Well let me first say what a pleasure it is to see such a great source of information and so many people helping each other out! Thank you all for your posts, as they have helped me decide what I would like to do to my case! Ok, a small introduction to my PC... I have spent around £2k last month on the insides for the PC, so I wont be spending any more any time soon! Or for another few years! So I want to get my case looking as nice as I can, so no one can say anything about the internals! This is what I have now... My Case! As you can see its a good case, srong and sturdy. But boring and a bit ugly. Time to make it look better! I am new to modding though and a bit nervous! (Hopefully understandably!) What I would like to do: 1) Re-paint the case a nice black... always loved black... 2) Cut a nice big window in the side and add a etching/decal/whatever to it... 3) Replace all LEDs in case with blue ones... Blue + black = good... (Inc DVD) 4) LCD window in the door of the case. 5) Blue lights inside case... cathodes and such, and a string light around the base... HoverPC anyone? 5) Match the DVD/Floppy drives to the Case colour. 6) More LEDs on the front to bring the front alive. 7) All cables inside Heat Shrunk and tidy. Now some general questions... For the window, I dont really like the rubber tubing stuff to go around the metal edge... Is there a way of getting the window flush with the case? Or is it better to bevel the edges down to the window? Both dont sound that easy to me... hoping there is another way? Anyone replaced the LEDs in a Pioneer DVD and DVDRW before? Hoping its going to be fairly easy... first time solderer though... bit scared! And for now, no matter how much I love blue LEDs, nothing will make me touch my Panel light until I have enough to afford destroying it! Heat shrink and I seem to not want to get along very well... How do you guys get it on your cables? I have pulled the molex pins out of the molex plugs, but the heat shrink size is still too small to go over those, but any larger and it will be pointless... I ended up cutting the ends and re-wireing them afterwards. Good idea? Or is there a better way? Fineally, I would like some LEDs mounted on the front panel of the case, pointing down. There is a fantastic lip at the top of the case to do it, Ill just have to direct the LEDs down and make them flush with the case so the door can close. And suggestions as to mounting? Can you buy LED mounts? (electrics newbie here!) Anyway, any suggestions for doing any of this? Have a look also if you will at my post at the end of this thread, and if you have any suggestions as to how to go about that then yay! Anyway, its great to be amoungst all of you and learning from you guys! Any help would be greatly appreciated! TTFN, Always, Mad.
Lo, First i can't answer all of your questions, as i'm not quite a modding veteran yet, on my third case at the moment, but i'll try and help Firstly if its your first time painting, see if you can get hold of an old case. I get them from my old college,they have hundreds of AT cases they like to give to me Its good to get some painting practise in before u decide to go ahead and run the risk of ruining your prize case Right, the whole flush-window thing. Most people as far as i'm aware either use rubber moulding stuff, which i don't like the look of at all or they secure the plexi onto the back of the case in some way. I use double sided tape to secure my plexi to my case, some people use screws or bolts or rivets - it depends what effect you are after I'm not aware of anyone actually having the plastic "flush" with the case unless they are using that rubber moulding, or something to hold it in, but people can correct me if i'm wrong LEDs pointing down over the bezel - i've always wanted to do this to, thought it could give some nice effects. If you are in the UK i'd suggest a trip over to www.ultraleds.co.uk they should have all the bits you're after, and are prompt in answering any questions you can e-mail them If it was me i'd probably use some of those LED holders in the top of the bezel pointing downwards to house the LEDs.Like this I'm curious about your heat shrink problems as well, i'm guessing you are trying to braid your cables and put heat shrink over the ends where they meet the molex? I normally use fairly large heatshrink, i'm not sure of the size though, sorry . I just nick a hair dryer, and put it on its hottest and fastest setting and sit there for a while, and it shrinks fairly well. I don't normally encounter problems getting the heatshirink over the cables in the first place though. Anyway, i hope i've helped, good luck with the modding, and welcome to the forums
Hey there Cannon^Fodder! Thanks so much for your post! That website will be of great help! (I am indeed in the UK!) I hope I can get that effect going... if this is correct, I think I will try and use wide angle LEDs to light up most of the front plate? Hope that makes sense! Haha. Will try to get ahold of one of those cases! Thats a great tip and thanks! Heheh my heat shrink thing is a bit different... I dont want to braid then shrink at the ends, I want to heat shrink the cables entirely if its possible. If not, I will braid obviously... Just havnt ever seen anyone with heat shrunk cables and wanted something a bit different. If I have to do the braiding.. any idea where I could get some nice tight weave stuff? Dont want my cables showing if I can! I am using heat shrink that shrinks to about the perfect size to cover the cables tightly... I have done 1 fan, but it took me like 20 mins to do. Will try and get a pic sorted out so you can see what I am jibbering on about. I am probably trying to do it wrong... The heat shrink shrinks to half the size that it is to start with, so its not terribly big when you have 2x1mm cables you want to cover? Again thanks so much for your post! Will greatly help... Going to go pick up my camera now so hopefully can get some pictures sorted out! TTFN. Always, Mad.
Man, where do I start... OK, first: Big welcome to the forums, Madoron! Now, the questions: Exactly flush is very hard. But you can cut out a window and just glue the window behind the panel (or use nice looking bolts). This requires that the window cut out is of very good quality --no sloppy work here. If you paint the case, do so after you cut the hole, of course. There's tutorials on this site. Use the forum search, or look under Articles in the Bit-Tech homepage. Basically, it's finicky soldering but you can usually do a straight swap of the LEDs. Heat shrink shrinks (as the name suggests) phenomenally, down to one third of its size usually. So what seems way too large will accommodate your cables very snugly when shrunk. If you can't get it over the molex pins (with plugs removed) then it really is too small! There is a guide to heatshrink sizes in the Modding Guide forum. Use the forum search. Also keep in mind that heat shrink is not very flexible. If you do the entire cable, you may have difficulty bending it later where you want it to go! Braiding is better. Some companies, e.g. KoolPCMods will sell PSUs pre-braided to order, if you don't want the hassle of doing it yourself. By the way, hairdryers don't work that quickly, I find. If you're feeling confident use a hot air gun (used for paint stripping) instead, but be careful! Yes you can. But for your application I would look at "LazerLEDs" instead: They come in a range of colours and are fairly cheap.
WOW! Excellent! That will help so much! Thank you! Right... off to my hardware store... Have bought the paint I want to use now... Nice Volkswagen Diamond Black. Have all the primer and Lacquer and even some Rubbing compound along with some wet and dry 1200 sandpaper. Picked up some 240 by mistake, will have to exchange that I hope. Also for anyone interested, Halfords are doing a buy 2, get a 3rd free on all 300ml paint tins! Just in case anyone wants to do a respray as well! Ok braiding is better... now to hunt for some decent braiding! Thanks for the tip about it not moving very much... wasnt sure! And it says that heat shrink will shrink to 50%? Does the extra heat make it shrink to 33%? If so great... I am confortable with doing that... I have a heat blower attachment for the new soldering iron I bought for the LED fitting! Oooo going to be fun! Hehe LazerLEDs look good indeed... sounds about right for what I want to do as well... Now is there a way I can get them so they dont do that strange point in 3 directions thing? I would like 3-? uniform lights pointing down from the bezel, but just straight down. Hope I explained that right Heheh Anyway, thanks again to you guys! Really really appreciate the feedback! Camera is sorted so soon as I get some time, Ill snap some pics.... Still need a name though... Think I will call the PC 'Roxanne', but what to call the project... Heheh Woot! Almost feel ready to get out that dremal now.... Always, Mad.
Heyas again... another quickie... Think I have found the LCD panel I want to use... looks so nice... Matrix Orbital LK204-24-USB-WB. What you guys think? MO is great so far as I have heard... Hope its easy to program some simple CPU and Case temps, CPU speed and stuff like that on! TTFN, Always, Mad.
