El Cucu

[richmandudeus]

Thanx to the insperational worklogs of Defyant and TBCS forums , i've been able to tackle this mod i've been working on for a co-worker friend of mine. Lucky for me, he is in no rush to get it back (cause time is not my friend). It's taking me a while to do this mod cause i've been crazy busy and i'm sure most of you can relate. I'm no good at making worklogs and taking pictures when i'm supposed to so you might find some gaps between work; bear with me here .

Left and right cut outs to start off (deffinately not the end of cutting)

Bottom and top cut outs

I needed to cut some of the molexes that i won't be needing and extend one of them to about 2 1/2 - 3 feet long to reach the front/bottom of the case.

Mini Sub + left and right speaker Mod (why: Because I can!)

Front bezel progress... sides: Cut out some holes for Power, Reset, cd-rom eject, usb ports, mic, and headphone jack
1st 2 pics: where did that floppy drive hole come from?

To give you an idea of the harddrive fan tunnel...

cd-rom mod: the top panel doesn't quite look like this anymore cause i scrapped the sheet metal and used the top of another case and bent it to fit. (did i forget to mention that he lost the top panel ) I'm still keeping the same concept though.

Front & right (i think that's the right side) schematic, if you can't read the red, it says hard drives

Painting of front, top, left and right bezel/panels

So I still have plenty to do and am far from over. The best part is that this mod won't even break 100 bucks (0 dollars from me). Hopefully more updates to come soon...

[richmandudeus]

alright here's an update... err kinda... I couldn't resist putting the parts together so i took pics. Some of the parts show they need sanding but oh well. Still haven't put the pollish on it and i probably will wait a little like rankenphile said. I needed to envision it and the progress which is also why i put the case together. If you can, picture wheels, a couple of chrome handles, tinted windows, red cathodes, red fans, etc. I'm getting ahead of myself again. More to come...

Feedback and cunstructive critisism are welcome. Feels good to give and get kudos from fellow modders.

[richmandudeus]

Small update- nothin fancy...

Added the wheels and intake fan to the bottom of the case.
tinted the windows (one will be etched )
painted and windowed the cdrom drive. (you can't tell but it has a window on there)

Ok so like i said, time isn't my friend and yeah, i know it's taking a while... oh well more to come soon...
I do what i can.

[richmandudeus]

Alright so check this out...

I tinted both of the windows and mounted em on... here is a pic of the side that no one ever places a window on (back of mobo)

Now here is the side that usaully shows off everything you got inside your beast. This was my verry first time etching and could not be happier with the results . And i did it all on the dining room glass table (put a 500watt bulb under there and you have instant lightbox). The tint really puts contrast to the etch. And just incase you can't see what it says, it says ELCUCU (face and all). Now imagine it with a 12" red cathode hiding at the bottom of the case shining upward at the etch... so sexy hehe.

I asked my co-worker to choose from 2 different face pics to add to the etch and he chose that one. I'm flattered to have my "signature face" on the etch. If you look at my signature, that's the same face but the one on the case is completely modded.
Hopefully the rest of this mod goes as smooth as this portion did.

[richmandudeus]

here are 2 more pics with the front bezel on (front is work in progress)
oh and if anyone would like to help me out and tell me where i can get speaker mesh (small holes) for the front. I can't find any for the life of me . I'm almost done with this mod and still no mesh... preferably a sheet of 15"x15" (i don't need that much but you never know...)

[richmandudeus]

Alright another small update.

I was lookin around to see if i could get some free mesh here and there and found nothing. I tried the local thrift store and found no speaker mesh what so ever. I was about to leave till something cought my eye. I found a rounded black plastic panel that belonged to who knows what and thought... modders welcome a challenge when they can't get what they want. So i asked around if it belonged to anything and no one had the slightest clue. So they sold it to me for 1 buck . Woohoo the first dollar i've spent on this case. So i added it to the front of the large hole and fan hole. Gives it a nice glow effect i think. So the front is non-functional. Why do it?---> "Because I can!!!" muahahahahaha!

[richmandudeus]

Yet another small update...

So i decided to go with the frosted plexi inside. Nothing fancy. Just easy work. I soldered 4 fans and the cathodes switch to one molex just to hide all the wiring. I know a lot of people will disagree with doing that but hey, it's done. Plus all the wiring are all nicely tucked away so it helps with the clutter.. (ide cables and mobo power plug are my main concern). Not sure what to do with the rear fan but the 90mm fan in the front won't even be visible once the hard drives are installed. Feels like this project is taking forever and a day... i need a corona

[richmandudeus]

Worklog
So i finally finished this mod. It's not the greatest but hey i think it's a pretty good major first (i've done many, just not as elaborate as this one). I decided to stick a shrunken head in there for kicks and theme effect. These pics aren't great so bear with me.

Here are shots of it turned off. Kinda incognito i think...

And here are the same angles with it on.

This next one shows the speakers, 1 harddrive, and mobo. Now don't forget that this wasn't on my budget. If it were up to me, i would've modded the harddrives and changed the heatsink+fan to go with it all. Oh yeah, i know the wires are a bit jumbled up... i tried

These pics are a bit dark so to give you guys an idea of what you are looking at... the left one is the cdrom closed and the right one is it opened.

Just more pics of junk...

The case.

EL CUCU

All in all i'd like to thank everyone at TBCS for the insperation, ideas, and support! You peeps rock!


Link To Original Thread

[richmandudeus]

Sweeeeeeet etching. You should write a tutorial about some part of this... Especially that etching. I'd like to see your method in action

-Dave

Thanx for the kudos DaveW. As far as the etching here is a quick look at my setup. I'll post again with more detail and technique soon but this is my general setup.