Project: Brainchild

S

siege

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 28, 2004
Messages
305
Well, its about damn time I start my first actual worklog for my first actual really involved mod, woo :)

First off, this is the case. It's an Enermax FS-170BB...basically your average Chieftec clone. When I got the thing like 4 years ago, it was all black and had a "blue" (more like purple) front bezel. I painted it black and silver, and sprayed the entire inside black as well. Then a couple years ago I had some paint laying around and I was bored so I tried some stenciling stuff and needless to say, I sucked it up. There's some goofy lookin face thing on the front, and the side has the Japanese symbols for 'strength' and 'wisdom.' Turned out really really bad though, and I took the front door and sides off a long time ago :) So here it is...and sorry about the quality, my only camera is my phone (as usual)

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-full-1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-full-2.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-full-3.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-full-on-bench.jpg


and here it is naked with no sides or bezel:
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-naked.jpg
 
Before I get started I guess I could let you all know whats going into it and what will be happening with the case (well, some of whats gonna happen...still want some surprises :) ). Here's the hardware list, and yes its a lot of old hardware but I'm poor right now; hopefully after the new year I will be building an Athlon64 system:

Abit KT7-RAID
Athlon 1.3ghz processor
512mb ram (had a gig but it just all went bad last weekend)
160gb Maxtor ATA133 HDD
80gb Seagate ATA100 HDD
Samsung 24x CD-RW
Creative 12x PC-DVD
Geforce4 MX440 128mb & ATI RageII 16mb PCI (yeah yeah yeah, I know, it sucks)
Hercules MuseXL sound card
D-Link 10/100 NIC
Enermax 300W PSU (will be upgraded with the new system)

Here's the goal of the mod: do things that haven't been done/are rarely done. There will be a fair amount of fiberglass work involved, and some metalwork as well (hopefully not too much cause I don't have the proper tools for metal). The system will eventually be watercooled so once I get a little further into the project, I will have to decide which components I will want and *gasp* actually buy some stuff. I don't really want to go into much detail on the overall design of the case just yet, but it's nothing outlandish - just unique with styling cues that I haven't seen done anywhere (and if they have in fact been done...oops).

The first thing I did tonight was work on the front bezel - well, it was more like hacking it all up than it was work. Basically, all I want the bezel for is the clips that attach it to the front of the case...I still want to be able to remove the front and I think the clips will make it easier. So out came the dremel...

Beware of the melted plastic that accumulates; it can fly up at your face and its hot. Eye protection is a good idea, though I had none (need to get some this weekend).

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/bezel-meltedplastic.jpg

A few minutes later and I have this:

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/bezel-freshcut.jpg

All cleaned up with a razor knife and this is all I need:

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/bezel-cleaned.jpg

Don't worry about the non-straight cuts (if you can even see them), those'll never show.

Next up was some de-riveting action. This might sound odd, but I actually found that the best bit for removing the rivets on this case is the 'carbide cutting bit' or whatever its called that's made for the Dremel. It's not actually a normal drill bit design, but it is the perfect size and it ate through those rivets like nothing. Use it in a drill though...would be a little difficult to use the dremel for that. First up, I wanted to remove the backplane and motherboard tray. On this case you need to remove a lot more rivets than you'd think. Everything fits together kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, so you de-rivet the tray and backplane, the rear rivets for the bottom, and the rear rivets for one of the crossbraces.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/mobo-tray1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/mobo-tray2.jpg

Now that I have these pieces removed, I'm realizing its gonna be a lot harder to do what I want - that is, make the tray and side of the case fold down like on the G4 cases. I think this feature is so nice and cool, I gotta have it. And you don't see too many PC cases modded this way :)
 
Next up was the little trays that hold the drive cages. I've come up with alternate positioning for my drives so these are no longer needed, and I will most likely be using that area for the pump and res. 3 rivets each, no big deal.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/drive-trays.jpg

I think its time to pull all the rivet heads off my bit :) I just grab the rivets with a pair of pliers, put the drill on reverse, and pull them off - if that made sense.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/rivets-on-drill.jpg

Well here's the case all gutted.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/case-gutted.jpg

I think that's it for the first day. This mod is probably gonna take a while, and now I'm scared 'cause I HAVE to finish or I'm sure you guys will be giving me hell :) I might not get any more work done until the weekend, because I need to wait for payday for supplies. Later guys.
 
Well I got a little bit more work done tonight since I had a little spare time.

First thing to do was hack off these little tabs that overlap where the backplane connects to. Unfortunately its probably a little bit difficult to see exactly whats going on here. Basically what will happen is the backplane will slide into place along this area, and the tabs would keep it from doing that.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/backplane-1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/backplane-close.jpg

Next, I had to get rid of this lip where the side connects. It would get in the way when the side/motherboard tray pivot. If you were wondering just how this whole mechanism will work, basically, the mobo tray will be attached to the side panel and just 'floating' in its position. the panel will be hinged to the bottom with most likely a modified piano hinge or something similar - its hard for me to explain (but pretty straightforward nonetheless). Currently the motherboard tray sits against this lip

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/doorbottom-1.jpg

hopefully you can see it in the pic. I removed this lip.

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/doorbottom-tabgone.jpg

I didn't dremel any of this stuff out today, I just used the dremel to make small notches in the lips. I then just took a pair of vice grips and bent the pieces back and forth till they snapped off...Turned out pretty straight, I just need to file them down tomorrow.

I was about to work on the side panel, but I had to pause to think about what I wanted to do. I am using the right side panel on the left side because it has no handle hole in it and I don't want it to interfere with my window plans. Unfortunately that means that my right side panel now has a hole where the handle was, so I didn't want to start cutting it before I knew if I was even going to use it. Since I don't really want to go thru the hassle of finding another hole-less panel to use, I decided I'd just turn the existing hole into a window. But to avoid looking at the back of the motherboard tray, or cutting it up, I'm just going to frost the window and add some edgelighting to it.

As a side note, the final design of this case actually calls for various bits of frosted and edgelit plexi, with a little bit of clear thrown in there as well.

here's the hole and a quick crappy sketch of how I'll cut it...

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/side-hole.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/side-hole-sketch.jpg

the sketch is by far from perfect or anything, that's just the basic shape - I will probably modify it before I end up cutting it. And now I'm realizing that it looks almost exactly like the handle did, heh. If you guys have any other suggestions for the window shape (would like to keep it relatively small, and it has to have a straight line on the right side) let me know.

I think that's it for tonight; Smallville came on so I decided to come in from the garage, and now its a little late to be makin a lot of noise.
 
Had some time after work tonight, so I thought I'd modify the side panel a bit. First off, here's the whole panel. Where you see the word 'cut' is on the bottom of the panel; that whole tab needs to be removed because that's where the hinge for the door will be located. The tabs where the scribble is located (bottom of pic) also need to be taken off, and the other side, well, I marked it 'cut' originally but had the panel backwards :)

wholepanel.jpg


On that top side I did have to make two cuts though. This edge runs all the way to the end of the panel, and that fits inside a notch in the case. They had to be removed or the panel would stick instead of pivot. here they are before and after:

notchtocut.jpg
notchcut.jpg


and here are the cuts to the side and bottom

sidetabcut.jpg
topcut.jpg


To generate a little bit more interest (maybe) in this thread, here is the quick sketch I did a few months ago for the overall appearance of this machine. The protruding piece at the back will probably have to change a little to accomodate the real world (not the pencil and paper world) but I really do want to keep that basic shape back there. The raised section in the back will house the radiator for the WC setup and will have 2 120mm (most likely) fans beneath it. The line going across the top and down the front will be frosted acrylic rod. There will actually be 2 pieces running parallel down the middle of the case, a couple inches apart. It will be lit by blue LEDs, maybe even some sort of purple-ish hue if I can get one - it all depends on the final color scheme of the case, which is a deep blue as it stands now. The middle window will be clear, most likely with no etching or anything on it. The horizontal sections above and below it will be frosted and edgelit plexi. Also note that this image is nowhere near to scale :)

design1.jpg


I'd show you guys the inside sketch, but there are some secrets I'd still like to keep (for now) :)
 
I spent more money than I hoped I would today. As I was walking through Home Depot I kept remembering other items that I was going to need. Unfortunately there is still more stuff I needed to get, but it can wait till next payday. Here's the goodies:

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/goodie.jpg

I picked up: a file set, mini hot glue gun, 4 brass hinges, acetone, paint brushes, plastic dropcloth, fiberglass cloth, fiberglass resin (woulda got the gallon but I didn't have enough money), JB Weld "JB Kwik", latex gloves, and a 3ft piece of aluminum "L" bar. Sucks when you've run out of fiberglassing stuff...gets expensive quick.

Anyway, this is kind of a short update today (once again). I bought these hinges thinking that they would be the right size, but I didn't realize that the lip on the bottom panel of the case was so small, so I had to modify them "a bit." (see pics)

http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/hinge-stock.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/hinge-modified.jpg

Since the area on the hinge is so small now, screws are a no go, so I had to use my JB Kwik (bought the kwik cause I didn't want to wait 24 hours before I could test out the door...kwik is ready in like 4 minutes). I also used it to attach the hinges to the side panel. Ok, so YES, I 'glued' the hinges to the case...sorta. JB kwik is a strong epoxy that will bond to metal well. Now that the hinges are on there, I will later go over the seams with regular jb weld and that ought to keep everything in place for a long long time. I really wanted to avoid rivets/screws/bolts through the side panel.
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/jbkwik.jpg
http://members.cox.net/jhight1983/worklog/hinges-in-place.jpg

I'm letting it set for longer than the 4 minutes, just to be sure. I'll probably go out and check it out in 30 more minutes or so (for a total of an hour). Of course, if I screwed something up and now the door won't open or something, I guess I'll look like a moron...guess I should have waited to post this :rolleyes:
 
Keep us posted on how the hinges work, I know I'll want to know the results. ;)
I'll have to head out to HD and pick up some Hinges and JB Weld this week. :D
 
CrimandEvil said:
Keep us posted on how the hinges work, I know I'll want to know the results. ;)
I'll have to head out to HD and pick up some Hinges and JB Weld this week. :D
Click to expand...

well, short answer...THEY DON'T.

I feel like such an idiot, I knew I shoulda waited to post that :) They just kinda snapped off cause they wouldn't open. Not really sure how or why it happened, but it did. Now I've gotta work on prying them off the side panel :(

Right now I'm really tempted to just throw a piano hinge on the outside of the case and call it a day. Wouldn't look too bad if it was painted the same color as the case. only problems I can see with that are A) the height of the bottom lip on the case (only about 3/8") and B) They don't make 17" piano hinges...wonder if I can just cut down an 18 or 24" with a hacksaw...Got any ideas?

p.s. my way can be successfully done I think, but it would require having a gap at the bottom of the panel...which would look a little ugly I think.
 
hey, did you check on the clearances of the door itself? meaning
| []
| []
____0 []
^part right here...if thats hitting the metal then it would snap things off...just a thought
 
LOL, well atleast that answers one of my problems.:D
No idea man but that piano hinge idea was kind of good, maybe you should try rivetting the hinge on instead? I might have to drop my friend's Mac shop and see if they have any borked G4's that I can scavenge from, for drop by another friend's place and see if she has one I can "borrow" one. :D She's a tech for my old High School and was once my boss, I know they have a few G4s but I'm not sure if any are borked. With my luck they won't have one (those cases are pretty damn well build).

Another idea is to find a Door/Window hinge, I've been looking into that but haven't found anything good yet (but I have another trip to the hardware stores planned).

How about cutting away some metal and recessing them?
 
I wasn't thinking clearly when I originally came up with that design. I never did check the clearances but I know that's why this happened. It can be remedied but as I edited into my previous post, it would require a gap at the bottom of the panel...which would look kinda shoddy I think. So far the only thing I can see that would work and no require a gap is either A) super special custom hinges, or B) hinge on the outside.
 
siege said:
I wasn't thinking clearly when I originally came up with that design. I never did check the clearances but I know that's why this happened. It can be remedied but as I edited into my previous post, it would require a gap at the bottom of the panel...which would look kinda shoddy I think. So far the only thing I can see that would work and no require a gap is either A) super special custom hinges, or B) hinge on the outside.
Click to expand...
Put a small aluminum angle in the inside of bottom edge of panel (i.e. JB weld it) and then put a piano hinge between al angle and case bottom; all you'll see will be the round edge of the piano hinge.
 
dream caster said:
Put a small aluminum angle in the inside of bottom edge of panel (i.e. JB weld it) and then put a piano hinge between al angle and case bottom; all you'll see will be the round edge of the piano hinge.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of doing just that, or just putting the piano hinge on the outside and filling the holes in with bondo so all you really would see would be the round edge anyway...maybe do something decorative to hide the edge of the hinge...might be simpler that way.

anybody know if you can cut a piano hinge down to size with a hacksaw or would it mess the hinge up? I need 17" and I've only been able to find 12", 18" and 24"
 
Dremmel works great on piano hinges. & yeah you're supposed to cut down the hinge. at least that's what you do in woodworking.

another problem with multiple hinges is they will bind up if you don't het them almost perfectly lined up. piano hinge is definatley the way to go.
 
Which begs the question now: Where can you buy piano hinges? (or atleast I'm the only one that doesn't know, lol)
 
Which begs the question now: Where can you buy piano hinges? (or atleast I'm the only one that doesn't know, lol)
Click to expand...

I just got a 30" piano hinge at home depot last night for $8 :) I think they're more expensive at Lowes
 
I just put the hinge on a little bit ago. I temp. screwed it to the case and JB'd it to the side panel...I'll probably end up riveting it to the bottom and maybe reinforce it on the panel with rivets too...we'll see. Gonna go change my spark plugs right now and then I'll test the hinge. If all goes well I'll post some pics and junk. if not...you'll probably see me cussing a lot :rolleyes:
 
Wahoo! It's alive! ITS ALIVE!!!! Ok, well its not alive, but its hinged, moves like a door, and doesn't fall apart :)

Here's the piano hinge I picked up at Home Depot last night for $8...it was 30" but I cut it down to 16 7/8".

hinge.jpg


Originally I was thinking I would just JB Weld the hinge to both the bottom and side panel so I stripped the paint off of the case where the hinge would mount...

case-stripped.jpg


I then changed my mind and decided to just screw it to the bottom for now, and rivet it later, and weld it to the side...this way I won't have the bottom dangling off the panel when I cut the little window in it.

hinge-half-mounted.jpg
fullmount1.jpg


After changing my spark plugs while letting the JB weld set up a bit, voila!

fullmount2.jpg

lowering.jpg
--->
lowered.jpg


All in all it works pretty well...very smooth. The only problem I had was the screws that came with the hinge weren't tapped all the way to the head, so they screwed in and then just spun...had to dig around for some screws that would work. Pretty sure before I paint, I'll rivet it on. or maybe afterwards...some shiny silver rivets on a nice deep blue would look pretty cool...could put a hinge and rivets (fake of course) on the other side to match...that'd be kinda nifty I think....
 
CrimandEvil said:
Wow, looks great.
Click to expand...

thanks. Before I paint, I'm going to smooth the edges with bondo so you don't have that hinge popping out..maybe add something over it so you don't notice (I think I said that before). Ah well, now time to figure out how to attach that motherboard tray. I have an idea, but not sure how reliable it would be...
 
Small update today.

Don't really know what I want to say...removed this corner of the case and screwed it to the side panel

beforesidecut.jpg
aftersidecut.jpg


Then attached the backplane to it. That's all I guess - I'm tired and can't think.

backplane-lowered.jpg
backplane-raised.jpg


good to see that thing back in place. I started a little work on the motherboard tray (removing offending tabs, etc) but before I need to mount it I need to find some aluminum "U" channel for mounts and I need some small bolts for the hinge since the screwes in there now interfere with the tray.
 
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