Custom acrylic case, 95% finnished

[StephenIsTheMan]

It's almost finnished! :) to day with the help of Brt9991 I put it together and it even still runs :D

It's late so I let the pictures do the talking and answer questions in the morrning.


http://home.comcast.net/%7Edaleas/FC1.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/%7Edaleas/FC2.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/%7Edaleas/FC3.jpg

.....Yes, the cables are a messssssssssssssss. Tips for dealing with that would be great.


Edit/Update: The case weighs nothing compared to my old 50lb full tower case, but I didn't realize how hevy the parts were :eek:. The power and reset switches that are are on the uper right with the black and orange, and green and white wires going to them, I ripped out of an old mouse. The 7500RPM CPU fan is running at 12 volts again, I must chang that to 7v before I go insane from the niose. The extra PSU wires I guess I'm just going to chop of leaving enough lead to solder the wire back on if need be. If you guys don't have any better ideas.

[d34dly]

wow that's pretty smooth man. Awesome Job. :D

Truly [H]

[DeViLdUdE]

Damn that's pretty neat man. What kind of cutting tools did you use and are your holes on the acrylic pretty smooth?(smooth like not crooked but straight and nice)


What you all gonna say now ppl who wants him to buy a pre-mod acrylic case?

[StephenIsTheMan]

Originally posted by DeViLdUdE
Damn that's pretty neat man. What kind of cutting tools did you use and are your holes on the acrylic pretty smooth?(smooth like not crooked but straight and nice)


What you all gonna say now ppl who wants him to buy a pre-mod acrylic case?

I just used a utility knife to score the plexi glass 20 to 40 times and then I broke it. I'm glad at the number of strait edges I did get. Not all of them are though, so try to spot them.

[zoltan]

.....Yes, the cables are a messssssssssssssss. Tips for dealing with that would be great.

try taking the twisty off your bread package and try grouping them together neatly and hide the unused on top of the PSU or somthing

[silentnight3985]

Damn man,Verry flocking nice.As for the wires,If it was me id get some shrink wrap,a good pair of wire cutters,cut the wires down untill u get a nice line of wires going to every thing that needs power,then put the connectors back on,solder the wires back togeather and zip strap them in place,id cover them in something to.



:D

[Tt Ownage]

any acrylic cases look great until u have to put the wiring in...

then it's dirty as hell... lol

you can sleeve them, extend them, hide behind, blah blah blah

looks good considering u made it ursefl..

[StephenIsTheMan]

Here's what I've done so far with the cables.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Edaleas/FC4.jpg

Also I've installed a switch to cange the fan between 12 and 7 volts. You can see that under the HDD.

The problem with cutting off the unneeded PSU cables is A: I will need more of 'em some time and have to solder one back on. and B: It voids the warranty. :(

I think I'm going to have to declare this done for now with spring brake almost over. Things that still need to be done are: A lid, should be pretty simple to do just need some acrylic hinges. Last, lighting, I'm thinking about having ~5 green LEDs in the lid aimed in at the components.

[NickTheNut]

verry nice.

i'd also make a support in the middle of it. It looks to be bending quite a bit.

good job :)

[kuyaglen]

Pretty cool.

[Tanis143]

Only one thing I can add: dude, 40 bucks and get a new cdrw!

[Izza]

Only things I can see that need to be done are:

1.) Tidy up those wires.
2.) Clean up those edges with a file, and a heat gun.
3.) Mount another fan.

Of course, you've probably already finished all of this by my post, but I thought I'd offer my opinion none the less.

Good work! Looking forward to seeing more work in the future! :)

[StephenIsTheMan]

Originally posted by Izza

2.) Clean up those edges with a file, and a heat gun.
3.) Mount another fan.

Of course, you've probably already finished all of this by my post, but I thought I'd offer my opinion none the less.

Good work! Looking forward to seeing more work in the future! :)

I'm not sure filing the edges would make it any neeter. Maybe you have a lot finner files. Heat gun, I'll have to try that out on a scrap piece.

Originally posted by Tanis143
Only one thing I can add: dude, 40 bucks and get a new cdrw!

The black CD dive is a DVD-R 8x drive so I'm sure you're not talking about that one. The Creative I considered not keeping. Do you think Black spray paint would do the job?

[Techx]

i'll give ya props for the effort for the diy case but to me it just looks messy

[Spleeze]

Originally posted by StephenIsTheMan
Here's what I've done so far with the cables.

Also I've installed a switch to cange the fan between 12 and 7 volts. You can see that under the HDD.

The problem with cutting off the unneeded PSU cables is A: I will need more of 'em some time and have to solder one back on. and B: It voids the warranty. :(

I think I'm going to have to declare this done for now with spring brake almost over. Things that still need to be done are: A lid, should be pretty simple to do just need some acrylic hinges. Last, lighting, I'm thinking about having ~5 green LEDs in the lid aimed in at the components.

If you sleeve the PSU cables it will look much cleaner... That may void the warranty, but that's the price to pay for looking totally sweet!

[ToddTheFrog]

Bumpage for drj1014

[kronchev]

liek omg is that an SK-7 I see? kickass heatsink :D

nice job, im not a fan of acrylic cases but you did a sweet job at it. i never could score and snap though

[StephenIsTheMan]

Re: kronchev

Thanks!

It's not a SK-7 just a SK-6 sorry :( P.S. Read my sig.

Snaping it is hard. I had to use one peice that had a curvy edge. The best snaps were when I scored it about 40 times, yes 40. You could do it more but it does take a while to do even a dozen.

[[Firefox]]

nice, i like the wires, im a messy guy!

[Teancum]

on the wires....(this is something I want to do sometime when I get the $$ and time)

Idea #1: Cut holes in your PSU so you can have power wires coming out of the PSU going exactly the right direction. No more coming out the front, snaking around half a dozen components and looking like crud. Just straight out of the correct panel of the PSU straight to your HD, etc.

Idea #2: Get some extra molex connectors. Cut off the extra wires close to their exit from the PSU and attach female molex connectors. Then attach male connectors to the end of the newly-unattached wires that you just cut off. That way, the extra wires aren't in the way, and you get a HDD/CDROM power extension cable. I saw someone do a nice mod like this (it was for a test bench), but I don't remember where I saw it.

[StephenIsTheMan]

Get some extra molex connectors.
I was just looking at a ~4" long cord with male and female molex connectors lying on top of a old full tower that I've used other parts out of it to make this case. Also has any one ever used the AUX (http://www.maxpoint.com/products/pow_supp/image/aux_cab.jpg) connector, can I just chop that off? How long does the Enermax warranty last any way? I can seem to find that any place. I bought it about a year plus ago. I'm not sure where or when, and I can't find a prof of purchase, so I guess I've got no warranty any way.

I've got a fan controller (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-999-504&depa=1) on order, that should help me not go insane with all these fans buzzing.

The PSU I've got is an Enermax EG365P-VE.

[NewBlackDak]

That connector is for AGP-Pro boards. They're generally only used on workstation class boards.

3 year warranty (http://www.enermax.com.tw/eg365p-ve-fca.htm) according to the website.

[jeece]

What did you use to hold the acrylic pieces together, some sort of glue? I'm in the process of building a black acrylic case myself, all panels are cut but nothing is assembled yet. I planned to hold it upright with 90 degree aluminum parts and bolts, but I think a setup like yours would be more presentable. ;)

Keep on going, that's a real nice case!

[StephenIsTheMan]

Re: Jeece

Read my previous posts: Custom built acrylic case (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=742874)
& Custom acrylic case, 50% finnished (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=746595)

If you have more questions, keep 'em coming.

P.S. does any one use Team Speak around here?

[jeece]

Originally posted by StephenIsTheMan
Re: Jeece

Read my previous posts: Custom built acrylic case (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=742874)
& Custom acrylic case, 50% finnished (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=746595)

If you have more questions, keep 'em coming.

[...]

Oh. Thanks! :D

Just another question: what proggy can make 3D designs like you had in your first post? You know of a free/cheap one? (shareware or old, doesn't matter, I only need this once) I don't want something fancy, just basic shapes.

;)

[StephenIsTheMan]

re:
I used movray to get a pretty render of what I wanted, but it certanly isn't a cad tool. My advice is: get a pile of card board boxes, duck tape, and then start hacking away at it till you have some thing you like. Plus if you really, really like your design just the way it is you can use that and forget about the plexi :D

[jeece]

Originally posted by StephenIsTheMan
re:
I used movray to get a pretty render of what I wanted, but it certanly isn't a cad tool. My advice is: get a pile of card board boxes, duck tape, and then start hacking away at it till you have some thing you like. Plus if you really, really like your design just the way it is you can use that and forget about the plexi :D

Well, I was about to use the cardboard trick... Was just too lazy for that! :p Plus, it doesn't really look cool when you show your prototyping to web fellows. Anyways, it was only for smaller details, the rough shapes are ready.

[rogue_jedi]

is it just me, or is the main crosspiece along the bottom bending? some thicker plexi would be a good idea if you were to do this project over. hmm... now i want to go make a bulletproof case out of lexan... then get a gun and test it:D (probably not going to tho... too many projects already on the way)

looks good, just finish it up that last bit!