Project Dew: My first Mod

[Wag]

Hey Guys.

I've been an avid PC gamer and enthusiast for some time now and after the local gaming center folded up here (a damn shame mind you) was gifted many old and crappy cases. I've worked with my hands some and believe that anyone can do anything if they work at it. With that in mind, I set off on my first real case mod. Here is a few pictures of the starter case:

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1058.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1064.jpg

and also the front plastic bezel taken off and dissembled

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1060.jpg
Project: Dew

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1050.jpg

You guessed it, I'm doing a Mountain Dew case. Instead of actually painting the case or putting decals on it, I decided to go all out and literally cover the entire case in real, honest to god, Dew cans.

After a trip to the hardware store to buy some cheap snips, I dove right into the stockpile of cans on my counter. Finally deciding on a uniform size for the cans i shaved off the rough edges with an old school paper cutter. This helped to make straight edges for the cans to line up nicely with one another.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1055.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1070.jpg

After getting my cans cut up, I was off to begin gluing the cans to the case.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1072.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1075.jpg

I started with an automotive glue made for bonding metals, I did the removable side of the case this way. It was slow and painful going and the glue expanded and ran out the cracks between the cans wrecking any consistency I had. Even under pressure of clamps (and textbooks) the surface was not sufficiently smooth. Ultimately opted for an easier method on the rest of the case using a spray adhesive. The rest of the case was only one piece so I commenced with the gluing and fastening of the remaining cans.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1096.jpg

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It was tough getting the cans to remain fastened over the edge. I used a pretty inexpensive glue and it didn't seem to matter how much pressure I used and how long it was clamped, they just didn't want to stay glued down over the edges. Also, the cans still didn't yield a smooth enough surface for my taste so I bought some thin acrylic and cut three pieces to go over the top and two sides. This secured the cans in place and provided a smooth and shiny surface for my cans.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1142.jpg

Well, that was the easy part. Now it was on to the front bezel for the case.

I rather liked the basic design of the original front but there needed to be some changes made to make it work the way I had intended. I cut out a large piece of the plastic that would get in the way of my power and reset switches, USB ports, and fan and found a piece of foam the appropriate size to stand off my new insert.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1167.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1168.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1171.jpg

I decided to buy a thin piece of sheet metal which I could then glue more cans to and also mount my buttons and ports to the front of the computer. Another piece of acrylic was cut and affixed to the sheet metal using some Chrome hex bolts.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1300.jpg

After much thought, I decided to use the original power and reset buttons.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1242.jpg

To do this i cut out the power and reset sockets from the gray insert from the front bezel and filed down the edges until I had two plastic brackets for my switches remaining. These were then mounted to the back of my sheet metal using hot glue.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1244.jpg

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Finally I attached the 120mm fan to the front as well and cut my foam piece which I used as a spacer/standoff to accommodate the wires and fan.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1306.jpg

I also had to affix cans to the original front bezel as well. After several failed attempts with the spray adhesive, it was back to the automotive goo and clamping the pieces down one by one. Doing the corners was the most difficult.

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1262.jpg

Since I was unable to cover the outer part of the bezel with acrylic, I polyeurthaned it instead. This worked ok, but even after about a dozen coats, still yielded only a moderately smooth surface. Since I was growing impatient, I decided that it was 'good enough." Everyone who has seen the case always asks me how I got it so smooth and I always wonder what their smokin since it didn't end up as smooth as I wanted. Oh well....

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1308.jpg

Finally the last (and probably easiest part at this point) was to do something about the unused drive bays. I simply took the original plastic parts and gluded a can to them and put a piece of acrylic over that. This is somethign that is commonly done on many commercial sold cases and was very simple.

Finally I put the last pieces and the hardware inside and took some pictures. These finished pictures were taken on my kitchen table with a tablecloth hung up behind it. Thats about as professional I get with photography. Hope you enjoyed the mod. I know I am ;-)

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1399.jpg

http://www.ghostobservance.com/uploads/Images/dewcase/IMG_1400.jpg

All of my acrylic was attached by small stove bolts. They are stainless but looked good enough to be finishing bolts. I ended up using 12 per side and six on the top.

Dew Case Specs:
AMD FX-60 DC 939
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR
G.SKILL 1GB (4 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 550 (PC 4400)
Gefore 7900GT 256MB pcie
320 Gig Seagate Sata 3gb/s HD
500 Gig WD Caviar Sata 3gb/s HD

Thanks everyone!
Wag

[Wag]

Yeah, I ended up with quite a few aluminum slivers after while I was still trying ti figure out the best way to cut up the cans. Eventually, I worked out a system toward the end and was able to zip right thru 'em. Took about four cases of dew to cover the case. Wouldn't have taken as many but I was trying to get a random look with many of the cans offset from each other.

I forgot to resize the pictures before posting. Most of em are still 1280 x 1024 (which is actually about a quarter the size of the original pictures) but still a bit on the large size for a forum post. I'll get that changed sometime.

I would have extended the acrylic pieces over the front bezel to the very front, but the bezel has a slight angle to it and I would have ended up with a gap. I had toyed with the thought of doing it anyway, but determined this to be the best way to go.

The only thing that I really wanted to "finish" still on the case was the front bezel of the DVD drive. I still want to get a can over that piece as well to add to the conformity. I'd have had it done by now except the drive I'm using is actually a friends drive and didn't think hed appreciate me gluing cans to it ;-)

There are a few small things that I'm unhappy with on the case and the polyurethane on the front bezel is one of them. some of my acrilic lines aren't as straight as they should be and some of them I made even worse when trying to file them down. I used the score and break method of cutting the acrylic.

I'm probably going to leave the case "as is" at this point and move on to my next couple projects. I want to do a "Rockstar" case for myself yet, and a "Monster" case for my brother yet. I anticipate them taking less time and being much easier now that I have a few methods in place.

Thanks for all the positive remarks everyone!

Wag


Link To Original Worklog (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9060&highlight=project+dew)