Case Mod - In Progress Milk Mod (formaly known as: Project Milk Money)

Update (Aug. 10):




I'm not really a moder but I figured I'd put together a cool computer for college this fall. I mostly do wood work on custom guitars, but I figured I'd try cutting a little bit of metal.

At first I started with this design. Which is based around a cheap case I was planning to purchase. However, after considering how much books were going to cost me I decided against going out and buying expensive wood and a case to rip apart.



I know I'm not the first person to put a pc in a milk crate but from what I've seen most people pretty much have just thrown parts in and zip tied them to the crate. I also happen to have a lot of milk crates sitting around and I think the crate should allow for adequate cooling. Since I'm using mainly parts I have laying around or got for free the joke is that anyone with as much money as a small child's milk money can build this case.



Sorry for the blurry picture but this is the only one I have of the donor case before I riped it apart. Notice my horrible organizational skills in the background!



Here's the motherboard tray after I ripped it out. Again the goal here is to be as cheap as possible so I decided to not go out and buy the metal to build my own tray. Besides I wasn't using that old case anyway. Also notice that it's mATX but more on that latter.



After trimming the tray and the crate I put it in for a test fit.



Yet more trimming and cutting.



I did a couple of practice pieces today just to practice my spray paint skills. The one on the bottom Is totally unsanded and ruffed up metal underneath the paint and the one on top is sanded with 150 grit. I thought I would try both since I've never finished metal before.

So more on the mATX. When I first bought the hardware for this mod I was considering putting it in an old G3 case I have. However, after finding out how easy it is to overclock the core 2 duo I changed my mind on putting it in there for cooling reasons. Also the board I have (not the one pictured) is a Gigabyte G33M DSR2 which overclocks surprisingly well for a mATX board and also has decent enough integrated graphics (for me, or at least my pockets). Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the hardware I bought. Which I paid for before I realized that books would cost over $200 more than the hardware .

Also for those wondering the front of the crate will be covered with painted mdf. I thinking of coming up with a cow pattern or something like that for the front but I'm not sure yet. That's all for now it's time for .

 

Dude, i was so going to do this last year, i had everything cut out and mounted, but i droped the mobo and chiped a corner, and now it dosn't work, so i gave up. I hope you have better luck than i did. btw, once you make all the cuts, throw the crate in your dishwasher and it will come out with no sharp edges, no kidding. I love putting odd things in my dishwasher to save cleaning time, I'v put a keyboard, a mouse, an old empty tower, and tools in it. All electric parts removed ofcourse.

 

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I love seeing cheap mods that look just as good as the expensive ones

 

Update

I've been busy today looking for parts and mdf. I luckily got some mdf from my friend who had some left over from making guitar templates. As promised here are some pictures of my hardware. A hug factor in me deciding to use a milk crate is that my hardware looks sweet.

Specs:

Intel 6420 cpu w stock cooling (I'm trying to save money so no fancy cooling here)
2 gigs of Mushkin dual channel ddr2 800
Gigabyte GA-G33m-DS2R (hands down the best mATX motherboard I know of)
Integrated graphics (for now)
The hard drive and cdr drive are from an older computer

Pics:











I normally don't buy pc parts from Circuit City but these fans were free. My dad got a $25 gift card from the local gas station; one of those reward points things. Anyway, I'll probably paint them to make them fit the design of the case a little better. Tomorrow I should almost be finished with this mod. I'll also post some picture of me cutting out the front panel.

What are everyone's thoughts on putting a pc in such an exposed environment like this? A friend of mine suggested putting plexiglass on the inside to protect the components, but I'm not sure if I should be concerned about it.

 

If you need any sheet plastic of the same material, (polyethelene) check the local lumber yard. Lowes sells white plastic peg board that would work great in a mod.

If you mean a dorm room, then it does not matter what you do with it. You could build a bomb-proof pc, but a drunken room mate will always find a way to destroy it. If you cover it with spikes, it will get milk spilled on it, etc...

I'm also a big fan of dishwasher abuse. I frequently wash outlet/switchplates and AC vents. I have even washed a few engine parts in the dishwasher.

 

Update

You kind of have a point. If it's going to get messed up it's going to get messed up regardless if I have plexiglass trying to protect it.

Alright so here are a few pictures of me painting the fans and cutting the front panel. Interestingly enough the milk crate isn't actually a square. I guess after years of abuse it lost its shape.





This piece of wood is scrap I had left over from a bass neck. It's walnut and cherry. I'm going to use it for the cd drive support bracket.





If all goes right I should be done with this fairly soon. All I need to do is paint a few things and cut out the openings in the front panel I'll post pictures of me painting a few other things when I get around to it.

 

love it clean work and nice well done buddy well done and good job

 

Thanks. Right now my camera is out of batteries so I can't post pictures. Here's what's going on though:

In true poor college student style I decided to use zipties to secure the various brackets and fans to the case. They actually look pretty good on the case because they fit the b & w color scheme. I also added a few bolts that will secure the motherboard tray. One major plus to this case is that the motherboard tray slides out. I also opened up an old joystick to pull a switch out of that will be used for the power switch. Other than that I've also been working on my cd drive bracket. I'll try to get batteries so I can show everyone what it looks like.

The bad news:

I built this computer for every OS OTHER than Windows. Unfortunately the chipset is so new that no OS other than windows supports the IDE controller.
Which means I'm either stuck using Windows or I have to buy an SATA cd drive and SATA hard drive.

The good news:

I may be actually able to afford it. I saved over $600 by buying textbooks online. Sweet! To save or buy computer parts? That is the question.

 

hummm well save or buy pc parts, buy pc parts lol.

 

mini update

Here is a quick drawing I did in photoshop of what the front panel is going to look like.



Hmm. I don't know why it's so jagged it's smooth in photoshop. Anyway, what do you think?

 

Are jersey cows white with black spots or black with white spots?
When photoshop saved the pic it probably reduced it to 8 bit color. You need to check the image settings.

 

Actually, it's just the scaling. If you click on the full view the jagged edges disappear. Tomorrow I'll get some batteries and finish the cd drive bracket. Then I'll post some pictures. Hopefully it'll be sunny tomorrow so I can use natural lighting. My camera's flash sucks so I have to turn it off which leaves a lot of pictures blurry.

Edit:

I decided to try to snap off a few pictures before my camera died because as I was looking over my previous pictures, I noticed that I really don't give a clear idea of the mod.



The motherboard tray still needs to be sanded in some areas and needs to be painted also.







That's the switch I soldered together. I haven't tested it yet but hopefully it should work.

I hope I've given everyone a clearer understanding of where I'm at right now. I also want everyone to know that this mod is pretty much a necessity and not a luxury. Therefore this case wont be big on eye candy (no led etc). The total cost of this mod is well under $600 and with over clocking I should get pretty good performance.

I'm also debating what I should do about air flow in this case. I have two fans, one 120mm, and one 80mm. The psu also has a 120mm fan blowing out. I was wondering which one of the following configurations I should go with:

The 120mm blowing in and the 80mm blowing in (good positive pressure)

The 120mm blowing in and the 80mm placed right above the cpu blowing out (this could be roughly balanced if I'm careful with the fan speeds)

Tell me what you think. Any suggestions are very help as I need to pull every drop of performance out of this pc that I can. Also note that I'm doing this all on stock cooling!

 

cool project! lol @ the idea & how everyone loves to stick everything in thier dishwashers

if you want to soften your flash then you can use a small white sticker, such as those used on fdd labels eeek: remember those things!) or unused area of cd labels. If you cover the flash with the white sticker then a very soft flash will be produced, which is good for some situations or
you can cut the sticker a little larger than the flash, and attach the sticker just below the flash, with the flash still being covered with white sticker, but not contacting, making a V shape between the sticker and the flash surface - this small space allows a fair bit of reflected light to escape, without making harsh shine on the subject.
if the sticker is too thin, then too much light will go through it - in this case, make the sticker double thickness.

EDIT: about the fans, i say have the psu fan facing the inside of the case, have the 80mm fan on the opposite side of the case, with the hdd's in between the flow of air between these two fans.
The 120mm would be nice to have in the front bottom corner, in front of the sata conectors, blowing air across the mobo, and mounted at an angle so it blows air over ram, chipsets & towards cpu. If you fit a gpu one day then it too will get some airflow from this 120mm fan.

 

very niceeee ... I love it too musch it's cool and crazy good luck

 

i was having another peek at bit-tech, re-read my post and thought i'd illustrate what i mean with the 120mm fan:

i've tried to draw how the fan is tilted down a little, to really cool all the components on the mobo. The ram and the gpu board will serve as guides for the air to flow along, as the white arrows indicate.

and btw the 120mm psu fan will take in more air than the 80mm, which means the psu is helping to vent some rising heat from the system. With the milk crate case providing more venting than any other case out there, this pc is gonna run seriously cool, perfect for oc'ing

 

A few things to know about this motherboard:

give the NB and SB +.1v - it'll help gain FSB
hit a stability wall? as in, you get about 3 minutes before death? Lower the GTLREF ratio.
Whoa, why does it keep rebooting? Yeah, it'll do that on F4a. Kill the power via the switch at the back and wait a little, then boot. Settings should remain.
OUCH! My NB is hot, even with bits of airflow, though the SB is eerily cool - yeah, it'll do that. DIRECTLY active cool your NB.

oh and btw, i did have 2 SATA ports on my mobo go dead *shrug*

 

Looks like it's too late for this tip- but here it is anyway...
You can 'sculpt' this type of plastic using aluminum foil and an iron. Keep the foil between the iron and the plastic, or you get goo stuck to your iron. Heat up a spot, let it cool, then peel off the foil.
-I went through a pyro phase too...

 

Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures I used my phone. It pretty much took all of yesterday to get the brackets finished and looking smooth. It's a good thing my friend owns a bench grinder.



I don't have a picture of me using the bench grinder but here's the sander I used.



nice and shiny.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I like the idea of molding the plastic. Maybe I'll try doing that for the fans or at least keep that in mind for my next mod. I'm pretty much addicted to modding now so I'm all ready planing my next project. After I paint the cd bracket and make the drive door I'll post some pictures of them. It may take a good while though because I have to work on this guitar I'm building for my uncle and I'm having software trouble with this computer that I have to work out (I have to get that done now because it'll change what cd drive and hard drive I'll have to use). Maybe I'll take some pictures of the case next to the guitar when it's finished.

Also, I like you idea for the air flow mvagusta I'll probably have to adapt it though due to spacial issues (milk crates are smaller than they look!). That's all for now.

 

Even though I haven't posted anything in a while I've been very busy. On the software side of things I've been working to get the issues with Linux resolved. It turns out that only ubuntu has problems with my mother board. Also, the windows installation was acting funny. I got that fixed by switching out IDE cables.

Here's what I've been up to:
Sorry for the fuzziness I had to use my phone.




here's the painted IO plate.



nice and shiny slot covers



The back with the painted motherboard tray and painted bolts





Here's what the drive bracket looks like. Originally I wasn't going to put the hard dirive underneath the cd drive. However, space started running out fast inside the case so I moved it to make room for the fans. Latter, when I get my camera working again I'll post pictures of the unique way that the hard drive and cd drive brackets attach to each other.



Here's what the inside of the case looks like so far.

The next time I'll post will depend on when I can get my plunge router back from my friend. He's going down to Arkansas for a few days so I might not be able to get it. I need the router to make the holes in the front panel for the cd drive and also the power button.

Also, I changed the mod to a case mod from a scratch build to a case mod. Tell me what you think so far.