I recieved a dell dimension case (plus motherboard and vid card) from a friend whose computer I upgraded. It's been sitting in my room for months now and I think its time I do something with it. Since it's going to be a linux box I think I'm going to do a suse theme mod. That is the iguana logo with a yellow and green color scheme. The case is a 4500 case (one of the black/grey mouth open variety that everyone owns). Well, here I go...
Attached is a picture of the internals from the dell, man those cases are hard to get apart.

Attached Thumbnails

 

First order of business was to take the dell case apart, which is an adventure in itself. Here are some of the peices that you have to remove.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Lookin' sweet Mod dat shiznet

Well the first thing I did after I got that case apart was a trip to home depot to buy my first dremel (yes I know it's odd for a modder not to own a dremel, but I had gotten pretty good with the sabre saw, but not good enough for circle cuts) and other supplies. So when I got back it was time to fire that baby up and cut into the case. I, however could not find a speed that would cut through the plastic of the dell case without either being too fast and leaving a trail of melted plastic or being to slow and not being able to push through (the plastic is fairly thick). My current plan is to mount a frosted window where the round grey dell logo was and then to glue the logo piece (with the dell logo filled and sanded off) back over the window so that light eminates out from the sides of the round piece. So here is the cut into the side of the case.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I removed the 3.5" drive cages from the metal frame (I plan to use only a dvd-rom and one HD (which I'll put in a 5.25" bay. These cages got in the way of my planned window and would've blocked the light. I also cut the window circle in the metal frame (cutting steel is fun).

Attached Thumbnails

   

Here I cut the two window peices from plexiglass. I decided that for my lighting/window idea to work I needed the window to be somewhat thick. Considering this is my first day with a dremel I think the circles came out decently, but as they won't really be shown in the final product it doesn't matter too much. After they were cut I frosted them by sanding one side with 80 grit sandpaper (in only one direction) and glued them together. And yes, I did design this mod so that I could get practice on the dremel and not have imperfections affect the outcome of the mod.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Time to clean for the night. Here's a couple pictures of my work area.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Wow somone is acutally modding those POS D(H)ell Cases

Today I set out to fill the dell logo on the round plastic side pieces. Here are some pics of the first fill/sanding. They still have minor imperfections so I will reapply the bondo in problem areas and resand, but overall they came out well.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Go Pimp.........Mod ON!
Pimp out that Dell....

Looks good so far. Anything can improve a stock Dell!

I almost bought a new Dell barebones system at a computer show today just to mod it.

But I know if I am patient enough something will happen to my parent's 4500 and it will be all mine for the taking / modding. I've already modded an XPS R350 and a GX200. The R350 has more potential because it's standard ATX.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ctlm17 That is the iguana logo with a yellow and green color scheme.

I found some sweeet logo's.........

Attached Thumbnails

     

 

Attached Images

  

Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg I almost bought a new Dell barebones system at a computer show today just to mod it. But I know if I am patient enough something will happen to my parent's 4500 and it will be all mine for the taking / modding. I've already modded an XPS R350 and a GX200. The R350 has more potential because it's standard ATX.

Yea, this is an mATX case, but since I have the m/b and plan to use it (it's only for a linux box) it's not a big deal. It does however severly limit upgradability.

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 I found some sweeet logo's.........

Thanx a lot, those are some cool iguanas. I was thinking of going with this suse one

Attached Thumbnails

 

I decided that I wanted to make the front panel almost completely flat (excepting the optical drive and power button) so put it back together and applied the first coat of bondo. This will definately take a few coats because I have to fill in the floppy drive bay and make sure all the seams between the drive bay coveres dissapear. I also decided to fill in the circle where the dell medallion fits on the lower part of the front panel that flips up.

Attached Thumbnails

   

It would be sweeet if you could make a Light up iguana logo case badge

Cool work. I like your circle window on the side.

It's nice to see someone do something with those cheap Dells.

Looks really good keep up with the updates on it keep pimping it

I have completed the bondo/sanding. Everything is sanded down to 180 grit and after a quick cleaning it should be ready for paint. Here's some pics of the progress, time to turn in for tonight. It's been a productive day. Thanks for the comments.

Attached Thumbnails