Project "AT tower renewal" is now FINISHED March 24

Well, it's been a couple of weeks, so that means yet another update!

In this installment, I take care of the blowhole needs of my case.

Now, I've always been a little bit apprehensive about cutting circular holes in my case. I'm not exactly the jigsaw or dremel master, and I've got a big problem with holes that aren't perfectly round. For that reason, I set out to find some sort of plastic moulding or bezel that would cover up my incompotent cutting, and make the blowhole look neat.

Well, I found the solution to this problem at my local furniture store. I noticed that the plastic dohickies they use to seal up holes in desks for cables to go through would serve as perfect blowhole ducts. After asking nicely, they sold me two, that were about 85mm in diameter. A size nearly perfect for the 92mm fans I'm using.

Anyways, we all know how blowholes are cut, so I won't get into too much detail here.
First I cut a hole in the bezel.

Then, a matching hole on the decorative plexi faceplace (which will be backpainted metallic grey, exactly like the instrument panel)

Then I examined the duct thingies. Yep, they are quite handy, a modder's best friend even.

Installed! All signs of messy hold cutting are gone. Also, you can see the completed instrument panel, lit up and working perfectly.

I did the same thing on the top. Mounting the fan here will be a little tricky, but I'll save that for another update.

Now a quick survey of the case. Note the duct tape holding the bezel on, since I was too lazy to screw it in.




In the next update, I hope to cover:
Mounting the top fan: This will require some custom hardware, since the fan has to be mounted on the chassis, not the unitbody (for ease of removal)
Installing the window: This is an interesting thing that people are starting to do (I thought of it on my own, but obviously, some other folks thought of it too). I am going to print off several injet transparencies and have them backlit by the case's lighting. You won't be able to see inside, but instead, you'll see a nifty display thing. Also included on this window will be a blowhole and a glowing border.

 

wow
I did almost the exact thing, except I used cardboard for the bezel!

 

Well you've waited a long time, and the final update is, er, finally here.

First of all, I took care of painting the case. I decided that I'd head in a different direction, and go for a matte black finish, instead of the usual glossy that most people use.

So, I primed and painted and took care of all the little parts that needed color. Here's the case in it's painted form


I also mounted a switch for the cold cathodes in the rear of the PC (a total afterthought - had I been thinking, I would've made room for it up front, with the fan controls). Finishing off the mods made to the chassis, I made some plexi fan mounting hardware, which lets me mount my 92mm top blowhole, exactly where I want it, so that it lines up with the hole in the case.




Now - you may remember the customized drive covers that I made a few updates back. I really liked the look of these, but once I saw them against the painted case, they looked pretty out of place. I decided that I'd have to take the long way, and re-think what I was going to do for drive panels.

I concluded that I'd have an individual, backpainted and beveled piece of acrylic, screwed onto each drive cover. There are a few stock cases that look like this, and I wanted to bring the look into the custom sector.

For this, my good friend the tablesaw made an appearance. This tool is perfect for mass producing pieces of uniform size. Using the fence, I can rip a piece of plastic the average width and length of all 6 drives. Then I can set the fence to the height of the drives, and simply run off 6 pieces.


For the beveling, I simply set the blade at a 45 degree angle, and ran the pieces through again


Closeups of the rough (unsanded) beveled edges



And now for the finale ...

 

The conclusion to this two part update is also the conclusion to my case project. Here's where it all fell together, and hopefully added up to something I can be somewhat proud of.

EDIT: You'll also notice that the once ugly green and ultra dim red lights have been replaced with ultra bright blue and red ones. It's really not a case mod unless you put at least a couple of blue superbrights.





So she's all up and running and I guess this project has come to a close. Now, if you've been following my work on this project, now's an ideal time to step forward and give your comments about how the case turned out, because I love to hear them.

 

BAD ******' A$$ !!!!!!!!!
looks like the factory did it, so ya know you did good i was startin to have my doubts, but no more. great work

EDIT - the screws add a nice industrial look to it

 

Nice work !!!!! Been following this since the first post and the rendered impression. Gotta say that the finished article is way better than the original idea.

Really like the bevelled edge drive bay covers, and the control panel is just mad

SO BLOOOOOO too

Very nice work, you should be VERY proud

Darkside.

 

Wicked m8 real nice !

question, since this is an old AT case r u stil running an AT mobo?
or have u modded it 2 ATX?

 

that is **** en sweet

 

awesome work right there.

 

nice, very nice

 

Wow!!

That is one nice mod job, I especialy like the custom drive fronts, very classy

Good work there, m8!!

 

SAAAWWEEETT MAN!

I love it! Looks incredible!

Excellent job! You are yet another modder I tip my hat to and sneak some ideas from!!!


JOB WELL DONE!!


DDK

 

thats welll nice big change from orginial case

 

-> excellent work dude

-> how did you attach the window?

 

Thats great. I love the look of the drive plates. The only thinkg i would change is the bolts on them. Maybe some blue anodised countersunk bolts with allen key slots. (Look at custom motorbike places for these if you like the idea)

Great Job, and im glad im not the only one who takes ages to do his mods lol.

 

Bloody Brilliant!

That's some nice moddage you've got going on there!

Me like.


AoD

 

i love how you made your own 5.25 bay covers!

 

that looks sw33t dude!!!

had my doubts at the start but really came through!

 

very nice, love the h00ge window up the side, doesn't even look out of place!

 

nice work. that thing looks mean. I like it