Storm'd!

As promised STORM'D is the second in the series of plex "theme" case mods.

Storm'd is based on the newer model Sunbeam LED UV blue plex case this time and again will feature "Bolt on" type machined plex highlights as well as some Storm features :) to keep it t theme case

The Sunbeam case was chosen for its extra features and the fact that its main outer structure is held together using 4 solid looking metal rails...

these shiny metal rails have a great contrast against the clear plex and will fit in nicely with what i have planned.


Due to all the "one off" fabrications that need to be done with STORM'D i won't be able yo finish it as fast as PeRs-pLeXeD! but hope to have a finished product by weeks end :)

Sunbeam put a quality package together and you really do feel its Xmas when you get this home and open it!.....well xmas with that "ikea feel about it"!!!!

You can also see just like PeRs-pLeXeD! the main feature of the case will be its 2 dual front 120mm UV fans! this time i'm going with the purple, as this colour fits in well with the STORM theme,

NOW! @ this stage of the mod! i have 2 trains of thought about it!

the first is to use the dual 120's the other is to use Dual 80's! with 120mm outer shouds.... i will first fabricate up the 80 and shrouds as im very keen to see how this will look!

if i don't like the effect from the dual 80's then i can move onto the 120 idea.

Back to the modding :)


The front of the case... to give it a more appealing hevier look will get a custom laser cut outer frame. the frame will be beveled @ 45 dgree on the router and dilled with counter sunk M5 Steinless steel hex heads.

To compliment and fitin with the front theme a smaller frame will also be installed to surround a pr of counter sunk Dual custom made "defyant style " STORM RES's.


LEFT front frame RIGHT top res frame.

The finish on these custom laser cut frams is class all the way!

You can see the idea of how i want the frame to sit! the frame will still be beveled drilled countersund and flame polished again.

First off it's the top Res frame that gets a pimping.

The frame with the STORM RES's.

The frame will sit around the 50mm OD x 180mm STORM RES's will sit down into the top of the case and be "half in and half out"

The STORM RES frame is taken over to the router and given 45dregee outer edging

M5 SS Marine HEX heads all the way for STORM'D

Time to "cutup" the top of the Sunbeam for the STORM Res's

The STORM RES's can now sit down into the case.

The oringinal thought of joining the 2 STORM RES's was to drill a joiner hole in each, tap thread and use a brass threaded joiner......

I really wasn't happy with this look....and the fact that the brass peice moved the to res's apart to far for my liking.....

the soloution was to cut a small plex joiner drill out the holes slightly larger and then glue the joiner in.

Dammm! almost perfect !!!!

For the ends ive had 50mm x 10mm thick laser cut ends made.

These are glued on and left to sit for 10 before water-testing

The STORM RES's will need to have an in and out let! to allow the "flood gates" to flow! ")

Over to the drill press for some drilling!

back for some threading!

Some barb fitting!

and some testing on the case!

The barbs will feed back off the STORM Res'sto the pump rad and block,no external plumbing will be seen this time.

.

With that out of the road i really wanted to get a start on the first of the 2 front fan ideas!


The first one uses Dual 80mm STORM inlet fans these will have a customised plex hevy metal shroud around them giving the illusion of 120mm fans!





The idea was discovered purley by mistake! after cutting the hole for the first of what was going to be the Dual 120mm STORM fan bracket!

The innner circle was taken over to the router and given a good 45degree rip!

Next was to flip it over and mark the holes for the SS hexheads!

After a drilling!

Next was to do some sexy counter sinking! this time ive gone closer to the "edge" so that the tool cuts down into the side of the bevel'd edge and allows the bolts to be seen from the sides .

Testing with a spare UV green fan

And just for kiks! with some lighting effects.

Withit sitting on the facia panel i think you wil agree that the front surround add to the size of the 80mm fan and gives it amuch larger appearance.


With 2 of these i think is should look very "beefy"

well... i am ejoying a quality read and learn each time i check TBCS... thanks defyant.. u rule! u da best! :) and the grand wizard of plexi... keep 'em coming... :D

wow, I wish I had the tools to pull something like this off. Good luck, looks very nice just like all your mods. Good job Defyant.

I got around the making the second front Storm Vent today, i'm very pleased with the look of them as a pair!


The second one was made as the first was.

as you can see in the above pic..the sight of the original plex front panel now looks way out of place! to fix this and add a contrast to the machined plex surrounds a Smoked or tinted plex background is cut and added.

Next will be to make surrounds for the CDROM and Matrix orbital display.
these be be a rectangle shape.

Centers are marked and cut out again in a frame'd shape.

Next! was the BIG one! beveling a 45 degree angle on the main fron frame.

This was a steady and slow effort...one slip here .......

Next is to take the frame over for some drilling and counter sinking for the hex heads.

The inner shadow panel is layed in

Storm rings added

Top frames

The idea will be that with the tinted back panel only the Storm rings outer main plex frame and smaller inner frames will light up!

should look very interesting!

:) :drooling: niiiiiiiiiiiiiice :)

I got around the making the second front Storm Vent today, i'm very pleased with the look of them as a pair!


The second one was made as the first was.

as you can see in the above pic..the sight of the original plex front panel now looks way out of place! to fix this and add a contrast to the machined plex surrounds a Smoked or tinted plex background is cut and added.

Next will be to make surrounds for the CDROM and Matrix orbital display.
these be be a rectangle shape.

Centers are marked and cut out again in a frame'd shape.

Next! was the BIG one! beveling a 45 degree angle on the main fron frame.

This was a steady and slow effort...one slip here .......

Next is to take the frame over for some drilling and counter sinking for the hex heads.

The inner shadow panel is layed in

Storm rings added

Top frames

The idea will be that with the tinted back panel only the Storm rings outer main plex frame and smaller inner frames will light up!

should look very interesting!

Really keen to check out how the Clear plex on Dark plex was going to look!

The first thing to do was to start peeeeling off some of that kaky brown protective paper!

next was to drill and cut back the original holes that would be needed for the case's panel buttons and io panel.

as you can see its a pretty complicated bunch of holes!!more than most cases!

i would have to really measure up and take my time cutting these!

after a bit of cutting in the dark plex the new holes where done.

I also used the flame teknique to smooth out the edges of the holes and give them a clean look.

looks almost factory!

For those of you wondering what the "Flame teknique" is!?.... this is it!--->


After cutting, say a 80mm blow hole , either with a hole saw or jigsaw! or if you must... a dremal...your left with a ruff edge from the cut.

You can! sand and polish this smooth and shiny...how ever! if you have a bit of practice under your belt..a small flame torch , you can shine these back to a nice fluid looking finish.

Don't hold the flame in one spot for tooo long! you will bubble and fry! Move back and forth over a small area till you see the plex melt back-in on itself and shine.. very much like mig welding,

Also work the plex just above the blue tip of the flame! not the orange bigger part...come inside that larger flame to the top of the blue tip.
Get right in close! and really watch the plex! as close as you can!!
and be prepared to quickly BLOW out little spot fires that start up on the plex.

Happy flameing!

You can see that nice melted smooth look to the edge.

the same is again repeated the the whole tinted panel around the cdrom hole and the whole outer rim.

The Storm rings are added!

(ive decided NOT to flame polish these!) as having them FULLY polished will not give the lighting effect im after!

the top Frames are added as well.

I think you guys will agree it has a very crisp classy clean look about the front of thr case now, and im happy thats its all still pretty much an original idea.





and of course! how could i end a post without some mandatory lighting effects :)


i personally love it!

i think that the opportunity here for me to have a ball with diff lights really presents it self!

the larg outer frame can easily be one colour with the Storm rings another! but i'll prolly stick with a blue or a purple to keep in with the STORM'D theme.

after the last post and the "mock up" shots! i was really keen to get the front end fitted!


First call of the day was to pick a couple of sets of fans! i'm still not sure what the exact fans that i will run.


for now i'll use the aerocool silver blade 2's

another trip to the local fastner shop forsome more HEX heads

A qik test with the new fans

time to screw on the front storm rings!

the bolts that hold the rings on also hold the front fans in place.

fans in place its time to part assemble the the plex case.

the front of the case has been drilled to match the pattern of bolts from the front frame.


The bolts will not go all the way thru, but stop short but still enuf to secure the frame to the case.

the frame can now be bolted to the front of the case.

The innner area has been cut away to allow the top fan to fit

With the new front "Bolted" into place.

next was to move onto the upper smaller frames.


One will surround the Matrix Orbital 2 x 24 lcd display the other will be the new door panel for the crom.

these are both drilled and counter sunk then extra holes are drilled into the front panel and the top frame is attached.

the cdrom rom is installed for a test run as is the matrix lcd

Looking good defyant, I see your OCAU forums worklog is updated earlier, I oticed the copy - paste on the flame technique stuff. What are you going to do with this case when it's done?

Needing an excuse to use my sexy new router bench! i was off to the plex shop today for what will be the second last time in this project.

Picking up some "cut to size" panels for what will become STORM'D new overlay side panels..

The Original idea was to leave the case clear! but this case is being "STORM'D" so it needed to be Darkend all round.

Using overlay panels keep in with the over all plex theme.


5 new smoked panels and 2 new front clear panels.

Starting with the top.

These panels are cut to the .5mm and are a perfrct fit!

The new side overlay panels fit snug as well.

The orignal side clear plex panel has 2 holes already cut for 2 x 80mm fans! thinking that not a bad idea! i decided rather then cover them up!

i'll add some storm rings as well and make a full feature.......this won't the the cases main side feature! bigger and more special things for that.


Over to the drill press some new rings are cut..... this time rather than make thick clear rings like the front..i decided to go for a more subdue'd sleek look...something that won't stick out like a sore thumb!

the rings are made from the same smoked plex as the overlay panels and arefrom 4.5mm thick plex.

The new smoked overlay panel is cut to match up with the original side panel.

For now i'll use these fans! but a chrome fans will be brought later to match.

The whole assembly-- rings---overlay panel----original panel ----fans

can now be bolted together for a test run!!

sweetness

wow thats awesome! AGAIN!.....anybody else here starting to wonder if defyant is in fact human? :D

really wanted to get the side "storm vents" perfect! altho they come off looking ok! they still needed a lot more work!



I decided that the HEX head bolts i was going to use....didnt suit the side vents as much....a trip back down to the local fastners shop and i came home with these sexy little thangs!


these are just perfect! i much prefer the way they will sit flush with the ring .

Back of with with side rings and it was time to give em a "flamin"
doing the inner small holes and the inner ring itself but leaving the outer angled edge still with a machined look.

With that done!


i relised that there was no way to slide the side panel off with the fans still attached to the inside of the case!!!

a qik fix was to make the whole overlay panel and fans/storm rings as one unit! then bolt that unit onto the orig side panel.


a large clean sqr opening is cut and flamed smooth.

Fans panel and ring assemble are bolted together then layed onto the orig panel and bolted on

Somthing still wasnt right!......they just didnt look "finsihed" a qik think about it...

they need mesh!




the solution was some old 8" car speakers i had under the bench!

a small frame jig is made from some scrap plex..this will be used to "press" the shape into the new grills.

a ruff cut is done, with plenty of excess

this is soo much fun!

after a qick trim!

big smile for D :)

and with the freshly flamed rings and new bolts! bigger smiles for D.

onto the second one!!!

slide it in!

:)

i know its a lotta hoopla over somthing small :) but its getting the small things just right that really give me a buzz!

That's a great look with the mesh. Very polished.

One tiny little detail that catches my eye for some reason, the bottom mesh doesn't seem to be aligned vertically like the top one is. It looks to be tilted to the right just a bit. It really isn't a huge deal but like you said, its getting the "small things just right that give me a buzz".

your right mate!!!will looson the bolts and line them up :)

The original Front cdrom and top panels wernt 100% square...i free hand cut them and then dremal cut the insided out and filed as streight as i could get them.....



Still looked a bit "dodgy",,, so i had 2 new panels precut and gave them the once over on the router bench! hehehe love saying that now!!!! "the router bench" !

in action!!!!

One is a "dummy panel" and is goin to also act as the front mount for the Matrix Orbital lcd display.


The second is for the cdrom.

Just a standard matrix... but being oem no mounts!

nothing flash but heres what i came up with.

With the cdrom panel added.

sorry for the lack of reg updates guys!

i have been modding a lil but evertime i sit down to post the updats i find my self playing WoW with the son :)

heres a qickky few updates



A qik fix for an eject button for the dvdrw , same idea as used on persplexed ..but more stelthier looking.


the crom rom door is marked and drilled with a countersunk hole

The mod is all made from small hollow and sold plex rod.. a tiny button is cut

Finger sanded smooth

checked for fit

The sanded shaft is check for lenght

a back "stopper ring" is cut and glued to the main shaft

The front button is glued on and the e3xcess off the back of the shaft is meausred and cut away

Simple but effective

Next was to move onto installing the swiftech mpc 360 mini pump!


a custom stand or bracket was cut and drilled for the pump to mount to...

This now allows the pump to sit in a the cdrom bay

With the crom pump and matrix LCD out of the way!


was time to move onto what will be the "Storm Tunnels"

The idea of the Storm tunnels will be to not only look cool but to help deliver clean air to the centre of the case.


Originall i was goin to use clear plex 80mm tubes! but had a couple of add "Baddong" cooling ducts and thought i'd give these a shot.

I also like the colour!

the first idea was to make some custom adaptors to bolt the tunnels onto the fan!
then i relised that the fans themselfs could be modded to accept the tunnels.

The solution was to trim away some of the fans mounts allowing the Storm Tunnels to slide over the left over edge.

a qick few shots to show how they will work.

With the front Storm Fans bolted in the Storm tunnels will sit more apart'

A custom Rear back plate will be made to secure the Rear Storm Tunnel Fans


Made from a measured and cut peice of 3mm tinted plex

Again! to keep intheme and give the Mod a finished look! some more custom grills are cut , hammered into shape and fitted in.

A hole is cut for the cdrom and pump the paper removed and the whole panel is Edge flamed.


again Hex head bolts are used to hole the rear Storm fans in place.

One of the ducts is not sittting 100% , i'll take some time thru the weeks to see if i can PU a new one as that one was used in a previouse mod and was bent a bit out of shape.


But for now you can pretty much see the full effect.

CONCEPT! / light testing!!


From the start the original idea was to have lightening bolts, 2 on the sides and 2 smaller ones on the top of the case and one on the inside on the motherboard cover.


after making the original "plex flames" idea , i knew it was possible! but...... while making the "Bolt" i came up with a much much better idea! stay with me!


a few weeks back i made what will be the "STORM'D" logo and bolt for the "off side" of the case.

The letters are plain bold..i didn't want anything too fancy to take away from the "bolt" wich will be the main side feature.





The letters were simply printed out then traced onto clear 3.5mm plex.

The "bolt" was drawn "freehand" on some scrap plex.

Over to the bandsaw to cut it all out

The "bolt" was a slow process! i'm not looking forward to doing 5 of these!!!!

But with a some patience and steady hand! it come out uncraked! :)

With the tape pealed off and a qick "frosting" almost look good! ( a good idea for anyone else! would be to do the frosting before you cut the pattern!)

Spread out with the Logo and the bolt this is how it will look on the side of the case.....


NB!! This is not the main side, this is the "off side" mother board side of the case.

And you have to imagine that this will be over tinted plex! so the contrast will be alot more effective then over the brown paper.

Next was a few very feeble and sorry looking attempts @ trying to light the bolt up with LED's!

this was never going to work :(....... the light will just not flow evenly along the bolt.

after a day on the "think"! ....i came up wth this solution!



using some old scrap EL wire from my old "light tubes" days from HP2 i thought about "channeling" the EL wire along the back of the smoked plex panel
under the The Bolt.



USING YELLOW SO NOT TO WAIST my BLUE stock of EL.

a scrap peice of smoked 3.5mm plex

The Bolt is placed on top and with a scratchmarker traced so to give me a chanel to grove

The using a simple round engraving top on the trusty dremal i groved the chanel for the EL stip to sit in.

Next was to press and just for now! tape in the EL wire stip down...the end result will be "Glued" as a more permanent solution.

Flip the mod panel over

lay the bolt ontop!

some light action!

:)

like i said! this is all trial and error stuff atm! and after playing arouns some more! i decided to ditch the external PLEX Bolt altogther!!!!

and go with just the EL stip under the Tinted plex!!!

This give a much sharper clean lightening effect, and in "BLUE" i think will look stunning.

Not content with just a single bolt effect im practicing "splicing" and re-joining the EL wire!

This will take some more practice as i need to shorten the contact area to get rid of the "dead spot" in the effect! but im sure with some more practice
and using the BLUE EL i should pretty much get it looking ok!

The funny part is! EL is noise sensitive!!! so you can imagine Zak and myself sitting round and making "thunder" and "Crack" noises to watch our lightening bolt flash :P

update!!!


ok! after much deliberation on my part! i decided to still run the EL wire...but not to join as seen before.


this time i will simply run 3 bolts! that originate from the single source.


and will use some freshly brought Blue EL this time.

Using the same technique shown above a groove or channel is engraved in the smoked overlay outer panel.

the channel is blown clean

and the first of the bolts is layed in the channel and is temporarily taped in before more permanat glueing is applied.

All three bolts are layed in connected to a common power and a thin beed of glue is applied and allow to dry.

The original plex panelis then drilled to allow the EL wire loom to feed thru and layed over the smked plex and bolted down.

A sandwich effect where the EL sits between the 2 panels.

A qick "lights out" test shows how well the wirie contrasts behind the tinted smked outer panel.

Last but no least is to (for now) temp glue down the "STORM'D" letters and fire it up again

the beuty is that the EL wire is sound controlled!!! and flashes like real lightening.


Here is a small 800k avi file showing how the lightening flashes.

Ejoy :)

http://www.goatlan.com/noozl/MVI_9009.AVI

to help case cooling ive decided to add a mesh grill right above the HDD, this will allow the HDD to run cool and keep internal temps down.

hole is also cut in the orig plex panel and is routed to allow the edge of the mesh to "sit down" and allow the top shadow plex panel to remain flush.

The mesh will "blend in " better once the brown paper comes off.