Case Mod - In Progress Project Aurora (New Direction 20 Feb)

Planning:

Huge problem - i'm half way through cutting the hole for the top fan and theres no way a fan will fit there with the psu or the optical drive! unless I can find a 10mmx120mm fan!

edit: wtf posts reversed!

 

Can you do without the top fan? The psu fan should be enough for exhaust.

 

Scythe makes a 12mm fan. can you fudge it a bit?

 

will have to make it work - the holes already there now! yeah i'm looking at the scythe - page 3

 

The graphics card in your render looks like gyped low profile card.

 

it's a 4850 but the texture's gone weiiirrdd in kk

 

Not much been happening, but have ordered one of these:

So work will begin soon! The hacksaw i've been using takes ages and is very very innacurate!

 

Tools have arrived! Have also bought a can each of orange and white paint!
Will have a go at cutting tommorow, the tool kit came with 36 regular 0.6mm cutting wheels and 30 heavy duty 0.8mm wheels... should I try the regular wheels first or just save any hassle and use the heavy duty .8mm? the case is 1mm steel I think.. with a layer of a black plasticy powdercoat..

 

Poor quality picture but window hole is cut.. Although I did fail at marking it up, the side won't fit on the case due to this:

Dremel-clone time!
Also going to have to do some decent internal lighting, the smoked acryl is quite dark!

 

Painting has commenced!
First here's a couple of better pics of the new window, the holes for the 2x80mm fans still need to be cut.


And some painted bits!

Here's a better representation of the colour. The parts still need a few coats (the top piece might need to be sanded and re-done as some paint was removed to due to my carelessness checking the paint dryness..


The main chassis is still needing to be painted once I cut the cable routing holes, and the two side panels need to be finished, then the NEC logo bogged in (NZ term for what US folk call 'bondo'?).

Progress!

 

No comments?

 

That colour looks great, and the design is fantastic - it's great seeing mods using what would otherwise be normal, uninspiring case and turning them into a unique work of art.

Just an idea for the top - instead of having a fan there, what about having a fillport? Or if there is enough room some kind of reservoir? A res may be pushing it but having a fillport put up there would certainly be useful if you are looking into watercooling further down the line.

Anyway - great work and I look forward to seeing more updates.

 

Yay comments!
Not sure about watercooling - I just don't think there's room for more than a 1x120 rad in there! Unless i build a custom rad based base.. I don't think a 120 would cope with an o/c'd Athlon64 (or a phenom when I can afford it) and an o/c'd 4850. Even finding a good block for the gpu will be hard as my 4850 is a shorter version from HIS. (not a full length reference style card)

I'm very happy with the orange paint, the prefect colour I had in mind!

More cutting planned for the side tommorow, and will be buying some filler and a few nuts, bolts and screws on wednesday!

After looking at the case again the 12mm Scythe 120mm fan should fit! Maybe a fillport will be added if I get the watercooling bug.
Res would be easy: http://www.dangerden.com/store/danger-den-single-5-1-4-bay-reservoir.html
With a fillport from dangerden too.

new base hiding rad:


Not quite right... hmm

 

And yeah I realise the sidepanel has deviated from the original plan! Oh well

 

That looks pretty cool - if you were gonna extend the bottom like that though, to make it look 'complete' it should go back out around the base kind of like a foot... does that make sense? That way you get a cool base all around the bottom - but yeah the orange definitely works really well.

 

More pics of the work as it is now. The front has since been cut back to fit the acryl sheet in.




Found some orange SATA cables and a couple 80mm fans in my huuuuge collection of spares! Awesome!

 

That contrast is awesome looks really clean.

 

Thanks dude! Off to buy some more screws and panel filler today! I think I figured out how to mount the top panel as well. Will update that next time. Also ordered a Scythe 120x12mm fan. Hope it fits!

 

More updates!





To do:

Faceplate
Trim the side window acryl so the panel will close
Fit the acyrlic
Fit the fans properly

Install the system!