This is a Project that has already been started and having seen the ones on here i thought i'd post what i've done so far and get some feed back from you guys. There's still lots to be done but the glut of it has been done to the extent the system is up and running.... I hope this doesn't conflict with the forum rules but here goes.... Ok here's a project thats underway at the moment. Mainly the keep me sain and to give the gray matter something to do. Its called Project UnKnown mainly due to some factors that are unknown to me. The first being Pelts and the second being joining of 2 cases to become one. As time goes by you'll get to see the progress but due to cash and working long hours this project will take time. The consept.... This was just a very rough sketch of my idea. After a lot of searching the net and searching of the pockets i went for 2 cheap cases. By cheap i mean £40 for the 2 and here's what i went for. The cases arrived a few days later and i was shocked... Even for £20 each they were badly made. The case thats been dismantled had a broken hinge which ment the door was hanging off, the USB port cover was in the bottom of the box and just generally a poor build. Its a good job i don't intent on using them as they are. Here is a LCD that i will be using. The only bit i need though is the temp monitor. The time, power and fan parts will be masked out. As i'm using a pelt to cool the cpu the temp probe will prove useful, just to make sure the pelt is working when its turned on.
This will be the water cooling / pelt side of the case. I've taken out everything i could to allow for room. Once the cases have been joined there will be a sheet of alu to zone off the Tec-PSU from the rad. This is the Mobo side of the case. The only things to be put here will be a couple of low speed 120mm fans, optical drives and the mobo. In theory it should keep things very cool. A rough idea of what it should look like after. The front will be changed with the aid of car body filler and mesh but you'll have to wait for that. And a view from the watercooling/pelt side... Lots of room
Well i've started to hack the cases a bit more now. Nothing to OTT but its a start. I'll get more done as tools start arriving back from being on loan. Ah joyous neighbors... aren't they great. Just as i'm getting into thing a knock on the door comes and its the guy downstairs demanding to know what is going on. Told him "In my four walls that none of your business" and he went away in a huff. Still i managed to get some more bits done but at this rate its gonna be finished in 2008 lol anyway picci time again I have to be honest here and say that given the chance and the funds I'd change the cases for something of a better build. Still funds are tight and it will be interesting to see if the case looks good after all the panels are in and holes are flush.
Well the Dremel spares and pop-riveter arrived at last and i've been a little busy with the one side of the case. I also popped in to the local electrical supplies to get a relay switch which will be used for the pump and Tec-PSU. It works out a lot cheaper than 2 separate switches that run off the PCI's, takes up less room and will let me add 2 other devices in the future. i.e. Another PSU Anyway a few more pic's to show were i'm at and more to follow soon.... These are after pop-riveting the panels and cutting the holes ready for the fans, rad and such. Ok now i know this looks strange and some will be scratching there heads thinking "He's just cut holes and now filled them". This was the reasoning behind it. I needed to panel the back and then get it all flush but cutting the holes after would have been a right nightmare so what i've done is use a mesh over the panel, used masking tape on the back and covered with car body filler. The P38 stuff. Once its all been sanded flat i'll remove the tape and cut through the mesh and P38 which is easier than P38, mesh and panel.... Method in the madness. This is the mesh used. Very flexible and easy to work with This is the relay. It runs off the 12V line from the PSU and you can run 4 lines through it. For £8 its a good bargain. I've been going mad with the P38 again and now the 2 cases are joined... So i suppose its now ONE case. You'll see from the pictures whats been done but also how much more needs to be done :blink: Ok first up is the front view. I've cut back the plastic fronts to allow the air to flow into the case better and also to allow easy access to the drive bays for the CD and LCD (Still working on a solution to the LCD but its getting there). When the front has been filled with P38 i'll cover with the mesh from O-Cuk shop, cut out the holes for the drive bays and use the cut offs to stealth the drive fronts From the back view. Lots of sanding needs to be done here and a hole cut for a fan were the PSU would have been. The 2 side views. I'm still waiting for the lexon to be cut to section off the 2 halfs. And finally from the top. Lots more sanding to be done here too. Once all the filling and sanding is finished it will be down to a paint job but still not sure of the colour i want. I think the main shell will have to be black, mainly because the panels will be covered in accoustic foam to keep the noise down and that tends to be black. So its the panels that will be the hard choice. Still i have lots of time to decide.
Being Back on days with work has slowed me down a little over the past week. Thats what you get for being a night person but still i've managed a little more work and a sore right arm from sanding Lots of sanding done here and still lots more to do but mainly on the case its self A good coat of primer and its ready for the main colour... still not sure what it will be yet. This was cut using the dremel, mainly due to the aluminium being so thin. If i'd used the jigsaw it would have kinked the edges. Although it was more work its been worth it. All it needs now is a good filing and respray. Still one more to do The front panels have now been joined as such. This is were there will be loads more work. I need to build out the front and get it sanded down to take the mesh i want to use. If all goes well the mesh should just slot over the front and be held in place by 12 bolts. 4 in the middle and 4 either side. 2 more pics of the work done today. Would like to have done more but lack of filler and money to get more has put a dampener on things. Still bills have to be paid and the projects not an urgent thing. Its been a slow week so far, mainly due to working long hours to get the cash together for the Tec unit, mesh, rad and other things... But i'm getting there I've prepared the front of the case now for moulding and shaping. This out of all the things done so far is going to be the biggest obstical. As you'll see from the pics below the front will not be flat, it will have a slight curve to it which means building it up in stages. Whats been done so far goes as follows. I've built a cage which will be filled with expanding foam, once this is set i can then cover with filler and sand to shape. With the foam and filler i should have enough stength in it to hold the mesh.... fingers crossed. With the next 2 pics you can see the shape i'm aiming for.... lots of sanding involved.
Been doing lots to the front of the case. Mainly P38 again and loads of sanding. Think i need to start using my left arm more, the right one looks over sized now :huh: Anyway this is as far as i've got today. Will be doing more later but waiting for the filler to dry again. Ok the first 2 pics are from using the expanding foam to fill in the mesh... Worked a treat and has saved not only time but also weight on the case... The next 2 are my effort at iceing a cake.... not! It looks a total mess but with a little elbow grease it looks better. These 2 are after sanding. Mainly the top as thats the bit that will be on view. Anything not viewable will be rough sanded as there's no point in making more work than is needed. The front is still drying outside but once it is dry i'll sand it all down again to get the shape and finish. Once thats done it will be a case of paint... lots of it On to the next bit.... and after all the effort put into the case so far i feel ashamed to show these but they need to be shown. Basically i made a bit of a hurried job on painting the shell of the case. The only plus side is most of the inside of the shell will have sound proofing on which will cover most of what i want. Also added inline casters to the bottom of the case... not brilliant casters but for free who can complain.
A Package came today and inside was all the stuff i ordered and in excellent condision And now this is a little preview of the case.... Still lots of work to be done but you'll get the idea. Unfortunatley work becons me though i wish i could spend the rest of the day working on the case After an early start from a late finish i visited my favorite electrical shop to get some bits n bobs... Namely a de-soldering pump, wires in 5 colours and some shrink wrap. I got home and sabotarged my new fanbus Me now thinks the warranty is invalid Anyway the idea being that the front of the case is now curved and the fanbus flat i got to thinking on how i could fit it... Then it occurred to me that there is an area towards the bottom of the case that has no filler. "BINGO!" .... A place to put 4 knobs and LED's, and so i set to work. I guess its at this point i invalidated my warranty Or was it this one... Ok so from this pic you can see i've removed the pots and LED connectors. Both are being moved to new locations. This was after soldering all the wires on. I was going to use all one colour but couldn't get numbering rings for the wires so went for different colours for each connection. Also the wires will be connected to an atx block so if i need to remove the front of the case all i need to do is disconnect the block instead of unscrewing the pcb. Anyone for spagetti?????? This is one of the pots after wiring it. And all wiring finished. All i need to do now is sleave the wires and connect to the blocks. As for the LEDs those need wiring, sleaving and blocking but i need thinner wire for those. The heavy duty stuff would be to heavy duty.
I've had a day to my self for the first time in 2 weeks so thought i'd crack on with getting the case as sorted as pos. Unfortunately i've also come down with a bad cold so didn't get that much done. But i've managed to box the PCB from the fanbus and sort out the wiring to. Ok so i marked out what i thought i needed to cut 4 times and i still managed to get it wrong. Forgot to allow for the thickness of the lexon... Which still hasn't been cut After 10 mins with a jigsaw i cut along the lines... Not all the way through but enough to give me a folding guide. You can just make out the lines i cut using a dremel like tool. As i don't have the tools for making folds it was the easier choice although i could have used a hammer. I placed the pcb on a piece of mesh with 2 brass stand offs to raise it off the aluminium and also 2 plastic stand offs. Wiring for the pots complete - Just need to do the same with the LEDs The next few shots are of the box and all the fittings done. Its now on the mobo side of the case with the 2x80mm fans. This should help keep the PCB cool and keep a good air flow through the case.... Well i'm hoping it does anyway. It was just before i fitted the box that i realised i was 15mm to big on the length so had to take it out, cut off the 15mm and remake a side panel. Still its another job out the way and sort of looks ok. When the weather warms up i'll be spraying it black to match the internal part of the case.
Ok here's the pics... I've moved the mesh and filed it down it down to the contour of the top of the case. Looks neater and should look better when sprayed. Also drilled out holes for Start/reset switches, 6 holes for LEDs and also the fanbus pots. I fitted a few things to see what it all looks like as you'll see below.
Well i finished all the wiring for the fanbus today. Hooked it up to my current system to give it a test run and it work without fault So i'm happy as a pig in the proverbial So far all i've had running on it are the 2 front fans attatched to the box and the 2 rad fans.
All the panels are now primed for the final coat of colour and then laquer. Looking at the price of paints and what i would like to put into ans well as on to the case i'm going with black. More than likely matt to start off with and then finish off with a good clear laquer. The panels need rubbing down before i do that plus the weather needs to warm up a touch more but at least i can get the base colour done over the weekend which is something. The rad is now secured to the case but i had a dilemma.... Barbs top or barbs bottom. After a while i noticed that with the barbs at the bottom of the case the bleed screw is higher than the CPU block. That got me thinking that being higher it should be easier to fill and bleed the WC rig. The rig will flow - Rad>Pump>CPU>GPU back to the rad. Between the rad and the pump will be a T-line to keep the water topped up... Also being at the bottom the T-line will help in draining the rig when it needs cleaning. Ok so the down side to all this was the rad wouldn't fit, so another mod took place. At the bottom of the case i cut out enough to drop the rad by 10mm.... To say i was sick about it would be an understatement but needs must i suppose. Anyway the pic below shows what i did. Good thing is when the pipes are fitter you shouldn't be able to tell unless you either know or look hard enough
Well yesterday was a busy day... Mainly cable tidying and lots of it... and still more to be done. Still in the hope of a cool case, not only in looks but also temps, then it has to be done. This is going to be tha last update for a while, unless i can get on a different system. My main system is going to be dismantled so i can set up the pump, relay and leak test for 24 hours. While thats going on i can also complete the spraying of the case of which i now have a colour but you'll have to wait n see what i went for
Well my 24 hour leak testing went down the pan as i'm now up and running after 10 hours. All is well (if not very loud at the mo - testing the fans on full) and it all started up first time. I still have plenty to do on the system. Like a tec-unit, stealth the dvd drive, sleeve more cables, fit more fans... You know the usual run of the mill finishing off whats turn out to be a good project. And yes i'm planning a new one in the very near future. I've been bitten by the bug again but the only concelation this time is i don't have a marrage to screw up Ok a few pics to come now, I did try and put them in some sort of order but my brain is fried but you'll all get the jist of it... I think :blink: This is the shell my system is coming out of, I'll be using the case again at some point when i can sort out the money for mobo, cpu etc.. My over wired Thermaltake 480 PSU. It don't look like that now. I removed the 6pin wire n connector as its not needed. Also cut back all the 4pin cables, so now they have a short length of wire with a molex on which i can re-attatch the wires taken off. Loads tidier than before and easier to manage. I had to remove the sleeving from the water hose cuz i couldn't put the clips on to make sure of no leakage. The one thing i did notice right away was how much room i have to play with. Makes a change not to have a cluttered case. So that was the installation side of things but the best is yet to come
You have made a lot of progress and it has all been good. This is probably the best dual case mod I have seen. I especially like the bondo work to make it seem all one unit. Looks very seemless. Keep up the good work!
looks very good - nice idea on joining the two cases together - might have to try that one. Where + how much was the bondo?? Looks good - some parts of the case looks like you held the spray can too close to it, but otherwise nice idea on putting the cases together o and also how much was the mesh + where from?
