Project Take Two -BIG UPDATE-

So... this is my second mod...

Project goals:
- I want to make something awesome out of something everyone else would consider trash.
-I don't want to do it with a lot of money. ($35 limit)
- I want it to look GOOD.

I started with an old case that I had just lying about... I found it in my attic holding a Pentium 1. The case is an AT case, so I'll have to do an AT-ATX conversion. Damn. Anyways... I apologize but I didn't really deicide to do a project log untill after I got some good reviews on a pic of the side window I posted... So here goes.

I'm thinking, I want the look of really old army tank, rusty, paint peeling, falling apart, but still tough. I foud a way to make a layer of paint peel without damaging paint beneath it, so I'm going to have peeling paint all over the case and the side window a huge rusthole... Just like the one in the floor of my first car...

DAY ONE...
Spent $16 on Dremel heads and brushings, so that leaves $19 for the rest of the mod... Spent two hours cutting out a side window. It proved to be a huge challange, the metal on this old beast is really thick and tough to cut, but I finally made the last cut.


The cut looks horrible without paint... So I gave it a good layer of base rust colour.


DAY TWO
Spent $5 on paints.... $14 left, and 2 more hours spent painting. This is the base rust, the paint will be peeling back to reveal that rust... Lookin good!

 

Sweet, the little Mazda hauled home some toys from Lowes. PVC pipes and caps... But why the hell would I cut them in half?



Note the thick line of PVC dust on the back of my desk I cut the caps together too, and they should look like so when I'm finished...








Gross... I need to do a LOT of sanding here. Just a quick update, I need to go fix this...

PVC Pipe: $7. Watertight glue: $3. $4 left!

 

Any comments at all?

 

the paint job looks great, i really like the way you cut the window.
looking forward to seeing more

 

Excellent cut job on the windows, looks like it took hours.

[OT]What happened to the cars side view mirror?[/OT]

 

The window took 2 hours to cut... I got pwned by a mailbox... I swear, it jumped out of the bushes at me.


SECOND LAYER OF PAINT IS DONE!







The rust hole did NOT turn out the way I wanted... The whole thing looks very bland right now, but keep in mind that this is layer 2 of like... 4 more to come. I should be able to fix that up.

Ok, moving on to other things... To the pipes. I got a bunch of 1/4" barbs, and drilled 1/4" holes at the top and bottom of the PVC... Guess yet? H20 tanks! But why just 1/2? Hmmm....



Got interuppted by a visitor... Anyway, shots of the tanks:





And behold... GLORY OF GLORY, a scanner, under the bed! Free cold cathode! My room is a horribly mess... So messy, yes, occasinally I do find a random scanner under my bed.



Opening the scanner...


Cathode...



And inverter.





Ok, that's it for now... The female counterpart is graduating tomarrow and I have some preparations to arrange. Cheers!

 

hahaha...ingenious! I love it!!!!!

An A+ for the cold cathode... By the way, I think that your paint rust job looks pretty damn good, myself! I see what you mean about it not looking quite "natural" though, could use some feathering out, so to speak. THink of it this way, if the oxidation is enough to really eat a hole, it's going to really be chewing more of the other paint away, probably ending in streaks somewhat like a starburst from the center of the hole (only random widths and lots of rounded/rough edges).

 

Finished the next layer of paint!!! It seems 'glossy' in some places, it's still wet, that's all.

 

BAM! SCANNER CCFL!


[Edit]

Now, with the infamous losermeetsworld sharpie the CCFL is a nifty pink... a few more coats and it should be a nice red. Bright sucker, too.

 

ingenious! and shows what you can do with a little money and some innovation, loving it!

c.u.later

 

Not much of an update progress wise... But I got some system specs here.


AMD64 3400+
1gb PC2700
nVidia 6600 128mb
80gb Maxtor
120gb Maxtor
Eheim pump with genaric blocks

 

Whoops, I lied, got a quick update... Before heading out to school I've got a mock up of what I'm doing with the resiviours done up with duct tape... Let me know what you think! Should I move them, leave them, does it look good, ect?

 

total ghetto mod for cheap. but i love it

 

This is pretty entertaining.....

 

FAILURE

So... I glued the resiviors on the tank as shown, but after allowing an hour or two to dry, when you are suppost to leave it for 24, I couldn't want and I just had to test it, and it sprung a leak. Damn it. Well, re-glued it and in a few hours I've got a graduation party to attend, that should keep me under wraps till it dries, for real. It looked AWESOME though, before all the water leaked out.

 

Sweet!


No leaks here! It's kind of hard to tell , but the resiviour is holding water using the plexiglass (which seems oddly super reflective for some reason) and when the loop is in motion you should be able to watch the coolant flowing and sloshing around in there. The crap is condensation left from testing the other resivour... I'm planning to use bright green coolant, not water, so it will look better. Isn't that just spanking? ^.^ I'm giddy about that. I love it... I need to find a way to hide the glue... Any ideas?



Gave the frame a coat of paint, too. The whole thing is starting to come together...



I still haven't started on the front panel, I went to give it a base coat and ran out of grey primer (what I've been using as the base)... Glad I saved $4

 

Test fire w/ jumped psu... Looks good!

 

As budget ($35) mods and case allterations go this is a very impressive and comprahensive mod. And also, the use of tubing and that scanner cathode tube was a great mod for it. And the idea of just using stuff under your bed and having such as small budget and sticking to it, you're a inspiration to us all!

 

So... I'm stuck. I realized that the case's shell, as you can see in the pictures, is a 'sleeve' that fits over the frame, and while I can put it on/take it off, there's no way to hook up the tubing to the tanks... Damn. Time to do some thinking...

 

Ah ha! Found some pics of what this case looked like originally. I think it's quite an amazing change so far. Enjoy!