Spy vs. Spy

[UnWantedSoldier]

About a week ago my sister gave me her old computer to clean up for her son to use. Its an old Dell 4600. Specs are a P4 2.4, 256mb of DDR, 64mb geforce 4 MX440, and a 40 gig HDD. not exactly your screaming gaming machine by even the standards of its day. After staring at the case for a while it occured to me that there is so much more i could do with this than simply clean it up (whipe and reinstall os) i started scroundging through my spare parts pile and ebay.

So far, i have found a P4 3.0 ghz (ebay), Radeon 2600xt 512mb agp card (eBay), 2 gigs of ddr 400 (ebay), a 250gb hdd (spare parts), 400w PSU (spare parts), and a DVD burner (spare parts). Now again not exactly a screaming gaming machine but for less that $100 spent i would say thats a hell of an upgrade and brings this system up entry level gaming for modern games (Mainly i want this thing to run Left 4 Dead 2)

The it hit me why stop there why not go all the way and give this crappy old dell 4600 case new life. My nephew loves spy vs spy so i decided to go with that. I dont have any drawings yet to show you what im planning so i'm just gona have to spell it out. This mod is gona put all of my skills to the test and going to require me to learn a few more.

First (todays goals) are to get all the hard modding done. all the cuts that im gona need to make. First i'm gona need to cut out the big dell logos on both sides of the case. The left side will be replaced with a window the right side is where i'm gona try something a little different. I'm gona use a peice of plexi to replace the logos but im gona paint the back of it black (Oh yeah obviously this is gona be a black and white theme, black on the right white on the left) When i paint the panel i will mask of the edges then im going to use either uv leds or ccfl to endge light it. I'm thinking too about using clear uv reactive pain to put a message down before i paint the back black so it will appear when the leds/ccfl are turned on.

Once the side panels are taken care of i plan on adding a little more ventalation to the front im going to move the HDD to the Flopy bay at the top and ditch both of the vertical bays they HDD are in now and replace them with a 120mm fan.

Next is going to be the front panel and this is where im gona have to learn a new trick or too. First Bondo! Im gona smoth out the entire front panel from the drive bays down, the Power switch/leds/usb/audio/ will all be moved to a new front pannel im going to construct in the top bay (more on this later when i get) im also going to cut back the top lip (over the top drive bay) and bevel the floppy area so the case will flow a little better. Last thing im gona do is cut VS. into the front so that the 120mm leds can be seen through it. (probably gona be red)

As mentioned earlyer i will be creating a new front pannel in the top drive bay, this will consist of this temp display (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/image/6892/tmp-48.jpg/tmp-48/Thermal-Star_Digital_Gauge-Syle_Thermometer_TM05.html?tl=g44c137s294) a home made fan controler, one of these for a power switch (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6100/ele-273/Red_Illuminated_Bulgin_Style_Momentary_Vandal_Swit ch_-_22mm_-_Black_Housing_-_Ring_Illumination.html?tl=g44c341s316#blank). Im looking into a posible use for a key momentary swith, initialy i was gona use that as a reset swith but these dells dont have one (migth put it in for looks incase he swaps out for a real mobo later down the road). and A military switch to control the leds/ccfls.

Here is where i think i went a little crazy, but the thing to remember about this mod is its not about the hardware in the system its all about how the finaly product is gona look. With that in mind i plan on sleaving everything. and i mean everything in black and white.

The final part of this project will be paint and here is where i need some help. the plan is to sand everything down, primer, the paint and apply a clear coat to finish it off. My question is when do i need to wetsand? between primer and color? or between color and clear? or both? what sand papers should i use? Also if im gona finish with a clear coat should us use flat paints or glossy for the color? If i'm completely at home with a dremel and a jig saw but give me a can on paint and i get terrified lol. so any help with this will be greatly appreciated. :D!!

I hope that gives you guys an idea of what im trying to accomplish here. I Have 4 weeks b4 my nephews Bday (May 10th) so until this is finish blue shift will be on hold (i still have 2 months to finish her) This weekend i plan on getting all the rivets poped and most if not all of the holes cut and hopefully the bondo work started so that next weekend i can start on the paint witch im sure will be the longest part of the project. i've gotten the new processor and half the memory in so i will set up a test bench later to test all of that, the rest of the parts should be due in this week.

Here are some pics to start us off. there will be more this evening after i finish up at the shop so stay tuned this should be interesting.

sorry for the poor quality pics sill cant find our real camera so you guys are stuck with my phone for now.
http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Before1.jpg
http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Before2.jpg
http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Before3.jpg

this is what the case looked like when i opened it for the first time. I guess my sister wasn't kidding when she said i needed to clean it up.
http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Before4.jpg

after i took the air compressor to it, much better now
http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Before5.jpg

[burntheland]

My friend uses 2k grit for clear coat. When you sand the clear it immediately looks like you've effed it up, but fear not....one more coat and it's beautiful once again. It's also important to have a clean surface to start on when you're painting. So I would recommend getting it as smooth as possible right off of the bat. And when you're done wipe er' down with a damp cloth to pick up any access dust particles. Then apply primer. Do what you gotta' do.....then paint. :D

[slaveofconvention]

Have a look for something called a tak-rag - tack cloth - something along those lines - if you have several local independent auto body repair businesses going, there will probably be somewhere who supplies them. All the tak rag is, is a small cloth which is actually a little sticky - it does a slightly better job of removing debris from the surface as it actually picks up the junk instead of potentially just pushing it around. Those cases are powdercoated, not painted (I have a couple in my spares bin) so if you want to get a really smooth finish, you'll have to either really go to town sanding in the first place, or use a good high-build primer which will cover up the texture.

I also suggest getting a scotch-brite pad, from the auto-store at the same time - here in the UK they're graded by colour, and a grey one (or ultrafine) will be the one you want.

As regards wet-sanding, when working with paint on any non-porus surface (metal plastic etc - not wood), there is never a time to dry sand - always use the paper wet - it's smoother, easier, and the paper will last 10x as long too. The trick is in selecting your grits. I'd suggest something relatively coarse for your initial sanding of the case itself - 240 maybe or even 180 - anything with a lower P rating than this will leave serious deep scratches which will take extra work to get smooth afterwards.

Wetsand your original surface with the coarse paper until it's pretty much smooth to the touch - try not to go too far as lots of bare metal means you need to use a more expensive self-etching primer. Once you're happy with the smoothness, use the scotchbrite, again wet, to give yourself a good key for the paint to grip onto, then allow it to dry completely. Wipe the surface with the tak-rag, then apply 2 or 3 coats of primer - read the can for timescales between coats and follow them - the people that make the paint know a damned sight more about it than you or I are ever likely to lol. Between coats of primer, the only thing you need to sand is any obvious lumps or runs in the primer, although you might want to use the scotchbrite and tak rag between coats to keep unwanted dust and debris out of the paint job.

Once the priming is done and completely dry, wetsand it with a finer paper - something around 400-600 grit to give you a nice smooth surface to apply your colour. Once the panel is smooth, go at it once again with the wet scotchbrite, let it dry, and run the tak-cloth over it. When you're happy, start with your colour. Again, you don't need to sand between coats unless you get bits if debris and you only really need enough coats to utterly cover the primer - 2 may be enough, 3 should definitely be. You also shouldn't sand the final coat - if you end up with little bits of debris in the final coat of colour, sand them out and just dust a little more colour over the area until it's as close to flawless as you can get it.

Once the colour is dry, get the tack-cloth and wipe it down again. You shouldnt need to scotchbrite the surface as the paint should have a semi-rough surface - enough for the clear to grip onto - apply as many coats of clear as you want to - the more you put on, the higher gloss finish you may end up with, and the thicker the protection you'll end up with. Try to avoid sanding between coats of clear if you can as the sanding marks may end up visible through the other coats. Once you have a good couple of coats on, leave it to dry until it's totally cured. Use a very fine paper at this point - some people like 1500 for quickness, I personally do the extra work and use 2000 or (if I can get it - around here its rare as rocking horse um, you know) 2500.

As burntheland said, once you sand it down with the superfine, it'll look terrible - cloudy and completely lacking in shine. Instead of putting another coat of clear on, I suggest polishing it at this point. Use a fairly aggressive polish - something like t-cut or another cutting compound (I use Farecla G3 and G10) and really work at it - don't be gentle, but DO be 100% sure the clear is completely dry before you start, or it'll just tear or roll off.

It sounds complicated, but in a nutshell, it's only 2 extra things, the tak rag and the scotchbrite. Just remember to use the scotchbrite before the tak-rag, and tak-rag before any paint (colour, primer, clear, doesn't matter).

You'll end up with 8 or 9 (or more) coats by the time you're done, so it is time consuming to get a really good result, but I guarantee you, the numebr of hours you'll spend in the future wishing you'd done the extra will be way higher than the number you'll need to put in to get it really top-notch.

Damn I can waffle on!!!! - Hope this helps!!!

[burntheland]

As burntheland said, once you sand it down with the superfine, it'll look terrible - cloudy and completely lacking in shine. Instead of putting another coat of clear on, I suggest polishing it at this point. Use a fairly aggressive polish...

DO NOT....i repeat DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH A DREMEL!!!!!! If you do put it on the lowest speed possible with the softest bit you can find! Boy-oh boy i thought my buddy was going to kill me when i tried to buff a bubble out of his clear coat job. I had been at it for a few minutes and decided to crank it up a little bit. Needless to say it turned out in disaster. The friction buffed it down clear to the plastic in under two seconds.

[slaveofconvention]

DO NOT....i repeat DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH A DREMEL!!!!!! If you do put it on the lowest speed possible with the softest bit you can find! Boy-oh boy i thought my buddy was going to kill me when i tried to buff a bubble out of his clear coat job. I had been at it for a few minutes and decided to crank it up a little bit. Needless to say it turned out in disaster. The friction buffed it down clear to the plastic in under two seconds.

LOL - yeah been there, done that - now I do everything by hand - at least until I can justify a proper polisher but as they run around £80 for something even half decent, it won't be anytime soon...

[UnWantedSoldier]

Damn I can waffle on!!!! - Hope this helps!!!

That is a HUGE!!! help my friend +rep. Same to you burntheland this is gona help me alot.

I'm planning on painting the inside of the case as well but w/o the clear coat, it is already bare metal so i was planning on buying the self etching primer for the entire case. (inside and out) I also picked up an electric palm sander for dealing with that powder coat as i was planning on taking it town to bare metal and using the self etching primer on the whole thing.

Another question i have is since I'm gona use a clear coat should i use a flat or gloss color underneath? Secondly i need to paint the front bezel which is plastic. in the past i have used the krylon fusion paints for painting plastic but i wont be able to use that here. Will that same technique work on the front bezel? (which will also have bondo as well as the bare plastic on it)

[slaveofconvention]

Flat or gloss will both work under clearcoat - the only real difference is that if you go with gloss, you need to use the scotchbrite to key it - which will make it flat lol. As for the plastic, the self etching primer will be more than happy to bite into the plastic and give you a good bond - again, just make sure it has a key to grip to - a lot of these cases actually have a very thin coat of clear on the plastic to make it shine so make sure you get it down to a relatively rough (and ugly) finish before priming. Self-etch DOES work, but it works MUCH better with a decent key to start off with

[UnWantedSoldier]

excellent, thanks for the info. I was planning on sanding down the bezel to remove the texture and smooth it all out, that should get rid of any clear coat that may be present.

[UnWantedSoldier]

Didnt get nearly as much done this weekend as i was hoping, im gona try to work on it some more tomorrow after work.

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Decon1.jpg
I drilled all the rivets and got the case completely disassembled.

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Decon2.jpg
While tearing down the case i realized that I'm going to have to do something about these bumps in the mobo. the come into contact with the right side panel and i'll have to remove them in order to get the plexi panel insert to fit.

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-RWin1.jpg
Removed the majority of the left side panel, i needed to get rid of the indents and the dell logo. This will be replaced with a clear plexi panel. I still need to clean the edges up a bit with some sandpaper.

[msmrx57]

Even if you use a flat paint for the it should be scuffed with a fine grit before clearing. And as Slave said self etching works much better on a sanded surface. On the interior and chassis you don't need to getinto the corners, but hit all the flat exposed areas that may get bumped during assembly. Just my 2 cents.

As a Spy vs. Spy fan I'll be watching how this turns out.

[burntheland]

Looks like you at least got it down to brass tacks my friend! :D

[SXRguyinMA]

this should come out neat!

[TheGreatSatan]

I've seen that case hundreds of times, but never nekkid' :)

[billygoat333]

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-Decon1.jpg

nakey case pr0n! yummy. ;)

[UnWantedSoldier]

I've seen that case hundreds of times, but never nekkid' :)

LMAO

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-HARD1.jpg

Got all the new hardware for this build in and slapped it all together.

Original Configuration:
Proceesor: P4 2.4ghz
Memory: 256mb DDR 400
Graphics: 64mb Nvidia MX 440
HDD: 40gb IDE
ODD: CD burner
Sound: Sound Blaster 5.1

Current Configuration
Processor: P4 3.0ghz ($20 shipped - eBay)
Memory: 2gb DDR 400 (OCZ Gold cl2 (free) / Patriot cl2 ($26 shipped - eBay)
Graphics: 512mb Radeon 2600xt ($55 shipped - eBay)
HDD: 200gb IDE (free)
ODD: DVD burner (free)
Sound: Sound Blaster 5.1
Wi-Fi: Netgear 108 wireless g card (free)

with the exception of the sound card and mobo i swapped out just about everything on this system. Total cost was $101 for the upgrades including shipping.

http://uploads.uwsaz.com/wl/SvS-HARD2.jpg

I installed XP on the system along with L4D2 and gave it a quick run through, just to make sure everything worked. I'm gona run prime on it probably Thursday along with Mark06 to make sure all the components are stable. Saturday and Sunday i'll be continuing the modding. I need to get every thing cut, sanded and bondoed so i can paint during the week after work and hopefully have everything done in time for his bday, but its gona be cutting it close.