Case Mod - In Progress Project: Micro AT by lost_modder

This is my worklog to show progress & get feedback on my newest case. Background story for build: After work one day a few weeks ago I decided to go treasure hunting in the old store room at work. What I found was a unique micro case that had to be modded! The 5 1/4" floppy will stay in some fashion, either a slot load behind it or stealth a tray with the faceplate.

A pic of the front shows the front design that I think will mostly stay.



And a closeup of the front shows the FDD & fakie FDD , mains rocker powerswitch, & of course turbo & resest. Keyswitch may be replaced with one that I actually have a key for



Here's the back showing a lil rust, the AT layout and where the powersupply was.



Bare frame stripped free of everything followed by closeup of drive cage that will probably change.





This shows the cover plate I cut to smooth out the back. At this point a motherboard tray has been cut to size and installed, but I have no pic.



All photos taken with a Kyocera cell phone. Getting new cam for x-mas, so things will improve soon.

 

YOU MURDER! You removed the Turbo button!
You should make it as a switch... like when you pres it, it would be "Turbo time", and it makes fans turns faster and makes the lights (if any) turn red.

 

The turbo button is there to stay, most of the front will not change. Except the 3 1/2" FDD, it will be gone. The fake 3 1/2" might stay tho.

Great idea about TURBO TIME. that's on the to-do list now.

 

such a wicked case, great potential and it looks like it will be a lot of fun to work on. Really wanna see how this turbo machine turns out

 

Stick a slot loading DVD behind the old 5.25 flopppy faceplate

 

Tonight's goal is to mount the power supply in the case. Not 100% sure about it but there is a plan.

gigik shows a very nice way to do it in his thread: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=142579

but I will not be following that direction, although I really like it.

 

No way! I have the same exact case, with a 486sx still running and rocking windows 3.1!
Nice idea, can wait till see it done.

 

Sweet find, Looks a bit ruff at the moment, can't wait to see what you do with it

 

Ok so working on the case last night didn't happen. On my way home from work my car overheated. It's at the repair shop now tho, so hopefully nothing major. Most likely it's the pump tho. Ok ok, I'll level with everyone reading. Saying my car "is broken" is just an elaborate ploy to get out of working on the case & to get rides to/from work with my boss (having a driver rox!). I made that up. Sadly car is broken for now. But I guess there is more work space in my garage for a few days. More room to MOD! Tonight the powersupply will be mounted and pics taken and thread updated.

That's awsome, this one wouldn't boot. Actually havn't looked at the processor. All I know is that the board has 7 ISA slots & 4 sticks of RAM.

Yea the neglected look of it was a big part of grabbing it. Hopefully everything planed for it works out!

 

Project: Micro AT by lost_modder (small update 12/20/07)

Wow. After a week and paying $400 my car is repaired! Sometimes the real life world isn't so much fun. But modding is I mentioned in an earlier post that the power supply would no longer be above the motherboard. The new front mount for it has been cut and only needs filed a little before it is mounted. It will never be seen as it will be hidden by the faceplate but it will be finished because I know it's there.

Here is the mount from the front. 10 rivets look like a lot, but some strength needed to go back into the front.



And from the side



In the side pic the new challange can be seen. As it was, the power supply wouldn't fit due to the mobo. Now the mobo won't fit because of the power supply. Thinking of bumping the mobo tray out of the back enough to fit it... dunno really. Questions & comments most welcome!

 

Looking good. You'll have to get a slot loader to go behind that old 5 1/4" FDD, and mod the old locking switch to an eject button.

Have you considered rotating the PSU 90 degrees (so it's lying on it's side). This could give you enough room for the mobo to fit although you might have to trim off a little of the HDD bay and move the HDD up a little.

 

I'm confused why are you mounting it to the front?
Maybe put it at the top of the case and make it so that the power cord comes out the top?

 

lol, raid floppy setup

 

Hey guys thanks for reading the log!

The slot load has been mentioned, but unsure which to get. Recommend a drive Gumbatron? The lever-to-eject is a great tip and will definatly be done. And now because you said that, I'm looking at the status led thinking it needs to work as well!

I briefly thought about that but went this way because the drive bays didn't need changed. There needs to be room for 1 maybe 2 HDDs & no floppy will be used. The bottom bay is extra space as it is. This will be looked at again for sure.

Mounted to the front to make room for mobo. There wasn't enough room for a micro atx board with the power supply in the back. But with the power supply out of the way, the case is big enough for a full ATX board. Hardware hasn't been picked but case will be ready for anything. The power connector will be modded on the power supply so it doesn't interfere with the faceplate.

floppy raid lol! I wish that I knew where to get the floppy-look bay covers like that. I would put one on like every system touched. lol eXplode I have been keeping up with your G5 clone build since you posted it up. Think I posted on it. Great work on it!

 

How far would you need to push the mobo out the back?

As with getting power to the psu, you could move the socket to the rear panel and extend the wires (use proper mains cabling of corse) maybe chop a spare extention lead (unpluged).

I was suggested in my log to put a slot load behind the 5.1/4" floppy. Awsome idea!
(sad to say it's been on hold for a while SOON TO BE REVIVED )

 

Right at 1 inch. 1/2" because they tray I'm using recesses the connections/cards.
Probably going to turn it 90 deg (as gumbatron posted) so the motherboard can just fit behind it 1" and be done with that.

I have some black 10ga. (&12ga.) wire that should work pretty nice for that. I normally use it to make some serious extension cords! And the socket just snaps into a square hole. Easy enough to move i think. That is the plan now. thanks!

That is going to be a neat part of the build for sure.
Good luck on your project when you get started again!

 

Project: Micro AT by lost_modder (small update 1/21/08)

Update definatly overdue for this case! The front has a new power supply mount that holds it on it's side. Thanks to the suggestions guys! And on the back i have the back cover cut and bent. All looks good I think.

To all the mad drillers - I do not have your patience. The metal i used for the back cover was pre drilled. The holes were then copied to the original metal.

Original back with cutouts/old power supply hole.


All covered up & looking better!


Angle showing the 3/4" of steel bent down. A small piece will be added above the board & something will be added to the thin strip. It is not very stable atm.


The new front mounted power supply plate. Better & bigger than before!


Now just final filing & sanding and the case will be ready for paint.

Still to do:
Order slot load dvd & stealth it behind 5 1/4" floppy face.
Modify original power switch to momentary or find matching momentary.
Mod powersupply with main socket to back of case & fans reversed to intake.

Thanks for looking!

 

Good to see it coming along.

As for a slot load drive, you could look for a Pioneer 106S. Not sure if that is the current model though. Maybe cheaper to look on ebay too.

 

@ gumbatron Just looked around and the best deal I could find on a slot load is $75 w/ship @ newegg (model DVR-K06RS). I think that is workable. Ebay had a couple of the model you posted, but all were used $50 tho. Thanks for the idea to mount PS vertical, saved a lot of time!

 

WOW! Coming along nicely since I last checked up on this one. Keep i up.