Scratch Build Project $0 scratch build *Finished!*

[-equilerex-]

*Done*



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Heh, been coming on this site for a long time but this is my first post, really nice site you got here

Ok, as for the introduction, im a student with no income, all the cash i get is either my lunch and gas money from my parents or some earnings from summer jobs (i live in a small place and there isn't much year-round jobs in here)
So, a greedy person like i am, i would never spend big amount of cash on making my pc look nice. Yet, i like handcraft and i see casemodding as one of the best ways to practice it.
For my luck, i have lots of useless stuff at home, so on one cold evening somewhere last winter, i started with my mod.

ive had the concept ready since i first found casemodding several years ago on metku mods, so i was going to put it into practice without using any money, hell, even my camera was a cheap cellphone(sorry about that)


unfortunately, i have lost the first few photos, i will take some shots of the tools used later though.

basically, i took a sheet of aluminum i found in our private junkyard, cut out a piece that fit my hardware and wrapped it around a propane tank using cargo straps, then cut a wooden base from plywood and cut a hole for the rear panel.

this is what i had then:


next, the barrel straps- marked holes with a dremel, drilled and then used rivets






as the base got really out of shape, i first used paper to get the right top shape


used electric jigsaw to gut a really scratched aluminum diamond plate thingie






then i started with waterblock- gut a heatsink smaller




gut some plexi for the with that saw on the background


making holes, epoxy and the a radiator i found lying around.






just a little epoxy:


edges and rivets for the back panel




marking and cutting side door (electric jigsaw)

[-equilerex-]

and once again, edges and rivets










a window




and a ugly way to attach the door (could of got dad to weld it when he was working on a aluminum car but didnt think of it then) so epoxy was used here




and also used it on the waterblock


epoxy didnt work on the clips so i used silicone, the block was airtight tho:


hard to notice but i bent some plexi in the oven for the window:




Some airholes (jigsaw, drill and files)






window attatched with silicone (starting to look like a case )








tried the placement for the radiator
with:

without:

[-equilerex-]

power plug




the leakage test disaster, it was ok until i raised the radiator higher from the block and air started to leak in... i guess the pressure ripped epoxy open, even though it seemed hard as a rock so i scraped this part of the mod, until dad buys some argon for the welding machine, i dont think i will be building a waterblock.


marking some lines, using that thingie as a template


in here, i lost my phone on a bus trip to russia... used webcam... talk about high quality images



kind of cheesy but it seemed like the right icon for this case

got my phone back:










found some rubber material from shelves of a crashed bank van (also just laying around ) used it on the floor/base of the case





and some shots for fun.




total cost so far: $0
ok, thats it for today, going to add some more tomorrow
and sorry for my horrible grammar

as for the scratches on the metal and a few bad cuts, i was thinking of industrial look... rust and stuff... so they should look ok after some bondo and that kind of paintjob

[sk8ter646]

WOW that is very good and the idea for the WC block is fantastic lol shame it didnt work try it again but with silicone over the epoxy

[Jipa]

I think that looks great and for a zero budger mod VERY great :P And it sure is more "mod" than many high-budget lian-lis'n'stuff.. just my opinion ofc.

Industrial look is pretty used but I guess it would fit that thingy.. I'd possibly use hammer to create a nice texture to the radio-activity-logo and.. ummh.. do /something/ to the rest

[Breach]

Looks like you must have some cool stuff just laying around eh? Looking good though, should be a sweet project

[Captain Slug]

I have a Socket A/370 block if you want it. It has 3/8" barbs though.

[Jipa]

I guess it's cheaper to buy a new one from local shop than ship yours from the USA :/

And a bank-car "lying around" sounds pretty damn suspicious

[-equilerex-]

I guess it's cheaper to buy a new one from local shop than ship yours from the USA :/

yeh, same here, big thanks for the offer Captain Slug! but as i said, this is a $0 casemod, besides, i have the top already done, too lazy do do it again just to fit the radiator

And a bank-car "lying around" sounds pretty damn suspicious

bank car or whats left of it

apparently, thats what happens when you have a double trailer, a little drunk driver and too low railway bridge dont ask how it got here

[Tyinsar]

pretty sweet for 0$

One thing I'd want to do with any cylinder shaped case is put a full diameter fan at one end.

With the window it reminds me of the helmet of the "it's just a flesh wound" knight from Monty Python

[ssR]

haha i love the idea, looking great, should look kickass when its done if you put some attention to the cosmetic part of the case

[elliod]

great mod man and great ideas going there .
keep up the good work.

[overdosedelusion]

you know what would look good, if you painted the aluminium yellow when its done, like the explosive barrels in doom3, and gave it a really rusted look a la black mesa, to make it look like a discarded barrel of toxic waste

[Supra55]

Lol when you're close to Russia ANYTHING can be found . Nice mod for $0 its sweet.

[luis_pedro_Sato]

It looks great man. Congrat

[-equilerex-]

The top

marking the cuts:


holes for the jigsaw


really soft material so had to use tape






a little bending using blocks of wood, cramps and a hammer





turned out quite clean (something quite rare in my work)



lots of rivets again


added sides




found this fun switch from a 20-30 year old pc. the small ones are for lights and some other stuff, the big is power switch. really wanted to use a key for the power switch but car ignition lock would be too big and buying a special button would cost money... so had to compromise






we have come quite far with just a few decades:


Dad brought home some car backlights from work that were supposed to go into trash, i have used loads of them on a few of my previous casemods, thease are the last from the original block (there were 3 pieces 2 simular to this and one big in the middle)



but no worry, i have one more led light


so, these are ufo leds... they light all the surroundings, to direct the light, i made these little metal cases for them:


all put together:


and damn theyr bright, this was done in daylight:

i guess green light would be perfect for this mod but as i dont want to buy stuff, i have to go with these

so, attached it to the case, didnt want to add rivets in random places so i used some kind of glue


the glue:

[-equilerex-]

Had some problems with psu, i got the hardware from my sisters husband... he brought me 3pc's and told to get some of them working, so i fixed 2 of them (mostly software + upgraded by swapping parts) one was left lying here, as he didnt ask it for a long time, i used it for this mod the problem was that i accidentally switched it on 110 volts and 240 fried it, so i had to buy a new one when starting to make this mod. But as without my own stupidity, i wouldnt have bought it, i dont add it in the budget. a shame really, it was really nice and small. atleast the new one cost only $10

so time to mod the new psu




some tuning mesh(also from my dads work)


a hole


removed the grill thingie


glued the grill using that super fix stuff again




it doesnt look very clean(as in plastic on the edge of the cut, flashing lights etc.) but it was just for some airflow, and it wont be seen there anyway.
Ah, forgot the placement:

fits exacly, ant this monster is keeping it up there:

(didnt want to add random rivets on the barrel)

cut off some of the metal:


added tuning mesh




So, a fan/cooler form mercedes vito (used to cool the fuse box)





damn how hard it blows, its like when you blow off candles with full force, dont think the old cpu actually needs that kind of cooling... thats why its turned on by a switch.

cut some metal pieces to hold the hdd:



at first i wanted to but it flat in front of the mobo and add a mod like on my modem on top of it

the modem mod:



but i was low on those tube thingies and it would of covered the nice rubber floor so i but the hdd under psu behind mobo
might still add the tube thingie in a smaller scale

So, now comes the wire mess
with my last case, i had some hardware problem and had to take off all the addons it got really messy as i had them soldered in and i have been to lazy to put them back in (although its been almost a year)

So, im going to make everything easy to deattach, this is one of the main plugs, it will allow me to take off the top with all the switches(got it from some car wire system)


got some plugs off a old monitor circuit board:



the molex is from a new fan i used on my main pc

[-equilerex-]

So heres the main system for my wires. The positive wire of, for example led's goes to a removable blug on the left side, from there it goes to that pink junction that leads to the switch, it comes back and goes into the white screw plug (lots of wires going into it) and on the other side, i will connect a positive molex wire. the necative side of the leds/other applications coes to the left side of the screw plug and negative molex wire will be on the opposite side


all wired up:


and it works!








told you it was bright:




well, at this point, ive run out of ideas/inspiration, i know i should do some wire sleeving, attach the plugs and everything to the case, make a grill for the top fan and lots of cosmetic stuff but its just really hard to see where to start, ive tryed to start working on it several times but usually my dad has all the tools on the construction/i get distracted/something is missing etc. so i really dont know when the next update will be, might be in a day or two, might be in 2 months

total cost so far: $0

[Tyinsar]

loving the scrounging ($0) element of this.
for not using extra rivets.

[Evenge]

Nice to see how you use old parts and recycle them!

Keep up the good work!