I finished my custom case

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kirby0027

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Joined
Jan 31, 2004
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hey guys, im kirby and im new here. this is my story

well, last semester i got the clear case bug, i always loved clearpc.ca's stuff but i didnt feel up to prices. i thought about making a case on my own and what it would take. what resulted is a long month long project involving the use of a ton of planning, measuring, funds and time, time, time.

the result is a unique case layout built from scratch from 1/4 inch GE Lexan and Aluminum trim. i put around 60 hours into it and an insane amount of mental energy. heres some pictures and feel free to comment and ask anything you want.

DSCN0230.jpg

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If youd wanna see more, check out my photo gallery @ kirby's pictures
feel free to browse my other albums and leave comments
thanks,
kirby
 
It looks like he has a vandal button there above the CD-ROM drive.

Overall I'd say the case looks very nice and clean, and if you are looking for something else to do to it I'd buy rounded cables and sleeve your PSU cables. Maybe if you had a lot of time you could create custom Lexan shells for your power supply and CD-ROM drive...just a thought.
 
You are correct. That is the power button under the fan in the front. Its the only button/switch aside from the powers suply. I just kept it clean and simple as you can see...just the one drive takes care of dvd and cd writing. I figured by being this simple so far, i had no need for a restart button. Props goes to www.apem.com for actually donating that switch to my project. They deal with mass ordering (1000 parts or more per order, i didnt quite want 1000 of em) That switch is a pushbutton metal antivandalism switch that is usually used on atm machines. i couldnt find an equivalent switch for my application available to the public anywhere. I talked with a rep from Apem and she was happy to comply with my request.
The button is perfect and tough enough to mount with the bullet-proof lexan (advertised as being able to withstand impact from a .45, i have yet to test it).
So as far as being ATM worthy in quality (also feels awesome) APEM is awesome and extremely friendly to the case modding community.

I had thought about a cover for my power supply. to think about "forging" it myself just makes my head hurt. lol
of course a visible cd in the writer would be awesome, i admit i didnt think about that. Ive always wanted visible hard drive platters as well, i just dont think i have the guts/initiative to do it.
This project took so much time that i started to loose interest...i was afraid this would happen and i finished it in an 8 hour sprint that went till 6 am when i had class the next day lol

thanks for you comments guys
 
Awesome case man... I would have used 120mm fans, but still. WOW! Really nice job.
 
awesome job. so clean and fresh. but it seems like it would look alot cleaner with rounded ata cables.

and those hard drives look so cool, like they are floating.
 
Nice - I bought my acrylic case... :(

Looks like you made your plenty large... how big is it? how thick is the plexi?.... nm Very nice.
 
very, very nice. i wish i had the time and patience to do something like this.

are the hard drives mounted on one side only?
 
That a great case, just to echo previous comments you gotta sleeve your cable to finish it off.

Great job man! :)
 
actually the case is a bit smaller than a normal tower. its about 15 inches high, 14 inches long, and only 6 inches wide (approx). if you visit the pictures on my site, youll see its just wide enough for my power supply to fit in. yes the hard drives are only mounted on the front glass, the strength of the lexan makes this possible. those suckers are torqued down. lexan is quarter inch.
If i get rounded cables, they need to be extra long because when i remove the front panel, i need to be able to pull the hard drives out a bit with it, at least enough to get my hand in to unplug em.
Thanks for the commnets and suggestions...
kirby
 
i like it but to help cooling u could install a small fan to blow out air near the cpu, or even get like an alpha sorta HS and have a fan blow down onto the HS! the thing looks really slick and nice, me= likes, maybe hide ur cables a lil more and you can always add a fan to that top front, looks a lil plain right there... love ur case thou. You got a worklog?
 
Hmm, when I think about it having the powersupply mounted at the bottom of the case is the most optimal place to have it.
 
Why thank you!

when i started the project, i played with the design layout for a long time. putting the power supply and cdrom at the very bottom of a tower seemed like uncharted territory, but it was the best way to bring clarity and openess to the top. I was concerned about the "heat rises" issue, but i figured the top exhaust would vent enough.
lol its not a cool case by any means, the stock athlon 1800 temp is high 40's/low 50's. Theres also not much metal to dissipate the heat either, but hey, i wasnt aiming for an overclocked system, just really a design piece.

i figure the next time i upgrade it will be an entire system and case. Ill keep this one around for my future house (im in college now) to serve up some media in the family room or something.

Despite the fact that i did all the work myself, the case ended up costing more than i expected, thus the reason i put off the rounded cables...with all the suggestions, i will think about it.

im really suprised that with the high visibility of my cpu nobody suggested upgrading from the stock heatsink/fan. What do you guys think? if i was to upgrade one thing, would you choose rounded cables or killer heatsink?
 
By the looks of that motherboard I'd probably start saving up for a new one before anything else :p

I'm sure everyone noticed the heatsink as well as the flat cables... But technically, a stock heatsink works, just as flat cables do. Since your temps are not bad, I would say just save up for a nforce2 motherboard and then maybe start looking at other stuff after that :D

On second thought, I'd probably just leave it all as is... as they say, form follows function ;)
 
I really like how the hadrdrives look to be suspended in midair...

nice job.
 
you just gotta look on ebay for lexan, thats where i got mine.
i got 2 15x32 sheets of clear quarter inch MR-10 shipped for 40 bucks
thats cheaper than the acrilic garbage they sell at Lowes.
i cannt say enough great things about lexan. it cut drilled and sanded just like wood with superior strength.
i didnt get lucky either, if you wait a bit and check out the auctions, youll find something similar. companys use huge expensive sheets and ebay the scraps.
 
A highly clean and smooth case man. I look forward to seeing more excellent work done.
 
Are the handles attached to the lexan on top? I'd be worried about cracking it or ripping them through when carrying it around if so. I know you said the stuff is strong, but it can't handle the same stresses as metal I would think.

Looks sweet though.
 
Damn thats one nice case, I love how you have the PSU On the bottem thats nice

Chris
 
very nice case. your design is nearly identicle to the design I have in mind for the acrylic case I'm going to build soon.

One question for you though. This is something I've yet to figure out / decide on. How do you open up the case to change out parts? Without having the side piece of acyrlic on the outside of the metal beams? Hope that makes sense.
 
That's a friggin awesome and nice job! I was actually thinking of building something like this, but much smaller as a case for my future server/shuttle.
 
thanks guys...
heres the deal, this case is not very fun to open/work on. the whole left side pulls off, with each piece of trim still on it. i have to unscrew the top 3 screws on the top trim and the bottom 3 screws on the bottom trim. everything is so solid screws arent needed for the sides pieces. then the whole side pulls off and i slip my hand inside to undo the hd cables. easy eh?

:)
 
Originally posted by kirby0027
thanks guys...
heres the deal, this case is not very fun to open/work on. the whole left side pulls off, with each piece of trim still on it. i have to unscrew the top 3 screws on the top trim and the bottom 3 screws on the bottom trim. everything is so solid screws arent needed for the sides pieces. then the whole side pulls off and i slip my hand inside to undo the hd cables. easy eh?

:)
Click to expand...

sounds like a real PITA. but how you've done it is giving me some idea's on how to do it for mine. i'm hoping i can start, or at least buy the parts for it, next week.

As long as i don't have to use my machine as a test bed, i should be fine for the infrequent, far apart, part swap.

As it sounds as your case is as well.

good job again, you've got a real solid case there. You've definitly given a good example of well done function over form, and still have it look great in the process.

/ thumbs up! /
 
nice work man, it looks a little empty on the top front area, you need watercooling, with a nice big res. in the front area.
 
some chrome color sleeving and ide cables would compliment the rig rather nicely i think.
 
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