i found this little gem in the recycling trailer. so i liked what i saw a decided to "improve" on it a bit. and since i had a few new tools to play with, i gave it a whirl! now here is where it will get tricky... since the side panels are plastic with metal backs, i will have to cut both of them for a window. i need the metal back so that the side can still fit and lock into the chassis. after i cut the window out, i will then have to find a way to fix the plastic back onto the metal since i would have cut out all the screw holes and hooks! oh well! weird front top to hold the primary cdrom. but i think i will keep it. a little bondo to over up the floppy... and bam! looks good. now onto planning and cutting things up! i was so inpressed with Defyant's large blowholes, i decided to follow his lead! cheers to you Dad! then i got a fun scroll saw and decided to try my hand in a little scroll cutting for some wicked desgins... just some freehand stuff.
opps! i did not see this... nothing a little superglue and bondo wont fix! mounted: now the cut-outs:
now the chassis needed to be cut out so that the blowholes could actually do something! tell you what, they dont make chassis like they use too! this ******** was thick metal! i went through two jigsaw blades with this! wow! not to worry, i will clean up the cuts, i just have not gotten to that. the front, as you can see, will be 2 120mm fans for a water cooling setup. (my first one!) here are the two panels that have to be cut together:
nope, i just found it in a recycling trailer. i think it was a P2 in it. i think i tossed it. i am not sure, i will have to look in my junk bin
Such a pure case... what a pity to sacrifice it Seriously, there's so much to do with that sort of case... The older the better... I have one thing to say : go go go!!!
I've been working on one of those cases for almost three years. Despite that, I still haven't gotten it to a point that I am comfortable sharing with the public. I've worked with alot of cases before and this is one of my favorites. There's an incredable amount of freedom as far as what you can do with the case. The steel is pretty thick compared to many cases and the plastic is thick enough to takes some abuse. A few pointers you might find useful. If you lay it out right, there's room for a normal power supply in the back and another 80mm fan just above the first one. Be careful with the front panal after some serious cutting like you've already done. It gets pretty fragile. I'm sure you noticed the case is a normal ATX, so's the power supply. Handy if down the road you need a smaller PSU solution. The LED's in the little plastic holder aren't really held in by anything. You can slide the LED's out and replace them with new ones with hardly any effort. You mentioned bondo-ing the floppy drive access. I've done this. Take your time to match the curve of that plastic piece, it makes a hell of a difference when painting. When I did my window (a smaller one to retain the origonal mounts), I managed to fit the lexan sheet I used in between the plastic bezel and the metal panal. It made the whole deal look alot cleaner. Lastly, if you remove the plastic bezel of your optical drive, the trey piece should clip on just fine. The only problem might be aligning the button. I've got a question for you. By cutting the window that large, you lose all the origonal mounting points for the side panal. How are you planning to reattach the plastic bezel to its steel counter part? Can't wait to see how this mod comes out.
pentium 2? wow. you really want to mod it? that's fun dude! more pics! more pics!LOL! what if you get some idea on the movie IROBOT?
Looks cool so far, Fair warning tho, I was going to mod one of those gateway towers my self, god knowing i have 12 of those things... A PSU won't fit in the back without having to knockout practily the back side of the case... So you come accross something i don't know, please let me know!
your saw is simply unfair I have to cut only with jigsaw which drops its blade frequently Looking nice, will you have any original material left when finished
OMG OMG OMG OMG i want to give you a BIG hug HAL.That case was my first pc..well not actually that one but exactly the same.It was me first pc when back in the Pentium1 series was out.Its an awesome case stock...but yes i did kno that rather thick steel on the inside of the pannels and alo is a bloddy heavy thing. but u gotta admit even for a old case it looks swish dont it? i loved that case..but compared to todays standards i would suck...i hope u make a great mod out of this one. ive gotten all teary eyed
i did not say that i was going to use the p2 if that is what you were asking. i am just using the case to build. >LockmanX thanks for all the help. i did notice that the front would get kind of flexible with all that cutting, but with my plans i dont think it will matter. when i cut that big of a window i did loose all the mounting holes, however, with the amount of plastic and metal i have left, i plan on affixing the plastic to the plexi window and then that into the metal. just have to have a few spacers here and there and a few hex bolts and everything will work out just fine. this way the whole side panel with the window will become one piece. just like you said, and sandwich the plexi between the metal and plastic. i have the colors that i want to use in mind also, but that is a secret. there will be a buch of mesh in this mod too! >G4m3R_X3r0 really? a regular PSU wont fit? why is that? if the hole is too small, you would just have to cut a little bigger and re-drill some different mounting holes. i will test it when i get home to find out. thanks for the heads up though!
The entire PSU is the width of the case, and the holes don't fit, so yeah if you can come up with something for changing that up, you will be awesome!
Hehe, I have almost that exact computer. 'cept mine's a PII-233 sporting a Voodoo3 PCI It's affectionately named "Dumb sh!t" Looking good so far!
Small text update ok, i have decided that i will be using both types of mesh, however, they honeycomb mesh will be incorporated into the front bezel as one piece. bondo will be used to do this. like a smooth integral part of the bezel ah la PUG. after that, it will be painted and same color as the bezel and hopefully will be right at home there! the other mesh that i will use will be painted the accent color. i found that the PSU will fit and it will be just fine. however the backplate/mobo tray piece is too small for modern mobos, so i will have to drill out the old one and make the space larger and take a newer tray and "make it fit!" pics tonight!
liking the look of this one as I've just gutted my trusty P2 a couple of weeks back and looking at doing a water cooling set up for the first time as well. Where you are putting your 2 x 120 fans and rad is almost exactly the same place I would be in my (my case isnt a gateway btw) for me to put the rad in I have to get rid of the HD caddies though but pfft just stick them in a spare CD bay at the top I'll start a worklog at some point but I'm not in a rush to build it as I already have my P4 working sweet for the last 2yrs now, another first modded and built by me too
