest part of the build. Yeah accurate tools definitely make life easier as a modder. Time to get back to the sanding. Austin
Sorry for the long time since the last update but as The_Beast stated: there was a lot of sanding to be done. I started out with a 100 grit and a sanding block. After a day of that, one very sore set of arms, and not much to show for it, I moved up to the big guns. It's amazing how much faster sanding goes with something like this. Surprise Surprise. I just had to be careful not to take too much. After much time spent fitting, sanding, measuring, fitting, and more sanding, I got the pieces to size. Now it was time to put them together and see how it looked. I thought i should check to be sure that the optical drive assemblies still fit so I put them in and they just barely fit. Not even a 16th of an inch between the two. It's almost like I knew what i was doing. I have the bottom 4 sections taped and bolted together so that in the next few days I can start putting the case together. Wish me luck. More to come. Austin
Cutting up such nice cases , good job you put them back nicely. Keep up the good work! I have one G5 case I want to mod but keep putting it off. Jake
