Case Mod - In Progress Project: Reverse² [completed]

Thanks guys! Next update will be soon... i hope. =)

 

Very nice work. Sorry if you posted it already, but where abouts did you get the LED strips? I've seen these at Architectural home shows but they are way over-priced for my liking.

 

Damn! I'm loving your keyboard! nice!

 

mmm... better than sex... i think, i am only 14.

 

hahaha well i guess you'll just have to wait and see

 

I got them from DeboLED, a dutch LED/lighting webshop http://www.deboled.nl/

Thanks man! It's a beauty.

Thanks =)

Indeed.

As for an update, the plexiglass is showing to be a pain in the ---.....
It's not working as I hoped it would work....

 

The front panel, Orange!:
Ok, a small update. But it took me ages.
I have tried multiple things to achieve a fitting piece of acrylic for the frontpanel.
Method 1: Taking a sharp knife to make a small cut along the desired size of the slot.
This didn’t work… The bar was way too small to make a clean fracture. I tried 2 times, and both tries turned out miserable.

Method 2: Jigsaw. Jagged cuts. Not clean enough.

Method 3: Table saw. The cut was clean, but way too big. I could not have the saw make the cuts as narrow as I wanted it to.

Method 4: Handsaw. This turned out to be the best method.
I made the cuts with a handsaw. About 2 or 3 mm too big. The excess material would be shaved, sanded and burned off. Took the longest (2 attempts took over 3 hours)…
But It was worth it.

After the first unsuccessful attempts I stopped making photographs… I just wanted to get it done so I could go on…

So, without further ado, here are the pictures of my finished frontpanel-lightning!


Photo with the softbox on full power..


Toning it down a bit.


Per- wait for it- fect fit!

Now that is sweet!


This update was sponsored by:

 

looks great!! And i know what you mean, I have spent hours cutting out what you would think to be such simple designs.

well done for not giving in when the project bites back.

 

Very nice project mate! Really love your design and everything on this mod!

 

hey any updates?

 

Due to other things (with a higher priority) I haven't been able to do anything on this build for the last month.
I do however plan on picking it up friday/saturday. This project isn't dead =D

 

Perfect timing. I just sub'd. Awesome job so far.

 

Excellent timing indeed Only just got back online after a hellish 12 month wait (redundancies, other troubles, dont ask) in time to find some great mods of which this is a damn fine example

Loving the clean, subtle styling and colour scheme and if thats not one of the most art-deco looking heat sinks i'll eat my own legs! Keep it going!

P.S. The nasty smell you experienced from the Bitumen sound dampening is because Bitumen is, in fact, tar of a sort. Its the really thick horrible stuff left over at the bottom during the fractional distillation of crude oil. Nasty stuff but yet clearly has uses Never thought i'd hear of it in a PC case though

 

Thanks man!

Indeed, i did some research on it, and you're spot on about it. It's tar. And it smells... And it makes my PC a hell of a lot quieter! =)

I'm just posting to inform you all that I am VERY close to finishing this mod.
I have modded this weekend, and did most of my electrical work.

I'm hoping for some pretty weather next weekend, so I can take my beauty outside for a photo shoot.

Stand by for an update (with pics ofcourse)

 

Woo! Day shots

 

Covering up my PSU (cables):
Alright, It’s been a while… A month.. I simply didn’t have any time to work on it.
But, on the other side. This was the last big step I had to take before completing this project.

The cables on the bottom of the case are visible through the window. It simply is too ugly to leave it this way.
So, I had to create some sort of cover.

It all started with a piece of 3mm clear plexi. I had some of it spare, and started cutting away with the hacksaw. The result was jagged and not that good. Then I had a go at it with the jigsaw. Again, the result was horrible… The plexi was too flexible which caused it too flex while the saw was working… Result? The plexi broke into little pieces….

So I used the well-known snap method.
You use a sharp knife to make a breaking line across the plexi. Then you break it off on that point. Result? Nice and straight lines.

So I took the plexi outside because the weather was nice.

The plexi snapped to size, and cable holes cut out:


So, Let’s frost the plexi.
180 grit sandpaper:


Final result:

The reason I did this, was to make sure the paint (and primer) would stick properly.

So the next step was (ofcourse), priming the finished piece.


Primer dried, perfectly!


Next step:
Adding structure to the plexi, in the form of 2 pieces of angled aluminium (yes, aluminium not aluminum ).
I wanted the bars to look clean, and make sure they couldn’t damage the wires or case later on. So I decided to make the edges of the bars round.

The tools of the trade:


And the end result:


Next step, preparing the bars for the glue and the paint.

The bar on the front has been sanded, the bar behind it is yet to be sanded. See the difference?

Now, let’s glue it all together… With my new best friend. Super glue!


Adding the glue, just enough. I don’t want any drips.

And that’s the way they are glued together!

And, once again with Super glue, I glued the bars to the prepared plexi:

Like this.

I let the glue set for a while, added a final layer of primer (mostly to the bars), and brought out he spray-paint.
Black. Glossy Black!

Funny, you can see the orange skin in this image, this picture was taken right after the first coat of paint.

Let the paint cure for a while before getting to the next step.
The lights.

I took the SMD LED strip I received from the guys at DeBoLED


These strips are amazing, the sticky backing sticks like hell.
And I added it like this:


And, the moment I had been waiting for since the second I started with it…
TURN ON THE LIGHTS!

(This was at about 5V, while the strips are designed for 12V)


From this angle, the lights simply can’t be seen. And that’s the way (ahah ahah) I like it!

And to end this update, a shot with the lights on 12V.


Looking good!

 

Looking forward to see this done! And to see it without any lights...

Amazing!

 

Thanks man!
Yes, I am very curious about the final looks in the sun aswell.
It has been running for quit a while now, so I'm used to seeing it without too much light.

 

Lookin schweeeeeet!

 

Thanks ModaRobby!

I have a smal question for all of you...
The divider (latest update) is currently being pushed away (towards the window) by the SATA cable.
Now it would be fixed if I would secure the divider to the PSU.
Could I do this by using some refrigerator magnets? They are flat, and are easily cut to size.
They would also have sufficient sticking power, but the main question is... Would they damage my PSU or any other components?

And if so, what else could I use?