Lexa

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well guess what guys!

Image Shack has stopped being a prick so here are the pics.
This is the cooler with the design glued to it:

Sadly this is only a teaser because my camera's battery is dead. I will give it a quick charge and take a pic of where I am up to.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Ok just had enough charge to take the pics and transfer lol.

Here is a pic of where I am up to at the moment.
I have cut out all the letters and the spot of the green plexi inlay:

Basically I used the Dremel with cutting disks to cut out as much as I could of the letters. I then used files to make the edges smooth and take off the remaining metal. So far I have completed the 'A' and most of the 'X' and 'L'.

Here are the files I am using, way back from my Warhammer days lol. They a re so small and fine that I can get into all the gaps, plus leave a mirror finish
Pic:

Well that's all at the moment guys. I had Exams the past week and haven't been able to get much work done. Maybe during the week. Until Then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well guys not an update but an announcement.

As of Monday 14th July I am going away for 2 weeks (returning on the 21st July). There fore no modding and no time on the forum . Where I am going you ask well I am being forced to go to World Youth Day in Sydney Australia. If you don't know what it is Google it cos I don't really know what it means myself lol.

Also

On the 17th of July 2008 is LEXA's 1 year anniversary. Yes it has taken a long time but I have poured a ton of effort into this mod. I hope you guys throw her a party in my absence.

TB4O signing off.

Until then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well guess what guys. The moment you have all been waiting for lol. AN UPDATE!!!
Yes yes it's update time however a small update at that.

Well I managed to tear myself away from homework long enough to realize I had a problem. My awesome plexi clad drive bay tower was sitting there collecting dust. Something had to be done. So I did what any normal person would do, I put it to use lol:

While I was installing the optical drives and the HDD I thought it would be the perfect time to install the UV CCFL that would be under the bay reservoir...so I did:

Hmm the light of the front blue fan along with the UV CCFL wasn't quite bright enough for me:

Sorry for the bad pic.
Of course I didn't expect this single UV CCFL to light all the plexi. The other blue fans and CCFL's will light up the rest of the bay covers and plexi in the case. This CCFL was only to light up the reservoir and surrounding plexi pieces.

The solution, get another UV CCFL and mount it above the reservoir. Luckily I had one attached to the support bar of the case so of it goes:

I will be getting a 20cm UV CCFL to replace the 10cm one which is going in the drive bay. This will also mean more light throughout the case.

The second CCFL installed above the reservoir:

Much brighter this time:

Here is where the inverter is mounted along with the neatly hidden CCFL cables:

One thing I noticed is that the inverter gets very hot. I am going to have to cut a hole in the motherboard tray as it covers the whole non windowed side of the case. This will give the inverter some degree of ventilation and make it easy to remove in case of it catching on fire (NNNNNOOOOOOO) or burning out. I may also cut a hole in the side panel itself to allow fresh air to reach the inverter, I think it's the safest way.

Well that might be the last update for some time from me. I have just a little over 10 weeks left of school until end of year final exams. My attention is 100% (well maybe 98%) on my school work and there is no time to mod on the weekend due to all the homework I am getting. I really want to get that RAM cooler done. Oh well, it will have to wait. Until then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Looks like I have another update for you all.

Today I had a day off school to study so I studied for a bit then got modding lol.
I finally got around to painting the bottom panel of the case:

I had been putting this off because I was going to mount some LED modules on the underside of the panel to light up the case feet but due to lack of room I scrapped this idea.
I also added some 'U' channel molding to the edges of cut I made for the radiator:

And some grommets to the inlet and outlet pass through holes:

A shot of how it looks so far:

Time to install the radiator and fans.
I did run into a problem however. Part of the grommets sat under the fan, easily fixed though, I just cut part of them off.
All fixed:

Radiator and fans installed:

One thing I noticed about that 'U' channel molding is that it acts like those fan silencers. My fans are actually sitting on the 'U' channel so that will help absorb the vibrations from the fans. It is also working for the radiator. I guess I can cross those UV green fan silencers and silicon washers off my list now lol.

Next I re-installed the custom case feet:

Sadly these feet will have to come off again for some customization before everything goes together. 2 of the plexi spacers on the feet are covering rivet holes so I will need to remove them so I can countersink a hole on the base so the rivet will be able to fit. Not a major job but just a bit annoying lol.

And last but not least I installed the 30cm UV CCFL onto the panel:

Well that's all for this time guys. Work still continues on the RAM cooler but nothing worth posting on. Until then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

@Acey I have a mix of CCFLs. My 30cm one is a Flexiglow CCFL, was expensive but worth it. The two 10CM ones are just generic ones. Here is a link:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=2455
I haven't had a problem with them.

@DF I scrapped the idea for the LED modules on the underside of the case. There was lack of room to mount them and the light wouldn't illuminate the feet correctly.

Thanks for them comments guys.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah she is almost done. Sad thing is I spent $170 over the past 2 weeks so I have no money to place my 'final' order to finish this mod off. Just a few detail parts. I may start construction this weekend because the work I need to finish is only cable management and minor stuff like that.

Yeah we will LAN, not before the Christmas holidays though.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well I got the cash together to place my FINAL order for this mod, everything else I can source locally. So here is what I got:
1 Chrome Fan Grill 80mm $2.50
2 Chrome Fan Grill 120mm $5.00
2 3-pin Fan power splitter $4.00
3 120mm Aluminum Filter Black $29.70
2 3-pin Extension Cable $4.00
3 Techflex 6mm/11mm Cable Sleeving - Black $9.90
1 Thumbscrews - Black $6.60
2 Black Cable Ties (20) $3.00
1 Heatshrink, 6mm, Black $2.50
1 Single 20cm Cold Cathode Kit UV $16.50
1 AC Ryan CCFL Twin Extension UV Green $4.50

Sub-Total: $88.20

Priority Air Freight: $13.00

GST Included: $9.20


Total: $101.20

All I need to do now is go to the bank and transfer the money and I should have my order early next week. I will post pics when I get my stuff. Until then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Good news guys. My order arrived today, I just have to go get it from my aunties during the week sometime.

Well I thought I should post some pics up of the PC my cousin gave me.
Here is the PC:

And the monitor (15" BenQ LCD):

Lets crack her open shall we:

Cable management much lol. I love how they bundled all of the cables in the max airflow zone lol.

Down bottom we have the graphics card and a wireless card:

Behind the mass of cables we have our socket 478 Pentium 4 and 2 512mb stick of RAM:

And up front we have a CD burner and a DVD burner:

Looks like I am going to replace my CD drive with this DVD drive. YAY double DVD drive goodness for LEXA lol.

Now here is a little quiz for you all. Who can guess what this graphics card is, a +rep for the correct answer:

Well that's in until I pick up my package. Until then...

Happy Modding.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well I got my order guys. It came in on Monday but due to it getting shipped to my Aunties place I only received it yesterday.
Lets have a look:

Not a big order but it contains most of the stuff I need to finish this mod. There is only one thing I need to get which is UV green nail polish lol. No not for me, I am going to re do my fans because the gell pen blows off them when they dry leaving UV dust everywhere.
So this is what's in my order:
3x 120mm black mesh dust traps
2x 120mm wire fan grills
1x 80mm wire fan grill
2x 20 packs of black cable ties
3x 1 meter 6mm black cable sleeving
1x 1 meter 6mm heatshrink
1x 20cm UV CCFL
1x AC Ryan duel 30cm CCFL extension cable, UV green
2x 3 pin 'Y' splitter
2x 30cm 3 pin extension cable
1x pack of 10 black thumbscrews

First up I installed the two 120mm fan grills on my 240mm radiator fans:

I then put 2 of the dust traps on the underside of the radiator. The thumbscrews were originally going to be used on the dust traps for easy cleaning but they are just a little too big and don't fit.

I then installed the third dust trap on the front intake fan, replacing the stock NZXT one that comes with the case.
Looks much better now:

Here is a summary of where the other stuff will be going:

I was going to install the 20cm UV CCFL into the case support bar today but like the 10CM CCFL this one is replacing the block on the ends are too wide. Easily fixed though, I will just grind some of the plastic off with the Dremel later.

The 80mm fan grill is for the top 80mm exhaust fan. This fan will be one of the last things that will be installed.

The cable sleeving will be used on any cable I can find that isn't already sleeved.

I already have some black cable ties but at $1.50 a pack these were a bargain.

The UV green AC Ryan duel 30cm CCFL extension cable was bought just in case I needed one. I didn't want to get the UV green but there were no plain ones in stock. At $4.00 for the pair they are fairly cheap and when I replace the green sleeving with the black I get some spare green sleeving lol.

The 3 pin 'Y' splitters and extension cables were also bought just in case I needed them. Sometimes having extra length of cable available makes cable routing much easier.

Last but not least the thumbscrews. They were going to be used for the dust traps on the radiator but are a little too big so they are going to be spares for the time being.

Sorry there are no more pics guys but with only 7 weeks left until I finish high school I got a lot of work to do. May get a little bit done during the week but don't hold your breath. Until then...

Happy Modding.