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Case Mod - In Progress NZXT Lexa -Experimental Modyssey - June 5 - new CCFL, lighting question

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by ModMinded, 24 Oct 2008.

  1. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    NZXT Lexa –Experimental Modyssey – Project Log

    Figured it was finally time for me to start a project log, and post it up for some opinions, advice, and constructive criticism, and also allow me to introduce myself to those of you I’ve been reading about for a while now, and occasionally asking stupid questions of (well, somewhat more than occasionally, TBH (= To Be Honest… took me weeks to figure that one out!)) I also hope this log can be used by other newcomers to the world of modding to learn from (in addition to the guides and helpful forums here at bit-tech.net) :search:

    Hi! I’m ModMinded! Nice to meet you!
    [​IMG]

    I know it’s unusual to have the first pic of a project log be the actual modder in all his/her nerdy glory, but I just took this today (as I start writing the log, not actual post date) with my new respirator, and modding safety is IMPORTANT, mmmkay? I’m not all that keen on self portraits, nor photogenic, so this’ll likely be the only one you see of me. Note the respirator (~$30), and safety goggles (~$3) (A safe modder is a happy Modder) and hat (free from work… keeps the paint off my bald head!) By the way, any prices you see listed throughout this log will be in US dollars.

    This is my first mod (if you don’t count cutting a hole in a dell case to allow for a new psu’s switch and plug socket to be mounted/fit properly.) I really just want to experiment with modding: the materials, tools, techniques, etc to see what it’s possible for me to do. I’ve built plenty of computers, but my only shop class was back when I was 13 or so… Oakland public schools cut it out of the curriculum… :grr:. It’s an artistic outlet for me, with something I’ll use at the end of the day, not just stick on a wall or in a frame to gather dust. Plus it keeps me out of trouble. I plan on experimenting with a lot of things, making a bunch of small mods that hopefully will go together in the end to become a nice case. Hopefully I won’t be irritating anyone with bad/too many pics, bad jokes that you don’t get, or half-assed/stupid modding. :thumb:

    <Quick Links> (thanks to badders for the tips on how to do this!)
    In The Beginning
    Front Panel Wiring/Sleeving
    PSU & Mobo Wiring/Sleeving
    Control Freak
    UV Fan
    Stripping Down
    PlexiPlanning
    Plexi Bend 2
    Some case surgery
    Painting Part 1 - Eye Safety Warning
    Totally unrelated post
    Painting Part 2 - It's hard to be chipper! :)
    Totally unrelated post 2 (Pumpkin Modding)
    Assemby v.01, or why comments are useful
    Assembly v.02
    Plexi Gluing Experiment
    Plexi Shaping/Smoothing
    New Toy
    Stop Modding and Go to Bed
    More Plexi Stuff, and Fire Prevention
    Circuit Draw Specs Question
    Delay Update
    Piktars of Plexi!
    UV LED Spotlights
    Back At It!:clap:
    Progress and Planning
    Thumbs Up!
    Not enough sleep
    Plexi Finishing
    Goodies!
    Reality Check
    Semi-Update
    Server and Sneak Preview
    Back on Topic
    Use your imagination ;)
    Sleeving and Cutting
    FP wire sleeving and HD Bay Cover
    HD Bay Cover 70% done
    A Little Engraving Practice
    HD Bay, Sanding Press, and UV, oh my!
    ARGH!
    Mystery Plexi
    LED lighting experiment
    A few small updates
    Some new stuff
    PC Parts Pr0n
    Experiments with Router Tables
    More Router Table Experiments
    Who's a Tool? :eyebrow:
    Now that's a productive day
    Lunch Break
    Done for the day
    MLK Day quick update
    Jan 19th Evening update
    Jan 20th update
    OG in the Case
    Drilling like a Villain
    Prep Work
    Nuts and Bolts
    Weekend Shenanigans
    FrankenVerter
    Mini Plexi Update
    Feb 11 - Bits and Vidz
    Goldilocks Update
    Feb 18 - Plexi Polishing and Drill Bits (with videos...ooooh!)
    May31 - Mini Update
    June 1 - New buys & Plexi Pics
    June 3 - Plexi and Electrical drama

    <Suppliers>
    Craigslist.org
    Freecycle.org
    Sciplus.com
    Ebay.com
    Ace Hardware
    Home Depot
    Temescal Tool Lending Library
    Fry’s Electronics
    Al Lasher Electronics
    Performance-pcs.com
    TAP Plastics - San Leandro
    Urban Ore
    Autozone

    <Sponsors>
    My Buddy - Shawn
    YOUR NAME HERE :naughty:
     
    Last edited: 8 Jun 2009
  2. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    The Beginning Begins…

    I’ve been reading many different logs (read G-gnome’s guide to writing logs too!), and seeing some truly amazing examples of great craftsmanship, ingenuity, style, and sleekness, not to mention patience and attention to detail. I’ve been wanting to jump into the waters, but have been hampered by money (lack thereof), a short supply of tools and cool hardware, as well as time (I work fulltime, fix computers on the side, and am supposed to be spending spare time (at least a good portion) studying on getting MS certified.) I told myself I wasn’t going to buy any new hardware until I passed a couple tests. (I’m currently on a P4 3.4ghz, socket 478 with AGP8x graphics, and 2 GB of pc3200 ram for my main gaming machine… I’m far from bleeding edge, more like scabby edge, and I’ve been wanting to be able to get on with some recent games and recent hardware.) I’ve got a good collection of old p1-p2 slot based machines, and a p3 or 2, which I figured I could hack up, and figure some stuff out with… So I was gonna start small in practice, while planning bigger and more outrageous mods in theory. I eyeballed a few of the beige boxes, looked in my spareparts bin, looked online at lots of logs and pretty pictures, and thought about what I wanted to do. Being tool-deprived (aside from some screwdrivers, pliers and a couple oddball bits, and a hammer), I bought a cheap generic rotary tool set from sciplus.com, and some extra bits… it just seemed like the thing to do, plus I had to cut a hole in that dell I mentioned above to get a new psu in to fit so I could have music in the bedroom again.

    And then… I helped my friend Shawn move. In his “to be tossed” pile was an old xbox, and an ECS KN1 Extreme mobo (AMD 939, PCIe). He’d had some problems with the mobo, had long since upgraded, and was ready to leave it behind on his move to new digs… I gently objected, and took it home with me. I didn’t have an AMD Socket 939 cpu, but figured I could get one cheap, use an existing pc2700 512mb set, and make it into something, possibly a htpc/dvr.
    I read up on a few different VCR conversions and other HTPC setups, and of course more worklogs. I really got the itch. I visited freecycle.org and craigslist.org, searching for free and cheap tools as well as various parts, and did a little dumpster diving. Got some cool stuff which I’ll reveal later. (What’s a log without a little suspense, right?) Needless to say, my study time dropped off (I’m a tad bit obsessive and occasionally stubbornly singleminded, yet oddly, at the same time, scatterbrained. Go figure… Undiagnosed ADD anyone?) And then… that same friend let me know that he’d just gotten a new case (a sweet HAF932), and I could have his old one, a nice NXZT Lexa, and by the way, he didn’t need his old 7950 gfx card, so I could have that too (with a potential trade up for a 9800GT. Whatta guy, right? He’s responsible for almost a third of my pc components here!

    [​IMG]

    So with the majority of the system here already, I went ahead and looked online for a cpu. Most online retailers I normally shopped at had very limited selections of Socket939 cpus. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to get a used “top of the line a few years ago” FX-57, or something dual core, or just a plain simple and cheap CPU.) I had some difficulties with some online retailers and incorrect ads (no, AM2 cpus won’t fit in a 939 socket!) which got sorted out eventually. I ended up with the X2 4400 (939 version) from an ebay seller, despite it being slightly more expensive, and potentially more than a HTPC would need. After all, I now had a 7950… I could game, theoretically! Maybe not at modern high caliber settings, but it’d work. And also, a dual core would work well for a HTPC down the road as I upgraded other machines. The CPU didn’t come with a heatsink, so I sprang for a cheap cooler when I was next at Fry’s.

    So I put aside my plans for HTPC in a VCR (and other contraptions, which you might see down the road, depending…) and went to work on planning what I could do with this case, pretty as it was. As you should be able to see, it’s got a nice shiny, curved, aluminum-looking front (I think it’s plastic) with nice lighting, a decent glossy black paint job, a solid side door with window and a quick release/lock on it, lots of fan holes, a couple filters, built in heat sensors (3) with an LCD reporting all temps, etc… It was cooler than any case I’ve ever owned, and pretty light as well. Sure it was dirty, and missing a few pieces, but elbow grease and ingenuity would help out.

    [​IMG]

    I’d been reading The boy 4rm oz’s Lexa (aka TB40, or simply, the boy) log earlier, before my friend gave me his old case, specifically with the idea of showing him what others had done to his case. (I’ve pointed out the HAF932 log as well!) What to do, what to do? So many ideas rushed in my brain bouncing around… I didn’t want to change that curved front fascia, or the overall look of the outside too much. I also didn’t want to bite TB4O’s style (or anyone else’s of the logs I’ve seen)… however certain things are common aesthetics and economy, so if it appears I’m copying someone, it’s not intentional (unless otherwise noted). Since I wanted to experiment, I knew I was going to try a few different things like lighting, circuitry, plexiglass, psu modding, fan controlling, lcd modding, painting… I even toyed with the idea of etching a window (despite having no drawing ability.) I don’t want to send out parts to be done for me (unless it’s some crazy laser etching service and I have a great idea for a design.) Any laser cutting or CNC milling is going to happen only if I build the tools myself! :D

    The first thing I did when I got the case was take the front fascia off and clean up a bit. And take lotsa pics. I ended up buying a new digital camera, with the main idea of taking pics of the process, as well as my little nephew (now a year old, and with lots of pics of his first year!) My first camera was a digital video cam with a snapshot feature that took 1.3 megapixels, and just wasn’t going to cut it.

    mmmm, dirty…
    [​IMG]
    … a little cleaner…
    [​IMG]

    There were a ton of wires coming out of the front panel: USB, 1394, sensors, power for sensors/LCD, power/led leads, audio. I was ready to sleeve me some cables.
     
    Last edited: 27 Oct 2008
  3. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Front Panel Wiring/Sleeving

    Front Panel Wiring/Sleeving
    What it was like before I got my grubby paws on it.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I’d found a UV blue sleeving kit (standard kit, a few lengths of different sizes of expandable sleeving, some matching heat shrink tubing) on ebay for a bit cheaper (inc shipping) than at my local frys (local being about 40-50 minutes away, depending on traffic and my driving mood). It had arrived even before the case was picked up, and being the eager obsessive little modder in training, I’d already finished my first IDE ribbon cable sleeving test… turned out looking good, but one BIG booboo. (Too Hot, Too Hot to Handle)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I’ve since gotten better at that (and got a tool for the job, instead of a lighter!), and redid that one in yellow, and then another one, where I’d chopped off the extra connector… (oops, jumping ahead of myself!)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I tore into the Front Panel wiring, and sleeved the ends closest to the connectors/sensors. After all, the back part was going to be hidden by the fascia and the drive bay, so why waste the precious blue goodness on an area no one would ever see? (not to callously dismiss you guys! I love you guys! I don’t mean to hurt your eyes.;))
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
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    There were booboos (aka “learning experiences”) along the way. Some of the heat shrink provided didn’t shrink down as much as I thought it would, leaving a gap, or requiring asymmetrical shrinking. I’d gotten a mixed pack of heatshrink tubing in various sizes from sciplus.com, but it’s been hit and miss on the quality of most of it, and hard to match to other parts.
    [​IMG]

    Next time I sleeve something, I’m gonna go whole hog on it, and get a variety of quality heatshrink in either all black with a variety of sizes.
    In the end, it came out looking pretty good for a firsttimer. (at least I like to think so)
    [​IMG]

    For the sleeving newcomers, I’d like to point that this stuff is exactly like those “Chinese finger traps” you may have played with as a kid. You push the ends towards each other and it expands fairly large, so you can stick something in. Once it’s in, it gets grabbed on to, and will be difficult to pull out (assuming you have the right size for your wires!) I used an inchworm method of pushing it along the wires, pinching the furthest end up, and pushing the remaining sleeving on until it all fit. I had some occasional trouble with starting it: getting it to expand out instead of just flopping to the side. Sometimes I used a pencil as a form to push the sleeving onto so it expanded. Also, a good thing to be aware of is that the fraying on the ends should be expected, so you might want to account for that by cutting a longer length of sleeving than you think you’ll need, or by using more heatshrink. You can try to melt the ends of the sleeving when you cut it to size to get it to stick, but I had a hard time getting reliable results, especially on the thicker bundles of wires. I’ve heard that there are different types that don’t fray as easy, but I haven’t had any experience with them. If you have suggestions for sleeving or good links to expand (no pun intended) on what I’ve got here, please feel free to add it to the comments section.

    My tool of choice (much better than a lighter!), an ACE multi temperature heatgun. (~$30) Its served me well, both for heatshrinking, plexibending, circuit board stripping, and once… handwarming. (remember what I said about safety!)
    [​IMG]

    Front panel wiring shrunk, I had to try it out with the CCFLs.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2008
  4. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    PSU Wiring

    PSU Wiring
    I next looked at the psu. I’d originally purchased it as a replacement for the Dell I had in the bedroom, and it wasn’t anything special. The main things I wanted were good efficiency and a 4 pin connector (and cheap), so I got an Antec Earthwatts rated at 80+ efficiency. (trying to be green here) Well, with the modding bug fully upon me, I got to work sleeving these cables. The wires were numerous and all over the place, and while the 24pin connector was sleeved nicely, it wasn’t gonna match with the rest of the UV blue, so that had to go as well.
    [​IMG]

    I had no problems removing the regular 4 pin molex connectors, but the ATX and PCIe connecters weren’t coming off. I didn’t want to spend on a specialized tool, so I made my own with a bobby pin and dremel (not my original idea, but forget where I found the inspiration. There’s a nice thread here with people’s different methods.) It worked fine, and pretty soon I had it all set up.
    [​IMG]

    I threw it in the case, along with some UV CCFLs I’d found at Fry’s randomly, and it glowed nicely. Something was lacking though… (aside from some foresight and appropriate heatshrink sizes.) All the sockets on the mobo were UV reactive. I figured I’d add some UV reactive plugs to the psu as well, in blue of course. I found some at the performance-pcs site, which I’d heard many good things about from Bit-Techers , and originally looked at for a replacement red LED huge fan (220/230mm) for my friend who’d given me the many parts I was going to use. I got a set of PSU connecters, a few feet of yellow UV sleeving, and a couple UV blue fan connectors as well.
    [​IMG]
    (The only problem with this kit is that I got more molexes than I had, and not enough SATA power... :( )

    A note about PSU sleeving: It can be tricky to sleeve the multiple sections between plugs. I ended up taking all the plugs off, and folding the wire so I could slip sleeving over the connectors nearest to the bend, and then pull the extra sections back through (and out of the sleeving). Don’t forget to slide your heatshrink on at the same time! You might want to try taping the molex pins together to protect against snags.

    [​IMG]

    I’m not happy with a couple things here, and may end up redoing these sections. (or the whole thing, depending on how perfectionist I feel I should be.) If all goes well people are only going to see the ends of the cables with the connectors, anyhow. I plan on not using SATA, at least not immediately, so I didn’t sleeve it, with the idea of hiding them away from sight. We’ll see what happens when its time to buy the real HD and DVD. For now the IDE works ok for me.

    While I was at it, I sleeved all the fan cables on the mobo in bright yellow UV… mmm… bright yellow.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I wired everything into the case to see what it looked like and to make sure I hadn’t messed up anything with the sleeving.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I threw the UV CCFL kit in to get an idea of the effect of everything combined, and then realized I’d blown it up by switching the power input wiring to the inverter… argh!:wallbash:
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2008
  5. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Don't worry...

    Don’t worry… I got it working again.:) See thread details here.

    I just realized that my emoticons and hyperlinks carefully laid out in my word document aren't showing up properly in the forum threads... I'll be going back to fix these soon. Also, expect more catching up to where I'm currently at in the near future. Just have to write it up, organize pics... and don't worry, I'm far from complete.

    Also, As this is my first project log, please feel free to let me know how you feel about the format. All the pics should be clickable thumbnails, and some sites (especially when I mention looking at a log/thread) should be active. If not, please ping me.
    Thanks
    ModMinded
     
  6. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Control Freak

    Took some time while watching the paint dry today to write up some more of the backstory here.

    Also, I've noticed that most of the project logs I love to read and follow don't have such small thumbnails. I'm not sure if I can adjust photobucket's thumbnail size, but I feel it's nicer to have a bigger, more easily viewable pic without having to click open the fullsize. What do you think about having nonclickable, bigger pics instead?

    Semi-satisfied with the effect of the UV and sufficiently pleased with wiresleeving, I moved on to figuring out a way to dim the lights. The UV tubes had their own switch on a pci bracket, but I didn’t like that and figured I’d swap out the switch and move it elsewhere. I also wanted to be able to turn off the led lights on the fan, while keeping the fans running. I found a thread here on bit-tech where Logan’s Run was doing the same thing with some help from mvagusta and other bit-techers, and read and learned. I had a couple tricky moments due to the fan’s led wiring being all the same color, but figured out which were the ground wires, and cut them off from the fan contacts, and wired them up to each other, and then back to ground, interrupting the ground with a switch.
    Before pic
    [​IMG]
    Testing setup
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    It worked out so well, so I did the second in the same manner, connecting its ground to the circuit and testing.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Sweet! I like having glowy bits in the computer (been a little deprived of them in past cases), but I could easily imagine it being a distraction, so I’m glad I was able to figure out how to control lights .

    Later I decided I wanted to be able to control the fan speed, and turn it down if too loud. Now the easy and cheaper way actually would have been to go and buy a cheap fan controller… but I’m a DIY kinda guy, and wanted to learn more about electronics. So I posted up a thread here on bit-tech in the modding section regarding some electronic equipment I wanted to reuse from a guitar amp, and with the help of mvagusta and cpemma, I was able to create a diodebus based rotary switch to allow me to adjust the voltage to the fans from 12v to 7.5v, and with leds to indicate which position was selected. I used the schematic on cpemma’s site for the diodebus (Ok, I stole it completely…) and parts I got from my friendly local electronic’s shop (Al Lasher’s, in Berkeley), and after a 3 day weekend (Columbus Day, my company had it off), and a few mis-starts, I was the proud owner/maker of 2 diode buses, controlling 2 fans each.

    Back of the Rotary Switch
    [​IMG]

    Back of the Rotary Switch - Shrunk
    [​IMG]

    Test Setup (Breadblox)
    [​IMG]

    2 Fans set to Low
    [​IMG]

    I’ve still got to figure where and how I want to put these switches and the indicator lights. I was thinking an optical bay cover with a couple holes, but I only have 2 of them, and don’t want to mess em up. The other idea was in the empty floppy drive bay covers, using those covers, but the same problem appears, plus they’re a little too small.. I started to fab some plexiglass from scraps, but still have some pondering to do. Not sure if I should have the led tips sticking out a little, or make them embedded behind some plexi. More testing will have to be done before I stick em in. Plus I got distracted by a bit of other stuff... more details in a few...
     
    Last edited: 4 Nov 2008
  7. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    UV Fan

    What’s the good of UV, if things don’t glow, right? Well I was looking into a few different ways to make non-UV reactive parts of my case stand out a bit more when the CCFL’s were on. The Mobo was set, cables were sleeved, but the fans were not UV reactive at all. I did like the 2 transparent case fans with their blue LEDs, but there was a top exhaust fan that was just plain black. I got to thinking, I gotta do something about that. I’d seen that specialized UV paints were available, but that seemed a bit expensive. I’d heard about using highlighters, but according to the boy from oz, when he tried using it, it worked well, then flaked off (he’s since gone to a plan B that looks good, but I’d already started this part. :) )

    I started looking for cheap spray paint that would give good UV. I’d read online that yard paint was a good option, as it was highly reactive. I stopped by an ACE hardware near my office on the way home, and grabbed a can of Yellow yard marking paint. I did a test spray on some scrap, and after it dried, I passed the UV CCFLs over it. No brilliance, plus the paint came out kinda splotchy. I put that plan on hold, and did some work on practicing cutting a case window on a spare case with a borrowed scroll saw from the Tool Lending Library. When I broke the blade trying too sharp a bend, I had to make a rushed visit to Home Depot, which was the only hardware store open that late in the evening (I had to return the scroll saw the next day.) While I wandering around in the cavernous HD looking for scroll saw blades, I found the spray can aisle, and stopped for a quick look. The Rustoleum Flourescent Neon Green paint jumped out at me, and I grabbed a can (along with the blades, a couple clamps, coping saw blades, and a snickers bar.)
    I ate the snickers bar in the car on the way home, my fingers itching to try out the new neon possibility. Lo and behold, a test spray on some scrap showed up nicely under the CCFL… I was good to go.
    When I next could, I grabbed a spare case fan I’d had lying around (ddin’t want to mess with the original, yet, in case it all went bad somehow.) and rather than completely disassembling it, masked off the housing, so just the blades were exposed. A few passes with primer and the new paint, some drying time, and testing with CCFLs, and I was a happy modder.

    Primered
    [​IMG]

    Painted
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    Tape removed
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    UV Showing
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    A short movie of it in action
    [​IMG]
     
  8. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    OMG another LEXA mod lol. I have only ever seen 2 more besides mine (I mean full mods, not paint jobs and fan changes). Welcome to the exclusive club lol. Fan blades look cool, a nice result for a non clear fan. I will be watching this one.
     
    Last edited: 26 Oct 2008
  9. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Yay, someone actually responded!

    Thanks man! I'd be interested in seeing the other Lexa mods... as you know, I've been watching yours. Are they up on bit-tech? I haven't seen others. I'll have to :search: more later.
    I'm glad you're my first respondee! I'll have more pics and details up in a few, I've been hard at work, and multi-tasking with different projects and different aspects of the Lexa mod, so I've got a few things more to cover before I get to the present day. I've found that getting a good log up is hard work, almost more so than the modding, and not as much fun! Maybe it's cause I talk(write) too much! ;) :geek:

    The fan looks better moving than still, but that's probably due to my haste and lack of care in painting it. I might sand it and hit it with some clear coat, but maybe I'll just wait and do it on the real case fan.
     
    Last edited: 26 Oct 2008
  10. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I think one of the LEXA mods is on Bit-Tech, I know it is up on TBCS. The other mod was a done a while back in Europe somewhere. It has won many awards. I will find you some links.
     
  11. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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  12. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Hey thanks for the links, I checked out a little the first one you linked to (I'll go back later.) I do like it in black. Wish I could afford watercooling... maybe in a year or two (or if a nice sponser hooks me up... hint, hint... YOUR NAME HERE!). I also like those DIY watercooling logs I've seen here, but there's no way I'm building a radiator (maybe if I scavenge one from somewhere.) :D

    Back to photobucket and word... my audience of one is waiting! :lol:
     
  13. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Damn You PhotoBucket!

    This has been happening a few times in the past week... I try the bulk upload tool, select 15-20 pics, click upload, walk away, and come back to find 0 of 0 uploaded... back to the regular upload mechanism.

    BTW- Photobucket thumbnails are not adjustable, so either it stays the same size, or I upload a smaller size pic, and link it (say 600x480). Thoughts/Preferences? Secret Ninja-Photobucket tricks?
     
  14. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Stripping

    Time to show you a little bit about what you all want… stripping… of the case…. Sorry to disappoint, but this section contains no nude young women (this is family-oriented forum, right?)
    First, I should show you a little of what I’m planning. Basically, I’d like to hide the PSU, and it’s assorted wiring, and at the same time, create 2 airflow zones. One will contain the drives and PSU, while the other is the motherboard and its components. The plan is to bend a strip of plexiglass so it runs below the PSU, behind the optical drives and HD area, down to the bottom of the case. The front intake will suck in air over the HD, and the PSU and top mounted exhaust fan will pull the heat past the HD, optical drives, circuitry, and out the top and through the PSU. Meanwhile the main motherboard compartment will take air up through the bottom of the case, over the mobo/gfx and out through the back mounted case fan. I don’t like the drive bay visibility, so I plan on using 2 layers of plexi. The first is an opaque layer (was going to use black, but found an incredibly cheap sheet of white for $2 at Urban Ore (kinda of a thrift/recycling store, focusing of building materials rather than clothes) so had to use that. Since the top layer is going to be UV reactive green, the white will fit below and hopefully add some extra radiance. I’d originally wanted uv blue, but its hard to find locally. (TAP Plastics only has UV Green or Red, and we all know what happens to UV red (pink)!)

    Here are pics of some cardboard templates of what I’m trying to do.
    [​IMG]
    The above pic shows the base layers.

    [​IMG]
    The above pic shows the covering plate. The inside shape of the curve will be cut a bit smaller in the official plexi layer.

    But I’ll get into the plexi a bit later, for now, let’s take it to pieces!

    To get the appropriate and exact measurements I had to take the case to pieces. I carefully wrapped up and packed away the side panels and facsia since I wouldn’t be needing them for a while. Took the feet off as well.
    Reminder pic of what it looks like to start (minus side panels)
    [​IMG]
    Case front:
    [​IMG]
    Case Back:
    [​IMG]
    Mobo tray/drivebay view:
    [​IMG]
    That support bar is going bye-bye. (say hello to my little friend… the 1/8in drill bit!)
    MoboTray Back
    [​IMG]
    The blue painters tape there was to show where cutouts on the tray could be made for various cables. I decided not to do this at this time, though I may revisit it later. My current plan is to have the cables sneaking out of the plexi shroud to areas where they are needed. The one exception to this might be the front panel audio cable, as it has a hard time reaching the motherboard connector.

    I stripped the top off by drilling out the numerous rivets (1/8in drill bit again)
    [​IMG]
    And took a pic of my reflection in the stock semi-glossy topplate. Kinda dirty from fingers, etc… anyone have suggestions on good, not harmful cleansing options?
    [​IMG]

    I stripped the bottom off the same way and measured for plexipanels. I can’t seem to find pics on that process, though I’m sure I did take em. It may be the beers I’ve been drinking, or the long hours I spent in the garage painting and priming and cleaning with mineral spirits (I had my respirator)… or else I just didn’t take em… don’t worry, they’ll be exposed soon.
     
  15. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I have a tip for you. You see the little support bar on the bottom left of the windowed side panel? You don't need it. I never put mine back on cos my custom feet needed the room and I haven't seen any change in structural integrity.

    Also another tip. If you chose to remove the mobo tray completely you will have to remove the entire drive bay section and possibly the rear plate. It is a very tight fit and forcing it will scratch up the alu or paint if you chose to paint it. When assembling put the tray in first but don't rivet it then line up the drive bays and the rear plate and rivet them back in place before riveting the mobo tray back.

    I like your idea for the air flow chambers, I wish I thought of that lol.
     
  16. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    Hey thanks for the tips. I've already removed the bays from the mobotray. I kept the mobotray riveted to the backplane (forget if it came that way, or if I replaced screws with rivets... I think that's what happened.) I needed it all together to help with the placement of the plexi. I ended up re-riveting the bay cage back to the mobo to test the plexi fit after bends, and then drilling the rivets out again. Was simplier than screwing it back temporarily.

    I'm not sure about that little support bar. I've already removed the support bar across the top, and it won't be coming back. right now it's not in the way of anything, but it is a weird little piece there. Once a graphics card is in and screwed down, it should be pretty stable if I were to take it out. I'll think about it, when I get closer to full assembly.

    BTW- I really liked your feet, snazzy! I'm going to keep the original, but if I ever upgrade to a radiator and W/C I'll probably have to swap out the feet like you did to get that height.

    Also, I did a bit more looking into Lexa mods, read the TBCS log you linked as well (you should tell that guy not to keep his circuitry on the carpet without protection like that (or even to work on his pc on carpet... too much potential damage from static, may be why he was having trouble with his pc -longshot-.) Most of what I found were reviews of the cases (orig and blackline, started and unfinished logs, but no other complete Lexa mods... you're right, we're one of the elite few (ok, that's redundant, but it's almost 2am, and my eyes are glazing!) (assuming I complete this!)
     
  17. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    I'm glad you found the links helpful.
     
  18. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    PlexiPlanning

    Back to the updates:

    So, once I had the case disassembled, it was much easier to look at where the various pieces of plexi would go. As I mentioned in a previous post, I planned on having 3 pieces of plexi: 1 long 1/8” opaque white underlayer covering the drivebay holes, 1 long bent strip (1/8” UV green plexi) going from under the PSU to the floor next to the HDD bay, and one cover, made of UV green 1/8 that would block the view of the PSU, going along the curve of the other 1/8” plexi, and going over the underlayer on the drive bay.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Pardon the crappy cardboard template. I had to cut some old boxes up to get it. That hard angle will be gone, though I might make keep a lip overhanging a bit to mount the 12” CCFL up top. I want it to fit the curve of the shroud as much as possible. For a moment, I was toying with the idea of having another case fan mounted on that angled portion for the mobo area, but I’ve scrapped that idea. I’ve got 2 worries about this coverplate idea. 1 is that the uv green plexi will be showing all that’s behind it… it’s transparent after all. I can fix that with a darker piece behind it, so I’m not totally worried. The other worry I’ve got is replacability (making up my own words… that happens after a few beers in the wee hours of the morning.) By that I mean that once the case is assembled I’m not sure that I’ll be able to take it back out without totally disassembling the case again. I may have to make the top screw in, instead of rivet to allow me access. But as the old saying goes, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there… I’ve got a few more things to work on to get to that stage.

    I went from the cardboard templates to pieces of that strip of cheap white plexi which I picked up for a song. I knew I needed the practice, since I hadn’t worked with plex for a long time.
    Here’s the drivebay with the baselayer.
    [​IMG]
    There’re little curved lips on the cover that it just slides into, and some rivets coming in from the front that notches had to be made to allow for.
    [​IMG]
    It just fits, if I slide it down the lip at an angle and drop it over the rivets.
    I had to shave a bit off here and there to get it to fit properly, but now it’s in, and doesn’t need any kind of fastener to stay there.

    Here’s a better pic of what it looks like in there.
    [​IMG]
    That gap under the optical drive tray seemed like the perfect place to hide the inverter for the CCFLs and other circuitry I was planning on incorporating. I also had an idea of cutting a window through the white underlayer to allow you to look in on the circuits, but we’ll get to that later.
    [​IMG]
    I also had to figure out some way to allow access to the HD (just planning on one), and was toying with more cutouts or a hinge of sorts. There were a few revisions…

    Here’s a roughcut of the psu shroud piece. Again, there’s a bit of a lip on the HDD cage that it slides into, and the plan was to fit it under the PSU supports. The Question was where and how to bend, as well as where to cutout for the cable routing.
    [​IMG]
    I measured the distance from the bottom to the height of the underside of the PSU mounting and added a little bit to allow for a bend. If it was too long I could always trim. I also laid out where the original wiring was fed through, and drilled through some starter holes so I could cut out a nice rectangular hole… CRACK! Cue cursing.
    [​IMG]
    This was not a little chip in the drill hole… that sucker sent a nice long crack spidering through a good portion of the piece. (and yes I did pay $2 for it… Urban Ore Rocks! :rock:) Well I knew I wasn’t going to be using this piece, but I figured I’d practice the bending regardless. I’d done some practice bending of thin strips of some of the white stuff, as well as some thicker stuff I’d picked up as scraps from TAP Plastics ($1.70 per lb). They came out only OK. I’d bent them on a table top (board) and the bends came out kinda flattened/pinched. I figured that I’d do better with a more rounded form to bend over, and possibly letting it heat more before bending. I saw in TribalOverkill’s log that he’d heat up a sheet till it was pretty malleable, and press it into a rounded form to get some nice shapes.
    So looking around the garage for something kinda rounded, yet with a flat top, I found an old piece of counter top covered in dirt and assorted debris. I cleaned it off, and ran it through the tablesaw (I’d bought one used, along with a router all for $80 a couple weeks back) so I just had the rounded “splashguard” and a couple inches of flat area. I clamped it to the tabletop, along with a roughly similar thickness piece of wood, and I had myself a jig!
    [​IMG]
    I cut a few inches of the covering sheet off both sides of the cracked acrylic around the area where I wanted the bend to be, clamped it to the jig, and heated it up with my trusty heatgun. When I judged it hot enough, I applied pressure. This didn’t turn out so well.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    :wallbash:
    As you can see, it wasn’t bending at the right place, and turned out to be off, as well as cracked. Oh well… I knew in advance I wasn’t going to be using it for real, and learned a few things in the process. Just for kicks I threw it into the case to see what it looked like.
    [​IMG]
    If you don’t look closely, it doesn’t look that bad… but we know better…

    That’s all for now, I can’t keep my eyes open, and I’ve probably stopped making sense, so I’ll update you all on how I resolved this later…

    PS - You might have noticed that I've switched from clickable thumbnails to smaller images directly posted. Let me know which you prefer (I like the direct links, but it rules out the ability to get the full size pics.) Also, Moderators, if this is a problem, please let me know.
     
    Last edited: 26 Oct 2008
  19. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    It's funny cos I made almost identical template lol. Beware of the HDD bays though. The end of the tool free clips may stick out slightly further than your template. Just make sure it fits ok before you bend the plexi.

    That first piece looks really good, nice bend.
     
  20. ModMinded

    ModMinded Are you throwing that away?

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    lol... that bend sucked! It just looks ok from afar ... but I did get a good bend out of the 2nd try later. I do like how the first underlayer piece worked out. I'll catch you up tomorrow most likely. Got some more painting to do tomorrow, and while the paints drying, I can work more on the updates. :)
     

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