That's going to look very nice... I read somewhere about a hal2000 home automation kit, with voice commands... "Open the front door, HAL!!"
Pictures at last!!!!! As promised, albeit a little late, are the long awaited pictures of my progress. The first thing I set out to do was stick a motherboard tray into the internal case, along with a backplate and find room for a PSU for the system. This was harder than it seemed, as I originally intended not to have a PSU in the inner case, until I realised my PSU ATX mobo cable was too short. So I decided to stick one in, which meant I had to change the orientation of the motherboard a little further forward. This actually turned out good as it now means that all the motherboard components are placed directly over the fans, which will aid cooling somewhat. And another one for good measure: And some piccies of the back plate: I used an old U shaped shell from an old AT case to cut a 90 degree bent piece to go round to join up the backplate to the rest of the system, as I am lazy and didn't want to bend a piece of metal, plus I had the trusty angle grinder handy, so I decided I wanted to play with that more Oh, and just for a funny slant on things... An AMD athlon system powered on what?!?!? This is only a joke. I originally hacked up my PSU to include a fan by taking off a spare cover from a 235W PSU that incidentally had a fan in, and bending the heatsinks inside to accomodate it, and decided to keep the 235W PSU sticker just for a laugh. I then set out to sand the panels down from their tatty scratched versions to summit I could paint. This was a simple (or not so simple) process of applying hammerite paint stripper to the paint, letting it soak in for 15 mins, and then going at it with a scraper. After that, it is just a case of harsh (approx grade 100) wet and dry to get rid of any excess primer/paint left underneath. This is the result of the top panel: And the side panels: And all of em layed out just for good measure: Notice how the side panels now look even more similar to each other Then, for some paint. I decided on plasti-kote acrylic paint (available from B&Q and other places) as hammerite is very expensive and doesn't cover very much, whereas one can of this stuff can cover 2.25m squared, which to me was 2 coats. I also bought some plasti-kote primer, and primed em up first, and did two coats, sanding inbetween each coat with 600 grit W&D. Here's the top primed and ready to paint: And here's what it looked like when I started with my first coat of black: and when that coat was dry: This paint dries really nice and glossy, and is actually showing a reflection already after a first coat. I then proceeded to sand inbetween every coat of black with 600 grit W&D anyway, just for good measure, and did 4 coats of black. Finally, for this update, I managed to fit in the CD Rom bays and put the CD drives in. That's as far as I got apart from fitting a window and my system in for the MGS lan, and I am now working on the rest of the stuff (i.e. watercooling and waterfall panel and lighting effects) and my target it the 14th of december (a LAN inside a nuclear bunker for 3 days) Wil keep you all posted with progress
Nice work there, it's coming along nicely. Although do you really think it's such a good idea to have HAL inside a nuclear bunker for three days, alone, with all those other people to feed on?
Remember this? Well, I took you up on the idea. I originally thought, 'oh yeah, that would be cool, but all the red cold cathodes I have seen are pink' So, I decided to go to rapid electronics (not that far away) to see what I could see... ...and I found this: A 52mm ultrabright LED cluster. As I was getting desperate for a bright red LED to make the inside of my case truly red (like the picture posted by webchimp) and I couldn't get any luxeon star jobbies directly to hand, I resorted to a nice and simple cluster. It is VERY red, and a nice deep red to boot. It is so intense that it drowns out all of the colours of the various PCBs and makes them look totally red I will get a piccie of the effect of it as soon as I can, but for now just imagine what it looks like, and stay tuned for more modding madness brought to you by Shadowman
A call for help Ok, as a lot of you are no doubt aware, I was intending to have this project finished in time for G2002. That deadline was a tad ambitious to say the least, and while HAL did turn up at G2002, it was by no means complete But, it was the BIGGEST case there by a long way I am having a distinct problem with the waterfall panel in particular, and minor problems with ideas to solve it. The problem is that I got tow sheets the same size, and also made four sides for the panel, but I can't find anything to stick them together even nearly well enough to make it watertight. Looks like a total rethink is on the cards whith the waterfall, and a better way of making it watertight... Plus, I managed to break my eheim 1250 pump while testing it, by splitting the hole that the out take fitting goes in (I tightened it a little too much) So, it looks like attempting to salvage my pump, then work out how to get this waterfall to work. Another problem I have encountered is the distinct lack of water flow going through my pipe when it is going to get to the waterfall, as I rigged the whole system up without a waterfall in, and ended up watching a slow flow of water coming through the pipe that is meant to be going to the waterfall. I have a distinct feeling that this is due to the kit itself causing a lot of back pressure (my rad has 8 passes and is only 10mm fittings) Tho I am not sure how to remedy this, any suggestions from all you watercooling geniuses out there would be welcome There are many other problems that are arising, but are only little problems due to knowing the right adhesive for the job (putting the window in for example) and a few electronics issues with lighting, but the lighting is a secondary thing, the watercooling comes first really. Form over function is not my way of doing things Like I have said, any help on these matters or suggestions are welcome Will post an update ASAP with a few photos of how it's progressing for all the people who want eye candy Cheers, and merry xmas and a happy modding new year Shadowman
maybe you've already seen it ( I admit that I didn't read from the beginning ) but there's an article at gideontech.com with something like a waterfall panel. you might check that out for ideas about sealing. [Edit] Link http://www.gideontech.com/guides/water/
that case is pretty huge i love the way the the first coat looks, can imagine what it will when its all done
Ok, well after christmas this project had to be halted, as I had totally ran out of funds for my rent, never mind the project, along with the time and patience left to keep doing it. That was then. The subsequent lack of an update was because I decided to change my aim of the project, after I realised that HAL was too much of a pain in the ass to shift to a lan (Yes, it went to two lans, and is backbreaking, even with wheels on), and so I bought another case that will act as my main lan case, which means I can actually use my PC while I am modding, and take it to lans. HAL is going to turn into a server, as it is big enough, and means it won't have to be shifted everywhere too. I hit a wall with the watercooling, but I am going to strive to do something to HAL at least once a week, and eventually get it finished. It is all together now and painted minus windows and waterfall, and still haven't posted any piccies. BUT I have decided that I am going to re-start work on it this weekend, and post an update at the end of this weekend. This case is turning out to be owning my life... ... reminds me of the real HAL.... 'Sorry, you can't mod me that fast....'
