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Project: A Cramped LanBoy; Minor Update Jan 31st 2007

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Stuey, 7 Apr 2006.

  1. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Alright, so I thought I could make my own "mesh" using fishing wire. It took me about two and a half hours before I came up with the perfect jig - threaded rod. I now just have to figure out how to mount it in the small gap between the PSU and top of the case. I *could* still get some mesh-like material from the art supply store, but I'd still like to give this a shot.

    Now, however, I'm concerned that there will be dust accumulation in the PSU. However, since dust tends to settle, I'll just have to hope that there isn't too much in the air that wants to be sucked into the PSU.

    Another option I'm considering to counter-act the risk of metallic debris falling into the PSU while attempting to limiting the dust accumulation, is to create a small plastic duct which is tilted at a downward angle so it's not just a dust/debris funnel.

    EDIT: GRR, I picked up something at the art supply today that is effective as what I was working on, for less than $1.00. So much for wasted time.
     
    Last edited: 19 May 2006
  2. LoneArchon

    LoneArchon What's a Dremel?

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    nice work i know how cramp that case is i put a watercooling system in it for a while but it restriced the airflow to much so the rest of the case heated up also i put the radaitor on the inside which was a bad plan for lack of space good work so far
     
  3. xrain

    xrain Minimodder

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    My suggestion for the rad is too first strip off all the paint, then Try useing primer on the rad before you paint it, and the paint wont flake off like that. But other than that looks awsome keep it up :rock:.
     
  4. zhangmaster12

    zhangmaster12 What's a Dremel?

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    pretty nice, though i was just thinking, wouldn't water cooling make the case heavy, offsetting, the whole point of the super lanboy.
     
  5. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Well, it's pretty heavy as is, and I don't take it to LANs. I transport it around 3-4 times a year and water cooling won't make it too much heavier.

    There haven't been updates for a bit b/c I'm preparing to move yet again as I'm trasnferring to a diff. graduate program.

    But you are right, if the rig was intended for LAN partying, water cooling might make it a bit more unmanageable.

    As it is now, the top panel needs a recoat or it needs to be completely redone. The side panels still need a clear coat too, but I'm waiting until the system is transported in case the paint is further blemished.
     
  6. zhangmaster12

    zhangmaster12 What's a Dremel?

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    lol

    still, nice work


    my rig: Water cooled pentium 3.0 ghz, 1 gig ram, intel 915 mobo WHICH I HATE MUCHLY BEACAUSE I CAN"T OVERCLOCK, and acrylic case, 2 80 gig hdds
     
  7. yahooadam

    yahooadam <span style="color:#f00;font-weight:bold">Ultra cs

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    interesting idea, pretty good work on the spray painting too, i think you have potential dude :) looking forward to see it
     
  8. Henk

    Henk Uninformed Opinionist

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    My first post here on bit-tech :)

    Im wondering what you think about converting this case into BTX? (more commonly known as ATX-flipover)
    I have this case myself and seeing this log got me thinking about it, it should be rather easy... just drill out the rivets of the mb plate and the back of the case and flip those around, drill some new holes if needed and then screw everything back together again.
     
  9. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    First of all, welcome to bit-tech!

    As for flipping the mobo plate and doing a pseudo-BTX conversion, there are too many issues. The video card and its cooler would hit the PSU or be uncomfortably close, and there would be wirescables stretched throughout the case, not to mention where would the ports be? If you meant flip it so that the mobo was on the left side of the case and opened from the right, there would still be the issue of the video card being seated too close to the PSU.

    As it is, it's a fairly open case albeit a bit cramped, but as long as airflow is planned out well, a BTX form factor isn't really necessary. As far as I know, BTX was conceived to challenge increased thermal buildup, but the new socket diminished the anticipated need. I have a socket 478 Northwood as opposed to a Prescott, so for the time being my Zalman cooler is sufficient, and the water loop will soon be implemented.

    I might have misunderstood how you intend for the mobo plate to be rotated/flipped, but it seems a bit too challenging for minimal improvements. The case was designed to be somewhat portable, and as such there's very little room for major modifications or changes.

    I like the way you think, though.
     
  10. Henk

    Henk Uninformed Opinionist

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    I think a little bit of ms paint is needed here.
    [​IMG]
    This is just a very quick basic draw to show what I mean. Just a simple flipover of the back panel and the motherboard plate, the rest of the case stays intact. Lian li v-1000 style :)

    Maybe I should have fomulated my previous post a bit different :blush:
     
    Last edited: 17 Jul 2006
  11. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Hmm... I actually don't see why that wouldn't work. I wish I had thought of that weeks ago before I cut through the top panel. It could be feasilble on a brand new case though.

    I'm going to have to think about this for a little bit. I probably won't be able to implement this, but it's nevertheless a decent concept.
     
  12. Henk

    Henk Uninformed Opinionist

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    Well next week im going to rip everything out of the case for my quarterly dustcleaning, and at the same time im going to check if its possible to do the flipover as well. I'll drop a line here if i manage to do it.
     
  13. sheepdog

    sheepdog What's a Dremel?

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    An idea for your psu perhaps...

    Cut a square hole in the top of your PSU large enough that the fan can go inside it. JB Weld 4 long screws (long enough to go through the fan itself plus filter, grill etc...) to the top of the case, lined up with the hole. Once dry attach the fan to said screws. It will no longer be offset or show a double layer. You could even use a 120mm fan at that point. The JB welded screws will allow you to mount it without any screws showing on the outside.


    Another thing, which may be a problem... I assume the front blow hole will be an exhaust (heat rises), the psu fan is meant to blow inward. So you may be sucking some hot case air back in through the top. Reversing the psu fans, means the rear fan will suck, the top will blow. The problem I see with this is scenario is that any heat exhausted out the back of the system will be rising right into the path of your PSU fan that is sucking air in. One possible fix is to reverse the traditional air flow in the case, sucking in back, blowing out the front. I had to do this on my big box. This actually works quite well as fans in back are typically further off the ground and attract less dust.


    If you do flip the rear plate, an easy fix for the blowholes is you could always slap 2 fans up there, or better yet, dual 120's with a radiator behind them. There are lots of ways they could be used without it looking like a mistake. The difference between a good artist and a bad is the good one can cover his mistakes and make it look like it was done on purpose. No case mod is 100% perfect as planned. Another option is if you have the material, put it back in place and use some JB Weld, and/or Bondo Hair to fill in the gaps and hold it in place. Some smoothing would be necessary, but it could be hidden well and be strong enough to hold up. Could also stick a bay resevoir up there and use that as a fill port and/or sight hole. With most of these you may lose a PCI slot, but for most people that is acceptable.
     
    Last edited: 17 Jul 2006
  14. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    sheepdog, I like your suggestions, but will probably implement them in a different aspect of the mod. Still, I'll give it some thought since I've resumed work on the case a little while ago but there's still plenty of time for changes to be made.

    Both blowholes at the top of the case are intended to be intakes. Only one intake will be routed into the case, since the absence of a CPU fan will inflict heat penalties on several components, specifically the ram.

    I considered that some hot air might flow back into the case, but I have a unique filtering system that I'm trying to create. I'll keep your suggestions in mind though - they got me thinking...
     
  15. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    OK I just had a bit of a flick through, not a proper read through, but from the pics and stuff I've read I'm really, really impressed, keep up the good work it's fantastic.

    Gives me a good idea of what I can and can't do, never liked the idea of painting a case myself, but looking at your work has shown me it can be done.
     
  16. Klekkus

    Klekkus What's a Dremel?

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    Thought about painting the PSU?
     
  17. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Thx for the comments!

    As for painting the PSU, take a closer look at the last pic in post #15. I painted the side of the PSU blue, but the bottom remains the same boring grey as before. There was good reason for this. At the time, I couldn't figure out a way to properly mask the rest of the PSU. There was too much to consider, and I already had my plate full. So I removed and painted the cover and left the rest as is. But... now that the cover is bone dry, I might give painting the entire PSU a shot.

    I now have about a week of free time, so I'm going to do some major work on the insides and hopefully implement the water cooling loop. The lighting situation also leaves something to be desired, so that's been in the works on and off for some time.
     
  18. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    Ok, so it's been a while since I worked on my case. It's been a busy summer and I was lazily content with leaving my system in limbo.

    I'm at a new grad school, but my apartment doesn't have as much room as I'd like, so I can't do much case-work here. I'm about an hour away from my parents' house where I moved back into over the summer. I have gone home every weekend, but not much time was left for my case mod.

    But, my laptop is not sufficient as an everyday machine, so I need my desktop over in my apartment.

    Enough excuses, here's what I got done this weekend. I applied clear coat on my panels. I had to do it outside since my parents are not as carefree about drying paint smells as my old roommates were. I suffered many issues here. Dust and debris loved to drop down onto fresh paint. After a few nuissances, I gave up on my desire for perfection, and decided that I'll make due whatever happens.

    A few coats of clearcoat, and that's that. This is necessary as I discovered that my panels loved attracting dust and dullness.

    Now, I picked up a few red-mesh pencil/pen holders for my case, but have decided that they simply were too tall to implement. So, I picked up a red-mesh paperclip cup. The opening is as wide as the pencil cups - perfect as a PSU fan pseudo-inlet-screen.

    Now, I have some regular mesh, a plastic grid, and some air conditioning filters, but I don't think I'll use it. What I'd like to do is remove the top of the paperclip holder in order to install some UV Red acrylic, but I'm not sure I could get such an interface to look clean-cut. Also, I'm trying to figure out how to attach the paperclip cup to the PSU. Well, my plans are to attach it to the upper panel, but I'd like it to be semewhat removable should I need to clean out the PSU. I'm so far thinking about creating a loop-type hinge on one side, and spring-loaded hooks on 3 other sides. That way, I can add changes in the future. At the very least, I could always drill 4 small holes and hold the cup down with nylon fishing wire, looped through the case.

    I realize this is a lot to read, but I'm pressed for time and can't polish my comments up until my mind is set as to how to progress from here.

    [​IMG]
    The panels went in and out of this box while drying and waiting for further clear coating.

    [​IMG]
    Clear coating outside = disaster. I had to rush things up a bit since I had a date with my fiance.

    [​IMG]
    Here you can see how my system was running for the entire summer. Just kidding! The top panel was slid on for most of the time. Here you can see the mesh cup that I want to incorporate over the PSU fan. I need help deciding how exactly to attach it, and whether I want to expand the hole in the top panel and fit the cup through it, or attach it to the top via glue or a removable mechanism.
     
  19. nismo299

    nismo299 Apply goggles to avoid eye removal

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    hey the pencup was my idea :D
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Stuey

    Stuey You will be defenestrated!

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    LoL. Hmm... how did you attach it? I've had two red pencups in the corner of the room for about size months now before I finally decided they were going to be way too big to stick on top of the case. But still... these things seem so much easier to use than buying and then spray painting mesh.
     

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