Case Mod - Complete ⭐ Morphosis - Cooler Master World Series 2019

I finished the feet with a few coats of General FInishes Arm-R-Seal and now they are ready to mount to the bottom of the case:

_9292949 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9292950 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Checking the fitment to make sure the reveals are even:

_9292952 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



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I fastened the case feet with four screws into each one. The feet have chamfers to help connect the lines of the case.



Next, I turned my attention to the power supply shroud. I like the system that the case uses so I'm going to modify that.

_9272921 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I have a bit of veneer aluminum still so I'm going to attach some of that to the shroud and blend it into the rest of the case:

_9272918 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I wanted to make sure I had a nice mitered joint so I used some scrap wood to get the angles right:

_9272922 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



First piece cut, just making sure the fit is right:

_9272924 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I cut the pieces close together to ensure the grain would carry over from one piece to the other:

_9272929 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9272930 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9272931 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I also sanded the edges to give them a brushed look:

_9272926 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



With the panels attached to the shroud, I could mock it up with the Walnut panel I made last time. It has a couple coats of finish but is not entirely done yet:

_9272935 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9272936 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

One of the last tasks before I could finally start putting the case together the final time was making the attachment points for the two window panels. Two of these I have previously made but the other two needed to be done using the existing structure of the case. In each corner is a little corner bracket made of steel but it is too thin to put threads in so I wanted to remake it out of aluminum.



The piece to be made:

_9272938 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I modeled it in Fusion 360 and cut out four of them at the same time:

_9292941 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9292942 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I drilled the screw holes and then made the counter sinks to match the case panels:

_9292960 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9292963 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I threaded the holes and they were good to go:

_9292964 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

You managed to use tape on such a tiny part? Your bit/router setup must manage the heat buildup well... or something.
The case is approaching maximum lovely. To get any more lovely involves going full scratch build.

 

@Cheapskate Ive been using a single flute 3/16 endmill taking between .3 and .4mm per pass with 900 mm/min cut speed... and I used a crapload of glue. The little shavings are pretty warm but the piece itself usually isn’t too bad. Thanks for the compliment, I’d really wanted to do a scratch build (I’m more comfortable with those) but the allure of the 10k top prize for case mods was too hard to pass up.

 

That's 5 times my preferred cut speed. As I suspected, my cheap general-purpose bits are probably to blame. Big shock.
[crapload of glue] : It was the tape stickum that was failing for me. Small parts would move as they were cut. I switched to window glazing caulk on MDF. You have to soak the finished cut in water to break up the mdf it holds so well.

 

I see most people using blue masking tape but I used the regular stuff since it was so much cheaper. It also seems like it’s stickier? The weak link is the connection between the tape and the mdf wasteboard though.

I tried cutting aluminum with some end mills I already had (before getting the single flute) and the results were pretty horrific for me. I also use a single flute with the acrylic.

 

With the corner brackets made, I could drill holes in the windows for the bolts. I taped the acrylic window to the aluminum piece underneath ti ensure the holes would line up:

_9292972 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9292970 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9292982 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I then drilled holes into each support piece and tapped threads into each piece.



The second window is going to be made out of 3/16 inch aluminum. I wanted a brushed finish to match the rest of the case so I needed to use my drumsander again to achieve this.



Before:

_9262915 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After:

_9292940 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



More on this piece later.

 

I was not originally going to use mesh over the fan grills but I decided to try it out and see how it would look:

IMG_6602 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



This is A.C. Ryan silver mesh. It is steel so it was not very easy to cut. I'm glad I tried this though because I think it turned out great. It really makes the grill design pop:

IMG_6603 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



IMG_6606 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I put it over the top grill too:

IMG_6608 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I also installed the LED strip into the top, making it ready to be put into the case:

IMG_6610 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

IMG_6611 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A020021 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Next, I wanted to make covers for the holes around the motherboard to help with cable management. I had some veneered aluminum still so I cut some of that to make a board around the motherboard. I can then mill these pieces to fit the cable design later:



I started with the mitered corner:

IMG_6596 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



And I cut the rest to fit from there:

IMG_6598 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9300004 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



They are in sections so I can mill some of them without having to take it all apart. They screw into the motherboard tray and cover holes behind them which will also be used for cable management.



I made one for the CPU power hole too:

IMG_6601 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The power supply mount is also getting an upgrade. I'm doubling up the support bracket so I can mount a cover on top of that:

IMG_6600 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The cover piece will look something like this and get bolted on:

IMG_6597 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_9300013 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I wanted to finish of the cover pieces to match the rest of the case so I brushed the edges of the aluminum and gave them a chamfer:

_A030057 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A030047 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

I think the best part is knowing you won't defile it with a dozen logos for the finale. I can enjoy the aesthetics without fear of it turning into a race car.

 

I appreciate that. I actually kind of forgot to put one in... I was going to do a Cooler Master logo somewhere (that I could take off after photos) but in the craziness of trying to finish, i forgot about it. Hopefully that doesn't hurt me too much.

 

The days when 'good' would win you contests are over. Large foreign modding groups and facebook campaigns get the wins a lot now.

 

Perfect combination between wood and steel, (I love that combo personally), great modding skills too, a pleasure to follow your thread...and...certainly one of the most beautiful case mod I saw this year

 

I think that turned me off from modding for a while. Even though I had a decent shop, its hard to compete with people with money, CNC machines and lots of sponsorships. Makes me wonder how my previous cases would do in the current contests.

Thank you! I appreciate the compliments.

 

Time for more watercooling plumbing. I installed the processor and waterblock and started connecting the dots from there:

_A040059 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



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Everything is mocked up at this point but not connected:

_A050091 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After everything was finally connected, I got ready for leak testing:

_A050115 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A060120 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After a few issues were resolved, I had the loop filled and running properly:

_A060121 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Its finally coming together:

_A060130 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

Back to the Power supply mounting and cover. I had the power supply mounted so I could make the cover plate for the mount:

_A050087 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A050078 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



I drilled out space for the bolt heads below to fit into:

_A050079 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Much cleaner than before:

_A050081 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A050091 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The sharp corner on the GPU mount was bugging me so I decided to chamfer it:

Before:

_A050093 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



After:

_A050096 by greensabbath911, on Flickr





Next, I wanted to machine the name of the case mod into the GPU bracket piece. I used a thin piece of walnut and make a file to V carve:

_A050069 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A050071 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Cut to fit:

_A050075 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A050076 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



With some finish on it:

_A060122 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

With the watercooling loop done and most of the machining settled I turned my attention to the cabling and cable management. My plan was to individually sleeve each cable with custom sleeving. I can see why after doing this, that most people buy them because it took forever but it was a rewarding experience in the end.



First I made pinouts of all the cables:

_A060134 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Heres the sleeving I'll be using. Silver and Black Teleios sleeving from Mainframe Customs:

_A060136 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Pins and tools:

_A060135 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The plan is to melt the sleeving using the heatshrink. Clear heatshrink enables me to see how melted it is:

_A060141 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A060138 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The cpu power cable is all done:

_A060143 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Working on the 14 pin cables for the GPU. This is where the pinout becomes super important.

_A060147 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Half ish done:

_A060152 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Somehow I had screwed up my pinouts so I had my smarter than I wife redo them for me:

_A060156 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The pretty side of the cable is all done:

_A060155 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Trying to tame this rats nest of cables:

_A060159 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



GPU cables installed, Its looking pretty clean:

_A060162 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A060163 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The back however needs some more work:

_A070170 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



Next came the 24 pin cable which was more like 27 pins counting all the double connections. This took an extra level of patience to complete.

_A070165 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



About 3 hours later, its all done:

_A070172 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The last thing to machine were the covers for the wires on the motherboard tray to help keep everything organized. This took only a few minutes on the CNC to complete:

_A080181 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



_A080182 by greensabbath911, on Flickr



The case is built and ready for final photos:

_A080178 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

_A080175 by greensabbath911, on Flickr

 

STILL lovely. I know- I keep saying it.

 

Wow !!
Aluminium and Wood mixed in a perfect way + a clean loop

 

Damn, beautiful combination of wood and metal! Love all of it!

 

show your job man