Case Mod - In Progress [Grey Matter] CM HAF912: Complete!: Final Photos! Custom PC Mag, June 2014!

First I'd like to thank you guys for checking out my work log!

Here are quick links to my updates:
Update 1 : 9/23/13 Interior work, Laser cuts, Top panel work.
Update 2 : 9/30/13 Rad mount fan enclosure, Top panel, Interior work.
Update 3 : 10/14/13 Interior shelf, Radiator covers, Painting
Update 4 : 10/21/13 Parts, motherboard mounting, gpu placement, panel work
Update 5 : 10/28/13 Motherboard shroud, RAM blocks, Lights, Sleeving, Bulkhead
Update 6 : 11/4/13 Door panel, Handmade reservoir, Fittings, Waterblocks
Update 7 : 11/11/13 Acrylic tubing, Reservoir trim, Door panel window
Update 8 : 11/25/13 Reservoir trim, Blu-ray drive, Switches.
Update 9 : 12/02/13 Vertical GPU, Final Cuts, Final assembly prepping.
Update 10 : 12/09/13 Beginning the final assembly of the project.
Update 11 : 12/18/13 Almost finished!
Update 12 : 1/4/14 Finished!!
Update 13 : 1/11/14 FINAL PHOTOS!!

This is my second PC case mod and my goal is to perfect my skills and minimize mistakes. I learned from my CM HAF 932 build. This time ill be posting start to finish on here with my mod, instead of half way through.

I want to stray away from the common theme and use something different. So I am going with a grey and white color scheme.


Here are the components so far :

<>PC Components:
[x] Case : Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower
[x] PSU : EVGA SuperNOVA 750W GoldPlus
[x] CPU: Intel I-7 3930k 6-core 3.2Ghz (3.8Ghz Turbo) 2011 Socket
[x] MoBo: Asus Rampage IV Gene
[x] RAM: 16Gb Gskill RipJaw Z series 1600 Mhz Cas #9
[x] GPU: EVGA 780GTX SC ACX
[x] SSD: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256Gb
[x] Optical: LG Slim Blu-ray Burner

<>Water Cooling System
[x] EKWB Supremacy Nickel/Acrylic CPU Block
[x] EKWB Origional CSQ Titan/780 Nickel/Acrylic GPU Block
[x] EKWB 240mm XT Radiator
[x] 2x EKWB 120mm XT Radiators
[x] 11x EKWB 90 Fittings
[x] 2x Bitspower G1/4" Female / Female Pass-Through Fitting / Fillport
[x] 2x EKWB Monarch x2 RAM water block
[x] 2x EKWB Monarch RAM Modules
[x] Swiftech MCP-655 PWM Pump
[x] EKWB D5 X-Top White Acetal Pump Top
[x] 20x Primochill White Revolver Rigid Fittings
[x] Rigid Tubing
[x] Hand Made Custom Acrylic Waterfall Reservoir
[x] 4x Enermax White Cluster PWM Fans with White LED


<>Key mods<>
[x] Custom white and grey two tone paint job.
[x] Custom acrylic paneling.
[x] Custom acrylic fan enclosure/radiator mount.
[x] Custom acrylic Blu-ray enclosure.
[x] Custom water cooling system.
[x] Custom acrylic rad covers.
[x] Handmade custom acrylic waterfall bay-style reservoir.
[x] Single sleeved power supply, by me.
[x] Vertical GPU mounted on mid-case shelf.






I purchased White Delrin Case feet from MNPCtech


MNPCtech.com U-channel



3m Scotchbrite Pads from MNPCtech.com



Acrylic tubing reamer from MNPCtech.com




Here are the pictures so far:

I also picked up the case and power supply. I figured I could spend the most time with them while waiting for money for other components.


Here they are laid out and I started removing some case panels.


After gutting the case, I'm left with my blank canvas!


I sanded and washed the plastics to get ready for primer.




The primer colors were close to the actual paint scheme.


Got the few plastic parts painted then set them aside to continue working the interior. I really like this grey/white scheme.


Here are the materials for the internal mods. Acrylic from TAP Plastics. I don't like the grey its damn near black so Ill be wrapping panels with a grey carbon fiber material I bought. I'm going to be using MicroRAX for the interior framework.




Here is a sneak peek at the sleeving, LutroOs Teleios sleeve. I recently picked up some light grey and I think Ill be using that instead of the dark grey.


Got to work cutting acrylic panels. I found that raw measurements and using a clamped fence with a skill saw help making panels perfectly straight and square.


I glued in some supports to make a raised bottom panel for a nice flat surface to start on.


Here I started adding the microRAX framework.


This is where I left off at the end of this past weekend, Hopefully I can get some work done this coming week and its a payday weekend coming up so I should be scooping up some more parts. I absolutely love the microRAX, it really adds a nice professional touch to the project. some screw holes will be socket head and some will be flat head and counter sunk, Ill do that later on.


I hope you got a little insight into my mod and follow me along through this process! Hand made reservoirs , power supply sleeving, acrylic windows, and much much more to come! Hope to update in a week or so until then questions and comments are very welcome!

 

Youve got my attention
Ive got a HAF, but cant bring myself to mod it, so im interested to see what others do with theirs.

 

Thanks man!
Yeah I loved my HAF 932 I decided to do a micro-ATX HAF build. This one will blow my last build outta the water for sure
ive got my other build on here if you wanna peep it. it wasnt a full worklog though. I didnt know about logs and stuff until half way through my build.

 

nice pictures, cant wait to see how it pans out!

 

thanks man, Ive made some progress and have some parts coming in Friday so there should be an update after this weekend.

 

Looking good mate

 

Thanks bud! hoping to get enough work in today to post an update tomorrow, might have to wait till mid-week to get update worthy progress in.

 

Update 9/23/13

Hey guys! I've managed to knock out some solid progress in the last 2 weeks, mostly panel work. I got the top panel radiator mounting panel started, my interior front panel is complete except for the screw holes. Ive got my radiators in because I wanted to get all the components I needed to mod around with in the case so I could get a good perception of the mods Im going for.

I also have access to a laser cutting CNC now through my dads work. There are a few photos of that in here. All I have to do is design the panels in autocad and give my dad the DXF files to take into work to be cut out. I only have access once every week or 2 so I have to have my drawings prepped and do as many as I can at a time. The majority of this project will still be done by hand.

Heres a bunch of photos I took of the progress I made.

Here I wanted to show a close up of what the MicroRax look like and how they screw together.



Here I was test fitting the interior panels. It looks cool even looking like cardboard. Gonna be really dope when its all done.



These are the radiators ill be using. Two 120mm rads in series on their side for the front, and a 240m rad for the roof panel.



I added nylon standoffs for the front rad to make it fit tight against the metal panel.



Rads and PSU set in place for the bottom panel cut outs.



Fans hole for PSU and rad cut out.



Here is the laser cutter I was talking about, cutting my pieces.



Here is what I had cut out by the laser CNC.





I glued together the little pieces with acrylic cement to make my I/O panel and graphics card mounting block.





Then I got to work on the front panel. I dropped some grey carbon on the left back drop and a clear window for my pump chamber on the right back drop.





Then I set in place to take a look..I love how it turned out, its gonna look badass.



Here I got to work on the top panel.



I cut the hole with the jigsaw and a metal blade. Then I cleaned it up with the router and a file.



Set it in place to take a look.



Cut and set the rad and fan mount panel in place.



I decided to make an enclosure for the fans with acrylic and modders mesh so I got to work on the supports and fan chamber frame.



I've been doing my gluing with TAP acrylic cement and a syringe they sent me. I need a hypodermic needle to get more accurate but Im making the one they gave me work for now.



Ive got the supports in place and welded in.



To make it nice around the edges I overlapped and flush cut the edges with the router. Once the box is complete the top, sides and vertical edges will have a 1/4" round over.



Fans fit nice a cozy in there. The mesh will fold up into a rectangle and fit in the inner rectangle around the fans. There will be a panel to cover around the edges of the inner rectangle as well.



I snapped a picture with the carbon laying there to get an idea of what it will look like when the enclosure is complete and wrapped in vinyl with a white mesh insert in the center..its gonna be slick lookin.



That is where I left off with the last 2 weeks or so of working. I haven't had as much time to mod as I would like. I hope to get more work done this week, we will see how busy my schedule is. I love modding so I try to fit in as much time as I can for it. I hope this project lands me on the map in the modding world. There is still quite a bit of unique mods in this rig that haven't even been started yet that will be pretty damn unique!

Id like to apologize for the changes in photo resolution. When I first started working on the laser cut parts my camera resolution was set to only 8 megapixels and not the 12 like usual. The photo from the laser cutter itself was texted to me from my dads phone, that was the only picture he took. I got it set now and should all be uniform in the future posts.

Well take care guys thanks for checking out my update. Ill be around to talk, and hope to have another update in a week or two! Peace Out!

 

Update September 30th

Hey guys got some work in last week, finished up my radiator mount top panel fan enclosure, got my interior mid panel fitted around the rads in the front and painted my top panel. Were going to be moving my tool shop setup from the garage to the pool house this week and reorganizing all our tools. The build is coming along good. Im hoping that on the 15th of October Ill be making some parts orders. Hopefully picking up the MB and CPU along with some modding parts from mnpctech. I really hope I sell my first build soon, I would really like to pick up all the parts for this project and have them ready. Oh well on with the photos!!

I left off last update working on the radiator mounting fan enclosure. Here I taped on a template courtesy of MNPCTECH's website. They are available on there for free. I drilled the holes from the top side where I could center them in the enclosure.







I printed the template on label paper, which is awesome for any sort of template, even from your own autocad drawings. I lined up the template with the holes on the other side and cut it out.







Then I sealed up the top side of the enclosure and flush trimmed the edges off with the router. Then used a round over bit on the top and vertical edges. I used some left over acrylic scraps for this because I planned on wrapping it with carbon fiber.






Here is where I started wrapping in carbon fiber, only to realize I could not make the rounded corners without it looking like garbage.


So I reverted back, sanded the acrylic and filled the holes with the bondo spot puddy air hole filler. It filled the little holes and cracks very nicely.





Primed it up and It looked like one solid piece. Then I hit it with the dark grey paint. I really like how it turned out.





I put the carbon fiber on the bottom of the panel that will be seen from the interior because I wanted to still use it somewhere on this piece.





It looks good sitting in place. I started working on the mesh fan cover for it. Measured it, cut it with the scroll saw, and bent it in the break.









I tested the placement and it fit well, so I hit it with white paint to follow my color scheme.





To finish off the top I sanded down the top panel powder coating, then primed and hit it with white paint.




When it was ready to put into place, I drilled out the top panel mounting screw holes in the top of the back panel and added the plastic inserts I got from McMaster Carr. They work amazingly and alleviates having to tap the acrylic. Just thread them to your screw and carefully tighten them into place.







I got a little bit of work done on the inside panel by notching out around the front panel rads. The first panel I cut with a scroll saw but then messed up the panel with misplaced screw holes. I remade them when I picked up an up-spiral straight cut router bit, which is amazing for straight cuts.It made it easier and looks cleaner. I burnt out the double flute straight carbide bit, that's when I switched to spiral. I try to use the router as much as I can because of the clean finish it leaves.












Here is a final pic of where I am sitting with the mods. I wish I set on the front panel and took a wider shot, but its really starting to take shape now. I am going to focus on the interior panels now getting ready for motherboard placement along with gpu placement. I'm stoked on setting up the GPU, its going to be pretty cool and unique.

 

Nice progress! Looking great.

 

Thanks guys! I've been trying to stay on it as much as I possibly can.

 

Update 3: October 14th

Hey everyone! been a couple weeks since an update because we took a week to move my workshop out to our shed/poolhouse. After setting up the tools and organizing everything I got to work on some interior panels, radiator covers, and some painting! Tomorrow ill be ordering my new motherboard the Asus Rampage 4 Gene, and tonight Ill be tearing down my first build to harvest some parts from it. Ill be taking 16 gigs of the 32 gigs of memory, the Intel 3930k processor, and my Samsung 840 Pro series SSD. Ill be setting the case aside and possibly resurrecting it in the future.

Here are the pics from the last couple weeks! Enjoy!!

First thing to kick off the update was a package from mnpctech.com! I Got the new white delrin case feet and a few other goodies.





Here is the cut out on the interior shelf. I first cut it with a scroll saw but the I came back with my new Bosch Colt palm router and straightened out the lines. This is my new modding weapon of choice! I cut the the first panel then clamped them together and flush cut the other. Then I made a inlay for the mod mesh, that I painted dark grey, to sit when I glue the two panels together. Finally I put a round over cut on the edge.



















Now that panel is awaiting a couple water loop fittings and some other cuts later on. Now I got the work on the radiator covers. I made them with a white acrylic edge with a grey painted mod mesh inlay just like the interior shelf panel. They came out awesome and I'm thinking about making these to sell to people if anyone inquires.















Here are some pics of my PSU. I took the cover off and taped it off for paint. I only painted the part that will be showing through the back panel. I had to mask off the interior of it behind the honeycomb so no paint got it. It came out nice.









Painted up my top panel white.



Front panel in primer.



I masked off and painted my radiators.









The last thing I got done was paint the bottom panel and attach the white delrins. I made some white acrylic washers for the feet, I don't really know why but they looked kinda cool lol.










That is all for now, stay tuned! New parts new week!

 

Great to see everything arrived OK, looking forward to seeing more updates!

 

Yeah buddy!

 

Update 4: 10/21/13

Hey guys! Here with another update. I Got a few parts in and harvested a few from my previous build that were newer. I made some progress working on mounting some parts and hopefully have that finished up this week, then start my handmade reservoir. Well here are the photos from the last week! Enjoy!

First thing I want to do is show the new parts and reused parts I got together.

First Ill start it out with the motherboard for this build, which arrived brand new on Wednesday from Newegg. Eventually to be covered up because of its color scheme lol. Rampage 4 Gene.







This is my processor from my last build. Intel I-7 3930k. Followed by the water block, EK Supremacy and I custom painted its mounting metal part white.





My solid state drive from my last build. A Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB.



Memory from the last build. Ill be getting EK universal heat sinks and EK monarch water blocks for them. G. Skill Ripjaws Z-Series. 1600Mhz 32GB shown, Ill only be using half of it.



New LG slim blu-ray burner. 6x burn speeds. Ill be building an enclosure for this drive on the top of my hand made bay style reservoir.



The silver kill coil I took out of my other water loop.



The pump from my last build that I will be using. This thing is great, Swiftech Pwm.



My new EK water block for the Swiftech pump came in, so I went ahead and assembled it.









I bought Bitspower bulkheads to bring tubing into the pump chamber. I wish EK made these because Id prefer to use them for my entire loop. Im still figuring out pump placement in the chamber, once I line up my pump placement Ill install the other bulkhead.











While I was working here I decided to test fit all the panel screws for my shroud. I also have a couple pics to show how to set the MicroRax fasteners. I tighten a longer screw into it to leave a mark behind where it needs to be, then insert the set screw into the other hole to hold it in place.









Heres my painted radiators with their covers on them. They just need a hole pattern drilled out.



Here I decided to wrap my bottom panel in the carbon fiber because the glued edges weren't that great because it was the first time I glued that material. Now it looks sweet.







Next I got to mounting my motherboard. I laid down the board in the right spot with the IO panel on to mark that off as well. I traced the hole pattern and drilled the holes out. Then I put in the M3 threaded inserts for plastic and attached the 5mm M3 standoffs. Then attached the motherboard with 2x 25mm M3 standoffs connected together to hold the motherboard shroud Ill be making.













Once the motherboard was attached I got the IO panel in place. I wrapped the outside in carbon fiber and glued it on. Then made a pilot hole and flush cut the IO panel.









The last thing I got to was making the cuts int he middle panel for the GPU extension cable and get placement for GPU mounting. Ill be getting one of the higher quality 3m shielded PCI-e riser cables when I finalize it.









That's all I have for now, should have another update next Monday! Have a good week guys! Comments welcome!

 

Update 5: October 28th, 2013

Hey guys, back with another weekly update. I am waiting on acrylic cement syringes so I couldnt get as much done as I wanted to but I got a little bit accomplished this week. Here we go:

First I started with making a motherboard shroud. It was going to look awesome and I was super excited only to find out it hit the radiator in my top panel. So I cut it down and made it half size. Im going to add to some acrylic to it up the let side when I get my syringes. It will have embedded LED's to make it glow.

























My EKWB 2x Monarch RAM water blocks came in, so I got them prepped and painted, they are currently drying Ill have more photos of them next week.







I ended up peeling off the EK badges instead of taping them off.



The other part here being primed is the motherboard heat sink.



Painted the RAM had to flip and prime the MB sink so its off to the side.



Here is a couple photos of testing out some fittings, then I installed the second and final bulkhead through the middle panel.









Going with my grey carbon accents I wrapped my Samsung Pro SSD





Here are photos of some lighting options Ill be using and I started sleeving some wires for the front panel and PSU, I still have a few more to do. I remade my own VGA power wires because the EVGA PSU came with red wires so I remade them with white because it was showing through the white sleeve. I used LutroO's Teleios sleeving with the non-heat shrink method. I also changed the connectors that will be seen with white connectors and I am using white heat shrink for when I sleeve things that require it.































I cut wire routing holes in the center panel for running my cables from the PSU chamber. Clamp a fence and hit up the Bosch Colt. I love that thing!






Looking like a CNC did the job!









That's all I have for now. I hope to have a bigger update next week. I kinda added extra pics this week to make up for it. Next week I'm hoping to have a front panel made, and my disc drive chamber along with my hand made reservoir built and mounted.

 

That's awesome stuff man. Keep it up! This is why l love this place!

 

Mmm was just thinking about this colour scheme today, nice work I look forward to it developing.

 

Thanks man! I was trying to think of a scheme that isnt used a lot..this came to mind...i found it hard to match grey paints and panels though, there are many different shades...other than that I like it quite a bit, going to use grey pastel liquid in the cooling too should look nice