Project:: Black Lightning

Ok was able to get alittle more done this weekend. Spent most of today uncloging a sink :mad: that crap was nasty. Anyways....

Got the top done, but I ran out of primer. I am now completely hapy with the new top. It looks 10x better and is much much more durable. (pics dont do it justice you would have to come feel it for yourself.
topagain.jpg


Then it was back to the front, got the bay covers in for the dvd and dvd-rw.
baysin2.jpg


Then some sanding and more bondo.
baysin3.jpg


then some more, was having a slight problem with strength of it as the bondo kept poping, but alittle epoxy fixed that up real nice.
baysin4.jpg


Did alittle bit of filler putty work just to see how well it looked. I still have to bondo in the sound control hole and do alittle more filler putty work. But for all intensive purposes the bays are complete. once again the pics dont do it justice.
baysin.jpg


Wensday I will be finishing the bays and then putting the lightning tubes into place. I will also be priming the top (and hopefuly the front). Until then.

JEEVES
 
ClayDo said:
needs paint.
Click to expand...

duh :)

lookin good man. I like the drive bays like that...not stealth but not just stuck in there. keep up the good work, can't wait till the next update
 
Ok time for a small update.

First i wanted to test and make sure the lightning tubes were still working. So i pulled out the inverter (converter?) and plugged it in and tried to touch the two wires to the soulder leads. Yep it stil worked but when i pulled it away the current tried to folow it and then jumped over to the ground lead. After screaming a bunch of words that can get me banned if posted here I shut the power off to it and then...well see for yourself.
burnt.jpg


As you can see it left a nice burn mark. so i decided to soulder the tube in to make sure it still worked (the right way). Man was I happy to see it still worked.
itworks.jpg


Then i went and sanded alittle more and primed the top.
topreprimed2.jpg

topreprimed.jpg


Here is a pic of the old top job so you can compare
primetop3.JPG


Then i went back to the front to do a little more work. Of coarse I had to add more bondo. I also got the face plate to the card reader bondo'd in.
cardbondo.jpg


Then of coarse sanded it down.
cardsand.jpg


I also got the lightning tubes sealed off at the tops and bottom (dont want bondo getting in there). This weekend i will be smooting out the front (minor stuff, mainly just getting the little scratches out) and then adding the lightning tubes. The front is about 80% done so i am hoping to get the priming done this weekend as well. Until then

JEEVES
 
Looking cool, I'm going to have to borrow that idea for my blow hole, if you don't mind. ;)
 
CrimandEvil said:
Looking cool, I'm going to have to borrow that idea for my blow hole, if you don't mind. ;)
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well you should realy ask enigma, as it was his concept to begin with. this project started out as a team effort, but then he started the micro atx case and left this one to me. He still does help out on the case every now and then, but for the most part i have done it all. lol this case has come along way since the origonal mock up of it, i will try to post a pic of it this weekend (enigma did it in paint while we were discusing what to do with the case like 6 months ago). It is kinda nice to see how this case has evolved and warped into what it is today (or will be when it is done).

JEEVES
 
LainLogo.gif

Thats the image I was wanting to use, reversing the black and white so that the text glows. I wanted the logo to look like the Falcone Northwest cases.
The inspiration first came from looking through Macroman's MacroBlack case but I couldn't figure out how too do it right. I was trying to figure out a way to stealth a blow hole and have some sort of light up logo for my mod, I just can't believe that I didn't think of something like that sooner.

Tint some plexi and mod up something like what you have and use a CCFL 120mm fan is pretty much what I was trying to think of. I'm going to be using this fan controller to control the effect.

What do you think?
 
Course. Coarse is what your sandpaper is.

That front pannel looks sick but without the finger holes, how are you going to use the brackets for the optical drives?
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
This weekend i will be smooting out the front (minor stuff, mainly just getting the little scratches out)
Click to expand...

Yes i know i used coarse sand paper.

Why would i want to use those nasty ass brackets? I am just going to be using longer screws to hold the drives in. I have already started to cut out the slits for the screws to fit and have tested it and it works just fine. :D

JEEVES
 
CrimandEvil said:
Looking cool, I'm going to have to borrow that idea for my blow hole, if you don't mind. ;)
Click to expand...

lol its fine by me, just warning you though, its not an easy one to complete lol
 
Alright got alot done this weekend. First off I got the top off and primed and perfected it. I will start the painting on it this wen.
topdone.jpg


Then it was back to the front to get those lightning tubes installed. First i had to put a very light coat of black paint on the back side of where the tubes will sit. Just in case you can see through the tubes when they are off. I did not spend too much time on detail of this area as they will be covered up (even if you can see through to the back it will be so distorted that all you will be able to see is color).
behindpaint.jpg


Then I had previously drilled holes in the top so that the wires can slide into false top.
wirehole.jpg


Here are the two tubes ready to go, I put some apoxy on the tops and bottom of the tubes to prevent any sort of movement.
tubesin.jpg


Then came the bondo (i am truely sick of this stuff, used way too much on this case. But it is holding strong) I first started with the bottom half.
bondo1st.jpg


Then after alot of sanding and bondo I got this
bondo2nd.jpg


Then it was on to the top of the tube. I didnt realy want to show off the tip of the tube as it would not light up, so I bondoed it down to where the light starts.
bondotop.jpg


Then after a few more coats and sanding. Dont worry about the not so clean line on it as it will be cut off when the serain wrap comes off (I will use a brush to paint the exposed bondo)
topbondo2.jpg


And this is about how it is going to look. not to shabby if you ask me, but still needs work.
rightdone.jpg


Of coarse repeat on the other side and you get something like this.
botomdone.jpg


Then came the filler putty (I love this stuff)
bottomfilled.jpg


And the top (forgot to take a pic before the filler putty)
topfilled.jpg


After some light sanding (and i do mean light, this stuff comes off by looking at it to hard)
readyprime.jpg


I decided to go ahead and give it a coat of sandable primer. I know it still needs some work in areas but I wanted to get a feel for how much work.
frontprimed.jpg


Well it is not too bad but like I said there are still some areas that need alittle more work (that is why you use sandable primer). The primer is still wet so it realy looks like crap, but trust me it is not as bad as these pics. Just too tired to go back outside and take new pics. You will have to wait and see wen.
bottomprime.jpg


The top half up close looks realy bad around the aquabay, but most of that is glare from wet primer.
topprime.jpg


Well that is about all i got for this time. Wen I should be able to get the front all finished up and hopefuly start on the painting. I will also start working on a very special part of the case that i dont think i have mentioned before. You will have to wait and see :p

JEEVES
 
Starting to come together really well.

As for the plastic wrap, are you going to cut down into the Bondo and then remove the wrap? Sorry, I for some reason can't get a good picture in my head of how that is going to work out. Not doubting you, just lost :p
 
just curious...what happens when one of the tubes burns out or gets cracked or something? :)

when I first saw you bondoing over them I was like WTF. looks good
 
Can't wait. BTW where did you get the aqua tube? Everytime I check all I find are UK shops.
 
ErrOnReq said:
Starting to come together really well.

As for the plastic wrap, are you going to cut down into the Bondo and then remove the wrap? Sorry, I for some reason can't get a good picture in my head of how that is going to work out. Not doubting you, just lost :p
Click to expand...

Yes i will be cutting the bondo when i remove the serain wrap, If i was to cut it off now the paint would hit the tubes. I will then use a paint brush and some black paint to get the little spots of unpainted bondo that will be there after cutting it away. Since it is not going to be a very noticble spot I am not too worried about the smoothness of the paint, just that it will be black.

siege said:
just curious...what happens when one of the tubes burns out or gets cracked or something?
when I first saw you bondoing over them I was like WTF. looks good
Click to expand...

Well if one burns out or gets cracked I will cry and then scream and do nothing. I am not expecting them to be damaged in any way as I treat my case like it was a....yeah. As my friend said but what if you drop it or something, I said if i drop the case the lightning tubes are the last of my worries.

CrimandEvil said:
Can't wait. BTW where did you get the aqua tube? Everytime I check all I find are UK shops.
Click to expand...

I got it from www.snt-systems.com . Great place, fast and great comunication all the way through.
 
That Mod Looks none other then beutifull so far. Can't wait to see the finished product!
Happy Modding :D
 
I'm curious about the filler putty you are using. I am working with bondo for the first time and have only used the putty to spot fill small areas. It appears that you are coating the entire bondo area with the filler putty...is there a reason for this? Is one method better than the other?

And nice work so far.
 
After I Bondo something, I cover the entire thing with a thin layer of spot filler. That way you fill spots you may not notice, and it is easier to sand the entire thing to a smooth finish.
 
Shadowspawn said:
I'm curious about the filler putty you are using. I am working with bondo for the first time and have only used the putty to spot fill small areas. It appears that you are coating the entire bondo area with the filler putty...is there a reason for this? Is one method better than the other?

And nice work so far.
Click to expand...

The filler putty gets out all the little scratches left over by sandpaper. I am using a 150 grit sandpaper so it leaves some scratches. The filler putty makes everything nice an smooth. I would definatly use this stuff to fix minor scratches and imperfections in the bondo or other surfaces.

JEEVES
 
Thanks for the link! It's getting way to hot here and my PC is getting alittle too hot under the collar so I'm going to probably go WC for now. :rolleyes: Damn summer heat....
That a great price for one, all the price I've seen when into the $200s. :rolleyes:
 
CrimandEvil said:
Thanks for the link! It's getting way to hot here and my PC is getting alittle too hot under the collar so I'm going to probably go WC for now. :rolleyes: Damn summer heat....
That a great price for one, all the price I've seen when into the $200s. :rolleyes:
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No problem, that is why i got a nice discount (that and i will have his company name on the side of my case, you will see). But please dont go trying to get a discount for yourself as I am sure he does not want to sponsor everyone.

And I got a package in the mail today, couldnt wait had to show it off. I already have pump and zalman water block (yes i know its not a swiftech, but I actualy like the zalman cpu block better)

000_0069.jpg


Oh and I ordered my new mobo and proc today from newegg, a gigabyte mobo with p4 2.4c. hopefuly what they say is true and this little baby can overclock like a mofo.

JEEVES
 
Sponser? I don't even know how to go about that. :D LOL
I was referring to the cost of $70 instead of the average $120 I've been seeing.
BTW I can't see the pics but my modem (DSL modem) is pretty much crap so I have to reload and get back. :rolleyes:
 
CrimandEvil said:
Sponser? I don't even know how to go about that. :D LOL
I was referring to the cost of $70 instead of the average $120 I've been seeing.
BTW I can't see the pics but my modem (DSL modem) is pretty much crap so I have to reload and get back. :rolleyes:
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AGH I do dsl tech support for pppoe clients. I am sorry (truely i am) that you have dsl, I know how much pain you go through to try and make that dsl modem work like a cable modem :p . Who do you have dsl through and wich state do you live in?

JEEVES
 
Sorry, finally got hungry and decided to start making dinner (Mmmm stir fry, ramen, and tofu...WFT! Tofu?).

It works now, it's a Qwest/ MSN DSL (yeah I know :rolleyes: ) and I'm in Colorado. They moved all of the DSL stuff over to Qwest and I'm hoping to score a better modem off of them (MSN gave me an Arescom NetDSL 800 which just sucks).
...have to go check on food (still cooking)....
 
god i hate msn, The company i work for (cant say wich one due to nondisclosure agreement, but lets just say its one of the big ones) gives out "complimentary" msn premium with there dsl packages. I hate it so much becuase everyone calls us and says I cant connect when infact they cant log into msn but IE works just fine. sorry bitching about customers again.....god i hate people

JEEVES
 
LOL, I use to work in the Public Schools as a tech not bad work but it tends to drag you down when you have one technophob constantly complaining. I had a lady once ask me several times to install Win98 on a box that had NT4.

I think SBC might be in my area, I'll have to check but the only other game in town is Comcast Cable and I have numerous friends complaining about drop connections and such.

On a side note I guess theres no way to make tofu taste good, goes to show that I can't date vegetarians...again. :rolleyes:

Anyways your stuff looks good. I'm going to go out tomorrow and get some WC parts (summer is way to harsh on my little CPU :( ) I found a heater core for a Ford Mustang that I'm going to be using and I've got some barbs and clamps and such to get around town. The other stuff I'm going to have to order and wait for them to ship it to me. :(
 
JEEVES/whohasmyname? said:
your loop length must be low, do you know what it is?
Click to expand...

not a clue. I assume I am closer to one of the stations than most people since I hear of more complaints than I care to experience.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Sorry, finally got hungry and decided to start making dinner (Mmmm stir fry, ramen, and tofu...WFT! Tofu?).

It works now, it's a Qwest/ MSN DSL (yeah I know :rolleyes: ) and I'm in Colorado. They moved all of the DSL stuff over to Qwest and I'm hoping to score a better modem off of them (MSN gave me an Arescom NetDSL 800 which just sucks).
...have to go check on food (still cooking)....
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I used to have that modem...what a piece of shit. Of course that was at my parents house. they got a new modem and switched to 1.5m DSL...I still get dl's 2x faster than them on cable and I've never had to reset my motorola modem in the last year :)
 
yeah the motorola modem is a good one. It is odd how there seems to be only a handfull of good modems out there, it is a shame that most ISPs dont send them out.

JEEVES

wow how this thread has turned to a dsl thread :) tomorow it will be back ontopic when i post the next update (until then...)
 
Just looked through this thread, looking damn good so far JEEVES.
 
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