Project Cheap-O

[tapion440]

Well, I was at Fred's, think Big Lots, and they had one of these cheap-o surround sound systems (http://www.lenoxx.com/2005/audiosystems/images/ht3915set.jpg) that I thought looked pretty cool. You may have seen these at Wal-Mart for like $40-$50 or so. Anyway the rough looking box with the system in it was sitting outside in the cold, damp weather and with these words written on it's side "Don't Work"...I'm not joking. So I picked it up cause like I said I thought it looked kind-of cool and thought that maybe I could do some stuff with it. So I went inside and talked to the cashier and she put a $5 price tag on the system, which I was fairly happy about and I took it home.

So I'm at home opening my cheap-o and I was two seconds away from gutting the inners out when I, for some reason, decided to hook it up and see if it worked, even though the box clearly stated "Don't Work". And to my suprise it turned out that Fred's was wrong and that I'm now the new owner of one of the cheapest cheap-o surround sound systems ever:D

So it will no longer be a computer mod but rather a surround sound system mod. And since I'm basically going to be doing the exact same thing to the case now as I was before I figured it would still be okay to post this here. I'm not going to be doing too much to the box besides make it look a little less cheap.

http://www.lenoxx.com/2005/audiosystems/images/ht3915set.jpg

*note* - the top circle that has all those button on it is different on mine and that wierd "D" logo isn't on mine but besides that mine is pretty much identical.

The face plate on the front of the box is like a plastic while the box that it's connected to is some type of wood I believe. I'm not really for sure yet. Plus, the face plate and box are two completely different colors of silver. I was thinking about using body filler(which I want to use just cause I've never used it before) in the crack that's between the face plate and box to make the whole thing look like one seamless piece and then paint the whole thing the same color (I was thinking a silver color that's around the same color as it is right now but shiney and maybe with some metallic flakes if I can find something like that).

Later I think I might use some dark plexi and make some windows on both sides of the system...I say windows but what I'm thinking about wouldn't actually allow you to see through them but rather they'll be there solely for looks. And maybe even put a little logo on the top of the system to let everyone know how proud I am of Cheap-O:rolleyes:

Obviously this is no longer a computer mod but I'm hoping this will still be okay to post here.

[simon275]

Yeah I think it will be ok it might get moved though to another forum. That wasa lucky find cheap speakes. Someone probalytook me home and could'nt get em to work so took them back. I would have liked to see how yo were going to put a computer in that maybe a mini itx board. Why dont you tell us how you are going to mod it?

[b4i7]

heh...reminds me of how i got a copy of doom 3 for $5.... it was sittin on the shelf with the tag at $5 and it said defective on it.....so i figured i could atleast use the serial for it...got home tried the discs and it loaded fine :D


dont you just love when people think stuff is broke

[tapion440]

I would have liked to see how yo were going to put a computer in that maybe a mini itx board.
The case is just a little bit larger than the motherboard that I was going to use and it would fit inside when turned a certain way. I could have cramed a whole pc in there but it would have been packed in tight like an HP. Otherwise my only other thoughts were to make the case a few inches taller somehow. I really didn't have much time to figure it out since I found out that it worked a few hours after I bought it.

Anyway, I opened the thing up today and it is infact made out of some type of wood. Sadly when they constructed the thing they must have spent a while hot glueing everything together cause glue cover nearly every square inch inside the box:( Which really sucks cause I still want some windows on both sides of the case and now I can't really do that without basically tearing apart the box (if that's even possible without breaking the wood) and then completely building it back together. I still have an idea on how to accomplish the windows however but it'll be luck if it works.

Anyways, hopefully I can start doing some real work on it and post some pictures tomorrow.

[tapion440]

Well if nothing else this will atleast be a learning experience about how not to use body filler/Bondo.

Anyways, here's my cheap baby:

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/3384/sstuff023lb7.th.jpg (http://img157.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff023lb7.jpg)

That picture really shows the different silver colors on the case.

The first thing that I figured needed to be done was to fill that gap between the face plate and case. So I got some body filler a few days ago and I really didn't think it would be too difficult to use the stuff. And I still don't think it's very hard to use but I really wasn't prepared to do it today. I squeezed some of the "hardener" (i think it's called) in and realized that I didn't have anything to mix it together with. So I run looking for the closes pencil that I could find. Well then I realize that I didn't have anything to apply the Bondo on the case with:( I'm an idiot. So I just started using the pencil to apply the Bondo to the case. Unfortunately I had wasted so much time at that point that the Bondo started stiffening up and I could no longer apply it. So this is all that I was able to put on the case:

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8856/sstuff024un6.th.jpg (http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff024un6.jpg)http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8184/sstuff025vo1.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff025vo1.jpg)

Looks ugly doesn't it? The orange thing in the second picture is actually the pencil that I was using. Anyways, I was so bummed at this point that I just wanted to get away and play some Tribes 2.

After getting my butt kicked around for about an hour I started sanding the Bondo away. And to my utter amazement, it didn't look half bad. The stuff had fill the crack very well, even around the corners:rolleyes: ...go figure...

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3968/sstuff027gp0.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff027gp0.jpg)http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5449/sstuff028oj8.th.jpg (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff028oj8.jpg)

Pretty scratched up, huh? I couldn't find all of my sand paper so I had to use some really rough sand paper. Well I'm not really feeling as crappy as I was earlier and tomorrow if I get to work on it some more I'll be prepared to use the Bondo and hopefully get it all applied before it dries up again.

BTW, my work area is a Star Wars Episode 1 poster sitting on top of a box freezer. I'm not completely sure but I think that might be a first:

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/8205/sstuff030nn3.th.jpg (http://img144.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sstuff030nn3.jpg)