Project: ELITE (Watercooled Rocketfish)

a573573: Sure thing. What I dug out from my plans was 56cm by 19cm. I'm not totally sure thats exactly what I did, and I may have filed or trimmed some off after that, so just use it to see if you're in the ballpark.

Malacious Thanks. Anybody should feel free to use the ideas that I have, thats what modding is all about. Even better, improve on ideas and share with other people like I am doing now. ;)

Ok, update comming soon!
 
Hey guys, its time for another update!

Shut Up the Pump

First thing I did was small, but it is really important to me. I was pretty disappointed that watercooling seemed really loud due to the pump, even though I properly bled it. Turns out that when I don't mount it directly to the case, the pump is virtually silent. I dug up some of this material to put between it and the case to absorb vibration, and it helped alot! I'll give a dollar to anyone who can guess what this is lol!

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Logo Lighting and Radgrill Trim

This package was waiting for me, which means I have the acrylic to put behind the logo.
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When I got the acrylic, I got another idea though. Traced my plans:
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Cut:
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Holes drilled:
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Small details like rounding the edges until they perfectly match up make things look nice :)
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Edges sanded:
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I don't want to waste acrylic, so the cutout from the inside of that pice was polished up and will go here:
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This is what the logo looks like lighted up:
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And the radgrill trim mounted:
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Then I attached the front just to see what the case looks like so far:
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Progress Shot:
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My package with lights is due to come on wednesday, so I'll light up the bottom part then :D

What do you guys think?
 
Awesome work man!

And thanks for your measurements

Did you polish that Acrylic under your radgrill or is that just how smooth you cut it with a dremel?
 
[SNIP]
First thing I did was small, but it is really important to me. I was pretty disappointed that watercooling seemed really loud due to the pump, even though I properly bled it. Turns out that when I don't mount it directly to the case, the pump is virtually silent. I dug up some of this material to put between it and the case to absorb vibration, and it helped alot! I'll give a dollar to anyone who can guess what this is lol!

IMG_2224.jpg

[/SNIP]

Thats a fish tank pump filter, I just bought some recently for my fish tank.
 
that shiet is hot! I see you haven't replaced your broken mouse yet.

There's a logitech G5 for $28.99 shipped AR at amazon

or

Logitech MX518 for $18.45 AR/AC at buy.com
 
Nice work but it would be good for you to give some credit to the guy you got the ideas from, a lot of your ideas came from this guys' work; http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-work-logs/308748-incomplete-dark-desire.html. You may have referenced it but I didn't see it as I glanced through so just wanted to give you a heads up. Very nice additions though!

p.s. Thata a picture of my RF in the first post. Don't know how it got posted all around the internet, but I guess that's the internet. :D
 
dang that one of there on OCN is nice too

the cable management barrier just makes it look SOOOO clean....
 
a573573:You're welcome :) The acrylic was sanded on the edges with 100 grit then 400 grit, and polished with the novus 2 you see in the pic. It is some flourescent acrylic though, so it glows alot on the edges.

jtg1993: Wow can't believe you got it! Haha I havent had a fishtank for many years but I dug up some old filters somewhere. Digging up and reusing old junk ftw! Its actually amazing at vibration dampening.

Copenhagen69 & Shadowlord: Thanks, if only ups wouldn't take 5 days to ship across california...

Noodle: Thanks man. I'm so broke from buying stuff for this mod I think i'll just use that one you see in the pic for a while. Unless you want to buy me an early B-day present ;)

Paddi70: Thanks for the encouragement!

Malacious: Thats a great deal! Have fun with the case; it has so much modding potential.

skyline889: I actually referenced to his case in my first post here:
Hey Guys,

Its time to write my own project log This mod is inspired by many other mods I have seen here and on other forums. After seeing a great mod like Dark Desire go unfinished, I decided that I had to take it into my own hands to finish a nice rocketfish.

The goal of the mod is to mod this $47 full tower Lian Li rebadge that I picked up at clearance at best buy into a custom clean watercooled rig. The case itself is huge, which leaves plenty of potential for watercooling. Anyways, on with the modding!:dremel:

I'll add his name to make it even more obvious though:) It sucked to see sum0n3 sell his out for a jetski! :D

That was the best pic of a rocketfish I could find on google, so I rehosted it and posted it. You took great pics of the case, and now I know who's it is! I'll add credits to the pic for ya.

Whoa, this is a huge reply. Didn't expect so many comments lol:) Thanks for all the input though guys, it really helps drive my modding.
 
Very nice work. I like it very clean. I like the aluminum stealthing bits.

It would be cool if you could incorporate the blue trim you have under the top grill to other areas of the mod. Maybe place some black Aluminum over your drive bays too to keep them in with the color scheme. Mayby put some of that blue under it. Something like that.

Just my 2 cents. Looking good though, nice work.
 
oh snap that first picture is also the one I sent to my wife this morning via email to show her what I had bought .... I thought it was a nice looking pic also... just nabbed it from google images.

lol
 
just won mine this morning on ebay for $63 shipped!

can't wait to dice her up

I think i have to qo QUAD:)

Sigh.. that was you. I almost upped my bid to 75 before i went to class, but only had 42 mins left and said screw it and left it at 62. Only 13 shipping too, great deal.

Logged on today after class and found one for 59.99 buy it now with 29 shipping. 88 shipped not to bad either.
 
Looks good. the only thing i would change would be lose that piece of brushed aluminum off of the mobo tray. The grain doesnt run the same way as the rest of the case so it stand out. Replace it with black plexi like the divider and it would be sweet.
 
Sheldog23: Thats some great input. You can see in the thread that I was planning on adding my black acrylic to the drive bays, but seeing how good the blue trim looks on the rad, I may try to add it to other areas.

Malacious: Is your wife cool with the fact that you spent 60 bucks on a "metal box"?:D

Aku12: This case is a good deal even at 88, considering the like lian li models are around $200...

Magic: Thanks for the suggestion. However, the grain runs the same with the rad/fan cover, and the top of the case. I actually really like the brushed look so I'm going to keep it on that part. Will be making the drive bay cover out of black plexi though, so you should like that.
 
Mini- update:

I didn't get too much done on the hardware side today, but I did want to show you guys what I worked on. I dug up this old PalmPilot that had been a waste of $200 at one point, but has been sitting for years. After using LCD smartie and palm orb to fiddle around for hours, I got the palm to emulate a Matrix orbital display. I'll be modding the PSU to make it run off molex power and add it to the inside of the case soon:

Here's the palm:
IMG_2371.jpg


And after fiddling its my new lcd display:)
IMG_2373.jpg


Also made a cardboard mockup of a small add on to the case, can anybody guess what its for? ;)
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What are your thoughts?
 
sweet hack on the palm

um.... no idea on the comb looking thingy

maybe that guy that guessed the last one can chime in

your worklog is like a game show

"guess that modding duehicky"
 
Macicious: Haha, its just really entertaining to me when I get totally suprised that someone actually guesses a correct answer. I mean, aquarium fish pump filter? Only on [H] :)

A57357: No its not, but you are giving me ideas :)
 
Got My Package

Hey guys,

Look what came in the mail today: :D:D Thanks Petra's!
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Even got a blue pen to match my case. Now thats attention to detail!
IMG_2389.jpg


And check out that biocide, its not PT_Nuke. Alex sent me some of the stuff he's currently working on, so expect to see some new biocide soon! Can anyone read what it contains on the third line?

Since some of you were worried about the wiring on the bottom portion of the case, I made these: (its what the carboard template was for ;)
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Before:
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After:
IMG_2382.jpg

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(Sata cable will be replaced with the blue one I just got, and bottom black cable will be straightened. just snapped a quick pic before I left)

I don't mind wiring as long as it looks neat, and I think that piece spaces it out evenly. Not that anyone will ever see the bottom panel without the window covering it, but I just like to make sure I address every detail. :)

What do you guys think?
 
And check out that biocide, its not PT_Nuke. Alex sent me some of the stuff he's currently working on, so expect to see some new biocide soon! Can anyone read what it contains on the third line?
contains benzadrine do not ingest?
 
you need to take out that fugly rocketfish logo, and put in your elite logo, and tell me how you did it ;)

ive also got a rocket fish case, and i am in the process of getting it WC'd with my old swiftech h20-120 kit ive got laying around. it didnt fit in my P180 :(

subscribed btw :)
 
fluke420: Heh, petra's pen collections are the best :)

malicious and jtg1993: It's all i've got now, unless you guys want to start raising some money to buy me a nice black asus... :D

Neilfarted: After taking a closer look I believe it says Benzalkonium Cloride. Not familiar with this chemical though..

sparky1 2007: I'm actually thinking of just leaving the rocketfish logo there just to prove that it was a 47 dollar rocketfish case :D Who knows though, maybe I'll get annoyed of it sometime. Have fun WCing your rocketfish!

dCom Thanks bro!

Okay, Update comming soon!
 
Hey guys, Time for an update!

Got alot done, so I'll jump right to the pics.

Drive Bay Cover

As you all know, I like to make cardboard mockups to check my measurements in reality:
IMG_2397.jpg


Drew my plans:
IMG_2398.jpg


Finished that cut as well as a small rectangle?
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I thought it looked too plain, so I made this boarder. Drew it out, cut, filed, rounded corners,and sanded to 400 grit on sides.
IMG_2403.jpg


I need the holes to perfectly line up:
IMG_2404.jpg


Then I made brackets to mount the pda on the back of the panel:
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you can see how there's absolutely no room to screw up.
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Ahhhh ;)
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Polished with this tool:
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Hey what's this thin rectangle for?
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Used it as a trim for the side :D
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My lcd:
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Programmed and ready to go: can you see what it says? :D
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Progress shot:
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What do you guys think?
 
that is one hellova case you got there cheezeit i wish that i had half the talent let alone half the tools that you have at your disposal
 
jtg1993: Thanks, I really like the lcd too. I thought it would be too plain without anything there, plus I made use of my old pda to justify wasting 200 on it at some point :D
It can do anything lcdsmartie allows, like show my temps, nowplaying, clock etc.

Prodigee: Thanks man! Actually all the tools I have are a dremel, jigsaw, hand drill, and sander. All you need to get started modding is a dremel, so mod on!

Copenhagen69Thanks for the compliment. Right now I'm waiting for an internal usb bracket from a friend so I can plug the lcd on the inside and close my right side panel. I may add things here and there depending on how much time I have.

School has started for me, so I have less time for modding. :( However, If you guys have any suggestions for what I should add, or any comments at all, go ahead and post them! As you can see, I'll definitely consider any additions to the case. :D
 
Copenhagen69 Thanks for the compliment. Right now I'm waiting for an internal usb bracket from a friend so I can plug the lcd on the inside and close my right side panel. I may add things here and there depending on how much time I have.

bring $5 to school on monday and i'll give you the bracket
 
are you going to leave the front door stock?
you could add some LEDs and another ELITE design to the front ... maybe an abbreviated version of it or something
 
Damn!

Damn!

Ohh, sorry I said that already!! :D

Killer work man!

I love the LCD mod, and the panel mod to hold it

I plan to start posting my worklog this week. I was going to post it at only one site, but since I doubt I would ever win any "Mod Of the Month's" I am sure I can just go ahead and post it everywhere

I'll be watching!
 
This is by far the best RocketFish case I've seen! I really like the bottom window with the amazing plexiglass and the letters cut out!
 
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