Project: Lian-Li V1100 mod

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kuyaglen

[H]F Junkie
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Following steps from this mod ShinyShuttle. I'm doing the same with my Lian-Li V1100 Plus II.
I'm also adding an Antec Big Boy 200 200mm fan as a bottom intake and as a side exhaust. link

(pics are worth a 1000 words)

Stock Lian-Li 120mm vs Antec Big Boy 200



Obligatory "before" pics





(after removing the computer components and everything in the case that was screwed down)



(cutting of hole for bottom intake fan, 3M painters tape used for fan outline)




(dremel got away from me a few times
eek.gif




(mobo/psu divider would block air rendering bottom intake useless, chisel and hammer used to remove them)




(dremel wire brush used to scrape away anodization layer, didn't take long for me to realise some bigger was needed)



(orbital sander used after realising how long its gonna take with a regular 1/4 sheet vibrating sander is going to take)






(wet sanding with 400 grit)




Tonight I've schedualed more wetsanding 800 grit (and greater) and hopefully I can get around to using this stuff this comming Saturday.
 
*beep beep beep* Japanophile alert! Japanophile alert! *beep beep beep*

Will be keeping a close eye on this mod
 
A guy at work who's had experience with wetsanding said to use light pressure, and so I did and got nicer results in half the time


Tomorrow seems to be right on schedual with the last of the wetsanding.

As far as protection of the final finish, I haven't researched that to any length. I'm gonna cross that bridge when I get to it.
 
Definately want to see how this turns out. I just finished a polishing project for the current build I'm working on.
 
The case looks great and I'm looking forward to more updates.
But why would you chisel off aluminum rivets instead of drilling out their center and have the joined pieces almost fall apart in your hands? :confused: You risk damaging the case, but more importantly, your hand.

Learn from other's mistakes. I've had a visit to the emergency room from whacking a chisel into wood and bouncing the chisel point off of the bone in my thumb. It barely missed a nerve. I was lucky that the injury involved only stitches and time to heal.

My suggestion is to drill and pop out the rivets.
 
Wahoomcdaniel said:
But why would you chisel off aluminum rivets instead of drilling out their center and have the joined pieces almost fall apart in your hands? :confused: You risk damaging the case, but more importantly, your hand.
Click to expand...

Normally I would use a drill to remove rivets (like I did to remove the rivets from my Super Lanboy drive cage link) but the placements of the rivets would of resulted in unmanageable angles when using my drill.
 
wow your shuttle is shiny .... can't wait what you make out of the lian li

how fast will the large fan run? is it quiter than smaller ones or is it all for max airflow?
 
(thank you for the kind words so far)

Today I wetsanded the top and the front with 1500 grit sandpaper it turned out like this:



It looked good enough to start polishing:




I still have the side panels to work on and the side hole for the 2nd Big Boy 200 fan. Appearantly I went too deep with the wire brush attachment on the rear and bottom of the case. The back of the case would take a lot longer to wetsand due to all the deep scraps the brush made. :( At least the front and top seemed to have turned out well. And with this experience behind me I can do a better job on the side panels.
 
The top is almost done.

(got a $10 buffing kit from Home Depot, watched kikboxes youtube video on Metal Polishing to figure how to properly use the buffing compounds)


(with flash)


(without flash)


(closeups)


Now on to do the front and start on the side panels
eek.gif
 
looks great.... i think i am going to paint my black shuttle with some automotive style black paint...
 
Well yesterday I started work on the side panels and the door.

(sidepanel with fan grill removed)



(idea of chemically stripping anodization on door gone bad, used muriatic acid and left it in a bit too long)


(after lots of random orbital, sidepanel anodization seems to be thicker than on case and the brushed lines are deeper too)


(decided to try more chemical stripping with sodium hydroxide (lye), found in Easy-Off, whiched worked better than the acid, while wetsanding other panel)


(both panels before wetsanding)


(current state of sidepanels, easy-off panel left some deep holes that are going to take a lot longer to wetsand)





So the top is buffed and turned out real well but could be better, it was wetsanded up to 1500, I plan to go up to 2000 with the side panels for better results.
 
Since anodizing is a chemical etch process that eats into the aluminum only about 3 or 5 microns roughly, why didn't you just start off sanding the panels instead of messing with chemical stripping? Also I would finish it up with alum oxide scotchbright pads (prior to using compounds) to make sure you get any silica and or iron oxide particles out of the surface since they can cause corrosion..(may not ever happen in a dry environment but better safe than well... you know )

It will look killer polished up btw....how will you treat the materials once polished clear lacquer?
 
oh second thought occured although too late: If you can get a small punch that is the same diameter of the rivet core, just punch out the center from the head side of the rivet. Then work the punch in a circular pattern inside the rivet thus cutting the head off. This way you don't elongate/damage the hole size or panel....or you can cut the tail off with cutters (much harder to do) if you can reach them.
 
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