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Brand new to case modding (getting started questions)

J

jreffy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 25, 2006
Messages
300
Hey everyone,
I'm so glad that I found a forum/website that seems really insightful and has so many great resources and members posting in the forums. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know it looks rather lengthy =/.
I just graduated college, and started my career as a biomedical engineer. To reward myself I'm building something I've never had before, a brand new ultimate gaming PC. However, I also thought, "well if my hardware is going to be 'ultimate', shouldn't my case be as well??"
I've already settled on a case idea that I probably won't be able to pull off as nicely as I want to, but I'm going to try anyway. Today I'm going to go out and buy a really cheap aluminum case (my gaming PC will be an aluminum case), and start practicing my painting and other small mods with it.
My question for you guys is, is there anything that you guys say "Man I wish I had known this when I started"? I'm also going to start investing in some tools, are there any that you suggest are "must-haves"? Obviously I'm not going to be able to start a whole shop, I can borrow a sander for example, but I know for sure I'm going to be buying an airbrush. What do you suggest are tools that I really must have in my collection for modding? Also, feel free to include any other advice you think should be passed on.
Thanks in advance for any response and especially for taking the time to read all this :)
 
Well, first of all I wish I had known that an adjustable hole saw makes a PERFECT hole in most metals in a drill press. Honestly, dremeling out blowholes etc. are a waste of time with this thing. 14.99 at Home depot.

Before cutting any holes, ALWAYS use masking tape to cover the area your cutting tool might come into contact with. A good 4 layers of masking tape over the areas on and around your new blowhole WILL PREVENT the scratching of paint off the top of your case if you happen to let your dremel slip!!

I also wished I had known that a great metal primer + high heat (bakeable) paint produce MUCH BETTER FINISHES than regular, even CAR paint. These are great for painting drive cages, dvd rom cases etc.

What else... Well, keep IDE lengths under or equal to 24 inches (found out the hard way).

You can use the un-ink filled portion of an ink tube from any BIC pen to remove the male molex pins, great for when you need to sleeve something! Also, as long as you put the yellow and red wires back in the right sides, it doesn't matter which black wire goes where. All the black wires in your computer ground to the SAME PLACE!

A great option for sleeving connections is the wire mesh around sink faucet hookups. These can be found at home depot, and cost about 4.50$ for a 20" length... Really expensive but look super cool. Use in a pinch if you've run out of sleeving.

A good vinyl dye (or vinyl paint) can change the colour of plastics on your case. Don't bother with plastic paint, use this stuff. Vinyl Dye can also change the colour of the polyeurothane covers on wires... A good idea to do before sleeving a PSU as colours can still soemtimes show through.

Oh god what else... You can use 1/8" thick plexiglass as a window, but 1/4 inch has better sound-cutting properties.

Get lots of the 120mm Yate Loon fans from Jab-Tech.com as they're amazing for their price.

Red Cathodes look more pink or orange than red.

You need LOTS of UV cathodes to get a good glow.


Most of these were found out via trial and error.... I'll post more as I find em lol.
 
Can you find me a link to the "adjustable hole saw" for 14.99 that you saw at homedepot ? Nice write up btw.
 
The Dremel is a very overused tool by most case modders. It's often not the best tool for the job. A jigsaw, even a cheapish one, will save you a lot of time and hair for large holes/windows etc. If you can get access to a drill press - make use of it, it will give you a cleaner hole when using a holesaw, also using cutting oil when drilling anything will make it cut better and prolong the life of your tools. Titanium drill bits are a con, High Speed Steel (HSS) is what you need to be using to drill holes in steel, alum, and acrylic.

Measure thrice, cut once. Plan everything out before you start, whether it's in your head or on paper. If you know how/where everything will go at the beginning you can do things in such a fashion that you aren't going back to change things later. Test fit everything before you paint. Run a mockup of your cabling so you know you have routing holes in all the places you need them

Sleeving cables is time consuming, be patient and don't rush it. Take the time to do it properly and you'll have something to be proud of.

Understated is better than loud and glaring.

Enjoy your modding!
 
Dremel has its place. But its sort of life taking a Swiss Army Knife on a hunting and camping trip; its OK but there certainly are better options. I know because I did Dremel out my window hole as well as my top blowhole. Let me assure you I went thru an entire package and a half of those heavy duty disk thingers. Still it is probably a worthy and necessary addition for any case modder. Just ne careful about over relying on a Dremel as a stand alone All-In-One tool.

Also you can never have too many zip-ties, cheap as dirt and useful.

Finally, sometimes you get caught between asethetically pleasing and OC friendly. I did this when I originally put a side fan over my cpu and video card. Then I wanted a window so I got one. But without the additional cooling my OC was minimized. That was unacceptable to me so I cut holes in my windows for 2 120mm fans. My rig ain't the prettiest looking one but she had it where it counted to me; performance. Of course now she's three years old but she's still with me
 
A rule I have set up for myself is not to use the dremel at all. It tends to be very messy and does not accomplish the job near as well as a holesaw or a nibbler: http://www.directron.com/nibbletool.html The nibbler combined with a few layers of masking tape and a bit of patience will get you a great, clean case window. When you are modding, at first accept failure. I am still not all that good at modding (I haven't even bothered to upload my case mods), and I have been working at it for a while. Don't expect to succed perfectly on your first mod, it is very rare.

Good luck with your modding :D
 
Wow, some really great input so far guys. I'm going to make sure I get a nibbler to go along with the dremel I already have.


I went out and bought a cheap 50$ aluminum case last night (the case for my real PC will be aluminum so I figured get a similar practice case). I also got my sandpapers and rubbign compounds. I'll be sanding and painting all week on a side panel to work on getting a high mirror shine.

I also bought a few small pieces of acrylic to see what I can do as far as cutting and shaping it. I have some ideas for what I'm going to do, I'm just not sure on the easy/feasability of making them happen.

Again, thanks for the input guys, I'm sure I'm going to be on here constantly from now on to figure out how to do a lot of this stuff.


EDIT: One last question. I'm doing this case modding for the new computer I'm going to build, but what do I do if I'm interested in still modding cases? Obviously I won't need to build another computer, but what do the other modders do? Make a case and ebay it? Make PC's for friends? Or do they just build an entire new computer and modded case and sell it?
 
synaps3 said:
Don't expect to succed perfectly on your first mod, it is very rare.
Click to expand...

Patience and taking your time will get you a perfect mod, even if you are a starter. A steady hand doesnt hurt either.
 
ok here's a question.


I've settled on a case theme I'm very excited about. I want to put the logo for the game "Savage 2: A Tortured Soul" on the side of my case. The logo can be found at this link; http://savage2.s2games.com/images/savage_logo.jpg

I think what I want to do is have the skull and its mounting laser etched into a piece of acrylic and cut my case to match. I also want to back-light the Savage 2 text by painting it onto a piece of Acrylic as well. However, I'm a little unsure on how to do the Savage 2 text with the sword backround. I'd love to keep their color scheme and everything, but I know I couldn't paint that onto an acrylic anywhere close to looking like that. Is there a way to get that text printed on a type of clear sticker? Something I could just lay over a piece of acrylic and then mount it into my case?
 
tips.

the dremel is a godsend for SMALL things. it is not the god of all tools, its versitile and kick ass for budget but it cannot do everything.

draw everything out first, from a kid with ADHD this comes in handy because if i care enough to draw it out really well, then i care enough to do it.

masking tape is holy.

have music in the background so you can take your time and not rush



PS. where does one buy(store or website) and cut acrylic
 
Pocket multimeter if you're going to do anything with wires at all. Lose track of which wire goes to which in a big bundle you can use the continuity function to figure it out real easy. Also helps you if you forget which color is +5V and which is +12V.

Double-Sided Foam Tape. In a lot of applications, this stuff can be stronger than duct tape, and if you dont' want to marr the outer finish of your case you can use this to mount plexi and lexan windows seamlessly from the inside of the panel. Unless you've got mirrors inside your case, no one will ever see it and ambient heat from your case just makes it stick stronger.

Box of random LED's / Molex Connectors / Wires / Resistors. Find yourself with some spare molex's and a few extra Watts? LED spotlights are one of the easiest mods to rig up and there are lots of helpful tools online to get the right resistor values for your LEDs. They can help cover lighting areas that your CCFL's might miss such as inside drive bays, or you can use them to make certain components stick out more than others. I also tend to replace most of the LED's in my components so they all match my color schemes. Kindof annoying to have a pulsating glowing red case and a single green or yellow LED sticking out in your drive bay.

Heat Shrink Tubing. Better than wrapping wire joints with electrical tape and it's cheap. You can even use your soldering iron to shrink it if you don't wanna buy a heat gun.
 
Moddest Mouse said:
PS. where does one buy(store or website) and cut acrylic
Click to expand...
I buy from Home Depot or Ace Hardware. Cut it on your own by scoring the line with an xacto knife and then snapping it or dremmeling it...
 
synaps3 said:
I buy from Home Depot or Ace Hardware. Cut it on your own by scoring the line with an xacto knife and then snapping it or dremmeling it...
Click to expand...
can i get colored acrylic??
 
Moddest Mouse said:
can i get colored acrylic??
Click to expand...

I was at home depot yesterday picking up small peices, they didn't have any tinted colors, but i know such a thing exists.
 
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