Modding ZapWizards' INSANE ideas, and ORIGINAL idea's you don't have the money/knowledge for.

i would imagine that such a mod might require quite substantial electronics skills... don't you?

 

Nah, quite simple really. . .
You put a bunch of stripped wire in the middle of your case, seal it all around the edges and then . .. well . . .

suck the air out.

I'll give it a go on my friends case.

 

"How about installing some tesla technology to brighten up your case."

I have used lightning! It's my newest mod.
Check out:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18321
and my guide here:
http://www.zapwizard.com/lightning


Yes it is on the outside, but for a reason.
Those devices put out massive amount of electricity.
They also require a lot of sheilding
I shocked myself five times whiile hacking and inverter for this mod. The only reason they work near the case is that the metal in the case sheilds it. (Plus I sheilded the inverter)

Still the voltage given off from the glass is still pretty high, so I worry about frying compact flash cards. (I hacked a read to fit in the front of my case)

I tried sheilding the backside of the glass with aluminum tape, which had to be grounded, or you would shock your self.

But this created two problems, one the ground caused very low resistance and the coil would heat up.
Two all the electricity would naturaly travel down the back side of the tube.

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As for the flipping LCD/Reobus like car's have I love that idea.

 

Zap - A couple of those ideas I'm going to actually try.....you'll have to wait to find out which ones

Here's a couple ideas of my own:

- How about stealthed fans? Yes you heard right, stealthed fans. Most people have a blowhole, why not make a little hatch that covers the hole when your PC is off. Could be motorized or just a manual cover that flips up/down/side or maybe it slides down like the cases with "hydraulic" doors that you slid down and they went behind the bottom of the front bezel.

- This ones a simple one, but maybe use blower fans instead of regular ones. It seems everyone is showing off the regular fan that you see spinning around. Why not use blower fans so all you see are the fins going up or down (depending on which way you mount em). You could even do an LED mod to em and you'd just see the LEDs zipping upward or downward. I think its a decent mod that would definetely set your case apart from most.

- Have a laser or LED controlled by the PC, that would draw shapes and such on the back of frost plexi. But do it from the inside of the case. I mentioned this once before either here or on [H]. Basically take a plexi case, frost and area of or the entire side/front/whatever and have one of those mini laser show things display the pattern from the inside. Would be pretty cool. LEDs would be harder, but I think they would be doable.

Here's a link to the laser things im talking about:
http://www.holoshop.com/cgi-bin/start.exe/shop/lasershow.htm

 

nice looking case...I got an idea actually using that laser idea of cooljoe's, How's abouts using the laser to actually display comp information like a VFD or LCD display? It'll look quite good that me finx, especially if its inside the case - and you can have equalisers for winamp and change the infomration into shapes, etc.

 

I look forward to it!

-Stealthed fans, very cool idea.
Mabye you could leave the blow hole there and instead mount the fan (Without surrounding plastic cage) to an arm that lowers it into the hole when you power on.

-Blower fans, I have three in my system. Two on CPU and one on the RAM
(Since it's in a desk im not doing any internal lights/windows)


-Laser VERY nice idea.
Mabye even a rear projected screen that show's pic's when your PC is off, and is a window when it is on.

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-Very expensive idea: Get one of those new LCD based house windows, the kind you can turn transparent and back with a switch, and put it in your PC!

 

Zap....do i get the idea that you dont want people to get into your computer?

 

The actualy PC door/side panel is not locked at all, just the whole case is connected to a security cable that runs out the back of the desk and to the laptop docking station.

(I bought the cable for the laptop, and it had a metal plate you are supposed to attatch to a desk, so i attached it to my PC instead.

As for now windows and such, it is simply because I don't go to Lan's (Mabye I will someday, but I am very busy right now)

 

-Here are more ideas!

-Build a UPS directly into a power supply, or PC case.
It would be difficute to find some light batteries to use instead of lead acid. Mabye some hacked laptop batteries? Or you could just have a theft resistant 100lb case!
(I need to weigh mine i swear it's up to 45lb's)

-Electronics PC, built in voltmeter, power suppy, oscilloscope.
Mabye even part's storage.
(Our oscilliscope's at AMD run windows, are a whole PC, and have two huge 120mm fans)

-Kazaa server, (I think I am going to make this)
Just a normal PC connected to the net downloading Kazaa 24/7
But it would have remote control software or a KBM switch.
Would also double as a file server.
(Currently my pc is too powerful to leave on 24/7 it just heats the whole house, not to mention increasing the electricity bill)

-Smoke PC, figure out a way to have contstant smoke/mist in your PC, see airflow via cold cathode, mabye lasers bouncing around inside. Mabye if the whole PC is sealed, filled with smoke, and the air circuitalted through a heat exchanger.

-More to come! just got to get it out of my brain first

 

would someone give this man a million quid so he can put his money where his mouth is?

 

You don't think these things could be done?
Name something and I will try and explain in great detail how you would go about building it.

I can explain how to build nearly everything I have posted here in detail. You can do much of these using simple circuits, only a few would need a microprocessor. As far as all the motorized stuff, it has been done before, but not for home PC's.

P.S. PLEASE GIVE ME A MILLION DOLLARS!

 

I have a couple idea for unique and stylish mods but rather difficult to complete:

Like someone else said,

Laser Window Etchings
- Have a laser being able to pivot on a axis and move fast to create a drawing of a symbol, text, or pic. Have the laser shine on the window would be the hard part, I thought some kind of light reactive material inside the window or some kind of flim that reacts to high intensitiy light. Any ideas?

Motorized door panels:
- This mod I actually want more information on because I plan to integrate it into my case. I have a small 2" x 2" project box that will be mounted into the top of the case near the front. I would like for alum door to cover the project box and with some kind of proximity sensor open when movement is sensed withing a few inches. Opening would consist of the alum sliding to the left or right or two pieces seperating at a middle point. I just dont know where to start looking for motors or where to begin.
-I also wanted to include it on the side of my case, same concept, just different purpose. To conceal a custom made 24 switch baybus. With alum door panels opening and closing to conceal all of the switches and LEDs.

Any ideas where I can start reseraching this kind of concept?

 

Elabortae on the laser thing for me then. and the motorized stuff

 

Zap....of course i believe these can be done!!! i just wanna see them done so i can have them!!!!

 

For the laser window etching, you could frost the window just enough to see through it, and have the laser still show up.

You could etch a fine pattern into the window that would cover say 30% of the glass, the laser would hit these points and light them up, making a speclete pattern effect.

An ultraviolet laser would work, you could use a clear UV reactive paint to coat the window.
(laser here: http://www.powertechnology.com/PRODUCTS/ppm370.asp)

A simple color filter would also react to the laser light.

Or a one-way mirror, this would create the nicest effect.
You would see the pattern generated on the window. (Due to the fact that the mirror is not 100% mirrored) Plus the laser would bounce inside the case and create internal patterns.

As far as the actual module, you could hack one that is pre-made for parties, or make you own using spinning mirrors, and a microprocessor to generate patterns.

 

www.allelectronics.com has some nice linear motors, and worm drive motors that can help you with this. smallparts.com has hardware to make hinges and stuff. For the proximity sensor, you could hide a IR LED/IR Dector circuit, or use a super sensative touch plate, (This is head due to lots a tweaking and EMF)

 

If you got the LianLi USB modle of case, remove the USB bracket and mount one of Macroman's HDD Activity meters there...I will probably do this later on!

Mike...

 

thx for the info zap. I will have to think up some more questions to pick apart your bring... Intrested in working on this motorized project with me?

oh yea and your allelectronics url needs editing

 

Sure, I am heading home right now, e-mail me at:
questions (at) zapwizard.com or zapwizard (at) zapwizard.com

Mabye start a thread in Project logs

 

The smoke PC idea is really cool, but those smoke machines create a lot of heat? And isnt' the smoke hot too? It is possible to do, but you'd have to use watercooling just keep the CPU from exploding when you powered up the machine......

And my two little Canadian cents......

Instead of having 60 lbs worth of cooling fans in your computer, make a computer that is built inside a cylinder construct, and make directed air vents ont eh side, and hook it up to a motor to spin the entire case around at like 3000 rpm. Then add some lights and such and you ahve a high speed light show.