Case Mod - In Progress Project: SpeLL7 (COMPLETE 7/28 - FINAL PICS POSTED)

Awesomeness m8. And as you said I think the whole case will look really nice when you get things powdercoated. All those fittings and details will just stand out. Keep it up!

 

The cable management is looking great mate. I really like how it's turning out.

 

Just a quick update for those of you out there still following this project...

I've been working a lot on wire management lately and I have a couple quick and dirty pics of my progress. Sorry for the relative low quality of them, I didn't have time to set up the shots properly.

As I mentioned a while back, I got two additional Thermaltake iBoxes to repurpose in my fight against cable clutter. I ended up shortening them so they fit in the drive bay behind the fan controllers. I added a Bitspower fitting and passthrough to each to allow cables from the bottom wire channels to run up and inside.

Here is a crappy pic:



The other iBox looks like this one too, just with the entry hole on the opposite side. This will allow me to run the fan cables up the 1/4" Tygon and into the drive bay without the ugly mess.

I also finally got around to finishing the passthrough section above the motherboard:



If you look close you can see the holes are slightly offset. This is by design to allow sufficient space underneath the motherboard tray to run wires.

In the second shot you can see the Delrin pieces:



Now that I've moved on to the next step, my next big headaches will be PCI-E and SATA cable running (and hiding). I still need to run all my sleeved cables, figure out power cable distribution in and out of the "L", finish the switchbox, and then finish off the front panel (I've got a mockup of how it's going to be, but I didnt have time to take any pics).

Until next update...

Cheers

 

The cable management system is very clever! Looking forward to seeing this project done!

 

+1, very clever indeed.

 

Hi just a uber-fast "throw a couple pics at you and then run" post...

Here's a better shot of the wire tray with the Bitspower fitting and pass-through. Don't mind the ragged edge- this one was just cut and hadn't been filed yet.



It lines right up to the back of the fan controller. I'll need to bust out the Novus at the end and polish them up nice .

Next, I've got a couple pics of the front panel mocked up with the AC Ryan MeshX panel. The top 2 drive bays will be occupied (obviously) and the bottom 7 will be meshed.





For some reason AC Ryan used really sticky plastic to cover the mesh panel, so I foresee a Goo Gone session in my future to get the residue off. Dammit.

Did a little more wire management work yesterday on the "L" base (for the pump wires) and then I found a good way to run the cables from the DVD-RW and Velociraptor.

Hope to get a little more time in today, but let's not hold our breath...

 

I have never had a problem removing the protective plastic off my mesh. Good luck lol.

 

Nice clean work..
MS

 

Hiding the cables using the same tube they you use for the WC loop is a good idea!

 

I am familiar with "mini updates".. having done many myself..
Time is most-always the problem.. I understand completely..
Just keep chipping-away..
MS

 

Quick and dirty update...

After getting all the sticky residue off from the plastic protective film AC Ryan used, I was ready to finally get the front panels on. As a side note, I'm shocked at how sticky that residue was... seems really weird to use such a strong adhesive in this application...

Anyway, here's some crappy pics taken with my iPhone (my camera's battery is charging). Don't mind the silver 5.25" bay cover, it's just a mockup (since that's all I had handy).





I attached the MeshX with some super strong industrial double sided tape. The description on McMaster said it could be used in instances where the strength of a spot weld was needed. I initially scoffed at that thinking it was a load of BS but after getting the panels on it is indeed really damn strong, which is nice. Usually double sided tape is a joke, so for that I have to give 3M a huge .

I know I've said it before, but I'm getting really close now. I have 6 or 7 things left and I've dealt with pretty much every roadblock that has come along. I only need to do 3 of the 6 or 7 things before I can go to powder, and I'm psyched about that.

Cheers

 

How far along are you on these 6 or 7 things? This project is awesome!

 

Ah, the PC-343B is one of if not my favorite case.
This is really looking great. I can't wait to see the finished results.

 

Hey guys thanks for the positive comments.

The list is actually down to 3 things now, and they're all easy. I'm going to be coming home at work today to do a thing or two... I have a couple of wire management holes that need to be enlarged (in the motherboard tray and L) and then I have to clean up the case/pieces and sort the parts into their respective color piles for the powder coater. I have parts and sleeved wires strewn about in a couple of different places and I need to get them all together. I'll take a pic when they are in a pile and post it- there's a lot. Somehow I have only 6' or so left of that 100' spool of sleeving I bought from Cable Organizer... granted, I used about 20' on another project, but still, it took a lot... . I see now that PPCs sells individually sleeved cable extensions... that would have saved me a few hours... but, my non-fray sleeving is much higher quality than the stuff they use.

The first powder coater I tried to commission has so far ignored me (probably because I dont have 2000 of the same item to be done ) but there's another place close to my house that does powder coating for motorcycle and car parts who said way back when they'd do it on the cheap.

We'll see.

The project has come together nicely and is looking like it does "in-my-head" which is nice considering it doesn't always happen that way (especially with no rendering or Sketchup).

I have one more item to do after the case comes back from powder and everything's installed- the LED strip wiring. I can't do it until everything is in place because its wiring will be "undoable" without cutting or desoldering once it's in place.

Cheers, will post again soon.

 

Well, I'm officially an idiot.

I've been having issues keeping track of all the crap for this project (you know it's bad when you don't know where X is or how many of Y there's supposed to be) so I've been trying to centralize everything now that the project's running down.

I had a scare a week or two ago where I thought I accidentally threw out one of the Zalman fan controller power cables. It was looking like it was going to be tough to replace since I couldnt find the cable anywhere online, but it luckily turned up 2 days later on top of the dryer, of all places. Phew.

Well, not so lucky this time. I somehow have misplaced one of my 120mm AC Ryan Radgrillz. I bought 3 (two for the rear 120mm fans and one for the PSU hole in the floor of the case) and one's somehow gone. It's been driving me crazy this week looking for it.

Until tonight, it dawned on me.

At around Christmas time my parents' PC needing rebuilding, so I got them some new parts and retrofitted their old Lian Li PC-60 (the one with 2 front 80mm fans) with the new panel that allows for a 120mm fan in place of the two 80s. I needed to find a way to secure the 120mm fan to the chassis, so I used an AC Ryan Radgrill that I had "sitting around" in my garage.

F***!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently I thought I bought 4, not 3. So now I'm short one and will need to buy it "again".

 

That's why you shouldn't help family LOL. Oh well mate, at least you didn't throw it out.

 

I can appreciate and definitely share your pain, joy, and elation of cable management. I can't tell you how many trips to the electronic shops and bone yards, spent cruising websites, or browsing through industrial catalogs looking for the perfect device for running cables through walls and around the innards of a computer case. What looks like the perfect part often turns out to be just a smidgen too small or looks like crappola when you wire it up.

The fun is in just doing it and not necessarily the end product, however its looking good dude.

P.S. I avoid dremels like the plague. My 10,000 RPM lasted less than a day.

 

TN:

I agree somewhat with the whole "journey is more ___ than the destination" idea, but this project's been going on for a little too long now... it's time to finish. I'm rather obsessed about it- I often find myself rocking my son for his nap and thinking "I wonder how it would look if I...". While I am currently using the hardware in an old beater Chieftec case, the waterblocks are sitting on my desk slowly fading into obsolescence. I want to get everything all tidy and just feel satisfied that it's done.

Anywho....

I paid a visit to Gary the powder coater today... he seemed psyched to take my project... said he's never done a computer case before. Apparently my area is not stocked with intrepid modders... We talked a bit about what percentage I wanted my black pieces, since I'm not going to do high gloss and he ordered the powder I'm going to need (apparently he did not have the RAL code I needed, oh well).

So, in about a week or so, I should have my parts back and I can post oodles of pics for you all to see.

Speaking of pics, here's one of the pile of sleeved cables I have to fit in the case... keep in mind, there's still a few in the garage right now (most notably the ATX cable) so the pile is actually larger in real life.

 

Looking great blackflag!

I absolutely love your sleeving job, where did you get the spool? Also, what heatshrink size are you using? Looks really high quality, good work!

 

I'm going to take a guess and say he used MurderMod sleeving.