Project :blingGreen(04/03/2005 - MaximumPC's June issue! Rig of the Month!!!)

omg looks sweet! (Sry for not writing more... I'm drunk )

 

OOooooooo.... S-h-i-n-y!



For those of you looking to really put the reflections into your rigs.. lemme drop you a hint.
Megular's has a 3 step system, paint cleaner/polish/wax that is ABSOLUTELY da' bomb!!!!

I mean, my painting skills aint the best thing out there... and I'll be damned if I could not style my hair in the side of my case if I wanted to!!!!

It is that good!

Good news, $15 (USD) gets you into the party for all 3. And I finished up 3 of the pieces tonight (flame window/back wall/front bezel) I still have the top to make all slick and shiny. Wet sanded with 2000, then rubbing compound, then the paint cleaner, then 3-4 coats of polish, then 2-3 coats of the wax. I'll probably throw a few more coats of wax on them, just to be safe....

Bad news... I have no F'ing clue wtf happened to my digi cam!!! The thing was working like a champ! Went out to take pics of the stuff (ya know, the before and after shots) and I'll be damned if the camera just quit!!! I've taken the batteries out and am hoping that will reset the software (according to Olympus)... (fingers crossed)

Oh well, more pics up tomorrow (assuming that the camera has pulled itself out of the ditch...)

YAY!!!!!!

 

Sounds good tech-daddy! I hope your camera will work fine with new batteries, b'cause I want to see some pictures of the loveliness
Mod on mate!

 

Shiny polish pics!

NEW CAMERA!!!!!
The Olympus aint working, so I went and got us another camera, a 5 MP camera that was on sale. It is a Kodak DX 4530. Good stuff!!!!

Anyway, I went out and grabbed a few snaps before the wifey took it away from me again!

I think they speak for themselves!











Yummy!
I'm going to try and get the top polished up. I wet sanded it last night, and had a minor victim where the paint went to metal on one of the flames. I'll need to touch it up, then finish up the polishing.

 

Blue UV sheathing on the CCFL power lines...

Got a bit more done tonight...
The whole loop and the inverter (sprayed chrome, not really happy with it, but it beats the hell outta that pansy a$$ pastel blue crap it comes in!):



A close up of the back of the switch:


The more I look at the power supply in the case currently, the more I like it! I'm going to start working out the cable management and routing everything to clean it up. Since I finished up the painting on the back panel now, I can start working on the 2nd stage of that piece of the mod.

Also, on the top flame work, I will mesh that instead of using plexi to seal it. That will make for a passive blow hole/vent for any system heat, plus I have an idea for the mesh that might allow me to thorow some light on it! I have a few parts to buy to make it happen, but if it all works out, it'll be pretty slick!

 

WoW!
The paint job looks fantastic!!! Shiny!
And the sleeving looks good to, but damn shiny!

 

VERY nice paint job bro!!

 

now that looks great! I wish I could find the 3-step wash/polish/wax here I live.. great job mate

 

Thanks for all of the compliments guys!

Let me drop a hint here. Earlier on in the thread, I was talking about the caps being bad on my motherboard (EPoX) and someone came through for me in letting me know about the scandal that has ensued between the capacitor manufacturers and the motherboard makers.

Well, I got the repair on the EPoX approved via an RMA, I had to pay shipping out and back, but the board repair was free. So that got me to thinking about my wife's machine which had reciently died of a mobo failure. I remembered seeing something on the board that drew my eye to it as abnormal... could it have been the same symptomatic cap failure? I dug the board out (MSI K7T Turbo Ver:3) and lo and behold... the same pattern of capacitor failure!

So, on a whim, I crafted a request for RMA from MSI. This board would be right on the bleeding edge of a warranty (board manufactured in 12/2000, and warranty is 3 years from MSI... I purchase sometime early-mid 2001 which would make it around now) if it was accepted for that.

Not only did MSI make it right by issuing me an RMA to ship it back, they issued a warranty extension to August so that the board would be covered for repair and ship from MSI back to me!

Is that not a stand up company or what??!?! I am so happy with that response, I had been debating my next move on the Ath64, and with support like that, you can bet the board will be an MSI!!!!

Just letting you peeps know that, if you have your facts laid out, and approach the motherboard support department in a non confrontational way, you stand a good chance of getting the board repaired at little or no cost to you!

Also, on a different note, My olympus camera came back to life today! It was the fact that (for whatever reason) the batteries that I had here @ the house were all suspect. I bought a new pack tonight, and tried a pair straight away after getting home... damn thing works now!

Now I have 2 digi cams! I must say, from a sheerly objective picture quality and color depth/representation, the Kodak wins hands down! THe Olympus color is washed out and bland, while the Kodak is vibrant and detailed!!!

Just another tip in case some of you are in the market and looking at cameras!

This weekend I have on tap:
1) Cutting out the plexi for the side window.
2) Finishing up my cable management.
3) getting the tint for the side window decided on.
4) Etching? (oh yeah, I Have ideas....)
5) Mounting of the plexi on the side door.
6) Accenting the machine on the inside.

More later this weekend!

 

Just so you know I'm not sitting on my thumb...



I did a test fit of the components. Still have some cleanup work to do, but it is nearing the end of this road! I've got a few minor mods to complete, things that came up while working on it that were good "detail" ideas.

With that being said, here are pics of the test fit!

I got the plexi mounted last night and let it dry. Then I added a 30% window tint to the back of the plexi. During the day time, it will make the flames stand out more instead of being lost against the cables in the backdrop. Cabling is not done, but is more in a state of planning. This is actually revision 3 on the clean up, and I'm not happy with it. Still too messy and relatively unorganized... but I have a plan for that! Also, obviously, I have to get the external bottom of the case painted blue! I've already got a plan for it, and will likely have that done (hopefully) by Monday evening...



The night shot of the cabling and window, I have to finalize my CC's and I have a plan on raising them a bit to get better use out of the light. The window tint lowers the glare pretty substaintially of the UV lights.


Ive still got to finish up the top of the case. I wet sanded, but have a few touch ups to make where it went metal on me... Once I get that done, it will follow suit with the others in getting a nice glossy treatment with the polishing compound/paint cleaner/polish/wax system. It will pop nice!

I'm also marking the back portion of the computer so that I can finish up my "dressing" of the case! I went out and bought my fabric that I have decided on, and will begin putting it in place tomorrow. I fear that the tint is going to reduce the effect of the material, but we will see.

more laters folks!

 

did epox replace all the capacitors or just the ones that showed signs of failure?

 

I don't know yet, as I have not received the board back from repair. I would hope that it would be to replace all of the caps (if they have the policy to acknowledge the issue, I hope they have the forsight to make a board reliable after the repair).

I'll post up after I have the board back, with some pics to decipher if they only hit the damaged ones, or if they hit all of them.

 

Hrmmmmm....

In using my case over the last few days, I've realized that, as nice as the tinting is behind the flames, the window needs something more. I looked a bit more, at the case in the evening, and the lighting on the inside, and realized that, when the room is dark, the flames clutter up the cables because you cannot "see" the flame pattern! It just looks "interrupted".

So, that in mind, I've come up with an idea to make the flames stand out while the lights are off, and still have it be subtle enough to not affect the visuals overtly while the lights are on.

I'm going to go out and pick up some UV blue and UV green plexi, and cut it to the exact same shape as my flames, but just a smidgen bigger, so that each flame will have a UV outline to show itself with while the room lights are off.

Anyone seen anything like this? Tips? I want the edges to be very reflective so to I sand them to create an "etched" edge? or do I leave them clear and just let light do the work?

 

Done polishing...

I finished up polishing the top flame window on the case, and took a ton of pics... but I got it and had the wrong strobe/shutter timing (night leaves the shutter open a bit too long, and any motion blurs the pics...) Sooo, that being said, I'll snap some of the newer pics tomorrow and get those up.

But I started on another piece of the mod today, and I've alluded to it on a previous page...



I'll have it on the case tomorrow, and will post up the pics from that mounting as well! The crushed velvet effect will be used all around the motherboard, the back wall and the bottom of the case.

Also, to get the light that I want on the cables, I'm going to have to build some plexi risers for the CCFL's. Ive got an idea on how I will do that.

More tomorrow, I'm tired!

 

P I M P I N'

 

Looking good!

I havn't seen your project in a while. It's looking good. I really like the way your paint job came out.

- ReikoX Lives.

 

Crushin tha' thang!!!!!



This is quite fun!
It is stylish and functional, it is trick and kinda funny!
From my previous teaser pic of the back wall treated with the crushed velvet look:


You can see here how it fits in to the case and where all it would show:


Now then, I had to create the same look for the side of the motherboard tray, it had to blend in with the other, previously done location, AND, it needed to be removable so that if I needed the power cables that were strung under it... I could get to them. So I hot glued on the back of the material and crushed it together so that it was lumpy and uneven (the look I was wanting), then I mounted it into the case using velcro pads at strategic locations. So, if needs be, I can tear up the material and extract the cables without regluing everything or literally tearing up the material. Also to be noted, on the back wall section that drops down behind the drive cages, I cut a slit into the material and made a cord "pocket" to push extra cables into. I designed that downward section of the back wall with additional material so that it could expand if needed to accomidate additional cables... but still look consistant!


Here we see the mobo tray completed, and the cables are hidden under the material.


This one is a bit closer shot of the areas. Due to the rippling of the material, it hides cables very well!!


Moving on to the floor of the case now:


Here is another shot of the complete material installation. I was still working on the cabling, but the material is installed here:


And the ever popular "glowy shot" :


I'm going to work on the top window tomorrow. I mounted a blue 3 LED light under the top of the case between my top CD ROM and the case frame work. It will be pumping light under the top window, and now my issue is: "Do I want to mesh it or do I want to etch the plexi? Or do I want clear plexi with tint, like the side window...

Crapadoo... dunno yet. But a decision will be made in a few hours! That is for sure!


MOD ON!!!!


(edit: I'm also going to build a small set of plexi pillars for the CCFL on the floor of the PC, to raise it up and put the UV in a place that it gets a lot more "pop". Also, I've got a bit more cabling to do, namly the blue rats nest I need to minimize more. )

 

Hahahahaha now that's porn! just make sure the velvet doesn't take fire by the ccfl's

 

Why would they? It are COLD cathodes

 

Now we are talking.. All you need now is a little figure of a hooker and a "john". Maybe make some fake bed posts out of wood.. Very Nice.