Lets make a case modification!

[KilJaeden]

I will post pictures of the case that I want to mod. I will be open to any ideas that the members of the forums suggest. You can see my first plan for a window on the top in this picture. The line on it shows a rough estimate on where the PSU is.

[KilJaeden]

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Well, because of the poor quality or pictures that my camera takes, you can not quite see the design that I have drawn on the panel. The design is the current plan for the window.

[KilJaeden]

In this one, I have roughly drawn over the pencil marks in paint. Keep in mind that I did this roughly, and quickly. The actual design is quite smooth and congruent. I measured everything.

[KilJaeden]

This one is a little nicer than the last one. This is a plan for the front of the case. NOTE: The circle isn't quite 120mm if it was, it would be the same distance from the grey part but, it would almost be touching the "cheeck bones" of the front bevel.

[Red Dawn]

lookin good, that side panel has a sweet design. just remember mark twice cut once and u'll have a real nice case in the end.

u could if u wanted make the window above the ps bigger and maybe take in the top of the drive bays as well.

[Xenogeared]

interesting. do you want my opinion on how to perform the mods?

Cutting the fan hole on the front is rather simple, just get yourself a hole saw and take that baby out.

I can't tell what you want to do to the top of because pencil never shows up well.

The side of the case can be tackled a couple ways. you could dremel it (my personal favorite), jigsaw it, or there are these metal cutting siscors(i dunno what its called right now) that you can use. It looks like you want to put a window/s on the side of the case which may just take some cutting of plexiglas (fun stuff). i reccommend you attach the plexiglas with double sided tape and some liquid nails (easy to attach to weird shapes and can be removed if you want to add some more cuts)

anyways good luck

[KilJaeden]

Here is a better picture of the side panel cut. I covered the pencil with masking tape, and then traced the pencil trough the tape with a black pen.

[KilJaeden]

Here is an angled shot of the case, when it is fully built. This must be the first time in weeks that the case has been fully essembled. It isn't technicaly fully assembled because the case is bare of any electronic equipment. Anyway, on with the picture

[KilJaeden]

I have recently deisgned a schematic for a circut that I will put in the case.

I was thinking of doing a special stealth for my cd-rom. If you look at one of the previous pictures, you will notice that the top drive bay cover bulges out about a half inch. I would install 2 LEDs on the drive bay cover. The green one will be on when it is retracted, and a red one for when the tray is extended. There is a second delay for when the tray retracts and extends. But the LEDs do not have a delay.

So the order of operation is:

1. button pressed
2. green LED switches to red
3. second delay
4. cd tray extends

1. button pressed
2. cd tray retracts
3. second delay
4. green LED turns to red



I was also thinking of adding a control panel for the lights and fans for the case. I originaly planned on using military switches.

[KilJaeden]

I had another idea. I was thinking of turning the bottom 3 drive bays into a drawer. For wires or a joypad for LANs. I think that I have pretty much quit on this idea. What do you think of this?

[CCW]

Looking good, when you gonan do the mod? The draw idea is good, would save space and make it easier to get to lan partys but who uses joypads? :D

Craig

[KilJaeden]

I should start within a week or so. I just applied at a home depot that is opening in my home town. I want to wait till it opens so I can see if I got the job. So I can buy all the tools I need on discount. I was thinking of useing the jig saw method of cutting the window. For the top and bottom ovals, I am going to buy a small hole saw and use the same method there. Another reason why I am waiting, is the fact I only have 5 dollars on hand.

[CCW]

Ah, good luck! Hope you get the job!

[Clutch]

I think the discount thing at home depot isn't going to work out man. My sister and her b/f works at the home depot here and they get no discount. Although when I worked at Lowes they gave me a 10% discount on all purchases.

As far as the mod goes, looks good, I like the design's you have came up with. For my first case mod, I put in a top window, right about my cd-rw and a side window with a blue cc.

As far as tools, a jig saw and dremel should be your best friend, also a roto zip works nicely, just got slow with it. Stealthing your optical drives will be a good idea and will look sweet. What color do you plan on painting it if you do paint?

I got some pics of me sanding down my case and spraying primer, also with the paint drying in my room if you wont to see. I would have to upload them all though.

[KilJaeden]

I am definatly going to paint. The three main colors that I currently want is black, blue, and a silver or chrome. I might not paint the switches because they are already chrome. If you have any questions about painting, I suggest going to pimprig.com they have a resident painter there. I got the impression that he is professional. But he never actualy says it. He has guides on how to paint metals and plastics. He also has some stencil work.

[Clutch]

I used Painters Touch pain and primer from home depot for my job, I used S-L-X Denatured alcohol to clean everything and also some 3-m sand paper. Mine turned out pretty good for a first time, non expert painter like myself.

[Matt]

i tryed to paint my case silver and it looked like s**t.

[Clutch]

How many layers of paint did you put down? And did you sand after the first layer ( if any ) was down?

[KilJaeden]

The plan is not to have the main color as silver. Black is going to be the main color. Maybe silver were it is now. The drive bay covers will probably be blue. I was thinking of painting the frame blue as well.

[Matt]

Originally posted by Clutch
How many layers of paint did you put down? And did you sand after the first layer ( if any ) was down?
i put like 5 or 6 layer's and i used a dark silver for the base.

[Matt]

i was testing what color i was going to use.

[Enverex]

I bought my case pre-modded with a Window and cool front, so I dont need to mod it. Im bacially too clueless and cackhanded to do it properly anyway, something always goes wrong and ruins the whole thing, so yeah, bought it pre-done. Most I have ever done is cut out some fan grills before.

NS

[KilJaeden]

Pre-mods have a bad rep, but they aren't that bad. Some are really well made, provide excellent cooling, and look really cool.

[KilJaeden]

I was thinking of connecting two of those fan ducts together. So I will have a 90 degree clear fan duct.

I will connect a 80mm fan to the back of a power supply if I cannot find one that already has one. Then I will connect the two ducts to it, and connect that to the accrylic window that is going to be on the top of my case. This way, I will have a great flow of air going through the power supply and lower temperatures inside it. I have a feeling that the fan duct won't fit flush with the window, so I will trim the fan duct and I will use some accrylic adheasive to connect them. I will have to try to find some clear ones, the only color I have of that is grey.

After all of this, I will add 2 blow holes on the top of my case, they will both be outtake. The fan that I will put on the back and front will be intake. The one on the side outake. The fan that will be on the front of the case will be an 120mm fan, preferably a chrone one. The top ones will preferably be transparrent.

[KilJaeden]

Here is the current layout for the top of the case. The top one is for the duct, the other two boxes will be fans.

[Red Dawn]

u got a circuit drawn up for the cd drive mod???

wouldn't mind taking a look at it if ya do, might try summit similar if i get a chance

[KilJaeden]

Just let me pull it out of filing.....

Oh here we go.

[KilJaeden]

That should work. I don't think that I am quite done with it, but that is as far as I got. Now remember, IC's are complex, be sure what you are doing when you use them. Check your work twice or better yet three times, before hooking up the juice.

[Red Dawn]

it doesn't look rite, i'll take a look at it tomorrow and see but it could be i'm just tired.

the 555 timer looks a bit wrong to me at the mo, as far as i remember there should be more conections when ur using it as a timer.

the fuse is a good idea, something i prob would have left out :|

when u show it connected to the cd-drive r u attaching it to the wires for the open tray button inside the drive or am i missing something

[KilJaeden]

It is all connecting to were the old button was for the cd-rom drive. So it is like I took out the one little button and put in the circut. I didn't include in the schematic all of the leads for the timmer. I just put it like that to show pretty much how it will be connected in. I didn't even put in the ground. The schematic itself might be off a little. For instance, when you hit the button when it is extended, the light will automaticaly switch to green, it won't retract then wait.

Also, I am not quite sure about the switch.

[KilJaeden]

Since this case mod will most likely be for my sister, I will not do the drawer or the special stealth for the cd-rom. I might not do any stealthing at all. That all depends on my sister. I should be starting the cutting very soon. The hold up is with my dad, our jig saw is at his work. He sometimes has to cut sections out of a chasis to make room for components, and they are expandind the lab section. Which he administers by the way. So cutting will begin shortly. I am going to document the whole procedure carefully. I will most likely do an article about cutting windows and such. I will submit it to the administrator here, in hopes it will make it to the article section on the site.

[dydx]

Thatll be a sweet looking case.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[KilJaeden]

Thanks for your vote of confidence. I hope I won't disappoint. :D