Case Mod - In Progress Project: STORMTRUPER (Update July 11, 2010)

A friend of mine was kind enough to give me a couple of old computers that he had replaced, one of them being this good old HP Pavilion 6746c.





This case has all kinds of potential for awesome, it reminds me of the helmet of a Scout Trooper.





I have been wanting to build a basic rig for the younglings, and they are huge Star Wars fans, so here we begin our journey. I'll be going pretty much off the cuff, with no real plans laid out. First, a little inspiration from the interwebs.











Okay, now on to taking stuff apart! Top and front bezel removed, as well as the motherboard tray. This is an interesting set up for the side panels, as you see here its all one piece.





Overhead shot of the side panel piece, front and top bezels, and my feet.





Motherboard tray removed.








Front bezel disassembled, I dig how easily this thing breaks down.





Finally we have the money shot of the bare chassis.





I plan to thoroughly paint every piece, so let's get the 1/8" drill bit locked and loaded to remove all the rivets.








All rivets thoroughly pwned, and the chassis is completely disassembled. I just hope I can remember how it all goes back together.








With that it's about time to call it a day, but first I want to toy with an idea for the front bezel. 140mm intake fan, with white steel mesh maybe? Thanks for looking, more updates soon.

 

This shows massive potential, the case is PERFECT for a ST-mod!
Perhaps you should get in contact with 501st legion, and hear them if they have anything lying around that could spin this build into the hyperdrive!

Definately gonna follow this one!

 

Love the idea!

Damn, that case would make for a great mITX LAN rig. It's awesome!

 

this will be interesting



wolfie

 

Thanks guys, and Baekkel- I was never aware of 501st legion, good call man!


I didn't have a lot of time today, but I did a little work on the front intake. I have this 1400mm Antec tri-cool currently not in use, so this will be our intake. I snapped the bezel back on and lined it up to decide where to mount it to the chassis.





Then marked it off for cuts and mounting holes.








It looks like we ran out of chassis for the top two fan mounts.






I have an extra steel mesh piece that was used to practice painting, I think we can use that for a bracket. Measuring the gap, it looks like I'll need a 1" x 7.25" piece.





I started to cut the mesh with a tin snips, but the excess started getting in the way, so its time for our old friend Mr. Dremel.





Here's our piece.





Now it's elbow grease time, filing down the edges and sanding off the paint.








The piece got pretty bent up, but this cheap little $25 work table that I found at my local hardware store also works as a vice by turning the handles.





The holes you see are for placing rubber pads that can be put in to hold things in place. I'm just going place the mesh piece between the boards to re-flatten it.





And here it is mocked up, not permanently mounted yet, but once I do it should do the trick.





That's all the time I had today, more to come soon.

 

Went back to work on the intake this evening, dusted off ye olde jigsaw and cut the opening in the chassis.





Here we have our opening.





Then some love with the rounded edge file.





Next up is securing the improvised mounting plate to the chassis, we'll try this two part, clear drying epoxy.





The instructions told me to mix equal parts epoxy and hardener, and do it pronto since it sets in about a minute. A vigorous mix and slapped some on.






I let that sit for about a half hour, then used a couple very small pieces of 3M double sided adhesive to tack the fan in place onto the chassis.





Since I didnt have a fan template for the mounting holes, I used a 5/32 drill bit to score my marks through the fan holes.





Once I got to the top two holes, I noticed that the epoxy wasn't holding very well.





It was still the consistency of rubber cement. I must have not had enough hardener in the mix- the gentleman at the hardware store who steered me toward this product said it gets very hard quickly, and is supposed to hold up for a long time.



This is when I came up with a better idea. First I needed to clean off that crap, so took some Goo Gone and a razor blade to it.





This worked pretty well, so next we'll take an 1/8" bit and drill a couple holes through the chassis and mounting piece.





Then load up an 1/8" rivet and do work.





Finally took a 3/16" bit to the scoring marks I made earlier, mounted up the fan, then snapped the front bezel on to see how it lined up.





Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do to finish of the bezel. I initially was thinking of filling in w/ some body filler, but that big intake will be tricky to work around. So far I'm leaning toward a hex mesh to cover the entire opening (leaving room for an optical drive on top), but I'm all ears for ideas.

 

Update: February 28, 2010

I've decided on a direction for the bezel. First, I'm going to cut the top off the outer portion of the original bezel.





I'm going to use this part, so we'll sand the cut edge down nice and smooth.





Here it is snapped back on to the main bezel piece.





I'm going to fabricate the rest. Taking a cue from Bill Owen's Biomechanical mod, I'm going to use a piece of this pink sheet insulation. I happened to have this sitting in the basement.





Then I used the original as a template.






Now to shape it using a Surform Shaver.





About a half hour later we have all these awesome pink particles everywhere.





Here's a closer look, mocked up.





That's all the time I had today. Thanks for looking, and here's a little teaser of what's in store.

 

Looks promising..

 

Thanks man, although I don't think I be able to mount the foam piece as I originally planned and be comfortable that it won't fall off I do have a plan b that I'm going to try next, but I'll need to make a new piece out of the foam first. Hopefully I'll have another update tomorrow nite

 

Being a huge Star Wars fan I am already in love with this mod. Perfect case for it and I'm stoked to see where you go with it mate! I'll definitely be watching avidly!

I would like to add that this is what I watch whenever my day isn't going so well and it never fails to make me feel better, haha

 

I approve of this mod.

 

Thanks so much, and awesome link! Stormtrooper, that means everything- I will work diligently to not disappoint

Tonight I started with making a new foam piece, this time made bigger to fit snug inside the bezel.



Then cut out the fan grill template with a hobby knife, lined it all up and marked it for cutting.




For cutting out the holes I used a tungsten carbide Dremel bit.



For intricate work like this, the flex shaft attachment for the Dremel is slick- the smaller grip allows you to hold it like a pencil.



The foam cuts like butter, although it still took about an hour. I don't quite have my Dremel black belt yet, and I took my time trying to get the cuts as accurate as possible.



Finally another of my patented poorly photographed mock up shots.



I'll have incoming updates soon, feel free to throw ideas and constructive criticism my way.

 

oh hell yeah! Star Wars 4TW! Nice one, can't wait to see the results!

btw: that's a scouttrooper, not a stormtrooper ;-)

 

It will be interesting to wee, how you make it. And how it looks, when all is done.

 

@ ringo- thanks for the input, and since the process is mostly improvised, I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out as well

@ exitus- Cheers mate! The Scout Trooper was intentional for the front- a classic Strormtrooper will also be involved before I'm done

 

Just a heads-up. I'm not sure if the Tungsten carbide tip was cheap but you don't need a bit of that caliber just to cut foam haha. Tungsten carbide is a very hard material that is pretty standard use for milling aluminum and materials like that. A standard HSS bit would be fine

 

Good call man, that's good to know. The only reason I used that bit was because I copped the foam bezel idea from Bill Owen's biomechanical mod, and that was the bit he used. I dont remember what it cost, but I don't think it was too bad.

Here begins my first foray into using body filler, I used Bondo Glass short strand fiberglass filler. I prepped the bezel first by scuffing the areas where the filler would be applied with 60 grit sandpaper, then cleaned it with a rag and soapy water. I opened the window in my basement workshop, and ran a fan on high blowing out for ventillation. I also wore a ventilator and rubber gloves, the instructions said this stuff can be gnarly.

Here we have the goodies laid out, the top of the box was used for mixing the filler with the included cream harder.



This stuff dries in minutes, so after a thorough kneading of filler/hardener, I applied about a 3/8 inch layer.



I let that dry for about a half hour, then started sanding with a 60 grit sanding block. This stuff is hard and sands slowly! Throughout the next hour and a half, I had brought in my full arsenal of sanding blocks (for the larger areas), files (to get square corners and tight spaces), and dremel w/ a sanding drum attached for cleaning up where the filler meets the bezel.



Here's a closer look after clean-up.



As you can see, its still very rough, and I still need to get into the eyes and mouth, as well as the top of the foam piece. There are also a few air pockets that will need to be re-filled. So it looks like I have at least one more application of filler, as well as loads of sanding, filing, and dremeling to do- and finally finishing with spot-filler putty for the very small air bubbles and any small scratches that may be left.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining- I knew this project was going to be a learning experience, and I'm having fun along the way. The lesson I learned here is to go thin with the filler, because sanding is a bummer.

 

Since the last update it's been slow going on the bezel. About three applications of filler, and a metric crap ton of sanding, technically speaking. Also, I've discovered that my girlfriend owns a mouse sander, which has been an huge improvement over hand sanding.

Here we have the first application of spot filler putty. I went very thin, the putty is notorious for cracking if you go too thick.



Now time to sand it down with the mouse and some 220 grit.



I repeated this process about two more times, and finally here we have it, ready for paint. Dig the psychedelic color patterns- far out man!



It looks pretty crazy, but it is very smooth to the touch, it should paint nicely. And finally, I just wanted to make sure it all fits and lines up.



As you can see I needed to use a little putty on the outer bezel piece as well, it took some damage along the way. That wraps up the update, next up will be the side panel window. Thanks for looking, more to come soon.

 

That turned out very well. Star Wars Cheesecake!

 

Subbed, looks wicked