This will be my first project log. It was a tough decision as to whether or not to even post a log - but in the end I decided that it would be motivational for me to complete it and helpful to receive some feedback. So here it is... Hardware: AMD Athlon Xp 2700+ Chaintech 7NJL1 Apogee NForce 2 Board 2 x 256 pc2700 Kingston ram Chaintech Geforce 5200 128meg 8x AGP video card 2 x 40 Gig HDDs (Western Digital and a Seagate) 1 x generic cd-r/rw (will probably be replaced with a DVD R/RW before I am done) AT work we had a dead rackmount APC SmartUPS 1400 - it was replaced and not having anything better to do with it I decided it would make a good base for my first Mod: and another... Sorry about the quality of the images - I swear I have a 810K pixel digital camera! Unfortunately I gutted the system without taking any pictures of the process. But here are a few gutted pics: This will give you an idea of the case, It is 17 inches wide by 13 1/4 inches deep by 5 inches high. The size will make it a tight fit for my equipment and since I have no cash - I have to work/mod what i have to make it all fit! The motherboard is a standard ATX board: And here we have a paper cutout so I can form the I/O shield. The power supply has proven to be one of the more difficult items to work with (actually it is the ps the mobo cd drive and hdds together that make it tough) Here it is - just a standard 250 watt supply: (no suggestions on upgrading this - I don't have the money) Next to the ps is my CBox 2 - which I will be adding to the mix as well. My plan for the ps is to modify it down (the black line is where I intend to cut it down: I will be moving the on/off switch and the plug input. And finally - here are my two HDDs: The plan is to fit all of these parts plus a cd drive into the SmartUPS case in the hopes of making a very clean looking system (kind of like a cd player or DVD player) This is all I have time for now - I will do my best to update often! I am willing to take any suggestions that you have! Thanks for letting me share my idea.
don't know why you were hesitant to post this, it looks like it'll be cool! can't wait to see the next update ^^
Really nice idea, it looks like the case is oddly well suited for it if you plan it out well. Just be careful with the PSU moding. I hope you do something about that whitish/beigeish front bezel!
My first Update Progress has been a little slow - mostly I have been working on my design concept - my main problem seems to be that room is very cramped for a full ATX board plus the rest of the equipment. I am also a little concerned about airflow - though I think I have a means of dealing with it. Color has not been decided yet, though a black and white color theme may be in the works (anyone know where to get acrylic in Wisconsin - it seems like I should be able to go to a craft or hobby store - but I don't know) Well, here is some progress: I have safely removed my power supply from its casing. I have to cut the case and will be reassembling it with a clear window on one side. The plug inlet and power switch will be routed to the rear of the case (not on the PSU) Since my plan is to make this look like a dvd or cd player - I had to search out a "volume" knob. I found something that may work - though I am still looking around. This would be the backside of the knob. This is the front - they are connected via a bearing (this piece is from the inside of 5.25 inch drive) I would like to add a piece of acrylic to the middle of the piece and run an led into the middle (I also want to have the outter edge glow as well.) I am working on how I am going to do that (I have this perfect clear plastic ring I would like to set behind the knob and then hit with a led) On a more menial note: I removed the stickers from my HDDs and cleaned them up: I also separated my CBox2 from its case: top view front view - I would like this to be integrated into the front of the case. Speaking of the case- I have been doing my best to come up with a design for the cae and I still have some prep work before I can even begin fitting equipment into it: I have to cut these screw posts out... Then I have to make the appropriate cutouts for the CD/DVD drive and the "volume" knob as well as the CBox2. The plan is to cut out the inside of the front side and place a piece of acrylic over the top. The equipment would then stick out through the acrylic (I could probably explain this better and I will try to put up some concept art soon) Here is the motherboard tray - I have to do some cutting on this too. Here is the front corner of the case with the rackmount plate and handle - I really would like to keep these pieces on the mod - I will paint the rackmount and I will have to fabricate the plastic piece under the handle (or be stuck with beige..{shudder}. And here is the inside: I have thrown in the lines to give everyone an idea of were I am going to put things - if anyone has any ideas about cooling or anything else for that matter I would greatly appreciate your input! Speaking of cooling - I salvaged this fan and exhaust hood from a work computer - I was thinking about using it to move heat from my cpu (maybe not the fan - just the hood) have any of you done this? Well that is all for now - I appreciate your comments and feedback - thanks for looking. I hope to make some progress and give everyone an update soon.
Quick Update I have put together a design idea for the front panel - please take a look and let me know what you think. Unfortunatlely the temp display, usb, firewire and sound inputs have to be grouped together or I would have separated them a little more. Thanks for looking - let me know if you have any ideas for anything.
i would have to say that there are not enough of mods like these out there. i love people putting PCs where they do not normaly belong. like ammo cans for example.........and rackmount UPS anyway mod on this is going to be way cool!
damn u stole my idea. had the same in mind only with an amp. anyway good job so far. i am interestet where this one goes.keep on modding
Very cool, I love the idea of midding a rack mount. The feedback in this forum is the best, can't wait to start my brief case mod. Mod on Waiting for more updates.
Interesting enough - I originally wanted to use an old cd player (I had an old NAD CD Player that had died but I left it at the repair shop) This UPS was a total surprise and when I saw it I thought "This will be my first mod" Thanks for looking.
Third Update - time to start cutting! My third update on the project... OK - last night I froze my butt off - but it was worth it! To explain, I have a 15 month old daughter and I cannot run the dremel when she is awake because it scares her to death and I cannot run it when she is sleeping for obvious reasons - so I thought hmm... why don't I just work outside - and that is what I did last night. It was 3 degrees Fahrenheit (or -16 degrees Celsius for the rest of the world) in Wisconsin last night - so about 1 hour, 16 cut-off wheels and some seriously frozen hands later - I have completed some of my first cuts! Let's get cutting! Before: After: This is the Motherboard tray - I still have to take it to a grinding wheel to smooth it out - but I have to say I was pretty surprised at how easily it went. In addition to sanding and smoothing - I do plan on painting this (probably white) even though it will not be visible. I might also cut some form of venting into it because I may put a fan underneath the unit. Next I went to work on the UPS - I had to remove the screwposts inside (these were pretty solid and two of them where hard to get at properly - but I was able to remove them fairly quickly. No more screwposts Finally, I had to cut the PSU case - this was by far the easiest to cut. The cuts were pretty clean. And this is it "assembled" - obviously there is still work to be done - sanding, smoothing, painting and - some sort of acrylic window (maybe this weekend) You may have noticed that I have cut the fan side off - I still intend to use a fan to cool the psu - it will just be in a different location (plus I have to finish cleaning and painting the fans) The moment of truth! I was worried that things may not fit correctly - but there were no problems! I still have to cutout the I/O panels and VGA slot - plus I am moving the power switch and plug to the rear panel as well. I need some suggestions please - here is the right side of my case: It is full of all these holes - does anyone have any ideas on how I can fill some of them ( I will be cutting a vent hole in one section) but there are just a bunch of random holes - any help would be welcomed! Here is my planned fan placement: The fan in the middle may be mounted under the mobo tray. I think if I have air blowing in and blowing out - plus a separate hood for the cpu fan I should be ok. I often read that people are using a filter for there air input - does anyone know what filter material is used? and finally, this may become my volume knob after all: I will be putting a piece of acrylic into the center to cover up all the non-polished areas (the piece of glass next to it almost fit and I could use if I tinted one side (who knows) anyway - props to anyone who can tell me what this is from! As ever, thanks for looking - I hope to make some progress and give everyone an update after this weekend.
I would guess.... ..that it's the 'head' from an old VCR? Nice work so far, good thinking using an old rack mountable UPS. I'll be lurking around this one
I would guess.. You are right - wow - the picture wasn't all that good either. I am not sure if I will be using it now after all - I have to finish all my cutting and fitting - then get my acrylic and I will see.
Another update My fourth update... Progress is still being made - slowly - but it is happening. I have had to reconsider some of my design ideas - probably for the better! I really want this to look very clean and uncluttered. So here is my update: I have ordered my acrylic (1/8 inch white gloss) I have ordered enough to give me a front faceplate and a rear plate? Additionally, I will be fabricated the HDD holder, CD-rom holder and possibly the PSU cover from it. I have changed my fan on my motherboard (my mom had some spare parts after putting together her first system) As you can see there is a cathode tube on top (blue). Because of this and because of some other venting issues - I have decided to cut an airhole into the top of the unit: I sure wish I owned a hole saw! I will have to cut it with the dremel then grind/sand to get it smooth. After that hole is done, I will have to cut another fan hole into the side: This is for the right side fan - luckily I can mount a fan to the left side and use the vents that are already there. (Will have to modify the bottom corner of the fan to make it fit around the memory on the mobo). One other thing that I have done is roughed out the I/O & vga ports: I still have to do some grinding and smoothing - after that I will fabricate an I/O shied. I am moving along - I have decided to dump the idea of one large knob on the front - will probably put a few smaller ones (I have multiple fans to control) I am waiting on the acrylic to complete the inside assembly, will probably polish my HDDs and work on some type of wiring harness. That's all for now - thanks for looking.
Wow, I'm liking the idea thus far! Too bad there isn't enough room to actually integrate a UPS into it again (albeit a smaller one).
I have a Chaintech Apogee 7VJL Deluxe (also a pretty yellow and black PCB!), how did you get on with the processor slot being so close to the edge of the mobo? I had to cut a bit off my heatsink locking mechanism to get it to fit Nice project by the way, I love the (Very)SmartUPS idea!
I had to modify the heatsink locking mechanism too - I took a pliers to it and bent it inward as much as I thought it could take. The lock works just as nicely as before (it is a coolermaster heatsink) Thanks for the positive comments. I notice that you are half geek - half freerider - I am part mtber as well
Acrylic is here My fifth update... The flu took me down last week - finally can walk and talk like a real person again. During my illness my acrylic arrived. Last night I took a look and started a few small projects. Here is my update: I don't have any in-progress pictures - just some mostly finished. The first thing I did was work to cut out my straight pieces of acrylic - I used the score and tap method to cut it out. This method is very quick and easy for straight cuts and I had no problems. The first thing I made were my two HDD mounts - the HDDs will be in the front section of the case mounted on their sides. After I cut them I took my cooking torch (I am in the US - so I do not mean a flashlight!) heated up one side and made my bends. I wasn't sure how it would turn out - but everything went very smoothly. Here is how the HDD will mount - however they will be standing up not lying down like this. Next I cut out the two pieces for the front and the back of the UPS - that is all I have done with them though. Another mount I had was for the CBox2 - this was just a small mount with a 90 Deg bend in it: Once again, I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to bend the acrylic. One other thing I am working on is the CD/DVD drive mount: These are not completely cut out yet - will finish over the weekend - I have to make another two 90 deg bends with these pieces. Effectively these will mount to either side of the disc player and the the "feet" will be bent out and fastened to the bottow of the case. I will have pictures after this weekend to clarify what I mean. This leaves me with completing the front and back cutouts (probably will be the hardest thing I do) finishing the cd mount, and then, since I have some leftover acrylic, I might make a new PSU. I still have to do all the sanding and polishing of the acrylic as well. After all of that - I can start running wire - and mounting things. I hope to be done in the next few weeks. That's all for now - thanks for looking.
Sixth Update! Nearly Done... OK - I have missed an update or two and I had to make a real push to finish (though I am not done yet) because I need my computer back! It isn't as pretty as I wanted it - and it was certainly harder than I thought it would be - but I have really enjoyed working on this project. Here is what I've done: The CD/DVD drive mount: One side is shown here. The two mounts were pretty easy to make, even though I broke one of them during the bending phase. Getting them lined up to the correct height was pretty difficult - but it has been done. The Hard drives were also a little tricky - they just took up too much room (like everything else) I finally managed to find a home for them. It required that I move my CBox and my fan controller knobs though. I didn't take any pictures of the psu - but here is what had to be done - I had to remove the psu cover and run it without one - I also had to extend the ATX wires - this was done pretty generically - but it should work. Having a time constraint has really made a difference in what this will look like when completely done - I like it when it is closed - but it was very difficult to put everything into it. I will be trying to do some cable management before I am completely done - but there won't be much I can do! Here are some pictures to highlight what I mean about space problems! Here I am trying to finalize the layout for my rear piece of acrylic. Here are my front and back acrylic pieces - I still need to finish these - after that I will be pretty much done. And here I have everything stuffed inside and ready to go - everything is mounted and all the wiring is connected - see what I mean about a tight fit! I know it looks pretty bad - but look at the next pic: Here I have the top back on. I still have to cut out the fan hole and put in a grill. I will most likely polish the whole outside to a close to mirror sheen. With the cover on you can get a sense of how it may look when completed - I also have the two handles to bolt back on and the front face plate (when I finish it) I don't have time right now to detail all that has been done - I will try to give a thorough breakdown at my next update. My next update will probably be after I complete the project. Thanks again for looking and for your feedback!
