New retro industrial case

[keldon]

I will post some better images when I can get the digi working again. My inspiration and style is industrial and WW2 vintage. The right is a full tower containing a slot loading cd/dvd drive, mobo and harddrives. On the right is the power supply mounted externally. The three circles are military style toggle switches that will control the power, lights, and fans. The squares are gauges which will most likely measure fan speed and voltage. Also there will be a keypad based on a WW2 military phone that will be used to dial a phone that will be mounted directly to the top of the tower along with a flush mounted LCD screen for Caller ID. The phone and answering machine will be wired so that is is always hot wether the computer is on or off. The main focus is vintage WW2 and clean, any gauges or switches have to be functional and necessary. The phone is there because I want a phone at my desk and this looks like a good way to incorporte it.
I still have a lot of design elements to figure out. I am not sure where I will mount the power supply yet or the placement of the phone. The wiring is simple in that it is for the most part straight foward but from what I have been hearing in order for me to have the answering machine operate independently of the computer I am going to have to crack open the PSU. Having never done this before it will most likely be an execise is being careful. Any suggestions or thoughts on this idea are more than welcomed

[DRece]

that sounds like a pretty cool mod !

[keldon]

Here are some pics of the two cases that I am going to use.

The larger case will remain vertical and contain the mobo and dvd drive as well as the front panel audigy. I am not sure on the excat placement yet. The plastic front as you can see is gone and I am going to fabricate a new front out of maybe polystryene, not sure yet. I still want it to be a clean as possible. The grill in the bottom will be gone and replaced with mesh screens and some sort of filter behind them. I will most likely leave the cages intact and the window the same as it is now but that has not be fully decided upon.
The smaller case has been stripped as well and will be mounted horizontally and slightly behind the larger case. This will contain the PSU and phone keypad. The handset will most likely be mount on the top of the larger case with some sort of a screen to display the caller ID mounted flush. The switches are going to be military style toggle switches.

I will post some more pics as I get going on things sometime this weekend.

[NeoStyle]

Sounds like its going to be an interesting mod, be sure to post pics with your progress, I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

[Aero]

Cool, a WW2 themed mod. Sounds nice. Be sure to post pics, I want to see how this ends up, the whole "dual case" thing sounds cool.

[keldon]

Here are some more pics.

The first is the back of a monitor that is broken. I cut the plastic case and will use that as the base. I am also thinking of trying to mount a fold down custom keyboard in it. I have a few PDA keyboards but I have no idea how to wire on in so I will have to mod an existing keyboard .

This is the actual layout of the main parts. The large case will hold the boards and the smaller case will hold the psu, controls for the fans, lights, phone, answering machine, and anything else I can think of. I have decided to ditch the plastic front panels and create my own with fiberglass.

The prep was not hard. I glued all the cages to the internal framework of the case and then use a dremel to grind down the rivets and attachment points for the front bezel. I also cut out the front fan screens and then flattened the sheetmetal out with a dolly. Finally I masked off the sides and top. When I do this it willl be in 2 steps. The first will be to put a layer of glass over the whole outside front. When that dries in a few hours I will rough it up and then add a layer of glass to the inside. I will let that sit for a few days and then I will block out the front and if all goes well I will have a kinda smooth finish. When I get the excat placement for the opennings I will cut them out and then I will use a coat of filler to do the finish work with the other panels back on to check my lines. This is my first time doing these things to a computer but I worked in a body shop doing restorations and rods for a fews years so the materials and steps are not new to me but it has been a few years and I didn't realize how much I have already forgotten. If anyone has any suggestions, questions or comments let me know I am all ears. I know I take crappy pics but I will get the hang of it soon enough. BTW for those who are sensative to money issues, I have spent a total of 60 dollars so far. All these parts were given to me, or acquired from dumpster diving. The only thing I have had to buy so far is the fiberglass resin I am trying to do as cheap as possible so all of the work including the painting will be done by me.