Project: DEER in the headlights.

[MAC]

I've been kickin around your forums for a while now, and slowly working on my own project. Well, I've finally reached the point where I need to polish up my work (and show it off too ). So I hope you guys like what I've done, and maybe can give me some advice on making it perfect.

Initially I just wanted to put some cathodes inside and carve my IGN in the side-panel so you could see the hardware, but it hasn't ended up that way... I'll give you the whole breakdown:

Hardware
Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard (really sexy looking, and supports new AM2 chipset, AWESOME VALUE!)
AMD Athalon 64 bit 3500+ (I went with a low end proc, because I plan to upgrade to an FX or dual core when they become more reasonably priced)
Asus 7600GS graphics card (passive cooling, no fans, also really sexy)
OCZ modstream 450W PSU (its modiular with UV reactive cables, and its chrome plated, how sweet it that)
OCZ high performance 667 MHz DDR2 ram (2 Gigs, really nice ramsinks)

Modware
Mutant mods 80mm LED fan (2x green)
Mutant mods biohazard fan grille
Mutant mods cold cathode 12 inches (2x blue, 1x UV)
Mutant mods blue EL wire (2x 5ft.)

I tried to keep it to as few companies as possible so that the style would flow and everything would look similar (im not sure if it made any difference at all to the look but meh). So its Asus, OCZ, and mutant mods for everything.

Like I said, I wasn't about to put all that gear into some non-descript, poorly ventilated DEER case. I've got pictures at home, and I'll post em asap.

Check back often

[MAC]

Ok, so I've got a ton of pictures and some time to kill at work

So here it is, the classic/plain/ugly deer case:

And here is my new gear (even the boxes that the stuff is in looks cooler than my case):
*EDIT*Freaking imageshack overwrote my picture with some little baby I'll post it again... sometime...

I ripped my case apart, every piece that could come off was taken off... and I started cuttin'. That was harder than it sounded, the cutting took me weeks, and I went through like 60 cut off disks (in hindsight it would have been better to get a harder cutting disk, but the ones I got were cheap anyways 20disks = ~8$CDN)

This is the start of the main side of the case:

The top of the case is also going to have a window to look down on the PSU/CPU/RAM:

I cut out the case fan grille in the back because if you put a fan on it it makes a really loud wooshing noise, I will be puting on a more quiet mutant mods fan grille instead... which also looks cooler

I also cut out the vent grille beside the pci slots, Im going to replace it with something nicer:

Finally, I bondo'd in those expansion ports (wow, they make that case look old :p), and sanded it smooth:

[MAC]

At this point the project was kinda starting to drag on and I hated to sit there and look at my new gear being so... un-overclocked So I moved to finish up the chasis and the top (the top holds the whole case together, so I needed it) so that I could at least get my hardware running.

So, next came paint... first I washed everything to get dirt/grease off the surface, and my girlfriend helped dry it (you REALLY dont want any wet spots when you start to paint):

Next, prime it (man, we went through a lot of primer):

I painted the motherboard anchor screws, even though its impossible to see them once the motherboard is on at least I know they're there :

We painted all the insides matte black, it turned out really good:

We started prepping for the outter red colour, we put silicone over the front panel LEDs (they we're glued to the front, so I couldn't remove them), and popped out the power and reset buttons:

We taped off everything on the inside of the case, and started painting the red:

[MAC]

We finished up the red and I popped the top back on the chassis, I was happy with the colour combo:

We picked the silicone out of the front panel LEDs, it came out cleanly and easily with a toothpick:

Thats a lot better :

Installed the motherboard mounts (this motherboard requires 9 of them!?!?! )

Like I said, no one can see them but I know they're there :

[MAC]

So I started installing the hardware (yay!)... everything went pretty smoothly, the AMD heatsink almost gave me a heart attack (naturally) but it all worked out nicely:

I still get a kick out of my PSU, look at the reflection :

I got my hardware running, and everything is awesomely fast

Not quite done though, I still need to:
- finish (sand, bondo, sand...sand...sand...) the sides
- figure out how im going to manage all those cables
- and install the light and fan switches in the front and back

I hope you like it so far, keep checkin back

[MAC]

Ok I need some advice on wiring my LEDs/EL wire/Cathodes...

I made some basic drawings, here's the symbols (super basic, paint is all i got right now):

Here's the first circuit I need to build. Basically I want 3 switches, 2 which will individually turn the two case fans on/off. And another switch to turn the LEDs on both case fans on/off at the same time:

The last one I need to make is one switch that will turn the PSU fan LEDs, the CPU fan LEDs and a blue EL wire on/off all together... this might be a problem since EL wire runs on 12v (I think???) and fan LEDs run on 5v (will this be a problem? how can I fix it???).

Sorry for the crappy designs, but any help is much appreciated.

Thx,
MAC

[justblair]

The second one is easy... Use a double pole switch. 1 switch operates two seperate lines.

5v_____/ ____Resistor___ LEDs
12v____/ ______________Inverter

Above both operated with one switch.

The first one is confusing me. I only see one fan in your diagram for a start. Will keep thinking about it.

***EDIT***

The green line is 5v

This circuit again uses double pole switches. The advantage being that the leds will turn on only when the fan switches are on... I.e if fan 2 is switched on, led 2 will light, but led 1 will stay off... assuming that the led switch is closed. Is that what you were hoping to achieve?

Or are you using pwm from the mobo to control the speed of the fans? If so, you can certainly do what you want, but it will require more in the circuit. You would have to monitor the 12v line for current and then use that to control a relay or some other circuit. Otherwise when fan 1 is switched off by pwm, the led will remain on.

You do realise you should also have a resistor in between the led and your power. In the example above it would sit between

fan1 switch-resistor-LED
fan2 switch-resistor-LED.

The resistor value would vary according to the voltage drop over the resistor, the desired current and the supply voltage (5v in that example, though caould as easily be 12v) A quick search through google for LED resistor calculator will find you a webby that will calculate the right value. That is if this site doesnt have one... I'm too lazy to look!

You could for your led/inverter circuit power the lot off of 12v again using a resistor between the switch (single pole now) and the LED's

As double pole switches are virtually the norm in the electronics shops I visit I would go for the first... You will require a smaller resistor for the 5v line and less power will be consumed by the circuit.

[MAC]

I only put one fan in the first diagram because I got lazy, but your picture is exactly what I was aiming for.

Unfortunately for the second diagram (with the 12V el wire and 5v LED setup) I only have a single pole switch (and I dont want to have a double pole switch because it will look different is there any was around this???

edit:

im not using the mobo to control the fans at all, just an external on/off switch is what im looking for. also, the way I have it now is that I just the wire between the motor and the 3-pin mobo connector to control the fan on/off, and I snipped the wire runing from the motor to the leds around the fan casing to control the LED on/off. Is there a resistor already in place on the fan's circuitry, or do I still need one?

Thx,
MAC

[justblair]

I only put one fan in the first diagram because I got lazy, but your picture is exactly what I was aiming for.

Unfortunately for the second diagram (with the 12V el wire and 5v LED setup) I only have a single pole switch (and I dont want to have a double pole switch because it will look different is there any was around this???

edit:

im not using the mobo to control the fans at all, just an external on/off switch is what im looking for. also, the way I have it now is that I just the wire between the motor and the 3-pin mobo connector to control the fan on/off, and I snipped the wire runing from the motor to the leds around the fan casing to control the LED on/off. Is there a resistor already in place on the fan's circuitry, or do I still need one?

Thx,
MAC

Was just editing my post when you asked this, the answer is now in there... Just use a limiting resister.

How many contacts does your switch have? If its 2 or 3 its single pole. If its 4 or 6 its double... I ask cause I dont see many locking, lever or selector switches in single pole formats in the shops these days.

There probably is a resistor in there somewhere. It may be restive wire they have used if you cant see a bumblebee resistor, or the resistor may be in the fan casing.

You can make a guess as to the values of the leds according to the size and colour. Start with that value. If the LEDs are dimmer than before, you know there is a resistor in place. You could also use variable resistors instead. Then you could adjust the brightness by turning a screw.

PS I dont want to come across as an expert... I had the paper and pencil out last night working out my own switching requirements for the project I have logged here... So just learned a lot of this over the last couple of nights!

[MAC]

You could for your led/inverter circuit power the lot off of 12v again using a resistor between the switch (single pole now) and the LED's

Awesome, I never thought of that.

How many contacts does your switch have? If its 2 or 3 its single pole. If its 4 or 6 its double... I ask cause I dont see many locking, lever or selector switches in single pole formats in the shops these days.

There probably is a resistor in there somewhere. It may be restive wire they have used if you cant see a bumblebee resistor, or the resistor may be in the fan casing.

I've got 2 standard toggle switches that im putting in the back to handle fan power on/off, they have 3 connectors each. And I've got 4 black switches for the front (im not sure how to describe them but they look awesome ) and they have 2 connectors each.

I'll have a look at the fan tonight to see if I can find any resistors in the casing.

Thx for all the help and ideas man, keep em coming I'll have more pics soon!

Cheers,
MAC