I have been lurking in the worklog section for quite some time now and followed various logs and was amazed by the ingenuity and creativity. Now I want to try out and share a few ideas of my own. Also, I could probably use a lot of advice, since this is going to be my first mod.

Onto my hardware:
Because my budget is more than limited I got a cheap (40€) case. I would have preferred a blue one but since I’m going to paint it anyway I can do it properly.

First what I like about this case:
It was cheap, I can mod the side panel behind the mobo (big part of this mod) and it came with the PSU. Also, the front isn’t crowded with switches and USB, Firewire and audio stuff. There is a small panel on the right side, not too obtrusive. On the inside there are enough (4x) 5.25” bays to have two optical drives if need should be and two HDDs in one of those 5.25” HDD water coolers. There is also a “stealth optical drive” drive bay cover at the top (but it’s broken). Should I want to use the 5.25” bays for something else there are also enough 3.5” bays for several HDDs with those coolers that go on top.

What I don’t like about the case:
The big (250mm) fan on the sidepanel has to go. Also, the frontpanel is broken at the top, as well as the provided stealth-cover.
I plan a top-fanhole and case-handels, but maybe there is not enough space.

Mobo and the likes:
Old MSI mobo from a cheap computer. When the PSU died I took the remaining hardware.
2.66GHz P4, 512MB RAM, GeForce4 Ti 4800SE and one DVD drive. Originally that computer also held a 160GB HDD and CD drive, both fried long since... (for a computer 4 years old and for 599€, not that bad. Sad thing that the case is rubbish and only the chassis worth for chopping up for a case-built)
The case will be used in a later project which I had in mind for some time now (but I am too poor to work on it right now).

Pictures of the disasambled case:

The front-panel.


Crack in the front-panel, left upper edge.


The PSU with honeycomb mesh.


Audio and 2 USB on the right front-panel side.


250mm fan and weird cables. The mesh from the fan will be used for fangrills.


Back of the case with more honey-comb.


Back of mobo-tray.


What I planned/the theme:
My theme will be “Paradox Machine”, an idea taken from the TV-Series “Doctor Who”.
When the Doctor’s arch-nemesis, the Master, returned he hijacked the Doctor’s TARDIS and used her to build a paradox machine. It keeps a paradox (time disturbance caused by e.g. travelling back in time and doing something that would prevent ones travelling back in time) from collapsing.
In the series the TARDIS organic-like, turquoise/blue/copper interior was changed to a crude, industrial-like, red design (even with mesh!).
So, I might want to paint the inside of the case golden or copper, the outside will first get one or two layers of blue, then a sort of red and black. I’ll have to test out the effect but I want to cut the painted case to hopefully see the paint chip so the blue layers and maybe even metal can be seen on the edges. Or I’ll have to sand the edges to get that effect.
What do you reckon would be better? It should look rough but the rest of the paint should stay on.
For the power-button I guess I’ll use a military style switch, though something with light would be super cool. A sort of photocell but I guess that would be too instable (it would be cool to be able to power up the computer with a Sonic/Laser screwdriver, though) – but maybe for the optical drive...
As for the power LED... well. I have no idea what to do with the actual power LED. The panel-mod on the mobo-side will be lit red acrylic and that should work as “power LED”. Depending on the size I would need four to six LEDs for lighting and there is no way I could hook that up to the original power LED.
Since we're already at the panel-mod: For the HDD activity I want to etch or draw a pattern in/on the back of the red acrylic that is invisible unless maybe a white or UV led is on. I thought about just etching, etching and uv reactive paint or just the paint. I’ll have to try that out, too.
For the DVD-Drive activity I figured out something rather sweet (I think) – an ampere meter. I just need to figure out what I learned about that stuff in school and forgot (Although I was pretty good at it) and if I can tweak an ampere meter so that it works like I want it to.
I want to cut out the two fangrills at the back and replace them with themed fangrills (the Valiant and Archangel logo). I think I will paint that in a copper tone, too, and use black mesh or something. The PSU might be painted, too.

One of my problems with this is that I want it to look like someone just took the case and forcefully installed new components. It should look like that someone didn’t pay much attention to clean cuts/edges or if things fit. On the other hand it shouldn’t look like I’m an idiot who just slapped in a few components and calls it a mod.
So... how do I manage a clean sort of negligence? Where is the line between a stark contrast and honest disharmony?
And what’s worse: trying to get across the (mental) rapture of a sentient spaceship or feeling more and more like making a point against careless first-time modding?
Also, has anyone an idea how/with what I can create a blister-like texture around the edges? I thought of bondo but that needs sanding and I want something that does not. Maybe epoxy?

(Oh, and it’s winter so I can’t go paint the case, maybe only the fangrills and I am probably more than bankrupt.)

Do you think this can work (nonetheless)?

Always interested in a new build.Mod on to new heights!Jo

Thanks, jofultner.

Here we go again!
Two days ago I ordered two of these lovely fans for the back of the case.

They are 80mm, transparent and appear grey when lit with the four white LEDs. I spent a little more than 12€ (ca 8€ for both fans and 4€ shipping) on them and I think they’ll look great with my fangrills.
That is where the trouble started yesterday. In the morning I wanted to go and at least try take measurements off the case to start fangrill design. So, I held a sheet of paper (the chassis was not disassambled then) against it and marked the mounting holes. I wanted to go and draw the rest in with a pair of compasses. Knowing next to nothing about fans I was already panicking when I didn’t get the 80mm in or out of my drawing.
What to do? Try to find a fan that is at least somewhat close to the 80mm. Since I couldn’t find the CPU heatsink and fan I have already taken off the mobo my eyes fell upon the old, burned out PSU. My luck: The wires were soldered to the circuit board and I hate to cut wires. So I disassembled the the PSU from our first computer (from about 1995) and once I had the fan I could go and compare that (it is 80mm) to the chassis. It fit (thank god!) and I started to plan my fangrills.
Long story short, I think I won’t make two separate fangrills but hold the mesh in place with a sheet of metal and sit my “decorations” on top. I applied my lame Photoshop skills to try show you what I mean:

The logos are the Valiant logo (upper) and Archangel Network logo (the other). I have no idea how I should do it but I think I’ll cut both from plexi and use some reflective foil for the metallic look of the Valiant logo.

Yesterday I drilled out all the rivets on the chassis and had to find out that though the case and chassis in itself are sturdy, the single parts are wobbly and warped. At least I don’t have a bad conciousness about cutting out stuff any more.
I put the dremel to good use and started taking out the rectangular vent. Turns out I’m way to sensitive for this world and I didn’t get far.
Today I started again and this time it worked nice. I went through an entire cutting disc (420), though. I continued to work on the first round grill with a 426 disc and it works a lot better.


The whole back.


The round vent.


The rectangular vent.


The dremel with the "heavy duty" cutting discs (1 new, 1 worn down), reinforced (1 new, 1 on dremel).

So, which cutting discs do you use? 420 or 426? I really have no idea which would be better. 426 feels easier, 420 is cheaper...

Quote: Originally Posted by DraQla For the power-button I guess IÂ’ll use a military style switch, though something with light would be super cool. A sort of photocell but I guess that would be too instable (it would be cool to be able to power up the computer with a Sonic/Laser screwdriver, though)

Now that's an interesting idea ...

One of the things you could do is install a remote-start device (like cars have) to the power and modify a pen or something to have the IR transmitter, modded to look like the sonice screwdriver.

-godling

Quote: Originally Posted by godling Now that's an interesting idea ... One of the things you could do is install a remote-start device (like cars have) to the power and modify a pen or something to have the IR transmitter, modded to look like the sonice screwdriver. -godling

Great idea! Thanks!
I might even be tempted to spend money on the LED or UV Sonic Screwdriver and mod that one. Depending on if I could get one where the IR transmitter is small enough to fit into one. And I think I would need a second transmitter or other failsafe. In the end it’s always the lack of failsafe that makes good plans go wrong.

Just a little update. Since my own laptop is in repair (burned out fan) I only have limited access to the internet via my Mum's laptop. So, no pics although I took quite a few of my masking and cutting mesh (and the cat's stupid face while watching me) for the fangrill on the back.
After months of searching, I finally found the name of my mobo (N1996 MS-6703 Ver.2) and according to the internet I therefore have the socket 478. As soon as I have money I can order the CPU watercooling block.
I also thought about the big hole where the 250mm fan was. I dremeled out a circle of plexi (4mm) and doodled a design for an etch on it - all time lord-y circle, angle, hexagon stuff with greek lettering.

Question is: can I put together a kind of transparent but UV-reactive filler to fill up the etch? Or did someone have already the idea and sells stuff like that? I want four 3mm UV-LEDs to light up the circular window so the etch can be seen. Or be seen more clearly. Could melting some plexi "dust" with aceton (I have a pretty good thinner that could do the job - it works like a charm on cleaning drilled holes for LEDs) and mixing it with UV paint work?

I also opened up the PSU and dear Lord! I could just leave the wires alone and never look at them again, but I'll always remember what mess is in there. I want to sleeve and change the connectors anyway and now I have a reason. And do you know what? The fan was not exactly soldered in, but the glue over the connector was holding on quite tightly. I might want to replace the fan in the PSU, at the very least it's getting a different (red lit?) fangrill.

The father of a friend of mine showed my something quite interesting. The Velleman k8055 experimental interface board. It might be a bit of a complicated design but I want to connect some status LEDs and switches through it and I think I can implement my "pulsating light for the mobo-side window" idea with it. I just need to talk my Mum into programming the board for me.
Said father also explained the whole resistor thing to me again (turns out I'm just too dumb to do fifth grade maths) so I'm probably all set for wiring up LEDs (even though that'll mean a few x.y mega Ohm resistors in parallel - blame my Dad for not buying smaller ones).

So much for small update. I need to buy sand paper, that 72mm hole drill, a 3-4mm hollow punch (for the mounting holes of the mesh - drilling just ruins the mesh and dremeling a gap my wrist) and a smaller engraving cutter for the dremel.

You have some cool ideas, especially on the mobo window. If you realy want to mess around with LED's, it will be worth checking out this site: LED series parallel array wizard

You will be able to design much larger arrays of LED's, and get the appropriate resistor values in one go. This tool also lays out diagrams as to how to go about connecting everything.

Bear in mind: Standard LED's (usually the lens is this colour) green, yellow and red are rated at 1.5 Volt.
Bright and ultra bright LED's (usually with clear colorless lenses) range in ratings from 3Volt to 4.5Volt depending on color and intensity.

There are many other LED variants, so the above refers to the 5mm dome variety, OK?

Thanks, Lithe_Joint! The link is awesome and really helps.

Since last time I posted I ordered:
- red anodized thumb screws (mostly for the mobo)
- AC Ryan PSU Morf kit red (UV active red connectors and cable sleeving)
- 120mm red-lit fan

And I put the chassis back together (held together by a few screws) to see how my optical drive would fit. To fit it behind the stealth cover and mount it as "outside" as possible I had to file the edges of the optical drive's front-cover down/off. It was fun and looks great. I'm tempted to paint the cover and tray black to better fit the case.
Then I put in the mobo only to find out that my "central mesh dome" idea is doomed by the lenght of my video card. Buuuuuuut there is enough space between PSU and optical drive (15cm) for even a 120mm top blow hole. Wasn't there a blow hole kit or tutorial around somewhere?
I'll have to see whether I'll do the top blow hole or not. But I could do at least a mock up of the mesh-dome (it was such a central idea - to me - in the Paradox Machine design) hanging from the top with it.
If I put the red fan in the PSU I could indirectly light the interior and tone down the white/grey light from the two 80mm fans under the PSU.
I don't know whether I'll use the opportunity to mount an up-to-120mm fan behind the front (cool the HDD's?). For a system in which I still want to put watercooling for the CPU(/GPU) and chipset I'm building in quite an amount of fans...

Some problems I have: There isn't enough space between the top and the PSU to build in the recessed case handles I want. So I thought of a design with one handle at the front and wheels at the back. Problem is that it looks awesome - but too smooth. I still want my somewhat industrial look. What happened to my "rash" decoration and rust? I'm trying to fix this too much...
"Normal" handles would make the case "too high". It's already too quadratic for me.
But since it's so high I at least have enough space in the bottom of the case to build in the k8055, watercooling and what not.
Oh, btw, do you think I could put a USB-hub between the USB-connector on the mobo and the USB-sidepanel? I need a few USB-ports inside the case (for example for the k8055) and I don't want to route a USB hub from outside to the inside and I have this old hub here that needs some soldering anyway because I can use it again...

Sorry if I'm just talking and talking and no pictures but I'm still using my Mum's lappy and can't load the pics from the cam on it.

Quote: Originally Posted by DraQla Oh, btw, do you think I could put a USB-hub between the USB-connector on the mobo and the USB-sidepanel? I need a few USB-ports inside the case (for example for the k8055) and I don't want to route a USB hub from outside to the inside and I have this old hub here that needs some soldering anyway because I can use it again...

I don't see why not, as long as you've got room for it. Shouldn't impair performance at all, though there may be some consideration for bandwidth. Not sure. Does every port on a USB hub have the capability to run at full bandwidth when plugged into a single USB port? Probably not. But if the devices you're running aren't heavy on throughput, then it shouldn't matter.

-godling

Quote: Originally Posted by godling I don't see why not, as long as you've got room for it. Shouldn't impair performance at all, though there may be some consideration for bandwidth. Not sure. Does every port on a USB hub have the capability to run at full bandwidth when plugged into a single USB port? Probably not. But if the devices you're running aren't heavy on throughput, then it shouldn't matter. -godling

Thanks for your help! Since I would only plug in my mp3 player (runs on batteries) at the front to load music on it that wouldn't be the problem. I'm not sure about how much the k8055 needs so I need to do some testing...

Okay, just a quick question for you (I got my laptop back, have a new keyboard but the fan - though brandnew - still won't work), later I'll probably post the pics I've taken in the past week(s).

Scythe Kama-Meter
vs.
AeroCool CoolWatch Fan Controller
(vs. something else?)

Both are about the same price (from German retailers - ca 39€ for the Kama-Meter and 32€ for the AeroCool) and both have their pros and cons.
Biggest pro: Both have a red-display option. Needs to fit the theme after all, right?

Well, the obvious difference is size...and the Scythe does not have the card slots, but who realy uses those anyway?
The karma, with its option to change colours scores in my book and the fact that it only takes up 1 drive bay is another plus (Leaves space for another drive or some other device you wish to install). The display seems easier to understand than that of the other unit.

The coolwatch, although larger, has a display which looks very sci-fi ish, and may be a perfect match to your theme. I suppose that you can get used to decyphering the display, but the fact that it comes with software would make decyphering a moot point. As I said card readers- who uses them...you may be an avid photographer with a multitude of spare cards lying around, so this would certainly make your life easier if you just quickly need to see whats on a particular one. So yes it does take up what seems to be 2 slots, but with the karma you'd have to add a card reader and that would take up a slot in any event

I would not choose either, 'cause I already have a Zalman MFC2 begging to be installed on my project. No Card reader, no software, no choice of singular backlight colours, but it does show system power usage in Watt (which is very accurate btw), it does have the alarm functionality with temperature and Fan speed monitoring/control for 4 fans. Also just 1 slot size, which gives me ample room for "additions"

If you want to choose one, it would have to be a personal choice based on what functionality you'd require versus ease of use versus cosmetic appeal.

In that order . No use having a pretty looking thing which you cannot use effectively imo.

I would say from a biased point of view,
Go with the Skythe Kamma
It's very easy to install, easy to understand and looks much better in
person!!
The other thing I like is it comes with 3 face plates, - 1 white, 1 silver, and one black.
I've also found that if the temp probes are mounted correctly the readings are pretty close to that of the mobo/speedfan etc.

Thats my £2

Pic Post No1


Masking up the mesh-fan-grill from the side 250mm fan.


The cat was quite interested.


It was a bit too long so I needed to get back down into the basement to dremel a few mm off.


I came back and the cat was bored again.


Fan grill fitting. Thanks to the flash the beautiful white/grey light can't be seen.


Back into the basement with this mock-up of a window (plexi with cat-flap). It's freezing down there! (I need to "pimp" that window with some styrofoam)


Because the IO-panel doesn't fit my mobo. (Not that I'd need it anymore since my mobo is broken, but more of that later...

Pic Post No2 (of 2)


I tried to cut out a new I/O Panel out of plexi. Doesn't matter that I ****ed it up, since my mobo is broken anyway.


Mock-up back-together of the computer. You can see a bit of the planned window where the 250mm was.


Doesn't matter either since I don't know what kind of new mobo I'll be getting (but probably another 478 socket, since the P4 seems to be fine), but this case is taller than the ones I had before so there is enough space for a lot of stuff (like the k8055 and a pump) in the bottom. I want to do something with mesh to hide the pump and k8055 behind it.


Guess who was taking a closer look. Do I have to worry about her finding out how to use a computer and take over the world?


Oh, as for the Scythe Kama Meter or AeroCool question... I think I'll get the Kama Meter and an AeroCool Infinite Panel. The Infinite Panel has a support for a 2,5" harddrive and I still have one I use frequently. It's twice as expensive (getting two devices) but cool.