My Plexiglass PSU mod

[Theorem]

Hey everyone.
This is going to be my first MOD post on this forum and I'm fairly excited. TBCS is my new favorite!

Anyways, this mod resulted by me growing bored with something (like all mods), and this time it was going to be my PSU that was getting punished.
I did a really medeocre paint job on it this previous year and got tired of looking at it. Plus, I wanted it to go better with my new color scheme.

I'm going to add a 120mm silver/white Aero Cool fan to this, it'll look nice.

PLAN:

-Take apart PSU
-Measure cutting areas (both PSU casing and plexiglass)
-carefully cut desired areas (both PSU casing and plexiglass)
-Paint PSU (black and clearcoat)
-Sand down the plexi panels to give it a "semi-transparent" look
-Attach panels to PSU casing


....sorry for the blurry pics...to many resolution changes....its barable though


So I begin by showing you my victim...

Gotta take off that tacky Spec sticker, but definatly going to save it!

Time to measure (very accurately)

Have to desolder the power connection in order to get everything off of the casing (I think this gun is from back in the 70's...)

Gonna start off by cutting (breaking rather) the plexiglass into the appropriate sizes with my cool new tool.

First make a slight and strait leading cut

Then go at it with the back edge

breaking process

Came out very precise

Then for the real cutting!

A bit of fun

Eeesh..

Ahhhh...

continue......

[Theorem]

Prep for painting

And after a few coats

While that was drying I was going to try and give the glass that "frosted" semi-transparent look, which I really dig.

It Soon came to me that that method was not going to do, so I made a sanding block which worked quite well.

Came out better than I was expecting.

I let the black coat dry two days before adding the clear coat, and then let it dry for another two days before moving on.



Ready to apply the glass to the casing. I used some type of super adhesive, which worked suprisingly well.

I used a mini soda can to weigh down the glass and give it constant pressure.
(this is the only thing I find those damn things good for)

The resoldering job

Oh, and also I thought it would be nice to hide the power connections, so I bought some black 3/4" wire loom at Kragen Auto Parts.
(not my idea)

And the finished product...

and in the comp.

with my CCFLs off

and then with them on (camera sucks, my cold cathlodes are accualy very purple! and aren't nearly as bright as the picture displays)

Thats it!
thanks for Reading!

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