G-gnome's Orac³ - Part 1

I actually think what you are doing with your fan-in-res in your project is pretty cool EnderG60 - you shouldn't put yourself down bud.

Mod-on I say!

 

<-- Dremel dude gives you props. You seriously have awesome talent. And I congratulate you on your hearty research, it's nice to know that six months worth of browsing can pay off so well.

 

Candy Pics...



Power on and the divider lights up perfectly!


The light is even all around and looks even better in reality.



Here it is so far – basically a PSU, water reservoirs and a start on the front panel switches. Since I plan on going to the same effort on all the other components and following the same themes I think it will look pretty reasonable once finished.


View from the top.

 

That's more than candy shots; they're like finely crafted hand-made belgian chocolates shots.

 

...more Candy Pics...

Most pics are 400x300 but I normally post nice 600x450 pics when things are completed (or nearly so).



The pass-thru of all the PSU wires to the attached junction box.



Detail of the fasteners securing the top plate of the case – 6mm cap screws, dome nuts and washers, all stainless steel.



Top of the case. The white LED in the front will be spotlighting the name of the case at the top of the front bezel.



Reservoirs with the hoses snaking past them.

 

LOL

 

Okay, PSU complete but for 'some' wiring (like a squillion jack-plugs!) and trimming a couple of bolts (like 2 bolts!)

Time to move on:

Front Panel switches …

The front bezel of the case will be modded to bring it in to line with the themes of the case including:

• New switches
• LED holders
• Switch panel
• Drive covers
• Custom made fan guard (by me)
• Fan controller and VFD cover (combined)
• New stainless steel fittings
• Diffused LEDs that light up the switch cover and other parts similar to the PSU mod

Better make a start then:



The new front bezel for my case switches. Note the corners – I changed my mind about these and rounded them off even more (you can see I have marked them up already). The square and two triangles mark the existing holes in the case bezel. I ignored these holes entirely and just drilled like they weren’t there – although where I actually drilled my holes in the first place was affected by these original holes (e.g. the LED holders needed to be located away from these original holes so they would have something to actually attach to!).



For various reasons the smaller bolts I used on the front panel cover were only there to hold the cover on, and not the bezel to the case. Not having a tap and die to tap the holes I had drilled I simply chamfered the rear of the holes with a much larger plexi drill so the small nut I used would sit flush and not interfere when attaching the removable front to the case.



Checking … needed a little more drilling before it sat flush.



Yep, sits on there nicely now. The clear thumbscrews were the ones that came with the case. Hole positions are marked – It took a few tries before I settled on the final positions due to the pre-existing holes in the bezel and other factors like the position of the radiator adjacent to the LEDs etc.

Right after this shot was taken, I then went on to drill 12 pilot holes through all 3 layers of the front switch panel. This was to ensure all the differing sized holes in each layer lined up properly.

 

What VFD will you be using? It would be great if you could get one to match the yellow/green of the flourescent plexi

 

Front Switch Panel Cont. ...



I drilled 19mm holes for the Vandal switches (they will be attached to the removable front bezel shown here) and 11mm holes (plexi-drill) for the heads of the LED holders to fit into (the LED holders will be attached to the actual case itself and remain in place whenever the front bezel is removed).



Vandal switch holes and LED holder holes in the removable front bezel.



I then drilled the case itself. I drilled 8mm holes (plexi drill) for the LED holders as they will attach to this part of the case. For the larger holes which were designed to be clear of the rear of the vandal switches I used a holesaw. I stuffed up and just couldn’t get them straight (they were a few mm out from each other – quite noticeable in reality though in the picture not so much – who says the camera never lies …). Also the nuts backing the Vandal switches on the removable bezel wouldn’t fit properly as a result. My solution …



Using a holesaw on my cordless drill I enlarged the holes at each end then used a hacksaw and dremel to do the ‘straight’ sides – later filed/sanded/polished until they actually were straight. I ended up with lots of clearance for the vandal switch nuts and nice straight lines. The holes for the LEDs lined up exactly in all 3 layers so I had no problems there.



The Neon Green acrylic switch cover had 5mm led holes drilled (5mm so the end of the 5mm LEDs can insert partial-way into the cover. The large holes are 22mm and are the same size as the bezel on the switches so they fit snugly. Power, Reset and four PC Rider+ switches. The bolts are just there to keep everything lined up and will be dremelled to length later.

You can just make out the ‘C3’ on the front. I toyed with the idea of covering this up (and even prototyped a stainless steel cover, then a white acrylic cover) but the transparency of this part of the case looked the best. It is barely noticeable but provides a link to the cases origins which I like.

When the LEDs light up the whole cover will light up just like the panel on the top of the PSU. (glowing panels being a fairly strong theme in this system).



The ubiquitous Vandal switch from RS components – a modding classic!



Rear of the front panel switches. I have made an ‘L-shaped’ cover in neon acrylic that will sit under the LED holders and behind the switches. You’ll see this cover and a lot more in future updates!

 

Great minds think alike!

It's already been taken care of...

(I am half-way thru building the VFD housing and that will likely be the next completed item to be posted (once I tidy up the front switches and PSU)).

 

PART 1 Completed!

That concludes my project (back)log to date, it's been a rather long day! Phew!

Like I wrote at the beginning, there is so much here because I wanted to wait until I had something decent to show before posting (then never had the time to write).

Hopefully I will regularly post updates like a normal person from now on.

If you have read all the way to this point - a big thanks! I’ll do my best to keep things interesting in future posts.

Cheers



...Think I'll go get some sleep (3.30am here)...

Thanks again for all the FANTASTIC comments!

 

Oh. My. God.

Sorry couldn't resist

 

Read every single word in this thread, and it just gets better and better and better and better

Can't wait to see the next installment

Darkside.

 

Planning ahead is always the best route when modding, but holy ****ing **** man, even you take it to the extreme,

 

lol exactly the same ere keep it up.. ull enjoy it in teh end, hmmm as will everyone else

 

.............Umm, uhhh, umm, i am speachless, utterly, utterly speachless............



-cLoWn

 

HECK! I am jealous!

This is truley a masterful project.
Everything looks perfect.
You have obviously put a lot of money and work into this already.
But it all looks great. It sort of reminds me of the terminator.
You have given me tons of new ideas for future projects.

A whole new level for acrylic cases!





(and tagged with 5 stars)

 

Now it's time for Zap to borrow ideas from everyone else...the tables have turned now

 

Just joined the forum and finished reading your whole log...
My god that is some astounding work A true inspiration in the possibilities of modding. Bravo

 

er, um, ah, yeah er, jesus man!

Two words: 1 - crazy! 2 - awesome!

Man, that's insane! I know some people who would say you've too much time on your hands and you should get out more, etc, etc. But man, that is just amazing. You've really turned case-modding into an art-form with what you are doing.

Your attention to detail astounds me - keep up this fantastic work, I can't wait to see more instalments.

I've not really done any major modding yet - got two mildly altered boxes but just ordered some new kit to embark on a serious project. You've inspired me to really have a go at doing something a bit special with it - thanks. ;o)