Well, here's going to be the project log for my new case (made out of a case from a previous mod), Black Sunshine. Named appropriately for the color and the fact that it should be lit up like a Christmas tree when all is said and done. Here's a pic of the front Bezel already vinyl dyed and the feet about to be. As you can see, the previous case was black as well but it was a rush job so I'm redoing it. Since I currently have everything in my YY cube, this one will be done with patience. This is an aopen case that had little "divots" in the bottom of the front bezel that have been bondoed and sanded down and now the vinyl dye appeas to be completed. You can't tell much about the front bezel there because of all the paint around it. Here is a picture of the top of the case which used to house two 120mm fans. This is now a cutout for a window that will be in there once it is completed. It's sanded down now and will be painted once I get my primer and paint. Here are the old side panels that haven't been sanded down yet. I'm pretty sure I'll be putting a different window in there so the puzzle piece will be gone. This is my custom digital hard drive activity indicator. I hooked this all up last night to see it work for just a short period of time. Since I was trying to short a couple of wires manually as it wasn't hooked up to my motherboard, I believe I burnt the optoisolator when all was said and done. More have been ordered and this will, hopefully, work just as well as it did originally. Finally, this is the skeleton of the case that still needs to be cleaned up and painted. My pump and radiator will be in shortly and I wonder, if anyone would care to give their opinion, what may be best for the radiator. I will be fitting two (one intake, one exhasut) 120mm fans on the rad and will, hopefully, be putting it in the top of my case. Now my question is about which way. Should I have it blowing the hot air out of the top of the case (I will be putting a port in the window for this) and have the top two 80mm fans blowing in cold air for it or should I have the 120mm radiator mounted fans pulling in cold air from the top and then the 80mm fans as exhaust for the hot air? I would think the latter of the two but I also don't want a lot of hot air trapped inside. If I am able to put the rad at the top, I will also have 1 or 2 40mm exhaust fans in the rear bottom and also a 120mm intake fan at the front of the case. Still to come is a customer made rheobus and also a fiber optic "mural"... more on that later.
Looking promising, hope you get that custom digital hard drive activity indicator sorted out Keep the updates coming
Small Update Okay, have a small update and a helluva wound. First, here are the feet vinyl dyed and I cut up the faceplate for my rheobus and it's been dyed. Now, here is the beginning of my Fiber Optic "mural" Instead of having a regular logo for the case, I decided to do it all in 1mm fiber. I have 20 red leds coming to take care of the lighting and 20 foot of 1mm fiber to run to each individual hole you see. And, of course, I'll be posting pics once it has been completed. Finally, here is today's modding wound. I was cleaning up the back of the faceplate for the rheobus and sliced the top of my finger almost completely off. The wound doesn't look too bad at this point but, when you look at this, just remember that all the shiny skin that you see... that isn't attached to my finger. Luckily the wife wasn't home so I didn't have to go get stitches... let's just hope everything grows back together alright
i hate those kind of cuts!!! mine was smaller, but the skin just died and hardend i had to rip it off its been about 2 months and i still see the damnage good work
Here are the beginnings of my rheobus. I wanted to get knobs that had some black in them but I didn't want to paint aluminum ones. Picked these up at ratshack for a decent price and I think they'll end up looking nice.
Why not use different colored lights in the "mural" with some sort of alternating circuit that allows it to constantly change colors. perhaps perhaps red, green, and blue leds with rheos to mix and match the colors to your preference? That could be a very cool effect and fun for case admirers to play with.
Or you can use some of these for the "mural"... Link Link Link None-the-less, it's looking good! I had the same experience as you did with that finger. Was moving and when I was carrying the microwave, it slipped out of my hands and a bottom edge caught my index finger - SLICE! Didn't get stitches either, but I did go to the drug store and buy funky band aid type adhesive stiches which worked great. Still have the tip on my finger, but have a decent sized scar...
Thanks for the link. I was thinking about something like this too but, with 20 red LEDs coming to do the lighting on the mural, $3.75 a pop wouldn't be too wallet friendly. I think I'm going to get the red up, get pissed off that it's so plain, then think of a way to change it Seems to be the way I do things.
Well, been working at it but don't really have anything concretely finished. But an update nonetheless. My watercooling stuff did get here so there's one good thing. I've had trouble finding screws long enough that will allow me to mount this and also have room for a shroud. Still looking in my local area but I may have the fan bumped right up against the rad for the time being. Once the project is completed, I'll need to get a waterblock and I'll be ready to go. Here is my rheobus finished except for the lighting. Having a little trouble getting the LEDs to show up right so that will still need a little work. Also, the internal chassis got a 120mm front intake cut in it and its coat of primer. Gotta go back to the store for paint before I can start on it. Here is the first pic of the lighting for my fiber "mural." On the right is an LED cluster from a big road sign. I wanted to cover the front of it so light didn't escape so I went to Lowes and found a nice little 1" PVC cap. After scraping about 1mm off the inside wall, it fit around the cluster like a glove. On the left is an extra drive cover that I'll fit this into as a brace. You can see a bunch of 1mm holes cut in the center of the cap that I will lead the fiber to for its lighting. This is the best idea I could come up with to prevent light from escaping. Here it is all fitted up attached to the front faceplate with vinyl screws that are JB Welded to it. It doesn't look wonderful but the only thing I'm interested in seeing is the front so it does its job. I'll start working on running the fiber tonight but I may have to pick up some more as I don't think what I have will be enough.
Here's a small update since I finished my HDD activity meter. I was pretty upset to find that the yellow and red leds just don't have enough umph to light up and they almost look nonexistant next to the blue green ones. With that, I am ordering 6 more blue greens and everything will be one color. The way I did this was to cut a front panel out of a drive cover and put frosted plexi glass behind it. Then, I used 9 boxes of the perfect size. And now I have a whole sh*tload of tic tacs to eat These were painted black and glued to the back of the faceplate and plexi. Then I mounted the leds in holes I had drilled and here is how it looks. Since it was light in my house when I took this, you really can't see the yellow at all. However, that should be fixed shortly so I'll be much happier then. Here's a short (4 sec) wmv clip of it falling from full hard drive activity. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ephmynus/blacksunshine.wmv
Okay, finally started piecing together some components and it's starting to look pretty sexy IMO. Here is the case without the front bezel on it and you can see the 120mm fan mounted for the radiator up front. Here it is with the front panel on it. I'm worried that I'll have to put a fan port on the front of the case because of the lack of ventiliation. But, the bottom of the front bezel underneath is open so, pending temperature readings and noise levels, I may just leave it as. Here's a rear angle. You can't really see the radiator since EVERYTHING is black but you can just barely see the side of it. The black is looking really nice so far and I'm quite pleased up to this point.
Here's the completed LED "mural." Considering the name of the project, I tried to get this the closest to a sunshine as I could. The edges I ended up having to bend at almost 90 degrees to get them toned down but everything seemed to work pretty well.
Nice work (except for the finger ) I have the same case, and looking at yours really makes me want to paint mine internally now. Just have to go get a cheap case to hold my system while I do it. And that LED cluster/cap/fiber thing has just given me a nice idea, involving 3-4 different/color-changing LEDs and a slow turning motor
I love the LED clusters and they are BRIGHT! You can get them at BG Micro for <$2 each. I love this aopen case and it has a lot of modding potential. The only necessary things I did to the case to turn it into a good modder was to cut the flaps off the back top that keeps the sides on unless you open the top first and to cut the top side panel guides on the main side panel so that I didn't have to slide the side all the way off. Now I only have to slide it about 2 inches and then I can take it out.
Nice job so far! I picked up the same case on ebay, currently considering the possibilties so I'll be watching. Can you add a pic to show the side panel tab mods you described above? It's a lovley case but those side panels are a pain! Cheers
Sure, I'll get a pick taken when I get home and post it for you. Once I was finished with those two things described above, this is a wonderful case to have a computer in.
If i were you i would turn at least the fan around but preferably the fan and rad, so that the rad is attached to the front of the case (make the opening square for max airflow) and have the fan sucking cool air into the case. You dont really want your water being cooled by warm air being exuasted from your case. Just a thought
Well, I've started finishing up painting on a few pieces. One side panel needs a final coat of paint tonight and then two coats of clear coat and then I'll be on to polishing it. I'll be starting the cutout for the other side panel tonight as well. Here is a picture of the top with 3 coats of primer, 3 coats of paint, 2 coats of clear coat and about a half hour with the rubbing compound. It's not quite as smooth as I would have liked so I'll probably hit it with more rubbing compound tonight but it's looking pretty good IMO.
