Project "AT tower renewal" is now FINISHED March 24

Project "AT tower renewal" is now FINISHED March 24 (mmmonster post)

Never written a worklog before, but since I've got a camera, and I'm just starting a new project, I may as well give it a shot.

Through my connections with my old middle school, I was able to acquire this ancient AT case. One can tell right away that back in the day, they made cases properly. The chassis is made from 1MM thick zinc plated steel, that can easily support the my weight with or without the shell.

The bezel is made of thick beige plastic with an angled control panel (I really like the look of this) and a load of drive bays.



^ Here's the case as I recieved it. It's got a vintage P100 system with a 1 gig HDD and a bunch of ISA cards.




^ Here's the case as I envision it. I'm going to experiment with a variety of ways to finish the metal. My first choice will be to sand and brush the steel shell until it's got a very nice milled appearence. For this, I need to research clear coats and techniques to prevent rust. On the front bezel, I'm going to cover that G pattern with a piece of metal tread paneling. Cut into the tread panel itself will be a custom fan grille (reminescent of Pink Floyd's 'The Wall') and a 92/120mm intake.

I'll probably vinyl dye the rest of the bezel and drive bay panels black. I'll stealth the CD drives for added sleekness.

Where there was once a solid state AT power switch, I plan to make a small plastic panel with headphone, mic, and if there's room, line in audio jacks. I'll wire the old keylock in line with the new power switch (which will go where the turbo switch once was) so that if the system is locked, the power button won't work.

Also you'll note the that plastic foot thing that the case sits on. I'm planning to mount a USB hub down there with the ports right on the front. That'll allow easy I/O without chopping up the bezel too much.

Now for the start of the log.

Obviously the first task is to get the case to accept an ATX motherboard. Luckily I have a spare tray and backplane, so there won't be a lot of room for error. I assessed the existing tray, and found that it was spot welded in.



I figured I'd have to drill through the welds and hope that would be enough to dislodge the tray.


^ Here's the case all clamped down.

After about 5 minutes of solid drilling, I began to wonder if I was ever going to make any progress through the rock solid 1MM steel (actually 2mm since this was a joint between two parts).

After a while, I became quite frustrated. But, for once, my anger was actually a gift. I took a slot head screw driver and placed it next to one of the tabs that was welded onto the case and started pounding on it with a hammer. Before I knew it, I had forcefully pryed the motherboard tray off, without doing any damage to the chassis. I was blown away and quite pleased with myself.

Well, that's all for now, stay tuned for future installments

 

that looks great.

I hope to see more pics of the case when the modding really has begun.

 

Another minor update

I am still getting the ATX tray and backplate mounted in the case.

The old AT case's rear had to be cut up a bit to accomodate the ATX backplane, and of course I had to drill plenty of holes. Also, to clean up the job a bit, I cut a piece of scrap metal (snatched from the box's PSU actually) and fit it in the hole left over from the conversion.



Everything was attached with pop rivets, and now I can move on to mounting the actual tray. After that, I can get to the fun stuff.

 

Nice old case. The internal zinc plating is very modfriendly since it will give nice reflections for lights.

What hardware did it use to be inside? 486, older, newer?

Is the two hammers on the front blowhole a hint of a future dual Opteron system?

 

AT case... cool idea

will look great once finished.

nice job so far

 

Great Idea i was going to do that awhile ago but then i got a brand new ATX Server Case (Blue with window and 2 blowholes) for FREE! nice huh

 

lots of room for a water cooling setup

 

Wow, for your first worklog you are doing great. I have read many of them (havent actually done one, but will when I get some money) and your is a very in depth log. I like it. Keep up the good worklogmanship (I just made that word up, gonna try to get it in the dictionary ) Onto the case. I also like the look of that little control panel thingamabob, its reall cool. Your idea and vision for the case looks really cool, and I cant wait to see some more. Good luck with the modding.

 

looks wicked! keep up the log, me is going to want to see more!

 

I'm eager to see this done, It'll be a killer mod when it's done.

 

argh, I want a tower like that!!

It seems there aren't many AT fulltowers around here.

 

i have that same case sitting no more than three feet from me at this very moment. i was also planning to mod mine some day. it's so damn big, it could be converted into a fine server.

 

This will be an interesting read, Ive got an old AT tower spare too.

 

I have a very, very similar Gateway case (had a 486/33 EISA in it). I think mine was slightly newer, because the front panel was different, and the 'base' was rounded. The face wasn't as square either actually.

I've not been able to decide what to do with it (I/O panel being one reason).

 

Finally an update.

Well the past few weeks I've been somewhat disheartened with the project. I realized that it was going to be an extreme challenge to get the ATX motherboard tray to fit (since it's seperate from the backplate, it has to line up exactly perfect)

My solution to this was to REinstall the old AT tray. Remember all the work I did in the first entry? Well I had to un-do it all, and re-think my entire method.

After reinstalling the at mobo tray, I used a dead ATX board for reference, and riveted the ATX on to the AT tray. I then re-installed the backplate in a new position that corresponds with the placement of the tray.

In addition, I hacked off some of the case to make two 50MM blowholes in the back. Kinda sad I had to use such pathetic fans, but due to many design oversights on my part, they were the only that would fit.

The case came with a power supply bracket for the old fashioned gigantic AT psu, and I considered it when I was measuring the hole for the ATX smaller PSU. I had an ATX PSU bezel/backplate thingy, that fit nicely into the 92MM hole that was leftover from the old fan. I had to extend the hole, but overall, the PSU fits perfectly, supported by the old bracket, and with no overt hacking and ****tiness (like my job on the motherboard)

Anyways, enough banter, here are some update pics. Still pretty boring, but trust me, things will start getting fun now. I'm going to be CNC Milling some custom pieces of plexigass for the front bezel and instrument panel, and the window as well.





And for a hint of what's to come, here's the roll of carbon fiber detailing stuff that came in the mail today. Mmm, fibery

 

glad to see an update, good luck with making the case ATX, its a pain...im betting the carbon fibre will look good...

 

We are not alone !! Look at all those beautiful bays. I spotted one of those beauties in the surplus bin, $20 cdn ! Then started looking for an orphan ATX case with a removable mobo tray... you know where this is going. Keep up the great log.

 

Is that what I see on the little panel a TURBO button????

Now that would be interesting to actually link that buttons input to a function that makes something go quicker...

hehe

I just love old skool

 

Very hard work being done I reckon, quite a challenge to make ATX board fit AT case. Hats off to ya

 

damn thats a tall case....