OK so I while ago I had started this project as noted in this older Project Log: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=97558 Now, 1 wedding, 2 moves, 1 workshop build in said new house: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=96708 , and now I'm starting this project all over. As stated in the link above I wanted to take an OK, but bland pre-mod and make it into something a little more interesting, to prove that you CAN do something with a premod. Unfortunately when I started the previous Project Log I had a crappy Palm Zire 71 camera. I have since gotten my digicam back and here's some better quality pictures for you. So we'll start were we left off. First off with the front bezel. As you can see from the stock case: The front bezel has these three really restrictive air intakes. Behind it you'll find a perforated aluminium grill. After looking at it for a while I decided I liked the look of perforated aluminium. I needed some the material and while at the office section of my local Zellers (department store) I found this set of perforated aluminium paper holders and etc.. for $5!! I first marked out the area I wanted to cut out: So the next step was to cut out the offending air intakes, I grabbed my trusty Dremel and cut off wheel and went to town. As you can see I left a nice edge and the reason was so that I could have a perfect edge. I then pulled out my files and needle files and took that edge off leaving a perfectly square edge...believe me it wasn't easy, it took me about 2 hours to do this just right... I then finished the grinded edge by lightly wiping it with a q-tip and some acetone to give it a smooth finish. After cutting a good piece of of the perf aluminium and I then marked and the layout of the hole and squared it. I then cut off the excess that I didn't need. I then started bending the top and bottom edges as they are the hardest edges to follow, I constantly checked to make you I had a good fit. The cut out hole is unfortunately not flat along the top, and actually has kind of a peek to it, to have it follow the peek and outward bend, as you can see I made little V-shaped notch cutouts and slowly bent and shaped it into place. Then I bent the left and right hand sides and continually kept checking the fit. In this pic you can see what I mean by the top peek, now I'm still shaping this metal but eventually I started getting to the point where I thought it was nice, I found a good trick here was to bend inward a little more then needed and then to place into the hole and use a small hammer from the inside to hit it to the desired shape. Finally after much hammering and shaping I got it into place and fit the way I like it. A quick coat of black paint to hide the chipped paint and voila! Now all that's left is to glue it into place, but that's for last. Now for some overall pics of what's been completed as of now. Side view of the cut reshaped side window and also added top window Top view from the rear, also a good close up of the added Ikea handles, and the 2x 60mm fans on the top which I think I'll swap for a 120mm if space permitting. Front view, as you can see the whole inside has been painted black and the 4 x 80mm stamped fan holes cut out using a bi-metal hole saw which makes a nice clean edge. Also note the mirrored bottom which will help in dissipating the white CCFLs I'm adding later. Pic of the newly modded front bezel leaning against the case, as you can see a carbon fiber pattern decal was added behind the cobra's face. The eyes which originally had yellow and red LED's lighting them up have been moded to be white when on and brighter white when there is harddrive activity. Now that's it for today I'm currently still working on my custom fanspeed contoller and have been taking tons of pictures, but I won't be posting then until I'm done.
I would appreciate any discussion, comments, suggestions, nickpickings, compliments and even bashing of my mod: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=110630 Thanks!
Haha, that actually made the worst looking case in the world, look cool. I'm also going to mod a Cobra, but I not sure yet what to do. I'm planning to maybe bondo the front shut, or make a blowhole. As I said, I'm not sure.
Stay tuned folks... I'm just about completed this project and ALOT has happened since... I will be uploading pics later tonight!!!
dude nearly a year on from revitalising the mod you will once agian open the mod log cant wait to see what you done to it! lol
How you can sey its worst on the world if in not even completed ?? better YOU do something. I will look forward on dis log cuz i like old school modding.
i believe he meant the case looked bad before he started, and looks good now. it really does look pretty cool. i personally like the yellow/black theme, but what you are going with is very cool too. i personally dont care for fake carbon stickers, but to each his own.
Well you'll be happy to know that the carbon fibre stickers are used very sparingly now. I've cut it back alot (even the front facia was remodelled a bit). A good part of the delay had to do with a combination of getting married, moving twice, building my workshop, monetary issues, but alot of it had to do with not settling on certain key points. I'm a total perfectionist, i've had to settle on a few things on this mod and it was because of parts limitations and even some time and tool limitations. I am moving again (to my first new house!!) and so that's why I've been kinda trying to wrap some projects up (including this one).. Here is what is complete: The fan speed controller is totally done..(just wait and see...tehehe) The switchbox is done. The wiring for the fans, and lights are done. The front face is almost done (it's waiting on completion of a few things). The side and top windows are done (they've been tinted!!) I also took out the two 60mm fans on the top.. when testing they were WAY too loud. I've added an 80mm Vantec Stealth instead. And I also took out the 80mm fan on the side... when testing it was no real significant cooling advantage for the noise it generated.. so I axed it. But now there are 4x80mm fans in the front, 2x80mm in the back and 1x80mm on the top. I had issue with the way I had cut out the fans in the back (I cut out a square instead of circle) and I could never get the edges straight (I know... I know..) but I've worked around it and found the perfect grill for it and it made it look 100% better. Well I'll post picture later tonight.. I've already said too much!
Ok guys as promised my latest update. We'll start with the fan speed controller as it was a tough one to complete but here it is. This is the board and it's constructed with perf board and uses the lm317t voltage regulators. I would have gone PWM but for the time and cost I stuck with the basics. However I did build it with being able to add PWM to it later is I wanted... as everything from the indicator LED's, the pots and the output jacks use jumper pins to connect to the board. Here is the underside, it shows you the traces I made and such. I tried to make it as clean as possible. Here it is in the housing before I put everything in it.. This is me testing the board and ensuring the proper voltage and that the LED's are working, you'll notice now how I connected the LED's and the POTS, using salvaged motherboard connector wires... Here's a better look: I decided now to cut the holes for the connectors on the back. I covered in masking tape and traced the outline of the female molex connectors. Notice the one on the far right will be the input and the group of four on the left are the output. I start making the holes by drilling smaller holes in the cut outs. Once I get enough room to fit a file in I slowly file it into shape and constantly checking it's fit with the connector. and the final fit with the connectors in place. Here I plot out the pots and LED's and connectors.. Note that the face plate you see there was changed... I ended up using something way simpler and cleaner looking.
OK here are the most recent pics taken maybe a few moments ago: Here's the front face, carbon fiber front just didn't sit well so I painted the yellow face black however the eyes do light up in carbon fiber pattern... subtle yet I like it. The backside, as I mentioned I didn't like the way I had cut out the holes for these fans as square but these grills made it look perfect. Here it is with the sides on, notice the carbon fiber tinting, just dark enough yet when the 3 white CCFL tube light up you can see clear through them: A better shot of the top side with the newly added 80mm fan on the top (instead of the two 60mm I had before). Here's with the front door open revealing the fan speed controller and switch box, I replaced the plastic latch for a magnetized door catch and instead of fiddling around and busting my head over trying to make a low profile fan speed controller I open to simply cut part of the door away to make room for the knobs. I still have to make a clean perforated aluminum plate for behind that hole... the open spaces will be filled with a DVD-/+RW and a floppy/usb cardreader. Now for what I'm most proud of... the wiring. You can imagine with 4 fans in the front, two in the back and one on top plus three three CCFL's and not to mention the HD LED, power and reset switch motherboard connectors there's alot of wiring to be had, all wires were sleeve using carbon colored mesh sleeving. Here's a pic of the backside which is just as clean as the inside. I used black split looming which I hot glued in place to route some of the cables. A better look at the split looming: Here's a shot of a bunch of wires neatly tucked away: Shot of the wiring to the switchbox and the fan speed controller, I have everything except one switch filled (not sure what I'm going to do with it yet... I'm sure something will come up.) The far left connector is the one that powers up the whole setup.. I plug my PSU into there. Also above the switch box is an inverter that powers the two top white CCFLs. It's on the switchbox as well. Shot of the inside, you can see the mirrored bottom, the bottom CCFL's inverter, and some of the carbon fiber coating I used on the bottom. Please don't mind the specs... it's really dusty in my workshop and I have yet to polish and clean everthing. Another shot of the wiring.. and now a pic of another piece to this puzzle... I most certainly couldn't have some plain ol' motherboard backplate, so I decided to trace it out and make one out of thin Lexan and I will also tint it in carbon fiber, to match the rest of the case.
this is looking very good. im also loving "mike's bucket of geek stuff"! you seem to have a very organized area for electronics, rather than just a drawer or two of random stuff like i have.
Thanks, yeah the bucket of geek stuff is my wife's doing...LOL If you wanna see more of my actual workshop you can check out: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=96708
The more I look at these pics the more I realise that some of those wires are WAY too long and overall it just looks too messy around where the wires meet up with the switchbox and fan speed controller. I will be fixing that tonight. Stay tuned for more pics... I gotta make this right.
Excellent work you have done here! Now I get why you noticed I still need to work on my blow hole's grill... i will be asking you one (or two or three....) questions about soldering and lightning, when the time comes for me to work on that... How do you get that carbon tint finish on acrylic??
