Ask me your case modding questions, I will answer.

[H]alcyon441 said:
Anyone know where I can buy a windowed side panel for my Ahanix Noblesse Mirror (Black)? I have checked ebay and googled but to no avail. I found a lian li side panel on ebay but the measurements were off.
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what'd you do to your old one? Either buy a new one or make one yourself. If it's a regular case, all you probably have to do is buy a metal brake and bend the lip. Then drill holes for the screws :D
 
wayne said:
hey Flecom, i m just wondering... what kinda supplies are you selling?, i read your sig... i m not planning to buy though, just looking for a friend whos wants to start modding

also, how much are heat guns and where can i buy them?
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lol no im not selling anything, that was from a thread created by a certain mod store owner bitching about how we were "biased" twoards anohter mod store... it brought out a lot of people that hadnet been on in years, kittie etc... it was pretty funny... i think its the only time i posted (as rage would say) a "stupid photochopped pic" that he didnt delete in Cool Cases... :cool:
 
FLECOM said:
lol no im not selling anything, that was from a thread created by a certain mod store owner bitching about how we were "biased" twoards anohter mod store... it brought out a lot of people that hadnet been on in years, kittie etc... it was pretty funny... i think its the only time i posted (as rage would say) a "stupid photochopped pic" that he didnt delete in Cool Cases... :cool:
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ahhh, makes sense now..lol
 
back to the questions...

is it possible to frost your own plexi? or do you have to go buy the applique stuff or get a shop to do it for you?
 
rogue_jedi said:
back to the questions...

is it possible to frost your own plexi? or do you have to go buy the applique stuff or get a shop to do it for you?
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frost as in making it semi blurry and whitish feeling?... simple, sandpaper

i ve done it before when i made this thing for my moms bday, it was a acrylic heart that was frosted with a super bright LED on the bottom lighting the whole thing up...

what you do is, take sandpaper of a lower grit like maybe 200 or even 100 and sand your way up to like 400 grit... the result will look fabolous but the thing is, once you wash it, it becomes a lil more clearer because you got rid of the acrylic dust... so its better to stay as low in grit as you can............now that i said that, if anythings wrong, especially the grit numbers, please correct me
 
ok, i have a question and since this thread seems to be right on target with my question i might as well ask it here...

i have a Thermaltake Xaser II 5000 case, no window, but i plan to add one sometime down the road. now, my concern is the side panel and it's raised face, i'm not sure if i can just cut through it or if i should hammer it out or what. i'll let you guys be the judge, here's a pic of the case from thermaltake.com

http://www.thermaltake.com/images/products/cases/5000/case5000a.jpg

now, what do you think? i've been thinking about doing a circular shaped window with red cathodes inside.
 
rogue_jedi said:
back to the questions...

is it possible to frost your own plexi? or do you have to go buy the applique stuff or get a shop to do it for you?
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what wayne said.........................but wayne...................stop hijacking my thread :p
 
[H]Daemon said:
ok, i have a question and since this thread seems to be right on target with my question i might as well ask it here...

i have a Thermaltake Xaser II 5000 case, no window, but i plan to add one sometime down the road. now, my concern is the side panel and it's raised face, i'm not sure if i can just cut through it or if i should hammer it out or what. i'll let you guys be the judge, here's a pic of the case from thermaltake.com

http://www.thermaltake.com/images/products/cases/5000/case5000a.jpg

now, what do you think? i've been thinking about doing a circular shaped window with red cathodes inside.
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If you pound it out, it'll warp. Just cut the window and call it good. On the other hand, find something more original to do to the case besides a side window :D
 
Qtip42 said:
If you pound it out, it'll warp. Just cut the window and call it good. On the other hand, find something more original to do to the case besides a side window :D
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Ah, I shall... thanks for the tips! :D
 
Qtip42 said:
what wayne said.........................but wayne...................stop hijacking my thread :p
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lol, BITE ME!!! :D :D

HAHAHAHAHAAAA


ok, i ll stop ;)
 
Alright Qtip, here's one for you and I don't want a generic "use tie wraps..etc" :p
Give me some advice on wire management in my case.
I have in there:
A TruePower 430
Two ATAPI devices on one Channel
Floppy
HD - Serial ATA
9800XT
SB Audigy2
For my case, I have a similar case to the chieftec and has front stereo, mic and usb ports not used. And now for the image:
3633.jpg
 
Dont use tie wraps. Grab your sister or mom or girlfriend or neighbor girl and ask her how to braid the wires. It's just like braiding hair.

Other than that you can sleeve it but that costs money. Braiding is a simple effective tool for wire management.
 
Well, can you make a diagram showing where to place the wires and should I remove these spare wires(Front Panel connectors)?
 
I'm not gonna teach you how to braid :D ask your mom :D............and there's a general rule with wires here that yer missing........if you dont use the connector in the first place, there's no point in having it inside the computer.
 
I'm not asking how to braid, I would get the sleeving anyways. I'm asking for you to point out some areas on paint to move the wires. And another thing, how does one replace LEDs if he doesn't have a soldering iron.
 
I'd hide them behind the mobo tray or behind the bays if you can. Otherwise you can set up a false wall yourself with some sheet metal and hide it behind there. I can't draw that stuff up for you because i have no idea how many connectors you have on your P/S and what connectors go where. That's something you need to do yourself :D lazy :D

LEDs are sometimes put into those two prong connector things (if they're the basic red 20mcd LED or whatever rating they are. If that's the case, you can pull it out and put a new one in (of the same exact type).......You wont get very far with LEDs without a soldering iron. One can be had for $10 or less at radioshack.

And wiring LEDs in general is a pain in the ass, someone needs to make holders for them that allow you to plug LEDs and wires directly into the connector :D
 
fyi you can buy translucent frosted looking plexi, but its expensive and hard to find...i recommend the sander. you can do LEDs without a soldering iron...just use that goop in a syringe from radioshack that you heat with a lighter, but that stuff is lame - a soldering iron is cheap (I've got one for $2 at frys electronics...works good) and you won't regret purchasing it. in my experience the dual-heat ones from radio shack (15w and 30w selectable) are a good concept but don't work well. just my $0.02
 
uhm.....sand it down all the same and then primer and paint it.....
 
Qtip42 said:
I'd hide them behind the mobo tray or behind the bays if you can. Otherwise you can set up a false wall yourself with some sheet metal and hide it behind there. I can't draw that stuff up for you because i have no idea how many connectors you have on your P/S and what connectors go where. That's something you need to do yourself :D lazy :D

LEDs are sometimes put into those two prong connector things (if they're the basic red 20mcd LED or whatever rating they are. If that's the case, you can pull it out and put a new one in (of the same exact type).......You wont get very far with LEDs without a soldering iron. One can be had for $10 or less at radioshack.

And wiring LEDs in general is a pain in the ass, someone needs to make holders for them that allow you to plug LEDs and wires directly into the connector :D
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No, not lazy. You said ask anything, just messing :p My Question about paint was answered before I posted it. Sadly, the Mobo Panel spans just about the whole side of the case horizontally. Xoxide sold clips, I believe for 5mm LEDs.
EDIT: http://xoxide.com/5mmledclwico.html
 
Qtip42 said:
Dont use tie wraps. Grab your sister or mom or girlfriend or neighbor girl and ask her how to braid the wires. It's just like braiding hair.

Other than that you can sleeve it but that costs money. Braiding is a simple effective tool for wire management.
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hmm, braiding... thats a pretty good idea... is it ok if i mix up the ground wires because those are gonna be the hardest to keep track of?... i doubt it'll matter cus they're all ground right?


And another thing, how does one replace LEDs if he doesn't have a soldering iron.
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what i usually do is bend the leg of the LED upwards and take a stripped wire and wrap the uninsulated wire around the legs and twist it tight, then wrap with electrical tape...

that was what i did before i bought a solder iron


I'm not asking how to braid
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if you do braid... do it in a pattern like this
123
213
231
321
312
132
123
etc etc etc


I'd hide them behind the mobo tray or behind the bays if you can. Otherwise you can set up a false wall yourself with some sheet metal and hide it behind there.
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thats what i do and if the wires are long enough, hide and run it along the edge of the case window


Sadly, the Mobo Panel spans just about the whole side of the case horizontally.
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put it over the panel on the top and back into it thru a hole in the panel on the lower part... if you dont have those random gigantic holes, then cut one or something :D

Xoxide sold clips, I believe for 5mm LEDs.
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what a ripoff, 4 bucks for that??... think about this... if your a modding fanatic, you definitely use a lot of LEDs, maybe 5, 10 or even 20 at a time depending on your mod... and its 4 bucks each, lets say you use 10 leds for a really good mod... do you wanna pay 40 bucks for a buncha wires and plastic molding that they shipped outta the factory?.. i wouldnt

as for the LEDs, ive discovered a REALLY good way to hold them... i was making this mod where i used a lot of LEDs to light up something and what i did was i took a IDE cable and just plugged it into the holes... then i seperated the wires and cut the ones i didnt need and twisted the negative wires in one buncha and positive wires in one bunch... when i hook them up to power, they all went on... so yea, my new technique for more than one LEDs is simply use a ribbon IDE cable
 
how easy/hard is it to mod a steel case? in regards to cutting and that type of thing?
 
endrbud said:
how easy/hard is it to mod a steel case? in regards to cutting and that type of thing?
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start by naming a specific task and we'll tell you how to do it and you decide for yourself
 
i am talking about cutting a window for example. i have a steel case sitting around just begging to be modded. but im afraid that the steel will be too much on my dremel and it wont cut very well. has anyone had good experiences with modding a steel case, and if they do what tools did they use for it?
 
endrbud said:
how easy/hard is it to mod a steel case? in regards to cutting and that type of thing?
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Steel is tough to cut and even tougher to cut small details into. You're better off using aluminum.
 
wayne said:
its my nature... :D

ok, lemme answer the IDE cable one and i ll tryta stop ;)
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Actually I'd like to hear that, I'm about to buy a mess of LEDs so it would be beneficial for me :)
 
PROPS TO ME...w00t!!!!!

this is using the round 5mm LEDs, notice how i have to space it for every other pins?...observe....i used green LEDs instead of clear ones so the pic is less blurry and you can make out the boundaries of each LED
green LED IDE.jpg


heres another pic to show the spacing between the pin holes
green LED IDE 2.jpg


now, in this one, i used red LEDs to again, indicate their position.... however, i used the flat kind of LEDs to show that if the flat ones are used, ALL the space on the IDE cable can be used to stuff more LEDs and no spacing is required
red LED IDE pic.jpg



if seriously requested, i ll seperate the wires of this cable and strip it and connect the power but i dont have time to do that right now... i ll do it later if enough people ask for pics

enjoy!! :D
 
btw, if your doing this for a lot of LEDs thats gonna be held together permanently, i recommend hot glue but dont cover the tips of the LEDs... hot glue will hold it together and also insulate the legs of the LEDs

another thing... this can also be done with floppy ribbon cables, and also some parallel/series PCI cable extension things... i dont know what those are called

AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS TOO.... its ingenius, heheh :D
i want opinions!!!!!
 
endrbud said:
i am talking about cutting a window for example. i have a steel case sitting around just begging to be modded. but im afraid that the steel will be too much on my dremel and it wont cut very well. has anyone had good experiences with modding a steel case, and if they do what tools did they use for it?
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You'll be fine. Just get some reinforced cut-off wheels and your dremel. A dremel will not cut through steel like butter, you have to take it slow and be patient. Don't force the tool, let it do the work. Remember to wear safety glasses and have a cold beer waiting nearby, not too close though, you don't want metal dust in your beer.
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
You'll be fine. Just get some reinforced cut-off wheels and your dremel. A dremel will not cut through steel like butter, you have to take it slow and be patient. Don't force the tool, let it do the work. Remember to wear safety glasses and have a cold beer waiting nearby, not too close though, you don't want metal dust in your beer.
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have to resist... if it takes a while those beer(s) will be calling my name, dont want to be getting too much of a buzz while i do this. :D
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
You'll be fine. Just get some reinforced cut-off wheels and your dremel. A dremel will not cut through steel like butter, you have to take it slow and be patient. Don't force the tool, let it do the work. Remember to wear safety glasses and have a cold beer waiting nearby, not too close though, you don't want metal dust in your beer.
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i heard people say jigsaws with a metal cutting blade... cuts thru cases like cake... i guess jigsaws are pretty good... im probably gonna buy like a $15 dollar one soon for the heck of it

btw, has anyone actually looked at the pics i posted on page 6 about my idea of using IDE cables to hold LEDs?
 
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