1996 Micron Conversion

[thrash]

Hey guys, this is my first mod and I hope you guys like it. I Just started it, so please be patient.


My Plan:

I'll be converting this 1996 Micron computer into a gaming machine. I won't be spending much money at first on parts or water cooling, due to the fact that this is my first mod. Once the design and all the body work is done, I'll be buying high end WC'ing parts and possibly better hardware.

Hardware: Below is the hardware that will be inside...

AMD 3000+ Socket 939 Processor
Asus AN8-E PCI-E Socket 939 Motherboard
6600GT PCI-E 128mb Videocard
430w Thermaltake PSU
DVD Burner
80GB Sata Hard drive
1 GB PC3200 A-Data Ram



I hope you guys like!!!

[Ironcat]

Any pics?

[thrash]

Update 1

I have to apologize to everyone, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the front panel before I started working. I did however, take pictures of the rest of the case.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/precase.jpg
This is the front view of the case (front panel is taken off)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/presidecase-1.jpg
This the guts of the case. I am going to gut it all out and replace it with my hardware.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/1-1.jpg
This is the backside of the front panel. I had already cut out the hole, inserted PVC pipe in and cut it down with the dremel.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/2.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/3.jpg
This is the front side of the panel. As you can see, I bondo'd the PVC pipe and made it look somewhat 3d. Now comes the sanding....

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/4.jpg
After lots of sanding, a few primer coats, and then to wet sanding... I had it to somewhat smooth.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/5.jpg
I coated it a few more times with primer to make sure there were no holes or gaps. To my surprise it turned out decent.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/6.jpg
This is laying flat, so you can see the whole panel.


More to come!!!

[Spawn-Inc]

nice bondo work!, will that be a 120mm fan or 80mm?

as for the image thing the x means a broken link... so fix it, do you have any bondo left? when you host the picture from imageshack which link to you take?

i take this(highlighted) link and just copy and paste. (i'm on a old computer so i ahve old IE 6.0
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/4816/linkic8.th.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=linkic8.jpg)

[thrash]

It will be neither! I'm actually going to insert a round piece of plexiglass inside (if you can see i made notches with the bondo for the plexie to sit on) and I'm going to make a small design to etch out (not sure what it will be yet) Then i'll put a color LED inside to show off the etching.

Thanks for the comment on the bondo work, it takes FOREVER!!! And yes i have about half a gallon of bondo left!

[Drum Thumper]

Nice work. I started to work on one of those cases and hated how cramped it was.

+rep for the bondo work, that looks really sweet!

[thrash]

Thanks DrumThumper! It is very cramped. It's probably the worst thing about it. Plus it's very old school and uses very weird risers...

Anyways, thanks for the +rep! That was the first time I have ever used bondo, Next time I'm going to use fiberglass to see which I like using the most. Thanks for the comment!

[thrash]

Update 2

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/parts.jpg
I got around to taking all of the other parts/panels off. This thing is old and it took a lot of force to get it on/off.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/8.jpg
I decided to mod the top panel. I am going to make this 3.5 drive holder to either A: hold a power/reset switch (if i can find one for 3.5) or B: use it for extra usb, sound and mic jacks.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/9.jpg
Backside of the wooden drive holder.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/10.jpg
Put one coat of bondo on it

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/11.jpg
Side view

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/7.jpg
Sitting on the top of the case



I'm off to sand this thing now!! i'll post a update to let you know how it looks!!!

[chaksq]

Hmm... this seems very familiar to me for some reason.

I figured out from someone else's Micro project that the same case Micron uses was used by Dell as well. Some older Dimension XPS models had the exact same case but with a slightly different front panel. I have a project based on the XPS version of the case (link in my sig). I love it when people mod these cases.

At any rate I really like your mods to the front panel so far. Should be interesting to see how the top comes out.

[Zephik]

Nice job on that blow hole! I've seen some nice ones and some not so nice ones, that definitely goes under the nice category. ^_^

Good luck on the sanding! I've heard bondo is a major pain to sand, but you seem to know what your doing.

Good luck on the rest of the project! Should be fun to watch. :)

[thrash]

Hmm... this seems very familiar to me for some reason.

I figured out from someone else's Micro project that the same case Micron uses was used by Dell as well. Some older Dimension XPS models had the exact same case but with a slightly different front panel. I have a project based on the XPS version of the case (link in my sig). I love it when people mod these cases.

At any rate I really like your mods to the front panel so far. Should be interesting to see how the top comes out.


Yeah, I had the XPS case too. I threw it out a few months ago before I even thought about case modding :(



Nice job on that blow hole! I've seen some nice ones and some not so nice ones, that definitely goes under the nice category. ^_^

Good luck on the sanding! I've heard bondo is a major pain to sand, but you seem to know what your doing.

Good luck on the rest of the project! Should be fun to watch.

Thanks!!! The blow hole took about a full day to cut, shape, sand, and finish. I've done a little sanding on the top, and I'm going to patch up the little holes and such today. I'll post pictures of the final product.

Thanks again for all the nice comments!!!!

[thrash]

Update 3

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/17.jpg
Sanded down and ready to prime

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/13.jpg
One coat of primer

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/14.jpg
Different view

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/16.jpg
Front view, as you can tell the hole is very uneven and ugly looking. When I get the product that I want to put in it, I'm going to tape the product very well, insert and mount it inside. Then I'm going to bondo the front plate so it is even and looks very nice. Then I'll sand and paint the final coats.


So guys, what do you think? Should I discard this top panel and do something else? I think its a cool idea, but i don't know if my panel looks good enough. Please give comments, and let me know what you think!!!


P.S. THIS (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=253&products_id=2707) is the product I think I want to insert inside the box. What do you think?

[Drum Thumper]

How about a mockup pic of it sitting on top of the case before I give you my verdict?

[thrash]

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/20.jpg
Front view sitting on the top panel

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/18.jpg
A few steps back...

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/19.jpg
View with the front panel attached as well.



OK, If I do this, I am going to cut of about a inch or inch 1/4 off the bottom of this 3.5 holder. Right now it sits way too high off the top panel. So, I'm either A: going to cut INTO the top panel and drop this large 3.5 holder inside the case. B: I'm going to use the dremel to cut about a inch off, and then just drill a small hole for the wires to go up to the 3.5 holder.

Ideas?

[Spawn-Inc]

i did a little bit of paint(ing?) and came up with this. i assume thats why you made that box.

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5029/boxcg1.th.png (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=boxcg1.png)
if you don't like the way the edges are on the slot you could get a sheet of plexi and paint it the colour of you case(just on the top) then put some LED's behind it to make a cool lighting effect.

[thrash]

That is exactly why I made the casing. I'm going to be mounting either the power/reset button, or possibly a fan control on it.

[mercerman318]

go with the same panel spawn-inc posted. to my knowledge its a remote on off switch

[thrash]

yeah, but do they make it in a 3.5 size? I think they only one I could find was in a 5.25...

My case is sized to a 3.5 :(


HERE (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137&products_id=3325) is where I found it, and it's only a 5.25

[Spawn-Inc]

ya thats were i got the picture. its a bit late to mention this but you could have made all the usb ports, firewire, and switch part into the 3 1/2" drive and then made a box similar, but smaller, to what you made for the whole thing and then mounted to the two guages into it.

[thrash]

I originally wanted to make this to hold a 5.25 drive. But due to this case being super skinny, I had to make it to hold a 3.5 drive. As for it being big, I should have made it a bit smaller, but I wanted it to be flush with the sides of the top panel.

I think I'm going to dremel the bottom of the box off, then mount it on the top panel and bondo it on. I'll report back and let you guys know if I really messed it up, or if it turned out great... ha-ha

BRB

[Spawn-Inc]

this is what i meant by what i said before.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7136/boxvh5.th.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=boxvh5.jpg)

[thrash]

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/21.jpg
Using the dremel, I cut off 1 inch off the front and went down the sides in a straight line. (this is how much I cut off)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/22.jpg
Haven't sanded yet, but it's looking better already.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/23.jpg
Sitting on top panel. I'm going cut a large opening so I can install the 3.5 thermometer, then bondo it all on. Also, I know it looks a little off center, but that will be fixed with some sanding and bondo work. :D

What do you guys think?

[Spawn-Inc]

i'm not sure why but it looks slanted. like you cut to much off the right side (or not enough on the left)

[thrash]

There are a few spots where the dremel didn't cut straight on the sides. So after I sand it flat, it should look fine.

I just bought THIS (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=253&products_id=2707)and hopefully it will fit in nicely :D

[Tale Gunner]

Good work man keep going.

[thrash]

Update 4

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/25.jpg
I screwed the top panel into the 3.5 drive holder. I did this very carefully because I didn't want to crack it.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/28.jpg
I applied bondo all around it.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/24.jpg
Sanded down

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/26.jpg
Painted with 3 coats of Krylon Primer

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/29.jpg
This is the front panel and top put on. I think it looks decent, but not exactly what I wanted it to turn out as.

----------------------------------------------------
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/thrash_head/whatiwant.jpg
This is what it "should" look like after my part comes in and I can mount and fit it.


What do you guys think? I'm off to bed now :rolleyes:

[jdbnsn]

I agree with Spawn, the lop-sidedness is really hurting it's appeal. If it were level I would like it much more.

[Drum Thumper]

I gotta concur with jb and Spawn, that lopsidedness is screaming 'Beetlejuice', and not in a good way.

[thrash]

hmm, it really doesn't look like this in person. I'll get the level out tomorrow and see what I can do in terms of the lopsidedness.


Also, if you look at the last two pics you can see the right side of the panel is sitting weird.

anyways, i'll work on it some more tomorrow :D

[Tale Gunner]

I agree with Spawn, the lop-sidedness is really hurting it's appeal. If it were level I would like it much more.

I didnt pay attention to that but they are correct (unless its a optical illusion).