The Mini-Rat Small PC.

I chucked the PSU and the DVD drive in to make sure the mesh would fit.
This is how the HDDs will mount:

I will have more than one drive and it will sit up higher than right on top of the PSU. I'll reinforce the back of the mesh with some plexi and run the SATA and power cables up behind the mesh and out through a hole lining up with each drive.

I may or may not have a front fan yet. If I do, it will be another exhaust fan.

The intake fans will be at the back of the case where normally it's exhaust fans.

I don't want to turn the drives, otherwise I would have kept the original drive bays.

I had my parts I ordered for PC Case Gear turn up today, so I've been busy doing some modding today.

First up, the Thermaltake Sonic Tower heatsink. This thing is freaking huge! I'm going to cut a hole in the side of the case for the top of it to hang out of.

I also installed the clear 80mm fans with green LEDs into the back of the case and put on the air filters. These fans will be the intake fans.

While installing the fans, I extended the wiring so those two fans and the top blow hole extend to the front of the case. All the wiring is tucked up at the top of the case and UV sleeving installed.

I needed them extended so I could plug them into this:

I also started on the ATX cable. I bought new pins and a UV green plug. I also used some electrical conduit to get the bends I want so the cable sits right.
I still need to trim to the right length and install the pins and plug:

It will sit in the case like this:

I may still put green UV cable sleeving over the top of it yet.

the other thing I got was a PCI slot exhaust fan, to help cool the dead spot under the 8800GTS, where it gets quite warm:

It will be painted too before being installed.

Expect another update tomorrow after I've done some more with my other bits I've bought.

:eek: that heatsink is big... imagine if they've add watercooling into it...

Look so cool, can't wait to see he update tomorrow :)

I've done a few more hours of work, nothing exciting, just the stuff that needs to be done. I've been working on the front panel of the case, putting in all the switches and lights.

I also do all the cable sleeving on everything coming off the front of the case.

I used part of a printed circuit board to make a small light bar for three LEDs to light the fan control dials. It also has one super bright green LED for the power on indicator in the front of the case. I'm just running the 4 LEDs off the power on LED from the MoBo.

Here's the wiring on the back of the front panel after I installed the switches and LEDs, along with the sleeved USB and Firewire cables and the front audio jacks.

Here's a couple of shots of the front with the doors closed and opened. I still need to paint the power and reset buttons before I put them in, so that's why they are missing.

Closed:

Open:

I have also glued in the front green mesh along with adding a couple of small holes and a bit of rust paint here and there.

Here's an overview of the mostly completed front panel:

Thanks for the comments guys!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazy Buddhist

Hey bucko ...

You've taken the rat scheme into the puter ... wondering if you can also drag the computer back towards rat-biking .. get some rpm gauges for the fans .. and a throttle to control them :D .. it would take some servo work and electronics but would be way fun to do.

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I won't be changing the design of this case too much, but I had already bought a pocket bike with the idea of putting a PC in it at some point.

I started on some of the case lighting tonight.

I bought these project circuit boards for a dollar each a while ago, I knew they would be handy for something!

I made up a board with 27 green LEDs. It will go in the bottom of the case behind some smoked plexi.

here it is all done:

And lit up:

I'll sand the LEDs to diffuse the light a little bit too.

I've had a fairly productive afternoon. The mesh is mounted and the HDD mounted to the mesh with holes cut for the cables. I aso ran some rubber around the edge of the mesh.

As you can see, I changed the layout of the HDD from what I originally planned.

Here's the back of the mesh where some wiring will be hidden and the HDD cooler is mounted:

I also put the front on and mounted the DVD drive. The front will have to come off again yet, I just wanted to make sure all my wiring was going to work.

I can definatly see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm getting closer, but I still have a lot of detail work to go as well as the side of the case.

There is still some power cables to add yet, like the 24 pin ATX and a couple of others.
But I will be making a cover for most of them.