First mod...suggestions please

As promised, with the arrival of my digi camera during the holidays, I am starting my mod

Well technically I started by deconstructing things, but the building shall begin now.



Thats what my system currently looks like (sorry about the large size of the pic, i will resize asap)

What are your suggestions for what I should do
I still have the old case cover, but I would like to replace everything with something new.

Thanks!

-troy

 

Here is the standard cover on...

Im now thinking it might be able to be incorporated into my design, to save costs



I can move back the cdroms/floppy flush with the front

but I am wondering what will look best in the front

I currently think a custom plexi front, if I am really ambitious I could remove the faceplates of the drives and just have button/drawers cut out of the plexi

I wouldnt mind a bubbles that float up and then are pumped down for the bottom of the front, and some sort of window or etch in the sides of the case

 

start off by reducing the images to 640x480 or smaller and make em clickable for larger

noone wants to see 1600x1200 or something images on a forum

 

As I said...

(sorry about the large size of the pic, i will resize asap)

the pictures are resized.

 

The current plan

For the front of the case, I wish to have a little window that shows liquid with bubbles floating upwards

So...I am going to construct a case, make a "pump" and mount that in the front part of the case

I took apart a Microsoft CRM thingy and am going to use the plexi from that (of course removing the microsoft crap at some point)



Theres just cardboard right now where i need to make some sort of plastic which attachs to the base part, and the plexi bolts into.



A side view shows the width, its relatively thin.
A major concern right now will be attaching plastic pieces together watertight...

Any suggestions?
for the bolt on portion im considering some sort of rubber seal, for the portion thats currently cardboard im thinking some sort of "glue" or something to attach them, and then some silicone bead ran down the edges.

 

How about some compression?

They are still 115 k each! Takes me over a min to get those 2 small photos down.

 

Think: sillicone

 

Think silicone?

Can you explain?

I said i was going to use silicone for the one part, but I dont know if I would like how it would look for attacking the clear plexi to the plastic...

 

Sillicone is used maily as a sealiant. It can also be used for glue. If you need to fill a gap, go to your local hardware store with the little peice you have, and ask them for something that would expand to fit that and be water tight. The benifit of having sillicone over a more solid block is that sillicone won't crack or leak if it gets compressed (like if your playing with it, or once it's installed a little bit of pressure is applied to it). And if your worried about the look, use a small rounded silver (or other color) guard arround the edges, frame in the front. It'd look good, and carry forward the sides of the case, insted of an abrubt stop.

 

Is that an at system?

 

looks like ATX to me... but I'm usually wrong about these things...

as for the bubbly things on the front - liquid neons!

 

the switch on the front looks like one from an at power supply.

 

I didn't notice it at first, but yeah, that does look like an AT power switch.

 

It's def ATX, The mobos on an AT board are much smaller and the pci and isa slots take up most of the board and the only I/O on it is the old huge keyboard or ps/2 port therefore the cases are smaller. It only looks like an AT pwr switch beceause it it larger then normal usually due to a larger power button the bezle. There fore it is def ATX. Oh, nice ideas and keep the updates coming.

-Bob

 

You are right, it is atx

as for the large power button...thats actually my reset button

and yes, it is huge

my power button is right beside the floppy

 

nice reset gonna replace it?

 

haha im not going to use it once i start the new front for the case

I dont ever turn my computer off let alone reset it

I like dark computers, so I will likely go all black for the monitor and case, with silver highlights and green lights

And I currently want a plexi front with it painted black around the outside/top and clear where the bubble portion will be

Im just wondering how to incorporate the cdroms and disk drive

 

ooooooooooo! I've got an idea! Got an old cd-rom laying arround? If so, put the bottom of the front plexi on a hinge, then use your old cd-rom (don't hook it up to an IDE cable, just power) by putting it in the bottom 5.25" slot, then attach the door to the front pannel (again, you will need to put some sort of a hinge/sliding system on the pannel where it meets the door), and re-route the cd-rom eject button. Then cover up all the un-used parts of the front of the case with a sheet of aluminium or other metal or something, and mount your main optical drives and floppy drive above your dummy cd-rom drive (use a drive bay converter for the floppy drive). And just looking at your case again, you may have to make another 5.25" drive bay if you want to go this route, but it would look %*#^ing sweet! Just think, *click* front pannel tilts forward..... *click* front pannel retracts.....



[EDIT] heh, 200th post [/EDIT]

 

Hehe...

That is a nice idea, not very practical for my project tho

Right now I really want a "bubble window"...however the main problem would be how to make a water pump at a low cost
Im now thinking of using air bubbles instead of using an oil/water mixture with the oil being pumped from the top of the window back to the bottom and bubbling back up

Air bubbles might be cheaper/easier (i can get a realllllly cheap air pump meant for aquariums)

 

Btw, check out this bit from MetkuMods: [http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/bubbles/index_eng Same basic idea as what your trying to do. Happy modding!