Girlfriend's computer: "Unit 13"

[Omega]

So the girlfriend has been wanting to upgrade from her old laptop to a proper desktop PC, something that can actually play videogames worth a damn.

I pitched to her the idea of doing a casemod, and since she's really in to steampunk I tossed that idea out there. She loved it and has started doing sketches.

We've been browsing Newegg and looking at cases and stuff to use as a base, and she really likes this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811353042

She sent me a sketch today to start working with:

For those who don't know what Walter Robotics or Cavalcadium are, they're things that have to do with this band that she's really in to called Steam Powered Giraffe, which are like a folk/rock kinda band from San Diego, whose whole act is very steampunk-styled.

I then took that sketch as guidance and made a very poor photoshop of it:

Since it's going to be her computer, she's going to be taking the lead on all the design decisions, but I have been tossing out ideas. I suggested doing up the exterior in a pretty traditional steampunk style (wood, copper, gears, that stuff) but do the interior in a much more futuristic approach with visible components, UV reactive cabling and lighting effects, etc... she seemed to really like that idea. I've got a few more kicking around for fan vents, other little details and stuff like that, we'll see how she feels about those ideas and what of those end up getting implemented.

Still, I found a way to get my girlfriend more in to computers and case modding! Plus she's already pretty crafty as-is, so the two of us working together should make something pretty neato.

Stay tuned.

[msmrx57]

Liking the ideas. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do here.

[Omega]

Talked to her about making an "exhaust port" styled fan exhaust for the top or back of the computer (both? why not!) and she seemed to like the idea. So I figured what the hell, let's make a proof of concept!

last pic is because we're talking about doing lots of blue lighting, and I wanted to show how it could shine through the exhaust port.


Materials, you ask?

4" 90* PCV ag-pipe bend
4" PVC ag-pipe drain grille
some copper and black spraypaints I had laying around.

This is just a rough concept so the paintjob isn't that great, literally spent maybe 10-15 minutes making this. It'll probably be revised but I'm still pleased with it. $5 in materials, plus the cost of paint and voila.

[Omega]

bingo bango bongo, the case came in today

Using a DIYPC Mirage as the base.

The case feels a little flimsy and extremely light, but perhaps that's just due to my experience with my case, the Fractal Design Define XL R2, which is packed with sound deadening and weighs something stupid like 40lbs.

Decided to set the exhaust vent on top for ****s and giggles. It may need some downsizing. Or maybe not. I think it's comically large for that particular case, but it's not my computer now is it?

And speaking of my computer, here's a terrible picture comparing the size of my aforementioned Fractal case to the DIYPC mid-tower:

[Omega]

So we managed to get a little work done today, not a whole ton because a lot of it requires tools that I simply don't have at the moment, but we'll figure that out. Still, progress is progress.

So let's start off with a pic of the girlfriend, this is probably the single worst picture I've taken of her and she'll probably give me a rash of **** once she finds out it's online but here we go:

Okay, on to the garage. A box of supplies from home depot:

In there we have that copper spraypaint, the silver she wants to do on the inside, some PET tubing that she wants to use on the interior, two 3" drain grates for turning in to exhausts, some wood stain and a brush. We also got a little sheet of wood.

She started by laying the side panel down on some cardboard and tracing it out.

Then after doing some measurements, marking and cutting out what would be the raised section of the panel.

Once she got the template for the raised section out, we laid it on the wood panel so we could trace it out.

And tracing.

Not a great picture but there it is.


She wants to cut the center out of that and use the wood as a border for the raised sections of the side panels on both sides. I realized that in order to do that, I pretty much need a scroll saw, which I don't have. But the idea is to cut it out, bolt it to the side panel and work from there.

Stay tuned, I may do some fiddling while she's away...

[Omega]

Another Sunday, another update.

Did some more planning and stuff today, but let's focus on the actual progress.

first, we painted the entire case silver. went through an entire can of Rustoleum but the entire thing is covered, sans a few little areas up underneath or behind areas that you'll never see anyway. And yes, it's upside-down in this picture.

Next were the side panels, Rustoleum "Sienna Mist". It's a wonderful copper color. Here the girlfriend is spraying the first panel down. She later handed the can off to me to let me finish up both the side panels.

First panel. The color on the case itself is a little dulled because we did spray directly on to the black case paint itself, but she really liked how it looked in the sun and I'm actually pretty pleased too.

Second side panel.

Back to the lab. Here she is getting ready to file out some stuff from the front panel that she wanted gone.

Filing away.

She came up with another idea... what you working on there, shelly?

Oh, a cover of some sort...

Cardboard prototyping for what will hopefully become wooden drive bay covers. This also covers the area that normally houses the USB and headphone ports, which will later be relocated.

So we cut out one of the bits of wood for the drive covers and here she is filing a chamfer on to the edge of it.

After giving it a good sanding, the stain comes out.

Five minutes of soak time, wipe it off and we end up with a nice rich, dark brown color.

Happy with all the progress we made today!


We also did some stuff to her car, plasti-dipped some of the interior trim panels in Blaze Purple with purple metallic flake, which she's really excited about.

Stay tuned.

[Omega]

Another Sunday, another update!

Today we busted out the jigsaw, the power drill, more stain, picked up some polyurethane clear coat and more spray paint, and got a ton of work done!

Let's review the day's progress:

Last night, I went ahead and cut the top wood panel to size, and laid out the bolt holes.

Today, we started out by bringing out the jigsaw and cutting out the second side panel, to size.

Away we go! This was, admittedly, my first time actually using a jigsaw.

The girlfriend got a number of pictures of me using it.

After it was cut to size, I measured the distances from the front/back/top/bottom of the side panel to the raised section and began laying it out.

The girlfriend lining the edges of the two pieces together to make sure they're the same size. They were, within less than 1/16th of an inch. I was pretty pleased with that.

So I grabbed a spade bit, clamped the two pieces down to some scrap wood, and got to it.

Coming around the bend, trying to get the jigsaw straight for the edge. I admittedly did not to so great, and even botched the layout. It was... not great. But we improvised, made another quick cut or two and decided to shelve the side panels for now, to be revisited later.

Took a quick moment to lay down some metallic silver on the front, and formerly yellow mesh.

Blam, all silver.

Then we laid the top wood panel on top of the PC and drilled the hell out of it. Cheap, thin metal case = warping around the drill holes. but thankfully aside from two locations, everything fit properly and we didn't drill in to anything else. Not bad for what was, essentially, guesswork.

After making sure the bolts we had would fit the holes, I busted out the orbital sander and smoothed the top panel out.

Not using a clamp was probably stupid, the board was vibrating all over our makeshift table and my arms are still kinda wobbly.

After sanding, I bought the piece back inside for stain.

This stuff goes on *dark*.

But comes out looking pretty good. My camera and this angle do not do it justice.

We also decided to inverse the color scheme for the bolts. Instead of copper bolts and silver star washers, we decided to do silver bolts and copper star washers.

and a quasi-artsy picture taken from the edge of my workbench as everything dried.


Things not taken pictures of:

Got the second front panel blockoff plate thing cut out and stained.
Got two coats of polyurethane clear-coat on the first piece of wood from last week.
Got one coat of polyurethane clear-coat on the top panel.
There's no picture of the top panel sitting on top of the case with the bolts going through. But there will be a bit later this week, maybe tomorrow or Tuesday once the polyurethane cures and I can set it on top.

Stay tuned. As always, more to come...

[TheMainMan]

Nice progress so far!

I remember the first time I used that stain, I thought for sure I had ruined the piece I was working on because it was so dark. It does give a great colour to the wood once it dries, just scary at first.

[Omega]

Nice progress so far!

I remember the first time I used that stain, I thought for sure I had ruined the piece I was working on because it was so dark. It does give a great colour to the wood once it dries, just scary at first.

Thanks man!

Yeah, in addition to that stain being so dark, neither one of us has ever stained anything before. So there's that, too. But everything is coming out fantastic and I'm super pleased, I'm sure she is too. Especially after getting the polyurethane on the wood, really livens it up. I'm excited to see it when we finally get everything 100% together and start stuffing components in to it.

[Omega]

Monday mini-update time.

Let's start with something unusual... I haven't seen 80mm fans in what feels like forever, never mind used them.

So let's start with this, a Logisys 80mm blue LED fan. Reminds me of the days of 2004, 2005, when "case modding" meant stuffing some blue LED fans in to your mom's HP and poorly cutting out a side window.

Luckily our application will be a little more... advanced than that. Here is the 3" agricultural drain grate thing that will be turned in to an exhaust port. It fits perfectly.

Checking that there's enough room to fit two of the fans on the top panel...

The fans fit inside! This test motherboard has the CPU pretty close to the top left and clearance isn't even an issue here, which is nice.

Case holds a full ATX board nicely, using my old test motherboard. I think a full-ATX will be used for the build, to make the case seem more full.

Unlit at the moment, but the silver interior will likely help reflect a lot of light and make the inside really bright, which is what we're going for.

Back on top, I set the once-clear-coated top wood panel down with the bolts and star washers.

It's an unconvential use of these particular washers but with them painted copper, I feel like it gives it a nice little accent and makes it more visually appealing versus just having plain bolts.