Case Mod - In Progress {Project:AT-AT}-{ON HOLD! (last updated: 11/09/08)}-{DAMN MY INABILITY TO MOD!!!}

Hi all. some of you may remember my last project log and remember I got to stripping it down, then I realised it's too small to hold a PSU, but this time round I've done the measurements BEFORE starting

I'm Sharn, and tbh I suck at the physical part of case modding... but I do have some good ideas (they just don't actually work in practice)

WARNING: I use smileys and emoticons a lot, if you are offended by excessive use of emoticons, please leave now)

Anyways, Introduction to the 'victim'...
Front


Back:


Front (Open)


Back (Open)


And a nice bit of muck:



What is it? Like I have any idea! it's just some old dead AT Computer that I've got off Freecycle, and stripped out. Oh, and incase nobody got the meaning behind the name, I WILL be converting this from an AT Desktop into an ATX HTPC, just so that nobody thinks a 166MHz processor will be used for music playing and photoshopping

anyways, as well as sucking at case modding I also suck at sketchup, but here's an attempt at what it will look like:

KEY:
Blue = PSU (It will actually be black)
Black = Metal (It will actually be black)
Beige = CD Drives (It will actually be black)
Green = Motherboard (I hope it will actually be black)
Grey = plexi (Hopefully this will not be black)
Other random colours = Lights on front bay (these will all be recoloured blue... not black)
Zalman cooler = a CPU Cooler, probably not Zalman

Front:


Back:


Top:



I won't be using the original PCI plate, that's getting stripped out and replaced by 2 fans and a bit of bondo/resin (haven't decided yet)

I know what you're thinking... "oh no, not another HTPC"
This HTPC is different to all the rest, in that the entire thing will be made using ONLY stuff found around my house and when I'm out cycling (and maybe I'll cheat a little by Ebaying some plexi/perspex and mesh, but they don't count)

Running specs:
Nothing

"what?" I hear you shout?

Well at the moment I have £0.07 in my bank account and £0.29 in my wallet, until funds become more readily avaliable this entire thing will be made using only second hand and recycled material... after then I'll put up a spec list depending on how much I get (EMA bonus coming and 18th Birthday in a fortnight or so, so I should get some money by then)

Ooh, and as a bonus, this entire mod will be cheesecake free!
Maybe a bit of Cathedral City or a Mr Kipling's now and then, but they will never combine.

Let's get started

 

It's not worth it if there's no cheesecake, if I'm being honest.

TBH, I thought this was going to be a Star Wars AT-AT lookalike, perhaps with the pooter in the main body.

Still, looks interesting

 

Yeah, that was the intention... play on words Cheesecake!
And thanks for the encouragement

First thing I did was strip the old AT Risers out and the 2 LEDs and momentary switch from the old computer


There are still some holes left in the base for a mount for a removable motherboard tray

Next thing is to clean the entire thing up (Which I have a job interview to do today, so I won't do that til the next update


THINGS TO DO:
Cleaning the case up
Cutting the case lid into 3 parts (Front, Back, Top)
Bondo-ing the current holes in the base

 

I was expecting a StarWars toy hack too. I'm deeply hurt and dissapointed, Especially since I loved my AT-AT enough to buy it a collar and dog dish.

 

Ok... I promise the next case mod I do will be star-wars oriented...

In the meantime, I've got the case lovely and clean (minus the intel sticker... that will come off tomorrow when I can steal a wallpaper scraper off my gran)







THINGS TO DO:
Cutting the case lid into 3 parts (Front, Back, Top)
Bondo-ing the current holes in the base
Cutting the hole in the back of the case for the backplate

And for those that are interested, I've got the job I went for earlier

 

I like the colour i like the design i like the idea.keep going !! ( just a question what is that fan doing in the middle of the case )

I like it so much that if i see that it is still good in the next update i will give it a 5

 

Fan... Where?

KEY:
...
Zalman cooler = a CPU Cooler, probably not Zalman
Hope that clears that much up (Told you I sucked with Sketchup)

 

aah ok

you could make holes to put fans below the case to create a better airflow cos this is gonna be really hot when operating!

 

To be honest I've never seen the point in fans below a motherboard, that's why I have so many fans planned for around the sides
Right, this is going to be the fun bit... remember me saying I can't mod for the life of me?

What blade do you use on a dremel to cut metal?
I have a few fibreglass ones and a couple of metal ones (and the obvious cleaning and grinding addons) and also... do you use multiple blades at once?

(I have plenty of "acquired" scrap that I can practice on before dremel touches case)

Help greatly appreciated

I'm out all day today going around builder's merchants and mechanics' garages looking for modding mesh or similar for the fan grills... because I'm sure you can get it cheaper than on kustompcs

Thanks all
Sean

 

Fibreglass cutting disks will do the work.

 

come on give us an update

 

LADLES AND GENTLESPOONS!

I have good news, bad news, good news, and bad news

GOOD NEWS!:
I have one of the sides cut off

BAD NEWS!: One of the dremel blades shattered mid-cutting and smacked me in the face, it's bad news because that was my last fibreglass blade and I have no money, so I can't buy any more til EMA pay me my bonus/work pay me

GOOD NEWS!: I got one of the sides cut off and Health and Safety'd (Needs filing a bit, but it'll be right for the moment), the other cut being half finished

BAD NEWS!: At the moment I have no pictures of progress, because my pictures are taken with a camera that I've "borrowed" off my stepdad, and he's in the room, so I can't take it to take any photos. (They will be up tomorrow)

And Thanks BlackWhizz for the advice, I was going to use my steel dremel discs


Any chance someone can tell me how to edit topic title btw?

 

Right, Being me (constantly bored) I went and weighed up prices of all the cmpnents I'm after (It's not a high spec PC by any means, but it works)

Also, as I've been window shopping (or so to speak), and I haven't come across any 7/8 way fan controllers, I've had to change my design slightly
instead of 7 fans I'm getting rid of one of those near the 5.25 drives and just getting 6-way controller

Specs will (Hopefully) be as follows:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, Intel E4600 (2.4GHz C2D), 6x120mm Hiper case fans, 18 blue LEDs off ebay (they go behind the fans, makes a nice effect), Hiyatek fan controller (It's the right colour and it has blue LEDs), Optiarc DVD+/-RW, Segate 500Gb HDD, Corsair 450W PSU, Corsair 4GB RAM kit, Asus P5GD2 premium, and finally an Inno3D 8500GT (The motherboard has no video out)

Yep, I'm that bored I even coloured in my text

oh, and my stepdad got here this morning before me, so I couldn't steal his camera better luck tomorow I hopes

 

or you could just use a cell phone ;P

 

Lol, why not

About the specs, why a 8500GT? For 10 bucks more u've got an 8600 GT, relatively much more power for a little price.

 

from the little i know about bigsharn 10 bucks for him is quite a big isssue. For me as well .But blackweed has a point it is a good investment ab 8600 GT

 

Plans are looking good so far, although what about cutting down the number of fans in the case? HTPC screams to me of 'silent pc for music and video' - the number of fans in that won't help the case for being quiet.

 

Number of fans doesnt make much difference.

The size, CFM, DB and number of fans makes the difference. I would choose for 1 intake, and 1 outtake 120mm fan, but i dont know if it fits in his case.

 

Bloody hell we've been busy posting:#


@ Nicolee: My cell phone is a nokia 5210... think of a housebrick with numbers scraped on with a penknife and you're not far wrong

@ Blackwizz: As Nicole said, I'm on a really tight budget at the moment... it's not the extra 10 bucks I'm fussed about, it's the buying of a TFT/LCD monitor, as I can get hold of a CRT for free (the 8500 having a VGA port, the 8600 being dual DVI)
Also, It's all 120mm fans... as I said above I have a fan controller for if things get a tad noisy(Which wouldn't bother me too much with 5.1 speakers)

@ Brooxy: The way I see HTPC stands for Home Theatre PC... when I get chance I will buy a projector and have it working as an actual home theatre (I have a Creative 5.1 system already... bought for £4)

 

The Idea looks good but you will have to do alot of work to fix the I/O thingy. This case will need alot of work.

Good luck buddy. I will watch this and I hope you do it right thats all what I wanted to say. nothing more.