Rockin Case

minor update, nice brown box from Xoxide showed up today :)

we have UV green sleeving, 4 Thermaltake 80mm green LED fans, 1 120mm logisys green LED fan, a molex pin remover, 4 thermaltake green 80mm fan vibration dampeners and an Ultra screw kit

expect another update later this weekend :up:

ok I got it all soldered together. its not the prettiest but it works. I substituted the 2mm power jack for a standard molex connector.

I didnt get any pics of the work in progress, but I got a couple and a short vid of the vinished product that I will upload tonight. Now I'm going to be changing the wiring between some of the modules so I can use them in different places. I'm planning on using a couple for the "strings" and a few more on the back plate for some surround lighting. I also plan on putting a switch on the ones for the rear so if its too obnoxious I can turn them off

heres this kit assembled with 10 RGB modules each containing 2 RGB LEDs. I opted to install wiring with a molex connector to supply the 12VDC rather than the 2mm jack that came with the kit

and short vid



theres 55 different sequences in all. the complete info can be found here. If anyones looking for this kind of kit I highly suggest this one. And talk to John, he's very helpful and replied quickly to every one of my emails :bowdown:

at about 30 seconds in I stick one of the acrylic rods that will be the "strings" onto one of the LEDs tos ee the effect. It works nicely. I think I may try frosting one and see how that lights up as well

Got a SPONSOR! WOOHOO!

John over at PCBoard.ca was kind enough to help me out with my LED needs, and after my initial purchase there was a lof of back-and-forth chit-chatting involving this project and my needs. He checked out this worklog and was genuinely interested in it, so after a little more chatting he kindly agreed to sponsor me in this build. Its nothing huge, but every tiny bit helps! So without further ado, the shameless sponsor plug :D

Need specialty LEDs? Or an awesome RGB controller like the one I got for this project? Feel free to contact John at PCBoard.ca. He's helped me with a lot already, from ordering the kit to LED/resistor setup, etc etc. He's VERY FAST in replying to emails, which is rare these days :bowdown:

Now, off to the basement to do some fiddling with the rods and such.

ok, and update of what I've done over the last day or two

Once I got the rods figured out for lighting I bent one end and drilled a hole in the "pickup plate." The plan here is to use 4 RGB piranha LEDs on the bottom of this to light the 4 strings. I used my current RGB setup to test it and I think it will work out nicely, especially when each one will have another LED at the other end.

click on pics for larger versions

Then I did something with this boring old silver antec PSU.

cover off

green acrylic cut to roughly the size of the top

ready for bending

now I just heated it slowly with a small butane torch until it was soft, then bent it and clamped it until it cooled

and set on the PSU to check sizing, etc. fits pretty good :up:

and with the backing paper removed

now I wasn't just content with a plain green cover, so I printed out this music note and cut it out, then set it onto the cover for sizing

then I traced into the rex plexi

and after a LOT of cutting, filing, sanding, polishing, etc here it is

and glued

and the finished result. now I just need to do some trimming on the green and drill the mounting holes. I plan on putting 4 UV LEDs inside the PSU to light up the green.

now I couldn't leave the PSU silver, so I started by desoldering the switch and removing the components from the shell

and one empty shell, ready for paint

I drilled 4 mounting holes in the base here. I will put 4 screws and attatch them to short standoffs to mount to the base

first coat

I ended up putting 3 coats on it last night. I should get to reassembling it tonight. Stay tuned :D

ok major update time!

so I sanded the sides of the neck at an angle similar to what her guitar currently has.

Next (last night) I cut two rectangles of red plexi and glued them together.

here is the design I drew out that will end up being the head. I used the rim of a baseball hat oddly enough, it seemed to fit the curve I was looking for perfectly :up:

and after a rough cut out with the band saw

I noticed on her guitar the head angles downward, so I ground an angle on the base of the head with the belt sander

Heres the head after I sanded and polished the sides

they fit and look pretty good

I then glued them together, they're currently setting.

now I put the PSU back together (mostly). I think it turned out pretty nice

I drilled holes in the plexi to mount it to the PSU frame

then I proceeded to do something I've never done before. and never plan on dong again lol. I sleeved the PSU. I also cut off the wires that I wont be using (SATA, floppy, etc). Some I could just pop the pins out of the connector, others I had to cut the wires and resolder and heatshrink then sleeve.

now with the small cables done all that was left was the 20-pin one. WHAT A PITA!

I think it turned out nice.

now all thats left to do is wait for my UV LEDs to arrive and put them into the PSU and it'll be done :up:

I had this PCI slot adapter with firewire and USB in it, trouble is I only wanted the USB part. so I cut it in half :)

after I cut it I removed the USB connector and pulled the parts out of the housing

then I painted it black

then reassembled it and sleeved the wiring and put the connector back on

now I just need to decide where to mount it on the front panel

I sanded down the sides where the neck meets the head, as it didnt sit exactly in line when I clamped it. this is after I rough sanded and finished with 2000 grit. I polished it with the dremel after this, but no pics yet.

I also got the PSU case mounted to the backplate. I'm using these neat plastic liscense plate screws because they just touch the bottom of the PSU board

and heres how everything will be layed out

I then decided to go ahead and mark and cut the hole for the 120mm fan. I LOVE the dremel circle-cutter attatchment!

fan in

I also went ahead and sanded and polished the opening

at this point I clamped the neck assembly to the body to see how it all looked. looks nice

then I marked holes for two 80mm fans I'll be putting in

one cut

both cut

I also sanded and polished these edges as well.

I temporarily installed the fans with the vibration dampers to test them and see how bright the LEDs are

and hooked up to a test PSU

the LEDs are way too bright. I'm going to wire them all to a single switch so you'll be able to turn the LEDs off without turning the fans off. I'm also going to cut and resolder the wiring all together and sleeve it to make it look nicer.

I was thinkingabout replacing the green LEDs with UV ones. I can do it easily in the 120mm fan, but the 80mm ones have the micro SMD style LEDs soldered to a long flexible strip, so those would be tougher. We'll see what happens.

thats it for now, I should get a lot more work done on sunday and monday :D

Comments/Ideas/Suggestions? :think:

Update time!

I figuredout how to wire up a switch to the three fans to turn off the LEDs. The 80mm ones were easy, the 120mm one was a little more difficult.

fans on lights off

fan on lights on

almost finished wiring

wiring for the 120mm fan

the 80mm fans will be on all the time, hooked directly to the PSU. the 120mm fan will be connected to a speed control, because its loud when all 12V are going into it

I also cut my 24x24 inch sheet of green into 4 6x24 inch pieces. these will form the sides of the case. I've got a couple ideas as for how to form them perfectly, we'll see what works out

I also cut a hole for the front panel USB connectors. I filed it down and smoothed it a lot more after this pic was taken.

I also drilled 5 holes to mount the RBG LED controller. 4 for the mounting and 1 for acess to the button. I plan on gluing a small piece of acrylic rod to the button that will stick through the faceplate so the LED effects can be changed easily

I also had time to mount another 80mm fan on the main plate where the HDD will go to act as a cooler. I just snipped the LED wires on this one, as it will be mounted to the underside of the case and theres no point to having the green LEDs there, as the rainbow ones will be there.

thats it for now. hopefully my LEDs come in today and I can get some more work done. Then its just waiting for my performace pcs order to arrive and things will get rollin!