Lexa

Haha thanks mate, the pair of those grommets cost me $3AUD. I used a 1/2" hole saw and the grommets are 3/4" so they fit nearly perfectly, they move around a bit so your holes don't need to be 100% perfect.

Ok guys like I said it's time for a very small update. School is back on (my final year YAY) so you will probably be seeing less of me but I will try to get you weekly updates.

Ok, on to the modding.

Here is the drive bay section completely dismantled and ready for it's coat of primer and paint:

And here is the piece being primed, well almost (I'll explain the "almost" later):

Well half way through priming this piece I ran out of primer (that was the "almost" :() and it may take a few days to get some more primer. Due to this set back I have nothing else to really show you guys but as soon as I get the primer I will finish priming and get straight on to the painting. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Well I painted those drive bays so here are some pics.
The finished priming:

Half Painted:

Completely painted:

Now it's time to add the plastic:

The front installed first:

And now the side:

Well I'm in a hurry guys so no more pics for now. Enjoy. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Well very little happening on my end. I am just getting bits and pieces together so when it comes time to put the case back together there is minimal fuss.

I have however done the final little adjustments to the drive bays.
I cut this hole to pass some molex cables through from the PSU to power all the fans, CCFLs etc. It is a bit sharp so time to put some fan hole molding on it.
Before:

After:

Next we have the hole I cut in the mobo tray and the PSU support.
Before:

After:

Here is the cut I made to allow fan cables to enter the drive bay area.
Before:

After:

While I was at it I decided to also cover one of the mesh edges that was visible on the drive bays.
Before:

After:

And finally to cap it all off, two progress pics.
Pics:

That mesh is the AC Ryan MeshX. It comes in a 500x500mm sheet. You can get it it black or silver. They had no black so I had to get the silver and paint it lol.
I got the mesh from:
www.pccasegear.com.au

Thanks for the compliment.

Sorry for the lack of updates guys, still waiting for parts.

You may remember my problem with mounting a radiator at the bottom of my case. I have decided that I may get rid of the crappy plastic case feet and get some nice caster wheels. This will raise the case higher off the ground and if I can get some wheels with chrome stems and rubber wheels it will suit the mod perfectly. I am going to take a look at some later this afternoon and I will let you know how it goes.

Well I just got back from my local hardware store. Yeah they had caster wheels but they looked like ass, crappy industrial ones or cheap plastic ones. I wondered around for a bit and eventually ended up where they display all the fastenings (door handles etc.). I found some awesome handles so I grabbed 4 and went and paid for them.
This is what they look like:

Closer shot:

My only concern about getting these is that they would be a bit too short...I was right.
Pic:

As you can see the original feet are about 3-4mm taller than the new ones.

To over come this issue I have decided to cut and polish 4 green plexi strips to go between the feet and the case...it was either this or chock it up with washers lol. The green plexi I am using in this mod is around 3-4mm thick anyway so they should end up around the same height.

Another issue I have found is with the front fascia. The front fascia has half of the front feet molded into the design. I don't want to hack up the front of the case so I was thinking of taking the feet off the rear of the case, add 4 new feet (2 front, 2 back) while still keeping the front feet. I think this will look OK because the top of the fascia overhangs so if the bottom does it shouldn't look out of place. This means the rear will be missing the overhang but this doesn't bother me because you will be able to see the radiator there anyway.

I am hoping to install these Thursday. We have sports day that day which I wont be attending ;) and then Friday is Good Friday so another day off for me, just one of the percs of going to a Catholic school. So that makes a 5 day weekend for me (got Monday off also :banana:). Until then my friends...

Happy Modding...and a Happy Easter

Ok guys a small update.

I am going to be mounting the new case feet tomorrow. I have marked up for the holes, I just have to drill them and hey presto. I will also have to make some plastic spacers which I will probably start tomorrow as well.

Also GAM got back to me about the radiator. Looks like I can't get a HW Black Ice GT Stealth 240mm radiator but he can get me a NexXxoS Pro II - Rev. 2.
Linky:
http://www.alphacool.com/Radiators-h...v-2--4636.html
This is a thin radiator and will suit my needs perfectly. It is also cheaper than the GT Stealth which means I can finish this mod quicker than I thought.
More tomorrow. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

While I had some free time I thought I would show you how the feet sit on the case.
Here is a distance shot of the feet under the case basically where they will be mounted:

As you can see the front feet aren't touching the metal. This is because the front original plastic feet are slightly taller. I will be making plastic spacers for each of the new case feet to bring them back up to the correct height.
Here is a close up image of the front gap:

And another with a different perspective:

As you can see this part of the mod isn't overly hard. I just have to drill some holes and cut some plastic. I am still undecided weather I am going to polish the plexi spacers or leave them "frosted" like the rest of my plexi pieces. Well more tomorrow guys. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

Another really quick update before the modding begins tomorrow.

Firstly I would like the thank b4i7 for his help with this design.
Here is a sketch I did quickly, it is out of scale but you get the idea.
Pic:

As you can see the spacer (will hopefully) look like this. I will cut the plexi into a shape hopefully resembling this. I will then mask off the ends and paint the center strip black. Then for something different I will cover the painted area with a piece if silver mesh. Also to make the green plexi glow I will drill holes in the case floor above all the green bits to let the interior UV light shine through and illuminate these pieces.

The next step was too see if I had any plexi available for this small mod.
Here is every bit of plexi I have:

The stuff on the left is green, the right is clear and the pieces at the bottom are white.
Here is all the green plexi that is usable for this mod:

I want to keep that big piece on the top right for another part of the case mod which I forgot about.
So here is what I have left to work with, easily done:

I should be able to fit 2 spacers on the un-protected piece of plexi, it is all scratched but there are 2 areas that are big enough that haven't been scratched. I should be able to fit one spacer on each of the 4 other pieces of plexi shown. So I can have 2 spare ;).

Well this looks like more work than I thought. I also have to re-mark those mounting holes for the case feet due to the size of the spacers, they would over hang the side of the case. Hopefully I can get all this done tomorrow, if not there is always Friday. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

Ok guys, I have made a start on my plexi spacers, here are some pics.
Firstly I drew up 4 identical templates on a sheet of graph paper, this way they will all be 99% the same.
Pic:

Here is a shot with a case foot roughly in place:

An aerial shot:

Now I masked off 2 good spots on my un-protected piece of plexi and glued a template onto each of the marked spots:

I then stuck the other 2 templates onto 2 more scrap bits of plexi:

Time to start cutting.
Here is the first spacer cut out, quite roughly I should add. Damn I wish I had a scroll saw, jig saws suck lol.
Pic:

Well that's it. Now I have to go cut out the other 3 spacers and then file them all smooth and sand them *sigh* well it will all be worth it...I hope. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

Well my final update for today.

Bad news is one of my spacers snapped while I was cutting it out.
Pic:

I have made another template and glued it to another piece of plexi.

Another bit of bad news. I was about to go out and cut this last bit of plexi but the rain beat me to it. I usually work in the shed but there is no bench space at them moment so I was stuck with working outside. I guess I just have to do it tomorrow, along with the filing.

Well at least I have 3 out of the 4 spacers cut.
Pic:

Well that's it for today. Before I go though, I will leave you with a teaser pic of what this will look like once completed.
Pic:

See ya tomorrow. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

Thanks buddy. I am still gonna use your idea of painting the stem black but I will be putting a piece of silver MeshX over the painted stem to give it a slightly different look. This will also add just a little bit more height which is what I need.

I am thinking of using 2 domed nuts to help hold the mesh in place. I will space them evenly between the two stems of the feet. This will just bring some of the inside design to the outside of the case and they look great with the mesh.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Darth Dad

Just caught back up with project...

You are the king of green plexi!:D

---

Lol I don't think I am the king. Xperiment would have to be the king of green plexi, his Project Reality mod is fantastic.

Thanks for the +rep and the comments guys. It's a good feeling to know people enjoy and appreciate looking at your work.

Ok so I have cut out my last spacer.
Pic:

One thing I didn't realize while cutting was the backing paper had come slightly unstuck. Now I have a crappy cut on one side of the spacer.
Pic:

This shouldn't be a problem though. After I file and sand down the edges there shouldn't be that much difference along the line. I can always mount it with the bad side facing towards the center of the case and besides the mesh should mask it anyway. Well I might go do some filling now, I'm not promising anything though. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

@ Xperiment - thanks mate, hope to get them done this weekend.

Ok only a small update before I have to go out for an Easter lunch with one half of the family.

I have filed down two of the spacers. I did the one with the crappy cut first and it took me near an hour to do. The other one I filled only took me 20-30mins to completely file, and may I say it looks great.
Here is a pic of both the filed spacers (bad one on left, good one on right):

Well that's it for now guys, I may have more tomorrow but I have another Easter lunch so I don't know. Until then...

Happy Modding and Happy Easter.

Well I don't know about finished soon. To be honest it was meant to be finished before Christmas but with the lack of a new 240mm radiator I stopped work completely. I am hoping to get the radiator this month and mount that. Then all I have to do is order some fans, paint the rest of the case and make a pump platform and it's all done.

An update on the feet though. I have filed down 3 of the 4 spacers. Once this is done I have to cut some mesh strips to size and paint the stem of the spacers black. Then I have to mount the feet and spacers to the case floor and drill holes through the case to let UV light shine through to the plexi.

Well I guess I have to get back to finishing my homework, the long weekend id almost over, damn school. I may have an update later today. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Guys I have made progress with the spacers but nothing worth posting. Well I can at least say that they are all filed down.

So instead I have a treat for you. This is a BF2 movie I made. Special thanks to silverdemon for help with a video converter.
Enjoy.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while guys. I have been really busy but managed to squeeze some modding in this arvo.

Ok. I have filed down all 4 spacers so now I need to cut some mesh strips.
Marking the mesh:

The 4 cut strips of mesh:

There is a bit of filing to do but that can be done later.
Some sneak peek pics of how this should turn out:

I am still undecided whether to use 2 or 3 domed nuts to help hold the mesh flat. Do you think 3 is a little bit crowded?

Well that;s all for now. May have some more later this week, it's getting close to the end of term and I have ons of work to finish. Until then...

Happy Modding.

I don't have a picture update at the moment guys. One of my teachers lost one of my assessment essay drafts so I have to re-do it (the downside of not having a PC to use to start with). I do have a matter I would like to discuss with you though.

When I get my new radiator I will be requiring 2 new 120mm fans for cooling. which fans should I chose?

Silverstone Suscool 121 120mm Case Fan:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...d1c60d5e8bbb5c

Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent LED Fan Blue:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=6682

Antec TriCool LED Fan 120mm Blue:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=4995

CoolerMaster Silent Blue LED Fan 120mm (2pk):
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=6580

This is why I have chosen these fans.
Silverstone - quiet plus comes with a thermal sensor, colours look ok, may shine under UV light

Zalman - quiet, 4 bright blue LEDs, doesn't noise levels and speeds (can't find a cfm rating)

Antec - built in variable speed controller, bright blue LEDs, descent cfm and noise ratings

CoolerMaster - basic, silent (I have one already), pack of 2

Can you help me out? I am leaning towards the Antec because I have an 80mm version of that fan and find it really good. The Zalman one may also be good but I can't find a cfm rating so I don't know about them.

Thanks for your input Xperiment. I am still considering which fans to get. The Zalman ones look quite enticing but I can't find any cfm ratings for them so off the list they go. I will probably get the Antecs. They are good fans, I have 2 80mm versions of them and couldn't be happier, they are expensive though.

Good news guys. I have placed my order with GAM and should hopefully have my radiator by the end of next week (if I can get to the bank tomorrow ;)).

I haven't been able to do any modding this past week because the end of term is approaching and I have a lot of assignments due. Also it is my Birthday on Monday (7th April) so there will be no modding this weekend either PARTY!!! lol. Well I hope to have an update on the case feet by the time I get the radiator. I need some more bolts and domed nuts but that stuff is easy to get. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Small update. My order was successful and my radiator is on the way. I should have it early next week. Also I have decided to get a pair of 120mm Antec Tri Cools to cool the radiator.

Time for a special birthday update.

I left school early today (had a double study after lunch, stuff staying for that) and when I got home guess what was waiting for me???
Yes you guessed it, my package from GAM Mods. THANK YOU GAM!!!!

So this is what was in the package:

Here is my new radiator, 1/2" fittings and a fill syringe:

A sneak peak of how it will be mounted:

And a underside shot:

Plenty of room...well there is now since I removed the rear feet.

Well guys, time for me to get back to the home work and on my birthday too :(. I may finish off the feet this week and get the radiator mounted over the weekend. This is my last week of term so once I get this radiator mounted my work is almost done, then the whole thing can go together. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Lol, no dirty thoughts I hope pOPe lol. The syringe will be used for the initial fill of the bay res, it's too hard to get a funnel in the small space around the fill port. It will also be used for top ups through the fill port mounted on the top of the case.

Yay, time for an update.

Here are the spacers for my new case feet. They are marked with the mounting holes.
Pic:

The holes drilled:

But unfortunately, one of the cracked and broke while drilling. I wasn't even going fast.
Pic:

I had two choices in this situation, fix it or cut a new one; I decided to fix it. As it turns out the break was on the bit of the plexi which will be painted so either way you wont see the crack in the plexi.
Some super glue and 30 seconds later I was left with this:

Now it's time to drill the holes for the decorative bolts which also help to hold the mesh in place, I went for 2 domed nuts over 3 because after some consideration it looked a bit crowded.
Pic:

I drilled and countersunk the holes:

Perfect fit:

Well that's it for today. The rain is starting to set in now and I have no bolts to mount the mesh with so I'm not going to bother drilling the holes in the mesh just yet. Later this afternoon I may mark the floor of my case for mounting the radiator.Until then...

Happy Modding.

Time for another update.

Today I got stuck into mounting my radiator.
Here I where the radiator will be mounted, all taped up and ready to go:

HDD racks removed:

Plenty of room for the radiator:

I traced an outline of the radiator to help with the mounting:

All marked for cutting:

All the useless lines removed, only the cuts left:

All cut out:

And a shot with the radiator where it should be:

However, I made one mistake. Take a look at the last pic. I cut the width too wide. I measured from the outside of the radiator rather than the inside. It still fits but there is a tiny gap either side now. One I put the fan hole molding on the cut it should be just fine. Well that's it for now, may have some more towards the end of the week. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I was away all last week and half of this week and to top it all off the house is being painted, not much time for modding. Any way I did manage to get some work on the case feet and spacers done before I went away and finished them today.

On to the pictures.

Ok so I went out and got myself some more bolts and domed nuts:

I also got myself a pair of small clamps:

They are perfect for what I need them for.
I clamped the mesh to the plexi spacers and then through the holes I drilled in the spacers I drilled identical holes in the mesh:

All drilled:

The plexi attached to the mesh with the domed nuts and bolts I brought:

Ok so that's the stuff I did before I went away last week. Now here is what I did today.

The Spacers are FINISHED!!!
All 4 feet with spacers in all their glory:

A close up of the completed case foot:

A pic of the mounting bolts:

Sorry I don't have pics of working towards the finished product but I can run you through it. Basically I just filed down the overhanging mesh while it was still attached to the spacers. Then I removed the protective tape from the spacers and taped off each end. I then painted the center stem of the spacer. Then I removed the protective plastic film from the mesh and bolted it to the spacer followed by the case foot. Quite boring steps, I know you guys like the eye candy lol ;).

I have also found a way around the gap I made while cutting the hole for my radiator. I will be using 2 mesh strips to cover the gap from the underside. These will be painted black to fit in with the rest of the case. Well that's all I have for now. The last few days of my holidays will be dedicated towards my homework so don't expect another update this week. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Lol I was going to do some work yesterday and today but I went to a mates 18th birthday party last night and have been a bit under the weather today lol ;). I am hoping to get the case feet mounted during the week but I have 3 essays due by Friday which I want to get drafts in by Tuesday, a hectic week for me lol.

Well guess what guys??? UPDATE TIME!!!

I finally got my case feet mounted so here are some pics.

First I masked off the area and marked the holes for drilling:

Holes drilled:

After that it was a simple matter of cutting the mounting bolts down to size and then mounting the completed feet:

Time for the money shots:

Yes it does look awesome (applause lol) but there are still a few problems with them. The feet cover up some rivet holes so I will have to counter sink a hole under some spots on the feet to allow the rivet to fit.
Example:

You can see in the pic the rivet hole in the center of the green part of the spacer.

Another problem (which I already knew about) are the spacers themselves. Yes they did bring the height of the case closer to stock height but they are still about 2-3mm too short.
Example:

You can see the difference in the image above.
I am thinking of adding 1 or 2 washers in between the mesh and the handle (foot) to add the desired height (I think this may look quite good). The other option in cutting the difference off the front fascia itself which I don't want to do.

Well that's all I have for now. I have got a small order which is almost complete for me to pick up which will allow me to finish mounting the radiator. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Well today I was home from school cos I am sick :( so I thought I may as well try to get my radiator mounted.

First I measured and drilled some holes:

Yes I know that middle lower hole is a bit churned up. There was a hole there already and the drill bit tore away the space in between the hole I was drilling and the existing hole. Don't worry, I hill be hiding the damage with some mesh strips.
Here is the radiator mounted:

And from the underside:

The radiator ended up being just a little bit crooked, you can only notice this if you are looking at it directly like this. I will fiddle with the holes to make it sit perfectly before I finish drilling the holes for the inlet and outlet.
Here is a pic of the distance between the radiator and the actual floor (using my desk an an example):

The gap is around 1.5-2 cm and will probably end up being close to 3cm when the radiator is properly installed and once I make the case feet a bit taller.

I have come up with a solution for my cases height issue. I was thinking of using a few standard metal washers to jack the height up a little but after having so much time on my hands today I got thinking. I really have 4 realistic options.

Option 1:
I use the standard metal washers...looks tacky.

Option 2:
I cut the difference in height off the perfect LEXA front fascia...risk destroying it.

Option 3:
I make 4 mini spacers (same design as the existing ones) to help raise the height, should give me around 3-4mm in extra height...very time consuming, don't think I have enough green plexi left.

Option 4:
I make 8 small washers out of green plexi to use instead of the metal ones...should look AWESOME.

I am going to go with option 4 but how to make the washers??? I haven't thought of that part yet. Well I probably have all day tomorrow to think about that so I'll keep you posted. Until then...

Happy Modding.

I have a holesaw but the size I need would be 1cm lol. I think I will have to just them out with a jigsaw or the Dremel and the but them on the bolt and attach it to the drill for a quick file with the good ol' file in the vice trick lol.

After thinking about my little problem I think I could use the hole to cut out the smallest circle I can with the hole saws at my disposal and then bolt them all together and grind most of the size off until I get my desired size. The only problem with this is the size the guide makes with the holesaw, this will be much larger than the bolts I am using. Looks like i will have to glue the plexi washers in place.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by b4i7

i say go with option 4 as well, mount them just under where the feet meet the black...that would look kickin!

---

I was thinking of putting them in between the mesh and and the handle itself but I like your idea. The only downside, your way may alter the strength of the feet because the weight is going to the washers not the feet as a whole. I will try both ways and see what they look like before I stick the washers in place.

I may get around to getting them done today. I'm home again from school today (damn flu, homework building up) so after I finish the last of my assignments which are or were due this week (that I know of) I will try to get a start on them.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions guys, it means a lot.

Well I tried standard washers and in need about 3 of them to make up the required height that I need, it just looks tacky. If I make the plastic ones then I still may need 1 standard washer but it won't look so out of place. Shame mate, I am out of the right angle pieces. Cya when ya get back.

This is what I will be doing with the washers:

Pic courtesy of Cheapskate over at Bit-Tech

This is the simplest way to make them. Luckily I managed to find a hole saw slightly smaller than 1/2" so this should make my job slightly easier. I may get started during the week, I'll see how I go.

Well guys It's finally time for an update on the case feet. Guess what I did this morning...made the plexi washers YAY.

So I got some scrap pieces of plexi together and measured the size I needed for the washers, about 1.5cm diameter.
Pic:

As it turns out the hole saw I used (3/4") cut the holes exactly the right size for my washers:

Note there are 10 washers in the pic, I only need 8 but 2 cracked so I made 2 extra. No I didn't pull the protective paper off the plexi...the hole saw did that for me lol.
Next I got my drill, a bolt and a nut and this is what I came up with:

Once I got the file in the vice I was ready to go:

I don't need to make the washers any smaller than they are, I just want to tidy them up a little bit.
Here we go:

And after a couple of mins I was left with these:

Time to install them.
Here is a pic of the now complete foot, I may need to add a small metal washer to add a bit more height:

Time for the money shots:

Next I modded the original case foot.
Here is the bottom of the original foot:

I pulled off the rubber stopper:

And ground down the plastic ring:

I know it looks ugly. I will put a piece of mesh under there or paint it.

And last but not least I finished mounting my radiator on the floor of my case.
Here are the holes cut out for the inlet and outlet pass through:

And a pic of the radiator mounted, it is almost perfectly straight now:

Well that's a big update (for me lol). I am waiting for a few things to come in then I can finally finish the bottom panel and get this thing together...finally. Until then...

Happy Modding.

A small update before I start modding this weekend.
This arvo I will be picking up another 2GB of RAM for my rig. I will post some pics once I get it home.
Here is a link to the RAM I am getting:
http://www.gskill.com/en/f2-6400cl4d-hk.html
I will now have two of these kits.

Thanks for the comment DT, yeah it's getting there. Not much left to do now.

Well I got my RAM, made it to the store with 5 mins until closing haha. Lucky Me.
Well Here are some pics, as promised.
The box:

The front of the box open showing off the RAM sticks:

The sticks themselves:

I love the design on the heat spreaders (and the colour). The design is minimalistic but looks quite nice I think. The design is part of the actual heat spreader, not stuck on.
The RAM comes with a G.Skill sticker and a slip of paper giving you URLs to the product website and with email addresses to tech support and warranty. The RAM also comes with a small aluminium case badge:

And here is a pic of the RAM installed in my system along with my existing 2GB:

Sorry for the bad pics, the box is weird and reflective and was hard to get a good pic of as was the case badge.
Hopefully I can get some modding done tomorrow, may have another update then. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Just a minor update.
I have ordered (need to find time to go and pick up) these items.
2x OCZ RAM cooler (1 for my brother)
2x Antec Tri-Cool 120mm Blue Fans
1x TP-Link 108Mbps wireless card (to replace my D-Link 54Mbps one)

I should have these items by the end of next week. Once I get the fans I will make sure the radiator fits nicely then I can get the bottom painted and ready to go.

I also need to place another small order which is basically just cable sleeving, a few more CCFLs and a couple of fan grills.