Case Mod - In Progress Project: Lumière Noire by E.E.L. Ambiense - Completed

Thanks, bro!

 

I 'read' in the sense that I look at the pictures >.> Which, surely, you can't blame me for considering the sexy things that're in the pictures on these project logs :B

 

Once again, you can consider my jaw dropped. The lettering came out amazing. Don't let any LCD manufacturers get ahold of these pics, they'll rip off your design. Yeah, it's that good. Spectre needs to learn a lesson from you.

 

Man, this modded monitor has a looks that kill!
Really stunning, congratz for the result!

 

Thanks for at least looking at the pics!

Thanks, man. I don't know about it being commercially viable, but I appreciate the compliment regardless!

Spectre? You mean, Sceptre? If it were in fact SPECTRE, I'd be a little worried!

Thanks, man! I appreciate the kind words.

 

This is pretty sweet.. Maybe you can help me out with some aluminum cutting I need done, since you've got mad skills.. haha, not to mention tools for cutting

But yes, I love the look of this mod. I'm into dark colors

Can't wait for an update

 

Love the sick LCD solution now it looks like my 22" Samsung, mines still better tho, heheh

Great job man

 

OK. Now we have computer and monitor. We still expect keyboard and mouse mods to match. Maybe a Filimon USB key sorta kinda thingy.

Just teasing. This is really a great mod E. E. L. It's a keeper.
John

 

June 8th Small Update!

Okay, guys. Got some small stuff that needed to get done out of the way. I took care of a lot of design refinement and other things. I don't have a lot of pictures, but I have some. I figured I'd throw another update up anyways to get it out of my lap.

On to the update.

First off, I'm using the XSPC DDC-res tops for dual reservoirs in this build. I wanted to use these is the 5.25 bays like I usually do and run lines from top fill ports to them. The problem is, the "fill ports" they have on these things is a strange large size. Turns out it's M20 x 1.5. That's pretty big. Not to mention there aren't any good barbs that would fit such an odd size, at least none easily obtained in the "colonies" here. Besides, it'd be too big for such a small area considering there's a rheobus and rad barbs in the area too. I even tried the M20 x 1.5 to NPT conversion fitting, with an NPT fitting on top of that. Too damn big! So, the only solution left is....you guessed it...drill new holes. So, let's do this. I didn't snap any photos of me actually drilling them, because I really needed to be careful while drilling these. They're $50 a piece, so . Anyways, the gist of it is I modified an 11.8mm drill bit (for G1/4) to behave with acrylic, i.e. not crack it. Then I installed it on the drillpress and carefully shaved into the tops of the res's.

Here's the result.



Note: It's the small hole on the very left of the res!



Just eyeballing it, I should have just enough clearance for where it's going. Hopefully.

Now, the holes are drilled. Now we need to tap the holes to be able to fit a barb in it. Here's my massive tap wrench with the tap already cutting some threads. You have to go slow and be careful. Half a turn in, quarter turn back to clear the cut acrylic shavings out. Be patient.



If you were careful and didn't try to slam the tap into the hole like a moron, you should have something like this.



...And installed the barb finger-tight to check it. Perfect! Instant fill-port lead.



Now, I'm going to lay these out in the case roughly where they need to go.



Because I'm using Koolance angle-barbs with the PA 120.3, I needed to use a G3/8 to G1/4 thread converter and didn't compensate for the thickness this will add to the barb. So now I'm off a ways from where I was measurement-wise for the res and the barbs from the PA 120.3. I may need to resort to using a Swiftech MCR320 instead. Which is plenty for the video card and chipset. We'll have to see when I get there. But it's not looking too good right now with the PA... Luckily I haven't cut the top panel yet for the rad and fill ports and handles.

In other news, I also made a stealth plate for my X3 PSU.



As well as a PSU bay cover for the top of the case with an 80mm fan intake on it to get a little fresh air to the passively-cooled mosfets. Probably not necessary, but it won't hurt and the fan's really quite silent.



Alright, time to get to the grocery store and home to prepare for another week of evil.

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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

 

Thanks for looking in!

Thanks, man! Glad ya liked how it turned out. Samsung units will always be far superior to these junk POS's, lol.

Thanks, John! Actually, I've already modded a keyboard for this build, but not in a major sense. I'll post it later. As for a mouse, I actually don't use them. I'm a trackball person! It's a long carryover from my early early Mac designing days. I love trackballs, I just wish manufacturers would show us some love and not offer up uncomfortable junk! I currently use the marble trackball from Logitech. Cheap and reliable. I'm thinking of painting one too for this build.

 

Which fan for the PSU? Zalman again or SilenX?
John

 

Fan for the PSU bay cover? It's a Hyper 80mm red-led fan.

 

Very nice pump modding. I like how you can get the reservoirs for those kinds of pumps. I will do something like that in my next mod to save space.

 

Is this what you where after for you pumps tops?

http://www.aqua-pcs.co.uk/m20x15-to-g14-reservoir-fill-cap-adapter-1351-p.asp

I'm pretty sure P-Pc's do them as well.

 

This is gonna look fantastic dude.. If you're ever up my way, we've gotta work on something together

 

A word of advice about those FilterRight fan screens: You may want to consider some kind of gasket or sealant between the inner edge and the case surface. I have FilterRights on my WB+ and my fans are powerful enough to draw in dust around the gaps between the filter and case.

Also, the screens themselves need cleaning fairly frequently. I clean mine twice a week =\ Airflow can be a biotch when you move a lot of air

 

Thanks, man! Nice res's too.

D'OH! Man, I wish I could've found something like that in the States here. I don't recall seeing them @ PPC's though. Oh well. Can't turn back now, lol.

Thanks, Bill! Absol-freakin'-lutely. I'd love to mod with ya. Just give me the word.

Trust me, after years of experience with using these, I know. I think the positives outweigh the negatives though with them. If worse comes to worst, I just back the four small screws out of the removable part and run the screen under water.

I really don't move massive amounts of air though either, as I'm a bit of a silence freak.

 

lovely display mod,man,very impressive.great design..i think i'm going to do some LCD mod either

 

Damn...you guys have to do that...it would be EPIC. Words would not be able to express the awesome.

 

June 19th Small Update!

Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't been updating a lot lately. But there is a valid reason. I lost a toe in a freak nailclipper accident and--- I'm kidding!

In all seriousness I've been really busy with work and with work v.2, as well as two other builds that are basically mirror images of each other. One of them happens to be for my pop of all people. It's weird too, because after getting my pop into computers about 10 years ago, he's been a die-hard Dell® user. is basically my response to that. Not that Dell's bad or anything. But I finally got him to take the plunge and make a real system; C2Q; aftermarket aircooling (he refused to go water, lol), etc. I've thought of logging those cases too, as I've been snapping a decent amount of photos during modding, but I don't know if it'd be worth it or not. It's more or less "middle-of-the-road" type of mods, although I enjoy a nice subtle mod myself sometimes.

Anyways, on the small update. And I do mean small.

I decided to get some coating done on some things; namely the case feet. Now, let me take this opportunity to state the obvious that Bill Owen's MNPCTech.com modding supplies is some of the most innovative and original top-notch materials available. This is a given. But he stepped it up a few more notches with these things... His Billet Machined Aluminum Case Feet w/ Diamond Cut Edges, which he used on his bad-a*s "Spider FX" (Project Phenom) build. If you haven't checked it out yet, you're living under a rock. Please do so. It's good for your health and it'll put hair on your chest. And if you're a woman, I apologize for that. Time for electrolysis.



Damn, are these things friggin' bad mammajammin' a*s! They ain't no sissy Lamptron knockoff crap-job mass-produced hollow soulless junk either, believe you me. These things are TRUE case feet. Hand-made in the U.S. of A. And well-worth the money. They are solid and heavy in your hands. It's like holding two sets of large heavy 'brass ones', only they ain't brass; they're aluminum. Solid aluminum. And they ain't testicles either. But if I had these things hangin' down there I'd be proud of 'em.

Modern Art!



Anyways, these look sexy just the way they came, but they needed to match the build. Sorry, Bill for doing this.

I had to sand them down a bit and clean and bake them to get all the grime and dirt out of the porous metal.



....And coated. Looks freakin' awesome. I love gunmetal!



Anyways, that's all I have for this evening. I've been doing a lot of boring measuring on stuff, and need to find the time to coat the chassis down for this build. Once I get all this stuff out of the way, along with the other builds, I can concentrate fully on this again.

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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.