This is a case mod project. The case being used is a Silverstone LC02 that the company donated to me back in 2007. It was initially involved in a project that got shelved because the motherboard wasn't ATX compliant. What I like most about it is that it is all-aluminum so it should be easy to work. The case came with Silverstone designed and branded riser cards and extensions so that PCIe cards could be installed in a "laid down" position. The motherboard was donated by Gigabyte. I really like their WIFI series of mini-ITX boards with its all-black color theme. Here is the motherboard and graphics card installed in the case using the riser/extention parts. Corsair's new low-profile mini-ITX AIO water cooling system. The case has to be modified to provide for the cooler exhaust vent. Before cutting out the vent with a Dremel, a piece of aluminum bar stock has to be attached along the edge in order to strengthen the area. The case has a cut in an unfortunate place in order to attach a drive bay that will not be used in this project. I used a two-part epoxy for this. The mounting system for the Corsair cooler shares three of the four motherboard mounting screws. The screws that came with the kit didn't fit the Silverstone built-in standoffs. Easily fixed by a trip to the local hardware store. Cooler "dry fit" to check for proper vent location. The unit has a foam collar that fits tightly against the case interior in order to seal the exhaust. This project is being brought to you by: Thanks for looking!
Hi! That cooler seems... "hey! I can cool my whole system with an 80mm radiator hooked to my vacuum." -But what's important is what you do with the case. I suspect there will be wood.
Yes....there will be wood. But for now.... Drilled out rivets and unfolded parts of the case. Flattened out the corners using C-clamps and wood planks. Taping up the case for Dremel work. Thanks for looking.
Hi Jeffrey, great to see you back with us this year As cheaps said, waiting for the woodwork to be rolled out. Wood and Alu, a nice combo. You KNOW a Slipperyskip production is going to be a special mod. Pulls up comfy chair and waits...
Good. If it wasn't interesting I wouldn't be wasting my time with it. Thanks. Took a year off to resolve a supply problem. My local shop closed down in 2014. It was eighty miles away. Now the nearest is in Orlando which is just too far. I have started to buy on-line but that requires bulk purchases. Here is a recent purchase... CNC cut wood in 16 different dimensions just as a retailer would receive it. Lot's of money right there. There will be controversy. Using just a motherboard tray obviously doesn't justify a case mod but at what percentage of original case qualifies it to not be a scratch build? The important thing for me is to give Silverstone credit for the donation so I'm calling this a case mod for now.
Saw a recent review on the cpu cooler: Here I would be interested in your opinion once you get that far. Mal
I've always wondered what happens to all these builds? I mean do have loads of computers or do you reuse some of the parts in the next one?
I get that feeling also..... I think the words "Leave no witnesses" might have been mentioned in the design phase.
But you have real metal for ornamenting now. You do seem like the guy that would destroy a case to make a shiny 1.5mm pin stripe in a wood facade.
Loads of computers. I have a rule against cannibalizing older projects. Going to get even smaller. I'm calling the chassis a bikini chassis. Just barely enough. Just making a tiny computer using tiny components. Some metal's got to go. Mmmmm. Shiny. *********************************************** Removed paint down to bare aluminum. Cut a piece of 1/8" aircraft grade 7-ply birch plywood Glued it up using polyethylene adhesive. Made two back panels out of 1/16" aircraft grade 5-ply birch plywood. Note difference in cooler vent hole size. The two back panels glued together with wood glue creates pocket for vent mesh. Cut vent mesh to size. Some dry fitting to check the progress. I'm calling this a bikini chassis because it's only just enough to get the job done. Thanks for looking!
Trimmed up a bit more of the case around the video card. Glued up the wood to the aluminum again using the polyethylene adhesive. A challenging step in this project is to splice an SFX power supply to a case that came with a Flex ATX power supply. I used as much of the contiguous original aluminum as possible for strength purposes. To fill in gaps, add a little strength, provide mounting points and the proper spacing I cut out these aluminum pieces. This is a dry fit. I'll glue these in next. I made this collar/spacer that shifts the PSU mounting point downward 3/8" to a place with more surrounding metal. The collar also defines the interior space that will be enclosed later. Thanks for looking!
I was like, "Oh, God! that's a thing now?" I was sooo happy when i goobled it. then I read it requires torch heating to bond to HDPE. The shape is starting to resemble the Empire State Building.
Pfft! An Art Deco skyscraper inspired project named SkyVue? That's just crazy. Who comes up with these crazy ideas? Polyethylene adhesive just sounds sexier than Gorilla Glue.
Cut a notch and modified my spacer/collar to help reduce the overall size. Drilled out holes and attached a piece of 1/2" x 1/16" aluminum angle with #6-32 screws and nuts. This is not only to add strength but also provide a place to hide a portion of the PCIe cable that will stretch to the top of the case. To attach the power supply I first made a wooden template. This defines the outer edges and the attachment holes. The Silverstone SFX power supply I'm using as a model (not the final unit to be used) has six attachment threaded holes. The SFX standard calls for three. I've also seen SFX units with four and five holes. I'm not exactly sure what brand or model is going into this yet so I'm preparing for the worst (best?!) case scenario. I made this aluminum power supply "surround" from the wooden template. The surround will be bonded to the original work to provide a solid metal attachment point for the power supply. Thanks for looking!
this last update, all those intricate cuts and details... wauw! just ... wauw! and a final wauw for good measure
