Hp Res 3 Mega

Hi guys :) Ive lurked here for a lil while and im totally impressed by the qual of thr mods here :)

ive just posted my last finished case "HPRes II" over in the project galleries.


This is HP Res III Mega, im trying to take what i did with HPR2 a few steps further.

most of the mods on this case will revolve around bondo work to the case.
once again the whole job will be finished in 2pack auto and have my signature side mounted water tank/s :)

I'm still not 100% on what the end outcome will be or how soon i can finish this mod, but will be fun to share it here with you guys :)

the original case

Making thr MEGA blowhole

New filler panel and adding some bondo

alota sanding :)

a lot more sanding!

More bondo and more sanding!!!!!

some final work and a lota high fill :)

( 2 weeks later!)

A dust coat and final wetub

One MEGA blow hole :)

more to come :)

thanx guys :) a bit more work done, this time to the MB side panel,

again HPR3 will have a side mounted res, the side pansl is modded to suit the theme :)

I've cut some strip of plex these can be bent to shape for the edges.

using a bit of heat the strips of plex bend to shap with little effort.

not too hard.

ive decided to "groove" tenches around the walls, this will give a lower area for the bondo to bite down and sand back level.

a qik re-sand on the groved areas

same with the back

next is to sit the side walls back in and use some hot glue to hold it all in place.

Next is a qik "fitup" test, i a big fan of the fitup test :)

all fits good :)

after the initial sand back i could see on the bottem edge of the side hole the bondo wasnt sticking :(

i didnt prep clean proper...... a few holes to act as "anchor points" will fix that.

and some fresh bondo

Some more sanding, using an old peice of plastic pipe i can wrap some 60G around it and sand the shape needed.

Starting to take shape :)

thank you guys :)


smallish update guys :)

this is all early fab stuff atm, so it all looks a bit ruff.

the custom fan box will be shaped bondoed and painted, the front blow hole insert panel isn't final either, but gives you an idea of the look in after.

trying some mesh from insde an old apple tube mon!

cheers guys, the front bezel sits off the mesh and allows air flow around the edges,

i did think of giving it an edge!!! very much like the side res panel and the mega hole itself.

ive started on a second and 3 peice already, the options so far are to keep it flat have writing or a logo laser cut into it so it backlights thru the lettering,

as you said have a raised lip around the edge of the insert. or to have it sightly convexed with a rounded shape to it.

the front pansl also had to hold a back light and more than likley a power buttom of some sort.

thanx guys :)


got a few hours tonight so i knocked over the fanbox,


first off was to knock all the edges off using sowe 60g

counter sink the holes, better to do this now before the bondo hits!

cut some stips of flexable plastic, im using these as the guides an they will simply peel away @ the end.

post 2

Bondo time!!!!

i want to add small blow hole lips to keep with the theme inside and out.

First of 3 layers of bondo.

starting to take shape

after another bondo and rub.

peel the plasitc guides away

a qik rub on the iners

redrill the screw holes

finally some spray putty,

so far so good :)


will wet rub this in a few days-to a week, then another sprey with putty before paint.

Didn't want to run the old metal back plate, so i thought i'd try something different. :D
Stepping out to my favorite shop, i picked up a cut peice of 8mm thick clear plex!

A qik test to see it fits right, all the motherboard points and needed holes, mounts etc will be added later.

The plex panel it self isn't the actual mod! but the idea to diffuse and light it is!

the idea came to me while doing the front light diffusers, its just going to be on a much larger scale.

A qik test on a small peice of off-cut confirms the idea will work.

next is to sand the peice of plex with 1200 wet and dry, the small scratched catch the light beem and allow the whole flat surface to light, rather then just letting the light travel thru to the ends like on Hevy plex SLB mod i did for Zak.

Adding some light.

Once i could see that the effect was goin to work it was time to peel off the protective paper and get to work on my motherboard back panel.


Simple wetrub in the laundry sink again with 1200 W/D and a 3M rubber hand block, all of 15 mins work and is done to both sides to achive an almost frosted look.

The end result.

Next is to hook up some lights for testing.

turn off the lights and see if it works!

i was pretty impressed at what a great internal light feature this simple mod makes,even with the motherboard and internal bolted in there will still be enuf see-able area to keep this a main feature inside the case.

yer thats it guys just a old set of lazer's in a temp placing to test.

i do use a slip on type as well, Defyant style flex light leeds, like on HP1 and a diff setup i used on my sons MOD Hevy plex SLB.

This is the variant i made for my sons case mod.

These plug into a baybus for a "modular lighting" setup

Then plug into his plex side panels for this effect.

After seeing how well the last 2 lighting mods came off, i deciced to try somthing a lil more challenging.

This also solved the prop and allows me to start making some progress again.

i was stuck what to add as the "top feature" of the case.

This is still in very very early stages, but i was so excited by how it was looking i had to post :)


The idea is that the skelleton will sit on top of the case, with some heat will also take the shape and "mould" to the top. a ruff sand for now, but will have a proper wetrub and clean up over the weekend.


but i think you can see the potential of this idea.


The pattern is marked out on a peice of 6mm thick plex.

Some cut out fun.

You can see here how the skel will sit on the top of the case, with some heat it will mould to the shape of the top panel.....

After a qik sand,

this is very very ruff, and the final result will look a lot better shaped and just have a full frosted look.

Add some lights.


ATM the ligting is not very even..... this is becasue the skel hasnt been properly sanded, with proper placed lights and full sanding "diffusing"
the light will have a much better even glow.

Hey guys ,Nice to get back into this mod.


while i was waiting for some parts to arrive for H-1 i'd get a bit of work done on hpr3.


As much as i liked the first fan box, it was drifting away from the internal theme i was going for.


I decided to make the Fan box again!and this time keep it plex rather than bondoing over it.

I decided to rout the edges this time and also do the inner circles.

Because the PLEX is soo thick this time "10mm" i had to countersink the screw holes.

The routed edges are shined clear with flame.

the end result one lit proper the box wiill become a light feature inside the case as well has being a fan holder.

Not quiet sure whats to say about this next mod for HPR3!

just decided to do it! :) thought it would work in well with the rest of the mod and it's a great way to spend a sunday arvo :)


Plex PSU


Off to the plex shop and get some cut to size bits!

next was to measure and install some stand offs

a quick check....this is just ageneric 400watter from an oldserver

Some heat sink bending will be needed!!!!!

Some drilling!!!

Some fitting of a switch and power socket

Some sanding with wet and dry to get that nice frosted finish...1200g is used.

Some wiring/soldering back up up wires!

The outer walls are glued on and the 120mm fan is added.

Some drilling thread tapping and countersinking of holes are done to secure the lid.

The end result!!! i may still give the edges a hand beveling for a rounded look.

Hows it look?

Its nice to be getting some work done to this again :)

To keep in-theme with the rest of the inside idecided to make afrosted plex hdd and cdrom box as well

Defyant style "Frost tubes"


The next idea was just a "twist" in the defyant style flex leads, and will also have its own light source for a glowy effect and is integrated
with the RCA type power plugs.





the fan box is modded to fit a female RCA and wired to the 2 x 120mm front mega blowhole fans.

next is ome expreimenting..... the idea is to fill the tube with sand....this will stop the plex tube from kinking flat when bending with heat.

once the plex tube is bent the sand is emptied and your wires are passed thru.

lots more to come :)

thanx guys :)

i hope this next post give you guys a proper idea of the full effect im after in this mod.


you all seen the mock up and the type oflight effect im after.. but i need to fit the lights in a permanat way but in away that i caan replace one if needed,

here what i came up with for the back panel.


I decided the best way was to groove a channel, with deeper holes @ 5 x intervals to fit the LEDs into. the back plate is an incredible 10mm thick! so a 6mm groove
was no probs and still left enud strenght in the plex.

the full channel, this was first pass the end channel is almost 10mm deep.

small tunnels are drilled for the LEDs to be placed into.

a qik test to see how the light was goin to travel.

this was an early shot but shows how the wire will fit into the channel.

a more final shot...shows how the wire loom will feed thru the base of the pc

the blue/White wires are for the 3 x 5000mcd 5mm LEDs and the red/white wire will be for the 2 x 10,000mCd RED Leds!!!!! :)

the effect is more than i'd hoped for.... and when finished should look a real treat.


here is the 3 x blue LED's with 2 LEDs also mounted in the floor and one single one lighting up the front fan box.

the HDD is lit only using the back pansl lightes!!!!

the floor will also be a main internal feature, and a groove has been cut out in the shape of the MPC350 pump wich will sit down into the plex.

This shot shows how effectivly the light travels

Now it was time to fire up the 3 10kmcd RED LEDs



you can see just how well this way of lighting works as a feature....and you can see the "bleeding " effect as the red light hits the blue!

The idea will be with a flick of a switch.....to have the internals of HPR3 look as HOT or as COOL as i want! :)


or

as you seen in these shots a combo of both!!!

nothing final yet guys..but this shows you where i'm heading using the frost tubes. this is just a test run and the final layout and tubes runs may lokk different.

the "frost box" @ the reat of the mod will be the Hub.

Defyant style frosted plex HDD light.



I decided to scratch the the top panel mod... i like the mod!! it looked sexy..but for me, the mod was just too overpowering

and overshadowed what i wanted to be the main feature of hpr3mega...

i decided to still make a feature... and thinking that i still needed a HDD signal light i'd try somthing that i thought would be sleek stylish and suit this mod better.

the top panel of HPs come apart into 2 sections, the panel that pops out has a nice round edge with a sunken middle..i decided to use this part to install the new custom
HDD light.





first off was some crude marking

close eunf was good enuf as the new plex light could be made to fit the shape.

using some thin sheet plex and scissors cut out a template

transfer the shape onto some 10mm plex and cut it out.

putting the cut peice underneath you can see it wont sit flush!!!

some some channel edging is done to allow a section of the plex to raise up thu the hole and sit even with the top of the panel..

some heat is applied to the plex light to get the contour of the top panel...its bends three ways!!! but a few goes got it perfect.

a fit up to see all is good.

next it was inside for some final wet rubbing for shape and a one more to get the frosted themed look to match the rest of this mod.


40 mins later and some very wrinkly finger tips the new light was created!!

Next was to try a fit up...

and of course....lights action! i was impressed , i think thiswill look very classy flashing to HDD activity and wont over power the whole mod as the original idea would.

of course! dual colours will be added!

MEGA RES


You all knew HPR3-MEGA was going to have a "MEGA" res! but what no one was to know was the external effect of this res was to be.

the back custom back board lighting effect was not only to provide light internally but externally as well!!

The board gives off more light then id ever expected.. and is truly an amazing effect to see in RL.. and will also provide light for the MEGA RES Feature!


First off was to finish building HPR3's Mega-Resthis is is HUGE..and it had to be :P @ 400mm long and 80mm accross the RES is going to be a main feature.


i opted this time for full 10mm thick tops and bottems as these would also act the the main and only anchor points for the MEGA res.


the partially built res.

Top peice and 1/2" fittings

the HEX head bolts that will secure the res to the motherboard back wall.


using a "thing-a-majig" to find dead centre of the circle, these things are great.

the innner thread on the bsb gas type fittings is 12mm spot on. an 11.5mm drill is used for the holes.

DRilling and tapping the threads.

A good clean thread is important a perfect seal is a must.

Next is to drill and thread the top and bottem of the MEGA res

Next drill and counter sink the motherboard back panel.This will allow the HEX head bolt to sit down flush and avoid touching the MB..also looks spiffy too!

Bolting up the MEGA res for as test run! a view from inside the case....i think you can already see the light effect this is going give off!

Again the flush fitting of the HEX bolt.

a view from the outer side.

NEXT! was to put those LED's to good use!! and i gotta say......its great to see somethings just work to plan!


the first shot was under almost full light....and still i was impressed.

Next was with one light on in the workshop

Finally lights out!!!!!!! the MEGA res looks so classy really catches the light off thr back panel.......

Next was to try the MEGA res with the "bondo'd" custom side panel......the effect is more than i'd had hoped for... thelight that comes thru is very even and intense.

Whats that i hear you say?? "but defyant! dosn't the back panel have "RED" lights as well!"

Well it sure does guys :) take a look see HPR3's Mega Res can not only look cool! but RED HOT as well :P

And perhaps for the most amazing side bonus of having both RED and BLUE lights!! heres somthing i didnt see comming!

im having soooo much fun playing with this new technique.... and i may still "frost" the whole res yet!!

More soon guys.

Cool looks was the original intention :)..i just thought the reses i made looked bland....later i learnt that it helps with bubbles caused thru turbulance...

spent alot of time watching the way these things work, and some of these pumps really push water hard!

All Res makers now seem to use some sort of "partitition" of feeder tubes.


Speeking of water!!!!

Now that ive decided to run a P4 sys in HPR3M, i can start sorting out the rest of internal modding.


Before i could move on tho, i need to sort out what waterblock i'll use..... i had an only DD-TDX laying around from an old AMD sys, unfortunatly..the mounting holes aren't correct....rather than bodge up an adaptor plate i decided to make a whole new top.


I call it the "The Frog TDX".


Your all know the familiar TDX block, this is the one i used awhile back and had had a custom made green persped top.

The bracket i'll use to mark the "intel" mount holes, this will also act as a guide for the general shape.

A full 12mm thick! this stuff is as stong as any bracket.

Heres the shape! "The Frog"

After a quik cut out with the Jigsaw and sone "pre drilling" its over for some dremal work.

A quick check to see all is good!

I decided that the "sharp" edge disnt have that "factor finished" look to it

So it was off the to router some some round edging.

Next was to thread tap and clean the holes up.

Off for some edge buffing!

Fit the block and its new Frog p4 top together

and finally a "Fit test" on the board

Some final photo shoot shots :)

I'll water test tonight, but its a cleaner solution that using an extra bracket witch always seems to look like added clutter.

With that out of way i really start to make some proggy....

You all knew that HPR3 was going to have a motherboard cover :) just like HP2 and Heveyplex SLB i wanted to carry the tradition into this mod as well.

But knew i had to come up with something new....something or an idea that hasnt been seen before.

The hole internal frosted plex theme was goin to be the biggest bonus for this next mod and would allow me to do something that was a little more "out-there"


Of course the material of choice is plex!! a pretty much freehand pattern is cut using the good o'l jigsaw....

Next was to bend the edges to make the" Cage"

The paper is stripped off and the cage is layed in for a test fit :)

I picked abunch of these little fans up,while i dont think the cage needs any extra cooling i just thought the frosted look of the mini fan would make a geat looking addition.

A hole is meaured, marked and cut

Another is added for the AGP card and allows for the water cooling.

With the 2 main holes cut with only the CPU cooling holes to be added later the cage is taken inside and frost sanded, with 800g wet and dry.

A back wall that was previously cut was also sanded.

the new panels are slotted in and again checked for fit.

The cage will allow for plenty of airflow to pass thru its large claw type arches

The previously modded DD-TDX block is bolted in, holes are marked and drilled for the the water lines to pass thru.

All thats left to at this stage is to see how the cage works with the rest of the lighting.

with all blue lighting , the cage only needs 2 extra lights for a full effect.

With the backbard lit red and blue lights in the cage

and again using both red and blue lights to produce a purple effect on the back board.

Better post this update while im here :)

The original plan for the CDROM was to simply cut a slot for a pioneer slot loading cdrom........ but after using that idea on H-1 i decided to scrap that it and go with something that was a bit more challenging and suited the rest of the mod more.



A pioneer DVR-109bk was chosen for the mod. It has a "thinner" type tray and is shorter in overall lenght.

The tray is measured @ around 12mm so 14mm thick plex will be needed to make the new front.

A "thingamajig" is used to get the shape of HPR3's facia then transfered onto a peice of 14mm thick plex..this is then "ruff cut" using a jigsaw.

A therapudic solid hour of sanding and wetrubbing almost get the new front to its final shape theres still a few bits to go over but this is pretty close to the final look.

this next part was going to hurt!!! i was cutting into what i thought was an already perfect shape :P to say there was no going back is a bit drastic.... but it still felt wierd!

The door slot is of course not a final look.... more bondo will be reaplied around the edges and to cover up the old light holes below.

This gives you a look @ how the end reslut will be...i think the new "dummy" door is now a feature ...the second or "middle" light will be sortened and all 3 lights will eventually be lit.

thanx dgmkr :) the end result with the matching 2 lower lights will have a distinct look.


i really needed to get on with finsihing off the rest of the lighting for HPR3...as will all the lighting so far its been double the effort...for every blue LED i install i have to install a red one as well... all up so far a whopping 20 RED and Blue LED's go to make HPR3's internal lighting.

Power is added to the front CDrom and HDD cage.

a molex is depinned, a hole cut and fitted back into the unit..this will supply power for the front of the case.

The original idea was to add some old intel slot type heatsinks to the side of the HDD to help cool.... i scrapped this idea and went with a cutom drilled
plex bracket mod instead.


2 peices of polished cut to size 10mmthick strips of plex are drilled.

Then re-drilled to add a stepped type counter sunk channel to both the brackets.

This allows the HDD screws to fit all the way down the tunnels.

These will act as "risers" and lift the HDD above the clear 80mm fan that will be mounted in the bottom of the box.

Holes are drilled and counter sunk for the 80mm exhaust fan. Again steinless steel HEX head bolts are used.

The set of RED/BLUE Leds are installed and wiring completed for power.

The 4 LEDs installed are to supply Light to the Lower Fan box, Small holes are drilled and the LDS poke thru the base of the HDD box shining down onto the Fan Box.

Looking UP @ the unit you can see how the lights will shine down.


This shot shows both blue and red LEDs running @ once.

Just blue LED's

The end result..showing all three colour effects.

Thanx guys :)

to compliment the front and side, i decided to make a bit of a feature of the floor as well :)




The original idea for the pump power was to run a bent frosted plex wire cover to the rear of the case.

I recently had an idea for "channeled " look ..... so this was a good time to try it out :)




The idea is that the power wires for the pump will still be fed thru a frosted plex tubing ...but a channel is cut in the PLEX FLOOR
to allow the tube to sit lower down , more flush and give a cleaner stealthier type look.


a large hole was drilled in the metal floor @ a diagonal angle to the pump, the hole is cut larger so it would also fit the "Motherboard" light wires that will also be fed thru @ a later time .

Some "pre-bent" frosted plex tube is layed in for a check.

the tube sits down i the channel.

The plex floor is placed back into the case and the pump and its new wire cover are put into place.

Testing with some blue light..the tube catches the light well...i may try some individual lighting effects for it tho!

Once the motherboard cover is back in you wont see much of this little mod.. but it's to know its in and done proper :)

Thanx Rankenphile :)


Motherboard lights Take 2!


The first attempt i had @ this solution was bulky and awkward looking.


as seen below.... these black leads were never goint to suit this mod....

In an attempt to streemline and make the detachable dual lights more eye pleasing i came up with this.

the method of making the Dual lights was the same as before but this time ive shortened the shank of the silde on light to help streamline,

also added "white" wires to help keep a cleaner more "intheme" look.





The cover with the slot type groove that slides over the edge of the motherboard cover.

The legs are bent closer to the LED this time.

White wire which is then covered in Clear heatshrink is soldered on

The step down resistor is then soldered to the end...this takes the "bulk" out of the loom.

A qick check of the plex cover shows that it can be shortened soome more!

after some more filing and a qik "frosting" the cover is ready and slipped over the LED's...a dob of HOT glue us used to hlod it in place.

Some Clear heatshrink is slipped over and shrunk down to complete the look and the whole loom is also covered with clear heatshrink.

I'm much happier with this look :)

Cheers guys :)

Caboose, i think a frosted case could have an awsome effect!!!...i think some of the newer cases tho arn't tru acryl? so not sure how sounding thm goes?




This is the continuation of the front panel idea. i had originaly made 3 light fins the top one will act as the door for the cdrom.


These were all made from 10mm thick plex cut then hand shaped.

The problem was, the top one bearly covered the cdrom hole.


Was time to craft a bigger unit !!!

This is a massive chunck of plex! @ near 20mm x 20mm this was not easy to bend into shape 5 mins of solid hot air gun had it like rubber.

It was then lay'd over the from of HP3's front and left to cool down and go hard again.

Clamping the plex to the bench and using the dremal to knock the corners off.

40 minutes of hand sanding and the new door is taking shape.

a quik test to see that it covers the cdrom opening

and its back for some more hand sanding

after another 20 minutes the peice is almost at the right shape.

some work is done to the matching middle strip

and the 3 peices wrk from large to small ...the larger veing the cdrom door the smaller 2 being for balance and athestics.