Before i start in with the mod let me give you a bit of background. The name Version 2.0 is because this is the second case mod that i will have done for the computer thats in this case. May 2005 I got a brand spanking new (fregin awesome) computer built and put together by me, bought a some what cheap case modded it (top window, and a paint job). Sadly earlier this year the case had its time to go, not that i was to upset it was pretty crappy, it was very weak and did not have what i wanted.

Luckily i had another good sturdy steel case laying around, this thing was beige plastic bezel, and just WAITING to be modded, so i put the computer in it, and decided to wait until summer. Now, i personally love worklogs that explains everything well AND also has tons of pictures. So this work log is going to be as in depth as i can get.

So thats how i got Ver 2.0. Now on with the information. Heres the pre planned stuff

Paint job:
Red base coat with a semi\gloss finish

Basic Mods
10x18" window on the side panel
120MM fan in the front (replacing 80mm)
120mm fan on the top
raising the case about a 1/4"
adding white LEDs to the bottom of the case (on the outside)
replacing the BLUE leds in my PSU with red ones (all fans iwll be red LED)

Bezel Mods
Flattened (it will all be one nice flat piece)
All open ports closed up (the only bays open will be (2) 5 1/4" ones for my CD and DVD burner
Fan vent flattend and blow hole added
Power button relocated to side of bezel (right side out of site)

Supplies im going to need (this will change a lot im sure)
Bondo
Acrylic
leds (4 red, 16 white)
wire
bread board (pc board)
resistors
paint
sandpaper
JB weld
rubbing compound
drill\press
4" hole saws
jig saw
drill bits (many sizes)
switches

And now, on with some pictures of what the case looks like before anything.

one messup here and the entire paint job could be down the drain :O.
started with some water, 400 grit sandpaper, paper towels, and a panel

a few pointers and notices before we start, change your water frequently, once its discolored CHANGE it, also, use paper towels to wipe away the water, you wanna be able tosee what your doing,also edges are where paint is its thinnest
so they'r gonna be the first places done.





the main goal of this first sanding is to get down to "bare" metal and take off as much of the stock paint as possible. I did this in three stages, first stage was to take off all the "orange peel" from the paint. Got it really nice and wet and with a good amount of pressure started. (using a block of something as a sanding block is a good way to keep an even sanding going, but is optional )
not much of a difference once we'r done with step one, but you can feel it!


Step 2 is to get down to the bare, we want to be able to slightly see it but not get rid of the paint yet. once again get it nice and wet (using a lil of soap mixed in with the water to act as a lubricant) and with a moderate pressure.
(the picture doesn't show it well because it only captures some of it) but like i said just go until you start to see bare)

Now step 3, get a bit more soap with the water (enough to notice some bubbles)

and now you want to take away the rest of the paint DO NOT go into the metal though, if you do you will ruin the case. The trick is, is to take off as much paint as possible but don't scratch up the metal to much. So once you'v gotten about 90% off and its all even (to your touch) your good, w


once your done with this if you see a lot of swirls and such in the metal, take some 1500 or 2000 grit sand paper and go in one direction through out the entire panel with some pressure until it looks alittle more evend out. the coats of paint will hide those small swirls but anything deep will be revealed so be careful.

Do this to each of your panels, your front bezel though (if plastic) this cant be done to... so for that just sand it down a little so the paint has something to grab to.
You want all metal panels to get down this far:



Next step is to do any cutting (in this case our window and blow hole) then clean the panels with either a commercialy available (look on the paint cans most will tell you what to use) degreeser or just soapy water. and now we'r ready for PAINT


Now i have to start on my window, top blow hole, front bezel and then we can start paint. so stay tuned!

Hey It looks like you Know what you want with this case and U look well prepared. Just for that +Rep.

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
Joe

Looks like you have this nicely planned out - great to see!

Personally, I would have left the sanding out until after I'd done the cutting and not bothered to wetsand the panels (save the wetsanding until the priming stage)
I'd have just gone over it with 300/350 grit dry and let the primer fill in any scratches

... but that's just me You're meticulous approach is all good and I'm sure this will turn out sweet
*subscribes to thread*

Keep up the good work dude!

I am keeping my eye on this One

Keep up the great work

if i had thought about it i would have sanded it after cutting, the reason i decided to sand it down to bare was i figured if i can get the best base to start with the paint job should turn out as good as i can make it. It means a lot that you guys are looking forward to this thread its defintly going to motivate me.

Today was my parents 25th anniversry so i decided to spend the day with them, not with the computer. I've been working on the front bezel for a few days and tommorow will put up that post. thanks guys!

Bondo... bondo (oh some sanding) and yea more bondo ...

Alright, I hate the front bezel of this case, first off there is no point on it where its even with any other, and where the vent for 80mm fan is... it has some weird angles. The pictues explain better

Also I don’t like the look of drive bay covers, and since im only going to be using two drives on this computer (my dVD burner, and my CD burner, and no floppy) i'm going to get rid of all the open bay ports on the bezel and make it as sleek as possible.
First thing to do was to JB weld the two 5 1/4" bay covers on so they wouldn't be able to move, since I only have one 3 1/2" cover I took some left over 1/4" black acrylic and cut it to fit over both ports, this also helped so when I bondo I don’t need to use as much to level it out.



Next step, I want to relocate the power button off of the front, and onto the side of the bezel (on the right so its out of site), drilled the hole and now just needs the momentary switch.



Now time for bondo (all the supplies)

bondo, spreaders, and of course the bezel
first off, big thanks to the guys over at PCapex forums. This is the first time EVER using bondo and they gave me a few pointers. So, I read the directions, read things about people who have used it before and they all say the same thing. ONLY MAKE AN AMOUNT YOU CAN USE IN A FEW MINUTES. AND ITS TRUE! once this stuff starts to harden don’t try and use it! (this is it after about 8 minutes)


so basically I need a lot of bondo but it seems the best way to use it is in small layers, so I got layering. (OH And just a warning this stuff has a bad smell so open windows, open doors get fresh air moving and use a dust mask if u have one.
first layer was just a test to see how it works and everything. covered up the old rest and "turbo" button and some of the vent



Let it dried about 30 min, sanded it cleaned the dust, let it dry then went for more. added about 3 or so more layers and got to this point:


(the pictures make the bondo job look worst then it is)
All together there’s about a half an inch that has to be filled and then the rest should be easily leveled. Once the lower section is done the top section will be leveled off accordingly.

80 grit sandpaper will make your life so much easier. After a lot of sanding and two more layers (ya a lot of layers! this thing weighs a lot) I've almost got all the sections brought up to a workable level. I went ahead took a ruler laid it flat to find my highest point. After that took a marker and marked where I have to bring it up. Obviously I can't mark how high to bring it up but right now I just have to get it around where I want it, then the sanding will level it off.


Wanna see what 8$ of bondo looks like? I've managed to use up all the bondo I bought so i'm going to have to get more. This has been a long and tedious process, probably around 20 layers of bondo, with sanding between every other one. I've got a little more sanding to do, and then I will see just how much more leveling off I have to do. It weighs a lot.!

after using my ruler as my guide I figured out that its pretty much all evened out. I've got a lot of sanding to do, then I gotta go and buy more bondo (it'll be nice a few days with out the smell of bondo in my garage)
If i could go back and re do the front bezel i think if would have taken some of that GREAT STUFF expanding foam, shot it out onto the bezel, let it dried, then cut that away so i started with a sum what even base, then bondoed. OH WELL!

well, not to sure when i can get more bondo so the front bezel is just sitting out in the garage awaiting more. After thinking about it last night IM AN IDIOT! i'm putting a 120MM fan in the front, so chances are 80% of that bondo is getting taken away. And i would just go and start hacking away at it now, but i'm going to hold my self back because i want this to be as perfect as i can make it. So i moved onto the top blow hole. Only bummer about this case is that the two side panels and the top panel are all seperate pieces (which is good) but under the top panel is the chasis so this means i'm going to have to disassemble the entire computer to cut out the second part of the blowhole but that will wait until i have the fans.
Oh ya, i want some feedback. Originally i was going to buy red LED 120mm fans that were at 21DBA (best i could find) but last night i found the Thermaltake Silent Wheel it looks like the fan is actually 130MM (bigger is better) but fits for 120MM. Its also SUPER quiet 16DBA and it looks all good.
http://www.xoxide.com/thermaltake-si...130mm-fan.html
Now i realize this has NO LEDs so i think i would throw out the idea of red LED fans (no biggy) just wondering if you guys think this would be a good fan as both an intake (front bezel) and out take (top blow hole).

On with the top blow hole

First.. i learned this the hard way. 120MM doesnt equal "around" 4 inches, its actually 4.7 inches (rounded to the nearest tenth) so if your going to use a 4 inch hole saw, no problem but do not use a CD (which is 4.75inches) as your guide (learned that the hard way) NOW on with the blow holes.

This case is going to have (2) 120mm blow holes, one in the front (intake) and one on the top (out take). I'm going to use my jigsaw (you could use your dremel if you have one or a hole saw) instead of my hole saw because of some measuring complications (didn't double check how big the CD was, used its center mark as the center mark for the 4 inch hole saw and OH NO ITS NOT CENTERED!, luckily i didnt drill all the way through) So first thing is to outline where we'r going to cut (ignore all lines on this except for the green lines )

go slow, and remember you can always take away more, but its hard to put back, so cut a little inside of your lines.

If your going to use a jigsaw remember that it vibrates so be prepared!And make sure to use a METAL blade


First drill a center hole and start to cut from there, you want to take off small sections at a time and work form the center out (This way you can be sure to take off enough and not to much)

The edges are gonna get banged up it just means a bit more work in the end. If your using a hole saw is pretty simple, go slow and keep the hole saw lubricated (WD40 works good). Don't push to hard on the jigsaw when your moving or else it will jam (not good) after about 10 minutes of work i'm left with this

The first half looks a lot cleaner, but follow up now with careful jigsaw work (go back and try to cut up to your line) and then lots of sanding.
Remember go slow, and i find it good to take lots of breaks this way if i get frustrated i don't make any stupid moves. Keep making sure you use a good sharp blade and it'll make the cutting job a lot better, so if it feels like its getting harder to cut switch blades. After some more cutting and sanding (with 80grit to take down rough edges) i've gotten this far

still have some more minor cutting and then sanding to as perfect of a cirlce as possible. If your using a jig saw chances are the piece of metal will not be perfectly flat, so take a hammer (or other metal hard object) and flatten out the panel every so often.

sorry boss but i had to make an account just to comment on your bondo work, first thing is you should always try to make your application as clean as possible meaning clean off your buggers(as my auto body teacher liked to call them) and you should always make it as level and or as close to the shape you want the finished project to look like, leaving it with such massive ridges and cavities in the bondo just makes more sanding and applications. i didn't read if you scratched the surface area either but you should always scratch the piece you are trying to bondo with 36 grit paper, all in all not a bad job

Awesome job so far, man! I like how you're putting in the detail. Modding is getting so big these days and there is such an influx of n00bs like me that guides for this type of stuff seem to pop up everywhere. This, I think leads more people to assume everyone already has the basics (which isn't necessarily true) and thus the only things they detail are the big or innovative steps. It's good to see hardcore detail and explanations for even the simple stuff. Of course, peeps like me also benefit from hearing about the blundering mistakes that can be made and that we should watch out for (*mumble* bondoing front panel before cutting intake *mumble*). So yea, good job, keep it up!

thanks guys! and kickboarder thanks for the input. like i said this was my first time using bondo and i could tell it was a rocky start but im hoping to use my knew information to my advantage. Silent Rabid glad you like the worklog so far. Im tryin to make this a worklog\how to that way people can see alternative ways of doing things and also learn stuff for the first time. Its a beautiful day out so right now im kicking it out in th pool so not sure if im going to finish cleaning up the top blow hole today or not. its still early though so we shall see thanks guys it means so much!!!!!

PCAPEX FOR THE WIN!!!!!!

Well decided to finish up the blow hole :-) . First thing was to go ahead and take as much off as possible (bye bye green line) once again do it in sections, don't try and take it all at once your hand and mind will get tired.

Use your CD or what ever you use to originally draw out the circle as your guide, once it can fit inside the hole your good to go!


Its not perfect but nothing is so we'r okay! also i have a bit of a trick up my sleeve that will make this look much better. Now take your sand paper and either by using your hand or a pipe start to sand to take away the sharp edges.
or

or BOTH!
(im shocked it worked!)
Once i finished with that i used some SUPER thin acrylic i found (i think its from a display picture frame.
This is going to act as a duct from the blow hole to the fan. I know that the gap between the chasis and the top panel is 1/2" but i want to make the piece extend 1/4" out form the top of the top panel WHY!?

This way i can bondo over it and get rid of any imperfections (a better looking circle) and to give it some dimension. Now using some basic math i can figure out how high it needs to be 3/4" so thats set, now i need to know how big to make it and BAM R popped into my mind.
so some more simple math and...

15 inches long will be perfect.
Using a T square went ahead and measured it out and cut it with a knife blade (stuff is so thing could of used a sissor)

and the result

Now just a quick mock up to make sure it all fits (theres a bit of an over hang but just cut that away)

Cut that away and then used blocks of wood to set it 1/2" off the workbench just as if it was on the case.

Now just had to mix up so JB weld (awesome stuff!) and spread it all around

Make sure the JB weld is a uniform color (this way we get maximum holding power)

and start spreading

chances are i went over board and used to much but HEY you can never be to safe

now just gotta let it dry and get more Bondo.. wow i really need that bondo im sort of running out of things to do!

bondo isn't an easy thing to work with because of all the variables my auto body teacher was merciless though "that SUCKS take it off do it again" till it was so good that he'd actually have to admit it was,but yeah pretty much the only way to get it right is to do it and learn from what you did wrong

Oh my g-d did you see the face in the top window,man that was scary,lol.I love seeing an old case modded.I do not understand buying a 100 dollar case to cut up when there must be a million used cases crying to be modded.However I dig the job your doing so far.Jo

that face wakes me up everynight and scares the crap outa me! ahha. i hate buying a case thats more than like 20$ its a piece of metal that holds your computer end of story.... then you let us near it and we make it BLING!

so pretty much this entire week is going to be a heatwave (first one of the summer) so IF i ever get time to run over to pep boys i wil lget bondo... if not itll wait till next week sorry guys.

cha heat wave central-when upstate ny is almost breaking 100 it's gonna be bad all over the nation

110 here on the coast of NJ today... man i love my pool

weather dropped (temp) i finally got to pep boys. and i knocked some common sense into my self. Why waste bondo on a part that im going to cut a HUGE whole out of? but we'll get back to that in a minute. I threw some bondo onto the top bezel first layer so still got a few more ahead of it.


Okay, now back to the front bezel. I decided to bite the bullet and cut out the blow hole so i wouldnt waste more time and bondo. Since bondo is SO much easier to cut then metal i decided to use the 4" whole saw, and ill go and cut the rest out with the jigsaw
first our "guide" hole (center for the drill)

a few minutes later

just to give you an idea of how much bondo was on this....


time to cut out some more!

almost there...

thats damn good for me! so sanded it some and used my CD as the tester (this cd has gotten a ton of a buse)

A couple places that are going to be filled (but thats good because we still have to bondo up the front bezel)



after some more bondo i will use another strip of the thing plexi as a duct but for now i am taking a break.