Project "Extreme Cool" -Stacker Case Mod - MrBean - (Update 27 Feb 05)

Mmm...off course something will be going in there......2 off them actually.....

I have plenty of those around, thanx Acidburn...but I have purchased 2 lovely very small little momentary pushbutton switches, and they will go into those holes....another needs to be drilled of course

That will be my on/off and reset switches. Will take some pics of them later, they are really cute.

I have used a normal reinforced cutting wheel, for the rough cut, in a hex shape......then I use my pencil grinder, shown here with the Dremel, with a carbide cutting disk, to get it close to my circular outline I have marked, and lastly I use my Dremel, with sanding disk, to smooth it off.......see pic below.....



If you have more questions, feel free to ask

Ok, new update with some pics following just now.....

to be continued..

 

Ok, I realized just now I never posted a clear closeup of the new bezel....



I visited our local Electronics Store, Mantech Electronics, to purchase a few odds and ends needed.....came back with this....



The fans are Sunon 120mm X 25mm deep....



and in the bag are 10 high-brite 5mm white leds, and 3 momentary pushbutton switches. Will show a clear pic of the switches later.

Mounted the fans gave that something extra to the top, so much so that I probably can leave the black bezel...maybe....



and a second one....



Looks ok'ish

Anyway, I mentioned earlier that to avoid to much backpressure on the pump discharge side, causing excessive heat addition to the water and wear on the pump, I will use a 2nd smaller rad in parallel to the 360 Airplex Evo.....

Here are a few pics, playing with mounting it...



and another....




Mmmm...not my kettle of fish......f#$ks up the inside....so, onto another option.....



showing where pipes enter the case at the rear.....



with fan fitted.....grill will be replaced with 120mm Aquacomputer part....



and a last shot......



That is all I have for today, actually been smooth sailing for a few days on this project, but I will have some major updates by the weekend.....hopefully.

Thanx to each and everyone for suggestions, advice and your interest This is what makes casemodding so much fun, Guys, it is the participation.

Take care, and keep the comments coming.

I have a question: What to do wrt the chassis? Powder coating, or spraypainting? And what color?

Thanx again.

 

OFF COURSE POWDER COATING!!

and what color do you like?

navy blue?

 

hmm looking pimpin hehe, you should cut that 120mm grill in the back cuz its covering ALOT hehe, unless its just a filter?

 

Modsquad:

I am considering this very seriously, thanx again! I will off course remove the stock drive bays, then use the plexi up front, and lasercut the areas for the drives, and use the cut-outs to stealth the optical drives..... I would use a mirror tape on the inside of the blue front to make it more or les opaque....what do you reckon?

Jumeira_Johnny:

Some nice ideas, thanx. I have enough plexi, 1.90m X 1.60m...lol...Will have a look at the black alu accents.....and NO, the kitty came like that...Tortoise Shell brand.....hehe.....

Kamikaze-Freak:

I will take another shot in the morning, and post that for you tomorrow eve...ok?

Thanx for your suggestion wrt the color, I luv navy Blue, thought about that, or black? Will still see what replies I get back.......

Yip, it will go.....it is just a filter anyway, bolted in place by CM, so I can take it out very easily. I will use some Industrial Special dust filter, will post some pics tomorrow. Similar to that used in High-Flow washable K&N Racing Filters.....the type you spray with a light oil

I am using some on the top of my VapoLi, and it works like a dream.....very little flow restriction, very efficient.

 

You mentioned lasercutting.. That made me thinking..


The top of the case is VERY clean. Classy, elegant, efficient. Not bling bling with eleven thousand leds and ccfl's. You should keep the whole case like that imo. Elegance is best Seeing the top almost made something jump out of my pants!


Now, for the front. Custom fab a fron panel that resembles what Lian Li usually has. Clean, brushed aluminuim, or painted if you like. Classy elegant and cut it to fit your own needs. Perhaps some mesh for good ventilation. Just please don't go blinging now

 

Noldor:

Very true what you are saying Thanx. What I will do is look at some options, even alu for the front panel.....that should look very nicesome black ano'd brushed alu between the silver alu posts....mmmmm...got me thinking....

Will certainly look at all options, and yours, together with Modsquad's, stand out.

Keep 'em ideas coming, Lads, the more the better. Lets see if we can create a better Stacker than original.

 

mmmmmm anodized black aluminum frontpanel. mmmmmmmm *droooling allover the place*

 

ya i just noticed it was a filter, didnt take time to look at the pics hehe

are u gonna make a window or are u gonna buy the coolermaster one?

 

Well, my case came with the crappy CM one......that is the only option we have here in South Africa......blegh...but a modder must do what a modder must do...hehe.

In the pics you can see that my mobo tray is now swopped, upside down, BTX std.....so, the crappy window panel will be on the new back side of the case. It will be heavily modded, I have one very unique idea what I want to do there

This leaves me with a new, unmodded panel on which to create something unique. I stumbled upon a local guy with a CNC-laser machine, the type which can be adjusted in intensity for various materials and thicknesses....

So, I had a chat to him, and if I can give him a nice .bmp file, he will load it into his machine and etch me a nice design of my choice....all for the cost of around US $20-. Not bad at all.

So, I have a nice idea for a window, but I won't let the cat out the bag for now.

Take care, talk to you later again.

 

That looks like quality work. Nice to see something original being done with a Stacker. Worthy.

 

I have one of those sunon fans and boy do they move air. The one i have makes my eyes water and cools things down alot. And another plus is they dont make alot of noise for how much air they move.

 

Hello Nexxo,
Thanx for your kind words......a long way to go, as surely yourself should know. I have long been an admirer of your work on MetaVersa Might still use one or six of your ideas....lol...

tm36usa:

Very true, that is why I opted for such a powerful fan.....now I can adjust them to be running 7-9V with the Controller, and they will still move a sufficient amount, but virtually silent

I have used the 38mm x 120mm Sunons in my VapoLi project, and there seems to be very little difference in performance between the 25mm and 38mm versions.....

For heavy sessions I can just set the controller to auto, and it will speed up and down the fans based on water temp.......nice.

 

Yeah that would be nice. I used mine at 9.6v powered off a Remote contol car battery pack for the lift on my R/C hovercraft science project. It does a great job filling the skirt of the craft and lasts a while on the battery.

 

Tm36usa: Very interesting things, Hovercraft. Back in 1985 when I was in my final year at school, I was very interested in them, as well as UFO's.....crazy I know

Anyway, a small update. The rad on the back of the case has it's core exposed for every man and his dog....and in my case cats.....to damage. Put on my thinking cap, fetch my roll of modders mesh from the garage, and 10 minutes later a nice cowl. This would go over the back of the rad, and protects it's sensitive fins and tubes.

Let me know what you all think of it?

1st shot....



another angle....



and then there is The Inspector, some may remember him from my VapoLi Project.....he oversees the quality aspect of my work



I think this would be an ok addition to the rad, adding a bit of looks, and a lot of practicality to the setup.

?? Honest opinion....

 

i like it, it looks good, but wont it restrict airflow a good amount?

 

Probably not to much, and that rad will only cool the 2 Raptor's waterblocks.....the Sunons really move some air, on my other box I use the same mesh, and it doesn't cause a problem.

Just having waterblocks with a passive rad will arleady lower drive temps by around 6-9 deg C.....

But, I will keep an eye open when I fire the rig up, and report back on temps.

Thanx for the Heads-up

 

Looking good! Any plans for that window in the bottom?

 

been on read-only mode for awhile, but to be honest i couldn't resist posting!! especially in, IMHO, the First Sexy Stacker Mod!!!
good job there MrBean, & keep up the good stuff. i've started to mod my Stacker too, but the thing is that i'm too F^%$en busy with my studies that i can't find any time!
& i'm with you, that the plastic POS on the top of the case, is the ugliest thing in this case!!!

now tell me, if you did notice, the original top cover had a 1cm long piece of black plastic, going down to the DVD/CD drive bays. (i hope you do understand me! ), now my question is, how would you cover that 1cm high gap you'll have, after replacing the original POS, between the cover & the first CD/DVD/whatever you mount at the top... cause, in my mod the cover should have a 90' angle & then another 1cm stripe, which is very hard to do welding!

any way, good luck!

 

Thanx!

Yip, thing is there won't be much of it left, as I am planning on mounting my 2 Raptors there, but face down, in other words the waterblocks will be facing to the top......some indecent exposure

We always put these nicies in our systems, then hide it. There is a lot that can be acheived without going bling-bling crazy....wich aint wrong, I just don't like it. But there are millions who do, so.....

But yeah, I will post some updates on that area once I have coated the bare chassis, keep an eye out for it. Should look stunning. I have a nack for mounting drives in weird places.......

Naelq: Thanx for the positive reply, and I sure hpe you find some time to mod that Mofo

I know exactly what you mean, about the 1cm strip coming down. I have a few options, depending on which design I decide upon for the front: If I leave the front stock, I will make that small strip, and use special plexi glue, that fuses (literally) the two pieces together.

If I make the complete front from plexi, then the top/bottom pieces (lip) will be included in the cut-out. Same if I am using aluminium for the new front panel.

If I may: What are you doing to the front that requires welding? And what material are you using? I am sure we can give some advice.....