Alright, this is my second attempt at a mod. This time it is on a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream. I would like to thank manofmandango for selling me this case. He sold it to me at a really nice price because it has a couple dings in it, but that's okay, on to the mod!
My plans for this are painting the chassis flat black and changing out all the LED's Also I will probably get rid of the top USB and audio panel and put a fan in it's place, but nothing is set in stone yet. The hardware going in this will be my DFI Lanparty board and an Athlon 64 3500+ (for now) Eventually I will have an opteron or other dual core chip.

I started by cutting a new window to replace the scratched one.

Of course the plastic cover is still on the plexi for now...


After that I stripped it down and taped off the top and bottom to be ready to paint.

Next I will cut out the grills for the intake and exhaust. That's all for now my camera has to charge.
By the way, as usual comments are always welcome. I am always looking for ideas and suggestions, so let em flow!

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That's a great case to start with: it's right down the middle of PC case mod potential.

I noticed you put painter's masking tape on the top... are you going to paint the inside as it stands in that pic? If you have a drill bit of the right size, you might want to remove all of the pop rivits to make painting a breeze.

I painted the inside of my first mod case and decided later to tear it completely apart and repaint. Painting an assembled case gave me an uneven coat and made etching the paint difficult. Now it looks sweet, but I've been lazy to post pics of it since no one seems interested in my project as of lately.

Also, are you going to make your own window or replace the arcylic panel in the existing one? From the pics, it looks scratched up a bit.

I probably will end up removing the pop rivets...I have done it both ways, and I know removing them is easier, I just wanted to get this project going. As far as the window goes, I already replaced it. The second picture is what the case came with and the pictures after that are with the new window in place, I just have the plastic protection sheet still on there. I know pics 3 and 4 look scratched, but trust me it's not.

Any other ideas or suggestions for this case? I am not sure what else to do besides what I mentioned in my first post, so give me some ideas.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sn0wMan The second picture is what the case came with and the pictures after that are with the new window in place, I just have the plastic protection sheet still on there. I know pics 3 and 4 look scratched, but trust me it's not.

Sorry, I missed the line where you mentioned this (it was sandwhiched between 2 pics).

Quote: Originally Posted by Sn0wMan Any other ideas or suggestions for this case? I am not sure what else to do besides what I mentioned in my first post, so give me some ideas.

I've used this case before to build a multimedia PC for my church (to control the projector), and I was very happy with it. Here's a few mods I would have liked to do but never found time for...

• Rotate that 3.5" HDD bay area 90 degrees so that your front mounted 120mm fan will blow length-wise on your HDD(s). It's not shown in the pics -- did you remove it?
• EL wire along the edge of the window and do some etching?
• The front of this PC is one heavy piece of aluminum. Thick panels like this are begging to be cut and engraved. You can make an awesome 3d-like design because of this panel's depth. Of course this will take some artistic ability as well as wicked dremel skills.
  Examples:
  
  
  
  
  

Yeah, I removed it for painting, but it will be back in. The EL wire is a good idea, I will probably add some down the road. As far as the front panel goes, I think I will leave it as is. The main reason is because I have very little artistic ability and also because I like the simplicity of it.
The blue LED's that come stock on this case don't work, so I was thinking maybe orange?

Looks good man. Its good to see someone putting that case to use. Not to say that I lost interest.. just funds and patience after receiving bad parts from Newegg 4 times in a row. Anyways, I look forward to seeing what you're going to do to this beast. Or as one of my college buddies said, "The Fridge."

*Two Thumbs Up*

Quote: Originally Posted by Sn0wMan As far as the front panel goes, I think I will leave it as is... I like the simplicity of it. The blue LED's that come stock on this case don't work, so I was thinking maybe orange?

It is nice and simple. It's definetly got the wave thing going on hence the name tsunami. If you have the extra mula, you can always get a local artist (or send it away to an artist) to do something special on the front. Yup, I know what someone out there is thinking... by doing that it wouldn't be a mod 'you did' per say.

As for the light, orange sounds great. The stock color all over that system is blue, so orange is a nice change. Too bad there is no aqua-colored gas or material for LEDs, as it would fit with the tsunami front.

One other thing I forgot...

That case has this icky plastic panel behind the aluminum front door, with an even ickier top plastic piece that sticks out further than the door. A pimped-out mod for this would be to scrap the plastic part and use just the door. It would take some dremel work cutting out panels for the 5.25" bays, but I'm sure the end result would rock. Just a thought.

Good job with the acrylic panel so far -- it looks clean after a closer inspection of the pics.

Okay, I got the intake and exhaust holes cut out. The metal was kinda weird, so I had to make a hexagon-like shape out of them. After I cut them I filed them down nice and smooth, not gonna be any cuts on this case Anyway I did my best on the cuts and believe it or not I only used 2 cutting discs!





The next step will be removing the pop rivets and priming the frame. After the paint is done it will be a nice flat black.

Cipher, please PM me and sorta explain what you mean a little more. I am very interested in trying something like that. I know what you mean about the plastic. I have come to expect a little better than that from Thermaltake...

manofmandango, thanks for the support bro. Glad to see you're interested!

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I have a Tsunami Dream too, and want to mod it, (but you know, costs money i don't have, so I'll have to keep wanting)

This is what I would be doing if I had, you know, unlimited funds and experience:

I did a ton of research into home anodizing because I wanted that door effect all over the inside of the case. I have a few pieces dremel brushed ready for anodizing that I'll never have the money for... Cut out the usb in the top and put maybe two or possible three 120mm fans in there ready for a WC rad. Nothing drastic really, biggest thing would have been the anodizing...

Congrats on the first cut. You mentioned you used 2 cutting discs? Are you using the cheap ones without reinforcement? With the newer discs, that may eat up only 1/4 to 1/2 the life of a newer disc.

Any ways, I'll be watching to see where you go with this.

Gzim, that sounds pretty cool. I would possibly go with water cooling, but I lack the cash and the experience....Maybe in a few months I will have enough cash for a WC setup. Also I was already planning on a 120 on top, but I may take your suggestion and go ahead and put two.

Cipher, Yeah I was using the cheap discs...I have tried the reinforced ones in the past but when I priced them they were more than twice the cost of the regular ones and I figured I would do okay with the cheap ones.

Plans for today (weather permitting) are to primer and get a couple coats of flat black started. In order to do the cuts on the top I will have to wait for my brother to bring me a hole saw.

The non-reinforced ones keep exploding in my face. I only use reinforced or diamond coated steel disks now. This mod has potential..

Thanks for the comment Seyeklopz.

Today I finished the primer and I will start on the base coat later on, it's too hot outside for me! If it were possible to get tan from a monitor then I would be pretty dark skinned, but since you can't then I guess my username fits me pretty well Anyway more to come...

Quote: Originally Posted by Seyeklopz The non-reinforced ones keep exploding in my face. I only use reinforced or diamond coated steel disks now. This mod has potential..

i agree its either i go too fast or i do somehting but i must have used a total of 10 discs to cut out 4 holes in aluninum just due to breakage...

For me the main thing that causes them to break is when I try to cut sideways. As long as I cut in straight lines then I can use one until there is nothing left.

Quote: Originally Posted by WuGgaRoO i agree its either i go too fast or i do somehting but i must have used a total of 10 discs to cut out 4 holes in aluninum just due to breakage...

Yup, those standard non-reinforced discs are almost worthless for me when I cut metal. They're great for cutting... oh... may be butter or something, but the kickback from a rotary tool always snaps those things on my dremel. I'm using a variable speed corded dremel for cutting metal, therefore with all that rpm, I only run reinforced to ensure it never snaps.

Snowman, you mentioned cutting sideways? I understand the straight cut, but what do you mean by cutting sideways?

I found a really nice guide somewhere here at pcApex for cutting round holes with a dremel that I've applied to cutting concave arcs. This would still be like a straight line cut, but the blade is tipped a bit to get a curve (gentle pressure is stille applied parallel to the surface your're cutting).

Not sure if you're using this method or something else to cut concave curves. For convex curves, I typically let my dremel make a groove along the curve, then make semi-straight cuts or use smalle worn blades for really tight curves and corners.

I pretty much use the same method that you are describing. I use to have a cordless dremel, but I got real sick of charging the battery every 30 minutes of use. When I first got my corded one I snapped the discs all the time but now when I cut I just use steady pressure and they hardly ever snap on me.

i recently used one of those thicker discs..i don't knwo what they are normally used for..but they aren't enforced at all..they are just really thick..and i was able to use it quite easily..even when i hit a snag in the metal it held its own but i would imagine they are hard to use for serious modders because there is less accuracy with the cut..since the disc is a lot thicker

UPDATE!

Okay so the temperature outside finally dropped low enough for me to escape my cave and get some work done!

Here are some before and after shots of some of the accessories that make this case tool less.



I would have some pics of the other parts but the paint is still drying. The purple parts are now gloss black and the green parts are now orange.

Here are some shots of the new paintjob on the fans. I thought they needed a brighter orange!




Here is the drive cages all done. The case is almost done I just have a little cleaning up to do on the cuts. I decided to get rid of the top panel audio and usb and put a 120mm fan there. Anyone know of any good deals on one of the same type of 120 fans?


That's all for now. Probably tomorrow I will finish the chassis and get the fan mounted. What do you think so far?

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Interesting choice of color scheme, I'm hoping you make it to completion (unlike every other tsunami mode i've seen)

I'm wondering how you preped the drive cages for painting, with all the tabs poking in and such..


EDIT: Oh and I hope you put a real good coat on the drive rails because the sides go right up against the rough edges of the case, so that face will get abused!