Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
The case can't be that rare. I had two of these myself. And yes, this like many other early 90's cases can cut. It took a good long while after the cheap case makers started rolling the edges that I didn't treat reaching into cases like reaching into a razorblade grab back.
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Purchased all needed parts today! Now just to wait till they get shipped! The only thing left to do is get the sheet metal sized for the rear I/O panel, and the turbine wind tunnel for the xbox heatsinks.
x3 Scythe Slimstream 120mm
cheap fan controller, sunbeam 4 channel 20w.
x3 (WHAT I THOUGHT WERE FULL SWITCHES...turns out its just the cable...I need to find cheap push button switches. Suggestions?
x2 120mm fan grill
16x screws for fans and case, also grommits courtesy of MNPCTECH.
TURBINE TUBE!!!
replacement xclamp parts for xbox 360 heatsinks.
and of course, plastikote primer and filler.
I definitely spent 3 times what I planned on, but this is going to be fun as hell.
We begin modding next week! I'm going to solder the switch wire earlier in the week, so i'll post that update soon.
Later!
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Started working!
First was soldering to the Sync, Power, and Eject buttons and testing switches to make sure everything working properly. Once all tested, Hot glued them down and giggity giggity!
And this is soldering to the 12v source on the motherboard so I can add my 3 molex connections.
I suck at soldering, but you should have seen me 2 weeks ago...still works!
Splicing to the molex.
Tested and everything works! All lights and switches are good to go :) Except for that RROD....
And as I was ending my night, i wasn't looking where I was grabbing and grabbed my soldering iron...
prob one of the worst burns I've experienced. And without a left pointer finger and thumb I can't do much, so all work is on standby until my new parts come in.
thank you for looking!
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Your soldering looks as bad as mine . . . used to.
I would suggest getting some flux. It smells like tree rosin (probably what it is), and essentially helps the solder flow easier. I always put flux on my stripped wires, then I tin them, then I'll solder them together or solder the wire to what I'm working on.
Flux has been the single biggest factor in improving the quality of my soldering. I have crappy irons with old, crappy tips, but the flux helps so much.
Sorry about your fingers. That sucks.
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
I'll definitely pick up some flux then. I've seen it on the shelves in the soldering section, but never knew what it was. Thanks for the tips man I appreciate it.
And yeah they are both starting to blister...couldn't hold me back from working tho!
I finished cleaning up the switch wiring and the molex. So here are the leads for all those.
Also had to extend the DVD drive power cable to that I could have the drive in a 5.25 slot bay in the tower. This alone took me about and hour and a half to finish, and i plugged it in to test and all it did was buzz. I flipped out cause I thought I may have switched some of the wires around on accident. But then realized I grabbed a DVD drive with a dead motor...Curse me having boxes of xbox parts...
I'm not exactly sure what I want to do next. I could get a head start on painting the chassis...but on the other hand its 15 degrees out and I want to be out there as little as possible. Haven't succeeded on getting my dad to heat the garage yet...one day...
I think i'll wait for all the rest of the parts to come in to start working on this. Get everything organized and what not. Might be a few weeks cause Bill is in Vegas for a few more days.
Thanks for looking guys!
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
All the wire work is awesome, can't wait to see the finished product.
And I agree with you on the cold weather, it's cold and windy where I am, I wouldn't be paining either lol.
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Thanks for the compliment!
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Hey guys! So it may not look like it took as long as it did, but I spent about 4+ hours working today on this bojangles. I made decisions and took action then changed my mind...so indecisive today hahah. But hopefully I ended up with what with look best.
Ok so first off, I was thinking that I was just toing to mount the motherboard right to the case chassis. And then after staring at these xbox parts for a while, I realized something. Ok so maybe Microsoft didn't cool their chips well enough, but they had a sturdy design for venting. I liked how that white plastic piece created a vent between the fans and heatsink. So I wanted to stick with that. Also, I though it would make the rear I/O shield in the rear. So, I decided I would mount the motherboard to the xbox tray, and then mount the tray to the case chasis.
**and just so you know, the motherboard I used in these photo's is a different motherboard than the one I'm using. With the constant in and out the motherboard was going to have to go, I didnt want to risk damaging the clients board, so I have been using my own for the time being.
So this is what the original xbox motherboard try looked like.
I cut the front I/0 panel off because there was no clearance inbetween the motherboard and the tray, so the wires that i soldered on could not fix. So I just cut that part off.
Cut chassis is on the left.
I also wanted minimal resistance of airflow, so I cut out the xbox motherboard tray fan filter.
I ended up cutting out that middle mesh piece cause I though it looked horrible.
here is what the front looked like with the front I/0 shield cut off.
SO. This was the issue that I did not expect. The connection for the HDD is flimsy. I really wanted to avoid using the whole enclosure. So I did what I do best and took it apart.
So I took out this metal cage that the hard drive mounts to, and I'm going to screw this to the bottom of the case. So when and if the hard drive ever has to come out, just take out 2 screws that hold the HDD to the metal cage, and it will slip right out. The metal cage will be secured to the chassis. This worked out because now there is no stress on the HDD connection, and switching it out will be way easier.
Random top shot.
Alright so I got the motherboard in the cage, and now I'm testing out how i want to mount it into the case chassis. This is so I can figure out where I'm going to drill for my motherboard mounting screws and where I need to cut out of the back I/0 shield.
First cut out.
Just to get an idea of height, I put motherboard spacers in below the xbox motherboard tray to get an accurate reading.
Now the green tape resembles what the custom sheet metal plate will cover in the back. So mostly everything will be covered except the xbox connections in the back. Going to the sheet metal place tomorrow to get pricing.
Colored fan wires and fan stickers were making me angry, and so was all the dust on the fan blades. cleaned. Also cut out the middle part of the metal mesh.
Officially mounted!!!!
This is me getting an idea for what I want the fan duct to look like.
I did another cardboard cuttout of something a little more simpler, but left the house and didn't take pictures. So tomorrow is going to be getting price quotes for these two sheet metal contraptions. That's it for now because I have a presentation for work I need to prepare. Till next time, thanks for looking!!!!
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
Nice work. I sure wish I had the money and time to do this stuff. Seeing other people do it is so much worse. Haha. Keep up the good work.
Re: Zebracorn - The Xbox in a PC Case Mod
AHhahah yeah I know what you mean. When this kind of stuff first interested me, I was so broke and had no tools and it was super frustrating not to be able to purchase any parts.
Money comes and goes, i'll prob be broke and jobless this time next year lol.