Project: GEARED UP. More tinkering! 10/3.

Wow this is coming along nicely. It's VERY clean and I like that. Keep up the good work mate!

 

This mod is totally awesome dude
The idea of gears on the side of the case was floating in my mind for about half a year, but I totally drop the idea now, caus this mod is impossible to exceed. Very very nice, I totally love this one

 

Cool.. I did that mitron mod once

 

just what i said by my first message Pwnage and omg good good job!!!

 

I saw that. I thought something like that would be hard to get at being recessed in the case like that. But I did buy the fan controller from you guys.

 

Wow the gear idea is an extremely good one. I am going to follow this log now(know its a lil late... but... better than never)

 

Still waiting.

Well I'm STILL waiting on the neon rings to get here.
So in the mad dash to try to keep this project on the front
page I decided to get to other things. I'm really getting
anxious about the neon rings getting here so in the
meantime I went ahead and ordered a couple of these.



Radio neon accent lighting tubes.^^^



Here's what it looks like installed in your car.^^^
No I don't have any installed in mine.



Ripping it out of the package and promptly cutting
wire to pieces you get this.^^^



I chucked the cigarette lighter and spliced a molex
connector onto the end of it (which of course you don't
see because I'm always in too much of a rush to take
more pics). I opened up the casing for the electronics
to see if maybe the sound activated components and the
inverter might be seperate but no such luck. I left the
thing in the "FULL" and the "MAX" positions and the whole
thing gets stuffed into the bottom of the case for now.^^^



Here's where I installed it.^^^
These are cool because, they run on 12V, install with
double sided tape so no cutting into the case is necessary,
they're covered with smoke tinted acrylic so the lighting
effect isn't so bright and the wire was the PERFECT size
to route through one of the tiny holes in the case front.

Now I said I bought 2 of these. The other one?



Is DEAD!!! Thank GOD it only cost a few bucks. So I ordered
a couple more. The 2nd one was/is going to go in the spot just
above the front USB ports and the case badge. That's it for now.
Going to do some cardboard mock-ups of the inner cases
acrylic pieces I plan on installing.

 

This thing is still looking good, though I'm not sure if I like that little radio light on the front bezel. Maybe if I see a shot of it from a little more distance or something? Not sure, but anywho still good work.

 

It does look odd without it's mate on the bottom part
of the case. It unbalances the whole front. But the
thing is, if it winds up not looking good at all I can
peel it right off! Maybe use it on the underside of the
case. Hmmm....

 

nice idea dude

 

That is a really good idea, to use it on the bottom, in the front and one in the back. It would probably look better there than on the front.. iunno.. just my 2 cents

 

nice touch

 

Well I just got an email stating that my Luminglas was
on backorder and will ship out later next week.
It's really starting to get annoying.

Meanwhile my neons finally got here and I got them all
wired up and mounted.



It finally balances out the front's top and bottom.^^^
I think I'll keep them there for now.

So what do I do until the 'glas gets here?
I have to plan a way to mount this...



...in this location.



It's a 4" LCD (formally optional now standard equipment)
that I got off a member of another forum I frequent.
I powered it up, hooked it up to the S-video out on my 9800
and it works excellent (pics later). The resolution is very
low on it but for what I have mind it's perfect.

The problem with the mounting is going to be the depth
of the LCD. With the PCB attached it's nearly 1 1/4"
(apx. 30mm) deep. Half that with the 2 seperated which
may give me the option of remote mounting the PCB in
another location IF I dare to extend the wires in the
ribbon cable. I may even swap locations with the
Crystalfontz LCD since it's mounting depth is much less.
I would LOVE to have a graphical LCD instead but the
Crystalfontz has to stay if I want to keep the wife
speaking to me.

I'll have more pics of the LCD up later. I'm shopping for
a Nikon D70/D100 so I can take better pics. I'm stuck with
the wifes 2.3 megapixel Canon for now. I use the D100
at work and it's a must have item. If I can wait a few
months that could be my NEW birthday present.

 

While I love this mod (see previous posts in this thread by me), I will be completely honest. I think having both the neon and two LCDs on the front and the fan controller will be way too busy, in fact I think I would probably not have the neon lights, and only one LCD, and the fan controller.

But, this could be just me, and obviously it's your case, so do whatever the hell you want!

 

You may very well be right about 2 LCD's. I may
well just have to take the heat from the wife. I have
an alternate plan on mounting the USB LCD inside the
case. It won't be seen much in that location but it
may satisfy my better half.

The jury's still out on the neon. Right now
I'm lovin' it just because I got it done. After a while
I'll probably rip them right off. I don't know. This
seems to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it kinda mods.
I'm just going to let them sit there a while and see.
I just thought that the neon ring element on the
side would tie in nicely with the ones up front.

Truth be told I'm not sure that the Luminglas mod
wouldn't be a little too much for the overall look
of the case.

I still have a few things going that might just
unifiy everything I have done/am going to do.

 

My suggestion is to mount those light things inside the case. I just think that i would look better. It would also dull them by having the metal cover portions of them. I'm not sure though as im not sitting in front of the case.

 

on the pic of the whole front of the case, your USB, Audio and FIrewire ports seem to be lit up blue. is that back lighting from the fan or just a reflection from the neon on above them? i was thinking of trying to back light my ports white, but was having trouble finding the best way of doing it...

 

They really aren't that bright. They're encased in smoked acrylic. They probably look that way because I had the aperature and shutter speed set up screwy.

The ports are being lit slightly by the neon.

 

I've been getting a ton of PM's regarding the purchase of the

Luminglas that I plan on using in this mod (eventually). I bought
the first one off of eBay for about $17.50 and some shipping.
The second one (which I am STILL waiting for) was about $24.99.
In both cases the shipping was about $10US.

The MAIN question seems to be
"How much would it cost to ship to ????".
???? being the given country of the person requesting the information.

As much as I would like to help I have not a CLUE how much
shipping would be to any given country outside of the US.
Failing that I have compiled a quick and short list on where
these things are available for purchase.

for eBay try this.
http://search.ebay.com/luminglas_W0QQfromZR40QQsojsZ1

The sellers I bought those from don't seem to be selling
these anymore and the availability on eBay seems to be
dwindling.

These are also these places. One of which I believe is in
Australia.

http://www.coolstuffcheap.com/plasbal1.html
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/rainbowsymphony/lupllidiorus.html
http://www.cyi.net/category.cfm?button1=Lighting&cat=a&urli=category
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00069IQXI/002-1542160-9170445?v=glance
http://cheapnovelty.com/luminglas.html
http://www.infinitygc.com.au/shop/prod271.htm
http://www.shoplifestyleonline.com/cy861.html
http://pridenation.com/cdpride/partytoys.htm

There are more but like I said this was quick and dirty. I have
found that the smaller Luminglas is extremely harder to find.

Hope this helps.

 

I love the Neon lights i dont think its too busy at all. mod on