Well I figured I may as well do this the right way since I am going to continue with the updates. Pleasr go here for the discussion. Fist of all the name sucks, I know. Any ideas on a different one? Second, I know that putting a PC into an ammo can has been done a couple times before (at least I do now. Had no clue before I started ), But I figure that hey, no two would be the same right? And off we go, I am starting this a bit late in the game. I already have most of the hard work done. Spec of the system are: Asus P4P800SE p4 3.0 prescott (not OC'd yet) Leadtek GeforceFX 6600(also not OC'd) 1gb duel channel Corsair (not sure of timings) 1x raptor 36gb system 1x wd 120gb 1x wd 200gb Dvd/rw drive 550W power supply Thermal take bigwater Kit (have two radiators because thier first rev of the kit had a poorly manufactured cpu block and it cracked on me so i bought a second kit) Thermal take Gpu block as well 3x Scythe Kama Flow 56.3 1800 rpm 120mm Fans (sa 1225fdb12m love these, mass amounts of air, VERY little noise) 2x Panaflo 80mm (don't know specs, though i suspect these will be the cause of any noise) I am trying my best to keep this case as upgradeable as I can. Here is some pics of what I have so far The front with the lid on: Lid off Back Internal frame Crumy welding job but surprisingly holding very well Rear Fan bracket made from steel. It is welded to the back. Cutting it VERY close with the CD-Rom
Here are some pics showing a test run of the wireing so that I could get a feel for how much space it left. Here is showing I had some problems with clearance in the front. This is where I plan on having the "control panel" inset from the front. And a mockup of the "control panel" that I am debating on.
Ok all those before were what was from the old thread (which is was moved to Project archives ) Here is some stuff I have done/fixed Came up with a new design for the control panel that I am pretty happy with. Note: the sheet metal template. Starting from the left and going clock wise Power DVD Eject Pwr light Hdd ativity DVD activity CMOS clear 4 toggles for fans in side Pwr switch engage/disengage The plastic around the push button on the far right is a mock up of a safty door over the Cmos button when I go a little over board with the over clocking . Also the key switch will be wired so that it has to be "On" for the power button will work so that it cannot accidently get hit and turn the system off. Also I have fixed the clearance problem in the front I have also cut the holes in the front for the DVD-Rom tray and Control Panel Stay tuned!
Well I finished the switch panel and I think it turned out of with what I have to work with. Unfortunatly the last jig saw blade I had broke so I had to cut the whole piece of 1mm steel out with a pair or nibblers. Holes marked and punched and ready to drill I need to get a lot better at measuring and using a drill press i think Here are some pics of the cover I made for the 'clear cmos' button. (Don't want this getting hit accidently now do we?) Installed on the panel I thought that it would be nice to have the usual logos engraved into the plastic buttons and since there aren't any stores around that carry dremel parts (which sucks because i really need some cutting discs), the next best thing, burn it in. One of the branding templates I made from 1mm steel for the power button. Heating it up and applying. (Any one hear a cow moo?) And finished. And yes I know, the eject button is a bit "off" every thing isn't perfectly straight, but as I said before, funds are kinda tight . Also I used a permanent marker and did a sort of "dry brush" effect (think thats what its called any ways.) I am debating on painting the steel on the panel a flat black. Yay, Nay?
WOw nice job on that control panel. Good detail on the buttons. I would say to mess it up. Not paint it just scratch it up or maybe paint it kind of sloppy. I mean make it look kind of beat up like its gone through a few wars in its time.
I think i am going for a more "clean" look to it. Only because I am very picky and I know that if I make it look worn, it would never be good enough. My plan was to pain the whole can a flat black and add "decals" (or painted on) of labels, name of mod (if i can think of a decent name ), and various other things to make it more .... uniqe(sp?). Thank you for the idea though. I still could change my mind. (which is why im waiting to paint untill the very very end.)
Bravo on the home-made button cover. and branding was a good idea too. try using an razor blade for cleanup. but for god's sake DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE POOR WELD ON THE CORNER. weld some angle braces or something. pop rivets. whatever.
LoL yeah I know and I will .. just working on a other stuff first. Got tired of the dang stick sticking to the metal and wasting 3 sticks before I make a decent weld lmao. And thank you for the compliment on the cover
Just a quick update on the control panel. Wired all the connections and made it "modular" so that if i do attach it to the front, it will be very easy to remove the cables. If you work with elctronics, the helping hands are you best friend! Some pics of the wires soldered on and the connectors on the pcb Wife stepped in and played around with my camera whilest working And tis finished! (any one see what I did wrong?) :doh: If ya didn't notice, I soldered every thing on before painting the front panel Oh well, I will just fix it later, time to eat! Then work on the bezel for the cd-rom front and control panel: YUM!
Yay, bezel and control panel mounted! Damn these nibblers I say And might I add filing kinda sucks to! (where are you plasma cutter ) The bezels. Control panel mounted and clearance behind is beutiful. Couldn't get a pic but there is about an inch Tell me what ya think !
Another update showing the control panel now mounted. Also just as an fyi, there has been no real planning into this mod so far. Its all just been going with the flow so to speak and so far i can't complain. Any who, let me know what ya think!
Nice job there, I like the idea of a "clear cmos"-button. I think that even if some little things aren't straight it looks cool, it gives it a style.
Just a quick text update, I had the last week off of work and was staying up 24-48 hours quite frequently working on the case and i have quite a few pics of what was done. So basically my next update should be a big one.
OK well here we go, Quite a large update of what I have done over the last week First off I needed to mod my dvd/rw to attach the ext eject and activity led Perfect tool for the job, Solder sucker and iron combined Removing the eject button and adding a header connector The power led turned out to be a surface mount and my main goal was to make sure that this drive could be used in a regular case later if need be. So it was time to use the pen knife The header for the LED.
After testing how easy or hard it would be to remove the front, I found that the way I made it before was just not going to work. So since i had to remove it all and paint the panel any ways, why not make it right! A 20 pin quick release connector Splicing wires the right way 20 pin connector for the connecting the pwr button, pwr led, hdd led, and speaker to the motherboard. Panel reassembled and painted. Close up of connector. This allows for very easy removal of the cable that connects the panel to every thing on the motherboard. And here is the panel painted and mounted into the front. You will notice that there is a missing toggle switch. That had unfortuatly broke while redoing the panel so i will have to get a new one. Here are the 120mm fans that will pull air through the radiators as well as out the top. Also added some two part hardening clay to the back panel of the frame so that i could try to smooth it part of the way out. The back painted. I do know that it looks like crap but 95% of this will be hidden by the metal of the can.
I have rewelded the corners of the frame and made quite a few other adjust ments to it. It now looks and hold a lot better than before. Here are some pics of what all is completed so far. At this point I have a few ideas but i would really like some help from the community. Read the discussion thread discussion thread for my ideas and the help needed please.
OK, Very large update posted. I have a few ideas but I would like other peoples opinions. The first is an idea for a name/logo. This one I can probably come up with but I would like to hear some suggestions. The next thing is weather or not I should put a window in the side of the case and/or remove the rails on the side. My main concerns for the latest one is that removeing the side rails may degrade the strength of the can. As for the window, I am somewhat in a rut. Main concerns are if I put in a window, I may be getting away from the theme of a "military"/"furtureistic" type mod. I guess to be honest im not entirly sure of what type of "look" I am going for. If I could please get some help with making a decisions and ideas.
Unfortunatly i can only think of 3 styles of sutible window. 1 Air intake, 2 Camo pattern (Warm up that dremmel cus its gunna take a lot of work for this).or 3 make the window the word AMMO !
