Case Mod - In Progress Project; Mark1

Ok, not much today. I have been waiting over a week for this, and it finally came.
It's a 5" lcd screen for use with various gaming systems


Kind of a cool little deal, too. Also came with a base to attach it to, whatever, as well as a cable for use with xbox or playstations.


But I'm not interested in all that! Here's what I want!


Hmm. Not quite what I was hoping for.


Here is where the monitor is going.


The backside;


This is going to be a challenge. I'll keep you posted as I make progress on this.

 

Nooooo tragedy strikes!!
My trusty Dremelike has officially taken a dump on me.
Here is what I was working on;

The damn cutoff wheel jammed, and it broke the flex attachment, and I guess it was just too much for my old rotary tool to handle. Damn you, hard ass aluminum! Damn you.


Some progress,


Cut out the hole. Now, bear in mind, I will have to eventually cut this hole larger, to accomodate the mechanics for the doors that will cover it.

I started grinding down the fins behind the screen, so it will sit down flush.


Eventually I decided to just cut the fins off. The don't serve any purpose, and they won't be seen back there.

Plus it's a little weight reduction. win-win.

Idk if I'll be able to get a new one today... Still have to work on my car (again). Can't really put that off much longer or I won't have power steering anymore.
So, after 6 years of trusty service, it's time to give my loyal tool a proper send off....


Good bye old friend.

Ohh yeah ps, I set my stuff up on the table while I went to the store, and when I looked at it, that would be a sweetass place for a monitor. Not many 3.5" bay devices to use, for the most part anyway. Just sharing an idea, mebbe someone can use it :up:

 

So, not gonna be able to post an update this weekend. Just had surgery to fix a hernia, and I'm in mondo pain. I thought I would still be able to get some work done, but it ain't happenin.
It's like the male equivalent to a cesarian section, kinda. Anyway, as always, I will keep ya posted.

 

Well, half assed update. I'm still not feeling all that great, but I wanted to try and get some work done. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse.

I decided to go a different route for the screen. I need to have room for the hinge mechanics, so a flush mount won't work. I decided to cut out the whole area and recess it. Basically, it will kinda look like the main drive bay area. After a couple of ill advised, not carefully planned cuts, I have this;


Not what I was going for. At all.

Soooo, I started cutting out what is now the bottom section, since the front piece is now two pieces. Sigh. Then this happened;


Grreeeaaat. Sure that's what I was going for. Here is the line I was cutting along;


The idea, like I said, is to cut out this whole area. It will be covered by doors.


So that's it. yippee. Sorry, I started out in not that great of a mood, and it sure didn't get any better.

 

So, made a little progress today. Turns out, that piece breaking made it easier to cut right. (See the focusing on the positive part there?) Here's those two pieces;


Now, I have been puzzling over what material to use to build the new back and mount the screen. I didn't want to use sheet metal, I would rather use plastic, and a good plastic epoxy. Then it hit me, just use the casing the screen came in! So, trimmed it down a bit, and it will fit as such;


Maybe that will provide a little clearer picture as to where I am going here, too. Now, of course it still needs more trimming, and I will fill the various holes so it looks like a solid piece, but it's perfect cause it's already ready for the screen to be mounted.

All this speak of the screen, I will sequay into bad news. Here is my screen;


Yeah.... and that's all it does. So that sucks. Nothing like some bad news for a change. Hey, could be worse though.
Anyway, came across something the other day that finally struck me for use as mesh. I have been searching and searching, cause I just wasn't crazy about the usual suspects. Walking down the isle at My Friendly Local Neirbourhood Home Depot and my wife said, "Hey what about this?"


It's a screen filter for hood vents that are over stoves. Pull the frame off and the layers apart,


Voila instant modders mesh. Holes are too small to really see through, but light can come through, and the holes aren't round. Yay so that's settled!

Till next time....

 

My lucky stars, an update! Not a huge one, though. I'm gonna keep working through the weekend, so hopefully some real progress will ensue.
Here is one thing I need to do, this part broke. Some jb weld to the rescue there.


What I actually have done so far,
glued the piece for the monitor in place. Here I used a plastic epoxy instead of JB. I thought I would spice it up a bit lol.


Then I cut it to the right length to match up to the heatsink. As you can see here, the cuts far from match up nicely. Oh well, I'll get it smoothed out, I always do.



Now I have to make more cuts and stuff, and some of the areas I will be cutting away are actually areas that show me how the two pieces line back up. So, I got everything lined up pretty, then drew the outilne on paper, so now I have a template, should anything happen.


Then I started cutting away even more of the heatsink, to acommodate the pcb that's larger than the screen.


That's as far as I got then my dremelike started smoking pretty good. Whoopsie, guess that means I need to take a break. Oh yeah if you havent figured it out, I got a new dremelike. The ol' Black and Decker RTX, as well as a new flexshaft. Here is a pic I took trying to capture the smoke;


I really like it. Smooth, quiet... course my Craftsmen dremelike was older than three of my kids so I guess anything would seem quieter and smoother. My flexshaft is quieter, too. Think my old one was no good to start with maybe.
One more thing, I cut away this section on the side. Gonna put wire mesh there instead, and make it blend into the sides of the heatsink. The other side is cut identically.


Left me with this nifty lookin piece of scrap.

 

Holy cow, this isn't modding it's full bore mammoth construction!

Really cool ideas, especially that iPod house. Loving the whole feel of it so far.

P.S. It may surprise you but with an industrial feel i actually kinda like the ghetto fan grille you drilled out. Does that make my tastes a bit strange? Who knows

Keep it up mate. May the power tool gods be a litle kinder to you

 

Alright, got some more stuff done today.
Finished cutting out the material in the back, to make room for the pcb.




And, just when I was finishing the last bit,


Dammit! This crap is going to fight me every step of the way, I swear. Can be fixed, but more pita....

Now I need to cover and build up the bottom. Recognize this piece?


No? How about now?


I'm after the bottom of this. It has the angled front, like the rest, so it should match up nice...


Or not.

So, here's the little bit of plastic I cut off the bezel for the monitor to the rescue.


Obviously it's not level, but that will get fixed. All in due time.

If that stupid heatsink hadn't broke in half it would have been an even cut. [/expletives]
Then I'll sand this excess plastic down so its nice and flush....



Also, I got to use my "modders mesh." Working out pretty nice, I think.



Here's a little sneaky-peeky at what's in store here.




That picture was a nightmare to capture, so I took several, so you can get the idea. It looks sweet.
Got lots and lots of JB Welding to do tonight. Gonna fix the broken part I showed, fill the holes in the bezel by the monitors, and two parts of the front bezel for the mini-case.

 

Much like rough carpentry, projects and goals like this can look, well, rough as you go along. But it's not how it looks during, but after. And so far, I think it's well on it's way. Keep up the good work and take share the fun.

 

you sayin it looks like crap?
Nah I'm just playin I appreciate the comments!

 

Small update today.
Lots of gluin' Filled in the speaker grills;


Added some reinforcement behind the monitor bezel;


Yay for globs of glue!!

Also fixed the broken part;


I will slowly drill out the old useless glue, and refill with new, so it is nice and sturdy.

And, as far as this piece goes. I'm gonna nickname it the hemorroid cause it's such a pain in the arse! But see the difference in height? Thats cause it broke while cutting it. I decided that I am going to wait until I get another tool so I can make a nice straight, level, even cut here. So that's all for today.

Sorry for the picture quality, light in living room is broke.

 

The iPod door, majorly amazing dude! Love it, absolutley love it!

It's threads like this that make me envy you creative types

 

happy bday to me....

 

Twas a birthday yesterday? Well happy birthday.

 

why thank you, thank you very much

 

Happy birthday !

 

thanks!

Another not -so-great update. I didn't get to do much to my case, cause I did this-


sure, that part was easy. The part that was time consuming was soldering in extension speaker wirefor some of the speakers, cause the wires weren't long enough. Specifically the rears. Ironic, since my room is tiny.
Also, I had to work on my car. Trying to fix a door lock that isn't working right. Boy I'd like to shake the hand of the engineer who designed...... And next week I get to replace a blower motor. Oh what did I do to deserve this?
Anyway all I really did was sand and file. Woohoo who doesn't like doing that?





Nice and smooooth. I was going to cut out wire mesh for the sides, but I decided to wait until I get the bottom re-attatched so I know it will blend well.

 

Well, unfortunately I don't have any actual progress right now, but I do have some exciting news;

parts!
Courtesy of NZXT,



A brand spankin new whole front fascia. The took a look at my work and sent me the part I asked for

free of charge.
Thanks NZXT, you guys rock!

 

Well, I finally got some appreciable progress done today.
First, I cut a hole in the mobo tray for access to the cpu cooler. Not exactly foward thinking, but it's a nice addition.


I flared out the sides around the screw mounts, just in case. Ok just for the heck of it.


Speaking of the cpu cooler, I decided to add a layer of plexi to make it a little thicker, and
hold more pressure against the cpu.


I also cleaned up the edges of the various cuts. I had planned on filing them straight, but I
decided that sucks so I just used my dremel.


Not too bad, actually. Not perfect, but close enough for government work. The edges are
not sharp at all, but I probably will give em a little sanding, just for fun. (huh?)

Gots to do me some measurin. I'm taking measurements for the 'wire channel.' I had
some pieces actually cut for this already, here's an older picture of it;


but I decided to incorporate the ram cooler into it. So, I measured, and I cut and I drilled
and her we go,




a ram cooler. Or, as the say in France, ze ram coola


I will file the holes square, (sound familiar?) and I will put spacers between the fan and
the panel, so it wont restrict airflow. I may put some mesh in there, to better hide the fans.

Speaking of mesh, (like the seque's here?) I am kinda thinking of using this panelling for
the right side. Too many times the right side goes neglected, ignored. I am thinking I'll use
this, with some mesh behind it so you can't see through it.



I had also took the heatsinks off the mobo, to replace the TIM. I had heard it helps.
Here is my 790i digital nekked;



now now boys, it's not polite to stare.

 

A quick add on; my ram cooler;