Case Mod - In Progress Project: Rogue (NZXT Rogue SFF) It lives! Aug 13, '08

Thanks phinix, and everyone else! Yeah, I really don't want to know how much money I've spent either... It's something I love though, and it makes me happy. So why not? Don't just live it, mod it!

 

wow awesome looking, can't wait to see more, very impressive

 

Time for another update! I've made some pretty good progress in the past few days. What have I been doing? Making holes... Big holes, little holes, rectangular holes, and round holes... I'm starting to dislike holes a little. I'd much rather be fabricating, but it all starts with those dang holes.

In my last update you saw the work I did on the DVD drive slots. So, I'm picking up right there. With the slots completed, I needed to make a hole for the eject button. You'll see that I made the hole larger than the button itself, but there's a very good reason for that. I'll go into detail on that a little later, but for now, you can see what I have so far.









Now I need to make the holes in the front of the case for the gauges. This whole process has been a little time consuming to say the least. There are technically 3 layers I need to make holes in. It starts with the door, then the front of the case, then there's another panel behind there yet...

One hole done, another one started.



It's a perfect fit!

 

Well, it's time to get the hole made in the face for the LCD screen. Here I've got it marked out and ready to cut.



After the cutting is finished, a little filing and sanding gets things in to shape...



The LCD drops right in place.



More holes you say? Of course! Here I've marked out the hole for the Matrix Orbital display.



Another cut, file and sand completed.



At last, I move my way to the inner most panel. Here it changes from aluminum to steel. It's thinner though, and the cutting should be easier. Instead of dust, I'm gonna make sparks. In this picture, I've already got the holes for the Dakota Digital gauges made.



Now finally, I do a little work on the Matrix Orbital display housing. Naturally, this thing isn't going to be sitting a bay as it was designed to. That's where a little modification comes in. Here I've got the mount marked, and ready for cutting. The left pencil line is where a bend will be, the right line is where the cut will be.



After it's cut and bent, this is the end result.



More coming soon...

 

Are you using a dremel for all of the cuts? Awesome work!

 

Yeah, I use a Dremel for almost all of my cuts, with the exception of the round holes. I'll use a hole saw for them. I do have a jigsaw I'll occasionally use, but it's rare, and I only use it when I think the Dremel is to hot to continue cutting. I added the tag 'Dremel Killer' under my name, because I tend to be a little hard on them...

 

very nice mod .........

great work put into it , actually it did kind of hurt to see you
cut out the beautiful side panel grills , but the new grills with the red
plexi sandwiched that you added there does make up for "destroying" the original ones.

I love the digital gauges and the Matrix Orbital display.........it will look very good


Alan

 

Yea, it hurt me to cut into those grills as well. At the time I got the case, there were only two in existence. I believe this is even the case they used to take the product photos. So, Johnny was sure to tell me that if I screwed something up, there wouldn't be replacement parts available for a while. That first cut was a little stressful...

 

That's what I call a MOD! Those cuts are pretty pro I say! That project must cost you a lot, but it's worth it. Damn good job, pleasure to watch Craigbru!

 

interesting..... lets see what comes of this, BTW were did you get that pico-itx?

edit: and where do you get those screens?

 

Thanks! I bought the Via system here.

The Matrix Orbital screen was bought directly from Matrix's site. The 10.2" screen was bought from an electronics supplier. They don't sell to the general public though. If you want more details, PM me...

 

I tested the Rogue a while back and noticed that a full ATX board could be easily modified to fit in there... But oh man you're doing it with style! Crazy amount of stuff going in there, can't wait to see how you can make all that stuff fit. Interesting fans there, I've always thought all the 35 mm versions are noisy as hell and mainly ment for some server use where only CFM and reliability matters. Also interesting to see how the peltier performs, haven't seen one of those in action for years! Keep up the good work.

 

thank you, when need arises i will PM you.... but i am mostly sure that it wont do any good.... i am in the middle of the ocean and you are over there in the US were you can get anything from your local store ... again thanks and yes, i will keep an eye on the progress of this mod.

 

Man, I love updates! Updates mean progress is being made. It's a little bittersweet though. I can see the end in sight, yet building is so much fun. I don't want it to end, yet I have other projects (home related) I need to work on.

With my last update, I was still making holes. With this one, I'm still making holes, although they'll be a little smaller in the end. To start here, I needed to finish the hole in the frame for the widescreen LCD. Luckily, there really wasn't that much cutting involved.





Now, here is a shot with the LCD's and gauges sitting in place.



Okay, now that's out of the way. So, what's next? Well, I need a fan controller. Not just any fan controller, I have a Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus.









Okay, that's a fine controller you say, but where the heck am I going to put it? If you've been paying attention, space on the front of the case is at a premium. That doesn't mean I'm out of room though. In fact, far from it. However, it's not exactly a 'drop in' procedure. As with everything else so far, a lot of cutting and modding will make it fit.

Well, let's get on with it! Here you can see where the controller will sit.



That brushed aluminum face sure looks nice, but it's gotta go.



Here I've got the holes for the knobs marked out and ready to drill.



The holes have all been drilled, and the fan controller is test fit in place. Everything seems look good. You can see how the LED's in the fan controller will show though the hole in the case.



To be continued...

 

I'm going to get sidetracked for a quick moment here. While working on the face of the case, I thought I'd take a little time to make the holes for the Bulgin switches that will find a home there.

All marked out...





Here's the secret to getting great large holes. Only a nice step drill bit will do. They're not exactly cheap, but they're worth every penny spent.



Moving back to the fan controller, this picture shows you a little bit of the problem I've got to work out. The inside frame on the case is in the way. Well, not for long... A few holes and filing will take care of the problem!





More coming soon.

 

that's a great spot to put the fan controller! i like how the leds are perfectly aligned with the hole in the front panel now.

 

Thanks! I've been pretty lucky so far. Everything I've wanted to include, has fit. Well, 'fit' is a relative term here. Everything has fit with some modding, but that's different than simply not having enough room at all.

 

Although not directly modding related, my new motherboard has arrived... I'm not sure on the processor yet, but I do have two new sticks of 2x2GB Mushkin DDR2 Redline that I'm going to drop in here.














I can't wait to get this thing up and running. The fact that I've now got almost every component I need, only makes me realize that I'm very close to pulling this whole project together. From here on out, I shouldn't have to spend my time picking out parts, and wondering what I yet need or want. I've got to take what I already have, and a find a home for all of it. Only a little over a month to go!

 

I thought that this was an mATX case?

 

It is... That's why I had to mod in a new i/o panel on the rear of the case.