El cheap-0 server case build

[shadow-13x]

So I hate my plain azz server box I have now, bought this one for $30 bux. Gonna do the window thing, UV lights, UV fans and UV cables. Planning on painting the interior jet black, front face vinyl dye black, all exterior metal traffic cone orange. The UV stuff is also orange. Any suggestions, comments, ideas, rants?

EDIT: to those who hate to wait, here is a link to a thumbnailed page with all the below images. thumbnails


The victim:

Time to get naked:

Tools for the trade:

Cut some holes in the front for side by side 80mm fans:

Laying out the next cuts in the front face panel:

The end result:

After some filing and reassembly:

ThE sHaDoW

heres some other stuff I did: http://www.shadowscomputercompany.com/computer/new_computer/

 

[Veeb0rg]

i will definatly watch this mod as i have the same case as my desktop..

 

[shadow-13x]

Update

Weapons of painting:

Front bezel after vinyl dye job:

Frame after painting:

120mm fan guard, needs to be redone, sanded and primmered first:

120mm UV fan, UV lights, UV rounded cables all from SVC $31.00

Front panel small parts. Need to find a way to dye the half moon (grey piece) shaped piece orange. Could not find dye yet, and painting it didn't work too good.

Need some window ideas for the side panels? Anybody, Bueler?

ThE sHaDoW

 

[poopypants]

nice calender, GO PACK GO!

i'd suggest something simple for the side window. is the whole case going to be black. if you are doing the side window from scratch you could try putting reflective tint on the plexi like a mod at bit-tech.net, so the inside only shows up when the pc is lit up. pretty cool

 

[shadow-13x]

The sides and top panel will be done in the orange paint. The frame in real life IS a gloss black, don't know why my camera is showing grey?

Does anybody have any ideas for finding neon orange dye or a way of painting one plastic piece orange? Yes I did google it. No I don't want to buy a gallon of dye.

I'm thinking of a window in the top of the case as well as the side.

Check back in a day or two for the CD-Rom dye job pictures.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

CD Drives after vinyl dye treatment:

Front bezel after painting smaller pieces orange. Home Depot guy said to use plastic primer first then use any paint to get the right color if dye is not available.

Rear finger guard after sanding/primer/repainting, it really is a brighter orange:

The trim I will use to edge the window openings, bought at PepBoys:

Top of the case after cutting out the window and sanding the factory beige off. This is one coat of primer white. Sorry there are no action shots with the dremel, I do all my cutting after work and none of my co-workers wanna stay and take pictures.

Top after one coat of orange:

Side panel window cut getting marked out:

Misc picture of the parts:

Comments?

ThE sHaDoW

 

[-N4cR-Stigma]

Dude, you seriously need to get another ftp, those pictures took 5 mins to appear...

 

[shadow-13x]

That FTP/HTTP is in my basement. I'm looking for a faster upload than Comcrap gives me now. At least the pictures never turn into white squares with red X's.

Could it be the fact there is 34 pictures so far in the post? How are you plugged in 56k?

ThE sHaDoW

 

[KrakenGuy]

I think this looks pimpin' so far. I think I might have suggested before that you get a mesh for the big hole for the dual 80mm fans in the front.

 

[JEEVES/whohasmyname?]

That FTP/HTTP is in my basement. I'm looking for a faster upload than Comcrap gives me now. At least the pictures never turn into white squares with red X's.

Could it be the fact there is 34 pictures so far in the post? How are you plugged in 56k?

ThE sHaDoW

I am at work on a ds3 line and it took about 5 min here too. what kind of upload speed do you have?

Mod looks good, nice clean cuts in the front bezel. I heard that crome spraypaint fades real easy, will have to let us know if it does or not.

JEEVES

 

[shadow-13x]

Yep, wow is that slow today. I have Comcrap cable internet. So whatever they cap my upload at is the problem. I am looking for a faster alternative. In southern NJ any ideas?

I'm not sure where you saw chrome spraypaint? I'm not using any. Thanks everyone for the compliments. This is my first case mod using a Dremel.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[uzor]

If they're in your area, it's all about Speakeasy

 

[JEEVES/whohasmyname?]

http://68.45.82.158/computer/orange_computer_mod/DSCF1410.jpg

That is the picture (I didnt show it to save you some bandwith). looks all shiney like crome

As for comcast you are more than likely the 3mb/254kb. You can get a free upgrade to 4mb/384kb wich would help some. Or you can do like I did and for $10 more than you are paying right now you get 6mb/768kb with would help alot. Why dont you want to use your ftp with comcast? I have not had any problems with so far.

No worries tho Just keep up the work and lets see the finished product (not enough projects get finished)

JEEVES

 

[shadow-13x]

JEEVES,

Thanks for the advise. When I call Comcast what do I ask for to get 6mb/768? If it's only $10 bux and it will make a world of difference, who cares.

That picture is gloss black, at least it is in real life

I did some more cutting yesterday, but I forgot to bring my camera to work. I have more cutting to do tonight and will take pics Wednesday and post Wed night. This project will be finished, or my wife will kill me for spending MORE money on computer parts. This case will replace the plain beige box from 1997 that houses the current FTP/HTTP server that these pictures are on.

Could my server specs be out of date and cause the long delay in loading the pics? PII 266, 440 BX MB, 512 ECC ram, Win XP home, Apache, Rhinosoft FTP.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

Look for picture updates of the side panels tonight.

Speakeasy is not available to me. Could someone recommend a faster upload ISP? or what do I need to ask Comcast to do to upgrade me?

ThE sHaDoW

EDIT : speed test results from home (location of server) 3433/333

 

[uzor]

Start here: http://www.dslreports.com/prequal . They'll get you started in the right direction. The rest of the site is great too, esp their tools section.

 

[shadow-13x]

Side panel with window cut, mother board side before painting:

Other side panel facing motherboard before painting:

Primer paint on:

One coat of orange to the backside:

Orange to the front side:

Some paints I'm planning to test out, bought at AC Moore for $5.00 total with 2 brushes. They state they will glow in the dark, we'll soon see what happens under UV lighting:

ThE sHaDoW

 

[rogue_jedi]

looks pretty cool. halloween color scheme?

 

[shadow-13x]

Nah, orange and black have always been my two favorite colors.

So far no DSL that I live close enough to. I can get it but upload would be around 380, and that's what I have now. I called comcrap and they have a $10 upgrade that I am looking at buying. Although they have a no "Server" rule. Any way to get around that?

ThE sHaDoW

 

[uzor]

What you'll need to do is put your webserver on a port different that port 80. 8080 is popular. Then either specify in your links the alternate port that you're using or find a public DNS server or something that will allow you to set port forwarding from publicurl.com:80 to privateurl.com:8080, or something of the type.

On another note, any cable internet providers in your area?

 

[zapperfish]

Nah, orange and black have always been my two favorite colors.

I second that

 

[Aybabtu]

I thought you said your pictures never turn into white boxes with red x's. The last picture post has some broken pic's.

Nice job on the mod, the triangular window would look cool if it was done on the other side as well. The only thing bad about mobo side windows it that you cant run the wires behind the mobo tray without everyone seeing them.

Aybabtu.

Edit: Well I'll be an uncles monkey, they are showing up now.

 

[shadow-13x]

uzor: thanks for the link to the 8080 port page. yes I have Comcast cable right now

aybabtu: I was kinda stuck for window ideas as the panels had a stamped imprint in them already, tried to get something that would work

kraken guy: I have a mesh idea in my head for the front bezel, looking for some stainless steel at the local metal yard to use


Time to go shopping again at HD for some plastic, rivets, thin strips of metal, and nuts and bolts for the fans. CPU and Memory are in the mail to me.

Here are the specs for this machine:

Supermicro P6SBA MB w/400 Celeron (fleabay $15.00)
PIII 600/512/100/2.05 (fleabay $30.00)
Compaq 256MB x2, 60ns, PC100, ECC, 3.3volt, Registered/Buffered, 168pin, DIMM (fleabay 38.00)
NIC and PCI video card laying around basement (priceless)

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

Time for another update.

Lowes Home Improvement:
white primer paint, soldering gun/iron, 28"x30" plexi, assorted nuts/bolts/washers, flat aluminum stock $47.00

Home Depot:
100 1/8" aluminum rivets, rosin core solder $8.12

Now on to the pictures.

I am open to some suggestions for a place to mount this switch? Won't fit in a PCI slot (too big) , any ideas???????????

I found this "how to" in the FAQ and did the following:

CD Rom case gutted and window mod cut:

CD Tray removed:

Case painted primer white:

CD tray painted with white plastic primer:

More painting and work to follow in the next few days. Going to order some UV LED's and try and wire them inside the CD case. Never did it before, but I have a few old 4x CD Rom's to experiment on. Still need to get the mesh for the front intake.

Yes I know the pictures load slowly. Stop PM'ing me, I'm working on it.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

New update. Memory arrived today. Ordered (50) 5mm UV LED's. Just need to find resistors. On with the work.

De-solder power supply switches, and marked each wire with liquid white out.

Soldering iron:

Power supply skinz, before dremel:

CD case top and bottom after painting black:

CD tray after paint:

Power supply after dremel, yes I have neon orange ear plugs to drown out the racket from the dremel:

Power supply painted:

Sneak peak of the case partly assembled:

That's all for today. More pictures tommorow night. Any thoughts? Am I alone here? I still need to chop a hole in the frame for the UV lights toggle, not too excited about that since the case is painted already. I may just hide the switch inside the case and be done with it.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[MrSlacker]

that looks very good! cant wait to see how it turns out

 

[uzor]

Nah....we're here. Just quiet. Are you planning on moving the PS plug and switch, or did you just need to do that for paint? Also, some of us do like the crazy bright orange you got going on there....Wife wouldn't let it in the house, tho.

Keep it up.

 

[shadow-13x]

UPDATE: I got the upgrade from Comcast. All I need to do is unplug the modem at home and plug it back in. So how is this an update? Well, my pics may turn to red "X's" if I get a new IP addy during the power outage. Give me a few mins to update all the picture links if it happens.

uzor: I removed that stuff just for the painting only. going back to stock after that. my wife has not seen the color yet, I'll just sneak it in the basement

ThE sHaDoW

 

[uzor]

Best of luck.....I showed that to my wife for fun after I posted last, and she actually thought the case was pretty cool!! Here's hoping you have similar fortune.

 

[shadow-13x]

UPDATE:

Still waiting for LED's and resistors to arrive for CD Rom and power supply mods to finish. Here's what I have so far. Do the pics load any faster?

CD drive after painting the tray and reassembly:

CD enclosure after window mod and reassembly:

Top of case with chrome trim for window:

Power supply enclosure after window mod and reassembly:

Finally found a place to mount the UV light toggle:

This is why you should plan things better than I did with windows. I forgot to check how much room there was on the backside between the motherboard and the side panel. Now I can't fit the window with the chrome trim back there without more cutting. This really suxs because I already painted the inside and will need to repaint after cleaning tons of metal dust The white line is liquid whiteout to mark where I need to hog out the support bar.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

More updates tonight when I get home from work. Still waiting for the friggen LED's to arrive from friken Hong Kong.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[shadow-13x]

Time for a late update. I got the windows mounted in the side panels and top panel using two layers of double sided tape. My original plan of using rivets and aluminum strips had to be scrapped. Plexi I was using kept cracking when I tried to drill some test holes in a scrap piece. Reassembled the power supply after sleeving the wires. Now on to the pics.

Motherboard side of case with window, plastic not peeled yet, picture without flash:

link to same picture with camera flash on

Rear of the case flash on:

Top of case, no flash:

Left side of case no flash:

link to same pic with camera flash

Power supply gettin sleeved:

Notice two yellow wires stickin straight up, going to use for LED's inside PS:

CD Rom after some UV paint:

UV lights on, no flash:

UV lights off, no flash:

My test bench mess:

The magic paint:

More to come.

ThE sHaDoW

 

[TVersetti]

.../favorite added.

 

[postalcop]

I didn't think orange and black would be sucha good color combo but I like it. I like the window cutouts too. Great job so far.

 

[SpangeMonkee]

I have that same case. though, I put bondo over the pacman button and put in round ones.

you shouldn't display all that stuff on the Packers calendar though. it makes it look bad. a Falcons calendar would look nice.

 

[zapperfish]

the colours look so so very nice

 

[shadow-13x]

Thanks gang. Kinda in a lag waiting for LED's to finish up CD and PSU mods. Also need them for an interior lighting project. I'll prolly start wiring some of the fans and CC's tonight (nothing exciting there).

ThE sHaDoW

 

[zapperfish]

good luck with the wireing

 

[shadow-13x]

LED's on the slow boat from China finally arrived. Mod on!

Power supply with freshly sleeved wires and power connectors swapped for black plugs. I also wired in 4 LED's.

Power on, lights out.

different angle same shot

CD Rom lit up by PS LED's

same shot different angle

Wiring CD Rom for internal LED's. Soldered to the 12v and GRD post on the bottom of the PCB board.

closeup of same shot

Feeding wires up through a premade hole in CD Rom case.

LED's all soldered in place and heat shrink ready to go. Yes I re-routed the ground wire to the other side from previous picture.

CD tray closed, LED's hovering in place.

Powered up.

different angle

CD tray ejected.

Closeup of finished project.

That's all I got for now. Racing season is getting ready to start this weekend, so my time I can spend on this will be reduced. I will continue, but not every day. I will finish, just not as soon as I would have liked. This is our race car for the 05 season.

Thanks for everyone's opinions, I am greatful none of them were negative. (must be doing something right? )

ThE sHaDoW

 

[uzor]

On the constructive criticism front, I would probably re-route the leds in the power supply so that they lit up the opening, but so that you couldn't actually see the leds. Kinda detracts from the look of the window IMO. Aside from that, it's looking really good.