Case Mod - In Progress Project: "Building Better Worlds" by E.E.L. Ambiense - Completed

I'm a little confused(maybe a lot confused)
Is the oven used for baking painted parts or one of the do-it-your-self powder coating kits like Micro Mart sells? Any ways I'm glad it's ELECTRIC!!!!!!! Gas would be the Bomb - literally.
John

 

No Problem!

 

Electric oven's used to bake the powder coat after its applied to the parts. I use a simple electric kitchen oven because I only do relatively-small parts. I wish I could have a nice walk-in unit! But I already take up too much space at work with all my *ahem* hobby stuff.

EDIT: Oh man, people have been using GAS ovens for this stuff?! Are they nutz!?

 

Argh! my eyes! they burn! hehe just kidding but you sure are going for one bright colour scheme. Its looking good and im sure it will turn out fantastic like your other mods

Stuart

 

Thanks man. I'm confident it will, at least considering how it's gone so far. Bright colors will make it easier to find at a LAN.

 

Oww, that's REALLY yellow.

 

What he said. I think it burned an afterimage in my monitor.

 

...And my work here is done. Wait-- no it isn't! I have plenty of crap to paint still. Hold on to those shades, guys.

 

I am interested in the powder coating at home jobby.
Any idea where i could find something like it(U.S. modder)? or link to a product you are using.
Any info would be great. thanks!

 

500MPH -
My kit from Micro Mart from before I found a local powder coater who didn't think I was nuts actually came with warning about gas ovens.
John

 

February 4th Update!

Well, I don't have a whole lot of stuff in regards to updates. I did do some things tonight, but nothing extraordinary. I'm working on 3.5 hours of sleep, so the day has SUCKED to say the least.

Let's get started, shall we?

Here's the bottom part of the chassis proper, coated in yellow as well. Nice. I needed to post that from last night. Sorry.



*Warps to something else*

The fan controller rheobus thing I'm using in this particular build is the classic Cooler Master Aerogate I, to keep in with the Cooler Master-classic-hardware-raped-beyond-all-recognition-Weyland-Yutani-theme. Also, it's a pretty good controller. 15 watts a channel, if my memory serves me correctly. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that it changes backlighting colors, but you have to reset it every time you start up the system! Oh well. It's still cool. Let's have a look...



Cool eh? Cooler eh? Cooler Master-- alright, I'll stop. Anyways, yeah it's cool. ...But let's tear it apart!



There...much better. Now I'll toss the acrylic plate and coat the aluminum bracket. It came out looking like this, as well as the rest of the bay covers/etc...



...And assembled again.



Here's another classic CM product that seems to have become rather scarce these days. I don't know why either. Hm. I use these quite a lot, as I like to stealth ROM drives every time I build something. I just hate seeing a bare drive, is all. I dunno. I'm a dork.



And removed from package...



I have sanded all of these items down and have started coating them as well. Pics of these coated are right above!

The original LED holes on the front panel of the case needed to be covered over before powder coating. So I spackled some Hi-Temp lab Metal on the holes. I will allow this to set for a day or so, then I'll bake it for an hour to really set it in before coating. This way I'll have a nice flush front panel with (hopefully) no trace of there ever being any LED holes on it.



I also disassembled and coated the front USB/Firewire port assembly/cover in green. I think it came out grand. Here's before...



And after. It looks great!



I have some other stuff going on, I just haven't gotten to it yet to really warrant an update. I'll get to it tomorrow, probably. Or not. I have no idea.

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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

 

I've been reading the forums for the better part of a year off and on now, and I love to see the work around here. I finally got around to registering because I had to comment on this project! Amazing work man I can't wait to see some new pics of the SFF build (hint, hint)

 

awesome choice of colors for a case like that .......

I love the yellow (once had a VW Golf[Rabbit]GTI in a similar yellow),.......
............but.....I don't just know if theat green fits in with it ........

*Subscribed*



Alan

 

Thanks, man! I appreciate the kind words. And I'm glad you decided to register. It's a good community for the most part. LOL @ SuperMicroFly... man, everyone seems to say that!

Thank you very much for the kind words, bro! Yeah, the different colors are a bit odd, I know, but I'm fairly confident it'll all pay off in the end. And with a user name like yours, you know .

Thanks, my first subscription, lol.

Check out Eastwood Co.

 

Yeah, there's definitely something about that little MicroFly that's very appealing. I'd love some insight on how you worked out clearance for the 80mm's behind the front panel (hmm...maybe this should be in the Super MicroFly thread...) Anyway...back to this project. I hear ya on those CM drive covers. Google Product search keeps coming up with less and less of them and alot of the ones you do find are black, which makes polishing take that much longer lol. That powdercoat is flawless, I can't wait to see more on this project man!

-Wiz

 

February 5th Update!

Small update today, guys. I don't have a whole lot going on; been busy with real-life business stuff.

Anyways, here's what I bring to the table today. And it's not much. I'll get right to it. I want to get home!

OCZ 700w GameXtream PSU. I switched out the fan for a UV Green LED fan a little while back. I'm keeping the fan, but...I'm going to remove some of the cables from the PSU. It's too much for cable management! I don't need any of the SATA cables, and since there are two dedicated cables hanging from this thing with nothing but SATA conectors, they're gone!



Anyways, disassembly of the unit. I'm coating the housing as well, so it needs prep/sanding/etc.



Here's half of the PSU's housing sanded and ready for coating. I know; half-a*s job on the sanding. It only really needs most of it off, as the powder will stick to it fine. Plus, it's mostly hidden anyways in the case, so I don't really care.



...And here's part of the PSU housing done. As well as the two sides of the 5.25 and 3.5 bays.



Also, I finished the opposite side panel. All sanded, coated and done. Looks purty. Oddly, the pics came out kind of lime green. It's more of a 'medium' green than lime. Eh. You'll all see soon enough when it's all done!



*Warps to something else*

By the way, here's the front panel complete with the two LED holes spackled over with Lab Metal and cured in the oven. I also sanded it down smooth, so it's ready for orange coating!



Also, here's the side panel with the window done. Those corners are hard to get even relative to each other!



Now I just need to sand the hell out of it and get the rest of the anodizing off of it! Augh! I hate that! Sorry for the blurry pics on everything; I've become a regular Michael J. Fox when I hold the camera lately... That was bad, I know. Sorry.

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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

 

Blurry is OK...It makes it look like it's moving really fast.

 

Dang!

I love where you're going with this mod and going with the classic praetorian case (which I have next to my right foot) is a grand choice.

I'll be watching this one closely.

Darkened

 

Hahahaha. That it is. I just wish the lighting in here were better. I need a friggin' tripod. I'll get one soon.

Thanks, bro! Very kind of you to say! I love the Praetorian myself, which is why I didn't have the heart to cut on it...well, aside from a window. LOL.

Coming from you and knowing your work, I take any notice as a compliment. And that goes for any successful modder out there!


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Isn't it odd that this thread has only 30+ replies, and many of them are actually me, yet it's been viewed close to 2,000 times? I notice this profusely more with other people's logs. Just weird.

 

nice job