Modding Macro Case - by Macroman

macroman

Wow! Your LianLi case is just about the finest looking case I've ever seen. If you ever do start selling your mods, please let me know. I'll buy them all!!

I know, more fun if I do it myself, but I just don't have the time and it would take a long time to develop the required skills. Wouldn't be able to buy enough bay covers

I hope you can fnd the time to add more detailed information on how you constructed the reobus and your other great mods.

Jerry

 

Bay Covers

Lordflash,

You can get both 3.5" and 5.5" LainLi bay covers here:

http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=S&Category_Code=LL

I had to find a place to get them, once I start some of macroman's mods, I know I'm gonna need some more

Jerry

 

Brushed Aluminum Knobs

i_h8clowns

You mentioned in a previous post that you found a source in the U.S. to get the knobs used on macroman's reobus.

Would you mind telling me where that might be?

Getting them from overseas would be an expensive undertaking.

Thanks in advance

Jerry

 

Push-on/off rheostat

Macroman, could you please provide the pinout on the rheostat you used in hte "Macro case" project? It's the # 377-4782 from RS ones.

The rheostat got like six pins, and I have'nt got a multimeter

fear the power of MSpaint!

 

Fibre Optin Cable

Realize I'm posting to an old thread - but

For the folks in the U.S. interested in getting fibre optic cable, by the foot, try here:

http://fibreopticproducts.com

I got 4 feet of jacketed 1mm for $2.20. Shipping was $2.50. Not too shabby, should have ordered more. They have lots of lighting products, including "lighting wire" (same as Glow wire I think), LEDS, etc.

Jerry

 

"Realize I'm posting to an old thread - but

For the folks in the U.S. interested in getting fibre optic cable, by the foot, try here:

http://fibreopticproducts.com

I got 4 feet of jacketed 1mm for $2.20. Shipping was $2.50. Not too shabby, should have ordered more. They have lots of lighting products, including "lighting wire" (same as Glow wire I think), LEDS, etc.

Jerry"

perhaps you mean

http://fiberopticproducts.com ???

I think the Brits have gotten to you, you have to fight it

 

Coords666

Hmmm, no wonder it took me so flippin' long to find anything concerning fiber optics in my searches.

Kinda like "theater" and "theatre" huh?

Thanks for correcting my link.

Jerry

 

Fibre cables

Atleast if youre scandinavian, you can get fibreoptic cable (originally designed for data transmission) from ELFA, at about $2 per meter.

Try product-numers 55-953-27 and 55-955-25
Shipping is a bitch, but I live close to the shop

 

katma|

Thanks for the link and pointing out that you live close to the shop.

My cost here in the U.S. for 4 feet was only $4.70 including shipping. Not too bad.

Thanks again.

Jerry

 

I am wondering if anyone did find a source in the US for those knobs like the ones used on this case. I know they sell them at maplins but I would like a US Online Distributer if possible.

Thanks

PS: Did you find the fiberoptics link from my post on the Macro Black case? hehe

 

Da Fan Man

No, I did not find the link to the fiber optics from your post. I believe your post may have been first, but I found the web site on my on searching, though I misspelled fiber at first

Yes, I did get a link to a place that sells the knobs. They look just like the ones from Malpins, but the photo is not near as good as the one on Malpins (it is just a single b&w shot). The link is:

http://www.abra-electronics.com//catalog/knobs/450_6015.html

I got the link from i_h8clowns

I believe he said he ordered some of the knobs.

Have to ask him if they are the same.

I've also already received an order for the aluminum matte sheets, they are nice.

Jerry

 

Hey,

No big deal was just wondering, took me a while to find it, I just ordered some from their site so should have some soon.

Thanks for the link to those knobs, I might order some today, post here if you verify that they are the same as the ones maplin sells, they look similar to me.

-Matt

 

Matt,

Yeah, I got 4 feet of 1mm and a couple feet of 3mm. Nice stuff and reasonable price.

I haven't ordered any knobs yet. Thinking of getting the Rheobus from PC Mods and using the those knobs and trying to do the LED mod on them.

I haven't been able to locate a rheobus (in the US) like Macroman used though - he posted a link on where to get them in the UK, but like the knobs, would be kinda expensive to order from the US.

I'll let you know if I find a place.

Lemmie know if the knobs are the same if you get them first.

Since I don't have the skills that macroman does, I had to cheat on my Lian Li case and get it done by a pro, it will be back from DesignComp.com on Tuesday. I got pretty much all the mods he does, except no lights. Can't hardly wait.

Jerry

 

Hey,

Well that place with the knobs has a $25 minimum and I already spent $50 at jameco and $15 at that fiberoptic place, so I dont really wanna spend another $35 ($25 + shipping) for some knobs and other stuff I dont need, hehe, so, I allready have some knobs I might just mess with them and see if I can get them to work nicely.

I am just going to build my own LM350 Based BayBus and then route it out like on the Macro Black case thru LM3914 Chips to make the bar graph type display only using the optics.

If you want to go the easy way www.pcmods.com and www.caseetc.com both sell Rheobus Things, the CaseEtc one is better as it uses LM317 or LM350 chips, not sure which, and it costs a bit less. Depends on how many fans you want on each channel

Anyway I gotta go eat then Ill be back to see if I can find those knobs somewhere else with no minimum

 

Matt

Another link for knobs:

http://www.nteinc.com/pot_web/jd.html

Those look pretty close, but I don't know about any minimums or prices, just found them looking around.

Thanks for the other link for a rheobus. I think the one at PC Mods will handle more wattage. I'm not an electronics savy guy, so I don't know how the watts go to amps, but I think the PC Mods will handle more. but isn't it like, a 300 watt light bulb is 3 amps? So, wouldn't the one from PC Mods be better at 17watts per channel?

I plan to have 2-80mm, 2-92mm, 2-80mm and 1-120mm fans on the rheobus.

I wish I had the know how to build the one you are talking about from the "Black" case - that is one awesome case!!!

Anyway, I'm hoping the get the rheobus with the knobs with LEDs working. I will probably try recessing the knobs, don't know about the blue glow wire behind them, although that would look very nice.

I have a Digital Doc 5 and I'm going to try blue LED mod on it.

I'm also going to try something that I haven't heard about before. I asked over at PC Mods and they think it might work.

Here's a copy of my e-mail to them about what I want to do:
-------------------------------------------------
Your Rheobus will control the speed of any fan connected to it.

The Digital Doc 5 does not control fan speed, but can control at what case temperature any fan connected to it turns on and when the case temperature goes below the set temperature, the fan will turn off. It also monitors RPMs and will sound an alarm if a fan drops below your set RPM or dies altogether.

Since the Enermax fans with their own potentiometers also allows you to control fan speed, I was hoping combining all three would give me what I want without having to open my case to change a fan speed.

Your Rheobus would replace the potentiometers on my Enermax fans giving me the fan speed control without opening my case and the wiring in already in place for the connection to the your fan bus on the Enermax fans. The other 3 pin wiring on the Enermax fans would connect to the Digital Doc 5, which is where power to the fans comes from and RPM monitoring. I was just wondering if you thought everything would function with the power coming from the DD5 and the extra two wires from each fan going to your rehobus for speed control.

Since I have 7 fans, no sense in having all seven of them come on when the computer is first turned on and in the winter time. In the summer time (it gets quite hot here in the Mojave desert), no doubt all fans would come on pretty quick and then I can turn them to full speed when needed.

Sound like a plan?
-------------------------------

Do you think that might work Matt?

Jerry

 

Hey, thanks for the link I will check it out here in a few minutes

No problem about the links, yes I believe the PCMods One will handle a bit more wattage, its just a little more spendy and not quite as nice out of the box I dont think (keep in mind I have not had either product personally).


Now as for your question lemme see If I got this strait.

You want to have your fans hooked up to the Rheobus so you can control their speed from outside the case. Then you also want to have them hooked up to your digidock so if its too warm/cold they turn on/off respecivly? And you still want the RPM monitoring for alarms and stuff right?

Well if Im reading your right no I dont think that is possible, at least not without a fair amount of modding. Their are 3 wires on the fans you are speaking of, Red, Black, and probably yellow or blue, Red is +12v, Black is ground, and the other wire is RPM monitoring.

When you plug fans into your digidock you plug in all three I believe, that way it can monitor the RMPs as well as adjust power.

Now When you hook the fan up to the rheobus you will be using the + and - wires therefore not being able to have those hooked up to the digidock for power on/off at particular temps.

What you could do is hook the RPM sensor up to the Digidock so that if a fan dies or slows down to much it would sound an alarm so you could do something.

As for not wanting fans to come on with the PC then you could just turn that particular knob all the way down, if that still lets the fan run you could pop a SPST switch inline to turn the fan all the way off.

Hope some of that helps or makes sense, I dont have a digidock personally, what your looking at to do everything you want is a single digital baybus type thing, lots of work involved in something like that though.

If you have any more questions or whatever ICQ me at 145668584 or email at mklukas@att.net or post here, either way.

Later
Matt

 

Matt,

You are right in everything that you pointed out.

I know that you can't do what I want to do with a three wire fan, + - and rpm monitor.

The difference is, the Enermax fans come with 5 wires. A regular 3 pin plug with the+ - and rpm monitor wire. The other two wires are connected to a small potentiometer that controlls fan speed. It won't turn the fan all the way off, but goes from like a low speed to full speed and anything in between. This is where I would cut off the Enermax potemtiometer and connect it's wires to the rheobus to achieve fan speed control (if it would work). The 3 pin wire would connect to the Digital Doc and give me power, rpm monitoring and the ability to not have the fan come on until a set temperature is reached and go off when is gets below the set temp. Then while it's on, I can further control the speed with the rheobus, all without opening my case.

Make any more sense now?

I'll take a digital photo of one of the Enermax fans and send it to your e-mail so you can see what I mean.

Thanks for your help - I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous, I just don't want to fry something.

Jerry

 

Hi
Will there be a guide showing how to make such a cool fanbus?
If yes; when will it be out?

Charos

 

Welcome to the forums!

the article u are looking for is:

http://www.bit-tech.net/article/52/

HTH

BiGGiE

 

THX

But I mean the fanbus of Macros’ Case:
http://bit-tech.net/article/35/8
How was this done?

Charos