Must Kill Teddy Bears - CPU Mad Reader Mod for Oct.05!!

Must Kill Teddy Bears - Clear Logisys Mod

Brandon Steen, A friend and Fellow Co-worker of mine who also just happens to be an excellent artist, was having some computer problems. His problem? His case was uglier than sin and an abomination to mankind.

I had been wanting to try out some things with backpainting and Brandon desperately needed a new case. So we decided to work together on a Mod. Using his awsome artwork and my modding skills. We are trying to create a beautiful master piece.

To start off we had to decide on a theme. I mentioned to him that I really liked a piece I had seen of his with some Psycho Teddy bears. I thought it would be cool if we could just expand on that Artwork and make a whole case of it. Brandon thought it was a novel idea and began working on the artwork right away.

It all started with this piece. The original that I saw was much larger, but it was such a cool image I was glad we chose it for the case. The one you see here is printed on material that is meant to be backlit. Brandon had started the image you see with a doodle on a napkin in a late night coffee shop binge.


Here is the case pre modified. A Pre-assembled Logisys clear acrylic case. It comes with 5 blue LED fans and ready to go.


The thing that I always hear about these acrylic cases is that they look like they would be really cool. Until you get everythng inside and you can't hide anything. No matter what you do it always looks messy inside. What I see is a blank canvas primed and ready to be painted. You just need to decide what you want to show and what you want to hide.

Ok Time to fill the Canvas. First thing I had to do was convert his artwork over to vector format. Then cut it reversed out in paint mask vinyl. I prefer to apply the image to the inside because I like the look of the smooth acrylic on the outside.

Time to put the vinyl on the acrylic. It will come between some slick paper and transfer tape. Peel the transfer tape off the slick paper. It will have the vinyl attached to it. One side will be very sticky and you need to be careful not to get is stuck to itself or anyting other than the case. Line it up the the piece and carefully lay it down. Then sqweegee the vinyl firmly onto the piece. Then peel up the transfer tape and leave the vinyl mask behind.


Lay down the Vinyl with Plastic Sqweegie.


and then pull back the transfer tape, leaving the vinyl on the Acrylic.

Back Painting the Acrylic.

Now you are ready to paint the Acrylic. When painting acrylic you want to use a paint that is specifically designed to stick to acrylic. If you use a regular krylon or spray paint it will stick, but will scratch off very easily. There are many kinds to choose from but I prefer Vinyl Dye or Vinyl Paint. It can be bought at a local AutoZone or Auto Parts Store. It bonds with the Acrylic leaving a hard almost plastic finish.


This is the brand I used to paint the case.

Before you paint make sure your acrylic is clean and dry. Fingerprints and dirt specs will show up sandwiched between the paint and acrylic. Also make sure you are in a well ventillated area and wear a paintmask. You don't want to win a Darwin Award.

Paint several thin coats of paint until you cannot see through it from the front side. Don't pour it on too thick because it will eat the vinyl and make is raisin up off the acrylic. For more detailed instructions follow the instructions on the paint can. When you are done allow the paint to completly dry before peeling off the vinyl.

Once it is painted you will have what you see here. A nice shiny acrylic panel with the Vinyl mask standing out quite nicely against it newly painted background. This is the reason I paint the back. It gives the side you see a nice shiny uniform appearance.

Now you can begin the ever so tedious task of peeling of the vinyl you laid. The Vinyl is after all your new windows.

(note: this pic is from another section as I forgot to document this part)

After the Vinyl was all peeled I cleaned of any residual goo left from the vinyl and applied the image of the teddy bears to the back. This is the Mother board side so the mounts went through the image and helped hold it down.



Around the edges I dabbed some two part epoxy between the slight overlap and the paint.

Final Product.

Here you can see that the big vinyl sqaure in the middle became a window for the artwork. All the letters are now little windows. To show you the difference I left the vinyl mask in the top "kill teddy bears" section to accent the difference. They will be removed after this pic is taken.

The letters will eventually have lighting come through to match the blue red fade of the artwork. The arwork itself will be backlit white. More on the lighting later.

The CPU side

This side is done in the same order, using the same techniques as above. First you have your design cut out of vinyl.

Using a sqweege and pressing the vinyl onto the acrylic

pull off the transfer tape leaving the Vinyl.

Spray several light coats of paint in a well ventillated area.

peel off the Vinyl.

Once it is peeled clean off any vinyl residue. You should now have a shiny new custom acrylic case door with your custom designed artwork. Add a few decals and Waala. Fancy.


CPU side door commentary
Everything was going well on this side. Unfortunately I cannot control the weather and a cold front came. The Vinyl paint need to be 60F to dry right, and it was getting chilly in the shaded shop. To combat the chill I laid this piece on our south side to get the warmth of the Mid day sun. I had it laying on the ground in the drivebay doorway with some cones around it. Cones aparently mean run me over to the install guys, and they did. Also running over the Acrylic side door.

Amazingly the side was virtually undamaged. You can barely make out the dirt and the tire tread above. A testiment to the durability of the paint could not have been better had I planned it.

The asphalt did leave some indents where there were some pebbles on the ground. It is barely visible and I hope they can be polished out.

More to come...

 

God..... thats nice painting!!!!

More more....

 

looks rearly profesional... just don't let your gf see it

 

As a neuropsychologist I can tell you that in real-life terms, "average intelligence" isn't all that much... I am relieved to hear that the panel survived the ordeal though, especially after all your hard work.

But it is a great job! I must admit I really like the theme too.

 

LoooL nice work I dislike plexi cases but this!!! wonderfull

 

OK, another update. Heheh. If you can't tell I have been putting this off. Been so incredibly busy lately. Home, work, website, new Austin Modders stuff, Prep for the April LAN. it's all just a lot. So by the end of the day I wouldn't feel like adding a worklog. I finally got so far that I knew I had to do it. so without further ado..

The Top
We went through several designs for the top. A lot of them were your standard windows. We ended up using a design that was originally going to be on the front but we thought it was to busy.


Here it is with the fans in and with lights out.




Tommorow I will add the front section here, and then the fun really begins. I have to get tons of lighting for effects and all the little details that finish a Mod off. I have only just begun. :twisted:

 

Very creative painting, unique as well

BTW:

That panel looks like it should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise - the placement of the 2 fans seems a bit off..

 

wow, this mod is undeniably awesome. I really love the artwork on the top of the case.

Just a suggestion: Maybe you should change the color of the fan LEDs to red since your case's theme is quite violent. Take whatever I say with a grain of salt, though.

Keep up the great work

 

no worries. The lighting will be red at the bottom and a fade to blue at the top similar to what is on the back panel artwork.

I also have selected areas that will have red LED's for accent. Along with some white backlighting for this artwork behind the mobo.

 

This is bad ass, I love the theme as well as the idea of painting on acrylic. Good job man. I will agree with the previous post though, maybe change the fans to red LED fans? It's your case though, and none-the-less still great.

Edit: My fault, I guess I missed where you mentioned that already. Sorry, anyway good job!

 

those fans will be too bright for the color scheme you are suggesting... try to find some softer lit 80mm fans

*better Idea sand the leds in your current fans

 

ROFL! 'Tis sad really though. I really love the details of this case, what a good idea for the window. I'm itching to try it out myself.

 

Indeed some amazing work. Cool artwork, too. Though I would get this guy in to a shrink, just in case...

kidding...

 

lol i dont know what he has against teddy bears ( personally i dont like them either) but it sure has created some great modding. keep it up!

 

Dude... this is just too cool!

 

O.K. I know what everyone is thinking but, maybe they are shy or maybe I'm the really one only thinking it but, DUDE PLEASE, I'll even repeat my self, PLEASE, right a tutorial in the Mod Guides section of the Forum! That is truly Amazing. I cant believe its spray paint! NICE JOB!!!!!!!!!!

**EDIT** Actually read throught it and thanks for explaining it

 

Cool... Nice start keep it up...

 

wow! nice work!

 

Really neat. First I was like: Gosh, too much of those decals(you call them like that?), but now I think there's nothing too much nor too little.

 

I like how it looks over all, alot diffrent the most of our case mods... But if you don't mind me asking, did you have a bad event happen to you with teddy bears when you were a small child???


EDIT: Also i wasn't aware that Logitech made computer cases??? Not to be an @$$ but do you mean Logisys???