Case Mod - In Progress Project: LEXA

Thanks mate.

 

Great job man, that's awsome that the barbs line up so well. Looks like it took alot of work!

 

Yeah a lot of work and a lot of time more than 11 months now in total.

 

Well guess what guys!

Image Shack has stopped being annoying so here are the pics.
This is the cooler with the design glued to it:


Here is a pic of where I am up to at the moment.
I have cut out all the letters and the spot of the green plexi inlay:

Basically I used the Dremel with cutting disks to cut out as much as I could of the letters. I then used files to make the edges smooth and take off the remaining metal. So far I have completed the 'A' and most of the 'X' and 'L'.

Here are the files I am using, way back from my Warhammer days lol. They a re so small and fine that I can get into all the gaps, plus leave a mirror finish
Pic:


Well that's all at the moment guys. I had Exams the past week and haven't been able to get much work done. Maybe during the week. Until Then...

Happy Modding.

 

Well guys not an update but an announcement.

As of Monday 14th July I am going away for 2 weeks (returning on the 21st July). There fore no modding and no time on the forum . Where I am going you ask well I am being forced to go to World Youth Day in Sydney Australia. If you don't know what it is Google it cos I don't really know what it means myself lol.

Also

On the 17th of July 2008 is LEXA's 1 year anniversary. Yes it has taken a long time but I have poured a ton of effort into this mod. I hope you guys throw her a party in my absence.

TB4O signing off.

Until then...

Happy Modding.

 

have fun and enjoy the trip bud. we will hold down the fort till you get back

 

Thanks mate, make sure you throw a party for LEXA while I am gone lol.

 

If you think Imageshack is annoying then Photobucket is a great alternative.

I must say this is a very impressive mod, all the details you have done and the faultless planing really stands out. The Black/UV-Green theme is well used but your's are a bit over the average. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

This is nice work. I just went through the whole log. I especially like the whole green and black combination

 

I like the black and green combo to,very nice

 

Thanks for the comments guys. One more week until I can mod again.

 

Well I am back guys, flew home yesterday. Hopefully I can get some modding done throughout the week.

 

Well guess what guys. The moment you have all been waiting for lol. AN UPDATE!!!
Yes yes it's update time however a small update at that.

Well I managed to tear myself away from homework long enough to realize I had a problem. My awesome plexi clad drive bay tower was sitting there collecting dust. Something had to be done. So I did what any normal person would do, I put it to use lol:



While I was installing the optical drives and the HDD I thought it would be the perfect time to install the UV CCFL that would be under the bay reservoir...so I did:

Hmm the light of the front blue fan along with the UV CCFL wasn't quite bright enough for me:

Sorry for the bad pic.
Of course I didn't expect this single UV CCFL to light all the plexi. The other blue fans and CCFL's will light up the rest of the bay covers and plexi in the case. This CCFL was only to light up the reservoir and surrounding plexi pieces.

The solution, get another UV CCFL and mount it above the reservoir. Luckily I had one attached to the support bar of the case so of it goes:

I will be getting a 20cm UV CCFL to replace the 10cm one which is going in the drive bay. This will also mean more light throughout the case.

The second CCFL installed above the reservoir:

Much brighter this time:


Here is where the inverter is mounted along with the neatly hidden CCFL cables:


One thing I noticed is that the inverter gets very hot. I am going to have to cut a hole in the motherboard tray as it covers the whole non windowed side of the case. This will give the inverter some degree of ventilation and make it easy to remove in case of it catching on fire (NNNNNOOOOOOO) or burning out. I may also cut a hole in the side panel itself to allow fresh air to reach the inverter, I think it's the safest way.

Well that might be the last update for some time from me. I have just a little over 10 weeks left of school until end of year final exams. My attention is 100% (well maybe 98%) on my school work and there is no time to mod on the weekend due to all the homework I am getting. I really want to get that RAM cooler done. Oh well, it will have to wait. Until then...

Happy Modding.

 

Looking good man, those inverters do get a little hot but its nothing much to worry about. These drive bays are looking so good as well, I love the green and black contrast. Hope your exams go well and when you done get this case finished!

 

Thanks Skidd. Yeah I can't wait for school to finish and I can't wait to get this mod done. It's getting close to 13 months now lol.

 

Wow.... just.. wow...

Very nice work, mate.

 

Thanks mate. I may get some work done in the morning cos I have the day off school.

 

Looks like I have another update for you all.

Today I had a day off school to study so I studied for a bit then got modding lol.
I finally got around to painting the bottom panel of the case:

I had been putting this off because I was going to mount some LED modules on the underside of the panel to light up the case feet but due to lack of room I scrapped this idea.
I also added some 'U' channel molding to the edges of cut I made for the radiator:

And some grommets to the inlet and outlet pass through holes:

A shot of how it looks so far:


Time to install the radiator and fans.
I did run into a problem however. Part of the grommets sat under the fan, easily fixed though, I just cut part of them off.
All fixed:

Radiator and fans installed:

One thing I noticed about that 'U' channel molding is that it acts like those fan silencers. My fans are actually sitting on the 'U' channel so that will help absorb the vibrations from the fans. It is also working for the radiator. I guess I can cross those UV green fan silencers and silicon washers off my list now lol.

Next I re-installed the custom case feet:

Sadly these feet will have to come off again for some customization before everything goes together. 2 of the plexi spacers on the feet are covering rivet holes so I will need to remove them so I can countersink a hole on the base so the rivet will be able to fit. Not a major job but just a bit annoying lol.

And last but not least I installed the 30cm UV CCFL onto the panel:


Well that's all for this time guys. Work still continues on the RAM cooler but nothing worth posting on. Until then...

 

look great keep it up man