Hp Res 3 Mega

[Defyant]

With that out of way i really start to make some proggy....

You all knew that HPR3 was going to have a motherboard cover just like HP2 and Heveyplex SLB i wanted to carry the tradition into this mod as well.

But knew i had to come up with something new....something or an idea that hasnt been seen before.

The hole internal frosted plex theme was goin to be the biggest bonus for this next mod and would allow me to do something that was a little more "out-there"


Of course the material of choice is plex!! a pretty much freehand pattern is cut using the good o'l jigsaw....

Next was to bend the edges to make the" Cage"

The paper is stripped off and the cage is layed in for a test fit

I picked abunch of these little fans up,while i dont think the cage needs any extra cooling i just thought the frosted look of the mini fan would make a geat looking addition.

A hole is meaured, marked and cut

Another is added for the AGP card and allows for the water cooling.

[Defyant]

With the 2 main holes cut with only the CPU cooling holes to be added later the cage is taken inside and frost sanded, with 800g wet and dry.

A back wall that was previously cut was also sanded.

the new panels are slotted in and again checked for fit.

The cage will allow for plenty of airflow to pass thru its large claw type arches

The previously modded DD-TDX block is bolted in, holes are marked and drilled for the the water lines to pass thru.

[Defyant]

All thats left to at this stage is to see how the cage works with the rest of the lighting.

with all blue lighting , the cage only needs 2 extra lights for a full effect.

With the backbard lit red and blue lights in the cage

and again using both red and blue lights to produce a purple effect on the back board.

[Defyant]

Better post this update while im here

The original plan for the CDROM was to simply cut a slot for a pioneer slot loading cdrom........ but after using that idea on H-1 i decided to scrap that it and go with something that was a bit more challenging and suited the rest of the mod more.



A pioneer DVR-109bk was chosen for the mod. It has a "thinner" type tray and is shorter in overall lenght.

The tray is measured @ around 12mm so 14mm thick plex will be needed to make the new front.

A "thingamajig" is used to get the shape of HPR3's facia then transfered onto a peice of 14mm thick plex..this is then "ruff cut" using a jigsaw.

A therapudic solid hour of sanding and wetrubbing almost get the new front to its final shape theres still a few bits to go over but this is pretty close to the final look.

this next part was going to hurt!!! i was cutting into what i thought was an already perfect shape to say there was no going back is a bit drastic.... but it still felt wierd!

The door slot is of course not a final look.... more bondo will be reaplied around the edges and to cover up the old light holes below.

[Defyant]

This gives you a look @ how the end reslut will be...i think the new "dummy" door is now a feature ...the second or "middle" light will be sortened and all 3 lights will eventually be lit.

[Defyant]

thanx dgmkr the end result with the matching 2 lower lights will have a distinct look.


i really needed to get on with finsihing off the rest of the lighting for HPR3...as will all the lighting so far its been double the effort...for every blue LED i install i have to install a red one as well... all up so far a whopping 20 RED and Blue LED's go to make HPR3's internal lighting.

Power is added to the front CDrom and HDD cage.

a molex is depinned, a hole cut and fitted back into the unit..this will supply power for the front of the case.

The original idea was to add some old intel slot type heatsinks to the side of the HDD to help cool.... i scrapped this idea and went with a cutom drilled
plex bracket mod instead.


2 peices of polished cut to size 10mmthick strips of plex are drilled.

Then re-drilled to add a stepped type counter sunk channel to both the brackets.

This allows the HDD screws to fit all the way down the tunnels.

These will act as "risers" and lift the HDD above the clear 80mm fan that will be mounted in the bottom of the box.

[Defyant]

Holes are drilled and counter sunk for the 80mm exhaust fan. Again steinless steel HEX head bolts are used.

The set of RED/BLUE Leds are installed and wiring completed for power.

The 4 LEDs installed are to supply Light to the Lower Fan box, Small holes are drilled and the LDS poke thru the base of the HDD box shining down onto the Fan Box.

Looking UP @ the unit you can see how the lights will shine down.


This shot shows both blue and red LEDs running @ once.

Just blue LED's

The end result..showing all three colour effects.

[Defyant]

Thanx guys

to compliment the front and side, i decided to make a bit of a feature of the floor as well




The original idea for the pump power was to run a bent frosted plex wire cover to the rear of the case.

I recently had an idea for "channeled " look ..... so this was a good time to try it out




The idea is that the power wires for the pump will still be fed thru a frosted plex tubing ...but a channel is cut in the PLEX FLOOR
to allow the tube to sit lower down , more flush and give a cleaner stealthier type look.


a large hole was drilled in the metal floor @ a diagonal angle to the pump, the hole is cut larger so it would also fit the "Motherboard" light wires that will also be fed thru @ a later time .

Some "pre-bent" frosted plex tube is layed in for a check.

the tube sits down i the channel.

The plex floor is placed back into the case and the pump and its new wire cover are put into place.

Testing with some blue light..the tube catches the light well...i may try some individual lighting effects for it tho!

Once the motherboard cover is back in you wont see much of this little mod.. but it's to know its in and done proper

[Defyant]

Thanx Rankenphile


Motherboard lights Take 2!


The first attempt i had @ this solution was bulky and awkward looking.


as seen below.... these black leads were never goint to suit this mod....

In an attempt to streemline and make the detachable dual lights more eye pleasing i came up with this.

the method of making the Dual lights was the same as before but this time ive shortened the shank of the silde on light to help streamline,

also added "white" wires to help keep a cleaner more "intheme" look.





The cover with the slot type groove that slides over the edge of the motherboard cover.

The legs are bent closer to the LED this time.

White wire which is then covered in Clear heatshrink is soldered on

The step down resistor is then soldered to the end...this takes the "bulk" out of the loom.

A qick check of the plex cover shows that it can be shortened soome more!

after some more filing and a qik "frosting" the cover is ready and slipped over the LED's...a dob of HOT glue us used to hlod it in place.

Some Clear heatshrink is slipped over and shrunk down to complete the look and the whole loom is also covered with clear heatshrink.

I'm much happier with this look

[Defyant]

Cheers guys

Caboose, i think a frosted case could have an awsome effect!!!...i think some of the newer cases tho arn't tru acryl? so not sure how sounding thm goes?




This is the continuation of the front panel idea. i had originaly made 3 light fins the top one will act as the door for the cdrom.


These were all made from 10mm thick plex cut then hand shaped.

The problem was, the top one bearly covered the cdrom hole.


Was time to craft a bigger unit !!!

This is a massive chunck of plex! @ near 20mm x 20mm this was not easy to bend into shape 5 mins of solid hot air gun had it like rubber.

It was then lay'd over the from of HP3's front and left to cool down and go hard again.

Clamping the plex to the bench and using the dremal to knock the corners off.

40 minutes of hand sanding and the new door is taking shape.

a quik test to see that it covers the cdrom opening

and its back for some more hand sanding

after another 20 minutes the peice is almost at the right shape.

some work is done to the matching middle strip

and the 3 peices wrk from large to small ...the larger veing the cdrom door the smaller 2 being for balance and athestics.