Just cruising around the local PC Parts shop (PCHertz.com) I came accross a very cheap and IMHO interesting case, the Skyhawk Jupiter. I bought it mainly for the weight (or lack there of) since I LAN, and liked the LCD clock/temp built into the front.

First I had modded both sides of the case with plexi. One side was done in 40% tint effective plexi...allowing you to view the internals but not be distracted by the 4 blue cold cathodes. The other side was modded with a UV reactive, pre-etched design, window. Two UV cold cathodes are used on this window, and I had mounted the two fans to the vents...to cool the harddrives.

A NEWQ 5.1 digital FM Reciever, Coolermaster Musketter, Coolermaster Aerogate II, and a Stealthed DVD-RW+- was added.....giving me this....



Now I was satisfied with everything...except that stupid LCD time/temp gauge.




I decided that it was time for something a bit different. Something that I know would stop people at a LAN and have them saying "oh, kick". What I decided was, why not have a true LCD moniter built into the case? So....David Groth and I went to work. I bought the TFT 4" LCD moniter online from Partsexpress at $110USD. It came with everything needed to get it up and running...(I just needed a converter from Svideo to RCA so I could plug it into the Radeon 8500le...but that was easy to find)



We went to work first removing that temp guage from hell (that never worked in the first place..and half the colour-shifting LED's burnt out in the the first month) and measureing the depth/width/height of where I wanted to place that LCD screen.


After finding that it would fit perfectly into the hole left by the worthless gauge, we then proceeded to fabricate a plate from stainless steel that would be used to mount the LCD into the case.



And here is what it looks like mounted in place...



After making sure the fit was good, we removed the plate and started cutting the hole that we would allow the LCD to show through...and I have to be honest with ya, I thought dave would have a hell of a time cutting through the aluminum to make that hole, perhaps using up 10-12 disks in the process, but you know, it only took 5.



After about 45 minutes, dave had hammered out the hole (figuratively speaking) and hammered out any bowing of the metal (literal).




Now the longest part about this project was getting the hole the right size, but not cutting an excess amount out. Another 45 minutes and presto, we had the perfect fit for the LCD.



The problem we ran into was that the screw holes and the plate were too far away from each other. We solved that after I suggested motherboard standoff's. It was an absolutely perfect fit. You can also see that we needed an inch and 5/16's of depth to mount the lcd.



While dave was finishing up the plate and mounting the lcd on the front bezel, I took over with the dremal and cut out a 6" by 6" hole in the frame of the case where the front case fan was mounted. We needed this removed since we were short on the depth by 1/8th inch.

A few minutes later and the system was reassebled and I ran a long RCA cord from the LCD to the videocard...



And this is what it looks like, four hours later. Notice the side window previously mentioned. Also, I tried placing the old plexi cover that was on the temp gauge back on. I was thinking about finger and pointy objects hurting the screen but I later decided (5 minutes later) that I would only resort to using that during transport of the system.



The LCD is used as my secondary moniter to run mp3's, movies, music videos, downloads, system moniterting utilities. Sometime though it functions as the primary display...and the quality/crispness is quite stunning... That is when I am too lazy to bring an extra moniter along with me to a lan.

And here it is in action. It seems faded out, but that is the digital camera...honestly it is very vivid and sharp.



My next thought is to take a fullsized LCD moniter, and mount that in the side of a case...thus having the complete computer system...I was thining maybe to have the LCD mounted on a piano hindge, so it can swing towards the front of the case (think suicide doors on a car), and then have a recessed plexi window inside the case protecting the electronics of the mobo and such.


EDIT: The specs are an Athlon 3200xp, 1GB DDR 400, 40GB and 80GB HDD's, SB Audigy, Radeon 8500LE, DVD-RW, K7 mainboard, Newq 5.1 reciever, Coolermaster musketter and Aerogate II, 350watt PSU, 4" LCD, 6 cold cathodes, and running XP Pro.

I have the same case, not bad what you did with it, though it looks like more of a conglomeration than anything, but still not too shabby, just not what I would have done with it. I do like the idea of a 4" screen there, I was going to put a fan there.

What is the thing in the top 5.25 drive bay?

Quote: Originally Posted by TiZakit What is the thing in the top 5.25 drive bay?

That would be the NEWQ 5.1 digital FM Reciever he mentions...

Didn't realise they were in order, though it is what I suspected.

Its a bit to busy on the front for me, but i like the lcd job there

I've got a similar Jupiter.. and I hate it more than anything. But you've managed to impress the crap out of me with yours. Nice stealthing with that DVD-RW too. I'm jealous, especially since it reminds me of mine so much

Looks pretty good, with all that other stuff in the 5 1/4" bays I'd vote for not stealthing the Optical Drive, I'd only do that to give the appearance of there being nothing in the drive bays. Also some modders mesh or paint on the stainless steel would improve the look IMO, right now it looks a little too industrial.

Yeah...this was fun to do, too.....

David

You guys did a great job. I would like to see the idea on the lcd mounted on the side. That would be awesome for lan parties.

Oh dear god, Fargogaming takes over PR... ah well, I did my job then...

Dave... want to chop up my skyhawk I've just got sitting 'round my room for pringles/mtdew storage?

Or yeah..

Brian, you're bringing that to the pre-CW lan right? I wanna see it in person..

Nice! Could you maybe snap another picture of the etched window panel on the right side (back of mobo).... just kinda curious what the design is, and I like etching.