Project: Heavy metal (IE minimal plastic not an AC/DC tribute) FEB 15th

Hey everyone, I've been posting on "the best case sceanrio" but have been lurking here too and decided to throw my project into the mix.
This is my first post and incidentally my first time modding anything on a computer .
I got bored with my stock Dell XPS 600 so I made the decison to face lift it. My project being called heavy metal refers to idea of making as much of the plastic into metal as possible.

stock


Top


Side


front open


Inside

 

well time to get crackin on it. Tore the guts out of it so I could chop it up.



Than chopped the top mesh out of the case for where I'm putting a 120mm fan


Next the side had to go, so you can see all the crazy insides lol

 

time for change. I wiped the whole case down with silicon, wax and grease remover, than sprayed it all with self etching metal primer, I found some pretty cool paint from krylon that is a metallic black paint, it has metal bits in it and dries to a textured finish, so on that went, turned out great has a black base with raised silver specks in it.



Close up

 

putting it back together so I can post hahaha. Don't you love all the green plastic crap?

 

The PSU on this case is mounted underneath so the case is sitting on it. Well I thought it would look pretty cool being able to see inside the PSU from the top while looking into the case, I had to cut the top off the PSU, than the one side of the case because it swings open, finally the other side of the case (the door).
I put a black light in the PSU which shines up into the casebut you can't see the actual tube. I'll take pictures of it when I pull the case apart again to show the custom aluminum mount I made for it. I also installed 2 red led light bars top and bottom in the case. Don't mind the wires I haven't gotten close to that yet.

 

ok on to the good stuff. Time to make the new case for heavy metal. Couldn't cheap out here so I used 18 gauge thick 304 stainless steel to make the case on both sides and the top. here are the results. I made the window side wrap around the back 1 1/2" to cover a gap where the stock door plastic fit and locked the case closed, all the edges are hemmed over (folded over on themselves and pressed flat) to make the edges nice and smooth and look a little heavier. than the corners are welded to make the slight open edge dissapear, you have the cut part of the corner off before hemming so it doesn't fold over on itself. Than the corners are ground flush and finished. I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for the window on the case untill I saw the green lee punches. I punched all the holes out than flared them outwards and swirled the stainless with a 90 degree die grinder with a scotchbrite disc on it.
the sides and top are just sitting on the case for now I haven't made the window or bolted the side and top on yet.



close up

 

In this first pic you can see the open corner that haven't welded yet on the top corner gives you an idea of how the edges are hemmed. Without the cases panels being bolted on they are misaligned a bit but no worries once they get bolted down they will line up perfectly. I need to cut the lexan side window next and the PSU acrlyic (ordering some uv red) and drill the case, than install rivnuts to hold everything on with 1/4" 20 stainless button head bolts.



In the Dark

 

I cut the hole in the top of the stainless case today for my 120mm fan that blows right down on the heat sink for the CPU. Since I didn't have a punch near that big I used a nibbler and a die grinder with a few cutters/sanders to make the hole and finish it out nice. Just need to drill the holes for the fan now and mount it.




I ordered a cable sleeveing kit, dual CCL UV lights, and a fan controller today so I should see those soon, also my uv red acrlyic came today so I can start with that.

I picked up some rounded IDE cables for my dvd drives

 

Good things happened today. The brown truck came to work with gifts for me. I got my fan controller (which will really help clean up my wiring) my ccfl UV's and my wiring loom kit.




Being inspired by the new hardware I finally remembered to bring home my tinsnips and heat gun. How should I go about bending my acrylic for a nice 90 degree bend. I don't have a fancy line style heater sitting around.

 

also drilled the holes for my 120mm case fan and test fit it. Need to trim the top of the case/cage a hair more to fit right.


welded the corners on the top/backside of the case and quickly finished them out still need to sand the whole case for brushed look.




and a pic of my copper sheet and red acrylic

 

The mess of wires was driving me nuts so I took some time and loomed a few cables. I still need to wait and do the HDD's and a few fan and power cables when the case comes apart. So far though it's made a big difference.





I had one ribbon cable that was smaller than a floppy ribbon and I didn't know what kind it was so I couldn't order a rounded replacement. What to do? Make my own thats what. This cable runs up to the power on button and usb stuff at the front of the case, thank god it's cleaned up now.









One last thing that I'm pretty excited about is the security camera I'm going to be using for my house. The camera body is solid aluminum, indoor/outdoor night vision, all the good stuff. It's going infront of my garage door to monitor the front area of the house and front door. The bottom card in the PCI slots is my 4 channel camera card.

 

so I cut my new window out of the acrylic sheet, drilled the holes to attach it to the stainless, and bubbled the 6 smaller holes that the vacuum hose fits over, it turned out pretty nice. they end up distorting what you see when you look through them like a magnifiying glass. Gotta go eat some soup or something to get the proper sized adapter to stick on the end of the vacuum hose to do the larger holes. I'll update that when it happens.

 

here's a peek through the trippy bubble at the insides, for all the picture whores lol.



I whipped this up after work today to hold the fan that blows towards the PCI slots. The fan right now is mounted quite close to the front and inside a green plastic lump of crap. It's getting moved closer to the PCI slots for better cooling. I'll TIG weld it together tommorow and have it ready to mount up. It's stainless punched and flared like the window side. Should I leave the welds on it or grind them off? Also going to give it a brushed stainless finish.

 

I welded up the fan tunnel today and finished the outside with the weld on it. I didn't like the look of it with the weld on because I couldn't get the weld to have the same finish, it still had the rainbow colour to it because the surface undulates and I coudn't get in the dips. So I ground it off and scotch brite wheeled it.




I than drilled the mounting holes for the fan, and than drilled the fan itself and tapped it for the 1/4" 20 stainless bolts I'm using.when I take the case apart in the near future I can mount this finished piece. BTW the bolts are kind of hanging in the picture since there to long right now nd the fan is sitting off center, it will have 4 on each side of the housing to center the fan in the housing side to side and front to back.

 

Built the second fan holder for the back of the case today that holds the two exhaust fans that blow hot air out. Finally I can get rid of the giant green peice of crap from the case.

 

I've completely taken the system apart again to tweak a few details on the chassis. The big green palstic pieces are finally gone WOOT!.

I lengthened the wires from the two rear exhaust fans to run up to my fan controller and still have enough slack to open the case after.



I also cut the raised section out of the back which held the stock fans so I could mount the new fan setup.



also made a stainless back piece to clean the look of the back up a little.





the fan that cooled the card slots was ditched and the new stainless housing and 80mm fan where installed



and finally I gave up on trying to hot glue my lights in because they keep falling off after 3-4 days. Now the ends have been drilled and tapped so they mount with 6-32 stainless button head screws. nice and secure.

 

this looks very interesting, man. i really like the side panel.

 

The fan tunnel is very cool

Great work

 

Hey where's the hot glue and wire ties? I didn't see a dremel in any of those pics...bet he doesn't even own one yet!!!! Nice to see that you finally posted...when are you posting the pics of the case all together?....Still like the fan holders they're great!
Beats
P.S Whats the factory plastic to metal ratio?

 

Oh yah 73 to go