Project: Switcharoonie!!! ..::Lotsa pics!!!::..

Today is a hot, boring day. While waiting to go see Spiderman 2, i had to occupy myself. So, i played UT 2004 for a while, but that got old. SO.... i decided to do a mod. Something small, because i don't have the resources of time to do something BIG. I looked through my incredeble closet-of-electronic-parts and came across the most hideous piece of computer equipment i have ever seen!!!!

It was almost screaming, "MOD ME!!!!!"

So, i was much obliged to take it down from it's secretive hiding place and start planning a new mod.

Here is the original switch-
http://img56.photobucket.com/albums/v172/robotguy9000/overview.jpg
uber-sized pic linkified until you resize -Mister_Tad

It's an old-school style 8-port KVM switch that i picked up at an auction liquidator for 3 bucks!!! Actually, i picked up two!!!

Front-


Back-


Next, i had to take it apart. That was easy.

These are all the parts laid out-


A close-up of the interior-


Front Bezel-


And these are the little switches-




What im going to do to this fugly pos-

Cut a window in the top
Paint it
Change the switches
Put lights in it (If i can)


Thanks for looking!!!

 

LOL


Hurry up, I'm going to sleep in a few minutes


Cheers,
Mike

 

im going to sleep tooooo... hurry!

GO GO GO!

 

Stiiiiiiiiiillllllll waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggggggg...

EDIT: W00000000T! 800th POST!

 

ok, i fixed em

UPDATE!!!- wow that was fast!

i drew out the outline and masking-taped the edges.


HOWEVER.... This metal is THICK!!! and HEAVY!!!! so it's going to take a while to cut.



I'm gonna go cut right now... I started but my dremel overheated so i had to take out its motor brushes and put it in the freezer

btw im in arizona and it's about 120 outside... poor me and my dremel

 

Finally....

Hmmm....this could be interesting...some creative lighting and voila.

I hope you are gonna mod both.



Cheers,
Mike

 

are you sure you dont want to do anything "useful" of it? like a little lcd case? or a usb harddrive?

that thing isnt any useful since its too old right?

anyway its fun modding stuff.. gl hf

 

Should be nice... can not wait to see more...

 

nope. it still works awesome. i had like 4 comps hookes up to it to test it out... its cool. old stuff rocks. howver, yeah a usb hard drive minght be cool, but usb hard drives are meant to be portable, right?

 

UPDATE-

Ok i started cutting. It's pretty easy, cuz the metal is so think there's no margin for error, but it takes LOOONG time to cut through all the metal.

here's my work setup-


Oh and btw, i thought i should explain my bizare cutting contraption. After i clamped the case down to the saw horse, i clamped a metal roofing tie over the line where i was going to cut. That way, my dremel can only cut on the side with no roofing tie!!! It's worked awesome so far!!!


One of the clamps outlined by the hot Arizona sun... is good for baking stuff on the sidewalk (Just having fun with my camera)


i was halfway through the 3rd side when NOOOOO!!!! my dremel took a poop!!! So he went and visited Mr. Frozen Mozzarella Cheese for about 10 mins.


This is a close-up of one of the cuts. the little scratches on the visible metal are nothing, that metal is going to be cut out anyways.



well, i gotta get my dremel out of it's pit stop and get back to modding!

 

LOL...i love your enthusiasm in getting this done as soon as possible!

Keep it up man!

 

Resize that first pic please... all the others are a sensible size..

 

ok ill resize it

i finished cutting out the window area. Now im gonna paint it!!!! YAY!!!

however, i don't have any primer. Is this really neccesary? wil it work if i jsut put two coats of paint and tow coats of clear coat?

thanks

 

UPDATE- Finished Cut

I finished the window area cut. as you can see, i still need to file it down a bit.

 

Very nice straight lines well done mate

 

lol thanks. my clamping method works!!!

btw i think im doign pretty good on this, considering i'm 13

 

Woei, nice mod!!

Funny to see how you need to put your dremel inside the fridge to cool it of

Good luck with this mod dude. I have a feeling this will be a piece of work! Keep up the good work!

 

jeebus... 8 ports.... that's insane! can I get the other one?

interesting so far... can't say I've ever seen someone put a dremel in the fridge before though. mine's kinda squeaky right now... full of fiberglass from modding a boat... should do something about that.

 

if you give me 50 bucks!

 

UPDATE- kind of... actually idea update


HEY look wat i found!!!!



some hi-fi feet from an old VCR i had. Say hello to your new feet, mr. kvm!

here are some shots i took of how i'd like the feet to be.