Old mod revamp

[goldenfrog]

While waiting for parts for my HK-DVD build I decided to revisit an old mod I did half a$$. This mod came about because I needed more HDD mounting spots.

As you can see the HDD space is lacking.

I have a 2nd case just like that one so I drilled out the rivets and took out the 5.25 mounting rails.

I screwed these into the case and mounted my drives.

This looked ok but made for cooling issues. So I’m going to breakdown the 2nd case completely and do a full on mod.

I marked out roughly the area I need to cut out. I’ll be putting 3x80mm fans in the front and squeezing a 120 in the back. I’m not sure if I’m going to add a blowhole in the top yet. I’m also cutting out a lot of extra metal that’s just acting to restrict airflow.

The case was designed for a 92mm fan in the back so I had to cut a little notch in the center shelf to fit a 120. I’ll add a couple L-brackets to secure the shelf later.

Here it is temporarily screwed together, with all the rough cuts done.

I’ll get more shots up soon. I still haven’t decided on a paint scheme yet.

 

[goldenfrog]

I went through my pile of old parts looking for HDD mounting stuff, and I came up with just the right thing. I took these out of an old SCSI CD-Rom tower.

I got it all setup and it fits in there nicely, with a bit of work.

I finished off today with a little primer and paint.

 

[gjvrieze]

looks nice, i love watching a good mod come along, keep up the good work!!!

 

[goldenfrog]

Just a few things today, I seem to have misplaced my pop rivet kit. I temporally screwed the case together.

Not sure what to do with the front fan intake, open, filtered or hidden.

I’m still trying to decide the outside color.

 

[goldenfrog]

No luck finding my rivet gun, so I borrowed one.

I painted a few more pieces.

I kind of like it with the white front.

Now I need my fans, grills, lights, window and HDD mounts.

What color fans should I go with?

 

[merlin704]

I think clear fans would give it a nice clean look in the front.

 

[shawnol]

Clear Red LED Fans D

 

[goldenfrog]

The inside of the case isn’t red; it’s a fluorescent UV orange. I guess I should buy me a cheap black-light bulb so I can get an idea of the colors. I’m thinking a UV green or a black and orange combo. Like these.

 

[goldenfrog]

I moved my parts over today. Still not complete but I'm working on it.

I had trouble getting normal hdd mounts to lineup so I trimmed a few brakets and got what I could in. I'll buy or make me some that will work.

I'm not happy with the primer I used for the orange paint. I went with a white base so the orange would shine better but the primer just didn’t hold worth a damn. The green is just a self-etching primer (no paint) and it made a nice hold on the case. Now that I have everything moved over I think I'll give the other case a good painting and try the mod all over again.

Theres no rush now to get things mounted, so I can take my time and get the paint perfect.

 

[khanable]

Hey nice job dude, I like the orange.. orange is a very uncommon color it seems.

keep up the good work and post tons of pictures!!

 

[goldenfrog]

I painted the front and the DVD.

After assembling the last case, I decided I really didn’t need the middle brace. It didn’t look very good with it cut to fit the fan and wasn’t essential to the case, so I cut out the front section altogether.

I cut out a section of the brace to allow me to pass all the cables down behind the HDD rack out of sight.
...............Before.....................................................................................................................After

I have been repeating the frame mod and paint on the 2nd case. I didn’t take any pictures because it's just the same as it is in the previous pictures. I used a different prep, primmer and paint technique. I sanded everything down and primed it with self-etching primer. Parts of the case that are being painted orange also received a coat of white primer over the green in order to show the orange better. The paint really took hold this time. I think the last brand of primer just didn’t take hold like it should have.

 

[gjvrieze]

looking nice, i have been in a fight to get hds in my case too, will post pix, when i get my mod finished....keep up the nice work!!

 

[goldenfrog]

I did just a couple of things today.

Riveted a few parts together, cut the 120mm fan hole for the rear and cut the front panel for the fans.

The rare fan cut isn't quite round, but with some U-channel it should be fine.

 

[khanable]

lookin good..

I really like that orange color for some reason.

 

[goldenfrog]

I haven’t worked on the 2nd case to much lately. My wife’s car died on her so I’ve been busy troubleshooting that. I did get some fans in today so I threw them in real fast and snapped a shot.

 

[goldenfrog]

Front ready for bondo

Front with Bondo

Front shot. Flash picked up flaws I cant see normally.

Side with front complete, few parts installed.

Parts waiting to go in. Mobo died while updating BIOS had to RMA it. Might have to swap out video cards if they're not going to work in software crossfire.

I haven't got a handle on the crossfire thing yet.

 

[goldenfrog]

Still waiting for another 1g of mem.

Didnt put my X2 on yet. Wanted to make sure these would work in crossfire.

They seem to work fine. Now I need to ordered me a 2nd X2. These stock coolers are loud as hell. Also need some longer SATA cables and replacement sata power connecters.

 

[Arcygenical]

Oh wow. This took a huge turn for the awesome. I wasn't expecting much (no offence meant, just thought it was a quick paint job), but it looks *really* good!

 

[walwalka]

looks good but what processor is that

 

[goldenfrog]

PentiumD 945
Scythe MINE HSF
Abit Aw9d-Max (for Quad core if I need it later)
Corsair DDR2 800 1g 2x512 (another 2x512 on the way)
Dual Sapphire x1950xt's in software crossfire
Seagate 2x80g RAID0 WinXP
2x500g WD storage
Liteon DVD burner
SilverStone 750w quad rail power supply

 

[jtobrien]

very, very nice job!

 

[markkleb]

What a Kick-Ass job... from the beginning to this. Excellent!
( I like the different colors)

 

[NickS]

Awesome man! Love the color scheme too.

I wasn't expecting such a big overhaul but wow!