hey guys, this will be my first bit-tech experience. ill be getting a new pc for christmas, and its only fitting to post the worklog after months of reading. i have a project going right now, so progress should go slow for the first few week or so. i am in the final stages of project wetbox. its an xbox mod, you can check it out if you want. criticism is welcome. project wetbox! this should be my first pc mod that gets completed. i have started others, and i know im not the only one to have lost interest in a project and never finish. specs: motherboard-dfi lanparty ut nf4 processor-amd athalon 64 3700+ memory-corsair xms 2x512 video card-evga 7800gt hdd-western digital raptor 36.5gig hdd-western digital caviar 80gig dvd drive-Pioneer 110D monitor-SAMSUNG 740N keyboard-Saitek PZ30AU Black mouse-logitech mx510 psu-antec trupower water: rads-2 x black ice pro processor-tdx waterblock gpu-acetel maze 4 pump-mcp 350 give me some suggestions on the specs. im thinking about upgrading the ram. ill be pretty new to the overclocking thing, but im definately going to give it a try. these are some really crappy pictures of the case. ive already started a few things, but the camera is at the office. ill definately get some better pics up of the progress later this week. if there was any confusion; yes, im going to be utalizing patina, or atleast trying to, for a rusted factory look. thats not to say, i dont have any of my own ideas. i think i have some original ideas to hopefully set mine apart. thanks for reading my ramble. -swan-
this is a little update of the progress i made last night. i might get some more posted later, but it all just depends. all these pics are a little blury. i just snaped some quick shots off. ill definately be spending more time with a tripod in the future. this is an intake for rad # 1. the idea is to make this look like a drain pipe with some slime type stuff running out of the pipe. not sure how im gonna make that yet, but ill get back to ya. this is the reason why im might not get anything else done today. my workshop is disgusting, and i dont know if i want to clean it or not tonight. ok on the left we have a piece long piece of 1 1/4" pvc. this will be used for the res, and mounted externally. on the right we have an elbow, with its attached hose barb. i dont have a 9/16" drill bit so i tapped this piece of plastic to see if i could make it happen with a 1/2" bit, a file, and some lube. it worked. finally, angel fire over at twistedforums hooked me up with some info on serial lcds, so i was able to finially decide what was going to happen to those lame 3 1/2 bays. this is my crappy photo editing at its best. if any work gets dont today, you will be able to see almost completely the design for the front.
possible bay stealthing idea i had an idea for hiding the drive, and fan controller. im not too pleased with it after ive almost finished, but ill have to get closer to completion to decide. if i dont like the look of the plex im going to use some diamond plate, and see if i cant get the look im going for. first i took some plex, clamped it down, and bent it over the shape of the front panel. \/ next i traced the hole for the bays on the back of the plex, cut it to shape, and beveled to edges to sit flush. \/ finally im going to add some hinges, a door handle, and probably a small locking mechanism. dont worry, the plex will be sanded and patinad to look like the rest of the case. you can also expect some accent hex head machine screws to add to the look around the perimeter of the door. \/ might have more up tomorrow comments and criticisms are welcome here!!!
well here she is. hopefully ill be ordering the hardware soon, it will be the first fully custom pc i have invested in.
go to www.dfi-street.com and make a post showing what you plan to build, will help your build with the NF4.
i likey... looks like this is off to a great start. seems you had a lot planned and executed them well! rock on. i see several modding techniques i have seen before! great followthrough. i am thinking of making a blowhole computer next time. good modding. keep it up and keep posting!
thanks alot man. right now i have quite a few mods under my belt, but im still trying to perfect my own style. there are so many really prominent modders doing such great work, i just cant seem to get around putting my spin on some of their awsome techniques. ive never actually had a set of plans before starting a mod (id say prolly 90% is by the seat of my pants) until now, and it has really paid off. im probably only about 15% finished, but its moving really fast. as for the blowhole, it was probably the most simple mod that ive done so far, and seeing your work, i know that will do a very good job with that technique. i didnt add the bevel to the pipe, but again i didnt need to do that for the look i was going for. i also ordered the system last night, and i decided not to go with the dfi board. i was a little bit weary of starting off with such an advanced bios. i decided to go with an msi, have you had any problems with your motherboard hal?
ive gotten wetbox set up to be painted a dodge viper color tomorrow, and until its painted i pretty much have nothing to do. for now, ive been working on the pc because im definately ready for an upgrade. i pretty much started testing my rusting agent on the top of the case. i think its turning out really nice. i think its a little bit more of a believeable rust then the more orange colors you usually see this stuff make. you can also see the handle in the picture. ive been having problems with it. first i just painted and then added the oxidizer the next day. turns out the zink coating on the handle itself stoped the whole process from working. at this point i tried to grind the coating off, and started over. its working a little bit. tomorrow we will see how it looks after two coats of the oxidizer. a picture with it next to the very bright silver chassi. looks pretty nice i think. this is an obscure view of the hdd cage. you can see that this along with this L shaped support bracket made it impossible to fit rad #1 in without its temporary removal. mainly today i worked on mounting rad one of the two single 120mm rad setup. this is where it will go. first situation i ran into was the mounting hardware for the rad/fan. i soon noticed that the fan screws were self tapping, so i drilled out the rad holes and made some threads. problem one solved. shot of the fan placement. tight squeeze hugh? problem nuber two was the front plastic portion of the case not giving the fan enough clearence. you can see from upper right hand corner how much material i had to remove. its stretched from that corner to the other corner. a pic with the front mounted. thats all i got complete for today. as always, comments and criticisms are welcome here!!! this is my first pc mod that im really putting into the community, so tell me what you thing.
it wont be long until this project will get my full attention, so look for this to be updated on a regular basis. the system specs have changed, and ill post the new ones in the next update. hope you guys enjoy.
thanks alot. also the fan was just mounted in a rush. i really havnt gotten to the final construction, so the fan will blow through in the end. also, and you can expect the rads and chassi to be painted to work with the theme.
i only had a little time to make sure everything was going to fit. its a relatively small case, so things are a little cramped. i made my final decisions on rad number 2 placement. this looks quite original huh? anyways, its the first time ive actually gotten the parts out for a test fit, and it made me more antsy then ever. tomorrow i should have more pics up. i also have to go to a pc repair store tomorrow, and hopefully get some standoffs. im in desperate need right now. a bit out of focus, but you get the idea. like i said everything will be snug, but i think its going to turn out great in the end. on another note, i also got the handle to rust properly. hopefully homedepot will have another of the size handle that i need when i go back. until next time.
one wee update. i should be able to get a much bigger update tomorrow. im going to try and run some errunds tomorrow.
so i have a pretty large update here, but it still wasnt all that i wanted to get done. here are some picas, and hopefully you will enjoy them. i started off the day with a base coat of flat black on the hdd cage. i was just testing my color scheme for the chassi to see how it might turn out. pretty smooth for a rustin warehouse huh? second, i marked some holes for the plumbing to be run. i just bought this compas, and it worked really well. i wouldnt have drawn the circles at all, but i dont actually have a 1" drill bit. i ended up using the tilted dremel approach, and it did a nice job. unfortunately the in progress pic was more out of focus then this making it unusable. an pic of it mounted. its only being held in by one screw, but you get the idea. i used rubber grommets to tidy up the dremeling. hooray, the second stage of the hdd cage finished drying. i know your not supposed to rush a paintjob, but i felt the nastier it looked the better it would fit the theme. goes pretty well, but its just not dirty enough. yesterday, my major reason for running errunds was to get some of this stuff. its expanded aluminum. i really dont like the look of it in not rusty pcs, but it fits this project perfectly. i cut a piece and fitted it in for a test. i know there are shiny things, but they are dwendeling. i decided that this mod needed a blowhole. i kinda jacked the mounting ring from my other projec, wetbox, but it went with this so well. wetbox rustbox. i really like the plex ring under the the diamond ring, but for tonight i decided to scrap the idea. i might add one later. here is another shot with the illuminated plex ring. see, pretty nice oooh ahhh factor, but it was just a little more trouble then i wanted to get into tonight. this is the mounting scheme for under the top. its actually made things a little more sturdy. after a long days work why not put some iron surfacer on some stuff. sounds like a blast . remember how that hdd cage kinda stuck out like s soar thumb? will i lightly coated it with the iron paint, and when it gets some oxidizer it should fit right in. im going to try and incorporate this sign into the project in a couple different places. ive already got them planned for the most part, but i think they will really go well with the theme. tell me what you guys are thinkin so far. a parting gift. i dont know if you guys play halo 2, but im an addict. ive put together a few clips that ive captured. the editing is terrible. im not even close to being finished, but im fairly proud of it. check it out and tell me what you think if you are interested. please leave me some feedback. i really want to know how you guys think the project is coming, and maybe some ways that it could be better. discussion
wow, i feel like a complete idiot. i accidently started a new thread instead of replying to my old one. i sent the mod a pm to delete if, so hopefully it will be gone by the time you read this. anyways, ive got some more things in store, its just a matter of time. tell me what you guys think so far.
Looks nice this far! Can't wait to see how it turns out... It's different from the mainstream in a refreshing way. It has chance to really look like heavy machinery if you can keep the style.
thanks man, thats definately the look im going for. in the past ive tried to get ahead of myself, and ended up making the mods just have too much. im trying to keep everything as technical as i can, while still mainting that simple elegant look. we'll see how things unfold, but i have a feeling its going to be good.
so i had a really awsome on how to cover the drives. i got the idea to build kinda like a wall mounted control box. i think all in all it was a good idea, but it just didnt work the way i wanted. started by making a frame for it out of plex i spent most of my time getting this perfect so that everything would look professional. sketch out my little design that im trying to integrate into the project, and drill some holes. take it to the scroll saw, and see what i can do. i think it turned out fairly well. doesnt have to be super good, after all, its rusty. from the front. ghetto bending mechanism just looks like garbage to me. its just really out of place. i still plan on using the symbol with some flourescent plex behind it. hinges i will be using in my new/old plan. this is the new plan except it will be made of diamond plate. just matches better. anyways, maybe ill get more done tomorrow. kinda disapointed, but you cant win em all i guess. comments and criticisms are appreciated!
it was a pretty disapointing day for modding today, but it wasnt a total loss. hopefully next tim i work ill be able to get something done.
