Modding 21 scsi cdrom tower... moddage. ***PICS UPDATE 10/01/03*** [56k warning?]

Ok guys.

Ive had this thing for a long time now, maybe a year. its a steel case, about 3-4 feet tall, 2 feet wide, holds 21 8x scsi cdroms and weighs 250lbs with 5x250watt hot-swappable cdroms.

this thing was a beast. now, i took all that crap out, and im left with a shell and 21 cdroms and 5 scsi PCI cards.

im thinking i could take out 16 of the scsi roms, un-screw the x-cess drive trays, pop in a few lian-li style Hdd racks, and pop in a new mobo tray. Id use the Powersupplies, but they are all AT !

ok, now i ripped all this crap out, and the tower is about 1\2 the weight and its totally empty. im thinking the steel is like 1\8" thick... and ive got no idea what the hell im gonna cut it with.

the back panel was all custom-cut to fit the motherboard perfectly. no IO plates, nothing... all extensions off the mobo for videocards ect... so, im thinking there is enough room + more to lay the mobo tray (i stole outta an old case) to lay down flat. but i still needa cut a large square out of the back... and i think that it would take WAY too long with a dremel.

once i get all the crap i need to cut, i plan on mounting 11" radiator somewhere... massive watercooling. im talking tons of coolage... if i had a vapochill thing, itd fit no prob =P.

so, i just need some tips on how im supposed to cut 1\8" steel plate, maybe one of those nifty cutting wheels. kinda like an industrial dremel... ... we got one at work.

thanks for the feedback

here are the pics i promised =D finally found my digi camrea.


this is the front with the door shut, that nice black plexi cover is going to be sweet looking when i cut a nasty design in it at my local highschool with their $20,000 lazer plotter!


this is the front with the door open, where the 21 cdroms were, very nice looking. however i still have to cover those holes somehow.


this is the back, marcello is cutting\\sending me nice covers so that i can get rid of those ugly holes.


this is where i mounted the mobo tray from an old case i had laying around, worked out nicely, but there were still ugly holes above, so i covered them with the alu sheet, i still have to trim the edge off on the left there.


this is the caese with the door off, the old ATmobo was mounted vertically, so i had to cover all the empty ports in the back.


this picture is of all the guts that i had to rip out from the case including 5-AT hot swappable powersupplies, 5 foot scsi cables, and an old crappy pentium 1.

****UPDATE****

got the window cut a few days ago, got my pics uploaded and here is the progress on the first window.


look at my 1337 jigsaw skills.


sorry, bad image =P was dark - hard to focus


closeup shot of stuff. hopefully marcello will get me my fangrills soon =\ im getting kinda worried.

what do ya thing? next step is to cut the top\\side windows and sandblast them to get the paint off, and them sand the hell outta them, my friend is a graffiti artist, and he is gonna airbrush my the case. its gonna be SHWEET.

ideas\\suggestions?

*****UPDATE*****

here we go, i got the top of the case cut, and a large hole for my radiator setup... gonna be awesome.. anyhow. here are the pictuers, this one only took me an hour to cut.

 

Are you sure it's 1/8" steel? That sounds more like a tank than it does a case.

In any case, a jigsaw should take care of it, just make sure you get some good blades. If your sadistic, a nibbler could do it as well, but you'll work your hand to the bone (no exaggeration!)

 

hm.

ive got a jiggie... maybe ill try that on teh mobo tray. i should have pics tomrrow. i dont have a ruler handy, but its sure as hell thick- on second thought, it is 1\16" then. but damn, the average steel case is 1\32" right? feh.

also, ive still got access to the lazer plotter at my local highschool (i hope so) and the front of this case is black translucent plexi so im gonna cut a badass skull into it =).

maybe a VFD if i ever get around to grabbing one and hooking it up

 

I also have an old 1/8th in steel case, dremel and jigsaw worked fine.. it just took an extremely long time with dremel.. like 3 mins an inch to cut thru it

 

not to be balsphemus or anything but there are better tools out there then a dremel. (please dont hurt me or my patheticly small post count) dont get me wrong i love mine. its versatile and can do a hell of a lot. but there are better tools out there for doing specific jobs. like cutting id have to go with a jigsaw. grinding id have to go with and angle grinder or grinding wheel.


/me sits and waits to be struck by lightning from the mod gods

 

I concur completely....There seems to be a widespread idea that a Dremel must be used for every aspect to do with modding. Whatever happened to 'the right tool for the job'?

People complain because they used 50 cutoff discs cutting their case window...If they'd used a jigsaw they would have done it in 1/5 of the time and a whole lot cheaper.

*n

 

cant wait for the pics

i had one a while back which held 14 or 15 (one of them)

it weighed a ****** ton

 

i tore the whole thing apart as i said, and i am about to start with the jiggy. im gonna stop at ACE hardware and buy a couple of meatal bits for it. the cool part is, the back panel comes off with 4 screws that are all tapped into the metal ! so, ill pop that off and have a go at it. today.

when my friend gets over here with his digie cam ill grab the pics.

 

we had an alpha server at school that i wanted to steal and mod. it had dual 602W power supplies, 5 hot swap scsi hard drives, plus 2 drive towers with another 6 each, 3 120mm fans plus a 162mm fan blowing across the cpu's. the thing was donated to the school by someone upgrading their stuff, and they got our class to carry the thing upstairs. sounds like your case is about the same size, might be a bit bigger. have fun modding the thing, definitely cant wait to see pics.

 

Re: 21 scsi cdrom tower... moddage.

heh, cdroms on the brain

 

muahaha, just bought the bits (thismorning before english class) and im gonna mod all day tomrrow (until 3pm) hopefully that jerk with the digi cam will come over !

 

sweet.

So far, ive taken out 6 250watt AT powersupplies. 1 pentium-1 mobo\processor\ram, 3 4-foot SCSI cables with 6 hook-ups on them, 1 AT hotswappable powersupply mounting rack thingie, 10 scsi 8x cd-roms, and part of the backplate.

the ATX mobo tray is retrofitted nicely with some nuts\bolts on the backside, next i need to get a nice piece of aluminum plate and make a cover for all the crappy holes i dont need, then a kind guy by the name of Marcello, a fellow here on the forums, is cutting lazer plates w\fangrills to mount where the powersupplies were ! 6x80mm fans. 3x92mm fans. gonna be awesome. then i gotta install a nice large harddrive tray. and pop in an ATX powersupply. probally get some off newegg.com. after that, its all to the paint shop.

i got a buddy whos brother paints cars so, im gonna get him to paint the case a nice, hm. wait until you see the pictures =D. not telling you the color yet

but, once that Fregging kid gets to my house. i can post pictures. eh, lemme call him AGAIN.

 

pics are up now =)

here is what i still wanna\haveto do to this.

*figure out good paint scheme
*bigger wheels (heavy metal inspired (not remote controll tho not enuf $$)
*cut the door plexi into a design
*mount that PSU properly
*mount the plates\fans marcello is cutting
*lighting (ive got some spiffy ideas depending on case color)
*watercooling (ive got a 10x10 rad from a dehumidifyer, not sure about the barb thickness yet though)
*polish.. most def
***WINDOW IDEA??? have no clue

any ideas some people could come up with to give it that extra bit of origionality- please post what you think, please

 

if you have an air compressor and a tool called a whizzer (or angle grinder - I think), you can cut steel thats just ungodly thick. There are diamond cutoff wheels like what dremels have, except they are about 2" in diameter and 1/8" thick and simply never break. I've cut 1/2" steel just fine with them.

Also an idea- where all those CDs were, buy a 4X40 LCD (read the LCD FAQ for a place to get one for $23) and put it in there; you've got enough room.

 

good god thats a huge case its gona look somthing else when its finished

 

throw the dremel out what you need is an angle grinder !!!!

remember to start a project log should be interesting

 

You could have replaced the CD:s with burners and started a factory

 

k guys,

i really need to know what color scheme im gonna use. if i get paint, im gonna get enuf to paint my car also- (94 cavalier thats getting Z24 bodykit + some cool lights) if some people could post what colors they think i should use, itd be great (examples welcome)

generic blue\black
orange\black
green\darkgreen
green\black

i dunno

i need paint thoughts!

 

I am speechless.. that case is amazingly huge ... besides that... I can't wait to see what ya do with it... I .. don't even know what to suggest.. thats just.. huge... I want one .

 

So, what will you be doing with all that SCSI gear?

For the paint scheme: High contrast is nice with orange/black
haven't seen that much.
A Green/black combo wouldn't look bad either.
You absolutely must do both the car and the case in the same style and post pics of them side by side.