Was just updating the HP3-MEGA worklog and relised i had not posted my the latest in the HP saga here!

The short story to this project was the need to own a server that actually was a usefull purpose built case!

A case that would have proper airflow and be quiet! , A case that could fit enuf hdds for our needs, a case that would allow for watercooling.... .......and a few lil luxuries thrown in

Because this mod is now pretty well over half complete.... i'll keen an up-to-date shot here @ the beginning as a progress reporter.

Latest shot.





Let the MOD begin!

The front panel.
I'll be using left over panels from all the other mods! some are already modded so this should helps things move along a lil quicker.
Of course the holes need to be marked.

The top section of the front panel has its cdrom area plated and hole cut as well

Some good old stormwater 110mm pipe is cut and sat into the holes.


Scared yet?



A floppy is no good to me! so in it's place is where the CDROM flip down front mod will be.





a bit more prep work

Time for bondo action!
for HPR-SERVER ive decided to go with a more pronounced lip on the both blowholes, i figured if i'm ganna have 2 blow holes! they may as well stand out.



i also decided to do away with the lower contour to try and even the front look up a bit.


The CDROM was/is going to take a bit of work!! around the edges are a pain to get right, the door closes flush with the face of the front panel.
If not done perfect will most definatly spoil the look of the case... extra time and care is taken.

Very early and crude! but i need a look see

The panel is left to sit over night to allow all the bondo to settle and go off.
Next day is more work on that CDROM opening.

As you can see the upper lip of the door must sit perfectly flush!!

Amost there! some small pits to be filled

will leave this sit over night again then sand and sprayputty tomorrow.

Some more putty and sanding work is done to the blowholesand sat back on to get an idea of what fans i will run,
I'm thinking 2 Turbine style fans will prolly have the best effect!


Some final shots for now before sprayputty tomrrow

The front panel is given it's first few coats of spray putty and allowed to sit over night under the dry lamps. This is where i'll first see all the highs and lows and nasty edges! and theres going to be alot!!!

The next day the panels again are wet rubbed with 800

The final uncercoat is primer


A few more spots "flare up" this can happen, in this instance it's the thinners in the paint biting into the edge of the first layer of putty. The panels are joined and yet again wet rubbed and spray puttied.
A final few coats of primer are applied to seal everything down, this is final now with just a web rub before paint.

With the front panel finally done i can move onto the how the 8-12 HDD/cd rom bay will install.
Perfect for this mod is the section form an old Plex case! with a very minimal modding the bay will install right in!



With the front panel bolted in i can now sit the CDROM in and install the plex mounts in.





The plex panel thatmake the bay are very old! and have a lot of small scratching on them.



a quik machine buff using fine compound will remove most of the smaller ones.





8 custom clear plex adapter mounts are cut and drilled to fit HDD's into the top bay section.(these will be re made the first 2 are just for testing and of course are a bit ruff)

You can now see with the Clear mounts installed and some Older workshop HDDs, how the new setup will easily house and effectivly cool 8-12 HDD's somthing not normally seen in a standard size mid ATX tower.







Finally i can fit the the custom flip down front CDROM door for a test run
I'm really really happy with the look of the cdrom panel graft! once under paint it will look factory.

While this may look a bit confusing posting this now!
I need to know if the idea to paint the HP-SERVER black is going to be the look i'm after with this mod.
The the next update i'm gioing to give the front panel a qick lick with some Acrylic Gloss back! and do a quick mockup using some HP-1 panels.

The paint you see here..if i decide to stay with the black is only a base coat that will be rubbed flat bfore final paint job..



A good trick for you guys painting @ home is to give your paint area a light spray with water bfore you paint!
this helps to settle down any dust that flying around in the area.
I use a generic type 2 dollar sprayer set to fine mist.





The choice for me as always when dealing with can paint is ACRYLIC paint. NOT Enamel.

The primered front panel is given an initial "dusty" coat.....left to sit for a min then a few more "wetter" coats applied.


So i can get a good feel to this mockup ive decided to add the spinners to the chosen fans now.
The fans ive chosen for the mod are top qual PABST's , these are high flowing 12v fans wich i'll run of Zalmann speed controllers.



The Center cones are the same as used on HP-4
the larger 70mm type.



Of course to match the cones are painted using "Bumper trim paint" this is used for its plastic sticking propertys and the fact it drys a plastic matt finish to match the rest of the fan.





The cones are "HOT GLUED" from the rear to thyr new homes.



With the Fans ready and the painted front touch dry ..the front of the case can be fitted up for a looksee







To help get an even better idea! ive grabbed a few penels off HP-1.



Im very heppy how the HP-1 side penel with the moulded window vents actually works in quiet well with the 2 front blowholes! and may end up making another panel the same

I was scratching around out in the workshop and i found this! It was sent to me months ago i just
never really had a use for it.
Until now!
I already decided to put a 15" side mounted LCD into HP server but thought why not go the whole hog
and do a DUAL LCD install!
The victem is a Shinko 7" LCD i like the fact that this unit uses a Romote! should make a fun lil addition.







A qick measure and shows it's a squeeze but a possible one





Time to bust her open!

With the LCD out i can now mark up the front panel for cutting.







The front panel has a round shape so inserts are cut from plex and added.






A check to see all is square



Some minor stress cracking was caused with the clamping so a lil extra work needs to be done.
The screen spacers are glued into place then time for some bondo action!






A qick fit to the painted chassis to check screen placement.



Back off for some sanding





A second coat



another sand



and a final coat of finishing putty

Today was one of those days where everything just falls into place! and you finish
your days modding eager to get to the pc and post the days work!
First off was to get the newly modded front panel ready for paint.

after a qick sand some spot filler is used to fill pits and the panel is taken over for some spray putty.

Next was time to move onto what will prolly be the main feature of this mod!

I originally did this mod on HP-2! the Side window mounted LCD mod! Not wanting to just copy the LCD mod over to HPR-SERVER
i decided to take the mod one step further, this time rather than just mounting the LCD behind the window i decided to improve it
to a Side mouted "flush fit" window LCD.
For this mod to work perfect i needed to have the a full 6mm thick tinted side window with and exact laser cut out of the LCD.



the laser cut is perfect! something i just cant achieve freehand for this type of mod.



The 6mm window thickness was chosen to match perfectly with the thickness of the LCD!



Even tho the window is 6mm thick and tinted you will still see thru it with nps.



As you can see here the LCD and window are almost a tollerance fit!



The first step is to fit the custom window into the side panel, hot glue is used to hold the window to the side panel.



The paper is removed and the panel is ready for the LCD

Next is to strip the LCD from it's original HP-2 window mount system.
The system that will be used to flush mount the LCD to it's new home will be even simpler and cleaner than its original.

With the old rear mount still attached



flipped over you can see the original system used to mount the PCB this will be kept and re-used on the new system.



the Screen is separated from the PCB





Next is to cut and drill the new mounting bracket



The PCB mounting holes are countersunk to stop the screw heads digging into the back of the LCD .







Next the PCB assembly is located onto the 4 mounting screws.



The protective clear plex backing is placed and screwed down.

The simplest but most effect way to attach the LCD to it's new mounting bracket is clear SILICON tape







The new bracket is stack to the LCD and the power and signal plugs are reconnected.







Clear silicon tape can be appied to the overhanging tabs


And the whole assembly is now stuck down to the window!




Flip the completed side panel over for a looksee

As promised! a Flush mounted tinted window LCD mod!

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The front 7" LCD is setup very similar to the side one,
the bracketing system that will hold the LCD will be mounted to the front panel



The orig metal locating plate is removed and a new tinted clear backing plate is added.





Again Silicon tape is used





Clear spacers , screws and nuts are used to attach the new tinted plex back





From inside the case the 7" LCd fits perfectly between the upper and lower 120mm blowhole fans.

A few shots of the of the LCD mounted from the front





And with the side LCD panel on

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HP Server will be internaly lined much like HP flame'D but using GLOSS Black plex!
The Section to go in will be the Back wall,
The old spare back panel comes out to use for mesurements. theres abit to do to fit the new panel in.











The back of the chassis is removed and the new panel can be slid into place.







The shiny black thats the whole inside will eventually be can be seen on the floor panel.

Next is to move onto the Front Fan and LCD box section.
The idea is to make a simple solution to house the fans lcd and front electonics.



the circles are traced thru the front portholes to make sure they line up perfectly.



A "thingamajig" is used to find the centers of the markled circles ( i honestly have no idea what these things are called!

but if you see one buy it! it is the most usefull tool i have ever owned! )



Over for some hole cutting 101



Next is somthing ive been hanging to use! Some MNPC mesh! ive been waiting a long time to get my hands
on some of Bill's awsome modders mesh! This stuff is pro ! easy to shape and looks so damm sexy check
www.mnpctech.com . ive been lucky enuf to get my hands on both styles of mesh, for this mod i'll use the hunycombe.
chosen for it's less restrictive and quieter air flow.

The mesh is layed over one of the holes , using a rubber hammer is carfully shaped.



The effect is a grill that sits flush and looks more factory.



Again SS Hex heads are used to hold 120mm fan into the new box







With both the fans and new sexy grills installed the box section is slid into place

HDD BOX is simple by design, orig the idea was to use an old plex rack from a clear case i had here, but i thought a custom made
matching black HDDBOX would suit the mod better.
Ive decided to go with a max of 6 HDDS... thats more than a enuf for a few TB's and will allow me to keep my antec350 psu in service.
Just to spice things up a bit ive decided to mount the Upper and Lower HDD's in and an angle!



The top 3 HDD's will slid in Upwards! and the bottem three Downwards.



to help with the HDD mounting holes... a small " Hole Jig" was made.





Drill time!



For Guide runners a long strip of 3mm Sqr rod is cut into 12 strips



Glue time!







4 Workshop drives are slotted in for a test look



The Rack is sat in the case for final bracket mesurments and to check clearances on the rest of the parts.





With the Side LCD panel mounted as well.... it's tight but a few CM's is more than enuf clearance all round.

I needed to devise mount and link system, this lil bracket took me amost a day to come up with!!!!
the idea behind this is to have "some adjustment" in the the screen when alining and bolting the screen in.
The Main bracket is just a solid peice of plex that is perma glu'd to the inside middle of the Front fan box.



The common or joiner link will be this bent peice of plex, this will act as a swivel joint that will allow for adjustment both sideways
and back and forwarth.









The link is bolted the the main mount wicth is drilled ansd tapped.







@ this stage the link is left finger tight to allow for movement and silicon tape is applied.

Rather than trying to guess work or measure the right spot to stick the LCD to! the best way to ALIGN the LCD up with
its new link bracket is cheet by temperarily sticking the LCD to the front panel!!



Then it's just a matter of removing the silicon tape's backing and silding the Whole unit in so it presses up against the LCD!







Once the LCD has stuck to its new bracket...the front panel can be removed leaving the LCD stuck to its new bracket



the whole LCD is now an adjustable unit allowing it to but up perfect against the front frame