Case Mod - In Progress *** PHINIX AURORA *** - 12/10/14 - Grand Finale !!! It is done...

I bought a load of white wire for similar reasons. -never got around to doing anything.
It should look sweet. You will have to lace everything up and remove any kinks or the OCD people will go after you.
-You can also dye it any color you want.

 

You're right Bill. I decided to go bare wire - it will look nice and clean.

Cool. Do you know how to get rid of all that text on wires? Spirit or sth?

 

Spit and polish? I use a drafting ink eraser on my tygon. -Never tried wires.

400 grit sandpaper seems to work well.

 

The 2mm and 2.3mm wire I linked to in your other thread doesn't have anything printed on them, totally blank.

 

Another phinix build! What took you so long! Subscribed!

 

Well there are enough people singing your praises, and Im a sucker for a Lian Li...

Subbed

 

I will use 3M Fine or Medium Red Scotch brite pads..

They also work good for prepping plastic, alum and steel surfaces for paint as well

 

Hi guys! I know, where have I been, right?
Sorry, I was "away" from my project for a few weeks, had to deal with some family problems.
However I was working on Aurora from time to time, so it wasn't entirely idle.

I decided to go with clean white wire I already purchased, so no signs or marks on it, so no need to worry about cleaning it


NOW...I'm very happy to introduce you three new sponsors - I added them before to the main list, but just wanted to quickly show few photos of those items they kindly agreed to help me out with.

ENERMAX - well known company from their PSUs and fans - sent me loads of fans - to match Aurora's color theme, I received white (Clusters, 120 and 80mm) and blue Lepa Casinos.









Next presents came from our very well known modding friend and guru - Bill from MNPCTECH!!!
Yep, after our previous adventure - Nano Tower - Bill generously supported my new project with his fantastic items:

Mnpctech Machined Aluminum "Diamond Knurl" PC Case Feet


Mnpctech Machined Billet Aluminum Fan Grill Blow Hole Kit 120mm


16x Blue Anodized Case Thumbscrews


80mm Chrome Acrylic HC Fan Grill


PC Mod Digital Thermometer


Bill's packages always put a smile on my face - look at these beauties!
I tried out this blowhole on the case - it is perfect fit! Case is only 4mm wider than this aluminum disc - it looks sooo cool on top of it But that I will show you guys later




Another package came from HINDLEYS - UK based, huge design and technology supplies shop. It is perfect for us modders - you can find every material you need to create scratch builds or case mods - all kinds of metals, plastics, timber, all kinds of tools, hardware and consumables. These guys kindly supported me with one of their huge 2mm thick aluminum sheet and this acrylic blue tinted round rod.



It looks amazing under light. I know - you starting to think - what is he going to do with this? Well, you are going to see below in me next update
Gimme few minutes, I'm preparing photos

 

So.. UPDATE TIME !!!

OK, first sketchups.
As this is case mod, all ideas are a bit limited to the shape of the case.
Especially motherboard position or other main bits.
Aurora will keep the original mobo position. PSU is placed below the mobo, so it needs some custom made "power cage" or "power chamber", like I called it in Nano Tower.
I'm going to use front ventilation mesh to put my dual radiator in that position - vertically, with fans pulling air from the case outside.



Now, you see that power chamber there, so here is how those walls will be mounted.
I will cut out nice profiles from opal 10mm thick acrylic sheet. Also will use my old trusty brass inserts to mount those side walls.






Now, you may wonder, what is going to go between that cage and radiator - there is plenty of space.
As you already saw in first photos of the project, I took away all drive cages, optical and HDD cages. Because I love 2.5" dimensions of drives, SSDs and laptop drives, I'm going to use them also in this build.
I wanted to create new cages for them, so designed them in Sketchup... a bit new approach to the subject



As you can see I will also install reservoir on this "column".
What I'm going to do is I will use 20mm thick round blue rod I received from HINDLEYS and make a nice two piece "spine" for the drive cage.
Then using 10mm thick opal acrylic I will fabricate "shelves" for each drive.
I will squeeze in 3mm thick blue tinted acrylic rectangles between drives and opal shelves to add a nice touch.
THEN I'm going to light it all up with tons of LEDs!!
Yep, I know what you all are thinking now.. "how is it going to look?!" I wonder too...
But I can tell you, it looks freekin' awesome in my mind!

Here are few sketchups of how it's going to look:










After those sketches it was time to start making those beauties!
So I got some opal acrylic sheet and printed out some support stickers for those opal shelves.



I put those stickers on opal acrylic sheet and cut them out, drilling those 20mm diameter holes too...




After good few hours of filing and sanding first piece was ready!
All done in hands using only small files and sand paper...






There are some bits of glue left on the surface of this piece... need to clean it up a bit more...
You can see some small bits on that photo below.
Anyone know how to easily clean glue that left after a sticker on acrylic sheet without scratching it?... It took me hours to get rid of it





One done! .... three to go....




Now, here is this nice blue tinted acrylic rod.. I had to try out that ready piece how it goes on that "spine"
To make it all steady and keep the shelf in place it will be screwed from behind






Guys, this all for now, I hope you like the small progress and photos
Next time I will cut some 3mm blue acrylic sheet for that shelves and need to finish up all three opal pieces left. Then it will be time for making those acrylic profiles for power cage.

See you next time!

 

Keep it comin fella!

 

Nice work and very original ideas

 

love the ssd mount idea. thought first you'd be putting the water loop running trough there.
Looking awesome. keep it up!

 

Love the update! You always come up something new and original ideas

 

although there is some "freudic" in all this rods... - i like it!

 

So, you're gonna insert a rod and screw from behind?

 

only 2 star rating on this thread?

 

Trolls are at it again. You have got yourself 5 stars from me

 

+1 for me to. Love the SSD mounting

 

Thank you guys!
Cool, that you like drive cage idea. First I drew all ideas on paper, then tried some in 3D in Sketchup to see how it's gonna look and this one was picked at the end.
So those two round holes are obviously for acrylic rod. This cut in the middle and long hole is for cables - SATA data and power cables will go down there. I will also route LED power cables there. LEDs will be mounted below white acrylic "shelves" to light it up. Light will go through the white and blue acrylic. Well, that the plan at least

 

Yeah, a paper towel and alcohol should clean it up very easily. Most adheasives that are used on things like stickers and tape comes off with just a little wiping if you use alcohol.