I had some ideas for a nice, custom-made control panel floating around in my head; now it was time to look at the required parts and figure out how to make it.

In my "goodies" package that I selected from Glitterkill was a set of UV cathodes. I had a second set lying around from that AC Ryan prize pack that I won, so I planned how to make a control panel in a spare 5.25" drive cover to fit them in. (Cost-wise, what's important to note is the making of your own custom control panel instead of buying one, or just using the PCI slots in the back which can get really messy if you have a lot of wires.) Store-bought modding "baybuses" usually won't exactly match whatever your color scheme is, they all look generic, and to me, the same old boring "blue LED-lighted buttons" got real old several years ago. Nothing matches your existing color scheme more than using your own spare drive bay covers.

I was hoping to use the same bay cover to control not only the UV cathodes, but also the HSF and possibly GPU fan controllers I have yet to buy. So the challenge becomes, "How do you fit all that in a single 5.25" bay?"

It soon was obvious that I'd have to lose the silver plastic housings of the cathode controllers, to conserve space. After unscrewing the 2 bolts holding each one together, I found that the PCBs/switch assemblies slid out easily. Then, I just had to figure out a way to mount those PCBs perpendicularly to the inside of the spare 5.25" bay cover---which (as you'll see) was a much more complicated task than I expected...

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Love the fish dude, I can tell you have been storing away tricks over the years. I see a compilation of modding that goes all the way back to the original window.

Honestly, I was never a great fan of the Gargoyle, but I could appreciate the work and originality that went into it. I think this looks to be a much more professional and smooth project. So far, I'm impressed.

The best idea, logically, was to use a plastic "shelf" to mount to the inside of the bay cover with a 90-degree bend. The upright part would somehow mount inside the bay cover, the horizontal part would become the "floor" on which to mount the lower PCB. So, I measured the dimensions of the left-side 1/3 of the bay cover (approximately) and used the black plastic organizer I bought the other day to provide the shape I needed. It already had a nice 90-degree edge which would be perfect for this.

The middle of the bay cover has an inward curve which flows with the rest of the covers, and the bezel itself, so I couldn't mount anything in that central section. So my measured piece of vertical plastic had to fit inside the left-side flat inner surface of the bay cover. The horizontal part (the shelf) had to be at least big enough to mount one of the PCBs. To reduce the size of the PCBs, I used the rotary tool to cut off the right-side bolt-mounting tab. Looking at the bottom of the circuit board, it didn't look like any traces were found in that area, so I figured it was safe to remove it...and I then tested the tab-less PCB with the cathodes and indeed, they still worked fine.

I put masking tape on the L-shaped plastic cutout so that it would be easy to mark off areas to drill holes (i.e. the sound-sensitive controls and on/off switches) with a pencil. After some careful drilling and test-fitting, I had the shelf ready for the bottom PCB.

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Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita Love the fish dude, I can tell you have been storing away tricks over the years. I see a compilation of modding that goes all the way back to the original window. Honestly, I was never a great fan of the Gargoyle, but I could appreciate the work and originality that went into it. I think this looks to be a much more professional and smooth project. So far, I'm impressed.

Thanks BA, I appreciate your comments! You and I've been modding longer than most, and we're probably the hardest people to impress. The Gothic Gargoyle was my "anti-glossy-paint, anti-window" statement. With most of my projects, I often purposely did things just to go against the flow. Thanks again dude!

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to mount the 2 PCBs one above the other. I considered epoxying a slice of black plastic to make a second shelf, but I figured that would never be sturdy enough. Looking at the 2 PCBs, there was literally no easy way to mount one above the other. I considered using motherboard standoffs but since I had to remove one of the bolt-hole tabs from each PCB, and there was no room anywhere to drill my own bolt-holes, that idea had to be scrapped too.

I then started looking at leftover pieces of acrylic and plastic I had lying around, and started thinking about how to make a "sandwich" of the correct thicknesses of material and double-sided tape. Looking at the PCBs from the front, I saw adequate surface area to mount a piece of 3mm acrylic followed by a single layer of double-sided tape, upon which a larger, thinner piece of black plastic would be mounted, and the top PCB would mount on top of this piece of plastic, using 2 layers of double-sided tape (I had to use 2 layers because of the excess solder and metal posts protruding from the underside of the top PCB), and this would also help prevent any shorting out between the PCBs).

It turned out to be a fairly complex "sandwich", but it turned out to be very sturdy, after all.

P.S. This double-sided tape is the thinner, stronger automotive variety, the kind people use to mount those window wind deflectors and cheesy fake hoodscoops and such. I don't recommend using that white spongy stuff that's twice the thickness, it never holds up well in the long term.

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Now came time to mount everything in place. A test-fit revealed that the PCB assembly wouldn't sit low enough on the 2 layers of double-sided tape on the black plastic shelf for the knobs and switches to fit in their respective holes I'd already drilled out! Again, the problem was the excessive length of the solders and metal posts on the underside of the bottom PCB...so I took out the rotary tool, attached the pointy-round grinding head, and ever-so-carefully ground off as much of the protruding metal as possible. After I did that, things fit pretty good. Once the plastic shelf assembly was finished, I drilled 3 tiny holes and used teensy black self-tapping screws that I had leftover from some radio-control 1/10-scale dune buggy kits I still have from my early 20's, to mount the plastic shelf to the inside of the 5.25" bay cover.

Unfortunately, that mesh-like steel bay cover turned out to be quite difficult to dremel the necessary switch holes (the turn-knob holes were drilled easily enough)...mostly due to the little holes not letting me do my cuts where I wanted. So I ended up having to make the holes bigger than necessary, and I did my best to file the holes smooth.

It's not perfect but I'm happy with it.

And the final test: I held my breath and attached all 4 power leads to the switches and crossed my fingers...

And everything worked! *phew*

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Many months ago, before I even considered working on this project, I picked up a package of these blue anodized aluminum valve caps. I knew that they would be great for custom knobs or power/reset buttons one day. They look 10 times better than those big, bulky knobs you find on most of those overpriced "modding" fan control devices you see everywhere! And the price? About $10 bucks or less for a package of 4.

I intend to fill the valve caps with epoxy, let it dry, then drill out a hole just big enough to let me slip on the blue knobs, as I may need to remove them one day in the future. Here I was just doing a test-fit.

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I didn't get much done today, but I completed the left half of the control panel. The left side will control the 4 UV cathodes; Off/On/Sound Sensing mode switches and audio sensitivity knobs. I figure I have enough room for a few fan controllers, at least. I love the blue knobs, those will look great along with the front intake fan.

I filled the valve caps with epoxy, let it dry for a few hours, then drilled a hole in the middle, increasing size gradually until it made a really tight fit over the original black knobs. They turn smoothly and yet, I can still pull them off in the unlikely event one of those PCBs dies and I have to disassemble the control panel.

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It was finally time to revisit the back side panel and the glowing fish outline. The challenge now was, "How can I mount it without using any visible bolts or rivets, and also not affect the UV cathode that will provide the backlight?"...For days I've thought about it, and I finally had a rather simple solution (funny how sometimes the most challenging dilemmas have simple solutions, isn't it?).

First, I prepped the inside of the panel surface with rubbing alcohol to clean it up. Then, I cut a large square from a piece of clear plastic (I used the lid from a CD jewel case, I don't suppose that will factor in to my final costs too much!). I glued it onto the inside surface with 5-minute epoxy.

Spare drives can be useful when you don't have clamps handy...

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I didn't want to cement the outside fish assembly to the inside plastic from the CD jewel case directly, because that wouldn't take into account the thickness of the side panel steel that was previously removed to allow the inside cathode light to shine through.

So I took some thin pieces of acrylic from the plastic disk that lies on the bottom of a spindle-pack of CDs or DVDs and snipped them into 4 pieces to fill up as much of the inside shape as possible, and then used Weld-On acrylic cement to glue the 4 pieces to the plastic of the CD jewel case.

Afterwards, I used acrylic cement to glue the underside of the glow-fish's UV blue-reactive acrylic to the 4 pieces of acrylic, and again, some hardware lying around was used as weights to ensure a good, tight bond.

Another reason I had to mount the glow-fish this way is that I didn't give myself enough overlap for the fish, outside of the steel fish cut-out, to allow me to glue it directly to the outside surface of the side panel. Even if I *did* give myself room enough to glue the glow-fish on, I didn't want to see the usual blobs of cement that almost always get squeezed out, and would have made a mess of the black side panel surface...not to mention I wasn't even sure if acrylic cement would bond to that satin-black finish, in the first place. So I think this particular solution was probably the best one I could come up with.

The best part of it is, from the outside, you won't see anything keeping the glow-fish in place; it's just there.

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I was having a problem testing my hardware out. For some reason, the mobo wouldn't boot. At first, I thought it was because the Ultra XVS PSU only has a 4-pin P4 connector, and the mobo needs an 8-pin EPS connector. I read to plug the P4 only in the right half of the EPS and that should work, but nada. So I did research (and also the help of some fellow modders) and found 4-pin to 8-pin P4-to-EPS adapters, and luckily, found one at a local PC parts store. Plugged it in, turned on the power, and...nada!

The mobo diagnostic code was 8.2., which according to the manual is "Enable ATX Power Supply"...I understood this to mean, check all the ATX power connections on the mobo, and this was a brand-new Ultra XVS PSU, so it *had* to be something else...but I figured what the hell, take the second brand-new one Glitterkill shipped me out of its box, plug it in...and NOW it worked! Even when removing the adapter cable (which would look like ass if I left it as-is without sleeving, it has the ugly opaque white plastic connectors and yellow/black wiring). I guess the ABIT support guy was right, the mobo should work fine with only a standard P4 connector in one half of the EPS mobo connector. Who would have thought that the first brand-new PSU was DOA right out of the box?

I wanted to confirm that my front bezel light tubes worked properly, specifically the HDD activity LEDs, which will make the tubes change from glowing blue to red. They worked fine with a 3-volt CMOS battery, and I think the HDD activity header on the mobo outputs 3.3V or something, so I like to be sure. They lit up just as I'd hoped and planned.

Like my hardware test facility? Don't worry, I'll be swapping the stock C2D HSF and ATI stock VGA cooler for better units, but I wanted to do a little "before/after" temperature testing first. And that ATI cooler *really* has to go, I want this case to be quite silent when it's all finished.

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It's always important never to overlook the details. The typical bright-red SATA cables you see everywhere, and the ones included in mobo kits, just wouldn't look good in this case. I wasn't even sure colored, UV-reactive, or lighted ones existed, but evidently ThermalTake makes them. They come in 7 UV-reactive colors, and 4 lighted colors. I didn't want things to light up or glow inside the case unless the UV is turned on, so I picked up a blue UV-reactive SATA cable. Cost? Only $8.00 CDN. Should look nice when I receive the new 74 GB WD Raptor I got off eBay.

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This little mini-mod probably seems unrelated to my existing theme, but it's a dedication. Sometimes, a person comes into our lives and makes a major impression; someone you can never forget. Sadly, things unfortunately don't always work out the way you want, but that doesn't, in any way, lessen their impact on our lives.

This little custom case badge mod is dedicated to someone who profoundly left their mark in my life, and if you're reading this (you know who you are), know that I'm thinking of you and can't ever forget.

People will remember how I disliked the top part of the front bezel control panel, with it's "afterthought" rectangular Power and HDD Activity LED lenses. For weeks I was wondering what to do, but you might say I was recently inspired. I'm going to make my own case badge. But instead of the usual "always on" backlighting, I'm doing something different. I plan to wire up the green LED on a CD drive to illuminate it.

I began by cutting out a rectangular hole.

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I then measured the rectangle dimensions, and cut out a piece of 3mm acrylic, then filed it so that it was a decent fit inside the rectangle. However, I'm not going to do the usual "typical" backlit etch, everyone does that, and I'm not trying or learning anything new, no new effects, if I do the same old thing. So my plans called for the cutting of a second, larger rectangle of 5mm acrylic, which will be attached behind the first "mini window". More on that later.

First, I had to bend the acrylic, as the top part of the front bezel has a curve to it. I got out the heat gun and placed the pieces on a metal hole-saw that was a close enough match to the bezel's curvature. After heating the acrylic for a minute or so, I'd press down on the edges after the acrylic got warm (using a towel or gloves, DON'T try to do this with your bare fingers!), holding it there to maintain the curvature as it cooled. The 5mm acrylic piece took quite a bit more heating up before it would become bendable.

I recommend attaching a piece of masking tape on the acrylic before heating it up and bending it over something like a metal holesaw, as the metal also gets very hot from the heat gun, and the acrylic might stick to it. I learned this the hard way.

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I filed the edges smooth and sanded them even smoother with 400-grit sandpaper. I frosted one side of the smaller piece; the inner surface which will interface with the larger piece. I'm painting that surface flat black, and the frosting should help the paint stick better. I'll also paint the rear surface of the larger piece flat black, so as to prevent any backlight from shining through the slight spaces around the mini-window case-badge. The attached image shows what I'm planning.

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Here is the acrylic piece with all sides painted flat black except what will be the front surface. I put a piece of masking tape on the flat black side, and drew my design of a grenouille (French for "frog"). I then took a tool from my rotary tool kit which looked like a very pointy engraving tool. This is a piece of acrylic smaller than a postage stamp, so this may not look perfect, but it took very steady hands and this was very detailed work. I must be getting old because I had to take off my glasses, as I had to watch what I was doing from about 4 inches away. My old-man eyes can't focus that close anymore! Anyway, I was very pleased to see how it looked from the front. The last pic shows this, I put a white booklet in behind so you can see the grenouille more clearly.

The frog design is intended to be see-through as the green LED will be backlighting it, whenever the CD drive is active.

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Here's a little tutorial on disassembling an Antec 120mm fan. This candidate is the thermal-sensing SmartCool fan. Note, I'm sure many similar fans from other brand names can be disassembled in a similar fashion.

-First, remove the Antec sticker from the bottom. It's not really needed, anyway. If you got gummy goo left behind, use a piece of masking tape and keep sticking it on and off the gummy goo-ey area until you pick up all the goo. Clean it with some rubbing alcohol afterwards.

-Look closely at the center of the brass shaft, you'll see a C-clip of some sort; in the Antecs, it's a clear plastic ring that isn't a full ring; it has a slit at one place (hence the name, C-clip). The C-clip holds everything in place.

-Carefully use 2 thin, pointy objects (I used a flat-bladed precision screwdriver and a strong needle) to remove the C-clip. I held the clip in place by pressing the flat blade of the screwdriver into the slit of the clip, and then maneuvred the needle in there; with some care you should be able to push apart the slit, and push it away from the shaft, in the direction opposite the slit. Once you have enough of the C-clip pushed aside, you can slip the needle or precision screwdriver beneath it, and pull it out.

-Push the fan blades away or downwards, while holding the frame. Be careful as the bearing might pop out, there's a spring underneath the bearing. In the 120mm fans, the spring and bearing are quite big, you shouldn't lose them.

-Now the fan blades should be off the shaft. On the other side, inside the fan blade assembly, is the shaft, an acrylic C-clip, a thin plastic washer, and the bearing. You can probably leave all those items there, the bearing usually won't slip off easily, the groove for the C-clip you removed earlier tends to hold it in place.

I'm doing this disassembly because I wanted an easier way to do a paintjob on the fan. I want the frame painted gloss black (to match the planned interior paint of the chassis), the round circle of the fan painted flat black, and the blades to be painted with ClearNEON blue UV-reactive paint...similar to the paint scheme of the front intake fan.

The following series of pics show the disassembly procedure.

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After the 2 major parts of the fan were disassembled, I masked them off for painting. I masked off the wiring, though that'll be sleeved anyway, but I pressed little pieces of masking tape on the small exposed section of the PCB to prevent paint from going there--not that I think it'd matter, anyway. You can see the area I'm talking about in the final pic of the painted fan frame, at the top where the wires are soldered on. I also put a bolt, washer and nut in the hole where the bearings and shaft go, I don't want paint getting in there. You can see the bolt (Robertson's head) in the pics. When I painted the opposite side, the side with the armature, I taped all of that up, and put a plastic aerosol cap of some sort on top of it when I painted that side, to prevent any paint from going on the armature. I bent up the thermal sensor under the plastic cap so it would also be protected from paint.

For masking the fan blades, I used 3 strips of wide masking tape across the front of the fan blades, then a ring of masking tape around the outsid