Sdat1333's case mod project!

S

sdat1333

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Messages
86
Alright, I've been working on this project for a while at ExtremeOverclocking Forums, but I've decided to post it here to get more opinions and feedback. The original log can be found here if you're interested, but I will sumarize basically everything I have said in that thread. This is a work in progress and I wont be on at all this weekend so bear wiht me.
With that said, lets get this started.
First off, here is the case as it started. It is a plain old looking AMS Genesis Full Tower case purchased off of Newegg(Newegg link for those who are interested ).
Here are the pics I took of the case:
casefrontassembled.jpg

casebackassmbled.jpg

I will be using this case for my next build, and I will integrate watercooling.
Here are some of the things I want to do to it:
---Cut 120mm fan hole in the front DONE!!!
---Mount a double heatercore on the top and cut two 120mm holes for the fans
---Get 5" PSOne LCD displaying information about computer DONE!!!
---Build voltage regulator to convert 12v from PSU down to 7.5v for the screen
---Mount LCD in case *In Progress*
---Polish Inside of case down to a mirror finish *In Progress*
---Find and cut window design
---Paint case exterior a glossy black

Total Amount Spent Thus Far: ~$170 (Includes case price)

Oh and here are my tools:
tools.jpg


More coming very soon!
Sean
 
Alright heres the mirror finish I've been working on for the inside of my case:
bottompollished1.jpg

I'm plannin on doing the same thing to the whole inside of the case as well as the back of the case.
 
I went to Gamestop a few days ago and bought a PSOne LCD screen and went to radioshack to buy the cable i needed to hook it up to my video card. I am using a program called 'Samurize' to display the info on my second screen. (Click here for Samurize)
Alright now time for some pics of this screen. I didnt notice any ghosting with this adn its working out quite well.
lcdscreen.jpg

And heres a screenshot of it:
lcdscreenshot.jpg


I've bondo'ed together 3 drive bay covers to use as a faceplate, and will build a mounting bracket out of the harddrive cage when I take it out.

And then there is the task of building the power regulator to convert 12v down to 7.5v. I must confess I dont understand much in the way of electronics, schematics, etc, but this is what 'hellraiser1981' of ExtremeOverclocking Forums gave me:
LM317 LCD Power Regulator.JPG

And heres the parts list he gave me:
0.3 ohm 2watt resistor x1 (salvage from car audio amplifier, 5Watt is fine)
0.7 ohm 3watt resistor x1 (salvage from home audio amplifier, 5watt is ok)
2N2955 Bipolar transistor x1 (almost any bipolar PNP will work, but must be TO-220)
1N4002 Silicon Diode x1 (almost any black diode with a silver stripe)
100 ohm 1/4watt resistor x1 (come in packages of many, or salvage from anything)
1Kohm variable resistor x1 (easy to find)
LM317 adjustable voltage regulator (The Shack should have it, if not, any 1A ADJUSTABLE regulator)
Small 16v electrolytic capacitor for the output (1 to 100 uF)
suitable sized perfboard (the tannish board with a bunch of holes)
Two small heatsinks that fit the transistors
a small fan is recommended for cooling the unit
solder
Super glue or hot glue (for gluing components to the perfboard)
2-part epoxy (for gluing the perfboard inside the enclosure)(optional)
TO-220 refers to the "package" of the transistor. The picture of the regulator shows a TO-220 "package". A 100ohm resistor has Brown,Black,Brown,Gold stripe pattern.
Electrolytic capacitors are polarized, if you put it in backward, it explodes.
And he said he would help me build it once i got those parts.
btw this is the thread that i found this in: http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=174479&page=1
 
So what do you guys think so far? I should be able to get alot of work done on it next week, and I still need a window design, tho I'm not sure what I want. All comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks
Sean
 
Probably a silly question, but what's the 7.5V regulator for? Couldn't you just get that directly off the power supply? ( Well, it'd be 7V, actually.....)
 
yes I was going to do that, except somebody pointed out that that would make my ground float to 5v, but since it was connected for the video feed to my video card, the two would now be on a common ground and it could fry the unit.
 
sdat1333 said:
yes I was going to do that, except somebody pointed out that that would make my ground float to 5v, but since it was connected for the video feed to my video card, the two would now be on a common ground and it could fry the unit.
Click to expand...
Interesting modding project. I like your use of the PSone LCD. You know you can get much better output from that unit by wiring the inputs direct? Theres a writeup somewhere on the web, search for psone lcd mod and you should find it. Basically it bypasses the video input for VGA. I heard it looks way better. Maybe here on the [H] some one has done it??
I say go for the Radio Shack car 12VDC adapter for 9 volt output, and add a resistor or other simple circuit to bring it down to what you need. Maybe they even have 7.5 volt adapters???? Wouldn't that be easy! It will be much better to implement for you and the LCD really isn't too sensitive to minor variations in power. Then spend the time you would have taken to make the power transfomer to mod the LCD input!
 
haha thanks for the compliments
yah i know i can wire the screen to VGA, but that is just so much work, and the quality on RCA isnt bad at all. As for the car adapter, I could easily do that, but I think it will be fun to build a voltage regulator.
I should have another update ready by next week, but I need to finish the closet computer desk I'm building and finish unpacking, and then I can work on the mod.
 
wow i'm gonna keep an eye on this one. I really like that case too bad i can't get one. And for 22bux wow i bet shipping blows tho.
 
ha well thanks agian
yah I'm excited about it, oh and the case came to about $35 including shipping so it was pretty reasonable, especially considering how big it is.
 
Just my $0.02, but I think either the 7V mod trick or the regulator are much better than the car adapter.

7V trick if u want it quick and dirty, power regulator if u want it high quality (pretty reliable voltage) and a little something "extra".
 
alright im building the mounting plate for the screen out of steel from the side panel but i need help. I need a way to attatch a flat panel to the front of the comp in the drive bays. I already have a way to secure the screen to the panel, now i just need to secure the panel to the case.

thanks
Sean
 
big cases are always fun. looks like an interesting project.
<- add about 6k to that, the numbers are off
 
Building a regulator for the lcd is more hassle than its worth. I just picked up a new sony brand car adapter from ebay for $10, hacked off the lighter end and put a molex on it. Then wired a switch to turn it on/off when I'm not using it. pics below wired via vga.

P1030378.jpg
 
sdat1333 said:
haha thanks for the compliments
yah i know i can wire the screen to VGA, but that is just so much work, and the quality on RCA isnt bad at all. As for the car adapter, I could easily do that, but I think it will be fun to build a voltage regulator.
I should have another update ready by next week, but I need to finish the closet computer desk I'm building and finish unpacking, and then I can work on the mod.
Click to expand...
Hey! Good luck with the desk and Mod project!
 
heh thanks
yah ive finished the desk and i just mounted the screen into the case.
I might do that if I can find one for $10 shipped or less.

Im uploading pics now.
lcdincase 001.jpg

lcdincase 002.jpg

I still have alot of sanding and some painting to do, and Im thinking about rebondoing CAREFULLY around the screen cause its kind of a rough cut.

lcdincase 003.jpg

Can somebody tell me what the circled thingy is because it burned and its still working but i dont knwo what it is

thanks
Sean
 
you might want to take a better pic of that, it's very difficult to tell

also, i would highly recommend giving that bondo work A LOT more attention. it's just... really sloppy. It'd be shitty to potentially "ruin" a mod w/ a lot of potential by not giving the different elements proper attention!

the case looks rad (alone) and the modding is making it look even better :) keep up the good work.
 
Looks sweet. I am looking onto a LCD , looks like that one is the right size!
 
needs moar bondo. (IMO)

i'd try to kinda connect the bezeled part of the front to the flat part around the LCD with a slope type thing, and fix the edges so it is more flush with the sides. (immediately around it) put a bit too much on, then sand it down. also, take out the LCD (if possible; if not then mask it) while doing this - don't wanna ruin it.

and personally, i'd screw it on rather than taping, but w/e.

your case, not mine:p
mwhahaha
 
hey is there a way you could display more on that lcd, stuff like weather and stock tickers? If so, could you sort of detail the way you made that lcd display only that information rather than just projecting whats on my desktop. thanks!
 
thanks for all the comments guys
I said it needed more sanding and I am in the proccess of sanding now, and afterwards I will paint this thing.
The screen is kinda hard to get off so I will just mask it.
I tried to use screws but its really hard to get it level that way and stuff so I just taped it.
Where could I add more bondo?

@ratbird: yah sure i'll help you. first you need to download that program (samurize) that I linked to in the first post. Once you get the LCD hooked up to the computer, have it set at desktop extension or whatever, just not on clone mode. Once you've done that open the samurize config editor and make a new config. You can add a background image and resize it to be just the size of the screen (The work area in the config editor is the size of both desktops together) I can upload my config file if you want it, except I have changed the background to black. Oh the only thing about mine, I have my main monitor set on 1280x1024 and my PSone LCD at 640x480 so if you have yours at different sizes it might not work.
 
these lcd mods seem to get easier and easier, and cheaper - very nice looking, will be watching to the end!
 
yah it really is a pretty easy mod
im getting a ton of rain from this hurricane so I cant do any work on it today :(
 
keep up the good work. I am thinking of adding the PSone screen to my custom mini cube I am planing right now. I will be watching your project with keen interest.
 
sdat1333 said:
snipped....

Oh and here are my tools:
tools.jpg


More coming very soon!
Sean
Click to expand...

very good work on your PSOne monitor, did one myself got it all hooked up with a in car adaptor as well. Still findind it hard to mount it as i dont have the right tools for the job.

I noticed in one of your first load of pics you have a saw thing, how good is that for cutting the case ect? looking at getting somethign to cut metal with as using the dremal on big str8 lines isnt really a good thing to do.

How easy is it to cut? and what kind of blades are good?

ta
 
It is a Jig saw. They are very good at cutting straights and curves in metal.

You have to have the correct blade though.

For thick metal (heavy aluminum included) you want a blade with 14 teeth per inch, for thin metal you want a blade that has 24 teeth per inch. The blades have the teeth per inch and purpose on the package labels.

You can get a half way decent Jig saw at HomeDepot, Lowes, Manard's for under $50 easy.

I use the Jig saw when I have to make large aread straight runs and large curves, otherwise I use my dremel with the jig saw attachment.
 
Tiny said:
It is a Jig saw. They are very good at cutting straights and curves in metal.

You have to have the correct blade though.

For thick metal (heavy aluminum included) you want a blade with 14 teeth per inch, for thin metal you want a blade that has 24 teeth per inch. The blades have the teeth per inch and purpose on the package labels.

You can get a half way decent Jig saw at HomeDepot, Lowes, Manard's for under $50 easy.

I use the Jig saw when I have to make large aread straight runs and large curves, otherwise I use my dremel with the jig saw attachment.
Click to expand...

I take it you drill a hole though first then place the blade of the jigsaw in and start cutting? I may well get one as I've got the buzz to maybe to some more windows on my case, already been thinking about foing a DVD window so I need a window in the case as well to see it.
What is it like to do complex shapes? I want to see if I can get a blank side panel to cut out a simple design of my making..
 
yah the jigsaw makes very clean cuts for straight lines and slight curves, but anything intricate has to be done with a dremel. Including circles
 
sdat1333 said:
thanks for all the comments guys
I said it needed more sanding and I am in the proccess of sanding now, and afterwards I will paint this thing.
The screen is kinda hard to get off so I will just mask it.
I tried to use screws but its really hard to get it level that way and stuff so I just taped it.
Where could I add more bondo?

@ratbird: yah sure i'll help you. first you need to download that program (samurize) that I linked to in the first post. Once you get the LCD hooked up to the computer, have it set at desktop extension or whatever, just not on clone mode. Once you've done that open the samurize config editor and make a new config. You can add a background image and resize it to be just the size of the screen (The work area in the config editor is the size of both desktops together) I can upload my config file if you want it, except I have changed the background to black. Oh the only thing about mine, I have my main monitor set on 1280x1024 and my PSone LCD at 640x480 so if you have yours at different sizes it might not work.
Click to expand...

whoa! sweet thanks alot!!
 
keep up the good work, ill be keeping up with this. thinking of getting myself one of those cases. real good price; $24.99.
 
wow i havent been keeping this log up to date like i should

The pics should explain themselves, any and all questions and comments are much appreciated.
frontpanel 002.jpg

paint 004.jpg

shroud.jpg

sidepanels 006(smallversion).jpg
 
looks pretty dam good so far, i like the mesh on the front. are you gonna stick some CCFLs in this case?
I wanna make my self a PSOne screen mod too and i was wondering what kind of car adapter did you guys use. i found this on ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PSONE-Plays...ryZ21184QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
will that work for me? Since iam planing on having this mod outside my case, on my desk, can i convert the car adapter plug into a regular home use plug instead?
 
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well u can just use a PSOne power adaptor to power the screen, no problem.
EDIT: I mean for a wall outlet. The car adapter is only useful if ur using it inside ur case to power it off the PSU, since car electrical systems run at 12v too
 
What's the rubbing compound called that you used to make that mirrored finish?
 
sdat1333 said:
Alright heres the mirror finish I've been working on for the inside of my case:
bottompollished1.jpg

I'm plannin on doing the same thing to the whole inside of the case as well as the back of the case.
Click to expand...
sorry to repost your pic but i was wanting to ask a couple of questions on it.

basically did you just slap the rubbing compound in there and rub the hell outta it to get the mirro finish like that? or did you re paint it ect?
 
oh crap the pictures are down

I'll try to reupload them tomorow.

I started out by wetsanding (and wet-sanding really is essential, otherwise ull never get a good finish at all) with 800 grit in one direction until all the grey paint or whatver is gone. Then I wetsand in the opposite direction with a higher grit until all the 800 grit scratches are done. I switch directions and go finer and finer until i hit 2000 grit. After 2000 grit I put some rubbing compound on a clothe, and polish until i have a perfect mirror.
 
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