Wood Stove mod

[SXRguyinMA]

lol yes!

[BS Mods]

now you need to get a flaming logs screensaver for it. -_-

Already have it. That was going to be something I would show near the last post.

Great minds think alike

The one I have is in Hi-Def and is a 10 minute loop. It has several options with it too. I can have music or just the sounds of the fire crackling.

[BS Mods]

I am finished prepping the sheet metal parts of this thing now. I decided to make a little more room inside by removing the bottom panel that had a few unnecessary bends in it. I flattened it out so I have a better area for mounting the guts.



You can see the bottom has a few different bends that I had to take care of -

I pulled it from the case and made a temporary metal brake out of some flat bar and angle bar. I clamped everything down and was able to bend it pretty easy.

Now it's all flat!! Much better for mounting hardware.

I picked up the monitor at a surplus store for $50 and really liked it because it had easy mounting holes, VGA/DVI, USB ports, and speaker connection. After tear down I found that the buttons for the monitor power/controls were attached to a ribbon that went between the monitor and front bezel giving me a way to relocate the buttons easily.

So I cut the controls out of the bezel for now so I can relocate-

The front piece of the stove has a nice little spot I can cut a slot in it for a slot loading DVD drive.

I picked up one of these, with the advice of Boddaker. :wink:

I decided to order a pre-made motherboard tray from Lian Li instead of making one. This is a sweet little Micro ATX tray that will mount to the back of the monitor bracket giving me plenty of room for connections, and some airflow.

I have a 500W psu going in it. An Intel Micro ATX mobo DG41TY w/ E5300 processor. 8 gigs of ram. I may throw in a vid card.


This is not going to be an extreme gaming rig, more for browsing the web and doing reports and stuff.


As soon as my parts get here I'll start mounting everything and will have another update.

[SXRguyinMA]

wow 8 gigs is a bit overkill for surfing the web lol

[BS Mods]

wow 8 gigs is a bit overkill for surfing the web lol

I gotta make sure that screensaver runs smooth lol.

Actually I will be throwing in a vid card just to see what I can do with some light gaming just in case.

[msmrx57]

wow 8 gigs is a bit overkill for surfing the web lol

And that's a bad thing???

[BS Mods]

Parts arrived.....yay!!

So now it's time to get moving again.

The mobo tray I got from Lian Li is really nice. Standoffs already screwed in, pretty rigid, nice and clean.
I figured out what orientation would work best in this space to allow for connections, air flow, and other components. This way looks best, so I marked it for mounting.

I left room all around it and set my PSU where it had to go. It's amazing how fast you run out of room for stuff.

I decided to use some spacers to give a little extra space between the motherboard and monitor for extra cooling.

Here you can see I ultimately ended up with the I/O plate being at the same end as the monitor connections. I need a 6" DVI cable at the most.I don't think they make them that short so I'll be figuring out where to stuff extra lengths of cables.

Time for some serious cutting...Power supply will be mounting to the bottom panel so I used a template I had laying around and marked it. I used a Dremel to cut this part out.

And now back together for like the 50th time...

Now for the scary part...
Somewhere on the front of this thing needs a slot cut in it for the hidden DVD drive.....

This front panel is plastic so you would think it was easy to work with. I shouldn't worry right? Except that it's the front of the unit that everyone will be staring at and if I screw this up I can't just get a front panel, I have to buy another stove! :roll:
I decided the best spot would be right where it has a fake grille. I can hopefully tuck it up under the lip.

The only tool I feel like using is pure overkill but what the hell..

whew...success..still needs some final filing to get perfect but good for now.

I need a mount for the slot load drive so I'll be making it out of some extra mesh I have from previous jobs.

An easy way to bend this stuff is to use a square and an awl. Score it where you want the bend and then gently bend it up.

Next update soon.

[BS Mods]

Update time!!!

It took a little while to get back to working on this. Since my house flooded I have been working hard on getting it back together. Gotta keep the wife happy. So I finished putting the hardwood in yesterday and today my knees needed some rest. So I get to do some modding..



First pic = house progress.

1300 sf of wood down - 180 yards of carpet to go and a little bit of tile. And trim and touch up paint. Oh and then furniture back in. Oh gawd help me


Anyway, back to the good stuff--





I finished up the mount for the DVD drive. I also left room to slide a hard drive in underneath it since they are the same width.

Now that I have that done I lined it up with the slot in the front. I need a little airflow so the only place left is beside the drive on the left. I marked the spot...

then got out a little hole saw..

Now for some edge clean up with the Dremel. I love the flexible shaft attachment on this Dremel. It's great for modding.

Fits just right!!

For the power button I will be using the one out of a scrap case I have sitting around. I'll be using the HDD activity light as well.

Piece of cake to get ready.

I'll have more on this part later.







Since I have the fan figured out I decided to remove some material from the mobo tray that really didn't do anything and it blocked the path of the air stream. As pretty as this piece is, it's time to start cutting!

On the front of the stove where I have the slot for the DVD drive I decided to dress it up a little. I just didn't like the look of the slot for some reason. I have a lot of mesh sitting around so I thought I would make kind of a grill to take your eyes off of the slot (hopefully).
I cut it to fit inside the area -

then I needed to put the slot in it -

This will be painted flat black before I permanently mount it. I'll save all the painting for right before final assembly.


That's it for now. I have more but I'll save it for another post.

[blueonblack]

Looking very good, nice work! (The computer is coming along nicely as well.)


+rep

[cellsite60]

Wow saw this just now, this is epic man