Project: Pawned!

[Couch3ater]

This mod is screaming "FINISH ME!"

I suppose it's only screaming finish me in my head though. And I suppose it's only saying that cause I can't wait to see the finished product. Seriously though, I love watching this mod. It just makes me wanna mod more. >_<

[DonT-FeaR]

this is looking insane! i love this project mate!

[Wag]

Hey Everyone

Just a small update today. Most of the updates going forward will likely be incremental. There are just too many small weird things on this case to finish it up with a big update.

After much consideration I decided to go with a traditional tray Loading Optical drive after all. So twenty-six bucks and three days later I was the proud owner of a new LG drive.

Fitting it into the front wasn't really all the difficult from a "put it together" kind of way. Mostly just measure, mark, cut. I have a very basic dremel/routing table and an cutting bit for the dremel that cut nice straight lines.

It is by no means state of the art, and is actually a bit of a pain to use. But the setup was cheap enough and the use is light enough that it doesn't bother me too much.

The result was a little rough around the edges.

But with some work in the corners with the file, it shaped up nicely.

The next step was getting my fan hole made. I'll be cutting a simple hole and the fan will have a simple, yet elegant, wire fan grill which will be painted black over the chrome.

Cutting the hole however, was a little dicey. I used a 4.5 inch round-hole saw in my drill press.

Starting with a pilot hole in the middle.

Then moving on to the main event.

Lets just say that acrylic does not cut all the well. It had a tendency to catch and seize. I had been prepared for this and had clamped it down to the press well. That didn't prevent it from seizing completely and it took quite a while to get a nice cut. My patience and perseverance paid off.

Which allowed me to match up my grill and cut my holes for the fan mounts.

Finally a test fit on the chassis.

Still need holes for power and reset switches as well as fan controller. The Disc drive still needs a hole for the eject button as well. All relatively minor ordeals.

A friend of mind runs an auto collision center and is an experienced painter. As luck would have it he will be painting some pearlescent white auto parts next week and I am hoping to have my panels and front ready so he can use the leftover paint on my panels. The panels themselves are mostly ready.

The Chassis will simply be painted by myself with my own black spray paint. It is less important than the outer panels and front. I will also be doing the mesh side and bolts myself.

It may not seem like cutting those holes was a big deal, but honestly, I'm just happy I didn't crack my acrylic. I find it a real pain to work with that stuff. I just couldn't come up with any other options for my application.

Thanks everyone for your interest.

Wag

[Trace]

Dude, this is looking amazing

[billygoat333]

thats looking good. and isnt that a tray loading optical? you said slot load

[Wag]

Originally Posted by billygoat333

thats looking good. and isnt that a tray loading optical? you said slot load

Whoops! You are right. Fixed. Thanks!

[Wag]

Just a short update again today. Really short in fact. Just finished drilling some holes for my power and reset switches as well as the fan controller. Still considering front USB ports under the optical drive. Haven't decided for certain yet.

For the power switches:

For the fan controller:

I'm hoping to have the remaining holes drilled (what is there even left to drill??) and decide on front USB. I'm really hoping to get to paint by the end of the week. We'll see I guess.

On a side note, I did get a chance to play all the way thru Mass Effect 2 last week. The first Mass Effect was one of the better games in recent memory in my opinion. The second one did not disappoint. Just like anything, I liked some parts better and other parts not as well. Overall the game was a lot of fun and a great second installment of the overall "Mass Effect" narrative.

Just had to lay that out there. If you liked the first one, you should get the second. If you are thinking about getting the second and haven't played the first, don't. Go spend twenty dollars on the first one and play that for the next couple of weeks. It's well worth it. There is simply too much "Mass Effect Universe" you will miss out on if you skip the first game.

Also the first game was shorter, so you can get right to the second in as little as ten to twelve hours depending on how many side quests you do in the first. I think my first run of the first game was just under twelve hours where my first run of the second was just under nineteen.

Well, enough of my recommending. Hope you enjoyed the small update. With a little luck, the case will really start to come together over the course of this week and the next.

Thanks everyone

Wag

[BerticusPryme]

looks good man. one thing I learned is that when cutting any type of plastic or acrylic like that with a hole saw run it in reverse and melt through it works alot easier.

[billygoat333]

I love the fan controller. very cool!

[Waynio]

The front panel is coming along very nicely Wag some nice perfection going into this .

Not finished playing through mass effect 1 yet, got it in the steam sale and preordered the 2nd so it's good to know it'll be good .

BerticusPryme, I'll remember that tip if or when I use acrylic in the future thanks .