Case Mod - In Progress Banished - 24.06.2010 BIG UPDATE.

I am going to write the first post out again as when I went to change the title for the new updates and it replaced my post with my new update... so tomorrow I will re write a new introduction with all my sketchup designs again..

 

Stubmled into a problem already.. but at least i have good news as well as the bad...

My zalman flower cooler is too tall to fit inside my case, even if I made my own motherboard tray and mounted it farther back it would just cause a lot of headaches I would rather avoid so....

say hello to a new cooler the zalman CNPS 8000A


I found it rather difficult to pick a new cooler as I was limited by height, and by height I mean the width of the case. what do you guys think about the cooler?

The better news...
I will keep a long story short but I was unemployed on job-seekers last year and my claim was lost in office paperwork so I never received any money, well half a year later i get a letter and the rest is history (by history I mean a couple of hundred in my bank account!)

So here is what I have on order so far...

2x NANOXIA DX140 140mm 27.64CFM @ 700rpm (17db )

Will need a few more before I finish.

And for the top panel:
Altec Lansing VS2421 2.1 speakers – 28 Watts RMS

I really didnt want anything too powerfull as I want to avoid terrible metal vibrating rattle sounds, will see how that goes!

A 500mm x 500mm x 1mm perforated aluminium sheet

2x Dark tinted acrylic sheets A3 size

But something I am looking forward to the most...... A new camera.
maybe not the best by far but it has a lot of good features for the price.

NIKON L110


Once again let me know what you think of the camera and the cpu cooler..

I didnt even realise I havent introduced myself...
My name is Steven and I am from King's Lynn, Norfolk (south east England)
I am 26 and I am currently a bin man... lol

everything should be here by monday but some of it will come tomorrow, its gonna be a busy weekend!!

 

Hello Steven,

First, let me wish you good luck for your mod. I guess it's gonna be awesome (and very, very tall) even if I'm not a big fan of phantoms (they scare me... that's life)

I'm not an expert for the hardware, but I can make some comments about the camera, Nikon L110.

For what I read here and there, in different forums and reviews, it seems to be a good camera, and not too expensive. But it doesn't make RAWs files (NEF, in Nikon's language), and for me, it's a big problem. Because even if JPG can be pretty good, with RAWs files you will be easier to modify the photo, and I'm thinking about the white balance, the contrast, the gamma and things like that, which won't change your life, but will make your your pictures a little a bit better (and "a little bit" is still good to take).

That's why, if you absolutely want to buy a bridge camera, I suggest you to have a look at the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, which is a little bit more expensive (about £ 40-50), but makes RAWs files and has a wider aperture (maximum aperture is f:2, which is more than twice brighter than the Nikon's f:3,5). A wider aperture will be benefit for available light and a shorter depth of field.


So, now, good luck for your mod. I'll follow this one

 

I'm liking the idea of integrating the speakers into the case,I hope you can pull it off with decent sound.

 

Thanx for the info, much appreciated.

That low profile zalman cooler is going back as it only fits in 2 directions and motherboard heatpipes are blocking fitting....
So now I got to find me a new cooler with a max height of 140mm... any ideas???

Lots of pics from weekend progress coming either tonight or tomorrow!!!

 

Phew what a weekend, and it all started with a tidal wave of deliveries..


Here are the speakers (shush, dont tell them I am ripping them to pieces!)


Not bad for a hand held close up if I say so myself


New fans


nicely sleeved


I spent friday evening wasting my time lapping a heatsink thats now going back grrr.
It came like this.



Then I got this tip for lapping from someone elses log here on bit tech, I must say it works well.
Glass place mat and 1000 grit, then up to 1200 grit and thats as far as I was going as I had no more wet and dry.


so much better dont you agree?



This is a tribal skull design I found on google


As soon as I saw it I thought fan guard, so in my sketchup model it went. I knew when it came to making the skull guard some change in the design was inevitable to make it sturdy and practical.
Sorry there is no shots of the cutting in action as I didnt possess the camera that afteroon, but after many hours of using the dremel to cut, sand down and make one heck of a mess, this was my prize for the hard work.
Fine cuts like the teeth area for example was made with a fine drill bit pulled through the acrylic gouging out thin lines.


Next came paint prep work, the acrylic is getting sprayed as I dont feel its the green I was aiming for.


Making use of the nice sun whilst its out..


After a few coats in the sun and a couple of coats of clear.



Here is the lanky Tower case as she stands, only removed the front as this will not be used







Not wasting any more time I jumped straight into it removing the rivets.





As for mounting the Hdd cage up the top I had to remove 1 bump on either side of where I was attaching it


I cut out the centre and gently hammered it flat.





Marking out where to cut holes for the mounting slots





The underside - completed except for the fact that I have used screws as temporary mounting untill I get home and rivet it together.


from the top


In place



The right side window panel is cut, filed down and sanded ready for painting.


Mesh added.




I like this picture












Speakers have been removed from there housings with no problems, I am looking at designing a way to mount the power circuitry and dials on the back of the case. I am also still trying to find a decent cooler for my CPU no higher than 140mm.


I am thinking about mounting the speakers in a thin block of wood and screwing them down through the top panel with some sort of rubber washers between the wood and the speaker, and between the speaker and the top panel, that should hopefully reduce the chances of vibration and rattle noises.

Possibly cut some green acrylic tribal frame for around the circumference of the speakers too!

Falling asleep at the keyboard typing all this so me thinks I had better get some sleep.

 

Wow, what a great start! I really like how this is going. Also, the skull is amazing!

Just wondering, what is the case?

 

Awesome modding so far. I really like where this is going and the skull is very impressive.

 

You are making some serious progress, nice work so far.

 

Whenever I look at the title of your mod I read it as 'Banishèd', with emphasis on the 'è'.


Also, great job on what you've got done so far, especially the skill.
Thou art a Supreme Dremel Artist.

 

Its not a branded case, its just from an old pc I received from my partners Grandad that I think he brought back from Malaysia. He had it for quite a few years as it was running win98 on a 1000Mhz athlon, he upgraded and I had given him a bit of help and he said I could have it for helping him. (I just wanted it for the case) I saw it and I thought to myself "I'M MODDING THAT!!"


Got a question... For the side panel im now painstakingly cutting the tribal reaper out of, what is the best adhesive for sticking acrylic and metal together? I need to know for the floating metal areas that are not directly joined to the panel any more and need to be stuck in position on the acrylic.

UPDATES SOON. hopefully no later than monday as Its my daughters birthday party this weekend.

 

Update 2

I have kinda jumped around a bit with what I have been doing.

First of all I made a start with this...



I dont know if there was an easier way to trace on my image for cutting but what I did was engrave all the way around with my dremel cutting disc using it like a pencil, then take off what was left of the paper and cut through.

I really feel like I am stretching my abilities with this project already which is good as I am learning from all the lovely mistakes I am making.. lol

Phew! one half done.



And the second



Well that looks confusing.. ummm what line do I cut inside of



Mucho better. Good ol permanent marker.


I had planned to use this.


shes an oldy but she gets the job done!

But not this time, only once i got it all marked out did I realise how difficult this was going to be.

So I ended up having to dremel it



Here are some progress pics.



And this one with the green acrylic behind, still with the protective stuff on... but you get a vague idea.



The bag of bits there are parts I will have to clamp to cut as it was getting hot holding those pieces to cut!!

I am finding it increasingly difficult to cut out sections and leave others intact for mounting on the acrylic as the metal is being cut thin in some areas and its getting weak and breaking off, fortunately thats not a problem as this is a tribal design so it can be easily blended in.

As for the really fiddly areas like the face and well most of the top half, I am just going to cut off and re-cut from another panel from another unused old system as the dremel disc is too large to cut through without catching the areas on the inside I need to keep, thats the plan so far with that.

I decided I needed a Break from all that dremel work...

So I decided to make a move to the top panel and with the speakers already removed from their housings I could get straight into marking and mounting...

What I Used.

Top panel
1x Large plank of MDF
1x compass
Speakers 1x 5inch and 2x 2.5inch
16x 3/8" tap washers
12x bolts M5
12x cap nuts
1x fizzy Vimto... yum yum





First came the marking out.

You can see where I had tried other things as templates in the thick black pen before I made things easy for myself and brought a compass.. lol



I cut inside the line and filed down to keep it as accurate as possible though the speakers will have a frame around the top anyway.



Liiiiiike a Gloooove! (Ace Ventura Style)



Then I noticed the lip around the top, and although it will have the rubber washers in place I didnt want to risk it making contact with the top panel. It had to go!!



Tadaaa, Nasty lip gone.



squared it off the best I could and drilled mounting holes.



Then the test fit.



When it came to getting the washers I didnt have long to shop that day so I brought near enough what I was looking for.



Knowing I wanted something thinner because I didnt want a huge gap between the speaker and the top panel.



Simple!



Thats one done... Just 11 more to go.

Time to cut the MDF .



Bolted in for marking out the hole. (you will notice its getting later and later)



Test mounting 2



It was getting that late that I had to go inside the garage and finish off, for light and because of the noise i was making..



Fits perfectly... shame about the poor lighting. And no thats not the right time on the wall, it was about 10:30pm

Just have to grind the bolts down to size and then put it back together again.



I only did the 4 for the sub for the time being.



Then I was blessed by my mod with my first boo-boo



My finger is still sore 3 days later.. Oh well all I have to do is test mount number 3.

I bled on it a tiny bit. lol



You will notice I have left about an extra 3mm for the height of the acrylic frame which is represented by the regular nuts underneath the capped nuts.



All done friday day and night as I didnt have time for much at the weekend because it was my daughters birthday party.


Still all looks very rough at the moment but its still early days..

I hope I get time for more this week, depends on how much work I get.
I really am enjoying it so far though, taking my time but I cant wait to see it finished!!

 

Just did a quick video to show some progress. the pictures for this progress will follow soon.



thanx for looking

 

Ah ah. Nice
Your video reminds me this one, frome "The Big Bang Theory" : "Non Newton Liquid geek test"

 

Thank you for the kind words and support Steven. I love what you're doing with this project, esp the intricate cuts in the design, that takes loads of patience! respect

 

Update 3

Here are the pictures of the past weekend and midweek

I recut the wood for the top panel as i had not drilled the mounting holes straight and it was hard to put the top panel on the wood and the speakers.

















I tried to copy my little brothers design for my subwoofer frame onto the acrylic.. but im rubbish at drawing, but i knew i would straighten it out with the sanding.



I thought about leaving it this shape... i thought it looked good as it was there. hehe



making a start on grinding out the shape



Tadaaaa!!!



now its an evil green doghnut



Sanded down and ready for paint.



Just a few light coats dried very quickly and.. bang



still dont know when im gonna finish off that darn reaper design, maybe this week if i get any free time.



Now for mounting the circuit board for the speakers.



That treacle like glue is easy to prise off... but that green stuff was mean..

But guess who won??



darn straight i did



I figured using a mix of old motherboard mounting screwless clips and motherboard stand offs would be a good way to mount the circuit board





like this



and bend some of this perforated aluminium to house it



marking out for bends



I dont really have the best working area in the world, but I make the most with what i have.. hehe



rubber mallet does nicely



simples...





this is where it shall be mounted, but on the inside of course



And then....

2nd booboo and this one was sore!!



but was worth it.!!



The holes arent great here but i wanted to make sure they where plenty big enough as not to contact with connectors, and there will be another panel on the back as this case has an ugly behind with the old 80mm fan mounts.



I will be using some acrylic to cover the sides of the circuitry board, thats when i am brave enough to shove some in the oven for bending.... yiiikes.

still have lots more work on this in the pipeline but I have ran out of funds for the moment so I cant get any sheet material but there are still a few things I can do and a few things I need to finish.

Thank you all for your encouragement so far...
Especially the one from Bill... put a smile on my face.

 

Really good work on the speaker mounting, it looks great.

 

good work!

Keep modding

 

Seriously loving that plexi around the speaker! Awesome!

 

Wow super cool i look forward to seeing some more