Case Mod - In Progress Triple post - 05/oct/09 - New photos!

First of all I wish to express my joy for posting my first three cases on demand. That means money for modding.

I normally make scratch builds, but as these are a client's order they will be casemods.

In partnership with the good guys at SmartData (a really BIG thank you for Carlos) I am modfying 3 cases.

To make the investment good for both the client and myself i decided that the budget will be quite low. Something like US$ 75,00. With such a low budget on the cases I will need some really good ideas on them.

So, lets get started:



Partnership with:


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LAST UPDATE


UPDATES:
17/aug/09 - Worklog start - Page 1
23/aug/09 - Acrylic Scarab done - Page 1
29/aug/09 - Acrylic Scarab Kamaleon painted - Page 1
13/sep/09 - Painting and stuff - Page 1
19/sep/09 - First case finished! - Page 2
05/oct/09 - New photos! - Page 3

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The cases:

• Cooler Master Centurion 590
• Casemall K100-V2
• Casemall R540I (Slim)

□ Centurion:


□ Slim:


□ K100i:


I will take the chance and do a little photo review of the Cases



◊CASEMALL K100-V2
===============

The case have 4 USB2 outputs, one digital or analog output, one microphone input and an e-SATA output.





To liberate the HDD cage, the case have a button and a thumbscrew for this task:


And this is the free cage:



◊COOLER MASTER CENTURION 590
=========================



The front of the case comes out easily without the need of any tool:

Each one of these drive bays cover is completelly holed with a thin filter in the inside of them.

The drive cage:


It has a 120mm cristal fan lighted with 4 blue LEDs.

Those blue rubber washers act as noise dampers for the HDDs


This are used to keep the daughter boards in place:


The only thing i really didn't liked is the paint used on it (epoxi?). Lots of little dots are all arround:


The case all stripped:




◊ CASEMALL R540I (SLIM)
==================

For some reason thios is the one i liked the most, and the first one to be modded:


Panel on the side...


In the front there's this display in wich you can see internal temperature and it's possible to control te internal fan of the case. Using my ever present test font, here it is working.

The cage...


This case uses a very diferent architecture. It only houses two HDDs. In this photo we can see where the other one goes:


Only after closer look i discovered that the "mirror" on the front is actually another bay for an optical drive:


The simple illumination that goes behind the "on button" inutilizes a molex for other purposes. Shame on you casemall!


Front eletronics:


Small parts:


Small parts named:


All this will go to a drawer in my workshop untill i need them:


All front pieces unmounted:


The case all stripped:


The case ripped apart. Some photos were taken so I could use as reference in case i get lost when remounting it.


This case was ripped apart because I am a BAD guy...

No.. not really.. I just want to paint it all.


For this project i bougt A new toy. I never really used an airbrush, but that will be fun!


For that i made this:


To use as follow:



Now to the mod. The first one will be named "SCARAB".

The fisrt victim will be the SLIM case. I Fisrt started with the left panel. I used two pieces of clear acrilyc with a central groove made with a router. After that i cut the first drawing in the piece.


This will be more or less how the side panel will be:

The aluminum like piece in the center is actually a piece made out of acrilyc LONG time ago for another mod.

After deciding where i wanted the window, I made a mask and marked so I could cut the side panel:


After veeeeeery much noise (and some cussing from the neighbors) this was the result:

With no finish yet.

I made a litle change for the original cut...


The inside with the window in place:


These metal sheet used in the side panels are VERY soft. So, to avoid some future headaches i decided to screw AND glue them in place. All this to make sure that it won't bend and compromise the BONDO i will use later.

To make the holes I first punched a guide. As i didn't used a hard wood for example, a nipple was formed on the other side:


Easily corrected with a Dremel:


This will be (more or less) how the side panel will be:

The little hole is essential for the font ventilation. So, no acrilic for it!

Rounded the acrilyc pieces:



I've made a little tool to help me put the bondo in place:




Voilá! A little putty knife.

After that i started to use the BONDO:


In a more detailed shot, this is the amout of damage i will need to fix:


After loooooooooong hours this is what I have:


First pass of primer:


Aftr the third pass of primer:


Why so much primer? To correct some little imperfections. Even so, may of them will need to be remade:


Now it's time for the scarab sculpture.

Firstly i bought a 20mm thick acrilyc block and draw the scarab body on it:


To help the cutting, I made a series of holes in the acrilyc. These where not made to guide the saw itself, but to give the blade some space to breath soh the blade woudn't overheat and put the work in risk:


Cut:


This is the piece ready to be filled. In this phase, i just want to refine its shape. So, let's go circular sander!


After lots of filing and sanding:


A bit more:


I know it doesn't look like a big deal now, but I promise it will be a lot better soon:


I worked with the dremel for 3 hours without stoping! So i want to se who's going to say that a Dremel isn't a good tool! After all, the amount of sculpturing work just with the dremel must have passed from 5 hours.

So after some other filing and sanding here's the finished piece:


I hope you guys like this post

See you soon!



Partner:

 

The scarab is realy amazing

I'm sub'd

 

Yeah it sure is. Loving that side panel mate, looking really good. I can't wait to see what you have in store for those other 2 cases .

 

Fantastic work and an interesting work log to follow

 

Wazzup! I can't wait to see what you have planned.

 

ok s-r-s-l-y, that scarab rocks socks

 

Side panel looks fantastic. Really liking the carved scarab as well. That'll definitely look good lit up

 

OMG! A giant and glossy bug!
subscribed =D

ciao!

 

realy like the side pannel and the scarab is some impresive work. looking forward to see how it turns out.

 

Thank you my friends

Heya Cheaps! Well... Actually I have planned tons of things.. just one or two will be made

Thank you

Hmmm... I am sorry to be the one that have to tell you this, but... The scarab will be painted. "Kamaleon Green to Purple" form House of Kolor

Heya Valds my friend! I am glad you are here!

Thank you space

 

Really good job with the scarab, and the side panel looks great.

 

Sculptured Scarab finished

@ 500mph:
Thank you

Ok, it is time for another update.

Partnership:


This time I am posting the finished sculpture scarab beetle with its legs.

It's inportant to bear in mind that acrylic doesn't have veins or fibers, so it's impossible to "carve" it. The only possible thing is to sand and file it.

For this task, I've mouted a "pression plier" (at least this is the name of this tool in portuguese) in a machinistvise in my mounting table. Now THAT is a TRUE combination tool!


With a piece of rubber, i place the first leg in the plier. The line drawn in the leg was made with a perma marker (which will disapear effortless with some polishing) and it's there to show me which face will be placed down.


To save me some time, I used a orbital sander to sand the first half down. This was made in more or less of a 45 degrees angle.

First half sanded

Time for the second half:


I know it looks like almost done, but trust me, there's MUCH yet to do.


[ninjaEdit] Before this one, some hard time filing for the curvature, but i lost the picture of it. [/ninjaEdit]
At this point I've Dremeled it with those bits you are seeing in the photo below:


At a closer look. The first dremel part is to give the piece some form and to erase all the scratches made with the sanding.


So i took that piece and polished it. But WHY someone would polish a piece that is not finished yet?


I've tried the next photo TONS of times to show my point. This next one is the best of the 40+ photos I took. Believe me, not a simple task to show.

To put it simple, when you polish the piece and start to sand it back down it's easier to see where it needs more sanding.


A "macro look" in the piece (sorry, no way to zoom it more) after some 180 grit sanding.


Just for the record, I've polished the piece for test purposes only. Here are two picts of it:


With and without flash light

So here's the polished Scarab placed in the printed template:


I've made a little hole right in the middle of the printing so I can align in the centre of the side panel.


After placing the template in the side panel, I used a carbon paper to copy the template down. After that I've placed the pieces together to show you guys and girls more or less what I am planing for the OTHER side panel.


The original carbon copy is slightly different from the finished sculptured scarab, so i redrawn the silhouette of the beetle itself again:


Next step I decided where were the best points to place the allen screws that will hold the pieces in place for gluing. And then I drilled them.

Then I used 2 sided tape to hold pieces in place to perma mark where to drill holes in the pieces:

The lime elipsoid acrylic in the top will be covered with another rounded and painted acrylic. So, don't be afraid of that contrast


So, with that I finish this post. I hope you friends like it as much as I am liking to do it!

Cheers!

 

Man that's really cool.

 

Thanks

 

Painted Scarab

After some disastrous painting tests with the primer yesterday and today I've done some successful experiments with some cool toys. I wish you good folks at BT to share them with me.

In partnership with:


For these simple experiments i am using a single action airbrush (the one that when you press the button air and paint come out no matter how you press it). This is the toy:


The following piece was modeled, sanded and filed like the first side panel. This shape you see here is an acrylic sheet that were glued and screwed just like the first side panel. This piece corresponds to the top of the slim case. In the picture below the primer was already aplied, and the first coat of the paint is just to help the following coats. Not a big deal, but just as reference for ppl trying to learn.


This is the second coat. Although it looks like ists done there are some spots in need of a third coat. I prefer to pass LOTS of thin coats. And in between each I use a heat gun to help drying it.


The third coat:


Better detail:


Even MORE detail - Warning: e 250k image.

For the next step i will be using the most expensive paint I know: The Kamaleon. Perhaps not THAT expensive if you live in USA. But thats not my case. Here in Brazil we have lots of swimming pools in the houses of lots of politicians, so the taxes go sky high. After all, poor politicians, caviar got a price raise...

Anyway, here is the paint:


The scavenger sanded down into 400 grit:


All the pieces glued to this scrap side panel with 2 sided tape:


Primer aplied in just a thin coat:


First coat of the black PU base:


Second...


...and the alst one. The good thing about using a scrap panel is that you can rotate it all so you can reach hard spots without leaving fingerprints in the wet paint:



And now the moment that we all were waiting for....

tadaaaaaa.....


But...


Before that...



A word from my sponsor:




And after that fast comercial break, behold all the beaty of that Kamaleon paint!




This dye is amazing! Depending on the angle you look it changes its color!

Now tell me, wasn't it worth the effort turning that beautiful acrylic scarab into this one? I know I am really happy with the result

Partner:


Cheers all,

 

pardon my expression but that looks tits

 

That does look nice. Did that color changing paint with a mouse a while back, wish I used a different clear coat though.
Careful with that heat gun though.

 

Man that Scarab looks awesome, I love the purple colour, looks insane. I HAVE to get myself an air brush .

 

Hmmm tits are nice... So, I gues thats a compliment. In that case, thanks

I am planning that on my mouse too. The good thing about mice is that they have lots of curves, so the effect is much better.

About the heat gun, i use it all the time between coats. It helps the priming process for the next coat.

The good thing about that dye is that it is purple AND green without mixturing them It's just awesome (and expensive)!

 

UPDATE - 13/sep/09 - Painting and stuff

I planned something a little different for this mod. Although it's not finished, this post begins to illustrate the process of creating a door for the left side panel.


Partnership:


I wish to do a door for the side panel. Complete with hinges and so.

To do so, that "bend border" that is commom to all cases should go off. To accomplish this i used a comom file.

Clamped the piece:


Then used the file:


Five minutes later it came off. Much faster than using a Dremel:


The door won't stop in place without some help. So I inverted a screw in the top and and bottom of the case so the dorr will be attached to. To do so, I've filled half of a bolt (that piece that hold the screw in place, i forgot the name in english) so it could fit in place without interfering in the door itself. here we can see it in place:


To keep the door closed, I've used a thumbscrew, locked it in the machinist vise...


...sawed the screw part...


...filed...


...drilled the center...


... and tap drilled it with a M3 tap drill. In a near future you will understand better what was made. In a future post

Now onto the painting.

First the upper piece of the case:


And repainted. That blue I've used on a previous post was just a test.


Then I've used the "apliqueé".


I've used it as a mask, so i've aplied a light metallic green over it.


Grabbed the side panel and used the same light green.


And another adhesive:


Metallic wine over it:


Turned upside down and painted again with that green:


Taking the mask off:



Final result:


Here is the other side after the same process:


The up and bottom piece ready for clear coating:


For testing purposes i've mounted the scarab on the side panel:


And then in the case itself:


Partnership:


Cheers fellow modders