Worklog: Project Spycon

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Hello, this is my first worklog/ major mod. I have browsed this forum awhile and have decided to go ahead and totally mod my cheap-o case.

The case I will be using is a Metis model # k2-215 (I think)

What I want to do, is completely trick this thing out, to the max. That means doing performance mods, and some eye candy as well.

In my opion when I bought this @ a computer show a couple years back, I thought it was a pretty good case, I only spent like $30 on it so it came with a cheap psu (200wts), that wasent even P4 ready. (no 12v plug)

On the inside, is a Soyo p4x400 Dragon Ultra Platium edition motherboard, which looks sweet if you have a window, due to the silver/ greyish pcb. So this will be a big + in my project. Also, I am going to paint the inside either a HL2 orange, or some other ultra violent or neon color.

This case has 4 fan ports, 2 in front to cool the hardrives, 1 in back for exaust, and another on the side pannel. I am somewhat dissapointed @ the 2 front and the back fan vents. Instead of open holes, it has this vented stuff which cuts down a ton of air flow. The back fan port dosent do much to help either,its this webed vent that really raises temps.

This front pannel will be a major thing to work on.

I want to put a fan on the bottom of the case as well to draw in some ultra cool air. The tower isnt going to be on my floor, so dust will not be a problem. Any filter suggestions?

Finally, I want to do something about the motherboard plate that holds to the side of the case, I'm thinking, mabey cut some shapes into it with a dremmel, or some kind of water cooling mod? (when i get some cashof course ).

Well, those are the only ideas I have so far, and you guys will have to wait till I upload some pics of some work I did today.

 

[twyztyr]

Drawing air in from the bottom isn't really necessary. It won't hurt anything, but in order to notice any kind of difference, you may have to actually raise the case up a bit to let some air flow underneath the case. I tried this on a system I built about a year and a half ago, and it really didn't make a difference. I think I put feet on it that raised it up about a half inch total height, but I didn't think it through and put it in the front of the case where I already had other intakes. If you do put an intake in the bottom, I highly recommend drawing in near the back of the case, for two reasons. The first is that area seems to be a common airflow dead zone, and the second is that since you've already got two intakes at the front, a third coming from the bottom probably won't change anything. True, it will block off PCI slots, but most motherboards nowadays have almost everything built into them, so lots of people don't use a lot of expansion cards. It's a tradeoff you'll have to think about.

All that said, go slow and have fun with it. Hope you had another box to put your machine in, or you might be tempted to rush it just to get it all put together.

 

[Shadowspawn]

Do me a favor and reduce the sizes of your pics, I shouldnt have to scroll at 1024 resolution.

Good plans, now get hacking!

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Ok, here are some more pics, followed by logs.

Went out this morning looking for a job to make some extra dough, so I got back around 3pm and started work.

I took apart the entire case, the only stuff I couldnt get apart was the riveted stuff.

Decided the first thing I should work on, was the bottom hole. This was a easy job because it was where the internal speaker was housed, and there were already holes, so I didnt need to get an exact mark of where to place the hole saw's drill bit.

That is a 3" hole saw you see there, usally costs about $25 or more depending where you buy one. I got mine @ homeless depot (last one left on the shelf). Went ahead and clamped everything down then started to drill.

Got the hole cut, now I need to drill holes for the fan mount. (I should have marked before hand *sigh*)

Here the hole is marked and ready to drill holes.

Here is the bottom with the fan screwed in. Looks good eah?

And another shot from the bottom of the case. I am thinking of doing some kind of underglow stuff like you see on those riced out Hondas you always see on COPS and stuff.

Final shot from my perspective.


Time to work on those awful front fan vents. These are were the hardest to do so far, not only did I have to bend the metal back out of the way for the hole saw bit, I also ended up getting a piece of scrap wood so, the drill wouldnt jump around all over the place when hitting into the slits in the alumium. At one point I thought I had totally screwed up one of the front holes, but you can usally fix your mistakes if you have some skill.

Thats the first hole cut for the 80mm fan.

Followed by the second hole, which I did a much nicer job on.

Last thing I did today was work on the back vent hole. This fan hole was webbed, which really cut back air flow, so I just took out the whole thing.

Hole finished!

BTW, the drill I am using is a Makita 6408 (my father's) I really like using this drill because it is small, and can get into tight spots, also has a nice speed lock I might add.

Thats it for today, spew me some of your ideas and what you think about the work I have done so far. Updates soon!

 

[Shadowspawn]

Your bottom hole is positioned to blow, not suck.

You can drill the rivet heads off to take the case apart more. Will make it easier to paint. You might consider using a file or something similiar to neaten the holes you drilled. Less chance of a metal sliver and just looks better.

Good start, keep it up.

 

[JEEVES/whohasmyname?]

Looking good, Those are some nice clean cuts you got there. I am very interested in the finished piece. But seriously you should resize your pics, think of the poor 56kers you are killing. If you are curious as to how to resize them you can just open them in paint and use the stretch/skew and just nock it down 50%.

JEEVES

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Thanks for the support so far guys! Went ahead and resized the images, cox hosting dosent like my 56k so it took me a while. Here is another daily update for ya.


Ok, today I decided to work on phase 1 of the front pannel. This is the part of my major mod that will really make it different, and stand out. Im planning to install a cathode or 2 in the front behind the pannels for a nice glow effect, but in order to enjoy something like this, I will have to have a clear face on the front, where the power and reset buttons used to be.

First off let me say; working with acrylic sheeting is very hard work. You can spend hours shaping and cutting a piece just to the right exactness you want, then SNAP! There goes all your precious time spent. When I first did my window mod for the side of my case a few weeks ago, I went through 2 brand new 18"x 20" sheets, and a older sheet I had laying around, until I finally got the result I wanted.(They shattered) I am using scraps from the window project before, which saves me about 5 or so bucks. I dont recommend throwing this stuff away that you know you can use again sometime in the future.

More pics!

This is the current front plate piece, that has the power button, reset button, hardrive and power leds glued in. I Took a piece of acrylic that I scored and snaped and fit it onto the top of this piece. (with correct measurments of course) Then using clamps, I clamed the sheet flush against the sides of the face plate, and marked the center of the square and sort of traced the outline of the button stuff.

This is the front button and a piece of the front pannel set aside. I made a template using some tape and some cardstock, then rubbed it over with a pencil.

Another pic with the pieces lined up and a trace of the button parts. Notice the outline of where it will fit?

I took the old face plate with the molding for the buttons, and hacked out the double circle design with a dremel. This piece that I took out, will fit into the acrylic sheeting flushed as if it was a part of it, and will allow me to use it as like I had before. I really liked this design so I decided to work it into my mod.



Next I went out and fired up my drill with a standard holesaw for drilling holes into doors for the knobs. (It was the right size for the job) I drilled slowley into the acrylic, and eventually had the hole all the way done. I then grabed my round mill file and started to file off all the excess crud from the edges. The heat from the drill bit had actually weakend the acrylic and when the piece had finally cooled the circle started to show signs where it had fractured out into the piece. Uhhh Ohh!

Eventually I got the right shape and size I needed, after going through 2 more pieces of acrylic. I ended up making a ton of marks and designed a template out of card stock, all just to get it set into the right place. This is the final result, and the piece I will use.

BTW, I had also removed the stickys and stuff from the face plate, and put it on a temporary place until I get everything done.

Phase 1 of the front pannel finished! Later on I will be repainting that dial, and glueing it into place with some kind of epoxy or UHU. The dial does not sit flush, but the epoxy will fill in the gaps and then you wont notice a thing, unless you get eye level with it, and poke/prod it causing it to break , which will make me very mad.

This is a shot, without the dial inserted into the sheet of acrylic, notice the fans that I screwed in to give you a preview of what this will look like. You can barely see the sheet of plastic in there.

Also, I haven't decided on a grill design for the bottom where that rectangular hole is. I'm thinking some kind of vented sheet metal or a cool design. Altho I have toyed with one of the grills from one of my hot swap decks. ($5.00 + shipping if you want one)

Stealthed my cheap ACER cdrom today as well.

I really need to organize my room, and get some sleep.

What are some colors I should consider painting the inside of my case? HL Orange, teal, or a deep purple have crossed my mind. Should I use some kind of special primer or pre prep stuff before I paint?

 

[twyztyr]

I think the obvious answer to the color question is that it depends on your theme. Are you actually going to go with a theme, or are you just doing whatever looks cool?

That front panel looks pretty damn good so far. Keep up the good work.

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Its 12:53 am here on the east coast, Today I spent most of my time sanding down the top of my case, sanding the rest of the case (internal), and finishing step 2 of the face part of this major mod.

So far this is what I have done.

Here is the top of my cheap o case.

I had origionally thought that my case was made out of entirely allumium, but it turns out, that the sides, and top are actually high quality steel.

Closeup shot for all you marco guys!

From the top down.

Working on the front part of the case is turning out to be a harder task than expected. I had originally planned to mount the case powerbutton stuff in with the acrylic, but I would need a lasercutter to be precise, so I improvised and did a sun design with some of the glue, to cover up some of the gaps between the plastic piece and the acrylic. I colored the face orange on the outline so I wont have to paint it back to silver, it adds a nice accent to the front I might add.

Found these while looking for sandpaper. Lighter + Cd's = Fun

Purple is the color that I have chosen to paint the inside, I want something that will be UV tho. I am thinking mabey a neon purple or something similar, as far as a theme, I am going to leave the top of my case sanded down, it looks so nice as a brushed steel. I will also do the sides of my case as well. Still havent decided on a bottom grill part where that hole for the usb stuff is.

Well its now 1:09am so TTYl for now.

 

[siege]

make sure you clearcoat the bare metal or fingerprints can easily ruin your brushed look. didn't know if you planned on that or not...

 

[kronchev]

I SEE SATURN GAMES OMG!!

good job so far, keep it up

 

[v3rt1g0]

Love the acrylic front panel.

 

[Troney1169]

Nice work!

 

[jayjaya29]

Yeah the front panel looks great.

 

[Morphes]

My friend has the same case and i am hopeing when you finish it will inspire him to do something with that POS case

 

[Archer1212]

wow that is exactly the same case as mine except i managed to get the model with the front audio and usb (did yours come with the 350 watt pasu or the 430?) im kinda excited to see what else you also do with that all ive done with mine is sanded it to get the brushed alluminum look (kinda failed when i found out its steel) so it looks more industrial at the moment, cut in a top and bottom fan hole, and put in an 11.5x11.5 window. it looks like crap at the moment cause im at a lack of money for what i want to do with it. but i kinda like what you got going so far.

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. Ive been busy lately with vacation and other important stuff. I finally got a day to work on my project again so I went out and bought some paint for the inside of the case, and went ahead and sprayed. I cant upload pics now but I will in the morning.

I found out that my PSU is ok, its my motherboard that is screwed up. It wont give me any video or even go into bios, funny thing is when i came back after a couple of weeks, it started up again. Dunno whats wrong with it, so I think I will go ahead and get a new setup. AMD 64 fx probably?

Also got a job today for some source of income. Working at some chicken place not to far from my house, (8.50 a hour) working weekends.

Give yall another update in the morning before I go into work so ttyl for now.

o, anyone know which brand of cathode I should go with? Im looking for something UV.

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Pics as promised, had a long day today.

Back

Front

I sanded and clear coated the steel cause I spotted rust when i came back after 3 weeks

Painted the inside of the case OSHA orange, kind of looks like a HL2 dosent it?

Sanded down the pannel that holds the window, decided that it looked better bare.

I ordered a new motherboard today, the soyo that you could get for free after the rebates.

Well, going to hit the sack here. TTYL

 

[ProXie]

We have the same bed blanket !!

 

[Archer1212]

hmm this is kinda giving me ideas on what to do with mine

*waits for money to come in*

 

[timetrap]

This is looking really cool... like the amount of acrylic. Just a q, did you use the hole saw attachment on the makita handheld drill? Can't wait til its finished!

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

This is looking really cool... like the amount of acrylic. Just a q, did you use the hole saw attachment on the makita handheld drill? Can't wait til its finished!

No, I had to go out to Homeless Depot and buy a $15 3" hole saw and a $20 attachment piece. The brand of hole saw I used was "Bluemol" or something.

 

[R@Mo]

Homeless Depot

ROFL

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Went to STAPLES to buy a PSU for my case that I am modding. Bought a 430 watt Antec ($99.98)

Got home, and I find this shit in the box. WTF MAD MAN.

In the box contained the following, bag with 5 stones for weight, some library book, a water bottle, and wadding to make it seem that it had a psu.

I was such in a rage, I threw it all back in the back and drove back to STAPLES, cut in front of everyone in line and showed the manager what there was. "Yea, I was in here like 5 min ago, and I bought this... *shows box with crap in it*, I opean it up and it has this shi7 in here." He called an employee that I had met earlier that picked it off the shelf for me. He told me that they would replace it, and went to the back to get another one. Came back and opened the box. PSU as predictied. Thing is, I think I know who swapped the thing for all the shit, he goes to my school and has a job there.

Other than that, I bought 2 blue LED antec fans and put the mobo in, no time for pics now cause I have a 17hour day ahead of me.

TTYL

 

[timetrap]

That has got to be one of the wierdest things I have heard... glad it all got straightened out.

 

[~¥~ßLÅÇK~ÇîrǵT~¥~]

Its been a while since I gave you guys a update. Work, school, and stuff have kept me busy this last month.

I ordered a new motherboard because my old one crapped out on me for some crazy reason. (Mabey a 230 watt couldnt support a 4 disk RAID, 2 cdrom drives, and 6 fans?) So I bought a new one off of newegg. If you remember correctly it was the Free MOBO after rebate. Still waiting for my rebate btw.

OMG FEDEX!!!!!

OOOOOO Prety boxor

Its so beutiful, but nothing compared to my Platium p4x400

Went ahead and stuck the motherboard back onto the plate, and put everything back togheter 2 days after the paint dried on my case. Went over to STAPLES and bought a new PSU, and some kewl Antec LED fans.

Spent my free time before work, hooking everything back up, and straighting up some cables. Made sure everything was OK then powered up the system.

I still have to do some work on the front, where the intake hole is for the 2 fans. Also i need to find some wire shroud that I can use as window molding. Need to order some CCFLs and a few more things, then this project will be done.

Lights off

Lights on

Painted my keyboard with what paint was left over from the case.

I am also going to mod this USB hub into the case, and I have 3 LCD displays coming to me in the mail.

So far, this is what it looks like.

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

Paint that cd-rom! or stealth it. Looks good dude, good job

 

[Morphes]

great job, but i would really world on cabling and maybe the war on terror lol jk

nice choice of color, maybe sand down the outside to silver and clear coat it, to make it seem aluminum?

 

[rogue_jedi]

looks nice. the only problem i have with it (minor) is that the plastic front doesn't match the bare metal sides. other than that, looks nice. and i think that motherboard fits better with the orange internals than the silver one would... but a actual orange mobo would be even nicer looking in there (but that's just me)

good job!

 

[IndyJoe]

Case Looks good. I like the orange.

 

[Gongo]

good job on that mod man... but yeah.. sleve the PS cables with maybe a UV sleeve and you got yourself one hell of a mod...


btw i thought that book/rocks in the PSU box was funny... i'm sure you didnt at the time, but now that you actually have your PSU, you can look back and laugh