Project Black Betty

[Jeroenotje]

Project Black Betty,

I started this worklog a long time ago, at a dutch forum. Since then I started to copy it to other forums I saw around. Enjoy .

[Jeroenotje]

So, it started out with a big Chieftec Full tower. I had to get that middleplate out. So, I used the Dremel.

That was one of my first Dremel tryouts. The other one was the PSU.

I wanted to use showerhoses for the powerlines. There are three of them, wich goes to a junction-box. The ATX-cable is just sleaved, wich goes directly to the motherboard. No big deal.

I also made a side panel for the 5,25" part of the case.

Satin black and a lot of polished metal, that would be cool. So, painted some parts.

So, here is the PSU assembled .

Backside also done:

And throwed it into the case.

Next part was the VGA-stealth. Currently an on-hold part of the project, I'll finish it later.

Yes, there is a 9800XT card in there. Cool huh?

After that, I decided to build a new PSU backplate, some holders for the PSU (wich are just foor the looks, not functional) and side shields for the PSU. All made out of alluminium (3mm). All taped off:

Made some details on it:

It all had to be polsihed up. Looks like crome, doesn't it?

After all that, I started with the sideshields for the harddisk racks.

Holders for all of these shields:

Sanded down and mounted (has to be polished up to).

So, enjoyed that part? Look what I am currently busy with. A 5" monochrome CRT screen, isn't that sweet ?

I am disassembling it now, does anyone has a trick to unmount the high-voltage from the tube?
Oh, yeah I am going to mount it in the front of the case, you'll see that later. And yes, it is working, however, the VGA-card does not detect it. So, I first have to plug in another screen to get a signal on the screen. I'll fix that later.

Well, I guess almost ten percent of the work on this case is done. Maybe even less. Replies are always welcome. Don't blame my bad English, if there are a lot of faults in it, just say it to me and I will fix it.

These are not all pictures of the work. If there are request for pictures, just say it to me and I'll post them. Don't be afraid to visit one of my dutch worklogs, I can always translate some things.

Time to start updating and translating them for you guys. Oh, and please don't be afraid to post a reply.

[Jeroenotje]

Started working on the CRT screen mod. Enjoy!

The original frame was crap! I had to disassemble it. This picture is made on a moment.. I was really scared. I could'nt get that suction-cup thing of, i was to scared, because of the high voltages. No toy for me I guess.

I was feeling like a.. Oh wel, I pulled that thing off . Fireworks, sparks, did my hair turned upwards? Nothing .
On the left you see the frame, wich you probably will not see back. In the middle, the PCB, on the right, the CRT.

Did I say nothing from the frame? Sorry, these holders from the CRT were just to hard to copy. Drilled them out and re-used them. Sorry.

Found a nice piece of scrap to make a plate to mount the tube onto. It's aluminium, 3mm thick.

Put it underneath it, draw it, saw, file it and..

Tapped some holes, mounted it all.

Just a beautifull picture:

Decided that this was the right place voor the cathode ray tube.

Got the dirty black layer of the metal. It was bad weather and the garage was full, so I couldn't use a sanding-machine to finish it.

CRT assembled, resting on an old piece. What a beauty! I love these old pieces of technic.

Quick fit! Fits perfect. How I am going to mount this thing? I was thinking about make a plate in front of it. Where the front of the CRT will pass thrue. The only problem was, how to mount that second plate? I'm working on that.

I am going to buy new optical drives (cd-drive is broken, and the dvd isn't fast enough), I already ripped of the fronts of these ones.

I am going to stealth all of it. There's going to be one big shiny sheet of aluminium where normaly the 5,25" drives fronts should be. A plate with some details, place for the CRT screen, small fronts for the sleds and buttons for the optical drives. And everything without screws on places you can see them. I want tou mount it behind the front panel. Sweet?! The 3,5" covers are going to be bondoed. Maybe I will place my USB ports there. Behind it I will have a space to put my inverters and electronics like that.
I am just thinking about a fancontroller or ledcontroller. Before I forget, the PCB from the CRT. I thought there would be more space uppon the optical drives. (It won't fit underneath them.) I think I am going to mount it underneath the upperside of the case.

[slytherock]

Woah!!! nasty!!! like the PSU

+rep and welcome aboard

[b4i7]

glad to see this project come here! ive been watchin this over on bit tech


i really like this case!

[Jeroenotje]

I was going to make a sheet to mount the crt at the front of the case. That plate had to be mounted in front of the other plate. So the front of the crt should pass trough it. It had to fit exactly! That wasn't easy.

So here it is. Holes aren't tapped yet, and the big hole for the crt is not big enough.

After fixing these problems:

Oh yeah, I couldn't find four same size screws. Two should be perfect for a while.

Hm, doesnt seems to be much work done, however it costed me a lot of time. Wel, before is start going on, I have to clean my "workshop". To be honest, I need some help by mounting the crt frontplate onto the chassis of the case. This chassis is kind of weird. It has a lote of holes and pop rivets in it. Not so much space for screws to mount that plate. I think I am going to make some kind of a rail, where I can assemble the front plate onto. But how to mount that rail?

Anyway, I made some designs for the shields that are going to cover the back of the CRT . You may find out next time.

[Jeroenotje]

Hey. It has been a while. To bad I didn't get a lot of reactions. Is it because my project is boring? Or because of my bad English? Please tell me. Writing my updates in English is a lot of work. When nobody reacts I get the feeling that it is useless to post in English. Oh, well. Just let's Update this worklog.

Casemodding has a lot of different sides. One of them is the workshop you are working in. For example, my working table broke down. I can't work on a table with only three legs. So, this is how I fixed it :
I putted the table upside down on the floor. Here's the leg:

An other leg, how it SHOULD be .

A part of the bolt is still in there. I'm going to drill all true the leg and I will put a bigger bolt just right true it. I guess that WILL fix it .

Done! Turned in a few small screws from the side for some extra stability.

Table back in place.

Meanwhile... I made a design for the shields behind the CRT. I came upwith something like this.

I had lot's of stuff to do. At the back of the front panel there are some notches. I filed down some holes at the plate of the CRT to make the front panel fit.

Mounting the plate was my next point. This is what I came up with:

Two small pieces of a angled profile. They are mounted by a big hole at the side, with a bolt an a nipple. Because the hole is to big, I can adjust the placing. I couldn't get a nice picture of it .

I finally had four same sized screws. I just wanted screws with flatted heads. I found some, so I flatted out the holes.

OMG! These screws didn't head the right bolt-tread. So stupid. And I couldn't find the right tap, to tap it down. So I putted the old screws back in.

Oh yeah, I needed that DVD-burner .

I do already have a design for the full front panel. You'll find out later.

Time for more small things at the case. I improved the holder for the junction box. I tapped all holes, and putted some bolts at the side, so that the holder can't move back or fore ward.

Now, the hardest part! I need to find the right place for the PCB of the CRT. Underneath the top of the case.

How about this?

Above it.

So, I am still not sure about it. You could say what you think is the best, if you would like.

[Jeroenotje]

Finally, holidays! However, I've been so damn busy, so much to do, so little time . Oh well, first thing: the screen. I wanted to switch te mounting plates of the CRT. So, the little one before the big one.

That wasn't what I wanted. The front of the screen is to much forward.
The only solution was, to file down the big plate so that the front of the tube could pass more trough it. It fits perfect now!

Great moment, here's the sketch of the frontpanel! TAADAA!

This is what I had in my mind. I'm not 100% sure about the position of the buttons/small holes. It should be something like this.
I cutted a frontpanel out of cardboard. I'm going to make one out of alluminium .

Well, that's for later! First I have to buy a new DVD player, DVD burner and some plexi. Then we'll see .

[Jeroenotje]

Time for something.. I HAD to make! Well, REMAKE! So, what is it?

Cutted and drilled... What's laying next to it? Holder for the PSU.

I made a second one.. And I deanodised the back shield of the PSU. So what are these things? AHA! New holders for the PSU shields!
Ofcourse I need to bend them. So scratched some lines in the alluminium for that. Now I can see where I have to bend.

Ofcourse, My vise was to small for this. So this is what I came up with.

A piece of strong wood, the plate on it and a straight piece of strong steel clambed on it. So it can't move.

A hamer, a piece of wood and a lot of noise. With a beautiful holder as result!

Screwed the plate on it. I think I am going to use these screwes evereywhere in this project .

Second one!

In CASE!

From side:

Putted the PSU holders in there with some tape. This is the result I wanted to get! So much cooler then just two holders!

Progress shot, just for fun I guess .

So, these holders need to be polished up (shields to ) . To be honest, I want to rebuild these holders. It sounds stupid, but because I was busy with where to bend, the holes aren't drilled excactly. And they became less beautifull as I wanted them to be. However, the bending went perfect !
It's just the fact that, I joined The Benelux Casemod League. It is pushing on me. I have to get the case finished in less then two months! I need to finish the case then!. And even when it is finished then.. I don't think I can call it finshed then! There's so much to build on this case. There are even other project I wan't to start with. After the TBCL I simply will go on modding with this case. TBCL seemed like a great target for me. Something to look forward to, something to work on! But when it's pushing me getting my case ugly or destroing my fun I'm having with this project, I simply have to cut with TBCL. I'll have to find something else then!
So, that was frustration for now! Haha. Now I'll go on making fun! Then we'll see if we can get the deadline of TBCL . I love having something to work forward to, but not if I can't have fun with that.

[Jeroenotje]

Finally an update, I am really sorry! I've been so damn busy. I can't mod daily. I hope to have some more time soon. I have enough spirit to mod now, the article at the front page was great! Let's stop talking and go to tge update itself .

Let's start with an intresting piece, selling new stuff! This time just a boring DVD player and a DVD burner, ghehe. They will be modded as soon as possible .

They look great, they are smaller than the last ones!

Like I said, I was going to polish up the shields. Finishing this job is a dirty and timetaking job. I haven't done that part jet . However, I did the first part, the sanding part. It might be boring, but people who would like to polish parts up to could learn from this.
So, I started to make the shields as flat as possible, getting al big ugly things off. After grid 80, 120 and 280 wet:

After grid 400 wetsanding:

After grid 600 wetsanding:

I couldn't find grid 800 at any shop. So this is after grid 1000 wetsanding:

Close-up:

Grid 1200, almost done!:

Details, details :

Some intresting things when you're planning to go wetsanding parts: When you're starting sanding with a higher grid, do that with an angle of 90 degrees from the last grid. So, another direction. You might see it on the pictures above. When doing this, You'll see what you've sanded and what not. And is simply does more .
I guess that was the polishing job, maybe more next time!

Time for a new part! Shields around the CRT! These are becoming small shields around the electron-cannon. It's difficult to explain how it's going to be, all the bending work still has to be done!
A picture says more then a thousand words. You'll find out .
I took a 2mm piece of aluminium this time. 3mm would have been nice, but it's hard to bend and to big. So, less beautifull. Marked the edges:

First drawing for the holes. The crosses will be mounting holes (m4). The small rounds are just for the looks .

Holes drilled, I putted the small holes a bit closer to the big ones, seems nicer to me.

After some jigsawing and filing work:

Just a bad shot :

Maybe I am going to redo this whole thing, the holes are just not beautifull enough.
What you probably wanted to hear is how I am going to mount this thing!
It wil be mounted around the backside of the CRT. With the fore point putting backwards. I'll only bend this thing at the four points, the pieces between will stay straight! That's difficult, so I'll do that later. At the inside there will be an inner ring, which holds this piece together. That ring will be mounted around the CRT. Maybe there will be a great shield underneath it. And some UV-plexi. You'll find out!

So, that's it for now! After a long time of giving no updates reactions are again more then welcome!
Like I said, I hope to have some more time, soon! To give some updates .