Case Mod Project BIO-A10 by E.E.L. Ambiense - Completed

[nagyizom]

Awesome work so far!

[mnpctech]

Love the switch location in center of Biohazard design! Everything else is Lookin mighty cool too, dude!

[Cheapskate]

Originally Posted by mnpctech

Love the switch location in center of Biohazard design!

So I heard you were a bit sleep deprived...

Looking good. I missed the comment about LILI. We could probably do a whole thread about, "what I would do if I was the LianLi designer." -I'd make them buy a stamp extruder for one thing... Think all that stuff the other companies do with plastic, done right.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by dbradford32

That kicks ass! I like the little panel design.

Thanks, man!

Originally Posted by nagyizom

Awesome work so far!

Thanks, man!

Originally Posted by mnpctech

Love the fillport location in center of Biohazard design! Everything else is Lookin mighty cool too, dude!

I fixed it for ya's.

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

So I heard you were a bit sleep deprived...

Looking good. I missed the comment about LILI. We could probably do a whole thread about, "what I would do if I was the LianLi designer." -I'd make them buy a stamp extruder for one thing... Think all that stuff the other companies do with plastic, done right.

Thanks, bro.

That would totally rock. I really do wonder what LiLi has up their sleeve at this point, or if they're just going to hang up the anodizer and close up shop altogether as they're losing ground to others quickly.

[Mankz]

I go on holiday for a week and both you and Attila update. No fair Mr. Internet, no fair.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Update time! Not a big one, but it did take some time, so I guess it counts. Let's get to it.

The mid-plate needed some kind of work. I didn't really know what, exactly. But it needed something. So I figured I'd just let my hands do the work while my brain took a backseat. Status quo.



I measured out what kind of material I'd need to work with and how much of it...



So, I consulted the pile o' scrap aluminum (aluminium to Kyle), and found a candidate that would work.



I really don't know what it came from, but I'm guessing it was an Eagle case judging by the aluminum and the 80mm fan spots. Poor man's LiLi at the time. Thanks, Eagle! Wait--you guys still around?

Jigsawed off a piece I could use and proceeded to flat-file the heck out of it until I had a reasonably-plumb piece.



Then, I began to "beat it up" a bit with the rotary tool. The process will mature more once we reach the paint stage momentarily.



I roughly marked out on the case what I needed to remove and began to jigsaw some of the metal out, so when the new piece is bolted in you see through the holes in the new plate through to the lower chamber.



And laying the piece roughly where it will sit so I can figure out how I'm going to do that...



Pop-rivets! Oh, my favorite. If you're a LiLi modder, you probably have a slew of pop-rivets handy. Actually, if you a modder in general, you probably have them but I digress.

So, I marked out where I wanted the rivets to sit based on the material left on the chassis I can rivet through as well as "visual appeal".



After drilling through the plate, I marked out where those holes would be on the chassis plate so I could drill those out too.



And after a quick n' dirty bit of drilling work, we're ready to rock n' roll. It looks sloppy, but it won't matter much at all once the plate's been bolted on. Well, riveted, anyway.



Piece re-aligned and ready for riveting...



Ratchet-ratchet-ratchet, pop! Ratchet-ratchet-ratchet, POP! I love that sound, ya know?



And a few minutes later, we're all done. I think it will fit in just fine.



I'll be back soon with some more goodies. I need to get some sleep, but first I'm going to have a ginger beer and relax. I haven't had much sleep lately!

Thanks for watching, and be sure to stay tuned! Toodles!

[jhanlon303]

Originally Posted by E.E.L. Ambiense

I think it will fit in just fine.

What you going to do with that front edge that looks chewed up? Part of THE plan?

john

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Yes sir.

Originally Posted by E.E.L. Ambiense

Then, I began to "beat it up" a bit with the rotary tool. The process will mature more once we reach the paint stage momentarily.

[jhanlon303]

See. I can still pay attention.

In between naps.

john

[dbradford32]

Interesting. Kind of an apocalyptic look. Very interesting indeed! *scratches chin in anticipation* I love apocalyptic themed stuff. You should put a window with some kind of picture of destruction or chaos.

[Bindibadgi]

MSI NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo

PM me what hardware you need and I'll see what I can do this end.

[Cheapskate]

Are you gonna do the whole 'reactor guts inside' treatment?
Bindi, you may be the best thing to ever happen to Asus customer service.

[Mankz]

Updates pwease.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by jhanlon303

See. I can still pay attention.

In between naps.

john

Nap later on, man! You got some moddin' to do!

Originally Posted by dbradford32

Interesting. Kind of an apocalyptic look. Very interesting indeed! *scratches chin in anticipation* I love apocalyptic themed stuff. You should put a window with some kind of picture of destruction or chaos.

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

MSI NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo

PM me what hardware you need and I'll see what I can do this end.

Ahhhh, Bindi. I could tell you some stories...

I'll PM you soon.

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

Are you gonna do the whole 'reactor guts inside' treatment?
Bindi, you may be the best thing to ever happen to Asus customer service.

Not exactly, but something interesting to be sure. I'll remain coy for now.

Originally Posted by Mankz

Updates pwease.

Hahahah! Yes, sir. As soon as I finish evicting the Brown Widow spiders I've discovered in my work area... and that's not a joke.

[Cheapskate]

Wait...Those are poisonous? Crap ! I've been slapping them around in attics for ages. -Those giant freaky things that show up in wet wooded areas however still creep me the heck out. They always seem to be right at face-level in their 6 foot+ square web too. It's like they are trying to catch people.

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Oh yes! They are poisonous.

Here's an excerpt from a FB post a few months back in regards to this very issue...

Alright, this is why I will no longer accept any kind of hand-me-down stuff from people for our son. I know the giver meant well, and did not know about the "hitchhikers", but this is just unacceptable. I should have known, since these were left outside the previous owner's home. This is common sense, and I should have had half a brain and been immediately guarded and realized the ramification.



To those that don't know, that's a Brown Widow spider watching over her egg-sacks. They were located in the wheel of one of the toys given to him and had been sitting right next to his playpen since X-Mas. Morgan found them while cleaning the toys so Briar could actually start using them. She also found the babies outside of the egg-sack which most-likely means we are now infested with them.

Normally, I'm not majorly angry about spiders invading our house if they're web-makers, like these are (or our friendly cellar-spiders we have occasionally), but this particular breed of Widow is very dangerous for a GROWN-UP; so it goes without saying it's fatal for, say, a 1yr. old.

We went on to find out we were infested, and pretty bad. We killed probably 20 babies around his playpen. Needless to say, we were scared less! We haven't seen any more in the house, but finding another full-grown female on one of my work-vises really scared me last night.

[KayinBlack]

The big ones on the 6-foot webs are completely harmless. The others, I wouldn't slap at-while some might be common house spiders, the brown recluse (as well as the brown widow) are both found in all three of our areas. We routinely kill them as well as some exotic imports (we have wandering spiders here. That'll give you a fright.)

Good reason to stop working! Take care of that, I wouldn't want your little one hurt (or you either.)

[Angel OD]

Originally Posted by E.E.L. Ambiense

The E.E.L. actually exists and has hands? DAMN!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Originally Posted by KayinBlack

The big ones on the 6-foot webs are completely harmless. The others, I wouldn't slap at-while some might be common house spiders, the brown recluse (as well as the brown widow) are both found in all three of our areas. We routinely kill them as well as some exotic imports (we have wandering spiders here. That'll give you a fright.)

Good reason to stop working! Take care of that, I wouldn't want your little one hurt (or you either.)

Yeah, the crab-spiders (big spiny backs/shells) are more menacing looking than anything else. I wouldn't want one ON me, but they're cool because they're relatively harmless. And pretty in their 'ugliness'.

Originally Posted by Angel OD

The E.E.L. actually exists and has hands? DAMN!

LOL! I do!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Update time! After an unplanned delay due to some unforeseen issues.... AHHH!!!!



....We're back to the regular work. Doesn't it just give you the heebie-jeebies? That's a liLi grommet edging too that I was poking her with. A rattlecan cap is also behind her for scale.

Alright, enough messing around. Last we left off I needed to begin paint-prep work. Let's do that.

Starting with the side panel, I need to rough up the anodized finish to give the paint something to stick to...



I like to use the mouse sander when I don't have a lot of time to spend on that.



Then I needed to get some paint going. After a few light layers of the primer of choice, we're starting to get somewhere.



I experimented a bit and came up with a good formula/process which net some good results consisting of layering some browns and black purposely uneven to give it a neat effect, then I sanded it in certain spots to give it a "lived in" feel. Kind of like buying a car, ya know? I have no clue what the hell I meant by that.

Now, let's start on the 80+ steps I'll probably go through to get the weathering going even further. Antiquing rust solution. We've seen it all before, right? I love this stuff. I went over the whole panel hitting certain areas where it would logically 'weather'.



After allowing the iron layer to sufficiently dry (generally 24 hours is a good rule to follow), I begin the copper sulfate solution application. Here's where the fun begins!



It's a good idea to not follow any kind of pattern, as rust generally doesn't. It just kind of happens without really following any kind of plan, so try to mimic that feel. Kind of like Hollywood over the past couple of decades or so.



I tried to hit some areas more than others, adding to the uneven feel of things.



I'll go over it a few more times to really layer it on.



Now, allowing things to run its course, I allowed the solution to cure over another evening, and came back to find it like I expected it to look. So I start the process over again and continue the method. I touched up a few spots within the already-existing spots of rust to make it more uneven.



Another trick that Bill and I discovered while I visited MNPCTech headquarters a couple years back to drink heavily and get into trouble do a little impromptu moddin' and product creation with the NOTalis project (movie located here), was using a heatgun on the still-wet copper sulfate. It really gets it cookin'!



I'll continue work on the weathering technique later. To quote Monty Python, "And now for something completely different!"

I had a copper block top for the EK Supreme HF that's going in the build here, so I figured I'd mess around with it. I knew what I wanted to do with the thing while cooking up the project almost a year ago, but didn't work out all the logistics. Which is really what modding is about; solving problems, right? Well, that, and voiding warranties.



I love these blocks, but it's not really going to fit in with the theme that much so let's ruin that nice copper, shall we?

Not that I dislike EK; quite the contrary. I probably helped finance the company with the probably 30+ blocks I've purchased from Eddy over the years! But I don't want the logo and name on the block this time. Sorry, guys! No offense!

A good secret in powder-coating is using a product called Lab-Metal. Which is basically a liquid metal solution that will fill in damage, cracks, cavities or whatever on a piece of material you're going to coat. Kind of like a putty that will hold a charge.

I had a batch of the stuff, but unfortunately it does have a shelf-life of 1 year. The last time I touched my equipment (easy...not that equipment you buncha 3rd-graders!) was over 2 years ago, and it was opened too. Needless to say, it was just about dried up...but--I was able to get enough out of it to fill in the holes, though! Heh heh.

After 24 hours cure-time, I was left with this...



Now, let's sand it down a bit and get it ready for some 'biohazard' action.



Perfect. After the weathering applied to the block, it will be basically seamless.

Moving on to the chassis proper again, I need to start prepping it for paint application as well. Let's do that.



I felt like hand-sanding for a bit as it can be therapeutic sometimes. But then again, there are a few things you can do with your hands that can be therapeutic too! --Ey! Easy! I meant badminton, of course!



To continue with the prep-work, I needed to remove the nylon anti-rattle boobies off the case.



Simple drill-out of a rivet, and you're done...after like 16 of them.



And back to the other side panel, I began prep-work for the weathering paint on it as well. Hit it with primer, etc. and I'll be ready to start the process all over again. Forever, it seems.



Alright, that's all I have for now but I'll be back with more. You can bet on that. I need to get this thing done and soon, as I have some more things cooking and just about ready to boil over! See ya soon and thanks for tuning in!