Project: Tetris

Hi all, my name is Aidan.

This is my first full case mod, starting with a Compaq Evo case, very similiar to this one:

The idea for this mod comes from my fiancee, who suggested a Tetris theme. I originally planned a big window on the side with the look of a tetris game, as this rough mock up in SketchUp shows (again, first time with this program):

But alas, this was never to be. Unfortunately the Compaq had these awfull cooling vents along the side, which had to be covered up.

After stripping the Compaq down to its shell (grr, I hate pop rivets) I decided I would like to move the hard drive enclosure down to the floor of the unit, and covert it to a 3.5" drive, suitable for a SSD at some point, as this is going to be a gaming machine. I really love the form factor of SSD's and that you can squish them in almost anywhere.

I also cut away the stock fan guard as is was fugly and made it into a ninja death star, yay. I'm planning on adding an 120mm intake fan to the front, turbine style.

I cut away a vent hole in the side panel and backed it with AC Ryan mesh, and eventually I'll get some U-bend piping to neaten it up. I don't have my file's untill tomorrow so everything is a bit rough.

You can see the cut away where the tetris blocks will be. I'm going to cut out the squares like this:

And behind the plexi add small squares of printed acetate, which will have the original tetris textures. Then some LED's will shine through the sides and hopefully she'll glow. I have a couple of neat ideas on how to make the LED connection as easy as possible, so you don't have to unplug anything when you take the side panel off.

I'm picking up my Generic Rotary Tool (hereby known as a dremel) and some files tomorrow and should get a little work done. After that I'm working untill Sunday.

I have no idea what components will be going into the case (stuff that fits, hopefully!) but I'm concentrating on creating the case first. Next to be re-designed is the front bezel. I'm thinking about stealthing the DVD drive with styrene in the shape of a long Tetris block, and transplanting all of the switches/lights into a row of tetris shapes.

Some will be switch covers, some will be LED toppers.

That's all for now. Later.

this is gunna be cool

nice start mate keep it up...
good idea fiance :)

Just bought some big files, little files and a rivet gun. All for £7.49.

I seem to have lost my dremel thing mind. Oh well.

nice files mate.. what a bargin!

cool idea... can't wait to see it in full. :)

Just bought this from eBay:

1.5" LCD Keyring

With the idea of mounting it in the bezel, giving it a power line and uploading a tetris style .gif! Should be ace to have a looping tetris game on the front, and if it doesn't work then I can give it to my mum. £5 well spent.

Tetris .gif ideas:

If I can't find anything cool pre-made I'll have to make one.

i like the bottom one, showing a tetris being made! I mean, that is the name of the case... and the game incidentally lol

Gotta love Paint for mock ups...

Imagine the colour as shiny black.

looks cool mate :)

shiny.

although everytime i read this log i get the tetris music in my head again.

The keyring is trash :(

It converts the first frame of the .gif into a .bmp and that's it! Only has terrible sliding/checkerboarding transitions that you can't change too, fastest it'll change is 1 frame per second too.

Ah well.

Cut some 120mm and 80mm fan mounting holes in the front bezel:

Also tested my rivet gun, having never used on before (hence the redundant 3.5" cage attached to the back of the chassis. Result: gonna have to drill them out, aka working well.

I'm sourcing some UK based suppliers for PVC tubing of the correct sizes, might get my Dad to drive me to B&Q. I think I'm gonna buy some green LED fans but spray them black, like the MNPCTech guy did with his biomechanic case mod. Gave a cool effect.

Finally got my workbench brought up from home and found my dremelesque thing.

And one for the ladies...

I love my dremel, it's got a hanging stand and angle extender thing, so it's really easy to work with in tighter spaces or with detail.

Ok so I now have a bad back, after being cramped up in this space (don't have a long enough power lead to get right down into the back yard):

I cut away the really wonky edges with the dremel (also, man do those disks wear out quick! Went through 6 this afternoon):

Then I used a big ol' file to smooth them off:

After that I masked it off and drew up the design, then slowly started to cut out the squares, first by engraving the pattern then cutting all the way through.

And finally ended up with this (howdy neighbours):

After that I filed the edges smooth then sanded the finish back ready for the primer.

After one coat of primer:

Next up I started a little fun idea which may replace the AC Ryan grill, I started engraving the 'Tetris' logo into some plexi, and I'll sidelight it in white/green, the same as the Tetris window above...

Not finished yet, but it's only a test.

Looks like its progressing pretty well. For some reason I really like the design for the front of your case, all the shapes laid out and colored like that makes me think its going to look really cool.

Just sanded down my first coat of primer, and discovered a few little scratches and dinks and stuff to be filled in with this stuff I ordered from eBay, recommended by my Dad (many years patching up old mini's teaches you something about body filler!)

Just for fun I thought I'd post the reflection in the primer, hah.

It's too damp to apply any primer now, so I'm working on the PCB design for my side lighting. It's just a sketch for the time being but I'm gonna order some LED's when I get paid and breadboard it up.

Till next time (Friday probs)...Thanks for the comments.

looks great man!

cant wait to see more... i love tetris