First Full Case Mod & Worklog Attempt

[memnoch_thedevil]

So this will be my first full case mod, with custom paint, and a pretty radical change in the case design over all itself.

I chose the Lian-Li PC-P50 case, because it is new, not a lot of people have it yet, and it is 100% tool free, and once you strip it down, you can tell Lian-Li designed this case to be a modders case.

The case is exquisite, and I am a complete noob when it comes to tools and modifications. So needless to say, I was quite nervous taking a virgin case and chopping it to pieces.

This cases's layout is pretty much perfect as it is, but I wanted something different. The only thing about the case's original layout that I didn't like, is that the hard drive cage was facing front to back, and I would have preferred the side facing orientation.

So for this mod, the goal is to reorient the hard drive cage and make it smaller, but still large enough to accomodate 3 hard drives. The reason for cutting the hard drive cage smaller is to move the PSU from the rear of the case, and bring it to the front.





I want to add 2 140mm fans in the bottom of the case, and seal off the motherboard area to make it a top to bottom air flow design.

You can see from this front shot of the case, that you could add 2 more (in addition to the 1 stock that comes with the case) of the hard drive cages that have a 120mm fan attached. I wanted to try and keep the cage, so it would be easier to mount the hard drives, but I don't think that the size will permit it, so I completly took the hard drive cage apart and made a smaller version of it, and the fan will be mounted to the side panel instead of the cage.



I will post pics of the actual mods a little further down.

This is a side shot of the case, I will need to get a piece of plexi cut to cover the holes on the motherboard tray, I am thinking about something with a design in it and backlit with an LED, like the i7 logo.

Here you can see the orientation of the front hard drive cage, and walls of the cage. I took out all the rivets, and removed the walls, and I will cut it to size, and re-rivet the new size.

Not much to say here, but a shot of the top 2 140mm fans.

Here is a picture of the sketchup model I am working on to help give a better visual of what my overall goals are. Eventually watercooling is my goal, but the cost is prohibitive, and nearly $700 (will be more that is just the main components) to set it up the way I want to.

Here is another angle of it to show the wall's using acrylic. The side wall towards the front will actually be a mirrored acrylic, and I will cut holes similar to the ones on the motherboard tray for the wires from the PSU to the motherboard. Also will cut holes for the pumps. I haven't completly decided on the resavoir location's or types, but here is one possibility. I might mount them to the same wall the pumps are coming out of, just above them, and use cylindrical resavoirs. Still have a way to go before I am ready for that decision so it's on hold for now.

The next few shots are of the case stripped, and possible locations of fans, PSU etc...

My youngest, he is as obsessed with my case as I am, always right there trying to be involved lol.

This is my first cut, the placement for the PSU, which will be front facing and mounted in the front of the case. I have reversed the fan so that is it now an exhaust and will add a fan below for intake, to keep with the over all air flow of the rest of the case.

Here is the holes I cut out for the 2 bottom 140mm fans, but as you can see, it is hard to get the circles correct. The fans fit, and all of the blades are exposed, but it just doesn't look clean. So my fix for this, I will measure 1" from each side, and 1" from the back and cut out the rest. Then draw up a vector in CAD, and have an acrylic bottom piece laser cut out, and mounted in that space

This is the top I/O panel cut out, that I will modify as well. Thanks to zittware, (over at Austinmodders.com), he cut out a new i/o shield for the power/reset, and in this space will be the Zalman fan controller, with a custom acrylic laser cut out face, that zit also worked up for me.

This is what the i/o section looks like under the shroud, I will need to shave some of that off so the fan controller fits.

Here is the new i/o panel, currently at the bottom of the case, but I am going to reorient it to the top instead, because of the PSU placement.

Another shot of the i/o.

Here is a shot of the fan controller face plate.

Another shot.

Will add more later.

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Minor update...finally finished the bottom acrylic piece, it is to scale, with the proper layout for my fans and PSU + all of the screw mounts and case feet. I downloaded a free plugin for sketchup, to do a render, but no clue what I am doing here, so anyone feel free to point me in the right direction. Also, if anyone knows how I can convert this to a vector, and what program I can use to create the vector so I can take it to the shop in the next town over, please let me know also.

In the meantime, here are a few more snip shots of the bottom acrylic piece. I am still undecided on the overall color of the internals. The outside will remain black, and the board is black and red, so I am thinking of a candy red clear coat for the inside frame, tray etc...

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Another small update:

I scrapped the original sketchup at the top because it was borrowed components and not to scale, and I have been working on a new case from scratch for sketchup to get better dimensions and a more accurate feel of the over all case design. It is pretty dam accurate, I sat and measured everything out from my actual case with a square rule, and drew it up. I left off things like rivet holes, and holes for panels etc..I didn't want to waste that much time on the unnecessary. This is what I have so far:

This is an iso shot of the frame and how it will be. I will cut the bottom out .5" around, and 2/16" up front near the PSU, leaving room and holes for the feet. You can see the bottom acrylic piece I will have cut out in front of the case. I already have a vector worked up for that piece. Tossed some color to see what it looks like, I am still undecided on a final color.

Another angle of the above.

This shot shows the acrylic piece in place, and a different color slapped on the case

This is just a blue box I slapped together to represent the 2 x 140mm rad, it is sized to its dimensions to give me an idea of what kind of room I am going to have, and well...not much. But with the Typhoon III looking so promising, it may work out worlds better and fit any way!


That's it for now...off to work, running late again lol

 

[Concentric]

Quite an interesting design, nice to have the Sketchup images.
Doesn't look like there's much in he way of ventilation in the front compartment though, other than the PSU. Did I miss something?

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Quite an interesting design, nice to have the Sketchup images.
Doesn't look like there's much in he way of ventilation in the front compartment though, other than the PSU. Did I miss something?

I must have left that out in my original thoughts of the case design,

I am sealing off the motherboard area for a top to bottom air flow design, that will eventually be watercooled. I reversed the fan of the PSU so that it is an exhaust, and I will mount a slim 80-92mm fan underneath for an intake on the psu.

The hard drives will have a 120mm fan mounted to each of the side panels to all for a semi push/pull cooling solution. So the air flow of the hard drives doesn't interfere with the motherboard area, they are mounted to the side, with the intake and exhaust also on the sides.

I am redoing my original sketchup model to get a more detailed and accurate image, just might take me a while I kind of suck with it lol...

 

[gwarren007]

Grabs popcorn ........./watching

 

[DarthBeavis]

Nice planning but you should consider using one of these instead of the two pumps:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Primochill-Typhoon-III-Reservoir-System-PEC-pr-4497.html

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Nice planning but you should consider using one of these instead of the two pumps:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Primochill-Typhoon-III-Reservoir-System-PEC-pr-4497.html

It looks promising, and would be mountains cheaper, but there is a pretty extensive thread on it over at XS, and I haven't really given it a thorough read yet, but the last few pages show pictures of stress cracks in the housing, that several people are experiencing. So might be a bad toy to get. I am a ways off from getting to the WC section of this project any way, and once there, I will be posting for help/tips, and doing some research on it, to find the best bang/buck etc...I sure do hope that the Typhoon III works out though, it would eliminate and space issues and save a ton in cost.

Thanks for posting, and love your current project btw

 

[fluke420]

It looks promising, and would be mountains cheaper, but there is a pretty extensive thread on it over at XS, and I haven't really given it a thorough read yet, but the last few pages show pictures of stress cracks in the housing, that several people are experiencing. So might be a bad toy to get. I am a ways off from getting to the WC section of this project any way, and once there, I will be posting for help/tips, and doing some research on it, to find the best bang/buck etc...I sure do hope that the Typhoon III works out though, it would eliminate and space issues and save a ton in cost.

Thanks for posting, and love your current project btw

[H] also has a similar thread. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1437509

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Ya it looks perfect, and the cost is the price of a single pump alone. I might be able to get a wc setup sooner than I thought with that

at work now so won't get to do any more until tomorrow afternoon.

 

[pc1x1]

Very Cool 3D work, wish I could preplanned that way myself, I just winged it and made little pictures

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Minor update above!

Very Cool 3D work, wish I could preplanned that way myself, I just winged it and made little pictures

meh, I'm a total noob at this stuff, but thanks lol...I'm still trying to get the hang of it, it's getting a little easier though. Next will be trying to figure out textures and renders lol...I want to make the rear wall out of mirrored acrylic, so I'd like to try to get a mock piece in there for sketchup

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Well, after a long break with no money lol here is another minor update. I finished all of the cutting I needed to do on the drive cage, and main assembly cage pieces, cut out the bottom, and got it all painted. Tomorrw I should get the window and fan cut out of the side panel, and then hopefully (fingers crossed) get the bottom floor and front piece cut too. I have the acrylic pieces all together already, just need to get them on a laser table to cut out the fan placement and psu hole. I have a plan for the inner wall and wall below the motherboard and the spot where the psu sat originally, but I will wait to let the pictures show what I am doing, because I might not like it lol


Some pics that aren't the best, but wife has the camera loaned out to her mother, so been stuck using the iphone:

 

[pc1x1]

Wow looks great! Very nice paintwork

 

[ekuest]

this looks great man! are you using those orange-bladed fans all around?

 

[Concentric]

Very nice job on the paintwork. You should paint the mobo backplate too, maybe black.

 

[SuperTroye]

I agree with others... that paint job is top notch! It looks like you are using a spray gun, are you also baking the paint or letting it air dry? This is excellent work so far!

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Thanks for all of the comments guys! I will have an update with some more pictures a little later today. I was able to get my bottom floor laser cut out and a few of the other pieces I needed. I still have 2 more walls I need to cut, and I need to cut out the window in the side panel + the 2 120mm blow holes in the side panel.

I will put most of it together to take some pics though!


@ ekuest, yes I have all xiggy fans all around. A rear 120mm xiggy for intake, 2 more 140mm fans on the bottom for intake, and 2 120mm xiggy on the TRUE Spirit in a push/pull, as well as another 92mm xiggy on the HR-03 for the NB, all are the same model and have white LED's.

@ Concentric I am planning on it, I am trying to see if maybe I can paint the other side of it too lol. I don't really need the drawings, I think I can figure out where everything goes hehe

@ SuperTroye...ya it is a paint gun, and yes air dry. Thanks!

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Sorry I didn't get any pictures up last night...I stayed up until 6am this morning working on the case so I was tired lol

I still need to cut the feet for the case, cut out the side panel window, and 120mm fan blow holes. I am thinking about maybe making another window on the other side panel to showcase the back of the motherboard panel, as there will be virtually no wires visible from the rear of the case.

I also need to cut the cable managment holes in the inner wall and sleeve the remaining cables. So this is probably where the case will sit until next payday lol

For the semi gallery look here:
Here are a couple of pics: (Again sorry for the crappy quality...wife still hasn't got our camera back.)

 

[SuperTroye]

@ SuperTroye...ya it is a paint gun, and yes air dry. Thanks!

That's a good job dude. What paint gun / compressor are you using. I am interested in getting setup with one for my own use and have no idea where to start. Also, are you wet sanding the finish here? It looks great... darn the wife for not getting the camera back and not getting paid weekly!

 

[Dan_D]

I think it's a neat idea, but one thing always bothers me. Why do some people want such huge reservoirs in their machines? I understand why you would want a reservoir in the first place, but why such large ones? Why have more water in your machine than is necessary?

 

[MeltingTmel]

Sick dude, love the work!

/sub

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

That's a good job dude. What paint gun / compressor are you using. I am interested in getting setup with one for my own use and have no idea where to start. Also, are you wet sanding the finish here? It looks great... darn the wife for not getting the camera back and not getting paid weekly!

Thanks. It's not my setup it's my friend Kevins, I will ask him what gun and compressor he is using. I did all the prep work on the case, stripped it apart, cleaned and scuffed it, sprayed the primer, (well a light layer of black ;p), and sprayed the black and orange coats, he cleaned it up and put the clear coat on.

I should have some better pics before the weekend. Also, I'm not sure when I will be able to laser cut the front panel, and I probably won't cut out the side window and fan blow hole until the weekend after next when I'm off all weekend.

I think it's a neat idea, but one thing always bothers me. Why do some people want such huge reservoirs in their machines? I understand why you would want a reservoir in the first place, but why such large ones? Why have more water in your machine than is necessary?

Well, that's a simple question to answer. Those were concept drawings of what I had in mind. I knew and still know nothing about water cooling, it was just a direction I thought about, and those were essentially the only wc gear pictures I could find. As you can see, I decided to stay at air cooling, for now any way. I can't justify to my wife spending several hundred dollars more for a few degrees lower in temps.

Sick dude, love the work!
/sub

Thank you, I will try and have some better pictures up tomorrow.

I am also thinking about cutting a window in the right side panel showcasing the back of the motherboard tray, with a possible laser etch that is lit up. With the way I have the case layout, there are no wires behind the motherboard tray at all, so it looks very clean.

 

[Dan_D]

Well, that's a simple question to answer. Those were concept drawings of what I had in mind. I knew and still know nothing about water cooling, it was just a direction I thought about, and those were essentially the only wc gear pictures I could find. As you can see, I decided to stay at air cooling, for now any way. I can't justify to my wife spending several hundred dollars more for a few degrees lower in temps.

Makes sense now. For what it's worth CPU only water cooling is really not that expensive. You can get that done very nicely for under $300.00. It's when you get into GPU cooling, north bridge cooling etc. that it becomes a money pit.

 

[gwarren007]

Nice job!!