Scratch Build – In Progress Scratch Build - PeculiarMac (updated 28/4/2008)

Hello all
Im from Portugal so please be advised...my english sucks!!!!

This is not my first mod but its the first one i show here, so go easy on me

This is a wood case build from scratch with apple as a theme for it... in a non conventional way

Its isnt over yet but let me show you what i´ve done so far...

Here is the case at the beginning


Were the apple will be


The cuts...




The cut for the 240 rad


After the cut and sanding the cuts




Rear panel cuts...




And this is the space i have to do the job....

 

After the cuts i started to do the test-fittings of the motherboard and the nesseçary elevation for it

A small detail of the elevation of the board


In its place with the graphics card


The back of the case with the board




And another one



After this done i started to work on the test fittings of the PSU and the watercooling pump

This is the plate i used to grab the naked PSU to the case


And here she is...




detail of the bolts that secure the PSU to the plate


A shot already with the pump


A detail of the conections on the rear of the board


And it was time to test fit all the rest of the components and to make the watercooling loop




And heres the result. although it wasnt the final one




My not very clean work place at home and my little helper....


And for today its all.... tomorrow ill be back with some more.
Hope you like it and please leave your coments.

 

Nice compact loop. You're english seems great to me .

 

Wow man thats lookin great

 

So, i believe this will be a hackintosh?

 

Thanks for the coments....

@500mph- Yes it will be a Hachintosh...

Well, going on with the project....
The board you see above one fine day died so i had to rebuild the hole schematics for the watercooling loop and electrical connections.
In the process i had a Apogge cpu waterblock that i wasnt using and the new board ( Asrock P4Vm890) had an excessive heating on the NB but i didnt have at the time any chipset waterblock... so i did a costum one from the apogee cpu one....











and this is the final loop










by the end of the day i will post more pictures on how the case in at the present moment
see you then....

 

So, as promised here are the pictures of how the case is at the moment.
As this is my main system ( and only one) the project goes very slowly because i need the pc working.
In these fotos you will see the first coat of varnish that gave the case the color i was looking for....

One of the sides and the front as they will stay....clean!


Now i would like to show you what i did with the rad...
I sanded over all the black paint until it got out and this is the result...this beatiful bronze color that matches the case perfectly

As you can see the inside of the rad needs some atention and it will be painted in a color that matches the case....

A little bit closer


This is the back of the case ( you will notice that theres no graphics card there because i dont have a pci-e one now, i had a agp one on the other board, so replacing it its the power button)


And now heres a detail that i would like to show you... these bolts are from a lian-li case and they have a double function on the case....one of course is the aesthetics ....


And the other is to prevent the case door to open too much...


And now some general pics of the loop inside and hardware....




With the lid closed...


And a far general view....



Now i would like you to leave your coments and tell me waht you think that can be changed and what can be aded to the case...
I really dont know how will i get the acrilic on the top, if by the inside or by the outside...
And this only as one layer of varnish. Do i aply one more turning the case a little more dark colored?
Or can i go straigth to a clear coat?
Please give me your opinion....

Thanks

 

I like the color. I would attach a piece of plexi behind the top panal for protection. Good work man, I hope it serves you well.

 

So far, so good... but i still dont know what color i should put for the plexiglass... or if i should put a transparent one...
Thanks for your coment

 

Looks nice. I would go with clear plexiglas or red.

 

As soon as I saw the first picture, I was hoping you'd cut the apple out and replace it with a bit of green acrylic for the stem and leaf, and red acrylic for the apple. So that would still be my recommendation. Then, get rid of that hideous blue LED fan and put a few white CCFLs or LEDs on the inside of the lid, so they illuminate everything and backlight the apple cutout, but aren't directly visible.

 

Thats the idea... the blue fan is just temporarely there to cool a little bit the PSU... im thinking of making a costum waterblock for the PSU but its going to take its time to do.
Thanks for your sugestion on the acrylic top but i have a question: isnt it better to just stick with one color instead of two?

Once again thanks for your input!

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Make it however many colors you want! Look at it and say "what whould look kickass to ME, not kickass to someone else"

 

Of course, i agree! this case is beatiful to me.
I just wanted to know the reason why you sugested 2 colors instead of only one....
Because i really like to ear(read) others opinion on what would fit nicely in the case deco...and of course i have the final word on it....

 

I think red would look brilliant for the apple logo, though crazybob's idea is good too.

Another idea is getting some UV red acrylic, and UV red fluid for your water cooling loop and then some UV cathodes it would have such a nice glow.

I really like this mod, and your water cooling loop is fantastic, it just shows you don't need a really big case to water cool

 

Thank you Matticus....

The idea of having a red liquid fluid is good...unfortnately here in portugal the best red i can find in stores from feser one turns out to be.... Pink!
Yep. Pink! And with the UV lights on it it gets worst!
Let me show you a little sample of what im saying from another mod i did for a costumer...

Now tell me...what color do you see??? PINK!!!
I really dont know why this happens but the fluid used on this particular mod was Feser One RED....
See what i mean ....?

 

Personally, I would use tinted plexi for the apple logo so that you can't see inside when its off, but then some ccfls can light up the innards when its on. I've always been a fan of that semi-hidden look. Plus, I think it'd work well with the wood box.

Great work though!

 

Ah yes that does look very pink, you could try it but add some extra red colouring I have seen a few people mix feser one with some other UV colouring to create different shades and colours. So I assume just adding a ton of red UV dye would make it darker.

 

I like the idea of the Red apple green leaf, that would look absolutely great and create a nice contrast, and of course red and green are complimentary colours.

 

I think clear plexi frosted just around the edges would look sweet with green/red CCFL's