Case Mod - In Progress Custom HTPC Mod -- Flame

I've been planning this mod for quite a while, and I'm starting to get somewhere with it, so I thought I'd start my project log. I'll post pix very shortly, I'm uploading them as I speak.

I'm currently resizing images, etc, to make it easier to see this thing... so bear with me...

First, I cut off all the drive bays, I won't be needing those.


Here it is.


This is the motherboard panel as I was polishing it.


Here is the back of the motherboard panel


I polished it using good ol' Brasso. A tip for everyone else out there: use gloves, otherwise your hands will look like this:


Here is the 360 HD DVD drive I'm also modding in the same fashion:


As you can see, I've painted it black.


And the buttons and drive face plate copper(ok, I know you can't tell from the pictures, but it really does look like copper)


Since it's a HTPC, I need storage. In this case, > 2 TB of data. Thus, I need to fit 9 hard drives. My case can't do that, but this Hard drive holder I've made will. I got it punched at a local CNC shop.



Here's some pix of my bike. I'm planning on painting my computer case the same way, with "true fire" flames. This is the first time I've ever tried the true fire thing, so hopefully by the time I'm done with this, I'll have the hang of it...

First, paint the basic structure of the layer in red, then cover than in candy brite red.


Then, made another flame in yellow


Then cover it in candy orange...

 

Nice paintjob, good luck with your project.
What case did your start off with, a Lian Li ?

 

Yeah, it was a Lian Li I bought from Newegg. Theres about 5 more pieces that I need CNC punched or milled. I'll try to post some screenshots of the parts when I'm done designing them. Not sure on how quickly I can get them made tho, as my contact at the CNC shop is on vacation right now. I plan to start painting the 360 HD DVD drive today, so I'll post some pix on that when I'm done.

 

nice bike!

 

More pix of the stuff I did today. The 360 hd dvd drive is coming out pretty good. Yellow keeps sticking to my gun tho, so I gotta figure out how to fix that... I might have to redo it, cuz on the smaller scale I'm working on, its becoming more noticeable. I'll have to do some testing tomorrow.

No high res pix, doing the last ones were too much of a hassle.

360 HD DVD case, 1st coat


After I added the yellow and candy orange (look at the top of the flames to see what I was talking about the yellow sticking)


My bike almost done, I just need to add candy yellow and some white

 

awesome paint job!

 

Fantastic paint job. I'll be watching this one

 

Ok, more progress (for the most part).

I wasn't happy with the paint job on the HD DVD case, so I sanded it off, and I'm starting anew.



I also bought a new air compressor as my current one just wasn't up to the task of airbrushing for hours straight. The new one's a lot bigger, and with a little modding, I got it to work just right. Pix below.




I also started on the side panel of my case (to be the top panel). Since I only have a .5mm airbrush, I'm prolly gonna rent an airgun and lay down a few coats and get the streaks out. I'll prolly use it for the clear coat as well.


I'm expecting the candy yellow to arrive tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll at least be able to post some pix of my bike with the finished paint job

 

Ok, just finished the first coat of red for the HD DVD case.

 

Woken up really early today, so I've had quite a bit of time. Figured I'd work on my case some more. Made these parts in CAD.

Made some renderings with a nice starry background, lol.





I'll have two made of the 2nd image. One with, and one without the flanges. They'll hold the 120mm fans in place. I'm gonna have four bolts connecting the 3 plates together. The bolts are going thru the case, so it should be able to support the weight.

All the measurements I made were done with my handy Catalina Island ruler. Not the most sophisticated way to do things, but it gets the job done and it has all sorts of little sea shapes to entertain me in the meanwhile, lol.

 

this ruler is really nice nice flames very nice !

 

lmfao, amazing mod.