Hey all. This is my first mod and also my project first post on this site! Ive been watching modding videos of The Mod Nation on youtube lately and ive seen everyone of them I think. Well I thought it was some pretty cool stuff so I got out this old crappy POS computer that used to be my moms like almost 10 years ago. Its a old packard bell. And so now im going to start a theme based case of Gears of War.



We never even took the stickers off of the computer. Lol!

So after completely disassembling the computer I have whats left here. The only things that im going to reuse is the PSU (which will hopefully have enough power to power some fans), and the case itself.





This case actually doesnt have any fan locations so im going to make a new panel for the rear that will hopefully be able to hold 2 80mm fans in the back. Here is what it looks like right now.



After I dissassembled everything I took it outside to clean out the PSU and Case with some compressed air. (that stuff gets darn cold.)




Then I went driving all over town trying to find a red LED case fan. Since my plan is to have the chassis red and the panels all black. After 4 hours of driving around I finally found one. Red LED fans are apparently real hard to find.



Here it is connected to my other comp that actually works right now. It looks sweet. It actually looks like it does in the picture.



After that I made me up a template for the rear panel I'm going to have to make.



Then I found out where im going to locate the fan that I just bought.



Now after I did all of that I started the design process which really the only thing I have so far is a drive bay cover I will make once I get my dremel tool in a couple weeks for my b-day. The logo will be cut out in either aluminum or steel and then screwed into the drive cover. The cover will be painted red so that the logo will be shown in red.




Then im going to put in a side window with clear plexi. Im still unsure about the design in the window. But im going to try to etch out the crimson omen which is shown in the pic in the plexi and light it up with red LED's to look real cool looking.



Thats pretty much all the stuff I have done and have planned for now so ill keep updating this as I go along hopefully. Let me know what you guys think so far. Thanks.

Looking good bro! Welcome to PCA! you are in for a interesting ride!

Charlie

I was wondering when someone was going to make a gears case. Not sure about a 10 year old psu being up to snuff but its all up to you. Good luck.

Welcome to PCA and I like your plans thus far. Re: your bezel cover mod, I think you might have better success with a drill and X-Acto knife than with a Dremel. The reason for that is the Dremel wheel, even if it's the smallest, won't really allow you a lot of positional manoevrability (geez, I spel gud, but is that rite?). I find drilling out some guide holes in the corners, followed by some careful carving and whittling with an X-Acto knife works great for making custom bay covers. I used that method for my Gothic Gargoyle (custom USB ports), Project Pisces ("Coelacanth" bay, custom control and I/O panel) and Micro-Blaze (to make the custom HDD exhaust fan on top) cases.

Check any of the worklogs for more info, when I have more time I'll post a link for you.

EDIT: Pic added for custom bezel fabrication.

Coel, you get points for trying, but it's spelled 'maneuverability'

Contours; While surfing Ultra's web site looking for kewl swag for a top-secret up-and-coming project, I stumbled on this sweet little item and my mind started going off...this would probably go well in your case, considering the space considerations...

Ultra Products - Power Partner 325-Watt ATX Power Supply

Nice ideas, and good job keeping that little piece of sh*t out of the landfill!

Thanks everyone. As far as the PSU goes its a POS 90 watt thing but I'm going to try to jump it just so I can use it to power some fans since Im not actually going to put a mobo or nothin in here because I dont have enough money to do that. Its the green and black wires that I should use to jump the PSU right? Also I just get a wire of any sort and strip the ends and stick them in the connectors right? Im going to go up to my local Goodwill and see if they have any old like P4 systems for cheap. Im pretty sure this is a Micro ATX case too judging by the size of this thing.

Definitely a microATX case; and yes, you just stick one end of a wire in the green and the other end into any black wire and it'll power up. To power it down, just remove the wire. Or you could install a switch between the green and black wires.

kudos for you on doing a case mod even tho you don't have the guts

That fish on that Bezel looks real good. I might have to try your method. Ive been thinking about what to do on the front panel and I think im going to hook up some led's on a panel that will be molded to the front with some fiberglass filler. Ill probably have this toggle switch to turn on and off the PSU on that panel as well. RadioShack.com - Cables, Parts & Connectors: Component parts: Switches: 12VDC Toggle Switch with Safety Cover .

Well after that post I went down to radio shack and got me some LED's in an assorted pack.



I then made a template for the panel Im going to make out of some metal. The holes on the left side of it are for the LED's. Then the little weird bad drawing thing on the right is where I'm going to locate the toggle switch. The screws on the top and bottom are what is going to hold the metal panel into the fiberglass filler. I plan to actually mold some stand offs I had laying around into the fiberglass filler and hopefully they will hold enough to attach the metal panel.

Here is the panel that will be made out of metal. Its the thing on the right if you cant tell from the pic.



Then here are the LED's layed out in the order I want. The red ones will be on all the time and the top clear one is the Power light and the clear one below it is the Hard drive light if I ever add any guts to this.



Then here are the standoffs and screws I will use to hold the metal panel into the fiberglass filler. I also I have the power button I took out in the picture.



I think thats all I'm going to do today. I still have to figure out my window design and maybe think of something else to put on the front. Can anyone tell me how I would hook up this toggle switch RadioShack.com - Cables, Parts & Connectors: Component parts: Switches: 12VDC Toggle Switch with Safety Cover to the jumped PSU? Im not positive but I'm thinking the green is the power and the ground I know is the any of the black ones.

EDIT: After doing a little research and thinking a little bit about the switch I think I know how to wire it up. Here is what im thinking. I strip the wire that I have used to jump the green wire on the PSU and solder that too the + on the switch, and then I would get another piece of wire, strip both ends soldering one end to the + as well and then running that to the black on the PSU which is the ground. Then do I not do anything with the - on the switch or do I attach it to the chassis as a ground? Also If Im completely wrong on this please let me know so I dont mess anything up. I wont be doing any of this till I get ready to put the PSU back in and hook up the fan. Thanks.

Well today I picked up some Bondo brand Short Strand Reinforced Fiberglass Body Filler. I filled up the floppy drive slot, and the power button hole since Im going to relocate that. I took some pictures and I will put them up tommorrow after I sand and fill anything I missed in. This is my first time using this stuff so im not really sure how its going to look. I will be molding in a new raised panel for the LED's and power switch but I got to figure out how im going to do that before I do it. Once I get all of that done I will be getting some primer for plastics and I will prime it up to see how it looks. So I should have some pictures up by tommorrow so keep a look out for them.

Those Clear LEDs are orange fyi,I bought the pack before thinking they were blue

Really. Dang I havent hooked them up yet so I didnt know that. Well when I get there Ill take a look at them I guess to see what they look like. They might be an interesting color. Thanks for the info though.

Well today I went down to radio shack and I got that toggle switch I had been looking at.



I also did some research on wiring it up and I got it to work.




After all of that I decided to start sanding my panel that I had filled with body filler the day before. I let it cure fully for 24 hours. I got some blisters from hand sanding this panel. It took a lot of work but its coming along nicely I think. Tommorrow I'm going to fill in the air pockets I got while applying the filler on the first day. I also plan to start the raised panel that I'm going to use for the new power switch I bought and my LED lights. But here is a couple before and after pictures of the panel so far.

Before


After


So that is my update for today. I will try to post more tommorrow if I get anything accomplished.

It's really nice to see another Packard hell being ripped apart and modified!
I like the theme and design so far, consider me subbed!

Great job on smoothing over teh front panel. thats how it shoulda looked when they built her!lol

Quote: Originally Posted by 2000contoursvt Really. Dang I havent hooked them up yet so I didnt know that. Well when I get there Ill take a look at them I guess to see what they look like. They might be an interesting color. Thanks for the info though.

If you want a quick way to test your LEDs without wiring them all in, just get a spare CMOS battery from an old motherboard, and connect the tails to either side. (If it doesn't light, reverse the battery polarity.) Any watch-style battery should work, as long as it outputs 2.5 to 3 volts or so. Don't try hooking an LED up to a 9V battery...unless you love the sound of corn popping.

Thanks guys. I actually have more work on the front panel done. I'm making a raised panel on it and that will house my controls such as the power button, and some LED's. I should have the panel completely filled up and ready for sanding tommorrow and I might possibly take a picture of it before I start sanding. I will have to wait 24 hours for the filler to completely cure before I start to sand it smooth. Hopefully by the end of the week I can get me some flexible primer and prime the panel so it doesnt look like a Ricer's car. lol. I also used the CMOS battery out of the motherboard I took out of this computer like you said above me, and I lit up the clear LED and it is a yellowish orange so I'll probably just use all red LED's in the panel. I'm really liking how the front panel is coming along though. It was my first time using fiberglass filler so I was a little unsure about what to do, and how it was going to look so I just followed the directions on the can and everything went well. But thanks again for the comments.

Here is an update for you guys who are looking at this thread. I made a cardboard mold to mold my edges around for my raised panel on the front bezel.



Then I let that cure for 24 hours after I did all the edges. (in the pic only 2 edges are done but I ran out of batteries when I finished and couldnt take a pic and then when I cut the cardboard out I forgot to take a pic before.) I cut out the cardboard after that and I was left with this.



Then today I filled in where the cardboard used to be. I tried to get it as smooth as possible so I wont have to sand so much but that is really hard to do with this stuff seeing as it dries within 5 minutes. Its pretty decently flat but it still will need quite a bit of sanding. Thats tommorrows job though, and I got me a sanding block so it should ease the pain a bit and keep my surface more flat.



Here is the final product before sanding.



I also went to a local auto shop and had some paint ordered and it arrived today. Here they are. The Flexible Spot Filler and Primer was the hardest to get. Next I got Regular Spot Filler and Primer which should work on the rest of the case. Then I also got some Black Gloss Engine Enamel which I will use to coat the entire case. The inside will be with red that I have layin around somewhere.



Thats it for today though so keep checking back I might be posting some sanded pics tommorrow. Later.

Quote: Originally Posted by 2000contoursvt Here is the final product before sanding.

It looks like you're the first to invent the realistic pubic hair mod.

Quote: Originally Posted by Coelacanth It looks like you're the first to invent the realistic pubic hair mod.

Lol. Thats fiberglass for ya. Ill shave it tommorrow. Oh my I need to stop. Too late for me I'm going to bed. Cya.

He's using 'kitty hair' rather than sheeted fiberglass. It's messy work I wouldn't wish it on anyone...