the 2 year itch
Hello everyone,
As you can see I am a new member to these forums. I have haunted them for several months admiring many of the projects and have finally gotten around to adding my own ideas to the mix.
Two years ago, I bought an Alienware and it has served me well... loudly, but well. When I bought it, Alienware was having a little special on their metallic green cases. I was not a big fan of the color, but for a $200 dollar rebate I could deal with it.
So I have spent the last two years saying, "One of these days I am gonna paint that thing." Well last week I picked up an Antec P180 and transfered all the inards of the Alienware over to it so that I could finally perform that much needed paint job. I found myself looking at the gutless case and thinking that it was time to tweak the case a bit to bring down the noise level a bit. The five 80mm case fans, were just making it sound like a jet taking off next door. I looked at the inside of the case and thought about just ordering some quiet fans, but decided to do something a little more interesting.
I have decided that the alien-eye-inspired vents were going to have to go, and in their place would sit two cowlings that would house 2 120mm fans. It sounds a bit strange, but I am going to try and work them in with a bit of old school jet engine looks. Anyway, I have just started and have a few pics on the progress so far.
This pic shows a few of the contour lines that I intend to shave off. The case will only keep the vertical crease that bisects it in the middle.
And here is the side contour that is going away also.
The side panel was the first under the proverbial knife. I intend to fill this gap in with some poly sheets until the exact lines for the fan housing is set down.
I took a 120mm fan and shaved down the corners to make it round, then curled some heavy paper to mock up the housing. Here is where I am at now. Just playing with the angles a bit.
I am at a bit of a stand still until I decide the angle the fan will sit and also the angle of the housing in relation to it. It is going to be a bit of an odd fit because I wanted the housing to flow up towards the rear without the fan pointing at the floor. Setting the fan at an angle in the tubbe is going to be a bit of a challenge, but I just need to work out a way for it to fit so it looks nice.
The left side shouldn't be too tough, but the right is going to be a royal pain. I am going to have to some how route the air flow around the mobo while keeping the over-all look symmetrical. Any tips here appreciated.
Then the big pickle is the door. The comp usually sits on the right side of the desk and reaching around that door is a bit of a hassle. I am trying to design a hinge in my mind that will allow the door to travel up and rest horizontally over the top of the case. It would have to have some clearence for an angled blowhole on top and sit back a fair ways to allow access to the optical drives. Tips here are completely welcome as well. Any of you fellas some whiz bang engineer types?
Anyway, let me know what you guys think and toss in your $0.02. I am always open to some new ideas.
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I am gonna pick up another coupling and fan this week and give it another try. I have another idea on how I may try to pull it off.
