lookin good!
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lookin good!
Mmm, shiny. :D
Very nice. The orange REALLY pops well.
I am absolutely loving that orange! Can't wait to see it assembled.
your painting skills are awesome. (guess it helps that you are using high quality paint ;) )
It's always easier to get a good result with the right tools. The fact that I did it again and again and again and again until I was happy with it also helps lol
Ty for comments - hopefully there'll be some rebuild photos tonight - still need to re-sort the other side panel (not quite happy with it atm) but I can get probably 70% of the case into one piece now
So it's partial assembly time!!! I say partial because the windowed side panel isn't quite ready yet although it will be (should be) by this time tomorrow. I gave the clear on the top panel (last thing to be repainted) an extra 24 hours to cure - it's a high solid automotive 2-pack clear so it's usually ready in about 6 but having come this far, and taken this long, I was taking no chances...
First I needed to get the buttons and front I/O ports built back into the top panel.
Hard disk activity LED and reset button
This one was pretty easy. I didn't have to do any major surgery to get them out - was just a matter of snapping off some hot glue drops and carefully prising apart a clip. Getting them back in wasn't much harder. The number of coats of primer, paint and clear had reduced the size of the holes a very small amount, so I had to take a very fine needle file to the reset button hole to make the parts go back in. Then it was just a dot of hot glue on the back of the HD LED and hey presto.
The power button was a slightly different story though...
Power button and mounting plate
To get the Power button out, I'd had to re-melt some plastic welds and remove the whole support frame. I wanted the buttons left black to break up the orange on the top and the power button cap actually sat between the mounting plate and the top cover. To make sure it stays in place, I decided to use another product we stock at work.
Q-Bond Kit
Q-Bond is a very VERY strong (way stronger than I needed to be honest) 2 part adhesive system. It's made up of something very similar to superglue and a reinforcing powder. Once the two are combined they produce a solid block which is extremely strong. Basically, you use the liquid part of the kit to glue the items together as if that was all you were doing - gluing them. Then you apply a liberal sprinkle of the powder to whatever parts you want to reinforce, and drip small drops of the liquid adhesive on. A small puff of smoke later, and you're left with something extremely strong and very quickly dry. You then repeat as many times as you choose, building up layers of the powder and adhesive. The end result isn't particularly pretty, but it's VERY effective.
Reinforced Power button plate
In case you were wondering about the power LED - the Antec 900 doesn't have one. The 200mm fan on the top of the case is illuminated, as are the stock fans, so you really don't need one - trust me, you KNOW when the computer in this case is powered up.
Next came the ports - audio, 2 USB and firewire. As with the reset button, the holes had shrunk a little so again I took a needle file and some 600 grit wet'n'dry to them to enlarge them a little. I was very careful to always file/sand down into the panel to eliminate any chance of chipping the clearcoat. This clear is designed to handle a stone hitting it at full speed on a car so I might have been being over-cautious, but *shrug* better too careful than not careful enough, right?
Audio, USB and firewire ports fitted
4 screws later and voila, we have a completely reassembled front I/O panel (well front - top - you know what I mean).
Time to take on that Antec Big Boy Fan...
Top panel with Fan fitted
No drama here, dropped the grille into place, and secured it with 4 screws, then clipped the fan in. Done and done. That's the top panel complete.
Top Panel Fitted to Chassis
Another simple step. Carefully fed all the cables through the top panel of the case itself and the panel snaps into place. There are two small screws which secure it, one of which also hold a ground wire to the chassis. Literally a minutes work there. Then pop on the reassembled front panel.
All plastic parts refitted
Again, nice and simple, clip, click, swear loudly, click, 4 screws and done....
Time for some additional cooling...
Rear exhaust fan fitted (internal view)
I bought 3 xigmatek 120mm fans to replace the three blue LED fans fitted as standard by Antec. I only really needed to replace one as it had a broken fin but when I saw these xigmatek's in the store, I bought three instead of just the one.
The rear 120mm exhaust fan simply screwed in with four standard fan screws. It wasn't until the fan was in that I realised just how perfectly it fits in with the orange and grey colour scheme. Common sense would have said it would, being orange and grey, but in place, it looks like it was meant to be - REALLY happy with this....
Rear 120mm exhaust fan (external view)
I may look into replacing the fan screws - I'm fairly sure I have some black ones somewhere but I actually kinda like the contrast to the case. On to the front.
Front of case - 2x 3 HDD caddies fitted
Those fans are SWEET - I LOVE the way they look.
And a final glory shot for tonight - this is about as far as I can go with this right now until I get the second panel and the time to rebuild my main PC in the case.
One rather good looking case, if I do say so myself.
This thing is looking REALLY good. I'm actually seriously buzzing with how it's coming together. I feel like a kid at christmas or something. It's been a LONG hard job finding time and re-doing everything as many times as it took to get it right, but it's really starting to pay off now. I seriously think there's maybe 2-4 hours of work between now, and this being effectively finished!
... but ...
Front 3.5" caddy and card reader
How the hell did I forget to paint these parts???? There is no way they can go in like that - looks like there's going to be one more session with the satin black yet....
And hopefully, the other side panel is going to take a LOT of screws to go together, because right now, I still have all of these left!!!!!
Title
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
Just cos I'm SO pleased with how this is turning out!!!
Wow, looking VERY good, you're right. Excellent paint work, do you do commissions? :D
Erm, well lol - there is that whole Atlantic thing ya know :P
Just been thinkin.... It may have to come apart again heh - the antec big boy fan in the top.... BLUE LEDS I think - not sure - if it is blue - it needs to be changed!!! - The HD Led is definitely blue so that's coming out for sure....
EDIT: I had a lightbulb moment and I need your help guys..... I can't leave the cables the way they are - it's just a great way to take the edge off of a really nice case so.... I want some sleeving. Not just any sleeving though lol - I saw a project log somewhere, at some point (helpful huh) where a guy got sponsored by someone (again not much help) and they sent him a load of black sleeving with an orange fleck in it. I'm not one to go with my hand out - I'll happily buy the stuff - I just need to know where from. If I can't find it, I'll get some mdpc-x black and maybe some orange but I really think that orange flecked black would work an absolute treat!!
Mmm, that does look good. :D The Xigmatek fans look great on it! I also remember seeing orang-flecked black sleeving somewhere...and no, I can't remember where either. I also remember seeing somewhere some sleeving that was black with some orange threads threaded in, for a really awesome look. ...and no, I can't remember where I saw that either.. I'm so helpful. :P
I like the individual black and orange sleeves at MDPC-X. They would look excellent in there.
Yeah that's my backup plan but this other gear would be absolutely perfect - it's all black with just a single thread of orange which, because of the weave, makes it look like a repeating fleck. I wish I could find it - for the first time in about 3 years last night I actually used a search engine OTHER than google lol - yahoo, bing, askjeeves - and I still didn't find a thing :|
did you try dogpile? lol
LOL no, but I think I'm hooked up - waiting on an email - *crosses fingers*
dogpile is my next in line search engine after google. :P
I used to use that about a decade or more ago at university - maybe earlier than that actually, and I really can't remember why I stopped using it - might have been because I forgot about it when I stopped sneaking into the uni to use the computers lol
Ok so this will be the final entry in this worklog - well kinda. I'm officially calling this "Phase 1 Complete" - I have plans for some minor structural mods for cable management inside, and when I have time to rebuild my PC in this case, I'll also be going to town with a good old cable sleeving session. For now though, a brief update, followed by probably way too many photographs...
I picked up the last panel from the garage I've been using to get my painting done today...
Windowed Side Panel - Paint Complete
And I have to say, I'm real happy with how it came out - lovely and shiny like the rest of the case. How shiny? well....
Check out the polka-dot dress on the TV reflected in the panel
And mod-kitty junior can see another kitten in there to play with!!
Now I just need to get him to understand that this is part of my computer case and NOT his new bed...
Taking this picture, I kept whispering "Claws in, CLAWS IN PLEASE!!!!
Thirteen screws later and the panel is back in one piece with the window and mesh refitted.
Windowed Side Panel - Reassembled
And that's about it. I still have 3 or 4 screws left over :s I can live with that as I put so many in it isn't going to fall apart - that much I'm sure of...
And the final pics - well, Phase 1 final pics anyway....
how could you say no to that face?
Congrats! the case looks pretty dang awesome
Looks good, that finish really is awesome. :up:
I am loving the paint and the orange mesh. very very cool! much better than stock, for sure.
that looks amazing! my dad would love that thing (his favorite color is orange lol :D)
heh - thanks for the comments guys - much appreciated. Oh and SXR... your dad can't have it :P
hehe :D
Actually got enough sunshine to get some new shots of the case - I was hoping it'd really pop in the sun - and it does BUT not so much in the photographs lol
Anyway I took the time to take 'em so you lot may as well see 'em :P
now that looks nice. I want one :P
Looks great man.
Came out very nice and clean. :up:
Yeah, I'm about to review another case or two, but when I'm done, unless I REALLY like the case(s), I think my main PC might be going back into this :)
If not you MUST put something in there, it's way too nice to just sit around empty. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by slaveofconvention
that looks awesome! +rep
Actually I think my PC may be going back into this case and I'll use my son's system for reviews as he never uses it since I gave him a laptopQuote:
Originally Posted by msmrx57
So begins part II of this project - getting an actual computer into the thing...
First things first though - as with all my stuff, comes the preparation.. As of this morning the inside of the case looked like this...
Way too many colours there in the wires.... I was reading somewhere on here about using paracord as sleeving, and being cheap (and curious) I decided to give it a go. I bought 100 metres of each orange, green, and black paracord, along with a couple metres of 3.2mm glue lines heatshrink. As it turns out, getting 3.2mm glue lined heatshrink over 3.0mm paracord is, frankly, impossible, so I had to hold off for a couple days while I waited for some 4.8mm to arrive. Well it arrived yesterday and I wanted something to try it out on so here goes....
If you're curious as to how dense the paracord sleeve is (I know some cheap sleeving can show the cables because it isn't dense enough), take a look at this...
Frankly, it's great stuff - the ONLY downside is the slimness of it - anything more than 2 or 3 really thin wires just will not fit. It's ridiculously cheap compared to "proper" sleeving, and will, without a doubt, be my sleeve of choice from here on in. I chose glue lined shrink because I figured it'd hold better - I have had sleeving slip free in the past and didn't want that to happen again.
First up, the three Xigmatek Fans..
I had to cut the connectors off of the end as the round metal part just wouldn't fit through - fortunately in one of my boxes of parts, I have a load of those connectors so putting new ones on the end wasn't a problem.
Much neater. The glue lining works a treat too - it means you can use much less shrink than you might normally use. I've always put at least an inch of shrink on each end of any sleeving I've done, to try to make sure it doesn't come free. I took a gamble on the glue lined and used less than a third of an inch and it worked wonderfully. A closer look at this pic below and you can see the glue which has flowed to seal the joint almost perfectly.
Now for the remainder of the internal wires. The USB and Audio cables are already black (albeit rubber of some kind) so those didn't need any attention to get them black.
That leave the Power and Reset buttons, the HD activity LED, and the power connector for the Bigboy fan in the roof of the case.
Its a seriously tight fit getting even two of these cables through with the connectors in place, and I don't have spare ones of this type to rewire them, so I tried using a bit of non glue lined heatshrink to smooth them out.
This kinda worked but with two lots of shrink adding to the thickness, is was really hard work so I tried this instead.
Two connectors, one piece of shrink - and that worked a LOT better.
Wiring up the Bigboy fan was, frankly a REAL pain in the ass as it's wired awkwardly, but a chunk of stubborn and a lot of swearing and....
And finally, the inside with no coloured wiring visible (well except for that AC97 extension which I think I'll just cut off) :D
Now I know I went on a LOT about a pretty simple thing here, but I know there are a few people here thinking about sleeving with paracord so I wanted to make this semi-tutorial in nature - learn from my experience and pain heh....
Till next time when I decide what to do with the PSU as that'll be the last really big part of the sleeving....
DO cut it off, please!
And keep it for custom header for scratchbuilds!
And I'm back with some more sleeving fun...
New 500w OCZ Modular PSU (don't tell the wife lol) - I've pretty much decided this case is going to be the retirement spot for my current Q6700 rig when I make the move to i7 (hopefully in the next month or so) - as that pretty much nails down the hardware that'll be in this chassis, I can get kinda pick and specific with my power cables....
The cables all come pre-sleeved but....
That just won't work for me - the weave is WAY too open.... Also in the box, a standard set of mounting screws...
Again, not going to work for me - I spent entirely too long getting this case from Silver to Black, I don't want to be putting the silver back, so in one of my spare parts trays...
Much better. Put the PSU in place for test fitting...
Nice black screws :)
And time to start work on the first of the power cables. This is going to supply ALL of the drives in the PC. I will almost certainly end up with one or at most two HD's in here, along with an optical drive, but I'm going to make sure I can put a couple more hard disks in. The PSU is bottom mounted in this case, so even the connector at the end of the line is upside down for my uses.
Time to remove all the SATA connectors (from both SATA cables)
Then a little work with a blade and we have nekkid wiring...
The old sleeving. The packrat in me wants to keep it, but the pedant is arguing that I don't like it, it isn't dense enough, so I'm unlikely to ever use it - why keep it?
Finally, the connector at the end comes off - standard ATX pin removal tool made short work of this...
And we begin - first 5 pieces of hollowed out paracord, and 10 tiny pieces of shrink.
And rinse and repeat..
Until....
Those connectors have been spaced out so the top one hits the back of the Optical bay at the top of the case, and the 4 below line up with the top and bottom of each of the 2 drive cages, meaning there are connectors for 4 hard disks, and plenty of room for air between them.
Test fit with 2 drives (I don't have 4 spare sata drives for this)
Looking pretty good
Yup, definitely happy with that - no slack, no coils of cables, and plenty of connectors for upgrades...
Next time, I think I'm going to tackle this lil problem. There's a 4 pin molex connector on the board itself. I also have a PCIe x1 USB3 card which takes its power from a sata connector, so I need to make a cable which will be nice and tidy, and end up with enough length to fill both of those needs....
Ok so the "next time" I mentioned in the last update is STILL next time - for now, I took on the hardwired cables.
Stuck a screwdriver straight through the warranty label on the OCZ PSU and cut the 4 pin 12v cable out. The vast majority of motherboards use the 8 pin version now so I don't see me needing it.
At the same time, JUST IN CASE lol, I cut the cables long enough to resolder and reattach and put some shrink over the ends to make sure they stay isolated inside the PSU.
Time to give that 8 pin cable the orange and black treatment. Instead of alternating the colours, I chose to black the black ones, and orange the 12v yellow cables.
The only problem is that it's harder to keep 8 cables (even thin ones) tidy than a single one, so I put the original open weave wrap back on.
All the extra sleeving made it a really tight fit getting the cables back into the PSU grommet though, even with the 4 cables I removed which used to provide the 4 pin 12v line.
I think I've decided to chicken out and NOT do the 24pin main cable - for some reason the pins in the 24 pin and 8 pin blocks are taking a scary amount of force to get out - I don't want to damage the cable and I kinda plan on hiding the majority of that cable behind the motherboard tray with a couple of minor mods still to be done.
It's a shame (and evidence of bad planning on my part) to take a dremel to the case AFTER I painted it all but that's what is needed. I'm going to cut an air intake in the floor for the PSU and a cable routing hole or two into the motherboard tray. Then I'll have to make sure all the orange paint is well covered and touch up the black with the whole thing assembled. There are a couple of scratches at the moment from all of my fitting and refitting so a final once over won't hurt :)
Pretty happy with it so far - just got to do the molex line and check my 4870 to see which of the PCI cables need to be done and the PSU section will be finished :D
i dont blame you for the 24 pin... just grab a cheap extension and sleeve that :)
That is looking awesome.
which shrink did you use? i just ordered 200 feet of paracord and was wondering... lol
I'm using a 4.8mm glue lined 3:1 shrink. It has it's positives and negatives, to be honest. It doesn't seem to squeeze as hard as other non-glue lined 2:1 shrink I've used in the past, but at the same time, the glue means it doesn't really have to tighten up as much to get a grip. I'm personally very happy with it and will use the same stuff next time I need to buy some. I have no idea when that'll be, because in true hoarder fashion, I bought 10 metres of it this time which will last a good while lol
any chance of a link?
