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UnlnvlslblE
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
- Messages
- 272
I couldn't think of a snappy title so I just used my forum name 
I have to admit, this isn't going to be as big a worklog as I would hope it to be. I've been trying to keep up with the picture taking but I just forget to take them! I'm about 80% done with this mod right now. I am in the process of painting it as I am writing this.
Let me start off with a little background which led up to this mod. I bought an AeroCool cool view black case off newegg. I really liked it and loved the LCD on the front door. After about 5 hours, the LCD went dead. I e-mailed AeroCool and they agreed to send me a new one. I got the new one and installed it and it worked great... for about 2 days. This was the second dead LCD and I couldn't stand it anymore. I went on E-Bay and was lucky enough to find a 12v car LCD for sale. It didn't have anything with it so I figured I'd get a good deal. I ended up paying $72 and it works nicley. Its not really high res and it does have 2 dead pixels, but hey $72 ain't bad.
Now I had to get it into the case. I tried to do it without really modding anything and I ended up with glue all over the front of my case and it was all screwed up. I decided the best thing would be to start over. I bought a picec of aluminum and intended to cut holes and paint it and glue it back on the front of the case so it would look brand new. Well here's the process.
Here's the LCD. It had 2 bare wire leads and a RCA video lead. I just took an old molex connector and soldered the lines onto the 12v leads and it worked. Nothing too fancy.
Here's what the case looked like before doing any modding.
I removed the whole thing and here's what it came out to be. This hole was too big to fit in the LCD, so I had to do something about it.
On the back of the panel there were a bunch of mounting brackets for the old LCD. I used my dremel to cut them all off and make it a smooth as possible.
Here's the piece of aluminum. Its already been cut to fit the front of the case door.
I got a piece of plexi and cut a portion to put over the hole. This would serve as a protective layer between the elements and the LCD itself. This was important to me because I frequently transport the computer.
Here's the cut I made to fit in the LCD screen. It is as close to the viewable area as I could get.
See what I mean? Not bad for my first time using a jigsaw I must say.
This was taken after I made cuts for the buttons. I also hollowed out space on the door. There is also the piece of plexi glued onto the case. I wish I had taken a couple more pics of this phase.
Here's a front view of the plexi.
And now with the aluminum put over it.
Here are the two buttons I wired up for the switches / indicators. One is wired as a power button / power indicator and the other is the reset button / hard drive activity indicator.
I didn't take any pics, but I sanded the aluminum down so it was nice and smooth for painting. I've got 3 coats of primer on right now and will be applying the first coat of paint as soon as I get up. I'll post more pics later on tonight or tomorrow afternoon. I hope to have this mod done by tomorrow; if not then by next weekend at the latest. Let me know what you think!
I have to admit, this isn't going to be as big a worklog as I would hope it to be. I've been trying to keep up with the picture taking but I just forget to take them! I'm about 80% done with this mod right now. I am in the process of painting it as I am writing this.
Let me start off with a little background which led up to this mod. I bought an AeroCool cool view black case off newegg. I really liked it and loved the LCD on the front door. After about 5 hours, the LCD went dead. I e-mailed AeroCool and they agreed to send me a new one. I got the new one and installed it and it worked great... for about 2 days. This was the second dead LCD and I couldn't stand it anymore. I went on E-Bay and was lucky enough to find a 12v car LCD for sale. It didn't have anything with it so I figured I'd get a good deal. I ended up paying $72 and it works nicley. Its not really high res and it does have 2 dead pixels, but hey $72 ain't bad.
Now I had to get it into the case. I tried to do it without really modding anything and I ended up with glue all over the front of my case and it was all screwed up. I decided the best thing would be to start over. I bought a picec of aluminum and intended to cut holes and paint it and glue it back on the front of the case so it would look brand new. Well here's the process.
Here's the LCD. It had 2 bare wire leads and a RCA video lead. I just took an old molex connector and soldered the lines onto the 12v leads and it worked. Nothing too fancy.
Here's what the case looked like before doing any modding.
I removed the whole thing and here's what it came out to be. This hole was too big to fit in the LCD, so I had to do something about it.
On the back of the panel there were a bunch of mounting brackets for the old LCD. I used my dremel to cut them all off and make it a smooth as possible.
Here's the piece of aluminum. Its already been cut to fit the front of the case door.
I got a piece of plexi and cut a portion to put over the hole. This would serve as a protective layer between the elements and the LCD itself. This was important to me because I frequently transport the computer.
Here's the cut I made to fit in the LCD screen. It is as close to the viewable area as I could get.
See what I mean? Not bad for my first time using a jigsaw I must say.
This was taken after I made cuts for the buttons. I also hollowed out space on the door. There is also the piece of plexi glued onto the case. I wish I had taken a couple more pics of this phase.
Here's a front view of the plexi.
And now with the aluminum put over it.
Here are the two buttons I wired up for the switches / indicators. One is wired as a power button / power indicator and the other is the reset button / hard drive activity indicator.
I didn't take any pics, but I sanded the aluminum down so it was nice and smooth for painting. I've got 3 coats of primer on right now and will be applying the first coat of paint as soon as I get up. I'll post more pics later on tonight or tomorrow afternoon. I hope to have this mod done by tomorrow; if not then by next weekend at the latest. Let me know what you think!