Case Mod - In Progress New Horizon - Update 15th Feb - More Progress

thanks for the comment MM...nah its no meant to sound like yelling!!!!!

they "angled" pieces were drive rails but the glue never set! i'm not totally happy with them... so im getting a m8 to redo them but in black to continue on the theme...

anyway back to work i go...

updates later tonight..

 

Update #3 - now were getting somewhere

Update 3 - now were getting somewhere

Hey everyone..

As I am a case mod, project log and watercooling virgin, I have been wondering to myself during the “modding hours” am I actually getting any further forward?

Well today I got my anwser! I am happy to announce that I am getting further forward everyday. I was looking back on how the case looked before I had my wicked way with it and thought, “I cant believe how far I am getting with this.”

Now I know there is still along way to go but I am getting the feeling that now I am getting somewhere with this mod. Bit by bit, its starting to look like a case again!

Anyway enough of my rambling… on to the update………

First up was mounting the pump to the HDD cage:



And with flash to see the right tone of the colour:



The cage still has to have a black layer of Perspex to go on… but I actually quite like it like this:



But I know the colours are just too demanding on the eye and need to be dulled down. What do you all think? Keep the orange on its lonesome or add the black to take on some of the visual weight?

Next up was the case floor.





After that I done a mock up of the front button mount… this little job had been eating away at me so I just had to see how it looked. I will be adding another vandal switch for the reset button and the layout is not final, so any suggestions welcome!



Now who wants to see a sneak preview of the layout?





Well hope you all like what you see…

As always any tips or advice is welcome...

 

Is it just me or does anyone else think that this would good in pink?

I like the way you have your pump. It's special. The good kind. Let me know how that rad works out.

 

I was about to post that.

Why does it come out in pink when the flash isn't on?

Always good to see a mod with plenty of perspex and get some new ideas and tips.

 

thanks for the comment!!

funnily enough when the misses seen the pics... she said it was pink too! then she said she wants a black and pink case for her pc!

i will be posting testing results of most things, im getting the aquaero so that will give me a good indication of temps and flow rate and such!

thanks, i was not planning on doing alot of perspex in the beginning, but more and more things annoyed me with the original case so they had to be replaced!!

it may have something to do with the adaptive lighting setting on the camera. i will have to play about with the setting to see what works best!

 

frustrated!!

Update 28th Jan

After the excitement of seeing the project come together I just had to get the front panel done! With the front panel comes some bad memories. Can you remember the cracked bit of Perspex? No? well I can! Anyway since I was in a buoyant mood I thought I’d give it a bash! This time though I had to add holes for the intake fan and the Aquacomputer Aquatube. The fan hole was easy enough as it was just going to be a square. But the Aquatube was a different story!

Anyway… all went well until I got to the Aquatube as I had predicted. Now you have to remember that this was my first time installing something like this. To add to the difficulty, I have only just started using all the different tools and measuring methods at the beginning of this mod. In the end, I had to cheat a bit. I made a mock up with a scrap piece of the transparent lava orange Perspex. Who could have thought drilling five 4mm holes and one centre hole could be so much hassle!

After mounting the Aquatube, I wasn’t happy with how flat the front panel looked. So I decided to make a mount for it. This would add depth to the panel and basically just add something a little different to the Aquatube….

Anyway on to the pics….


The first one is the in progress image of the Aquatube mount….





As you can see this was the first attempt!

Next up is the front panel…





Well that concluded a day of frustration!

It just goes to show how one can go from a feeling of euphoria to frustration!

 

nice kitchen counter...

 

thanks... that is part of the workspace too as you can tell no workshop for me just a kitchen!

cant work outside coz i'd proably freeze!

any comments on the front panel?

 

Front is looking very good.

 

Update (well sort of..) - 5th Feb 09

Hey people…

Well I have been pretty much stuck for a week or so. I’m waiting on some of my Perspex bits coming back from my mate. He is doing the I/O back panel for me as I never fancied doing it coz too many intricate cuts. In addition he is making the black part of the hdd cage as my bit for my hole saw is… well we’ll just say its seen better days!

While I have been waiting, the time as given me some time for thought. Not sure how good a thing that is tho… anyway I have been looking at the front panel and I have been thinking that something was not quite right with it… I decided to swap the black and orange layers to have a wee look.. Now the problem with that is now I cant decide what I prefer!

So I would love to know what you think…

This…



Or…



Also I have the same problem with the power switch shroud…

This…



Or this…



i know it squint its the test piece i showed to you all before!

Well any kind of thoughts would be appreciated…

 

Orange under the black would look best with the I/O panel on top.

 

thanks for the input...

that was my original plan for it too.. the pics dont really do the orange justice. im quite a subtle person when it comes to colours i.e blacks, blues and navy. but the orange really is growing but the black looks much more subtle...

 

Looking great man!
So its pink without flash, when it actually orange? Strange isn't it? I had same issue with red acrylic. Is it UV orange or regular orange tint?
Cool project - keep modding!

 

Thanks phinix

aye its totally strange... may have summit to do wi the camera tho!

the colour is ment to be Lava orange... so its fluro...

i have got some frosted perspex from hindley.co.uk... (pics coming soon) great prices on perspex like... the size of the pieces you get is much bigger for the money.

i paid a tenner i think for the orig lava stuff an it was 500 x 500 but i can get 1000 x 600 for just under fifteen quid!

 

Update - 15th Feb - more progress

Update - 15th Feb - more progress

Big Update!

Well hello again..

For today’s instalment we have an update!

I received the parts back from my m8! What a job he has done on all the bits. My fav is the I/O plate!



He also done the black part of the HDD cage:



As I mentioned before that the lava orange was growing on me for the front panel, so I decided to order some frosted orange as the lava was a bit too in your face! I got this 1000 x 600 bit for just under fifteen quid!



I also changed my mind about the switches on the front panel as I never really liked the big hole in the front! So I decided to have them flush on the panel instead of sunken in or on top of the panel.

Here is a comparison of the frosted and the lava Perspex:



As you can see there is a big difference between the two. I think that the frosted plex will give the design a more subtle look. Maybe subtle is the wrong word as it will be orange after all!

So what have I been doing in the way of modding since the last update then I hear you ask…
Apart from buying and waiting!

Well I have been trying out the new glue that I got. Pk 1 acrylic glue. This stuff is amazing! I was having problems with finding a way to keep the mobo tray secure but a little bit of this stuff:



And it is as steady as a rock!

In addition to this I have been working on the side panel. I wanted to get a bigger window for the side so I cut out the pattern that was in the middle and it now looks much better!



I have probably mentioned before about wanting to make a door system for the case. The old method of pulling it off was getting harder each time I have no idea why tho!

At first I was going to use some keyboard rails for the sliding mechanism but this did not work out as I would have had to cut more of the case and I was worried about the structural integrity of the case, so I will just be using normal hinges instead!

Some pic of the process:

Before:







After:





Next up was the fill port hole!

This was a pain as my hole saw would not go through so I got out the trusty





After this I had to make some skirtings for the case as the feet (which I still have to buy) wont add to the look of the mod…



Flash:



Well that concludes today’s proceedings!

As always I am on the look out for some suggestions for the mod and any advice/feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

I have also fitted the fill port but forgot to take a pic!!