Moon111's Modding Diary

[moon111]

The base theme of all my modding is: cheap!

In the history of my mods, all I've bought is a couple of cans of paint, pop rivets, a hinge, some nuts and bolts, etc. Most of my materials are left-overs, freebies or garbage bin finds. I've started to use some 'off-the-shelf' products given to me by review sponsors.

I've posted these before in different forums on the web in the past. Not even sure where now. This is just an abbreviated summary all in one place.

[moon111]

The Microwave Window
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Inside_case_window.jpg

I inherited one of those huge first mircrowaves when I bought my house. Taking my 1/4 grinder to the door, the window and a 'frame' were cut out and inserted in the side panel of my beige case. A little body filler smoothed it out.

[moon111]

The Paint Job
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/My_computer_case.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/My_Case_window.jpg

Found some partially empty cans of primer and upside down landscape paint. Bought the can of yellow neon though.

[moon111]

Mike Wazowski
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Mike_Mod_4.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Mike_Mod_3.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Mike_Mod_6.jpg

Cleaning the kid's playroom, I snagged their Mike Wozowski toy. Took it apart, drilled a hole in the eye and the mouth. Hot glue gun a power and HDD indicator LED from an old case. Dremmeled grooves down the unseen back part of the legs to hide the wires. Mounted the toy on a piece of aluminum I kept from a dismantled microwave. Used some red model paint to bloodshot the eye and to paint the mouth. Eye remains lite. Mouth flashes like he's a robot talking.

[moon111]

Case Light
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/The_TOY_ripped_apart.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/After_test.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Mike_Mod_8.jpg

Took another unused toy, hooked the wiring to a molex connector. Mounted the on/off button in an unused slot cover in the back.

[moon111]

Project Hollywood
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_5.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_1.jpg

Friend asked me to check out a pile of computer peripherals. 2/3rds were garbage. But ended up with a working keyboard, monitor, mouse. Wanting something that could surf and do up a resume, the requirements weren't high. But neither was the budget: $200. Got older internals, but had to buy the drives. This left $5.00 for the case. Someone donated this older Compaq case, missing the side, front, and drive rails.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_10.jpg

Mounted a standard drive cage in, since I didn't have the rails. Had to cut an access hole on one side so drives could be screwed in. Bought and used flat black paint on the case. Made two side panel from some black plastic, once again from an old dismantled microwave. Etched his nickname in the side using my dremel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_15.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v282/moon111/Hollywood_18.jpg

Masked off some flames and ever so lightly spray-bombed an ever so thin layer of metalic blue. (Left-over from my truck) Then another thin layer of candy purple I had left over. Did it so the tails of the flames would get the heaviest coat, misted to almost nothing in the front. Unless there's a direct light source, the flames are invisible.

Performance wasn't great, but good enough for his needs. Came in under budget. Was happy with the mod.

[moon111]

VAIO
http://www.mikhailtech.com/Reviewers/Wayne_Ihamaki/Maxplus/7.jpg

A company called MaxPlus sent me two shades of carbon design film to review.
http://www.mikhailtech.com/Reviews/MaxPlus/Vinyl_Film_and_Aluminum_Mesh/page1

I decided to try it out on my wife's notebook. As one can briefly see in the review, it's also
being used on my latest mod project, which I'll hopefully be giving it's own thread to.

http://www.mikhailtech.com/Reviewers/Wayne_Ihamaki/Maxplus/8.jpg
http://www.mikhailtech.com/Reviewers/Wayne_Ihamaki/Maxplus/9.jpg

I think this looks great. Especially for those who might not be really mechanically-inclined, the film makes such a huge impact and can be used in so many different ways. Gets my creative juices flowing.