Project: Antec 900 Revamp

So Mongoose is well under way - I'm just waiting on a free weekend to take it to a friends paintshop and get the colour on it. Lobo is on hold until I get the money together to buy some much needed parts. K-9 is on LONG term hold because my son lost interest in it, ("I like using your PC dad, there's no real point to me having my own in my room") as well as some serious fabrication cost issues.

So I wanted to scratch the itch.....

A while back I did a review the Thermaltake Frio. After this review I ended up taking my main rig out of my Antec 900 and putting it into the Thermaltake Element-T I also reviewed. There is nothing wrong with the Element-T but I kinda want to get the PC back into the Antec. Before I do though, I thought I'd throw some paint at it.... I can't think of a clever name for it yet - so for now, I'm keeping it simple heh - suggestions welcome and no, "Another half done job by Slavey" doesn't have the ring I'm looking for. This is going to be a quick one - should be done within the week....

I'm thinking Orange and Dark Grey with bits of the original Black....

Please accept my apologies for the awful concept image below lol - I threw this together in a few minutes just to make sure it wouldn't look bloody horrible.....

The plan is to go from this...

To something which looks a lot better than this lol...

Basically, I plan to paint the sides and mesh in the lid in a dark grey metallic colour, and the front surround, top plastic, and side mesh in a custom orange pearl colour. I'm going to leave the front black mesh alone as it'll make it a lot easier in the long run when it comes to DVD drives etc (they're a pita to paint). I'm also going to leave the top metal panel black - you can only just see the edges of it between the plastic top and the side panels (or I might repaint it but still in black) to provide a small break between the grey and orange, and also carry the black from the front into the sides. Finally, the entire interior will be going black - something Antec didn't do on the 900 but has since started to do on the 902 (I think).

I'm also going to THINK about making a couple of minor mods to the case itself. The three things that spring to mind initially are a CPU access hole in the motherboard tray, an air intake in the floor of the case under the PSU, and some other mods to try to improve the cable management. If I do go ahead with the PSU intake, I'm also going to have to somehow lift the PC as there is very little clearance underneath the case. I'm not sure yet if I'll bother as the case works damned well as it stands, but the lack of cable management has always been a minor bugbear to me.

Oh I also got to get a new 120mm exhaust fan too - I shoved my finger into it when it was spinning and got a nice spurt of blood along with a broken off fin, so it's no longer balanced - made such a racket I disconnected it....

Time to grab a screwdriver and drill and rip this case (carefully of course) apart....

should be neat!

Ok so, it's sunday, and here in the UK the world tends to grind to a halt on sundays after 4pm, so I ran to my local computer store to replace that fan and ended up buying three!

I think these Xigmatek fans are going to fit in perfectly with the orange/black/grey theme....

This is the paint I think I'll end up using - saves buying more if I find something in my little stash....

So, to begin, let me present.... The Victim....

Side panels removed

And 13 screws later the window is out, along with the grille which will get orange paint, and the perspex backing which I wanted to "forget" to put back in to improve ventilation - from the look of it, it's only purpose is to add another 120mm fan to the side which I don't think I need with the three 120mm (four if you count the PSU fan) and the 200mm already installed. Problem is those little tabs you can see. They hold the grille in place so it may have to go back in...

Next we have everything from the 9 5.25" bays in the front of the Case

Further deconstruction of the single external 3.5" bay adapter

And the same again for the 3x3.5" internal bays. There are two of these but it seems kinda silly to show the same thing twice :p

And then you see what happens when you have pets, a smoking habit, and a PC kept on a carpeted floor....

So got them cleaned up with the help of some compressed air...

And in go two of the three new Xigmatek fans...

Next to come away from the chassis is the front surrounding bezel...

Which comes into parts which will make it easier for paint. Again these parts will be painted Orange...

Top plastic cover removed and disassembled. The main part will be orange, and the grille will be the same metallic grey as the side panels...

Trying to remove the buttons as I don't really want to paint them. They'll get too much contact and the paint will end up rubbing off in time. Unfortunately Antec have chosen to melt them into place so removal may be a bit awkward, although by no means impossible...

12 rivets drilled out later, and the top panel is free from the main chassis. Although this part will be staying black, I may re-paint it anyway so the finish matches the gloss I'll end up with on the sides and top of the case.

And the remaining bare metal chassis. This will be getting a coat or two of black although there may be no clear used as the inside doesn't need to be super glossy. There are a LOT of rivets in this, but I think I will completely disassemble it to make sure every surface gets the right amount of paint, and it'll give me the chance to replace the rivets with some of the black ones I bought for Lobo.

And finally, the small collection of screws which hold (or rather held) the 900 together in the first place....

Next step - sanding and surface preparation.... cyas in a bit...

wow, this is going to be awesome! +sub

Woot - well it wasn't the inspiration for the mod, but this little pic here has kinda eased my concerns about how the colours will match. The orange and grey will both be a little different but the idea seems sound....

for a minute there I thought this was the top ugliest production cars thread :facepalm: lol

lol touche :P But then again, when you have 200hp in a car that small and light, it isn't like you'd be looking at it very long anyway....

I have a really REALLY annoying habit of being sidetracked or otherwise derailed on my projects. General Lee, for example, took almost 3 years from start to finish and that was a paintjob and a few stickers :s

For this reason I have decided that, no matter what else I do, I WILL do SOMETHING on this case every day until it is finished. Tonight was one of those nights when I had next to no time (work - pick up wife - shopping - dinner - virus removal - it's 9pm already!) so.... Ok - minor update....

I'm lucky enough to have access to all of the tools and materials required to really go to town and get this 100% right, so tonight I spent about an hour at most, starting the prep on the plastics. I used a scotchbrite pad to roughen up and clean all of the plastic which will be visible and therefore painted. In the past I've painted a little too much and ended up not being able to get things back together again because the various coatings have added up to make a substantial increase (or decrease in the case of gaps) in size. I spent a little time working out exactly what plastic will be visible, and what won't be, and throughly scratched a key into all of the visible surfaces. After this, I gave them a quick wipe down with a tak-cloth to remove all of the plastic dust I generated, and a wipe over with a lint-free cloth and some panel wipe (degreaser). Tomorrow night, I'm hoping to get those parts plastic primed and then properly primed...

Hopefully by this time tomorrow, they'll be grey instead of black... well in part anyway... Toodleoo!!

And silverdemon, here's where you get to find out if I'm capable of actually following my own advice lol - after everything I posted in your worklog, lets see if I actually DO it or end up cutting corners myself heh....

Should be good. I like the choice of colors.