Case Mod Project "Movie Sign!" by E.E.L. Ambiense - Nov. 18th Update

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

"Hikeeba!"

If that statement means something to you or perhaps you have a sense of déjà vu, you may be a MSTie or perhaps have MSTie-like tendencies. See, I'm a MSTie too. And a hardcore one at that. So hardcore that when my most favorite TV show of all-time was canceled (for good), I actually cried. I'm not joking. Yeah....laugh it up, wise-ass! Anyways, that is how psychotic about the show I was.

*stands up and hangs head in shame*

"My name is Jeremy, and I am a MSTie."

*muttering hello in loose unison*

I've built bots too. Sad, huh? I would be considered an ultimate dork when it comes to that. I've watched every episode of the show repeatedly over the years, and when I'm down or depressed about whatever, I know I can rely on Joel/Mike and the bots to cheer me up. They got me through some very dark years in my life.

I'm tackling a theme I've been wanting to do for years that's never been done properly before in a case-mod that I've ever seen. Perhaps someone's tried, but nothing posted anywhere that I can find that's worth a squirt. So, I present to you for your possible acceptance...a mod project dedicated to the greatest cowtown-puppet show that ever graced the boob-tube: Mystery Science Theater 3000!

I'm building this for my younger brother, who doesn't know about it. Mostly because he's deep in concentration (hopefully) at a university working on his last year there. He doesn't have a computer either. At least, one that's worth a . I think he's still on a skt. 478 celery. That sucks, doesn't it? I'm trying to fix that problem. I don't have any hardware or anything, so I'm just concentrating on the case itself. That's probably going to be it too, so who knows! Maybe a tech-giant who is combing through these logs will see this and will offer something up!

Maybe not. I'm not sweatin' a thing, other than my own ass off to get this case modded and sweetened up.

So let's get started, shall we? Have a seat in the theater! Grab some popping corn. Wrestle with your over-packaged candies so you annoy and irritate all the other movie-goers with the rustling sound of cellophane right at the moment when it's really really quiet. Don't you hate that? Me too! It makes me want to lick a gummy-bear and toss it at the culprit. Nah...not anymore. Those days are over in fear of being thrown out. Now, I just slash your tires! Oh, wait-- ...nevermind.

"Join us, won't you?"

The chassis that I'm going to be tearing down and rebuilding is a long-extinct AMS CF-1006. I've used this chassis many times before. I had a small cache of them too when I bought a few for closeout prices, along with it's bigger brother, the CF-1009 (which I also have one left). I'm down to my last CF-1006. So I figured I'd do something as a 'swan-song' of sorts with it. Some of you that know my past work know I tend to spend some time on things to make it right. It's not a race, and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon! I'm going for something fun this time. Something that will bring a smile to my brother's face and perhaps some of you as well. Me? Well, I'm never happy with any of my mods, which is why I continue to pursue that 'perfect mod', which ironically doesn't exist.

I'm sort of taking the "Bill Owen" method here and attacking the case impromptu without much planning. Although I do have a plan, sorta. So I guess it's not like Bill. Nevermind. I have a basic outline of what I'm doing, but I keep changing my mind on stuff. So I guess we'll see where things go, alright! Stop pestering me!

Here's an early concept design on where I'm going with it...



Now, here's the actual case.



I've used this particular case as a test-bed in the past; checking measurements on things, etc. It's been used as a test-pig for a couple projects I can recall directly, like my Biohazard project for instance.

First step, anyways, is to replace that crappy stock acrylic/aluminum front plate. Yuck!

I decided finally that the background piece was going to be aluminum first, because it's nice and sturdy and strong like a good little boy that eats his veggies!

Here's a concept drawing of it...



I decided at the last moment I'd ditch the embedded rheobus and replace it with a couple rocker switches for lighting control instead. I have a bad habit of thinking like the old-school watercooler that I am, so I'm always adding fan control stuff where it's just not needed. This will most-likely be an aircooled rig, and considering the sheer size and capability of the fans being utilized, I just won't need fan control. The mobo's capabilities are just fine for this.

Alright, on to the actual piece!

Just prior to heading up north for a small hiatus/get-together with mod-god Bill Owen, I finished the design work on the plate so I'll have the files ready. While up with Bill, we went by the machinist's place to take care of the plate real quick. We had some other things to talk about with the machinist anyways, but nothing I have the authorization to speak about yet.

Raw material on the bed...



And a few mins. later, there she is!



Man, look at all that 120mm fan punch-out scrap! A lot of MNPCTech billet grills resulted from that stuff.



Anyways, here's the finished bezel.







What I wasn't prepared for was how close my measurements were in my design. Sometimes I scare even myself!















Now, let's see how a 200mm fan will work there... heh heh heh.



Now for some fun stuff!

The stock case unfortunately came with a window in it. Normally I'd prefer to make my own. Well, I decided I'd try to turn that frown upside down and roll with the punches.



Let's see what kind of clearance on the backside of the panel I have... Wow, that's close! But perfectly fine. Actually, I set the file up to make sure it fit right in the nook inside those rounded-metal guides.



And a little test-install here. Threaded some 8-32 screws with some nuts on the backside to see how the panel looks.



That's what I like to see! Measurements all spot-on.





And finally, let's stick it back on the case and see how it roughly looks... Yes! And it's good!



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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

[craigbru]

What a great concept for a mod! I watch...

[Breach]

Cool concept! And CNC work, Ill be watching this for sure

[blt44]

Really cool. Never saw Mystery Science Theater though. I think I've been missing out on something!


Looking forward to watching this.

[mnpctech]

This project will be lots of fun to watch unfold

Originally Posted by blt44

Really cool. Never saw Mystery Science Theater though. I think I've been missing out on something!

The show used to be on Comedy Central and the SCI-FI channel. They continuing riffing movies at Rifftraxx

[logan'srun]

man, that front plate alone is insane! Really beautiful work. Loving what you do, thanks for sharing!

[Bad_cancer]

haven't even read it yet but subbed!

[stonedsurd]

Wow, that's some seriously cool work.

[jhanlon303]

Jeremy does a project in less time than it takes me to choose color schemes

Well met.

I watch

john

[Pashtet]

that's damn tight job on the front panel!
watchin' you!

[Top Nurse]

I admit it as I am a MST addict as well.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by craigbru

What a great concept for a mod! I watch...

Wow, thanks Craig!

Originally Posted by Breach

Cool concept! And CNC work, Ill be watching this for sure

Thank you!

Originally Posted by blt44

Really cool. Never saw Mystery Science Theater though. I think I've been missing out on something!


Looking forward to watching this.

Oh, it's required viewing. The most original idea out there that's been imitated many times before, but never successfully.

Originally Posted by mnpctech

This project will be lots of fun to watch unfold

The show used to be on Comedy Central and the SCI-FI channel. They continuing riffing movies at Rifftraxx

Thanks, bro! Yes, Rifftrax is also cool because they can swear.

Originally Posted by logan'srun

man, that front plate alone is insane! Really beautiful work. Loving what you do, thanks for sharing!

Thanks, man!

Originally Posted by Bad_cancer

haven't even read it yet but subbed!

LOL, thank you!

Originally Posted by stonedsurd

Wow, that's some seriously cool work.

Thank you kindly!

Originally Posted by jhanlon303

Jeremy does a project in less time than it takes me to choose color schemes

Well met.

I watch

john

LOL, thanks John!

Originally Posted by Pashtet

that's damn tight job on the front panel!
watchin' you!

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Top Nurse

I admit it as I am a MST addict as well.

Hahaha. It's okay; we're all okay. It'll always be around, just nothing new. But we can hope.

[Interloper]

OOOOOHHHHHH SNAP!!!

I LOVED watching MST3K! One of my favorites was "Puma Man" God it was an awful movie!

Most definitely keeping my eye on this one!

[Cheapskate]

I should have known! Will it shock you to know I'm a fan too?
I vote you cover the insides with painted yarn. Or skip the logo on the back panel, and do a giant Tor portrait instead.

[null_x86]

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

I should have known! Will it shock you to know I'm a fan too?
I vote you cover the insides with painted yarn. Or skip the logo on the back panel, and do a giant Tor portrait instead.

+1 i am for the Tor portriat.

[GuyInTulsa]

Gotta watch this one!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

And the first log update to this log...update...log. Yeah.

Alright, let's get to it, shall we?

I love this case. It's a solid well-built case. Honestly, being the Lian Li whore I am, this thing is built better than anything Lian Li has ever put out. I'm serious. All rolled edges; clean build-choices, etc. It's a real shame that AMS decided to ditch their aluminum ventures, because I can see some awesome potential in them. Oh well.

The stock case has a really cool HDD caddy. Bill also has a love of this chassis and he's mentioned it before. It's held in with four thumbscrews; two on each side top and bottom. Simple yet strong system for holding it in. I much prefer this method over all the trendy plasticy 'quick-release' junk that case manufacturers are touting nowadays. Give me plain-jane 3.5 & 5.25 bays and mounting screws ONLY, thank you! GRRRR!!!

Anyways, the HDD caddy. Yes, the HDD caddy. The stock case has a spot for a crappy 80mm fan up front and has just enough clearance for a 25mm thick fan. The HDDs installed in the caddy would slide in and have a few millimeters of clearance between them and the 80mm fan. But since I'm being difficult and ditching a majority of the stock chassis' front metal and dropping an 200mmx30mm fan in there, there isn't enough room for HDDs in that stock caddy. It's a shame, but it's a necessity.

Let's get to work.



After removing the thumbscrews, it slides right out of the base...



Just like that.



Here's the base. Must remove it now. Whaa.



Four pop-rivets holding it in, so let's drill those out real quick.



1/8" drillbit takes care of them really quick.



I'm saving this for another project. No sense in ditching this; it's too cool!



Nice clean open area now, only it'll be even more open when I saw out the front, lol.



Hmmm... I'm wondering about something. I've been thinking about how to mount any HDDs my brother would theoretically use in this theoretical build. How many? And where? Then I recalled a Lian Li HDD bracket that my buddy jhanlon303 sent to me a while back. I prefer the latest version of LiLi's HDD bracketing system anyways, because of the simplicity of it and sound-deadening characteristics.



Perfect! I'll see if it's going to go there or not, but it looks good to me at this point. Thanks a million, John!

Moving along, let's work on that stock stamped rear 120mm grill.



Yuckeepoo. Time to remedy that.



Quick rotary tool work on it fixes the problem. Let the tool do the work; just like makin' love!





There we go. I like to use the sanding drum attachment to finish off the rest of the little tabs, but everyone has their own methods.



And some final sandpaper work to clean it up...





I'm still deciding whether I want to drill out the stock mount-holes for the fan to insert some rubber bushings in there. Maybe, maybe not. Bill loves to do this, and mastered the technique.

Oh, forgot to show stripping down the case of misc. stuff! Oopsie! Hit a wormhole there!

Removing the stock power/reset switch and USB PCBs...



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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

[jhanlon303]

Very nice job and most excellent pics.

john

/edit
I wondered what you did with the second rack. Stash overflow!

[Yemerich]

Nice start!

Nice pictures and nice Ideas.

I wish i had access to a milling machine...

Good luck on this new awesome project!

[craigbru]

You know E.E.L., I love how you always nail the details. Not only modding great, but I love the picture watermarks. That's just damn classy.