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Case Mod - In Progress First Project log: Blackalicious

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Dutchgrass, 3 Feb 2008.

  1. MoRBiD

    MoRBiD Minimodder

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    I like where this is going.
    Keep it up !
    I like the spindle idea.
     
  2. MikeK

    MikeK What's a Dremel?

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    Well primitive, I don´t know. As long as you don´t use this:
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    I think you are on the right track!! :naughty::D:D

    Good luck with the mod!!
     
  3. Dutchgrass

    Dutchgrass a what ?

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    More paint

    I painted the case side panels, dvd covers and the mb tray. This off course all done in a well ventilated room. :lol:
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    Just like earlier on the chassis I used an etch primer before spraying the mat black. In this photo u can see the covers of 2 dvd players. And on the right side 2 covers for the dvd spindle thing.
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    B-Lounge owner of the attic where I spray paint my parts. Thanks mate.
    He's actually babysitting this house for some project group who are re hauling the hole neighbourhood. So a bit of paint here or there dose not realy matter.
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    I was meaning to start on wiring and sleeving the psu cable's. But suddenly I just knew how I was going to make the remaining 3,5 floppy bay cover.
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    The sketch.
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    Then made a carboard template (watched a lot of discovery channel)
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    Just like earlier on the 5,25 dvd bay cover a side panel will be recycled from one of my earlier cases.
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    I forgot to make a picture of states between. I put the carboard template together first for a test fit before making the alu one.

    I still have some cleaning up to do on the edges but here are the results. I used 2 pieces of wood, 2 clamps a hammer and my weight to fold this up. After that I drilled holes and pop riveted.
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    Test fitted the cover. Keep in mind that the mb tray will be slide d in on this side. The tray has cut holes to accommodate the wires.
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    The top 5,25 bay cover in comparison.
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    The next step's will be making 2 more panels for the top back part of the case, painting these covers and start with sleeving/wiring the lot.

    See you next post.
     
  4. zwiks

    zwiks My avatar: :D

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    looking nice.. keep it comming :D
     
  5. Dutchgrass

    Dutchgrass a what ?

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    Back again for some panel beating.

    Started with a sketch, in the panels/covers above I've learned to keep in mind the room it takes to fold alu or metal. In my case a little more then a mm.
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    Well no more old side panels to recycle. Orderd a sheet of 50 mm x 50 mm x 1 mm aluminium. Black since it costs the same and be a good base to paint.
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    First result. I'll clean up the edges and put a pot rivet in the corners after test fitting to getter with the other panels. Some refinements may be needed.
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    Test fit. The purpose of this panel is to hide all the cables behind it. (15mm)
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    I tapped (if this is the good word) a few screw holes in the corners.
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    Next panel. This one will separate the hd area from the rest of the case and hold the 14cm fan up.
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    Enough to work with.
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    Setting out the lines.
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    Well this is how I beated all my panels. Small ridges are done with a hammer. Big peace's are done with a little foot and ground work folding. Never done this kind of metal work before, and with my limited collection of tools it seemed the way to go.
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    Test fit. 14 cm fan will be mounted on the right side of this panel.
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    Cleaned up the floppy bay cover.
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    Small changes to the front bezel. As seen above I mounted a 14cm fan as front intake. Lost the usb and audio connections. So this plastic peace was removed since it only would prohibit airflow.
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    This case originally had this handle to remove the front bezel. Nice but the bezel didn't hug the case and i hate the resulting gaps. And besides that it now hangs in front of the 14cm fan.
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    U can't really tell in these pic's but this will make a huge difference in airflow.
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    Some finishing spray paint and wiring in the next updates, hopefully followed by putting everything together.
     
    Last edited: 16 Feb 2008
  6. zwiks

    zwiks My avatar: :D

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    looking good so far.. I like the "metal-frame" you are using ..:D
     
  7. Dutchgrass

    Dutchgrass a what ?

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    minor updates

    Back with some minor updates. I uploaded the paint results and finally found a way to mount the second hd.
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    I finally figured out how I am going to attach the second HD to the first one hanging in the top.
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    I found a piece chrome tube once used for a standing light. This will go nicely with hd coolers.
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    The blue rubber things came with a sharkoon silencer kit.
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    I did the drilling in a machine shop owned by a friends father. Big up Dolf.
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    There was a small learning curve here. Drill bits jumping out of alignment before realising I had to hammer a guiding point. This resulted in the other three being usable but to scratched up to use. Luckily I still have about 1,5m of this tube.
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    Clear coated the chassis for a little scratch protecting during hardware installations.
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    Next update will be the wireing / sleeving. See you then.
     
  8. Dutchgrass

    Dutchgrass a what ?

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    Finally back for a much needed update

    Finally back for a much needed update. After working day and night on a soon to release 4x4 off-road website I finally found some time for updating my project. A small one but a update nonetheless.

    I slide d in the backplate / MB tray, mounted the 3,5 / 5,25 drives, case fan and the Aerocool powerwatch.
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    I lay d out all the wires to give me an idea of what will made longer or shorter. I'm using a 90 cm floppy drive cable, two 100 cm sata cable's for my raid setup and two 100 cm presleaved sharkoon ide cable's for my third hd, zip drive and the two dvd drives.
    It's mainly the horizontal structural beam half way the case that's making it a hell of a job.
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    A little preview of the sleeving material. I left out the original led used to back light the power button. (it was a changing colour led) It was ugly and my new power watch light's up when the power kicks in. The second led is the hdd activity.
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    I might decide to sleeve the “yellow” black pre sleeved ide cable. I'm not really happy with it.
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    Question, Is there some diy trick for pulling out the pins ? Without ordering a special tool ?


    Well again this was only a small update. I hoop to bring some more Friday and Saturday.
     
    Last edited: 13 Mar 2008
  9. Wench

    Wench BINGOBONGO!

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    I do believe you can use a mic jack if you cut the tip off. One of those bigger ones? Ive heard of it ... I use a really small screwdriver, or big pin, and pop the legs. Take a lot of time though,

    Or, maybe: http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1927.html
     
    Last edited: 13 Mar 2008
  10. Fozzy

    Fozzy What's a Dremel?

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    Your "primitive tools" are all that I use. The only other tools that I use are my scroll saw and my drill press but very rarely. You only need a drill press for thicker material and you only need a scroll saw for very fine cuts. I thing jigsaws are faster and straighter so I use mine ALL the time.

    Some tools that I find wonderful for modding are
    : Stepped drill bits - Not having to change the drill bit every single time you drill something or being able to enlarge a hole until it fits perfect is awesome. Plus they can work as a measuring device to find out how big a hole is.
    Files, files, files - The more you have the better. All shapes and sizes, all varieties of cutting angle
    Square - The triangle shaped measuring device that has a lip at the bottom. Gives you perfect right angles and 45deg angles every time.
    Nut riveter - Go get one from harbor freight. You will never use nuts again.
    Bending brake. Great for long, clean bends. Although you could never make any of the stuff you're making with clamps and a block of wood.

    Great project log. It reminds me of those old school cases. Kinda makes me want to make one again. I remember back in the day you couldn't by a nice case if it wasn't a lian-li and those Antec cases were the modding palettes. Man I miss those days. If you reeeeaaaally wanted a good looking case you had to earn it. Now days, all you have to do is buy a TJ07, slap in some watercooling, and some premixed dye and your computer is omfghaxors
     
  11. Dutchgrass

    Dutchgrass a what ?

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    Well finally back again. Been to busy working on websites. Unfortunately i had to do my modding without a camera. The shots below were made afterwards with thanks to Christiaan.

    I sleeved the visible part of the sata cables. The rest will behind the back plate. I had bought the ageled version thinking this would be ideal for routing directly of and under the mainboard. Turned out the sata connection position on the MB is slightly wrong, about 180 degrees. So I will plug this side in de MB and de angled in de HD´s.
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    I extended and sleeved the aero powerwatch cables. Dual usb cable to front ports. Pc speaker. Front audio ports. (Not in pic) 4 fan, 4 probe cables and 2 more usb cable for the cardreader etc..
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    I stared mounting the mainboard and routing the cables. After not to long I ran into the one of the 1st problems. The main power, reset and hdd led were about 1 cm short. Me idiot. Fixed this.

    Next the passive cooler on the vga card prohibited me from connecting the sata cable. Luckily this was only because of a plastic cover. Witch i removed.

    I decided to do a test drive and attached a power supply i had lying around. (the none sleeved cables).
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    Pushed the power switch and nothing seemed to happen. Wait a minute. Leds light up, power supply fan speeds up. Emergency. Pull the power. sh*t aggr.....f*k.....

    What happened was my aero cool powerwatch didn't boot up. Except from back lighting the display. It did nothing. No CPU fan, or case fan. So I nearly fried the system in this process.

    After some extra testing their was only one conclusion. It died. Strange. I had tested it once in January, posted pictures and put it on the shelf for later on. 2 days ago I picked up and installed it untouched, no mods nothing. I'm trying to work something out with the store. You will hear later on.

    In the meantime I connected the fan cable's to the mainboard.
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    HD's lying around for this test drive.

    A now comes the problem. Until the powerwatch is replaced I can't move on with the big things.
    The HD's with their shrouds, covers, temp probe and fan can't be placed. Because it would prohibit me from attaching the powerwatch cables. Same for the power supply and power cables. With all of the extra covers there is a particular order in witch to install things.

    A few posts ago I mentioned the HD mounting “rods”. Well they didn't turn out to well. Holes misaligned etc. A friends father help t me out drilling some new ones and teached me a lesson or two in the process.

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    2 holes in the top to prevent my HD's from swinging from side to side during moving the case.
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    That's it. See you next post.
     
  12. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    That's a HUGE case, nice start to your mod. Keep up the good work.
     
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