Some of you might have seen some of these pictures on a modding thread but this is my first worklog so bear with me. Also my camera is a bit low spec but I am looking to borrow a better one and throw some better pics of my rig up.
I wanted a PC that was original and that would look good, I thought about building from scratch but found a cheat. A kit that had all the parts to make whatever I wanted with a mobo tray included for less than it would cost to have the entire thing made from sheet metal.
So I started by buying this kit, called a lubic kit.
http://www.aerocool.us/aerocool-file...ubic-combo.htm
This kit is a bit of a pain in the ass to start with, you have to work out where to put sliders in order to mount further pieces and I found myself virtually ripping the entire structure apart just to put in one slider.
Finally I finished my case, Version 1.
As my imagination is slightly limited it was just a basic ATX case on wheels, I didn’t take any pictures as I didn’t like the design. So I dismantled it and started all over again.
This time I had more of an idea what I wanted to do, I started with the top and worked down, mounted the motherboard tray at the top and made it so it slid out, allowing easy access. Then further down still I placed the PSU, now I ended up with an inverted ATX design. The only problems I had were the drive mounts, I wanted to be original so I devised a way to mount the CD’s vertically and place the HD’s vertically below them.
This caused a problem with airflow so I moved the HD’s to the side of the case but still vertical, allowing space for a 140mm fan in the centre.
Now for the screen, the exciting bit.
I tried to get a 12” Touchscreen but found they were too pricey so I settled for a 12” TFT from Ebay.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2/P1010055.jpg
Got it and took the casing off, drilled a few holes in the mounting plate and fixed it into my case but portrait not landscape. On the front where normally CD drives would be.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2/P1010056.jpg
I rigged a VGA lead internally to give me output and made a connection from a molex to the Power pin I needed, (Not ideal but it will last for a while).
I mounted the rest of my components and then fired it up, the screen worked although still set to landscape.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2/P1010064.jpg
After a while of playing around with the Nvidia Desktop I got my screen to run at 600x800 at a 90degree angle at a refresh of 80hz, threw on a RocketDock to allow easy application loading and then it was done.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...2/P1010061.jpg
From then on I spent about 1 week measuring all the externals so that I could have some Plexi cut. I went on to Ebay again and found some black gloss plexi at 3mm.
It arrived and I talked to friend of mine who has a CNC machine, gave him some drawings with all the measurements I needed, including holes for CD trays, fans etc and send him the plexi.
A few days later my plexi returned all cut and ready to mount, but I needed holes drilling to mount it onto my case. (Pics to follow later)