Project: Unimatrix

[msmrx57]

Starrr trekkin, across the forum boards, only going forward cos we can't find reverse!!!!!

LOL Great tune

[ASPHIAX]

Starrr trekkin, across the forum boards, only going forward cos we can't find reverse!!!!!

[YouTube: The Firm - Star Trekkin'video]

ASPHIAX

[slaveofconvention]

Got some great news in my email this morning: I have a sponsor for this mod

Bitfenix are going to be providing some much needed parts to sort out pretty much all of the case cooling and illumination - more info to come

[msmrx57]

Congrats!!!!

[ASPHIAX]

Nice one mate!
they've got some serious goods!

[SXRguyinMA]

awesome!!

[slaveofconvention]

Another small-ish update. I say small-ish because the results seem pretty minor but the amount of time and work less so heh.

All that filler on the front of the door had one predictable but undeniable side effect. Lots of the filler was pushed through those slats and ended up bulging out the back of the door.

Instead of trying to get all of that out (and really weakening it in the process), I decided it would probably be easier, quicker, and stronger to put in MORE! - I figured I'd fill in the back too to make that side smooth...

Once that gets sanded down and another skim put over the top of it, I should be able to make it a lot less noticable, if not completely hidden.

I also decided I wanted to remove the lock on the front of the door. The first reason being that I have no idea where the keys are (although most of these locks work with any keys from other cases and I have a few of those) but mainly because I want the outside to be as smooth and slick as possible.

I'm going to have to smooth over the actual lock position on the main front panel, but as I'm working on the door at the moment, I figured I should do something about the slot the lock tab goes into.

Standard filler isn't going to do the job here - it'd be entirely too likely to pop out or crack when the door was flexed so back to the product that did a great job reattaching the buttons in my Antec 900 revamp.

After several applications (you build this up to get the strength and fill) I ended up with this...

I know it looks really bad at the moment but this stuff IS sandable, so it'll be getting smoothed down and then I'll put some regular filler over the top of it to create a paint-smooth surface....

Until next time....

[x88x]

Looking good!

[slaveofconvention]

Ok, so this case originally had 3x120mm fans fitted, and as I mentioned earlier, Bitfenix have agreed to send me three green Led fans - it also uses a pair of 92mm fans for hard disk cooling and I got a second sponsor now providing those

I got a lot further on with the door too, as I got it sanded down and threw a coat of hi-build plastic primer on to it. The primer, however, showed up a fair few areas where the repairs weren't quite up to par, so most of it ended up being sanded back off - the door is now, however, almost perfect

So onwards and upwards - time to tackle the second piece of plastic - the front bezel

The lockable door on this case is utterly pointless as the whole front panel comes off with a quick tug, on top of which I have NO CLUE where the keys are (although I hear most of these locks use the same key so I do probably have half a dozen or more lying around).

Because the fillers I'm using work much better with something to build off of, I started by flipping the panel over and sanding down the area around the lock hole and the hole in the side where the lock lever comes out.

I cut up a bondo filler card, glued it in place and went back to work with the Q-Bond. After a dozen or so layers of glue and powder, I got both holes filled pretty much solid.

The back isn't as pretty - but it's STRONG - like - by far and away stronger than any other part of the plastic heh - those holes are NEVER coming back lol

And unfortunately, thats where the good news ends....

Got the metal part of the case out into the garden

Add one compressor...

A bucket of 80 grit aluminium oxide blasting material and a brand new hose fed blasting gun...

And a makeshift blasting cabinet made out of a cardboard box, reinforced with lots of Duct-tape

Et Voila - ready to blast some powercoat!!

Unfortunately (and in retrospect, fairly obviously) cardboard doesn't stand up too well to high-velocity metal filings and the box didn't last. This is as far as I got with this setup....

And I was also (apparently) too close to the work as I managed to cave in the bottom of the case...

It'll bend back into shape - probably just be a case of hitting the opposite side with either a hammer (might make some nasty marks) or to be honest, I may just use the same method to fix it as I used to bend it - hit it with the blaster from the inside.

When the weather behaves itself, I'm going to have another go - I'm just going to empty the garden shed and use it as one big blasting room, then sweep up the grit when I'm done so it can be re-used....

Until next time....