Thought this would be a good time to add this proggy to the bittech worklogs While the worklog is well under way this case still has a lot of modding to be done. Rather than a mod being done for the sake of being creative, HP5-SERVER for once is a mod i'm doing out of need The mian features of the mod will include Dual upper and lower 120mm moulded blowhoes, side mouted LCD new HDD rack, dual themed res tanks,and a later addition will be a Remote controlled 7" french mounted front LCD!! Let the MOD begin! The front panel. I'll be using left over panels from all the other mods! some are already modded so this should helps things move along a lil quicker. Of course the holes need to be marked. The top section of the front panel has its cdrom area plated and hole cut as well Some good old stormwater 110mm pipe is cut and sat into the holes. Scared yet? A floppy is no good to me! so in it's place is where the CDROM flip down front mod will be. a bit more prep work
Time for bondo action! for HPR-SERVER ive decided to go with a more pronounced lip on the both blowholes, i figured if i'm ganna have 2 blow holes! they may as well stand out. i also decided to do away with the lower contour to try and even the front look up a bit. The CDROM was/is going to take a bit of work!! around the edges are a pain to get right, the door closes flush with the face of the front panel. If not done perfect will most definatly spoil the look of the case... extra time and care is taken. Very early and crude! but i need a look see The panel is left to sit over night to allow all the bondo to settle and go off. Next day is more work on that CDROM opening. As you can see the upper lip of the door must sit perfectly flush!! Amost there! some small pits to be filled will leave this sit over night again then sand and sprayputty tomorrow.
Some more putty and sanding work is done to the blowholesand sat back on to get an idea of what fans i will run, I'm thinking 2 Turbine style fans will prolly have the best effect! Some final shots for now before sprayputty tomrrow
The front panel is given it's first few coats of spray putty and allowed to sit over night under the dry lamps. This is where i'll first see all the highs and lows and nasty edges! and theres going to be alot!!! The next day the panels again are wet rubbed with 800 The final uncercoat is primer A few more spots "flare up" this can happen, in this instance it's the thinners in the paint biting into the edge of the first layer of putty. The panels are joined and yet again wet rubbed and spray puttied. A final few coats of primer are applied to seal everything down, this is final now with just a web rub before paint.
You can now see with the Clear mounts installed and some Older workshop HDDs, how the new setup will easily house and effectivly cool 8-12 HDD's somthing not normally seen in a standard size mid ATX tower. Finally i can fit the the custom flip down front CDROM door for a test run I'm really really happy with the look of the cdrom panel graft! once under paint it will look factory.
While this may look a bit confusing posting this now! I need to know if the idea to paint the HP-SERVER black is going to be the look i'm after with this mod. The the next update i'm gioing to give the front panel a qick lick with some Acrylic Gloss back! and do a quick mockup using some HP-1 panels. The paint you see here..if i decide to stay with the black is only a base coat that will be rubbed flat bfore final paint job.. A good trick for you guys painting @ home is to give your paint area a light spray with water bfore you paint! this helps to settle down any dust that flying around in the area. I use a generic type 2 dollar sprayer set to fine mist. The choice for me as always when dealing with can paint is ACRYLIC paint. NOT Enamel. The primered front panel is given an initial "dusty" coat.....left to sit for a min then a few more "wetter" coats applied. So i can get a good feel to this mockup ive decided to add the spinners to the chosen fans now. The fans ive chosen for the mod are top qual PABST's , these are high flowing 12v fans wich i'll run of Zalmann speed controllers. The Center cones are the same as used on HP-4 the larger 70mm type. Of course to match the cones are painted using "Bumper trim paint" this is used for its plastic sticking propertys and the fact it drys a plastic matt finish to match the rest of the fan. The cones are "HOT GLUED" from the rear to thyr new homes. With the Fans ready and the painted front touch dry ..the front of the case can be fitted up for a looksee To help get an even better idea! ive grabbed a few penels off HP-1. Im very heppy how the HP-1 side penel with the moulded window vents actually works in quiet well with the 2 front blowholes! and may end up making
I said i was Very happy with the look of the front panel so far! but to me once again it could be better!!!! I already decided to put a 15" side mounted LCD into HP server but thought why not go the whole hog and do a DUAL LCD install! The victem is a Shinko 7" LCD i like the fact that this unit uses a Romote! should make a fun lil addition. A qick measure and shows it's a squeeze but a possible one Time to bust her open!
With the LCD out i can now mark up the front panel for cutting. The front panel has a round shape so inserts are cut from plex and added. A check to see all is square Some minor stress cracking was caused with the clamping so a lil extra work needs to be done. The screen spacers are glued into place then time for some bondo action! A qick fit to the painted chassis to check screen placement. Back off for some sanding A second coat another sand and a final coat of finishing putty
DONE! Today was one of those days where everything just falls into place! and you finish your days modding eager to get to the pc and post the days work! First off was to get the newly modded front panel ready for paint. after a qick sand some spot filler is used to fill pits and the panel is taken over for some spray putty.
I am in "awe" of your abliity to "crank-out" smoken-hot machines in "no-time-flat".. What is this, like (5) in six months!! beyond-belief::
that is work from the bondo master !! but what happened to the flip down dvd drive o well atleast its being replaced by that shiny new disply
First I was going:"WTF" , when you decided to mess up the DVD-thingey you made. But I must confess that this thing with the screen is way cooler.....
hehe, how much does that front panel wiegh? it wont tip the case over forward will it? :wink: actually it looks great, those blowholes look factory, nice work
What grit sandpaper do you use to sand down the bondo. Everytime i work with bondo i have the well 2 low(like 120) a grit then you leave lines and such but then if I use a high grit (like 400-220) then it takes forever to sand it down. Also great work i have been following all your projects your bondo work always impresses me. Just one thing is puzzleling me what do you need a LCD for on a server. I mean one monitor or the other would be great but having 2 on a server is just well not needed. Either way though it looks cool and keep up the good work.
