Well this is my first mod project, so here goes nothing! The idea behind this mod is to turn this beige craptastic case into something worthy. So the plan is: - upgrade the rear exhaust from 80mm to 92mm - 90% - reinforce the front bezel - 90% - add a hugeazz 120mm turbine intake ala MNPC - 50% - rework the front bezel plastic w/bondo - 10% - paint case. Planning on a metallic blue and black scheme - 0% - cut playboy girl silhouette in left panel (going to put UV acrylic behind it to light it) - 0% - paint playboy girl on right panel (My GF is going to do this, she's an artist. I'm not ) - 0% - hinge the left side panel to the chassis - 10% Here's my poor victim! A few minutes with the drill and I made short work of the rivets holding the top panel on. I then layed out and cut the rear 92mm fan exhaust. Next up I layed out my 120mm template on the front sheet metal and started cutting. Once that was done, I had to figure out how to cut the front bezel in exactly the same place as the metal so that the duct and fan line up. A little hard thinking and I came up with a decent solution. I proceeded to dremel the plastic and pray everything lined up. Success! Everything fits prefectly! I'm using a 5" pipe coupler for my duct. It's made of ABS plastic. Once I had both holes cut, I measured how long the duct needed to be and then cut the coupler to match. I was originally going to use a closet flange as others have, but I couldn't find one that fit a 120mm fan @ home depot. The pipe coupler fit perfectly, so that's what I used. I had to flatten one side of the coupler to fit in my hole. The only area that I could fit the fan into was right against the botton of the case, so the wall thickness of the coupler meant that my hole had to extend below the bottom of the case. Once I had cut the bezel up, it was so floppy I was thinking of putting metal or fiberglass reinforcing on the backside of it to strengthen it. Once I had epoxied the duct in though, the panel was remarkably strong. I didn't think that bondo would hold on the bottom where I had to cut the plastic out so.... I just happened to be at the store and picked up some fiberglass for another project. I figured why not give it a go and see how it works. I've never used fiberglass before, so I'll see how it works. Turned out pretty well I think! There were a couple of spots right at the corner between the front and bottom plastic that didn't bond well, so I sanded those down. However the fiberglass bonded extremely well with the ABS and the bezel and formed a very nice bottom on the plastic for me to bondo now. I don't have pics yet, but tonight I epoxied 2 of the 4 5.25" drive covers and the 2-3.5" covers into the bezel. I'm going to bondo and smooth the front. An added bonus, the bezel is much stiffer now. If you look at the bottom of the front bezel, you'll notice that the plastic has a cutout about 1" from the bottom. The cutout area is about 3/16" lower that the rest of the plastic. I would like the front panel to be nice and smooth, so how would you suggest that I fill this area? Will bondo hold alright, or do I need to use fiberglass again? Anyways, comments, questions, concerns, everything is welcome.
wow your must have a very understanding gilfreind to have her paint a playboy girl silhouette on the side of your case, like the idea, mod on brother
In here, forum are lots of that looking blowholes. Only the FAN's are the different component on these mod's. I can say also that I like these mods, but I would like to encourage people to make different / unique design to cases. But.. Good start.
So does anyone have any advice for filling the cutout? Will bondo work, or do I need to use something else before bondoing?
bondo should work,(i'm not totally sure but i think it should, you may want to try a "filler" though, ah who cares try it!!!)
Update! I'm nolonger a Bondo virgin! yay! lol! Anyways, I've got two layers of bondo on the front panel now. The first layer was a little rough and took a lot of sanding to bring it down. This is a pic of the second layer drying and I think it looks not too bad. I'm using Bondo-Glass (Bondo with glass fiber reinforcing) for the filler work and then a glazing finisher. I've also been busy sanding down the panels and repainting everything. I'm wet-sanding all of the outside panel and should start priming those tonight. I've got most of the inside metalwork painted... I'm pretty much done painting the inside metalwork... the HD cage, 5.25" cage, and the top panel are all done as well. Until next update!
Hmm, want to fill me in on this bondo-glass? Plz But bout your case, I like the intake, hurry up already,
The autobody guy suggested using the -glass version rather than the regular stuff because he thought it would bond better and be stronger. Seems to be working well so far.
u beat me to it its fiber glass reinforced bondo, just pick it up at ur local walmart or automotive store, its for use in places that bono isnt stronge enough i.e a hole
Hmmm.....Never seen it before, I guess I gotta go pick some up, I always redo my bezels with regular bondo. Thanks much for the info and pic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a pic after sanding the 2nd bondo layer. Things are starting to take shape. I'm thinking I'll probably put down 2 more layers before it's perfect. I ran out of sand paper tonight so I'll have to stop by the hardware store on my way home from work tomorrow. This damn bondo is hard to sand! I think I'll pick up some 100 grit wet/dry paper and see how that works.
I sand mine with 80 grit, then 150. Make sure to pick up some spot filler for filling in little holes that bondo wont get (you will see what I mean if you already dont know) Im interested to see how this project turns out
OK, I need some bondo and painting advice here. I picked up some 80 grit paper as per Dimazz's reccomendation. Excellent brother! Now this is how sand paper is supposed to work! I got 2 more layers of bondo on the front last night (sorry no pics) and sanded. Now to my sanding question... This bondo glass I'm using is pretty thick stuff and is really hard to get a nice even and smooth finish on. After sanding it down I discover an area that I didn't get enough bondo in, arg! I have some spot filler and finishing putty as well, so I think I'm going to just use that to put the final coat on the entire panel. Now, I'm using the 80 grit paper to do my sanding right now, if I'm going to put a final coat of finishing putty on, do I need to sand the bondo-glass to anything more than 80 grit? Also, a painting question. I want to have a nice glassy smooth piano like finish on the case. The original finish was a porus plastic like crap, so I wet-sanded that smooth using 400 grit. I put on the first coat of primer last night. Now, what painting/sanding procedure should I use for the best finish? This is what I was planning to do, but I don't know if it will yield the desired results. 1) wet-sand 400 grit 2) prime <-- done up to here thus far 3) wet-sand 400 grit 4) 2nd coat primer 5) wet-sand 800 grit 6) 1st coat paint 7) wet-sand 800 grit 8) 2nd coat paint 9) wet-sand 1000 grit 10) clear coat Please advise
Yes, you will need to sand the bondo up to 150 grit before the spot filler. Then spot fill and sand with 150 again. As for painting yes, that is how you want to do it. But you didnt continue your steps past clear, soooo, ill do it for ya Clear 2-3 very thick coats, no sanding in between Wet sand 400 until its even, when you start sanding there will be little "pores" that apppear in the clear. Just keep sanding till ALL of them are gone. If you dont sand till every single one is gone it will look like poo when you polish it, I know its a tedious procces but you have to do it. Then get yourself some 3M 3 step polishing compound, found here. Read the bottle for usage instructions, also either use a polishing pad or a sock to polish, anything cotton works. LINKIE FOR POLISH http://www21.3m.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.E...7836&xid=28181&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=0 Trust me, it will be worth it to buy that stuff in the end. Good luck with the rest of the project!!!
I'm all about the big holes! haha Just wait until I get the girl silhouette cut in the side! Girls and holes and..... I think my next mod should be a playboy rig. Dimazz: Which polishing compound are you refering to exactly. I don't see the '3 step' stuff your talking about??
update!! Sorry for the lask of updates, I've been busy working on the computer, among other things. I'm sure you've seen enough bondo and priming pics anyways. So, onto the pics. I've got the panels painted now, all that's left is to put the final coat of clearcoat on. I'll give em a very light sanding with 2k grit and put the final coat on. Lessons learned: I didn't get the original beige finish sanded down enough and you can still see a little of the original texture through the paint. Also, SAND LIGHTLY even with the high grit paper when sanding your paint, it comes off very easily! hehe O-well. The paint is amazingly shiny and refelective, which the pics don'e show that well. I've put numerous coats of bondo on the front and finally primed it to see how it looked. Although the pics is crap, it's looking not too bad. There are a couple little holes that need filling, but overall pretty good! I'm a little worried that you can see the areas where I used the spot filler. It looks like it's more absorbant than the regular bondo. Do I need to worry?? The Top panel lookin all shiny
