Case Mod Project: Gearbox 2.0 - mini P180 Back to Basics

[THEkorean]

Hi, I’m back, and with a second project. So… less words and more pictures
Plans:




Case - Lian Li v300b (completely stripped of internals):


Hardware:

Starting from left to right - 2x 120mm Noctua Fans, 2x 80mm Noctua fans, D-tek Fuzion, D-tek Db-1, Lian-Li v300b, 2x Black Ice Stealth 120mm radiators,
On the motherboard tray:
Intel e6700
Abit Fatal1ty mATX mobo with HDMI out
Evga 8800 GTS
4gb Patriot extreme edition RAM
2x Samsung T series 500gb Hard drives

Materials/Tools:

2 sheets clear plexi, 2 boxes of SAE screws+nuts, 4 plastic friction hinges


New toy: Dremel Scroll saw


Aluminum Angle and Strip (this is a picture of the packing tube it came in, ~9ft tall, took a jigsaw to open it)


Goals for this project:
-to have a full spec system
-mATX form factor
-aesthetically appealing
-Water-cooled
-T.I.R. (Total Internal Modularization): basically, I need to retain full use of the removable motherboard tray and have the system water-cooled, so I will modularize the tubing too
-Must be upgradable

So, that’s about it, not too much to ask for right?

I’ll have a 2nd post up by Sunday; SAT exams will keep me away for modding for a couple days
Until next time!

[THEkorean]

for this project, i bought some chrome speaker spikes
first i took off the stock feet, then drilled a larger hole to acomidate the new feet, and installed, here are the pics:

closeup

other side:
3 out of the four nuts went in fine, but one was not going in because of the motherboard tray rail, so i filed it down to size and now it fits:

tight fit

final product looks nice

the next update will come after i have finished all the metal work, stay tuned

[Mankz]

Those D-TeK pumps sure look tiny!

[fungry]

is that a pump back there? looks small haha. Anyways! i like those feets. fashionable i tell you. Speaker feets are just great.

[x06jsp]

love the feet!!

[wbdog206]

the feet are nifty looking

[Xlixen]

Loving them feet, sexy!

[THEkorean]

yes, that is a pump, the D-tek dB1 is not too small, it takes up about the same volume as the Laing DDC, i need to get metal work and motherboard tray in before i can find out if it is as quiet as it is advertised to be
anyways...
thanks for all the comments guys, new update, couldn't resist not modding after exams, so here we go!

Got allot of metal work done today:


started by mummifying the whole case

cut up a cardboard template for the radiator placement

drew it on, colored areas to be cut

began cutting with this beasty dremel attachment

first hole cut, not perfect, but pretty good, it will eventually be covered with a grill anyways

filing rough edges

both holes done

mock mount

next, PSU supports needed to be fabricated since the stock v300b has no where near enough support to hold a monster like the Enermax Infinity i have planned for it.


fabricated this out of aluminum strips and rivets

drilled the lower portion in order to attach it to the PSU lip

taped up the lip and attached a drill bit to my dremel flex shaft

holes drilled

mounted, everything looks good right? WRONG!
what i failed to realize is that now i cant even put the PSU in because there is no way to get it into the cage that i built for it..., so i had to improvise

cut the excess off and made a new bar to attach
rounded corners

since the rivet gun and drill would definitely be unable to fit into the case,

i brought out my JB weld and decided to chemical weld it on
currently the case is sitting in my garage, clamped and drying, curing time is about 5 hours, so no more modding can go down until then

Lesson for today: think before you act, you'll save ALOT of time :\

Until next time!

(PS, should i go back and resize the earlier pics or were they better?)

[TNash]

sweet, I like the feet

[Teyber]

niice... whats the point of that dremel atttachment though?

[fungry]

yea, could you kindly explain what that dremel attachment does apart from cutting? like what does it do that the cutting disc can't?

btw, i'm curious, can an 8800gts fit inside a lian li v300 without any modding? cause this case is becoming more appealing to me the more i look at it.

[Ultimate Gamer]

looking great i like your new toy lol it looks cool is it fun to use? but looks great

[THEkorean]

@Teyber and Fungry
sorry if the picture is not clear, but that particular attachment is like any other dremel cutting wheel, but it is made of metal, its thin, and it has sharp teeth that cut into aluminum like butter and does not wear like standard cutting disks. Its also capable of cutting more accurate lines with less effort perfect for making long straight cuts in places where jigsaw wont fit. It also has a plastic guard so if the disk does shatter, the teeth wont hit you and cause serious injury (was that enough explanation? )

@ultimate Gamer
i like my new toy too, it is pretty nice, with the spiral blade attachment i can easily cut intricate designs into acrylic, got it for about 100$ refurbished pretty sweet deal. I will have it bolted down to a work bench and it will see a lot more action once school is out.

tomorrow i will try to finish the rest of the metal work if i don't end up going out

until next time!

[fungry]

haha, are cutting discs easy to shatter? also if you didn't read my post fully i'll just repeat myself.

can an 8800gts fit in the v300 without any modifications?

[THEkorean]

opps, sorry about that, cutting disks are not easy to shatter, but sometimes they do, but the real problem is that when you are cutting metal they wear VERY quickly, sometimes i go through 5 standard cutting disks per small cutting job, with the saw attachment the job is faster and more precise

and no, its impossible without modding, due to the nature of the 5.25" drive bays, the 8800gts will not fit, that is why i had to fabricate my own bracket (i use an external CD drive so i don't need the 5.25" bays). Hope that helps

[fungry]

ooo, okay then. hmmm cause the v300 is rather appealing to me.

looks like i'll keep an eye on your mod , see how you approach things. plus your using an infinity, big stuff

[THEkorean]

ok, time to take a little break from studying and post an update that i've had sitting for the past few days!

unfortunately today i mourn the death of my trusty modding companion, Dremel Multi Pro

but the good news is, my mom had a spare one handy

a 10 speed dremel, absolutely awesome to use

so basically what i needed it for was to enlarge the hole that i previously drilled and forgot to enlarge before mounting

once i drilled the hole, i was able to mount the hard drive rack

did a mock fit of the reservoir and fan combo, fits perfectly, a tight fit, but its absolutely perfect! (don't you love it when things come out as planned?)

view from above

i also had to take care of one more thing before mounting more hardware, the key switch had to be mounted:



front panel marked up and drilled, then....

it dosn't fit yet.. so i got for the larger drill bit, but...

my power drill only takes up to 1/2" drill bits!
fortunately my dad has a larger drill somewhere at his store, so i have to wait for him to bring that home for me
anyways, here's the idea

it will be mounted above the power and reset switches and will be used to arm/disarm the power switch.

anyways, on to more hardware moutning:


i proceeded to mount the other hardware before continuing on to the next phase of the project

clearance between the radiator and PSU is plenty to maintain use of the modular cables

on to the planning for the next phase: Modular motherboard tray

again, this tray has to be stylish, functional and must allow me to remove it easily even with water cooling

my plan:

pump and reservoir will be mounted unto the tray and the tubes will be attached to the radiators via:

these things, they are quick disconnect tube fitting, all you have to do is press that button and water flow stops instantly and allows you to disconnect the tubing from the loop! awesome stuff

the motherboard cover:
it will end up looking something like this:

that is cardboard version 1.0, i will need to make at least 2 more before i have one perfect for transfer unto Plexiglass

here is how the gear will be mounted on the tray (sorry for the dark picture, ill take a better one after my final exams)

some notes about the motherboard cover:
-it will be attached to the removable tray via friction hinges, for easy access to the internals
-it will act as the chassis for all modular cabling, including SATA, power, front panel, etc.

well, stay tuned for more updates in the near future,
until next time!

[Dead Ghost]

Where did you buy that particular key switch? It's nice.

[Bas van der Werff]

Looking good with those feet and love the keyswitch, i never build a computer without one
Keep up the good work

[THEkorean]

i tried something new today, i sat my ass down (big accomplishment already) and i made PLANS and even a 3-d model for my mod!
ive never done this before, but sketchup was pretty straight forward, heres what i got after 2hours

started with a sketch:

then it went into the computer and i got this:





closeup of the mother board tray assembly:



a few things not shown:
SATA jacks for the tray cover
ATX 24 pin for the cover
friction hinges
100 cfm cross flow fan
the card in the rendering is a 7600, but the designed tray is meant for a 8800gts
side panel design is not shown, it will be almost impossible to model what i'm planning in sketchup (at least with my current abilities)

well what do you think guys? questions? comments?