Case Mod - In Progress Progect Big Red Stacker 830, Sept 03

The name is a work in progress. I am starting with a black Stacker 830. There is a fair bit that is going to be changed, but I want to keep most of the original look of the case. It will be water cooled. I will elaborate more on my plans after we get a little further into the mod itself. Everything is done with only a jigsaw, heatgun, and drill. Just moved into a new townhome and it seems my big tools aren't welcomed . Working on obtaining a garage so i can move the other tools in.

Here is the victim.





This should give you an idea of what I started with. Now on to stripping it down.





Now to form some windows before it goes off to get powder coated.
Here i cut a piece of clear plexi down to size then used a heat gun to mold one to the front door and the other to the top of the case



Test fitting it in the front. It fits really snug. In fact it will stay in there without anything holding it in.




Full view of window in from behind


Here is a shot of the window for the top of the case. Fits pretty snug as well.


Parts are now being sent to be powder coated.

 

Parts are back from powder coat and they look amazing. I have always had parts painted by car shops before so this is my first time messing with the powder coating stuff. I was impressed with how it looks and feels really durable. Here are some pics.









Here are two more pics to get an idea of the actual color and how shiny these things are.

No flash


In the sun


And here we have the test fit. Man I didn't remember there being that many screws



I have never been a big fan of the the top of the case where the on button and USB ports are. I decided to change the front into a fan bus since that is more useful for me. Here is where it is going to go.



And here it is being test fitted with the fan controller.



Sorry about the poor picture. There will be more on this later as I finish the bondo work to make it nice and smooth and have it painted black. I will also show so pics on how it fits and works here a little later as well.

 

More updates. I decided the mesh front on the case just did not fit in with all the new changes. I decided to make it a new black shinny one. All I did was cut down a piece of clear plexi, paint the back of it black and attach clips so that it is easily removable.




I had some little friends who were dying to play in the new case



Ok guys I ran into a little problem I took a bunch of pics of the next stage, but somehow they all went missing. So you will just have to settle with the end results. The water cooling gear come in and the installation began. End result of the test install. Still lots to be done on the inside so stay tuned.







I have not decided on how to light this yet. There is a bay res in the front as well. In the end I will be using some UV LEDs to light the case. Here are a few pics of the inside with a test UV cathode. Its not very powerful so they are pretty dark.





Remember that shiny black acrylic front I made for the case? Well it had to be modified in order to fit the front bay res. Here is the result.



With a little lighting





Remember the front glass I bent? Well I decided to tint it. Have you ever tried to tint a curved surface? Lets just say it took me a while to figure out how to pull this off. I ended up using a heatgun to help me smooth it all out. It gave it just enough flex to take the curve shape. I will give a better pick of the final product later but here it is on the front with the water cooling glowing from behind.




That is it for now. More to come shortly. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

Small update. I bent and painted one of the internal panels to hide all my wireing and help everything look a little more sleek and clean. This was done by simply cutting it to shape, bending with a heat gun, then painting the back side black. I prefer to paint clear plexi as it gives a deep shine.

Test fit of the new wire shroud



This shows how shiny it is. It is a little dusty, but that will be taken care of on the final install. It actually turned out really well.



Here here is this obligatory pic of the cats who made this mod possible.




One last pick for the night



I promise that I will be going back to take close up pics of how all this was done so far and to give you a better idea of how it looks. Let me know if there is a specific picture you want or have any questions. As for the specs of the system:
-Intel E8400
-ATI 3870
-4 gigs of Gskill
-120 gig raptor HD
-500 gig SATA

 

looking really good can't wait to see more!

 

where are u gonna put the front usb ports and stuff?

 

Not sure if I am even going to include them as of yet. For the most part I never use the front points anyway. My monitor has 4 ports on it, my keyboard has 2, and even my mouse charger has 1. I hate to see things go to waste, so I might still include them somewhere. One thing I founds interesting while doing this mod is how little room is actually in this case. Its large outer appearance is slightly misleading. Hopefully I can finish the other shroud tomorrow that should cover the drive bay portion and the area to the right of the mother board.

Do you all think I should make a cover for the rad/fans? I could easily build a plexi cover for the bottom, but was not sure if it would look right.

Oh and ignore all the fingerprints on the case. I will have to clean it up and take some better pics for you all.

 

I like your friends in the cage. wish i had one. Of and the projects looking mint to.