Case Mod - In Progress Shinai - Antec P380 casemod [continued tweaking]

Wow you have some skills, very jealous of your workshop. The red paint is stunning, enjoyed reading through your log. Will look forward to next update.

 

Thank you!

 

When it rains it pours! Now that I'm done with screwing around with lacquer and I'm waiting on materials to make my panel, I can actually get something done on this case.

Motherboard tray...mounted.





Now for the fun part, putting things together.

The ROG Hero installed.



The waiting line for assembly...



Got the processor in, but decided that I wanted to see the GPU in too so I could get my blocks lined up for easier bends in the loop. Sometimes I do think ahead.




I'm glad I did think ahead too! I wound up flipping the in/out on the GPU block and rotating the CPU block 180 degrees to help with the loop layout.

Now add in a pinch of RAM and it's starting to look like something.




Last but not least, I threw in the pump, reservoir, and PSU for good measure.



Next step is to get the SSD's squared away(literally, the mounts are a bit out of square and driving me nuts), and then we can start cables.

 

Update time!

Nope, this project hasn't been forgotten. Just had some issues with 1) the wiring and 2) figuring out how to pull off my coup de grâce. So first off, wiring:




I went with a mix of dark red, dark red/black weave, and black Telios for a nice fade effect along with Gosumods aluminum cable combs in anodized red.




It looks good from the front, but...



The back was becoming a total nightmare to control. This picture isn't horrible, but once the SATA power was ran, it was impossible to make it look like anything and I wasn't sure the door would even go on. The sleeve/wire combo was just too thick to work with in this confined space with small passthroughs. So I ordered some new sleeve and wire. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the same color. This is what I got.



I think it works! Actually, they shipped purple instead of the gray I ordered. No biggie, just a bit more time. I'm not sure gray will be the right color, but I couldn't find a dark red to try and I thought gray might go with the brushed aluminum. We'll see.

And in case you missed the bad a** ROG grill cover I got from MNPCTech. Needed something to distract from that horrible hex grill on the back panel.


And for the coup de grâce that I'm working on. It's not that the material is hard to work with, it's just hard to make perfect. Here's a teaser. Hopefully it all works out.

 

Amazing work. Your attention to detail is remarkable.

 

Thanks!

 

That's very purdy .....

 

So this is the coup de grâce!


And no, it's not the workbenches. It's the piece of plastic that the photo was taken through. Pretty clear, huh? But let's look a little closer...unfortunately, this stuff photographs horribly...


Those red sparkles are metal flake. But not painted on, they're actually embedded in the plastic! Here's a short video that shows it better.



I'm a little heavy on the flake in this panel, but I can't use it for my main side panel anyways. I kind of wound up with a huge defect due to how I poured this one.


That cloudiness is from incomplete mixing and some air bubbles, dead center of the panel. But it's a learning experience and I think I can get the SSD window made out of this attempt. With a slightly slower setting resin and a better pour technique, the next panel should be perfect!

 

Back at the wiring...again. It sucks to do custom wires twice, but the finished product is what matters.

Already with only the GPU and CPU runs done, it's looking better.


I wasn't sure about the gray when I ordered it. It's definitely different from my original plan. It almost has a braided stainless look in the right light, which is cool. The stainless sleeve caught my eye when I was looking for replacement sleeve because it sort of matches a lot of the other metals in the build, but didn't want to deal with trying to insulate it to keep things from frying.




And the wiring in the back is a whole lot better. With all the power ran, it's more compact than half of the other set of wires. All in all, it wasn't what I pictured in my head at first, but I think it works pretty well!



I went ahead and slapped the PSU cover in as well. I was dying to see it in there.




Now I just have to decide whether or not I want to wire up the front panel USB's and audio. I rarely use the front panel, maybe for a thumb drive now and then, so I wouldn't miss them. That would let me not worry about sleeving the connectors or routing them and keep the build clean. Plus Antec's poor design on this part means you have to pull out the front panel wires to remove the top panel. I think I just made my decision. I guess next are some snazzy perforated aluminum loops to clean up the wires in the back then, lol.

 

Never seen an Antec P380 from close range, but the front panel has a slight curve inside or its my imagination-camera lense distortion ?

Cheers
Iraklis

 

Not sure what curve you're seeing. The stock panels are straight, but I did add an interior panel with a bend in it that the radiator mounts to.

 

Started figuring out my cable clips, but since I'm still missing 2 SATA cables I cant make all of them, but here's a peek.



Since I can't do the other two cable clips...time for some loop action!



Knocked out the two tight fit tubes first.



The rest of it was pretty much cake. I had to redo a couple since I was eyeballing everything and freehanding the bends, but turned out pretty good.





Getting so close to wrapping it up.

 

Delicious. I forgot you mentioned glitter for the side panel in that MZ thread. Keep the cloudy one. That's the kind of effect I would have wanted anyway, ('cept in color.)

One thing - The cables from the gpu are a couple of saggy tits. I think they need to exit the mobo tray in a more regal manner.

 

Regal and saggy are not mutually exclusive for breasts. (Please don't ban me from the UK for that one!) But yeah, I do need to play with them for a while. Maybe tweak them a bit. Might even find a way to hold or push them up a bit, to make them look a little fuller. If I'm lucky, I can just jiggle them around a bit to get them happy.

But really, thanks! Cloudy and in color is easy but getting rid of the bubbles is the devil's work. I left him a voicemail, but he hasn't got back to me yet.

 

Did some work on my side panel today. I've realized that I won't be able to pour a good panel until I get a setup that allows me to put the panel under pressure. So while I'm working on that, I figured I'd see if I couldn't save any of the panels I've already done by sanding and polishing them down.



This was my first and worst panel. Too much flake and it poured funny. But after 3 hours of sanding and polishing, it turned out decent. There's still a haze to it, some from needing more polishing, some from compound residue. But it's a good test to see if I want to continue down this road. I think I do. Shot a short video because it really shows up in movement.



Not the final product, but a decent stand in till I get the final worked out

 

Aaaannnnnddd, the wiring is all wrapped up finally. Had to wait on a few things to come in to put the finishing touches on it. First off, I went with a RF controller for the lights so I didn't have to get an IR sensor somewhere where I could hit it with the remote.



How much wire do these things need??? Cleaned it all up so that I could fit it in the little spot left where the 5 1/4's were.



Fits like a glove.

Next was taming the cables in the back. Since I killed 3/8" of what room there was for cables when I replaced the MB tray, there wasn't much room. I used some more perforated aluminum to carry the look and also because it's stiff enough to hold the cables flat and spread out to reduced their overall thickness.

 

Like a glove in a box of wires. -FTFY.
I had a hot water heater just die. I seriously thought about keeping it for an air tank like you, but I don't have the space.

 

So many strands of lights!

Hang it from the ceiling! Totally worth it! Paint it up like a fish and and if anyone asks, tell them you march to the tuna of a different drummer!

 

this is one of my favorite builds to watch right now! love the details dave!

 

Thanks Bill!