First a story how i came onto this mod A long, long time ago, in a time when Casejunkies (dutch casemodding site, which is kinda dead right now) didnt had Coen as administrator, was BlackWhizz onto a search for a perfect case for his server. But he didnt found any, so he started playing with MDF and he created a cubular PC. Too bad he didnt thought about practical use of it. So with this mod im going to improve the old cube. These points are kinda important in this mod. - Create as much space for HDD's (and no, they wont be use for now, just to be furureproof). - The HDD's need to get a cool breeze. - Easy cable managment. - The case needs to be solid How the case was: 1. This is how the cube looks now (mind the dust ) 2. Backside. Next to the PSU comes the space for HDD's. 3. Snoop Dogg wil be prowd of this bling-bling-flip-out-hood. I dont like it. When it is opened it takes to much space. 4. Another picture of the inside. This shows how it was. CD/DVD drives on the right. HDD's on the left. Mobo on top. Warning Im using my parents' cam. They dont want to have the cam in the workshop (lotsa dust and oil for the tractors). So when im modding and i really need to make a picture im using the cam on my HTC Touch Dual. Shots which i make in home will be made with my parents camera.
Update 2 I made a few more updates, this is to keep yall updated. Destruction! (6) I splitted the cube in 2 parts. Then i had a talk with the chainsaw. The reason that i have been so far away from the sides is that there are nails in it to keep the case together. Saw + Nails = Bad combo. Then i removed the nailed parts by brute force. After that i sanded a while. Now the plank doesnt look that nice. But hey, at least it is flat again. Started with the bottom Then i made some slath/lath (dont know the translation in English the dictionary says this) of 25x25mm. I made 2 of these lath/slath thingeys on the sides. I made also a support for the power supply. They are 1mm higher as the 4 bolts. As you can see, the lath/slath on the side of the power supply is a little smaller than the rest. I made this because i wanted to create some more space inside. Also the length of the shortened piece is longer than the power supply so i can put a corsair HX1000w inside, just to be futureproof.
Update 2 Had a chat with my table saw. Yay, more parts! Motherboard plate As seen above. Now i have some more parts (dont worry there will be more). Most of the parts are for the top layer aka motherboard plate. With these parts i will mount the mobo tray on the mobo plate. The 2 small lath are used for straight mounting of the mobo tray. Like this. Then its easy. Get some screws. Have a talk with the screwdriver and its finished. Like this: The only thing whats not in this picture are holes for cable management. You will see them in a later update. Top layer This part of the update is for raising the mobo plate. I made these parts for it. Deze dus And its going to look like this when the inside is finished. Op deze manier The mounting is like this. At the power supply side:
Update 4 Mockup I also worked on a mockup for the front and back side. Like this: Back side Im happy with this. Looks nice. One part is missing, on the side of the PSU am i going to build some kind of drawer for easy mounting of HDDs Front side Totally not happy with this. All parts are to high.
Update 5 I purchased something: 2x 1m Aluminium L-profile. Where are you going to use this for? I know it but you dont, and im going to leave it like that. Rails When i was at the local hardware store to get some drawer rails they were to expensive for me. So i did it a little different. I made them myself. The first parts are made. 2 more to go. Cable management The top layer is for motherboard, fancontroller and dvd burner. In a previous update i told i missed some holes. Now they have been made. First i drawed something out. Then i played with the saw and got this out after sanding it to the corners. As you can see i made 3 holes. 2 next to the mobo tray for motherboard cables and 1 at the front for the front panel cables. Because i wanted to know if the ATX cable will fit i made a quick mockup. Thats kinda nice 'eh This thing is gonna be awesome (i hope)! Now you guys are back on track More updates are coming as soon as possible.
It looked kinda good. But it wasnt pratical and now i want a sleek 'stealth' look. Thanks. Small update Found an MSI D-Bracket (reminds me of my AMD pc. That duron was a piece of crap). After some destructing this stayed. I removed the 4 leds and the cable. Im not that good in soldering so im gonna leave this thingey for now. Also, i found an Red led from an old PC case. Im going to use that as a HDD indicator.
Update 6 Update 6 Keepin' it short. Front- and back panel I worked on the front and back panel. Both arent finished. But, measuring something that moves when i touch it sucks. So i dont know if my measurements are correct. But i did atleast something. Drawed out and remeasured twice. Then i had a date with my saw, sandpaper and files. The result is this: right is the front panel. Which has on top a hole for the DVD drive the small hole on the bottom is for the front USB. Left is the back panel. Which has now only one hole for the PSU. I will make more holes for the HDD rack and Mobo tray as soon as possible. HDD rack Also this is not finished. I need to attach the rails for sliding the HDD rack on some kind of way. Just dont know how to do it yet. Ill find it out I made these 2 thingeys. These are used to mount the HDD's on. Like this way. On this manner i get space for 11 (yes, ELEVEN) HDD's. May need to invest in a good raid controller AND much disks. At least its gonna house 3 or 4 HDD's. Just a shot to prove that this construction IS stable
Nope. The bars will be hanged vertically with the HDD's hanging on the bottom of it. Wait... That was an nice idea Maybe i will use it.
Update 7 The rail where the HDD's are mounted on is finished. Finally, took too long because i hate metal work. here some shots of the rail. As you can see in the following pictures the first HDD is a tight fit. The first HDD is 4 mm away from the rivet and i mounted the aluminium strip on top of the L-profile. If i did it under it the HDD wont fit. Also the HDD's are really tight together. This isnt gonna be a problem because the HDD's are gonna be cooled by some fans. Later guys!
Ok I understand Very nice work on the alu, all in all a cool idea... maybe I'll also use smth similar like this... hope u aren't angry
Sorry for the late reply, but i was not in range of a pc between saturday and an hour ago. Use it 4 shure! I like it that i can inspirate people.
Update 8 Today i completed the HDD rack. I needed to make parts: These parts. I have mounted an aluminum L profile on a piece of wood. This was because i changed my plan (thanx maRiio!). I first wanted to hang the HDD's against the mobo plate, that wasnt a good plan because i dont trust MDF as secure mounting of the weight of 11 HDD's. So this part wasnt needed anymore. So this part has been re-sawed (is that a word?) for the wood parts. During transport the HDD's still need to be kinda secured. So i made a aluminium L-profile onto the wood. There is a little space for mounting. The HDD holder slides inbetween the wood and the aluminium. In the case its gonna look like this. And a teaser shot, just because i wanted to play with teh camera.
Update 9 - 40 hours of modding Update 9 Sorry i havent updated this one. But i wanted to have this paint-ready so i modded 40 hours in 3 days. Finally the case is ready for paint. And ive got some sleep! Frontpanel afgemaakt The front panel is finished. I sawed the last holes out for the fan controller. Also there are some holes for the ODD and fan controller. As you can see, i drilled some holes next to the holes for the ODD and fan controller. THis is needed for mounting the rack. Sawing the holes for the fan, mobo tray, hdd rack Finally the last sawing work (NOT joke i needed to saw the windows later on). But i sawed the holes for the fan, mobo and hdd rack. The hole next to the power supply hole is for the HDD rack. There will be a door to get acces to it. Mounting of the backplate What i started with was mounting the back plate. It was fairly easy to do, but i needed to prepare something first. The short vertical lats i have mounted with the brackets at the top. Dont know how they are called. But they work. By these brackets to vertical lats are 90 degrees at the horizontal lats. Then i mounted the panels. This is my solution for adding weight I only got pictures of one side. Shortening drive bays From an old case i've got my brackets for ODD and fan controller. But they needed some shortening. So my dad played with the saw and this came out. After some filing, drlling and riveting this came out. USB ports After that i changed the PCI usb bracket and mounted it. The 2 holes on the side arent going to be filled. The stuf for filling is kinda expensive for just 2 holes. Supports for the top and side panels The wooden blocks at the top (which are also on the front) are used for putting the top and side panels on. Finished! well, nearly Then i drawed and sawed the side panels. This picture shows the mounted panels. It looks like this when they are mounted on the case. This picture shows that there is another window on the bottom. This window is going to hold mesh, because this is the entrance for air for the HDD cooling fans. The top windows are used as a normal window, to show the hardware. Then i sawed the plexi. Thanks Brinkz0r for the nice plexi! It was really easy to use. Then i made a picture of a window 'mounted'. held it with my hand. Fan support For the bottom i made the fan supports. Its just a L profile with lots of holes for mounting the support and the fans. End result!
Text-Update: EPIC PAINTING FAIL!!! AARRGGHH Few days ago i primed the case with MDF primer (1 layer on the panelling, on the side of the panneling 2 layers because i ran out of primer and the first layer came out good). That went well. Tomorrow i started with sanding, making the panels fat-free (dont know how u guys name that in english). Then i painted the case black. When i came home a hour ago the black layer was full of bubbles. All 5 parts that needed to be painted. I think tomorrow im going to add some terpentin on the paint to make it thinner. Then i just start painting a thin layer. Hope that goes well. Maybe you guys have some more tips? Ill update you guys soon!
Update 10 Update 10 Yess, now a update with pictures. The painting is still going better. Still with a lot of shouting etc etc but its going better than before. Im looking for some hardware to put in this case. But now im going to talk about modding. The bottom and front-back panel is finished. Not the way i liked it but its looking better than before. Right now im tring another pot of paint. Its from karwei (dutch hardware store) and i trust this paint from the last time i used it. Cable sleeving I sleeved the headers and of the case with AC-ryan sleeve. Not the best, but this was here and i didnt want to put more money in this case. Cya next time.