Newb Mod :)

[moOmL]

FINAL PICTURES ON PAGE 4




Finally NEW UPDATES. See Page Three! (4/09/2007)
NOW WITH PICTURES!!!
GO TO SECOND PAGE, SECOND POST
Also, i have no sympathy for 56k users. :D My pictures are BIG.. but not tooo big in file size, so don't worry.





Welcome to my first project worklog(and first project for that matter). I've decided this will not be a themed mod. I just want to get some experience from this mod and then move on to themed mods... if i continue this as a hobby.


I have all my components: (i posted these in a different thread before)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mooml/1-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mooml/2-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mooml/3-1.jpg

As you can see i have the external liquid cooling kit that will sit on top. This is a gaming computer and the cooling is essential.


I wanted to have a "Defyant-style" blowhole on the front of my case. I also plan on cutting a circular window on the side. The case will be mostly black with little silver and dark green details. Sorry no pictures of what i did today. My sister took my camera to a wedding so i used my moms camera... meaning i'll have to wait for the film to develop before getting pictures on here.

Well i realize this won't be going into the featured worklog section, but i do hope to get some experience and maybe some props for my first case mod.

[moOmL]

Heh... whoops. Guess i could've posted what case i had as well. :redface:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811154014

[moOmL]

Ok well i know this kinda looks stupid but it's the basic idea i had for the side of the case. It's just something i made real quick in photoshop.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mooml/caseDesign.jpg

The black circle in the middle is the window. That's the best representation of what kind of green paint i want. Dark mettalic green. And then i'll lay down a pin strip of silver around the green paint and the window. (And the top and front of the case won't stay that color, i kinda just forgot to make them black)

[moOmL]

Ok so i think i've made you all wait long enough for these pictures. Over the past two weeks(weekends, really) i have been making the blowhole for the front of my case.

Like i said before, i didn't have the usb connector to get the pictures on here but i finally got them on here. (Alot of them, too... and there actually really big, as you can see) And i made an awesome border for all my beautiful pictures, too. :D

Ok so i started out with the front of my case and a small piece of pvc pipe with a 4 1/2 inch diameter. (Excuse the already cut hole, i forgot to take picture of the case before i started.... and excuse my terrible masking job.) :redface:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/1.jpg

After cutting the hole with a jigsaw and ALOT of sanding, i finally squeezed the pvc pipe in the hole.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/4.jpg

I also needed to take out the brackets inside the case that held up the internal 3.5 inch drive bays. It was a major pain in the... bum. I need to get those out of there if i would want to mount a 120mm fan in there.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/7.jpg

All Better!!

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/8.jpg

I also needed to cut a hole out from the front metal part of the case. (I cut around the outside circle)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/11.jpg

Used the same jigsaw, but a different blade.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/12.jpg

First, i glued the pvc pipe in place with a hot glue gun. You can also notice i sanded around the hole a little with 220grit sandpaper.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/14.jpg




Next post will include the start on my bondo work.

[moOmL]

Ok so now i've started the bondo-ing process. It turns out bondo is ALOT harder to work with than i had originally thought.

I wanted to first cover these holes that held the leds for the hard drive and power. I thought they looked ugly so i decided to cover over them.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/41.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/15.jpg

This picture was actually taken a couple days later and after a few layers. It took me a while to realize that i should put alot of bondo on first. (I kept putting small layers on over and over again.)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/18.jpg

I had a problem with uneven-ness on the two sides.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/19.jpg

I mounted the front and the side panels to my case to get a glimpse of how the blowhole will look.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/22.jpg

I noticed there were alot of really low spots all over the area.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/25.jpg

Another problem i had was this mess here.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/26.jpg

But with some quick dremel work i fixed it up pretty nice.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/28.jpg

Fresh layer and sanding...

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/29.jpg

...but not smooth enough. So another layer goes on.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/32.jpg

To get rid of those high and low spots i took some semi-flat black paint and covered the entire area around the hole. What i now realize it that i shouldn't have COVERED it... i just should have sprayed lightly over it.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/34.jpg

Here's me after ALOT of sanding.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/35.jpg

Here's me 15 minutes later.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/36.jpg

I put way too much paint on there. I had to sand off all the paint before i was actually doing anything for the high-low spots.

This is were i'm at now. I have to finish sanding that blowhole now. I'll keep you updated.

[moOmL]

Sorry not really a big update. I've run into a major problem and i'm hoping someone with experience in bondo work can help me out.

Near the edge of my bondo work a big air pocket has... formed(?) and the bondo is chipping away with just my finger. The bondo above the air pocket even feels a little moist. You can see where the air pocket is forming in this picture.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/42.jpg

This isn't a recent picture... it looks much worse now. I think what i'm gonna have to do is chip away all the moist bondo and re-fill that area with new bondo.... or maybe a different kind of filler.

Anyway if anyone has any advise on how to go about fixing this problem, i'de greatly appreciate.

[moOmL]

Lets see... looks like we just passed our 6th month of no updates on this mod. :down: But don't worry, I've been working diligently the last couple of weeks on this. As you might know this is for my Senior Project in high school and the whole project is due this Friday. Thankfully, my computer is completely done now and i'll be finishing this worklog sometime this week.

For now i'll give you an update on what i did 2 weeks ago.


Here is the side of my case that i plan on cutting. The darkest line is what I'm cutting. The softer lines were just ideas that i had for the side.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture024.jpg

Here are my tools that were made available to me through my dad. Notice the awesomely powerful GIANT POWER DRILL from the 50s, the smaller, less impressive drill and the Air Nibbler, which was really fun to work with.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture025.jpg

Drilled a hole with "the MONSTER".
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture028.jpg

Used the air nibbler to cut around the line but couldn't cut this area. The air nibbler needs a pretty flat surface to function. (And yes the millions of pieces of metal left over from the air nibbler were very fun to clean up)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture034.jpg

Tried my jigsaw, but only got about a half inch on both sides.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture035.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture037.jpg

Used a grinder to cut that one annoying area off. (Sorry no pics of that.)

Nice clean cut... kinda.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture038.jpg

[moOmL]

Here is another update for you all. (Lots of reading material in this one) 8)

Well, lets see how this case mod is going. Right now i have a side panel with a hole in it, the other side panel has nothing on it, and the front panel isn't looking too great.

I really was worried that the front panel/blowhole wouldn't look good if it didn't have a near perfectly smooth finish with the bondo. The paint for this mod is going to be pretty much all glossy black with some silver/chrome bits here and there. If the blow hole isn't smooth you would really be able to see the imperfections in the reflection of the glossy finish. So that's where i started.

The front panel honestly wasn't that bad, but i still had some small holes so i mixed a little bit of bondo and spread it on the ugly spots with my finger.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture041.jpg

Also i still don't have a grill for my blow hole. I knew i wanted some sort of mesh that would sit in front of the fan. I saw that my dad had some material that you put in your gutters to stop debris from going in. It looks good to me.

I tried pencil and marker but couldn't see it on the black gutter mesh so i cut out a newspaper circle the size of the blowhole and cut around it on the mesh.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture042.jpg

I didn't feel like buying a brand new can of silver paint so i used this old paint. It worked. :)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture063.jpg

Time to paint! 2 cans of black and 2 cans of primer(red/brown color) And yes i realize only 1 can of primer is showing. :)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture045.jpg


Honestly, i couldn't think of anything to do with the right side panel, but the grill on the side didn't look too bad. Here's the first coat of primer.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture047.jpg

2nd and 3rd coats. I had to go to the auto store and buy more primer. It looks REALLY orange in this picture but it really wasn't that bright.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture048.jpg

Front panel. This filler primer did a pretty good job of getting rid of the imperfections.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture050.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture051.jpg

I kind of shortened this part of the worklog. What I didn't show you is that i actually had about 5 coats of filler primer on the front panel. In between coats I would dry-sand the front panel with 600-1200 grit sandpaper (after it dried, obviously). This seemed to get rid of the air pocket/peeling bondo that i had previously mentioned.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/42.jpg

Finally it's time for color! Well, actually... the primer is more colorful then my paint. But anyway, heres some pics. :p
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture056.jpg

The top looks perfect.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture058.jpg

The bay covers look alright, but as you can see need another layer. (You can still see the red primer)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture062.jpg


I will continue this worklog later this week, or possibly next week. Like i said this is for my senior project and i have some writing to do. Though, writing on a forum is a lot more fun and easy then writing a 3-5 page process paper. :)

Comments are very welcome! Thanks for watching. :D

[moOmL]

Another Update. Turned in the first portion (of three) of my Senior Project. Leaves me a little bit of time to write an update for this.

Well for the hole in my side panel, i really wanted to custom fit a window myself, but instead i used a window kit. It was only $5 on frozencpu.com and i couldn't pass up a deal like that.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture066.jpg

I think the tinted plexi looks really nice.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture072.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture073.jpg

I think the front panel also turned out really well. I was a little worried it would look pretty bad. (Obviously this isn't a picture of the final coat, you can still see red primer)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture075.jpg


Hooray!! No more painting or cutting... wait a minute, that was the fun part. :redface: Oh well, there will be more mods in the future.


Next was to put it together. I waited only a day for the paint to dry. Not recommended but i was short on time. I put this all together in my room. It got a little messy.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture081.jpg

Very sexy 7800GTX and x-fi xtrememusic
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture083.jpg

Thankfully, the watercooling went together pretty well. It was my first time installing a watercooling system in a computer.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture096.jpg

So Close! Not the greatest picture, but it shows the liquid cooling with the uv light and led laser light.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture100.jpg



I'll have some final pictures tomorrow. Going out for night of poker. :D

[moOmL]

Thanks Drew. I came in thrid. (got my money back)

Here's the final pics! :)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture116.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture122.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture115.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture002.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture001.jpg

The first picture doesn't show the new keyboard i just bought.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k319/casemod_2006/Picture003.jpg


The Koolance water cooling is amazing. Under a small load it runs around 27-30 C. When i play bf2 on full settings 1600 x 1200 it runs at 33-35 C.

I don't know why the temp is so high in that picture. That's the only time i've seen it over 35 C.


Well anyway, thats my first mod and first worklog. I had tons of fun doing this and hope to continue modding. Thanks for watching! :D



Link to original thread. (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4355)