Right, first off a big thank you to everyone that I have been pestering for info / solutions on the forums for the past few weeks. You know who you are! My aim for this case mod is to build myself a quietish air cooled case that looks cool (to my eyes at least) without needing 50W of lighting.... Not too much to ask for a first mod? To achieve this I'll attempt in no particular order: a) Make a Self Destruct Panel for the front of the case b) Put a nice big window in the side of the case c) Tidy up and paint the case interior black (will take ages, not looking forward to this one) d) Paint HDD, Optical, PSU and Floppy exteriors yellow, stealth what needs to be sheathed e) Sort out the airflow The case I chose to butcher was a Silverstone TJ04. I picked it because it fits in with my idea of a colour scheme (black exterior), has 120 fans front and rear, and it doesn’t have a door on the front of the case. It is gorgeous looking but that is the only good thing that I can say for it now, more on this later. So, any work so far? Well at the mo the case is in about 30 bits and new holes have been cut (images posted when I get round to the filing). After a helpful post on this site I finalised my design for the circuit to look after the lighting on the self destruct panel (SDP): This will (thanks Emon) illuminate switches and whatnot on the SDP before the computer is turned on via a 9V battery and DPST key switch, then switching to the PSU 5V rail via some relays once I press the self destruct (ATX power on) button. One relay is currently resistorless as it will feed 2 sets of 2 leds wired in parallel, so I'll solder them on directly. Connecting wires for the leds will be added to the stripboard once I've finished making the box for the SDP and know the distances a little better. At the moment I'm planning to mount all of this in a couple of the 5 1/4 drive bays - I need to use 2 as I'm going to squeeze in a fan bus and switching for an illuminated logo that will be mounted where the old power / reset buttons used to be. Just a quick word on the silencing part. I tested the Silverstone fans on an old psu (please don't hotwire your psu, it voids the warranty and you can hurt yourself ) and at 12V the noise was smooth but way loud with a high pitch ticking noise. Things were a lot better at 5V and airflow was acceptable but I may swap these out for Nexus fans - have to see how they sound once everything is put together! Anyho - I'm off to smooth some edges. I'll post a plan for the SDP today / tomorrow so you can all see what it is that I'm after. Until then criticism is always welcome. Cheers - Pete
Keep it going dude, btw this case was about 350 euro's wasn't it? I wouldn't want to put a dremel in that Anyway gl with your modding
Plan for self destruct panel.... Right-ho should really be working but this is more fun. So this is it really, initially the battery will light the illuminated vandal switch (green - sigh). The relays will allow the psu to take over from the battery once the computer is turned on to save me changing the thing every 2 days. The key switch will be under a spring loaded cover but the power switch will not be (not enough room). Other toggle switches will control voltage to 2 of the 3 fans and also lighting for the case logo (my own) and any yellow spotlighting that I may put inside. Not sure what to do with this last switch yet..... Hope this gives you all a bit of an idea of what I am trying to achieve. As always, criticism / suggestions welcome Aevitas: Case cost £80 (~ 160 euros?) but yeah, my mouth was a bit dry when I started chopping it up. For this mod I'll be using a hacksaw and round file to do all of my cutting . Just feel more confident with this than with the dremel or jigsaw I guess. Cheers - Pete
Looking nice. love the front of that case. Nice idea for the SDP for the front. I will say that you can get a voltage off the motherboard headers when the computer is turned off. I cant remember which ones they are but poke around with a multimeter and you will find out which ones. This would save you using a battery
I like this project, nice simple and stealthed. Why will the paint take a long time....I suggest just getting it powdercoated...i have a similar case if i can find the picture of it powdercoated ill post it....c ya
Holes finished in panel & case In order to silence the fans a little I have removed the perforated metal from the blowholes. While I was at it I got rid of the (ugly? - to my eyes anyway) window in the side panel in favour of a nice big hole that will give a better view of the interior. Cutting was done with a round file hacksaw blade, with finishing using a half round file and some micro files. I was going to use a jigsaw for the panel but due to my complete incompetence with power tools I scratched the front of my panel (sigh, more painting). However the painting experiment goes well. Currently I'm painting the HDD and Floppy bays a gloss black. They have both had a couple of coats of primer and colour so far. Over the next few days I'll continue building up the layers of paint / sanding - then it's time for the clear coat, wait a couple of weeks (this is why the painting will take me ages Douphus) and then sand and finish. Should give a cool mirror finish, if it doesn't then I can always look for a different option. As you can see these are no where near finished, but it gives you an idea of the direction I'm going (ever-so-slowly) in. Later on this week I should have started painting the case proper and the inside of the windowless panel. Joy. Nothing else to report really, I'm waiting on some aluminium sheet to make the self destruct panel box from. I got my hands on some Perspex at the weekend (£3.00 for a 420 x 450 x 3 bit plus an off cut half the size ) so I should really start shaping the window. So much to do - Pete
picture sizes - eek! Soz everyone, I got a bit carried away with the picture sizes there for a bit. Should be a little more interweb friendly now. Kill Me Quick: I don't know mate, I'm hesitant to put 3 leds between the mobo and the atx switch. I guess I'm just a bit overprotective of the mobo (don't want it exploding on me!). Also I'm an electronics idiot. Kipman725: I got the case from the interweb at specialtech.co.uk, they have loads of Silverstone stuff and service was good too. Cheers - Pete
Not those headers. The atx cable has a standby/sense line that should supply a constant voltage. My motherboard(DFI Lanparty UT 250gb) also supplies power to all the usb ports at all times..(oddly enough) so I have a constant 5v power source. Might wanna check if your motherboard does that as well. Edit: http://www.bluemax.net/techtips/ATXPowerSupplyWiring/ATXPowerSupplyWiring.htm
