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Captain Colonoscopy
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2004
- Messages
- 3,861
Hello. I'm almost finished with this mod. I just have to find the power button, it's laying on the floor somewhere in my garage, so right now I'm using a tiny screwdriver to start it. 
I am also going to stealth the optical drives and get a little devil case badge for it.
Anyway, this is my first complete case mod that I've done. I have done a bunch of little mods like fan holes and stuff like that, but this is the first case I've ever actually painted and mounted a window to. I got the itch to do a more difficult mod a few months ago, needed something to do I guess. Money was tight so I started digging around in the basement where my work lab is and I saw the case that I got when I built my very first computer, an AMD K6-2 350MHz Mini-ATX box. The soyo board I had in it had died years ago and when I upgraded from that I bought an Antec SX1040B so the old case was relegated to the spare parts pile in the basement.
I originally did not want a window, it just kind of happened after I screwed up the first fan holes. I wanted to put two 80mm fans in the side panel so I put them where I wanted them on the panel and marked where I need to drill holes. I then drew diagonal lines from the holes to each other to find the center spot to drill the fan hole with my hole saw. After I cut the fan holes I drilled out the screw holes. That was my first mistake as I did not use a hole punch to start them with. When I tried to mount the fans only two sets of holes lined up on each fan. So I decided to cover up my boo-boo with a window. I had never done a window before so I decided to buy a window kit from Best Buy and gave that a shot. I cut the window too large and the plexi that came with the kit would not stay in very well so I ended up cutting my own plexi window from a spare piece I had laying around in the garage. After I fixed that debacle I cut another fan hole in the front of the case where the PC speaker had been located, which I remounted to fit under the top panel above the top CD-RW drive. I then cut a hole for a 120mm fan in the top panel which I cut out using a Craftsman Rotory Tool. I also cut out a piece of the mobo tray behind the optical drive cage to better route some cables because the case is awfully cramped.
After I finished all the cutting I moved on to painting the case. I learned a lot about myself while doing this project. The most important thing I learned is that everyone has limitations. I cannot paint for crap. I went through three cans of primer before I finally got the whole thing primed decent. I then moved on to painting and wet sanding. I went through about six cans of flat black and two cans of clear before I decided to call it finished. The only parts I am really happy with are the front bezel and the inside where I actually managed to get everything even and looking pretty good. If you don't look closely the side panels and the top look pretty good but you can see some spots where there is over spray I missed when sanding.
I forgot to resize the pics before I uploaded them, sorry 56k.
1) This is the outside, obviously:
2) Here is a pic of the front of the case, note the missing power button:
3) Here is a pic of the inside, note how friggin cramped it is in there. I sleeved the PSU myself, big pain in the ass. The cables seem cluttered but there isn't a whole lot I can do about that, there is no room behind the mobo tray for anything larger than an audio or USB cable.
4) Here's a shot of the 120mm top blow hole, it looks pretty neat in the dark:
5) And here are the dual 80mm fans up front. I cut out the stamped grills and also drilled ventilation holes in the bottom of the front bezel to increase airflow.
Well, that's it. I know it's not too terribly impressive but I had fun with it though, and that's the important thing I guess. Let me know what you'se guys think.
I am also going to stealth the optical drives and get a little devil case badge for it.Anyway, this is my first complete case mod that I've done. I have done a bunch of little mods like fan holes and stuff like that, but this is the first case I've ever actually painted and mounted a window to. I got the itch to do a more difficult mod a few months ago, needed something to do I guess. Money was tight so I started digging around in the basement where my work lab is and I saw the case that I got when I built my very first computer, an AMD K6-2 350MHz Mini-ATX box. The soyo board I had in it had died years ago and when I upgraded from that I bought an Antec SX1040B so the old case was relegated to the spare parts pile in the basement.
I originally did not want a window, it just kind of happened after I screwed up the first fan holes. I wanted to put two 80mm fans in the side panel so I put them where I wanted them on the panel and marked where I need to drill holes. I then drew diagonal lines from the holes to each other to find the center spot to drill the fan hole with my hole saw. After I cut the fan holes I drilled out the screw holes. That was my first mistake as I did not use a hole punch to start them with. When I tried to mount the fans only two sets of holes lined up on each fan.
So I decided to cover up my boo-boo with a window. I had never done a window before so I decided to buy a window kit from Best Buy and gave that a shot. I cut the window too large and the plexi that came with the kit would not stay in very well so I ended up cutting my own plexi window from a spare piece I had laying around in the garage. After I fixed that debacle I cut another fan hole in the front of the case where the PC speaker had been located, which I remounted to fit under the top panel above the top CD-RW drive. I then cut a hole for a 120mm fan in the top panel which I cut out using a Craftsman Rotory Tool. I also cut out a piece of the mobo tray behind the optical drive cage to better route some cables because the case is awfully cramped. After I finished all the cutting I moved on to painting the case. I learned a lot about myself while doing this project. The most important thing I learned is that everyone has limitations. I cannot paint for crap. I went through three cans of primer before I finally got the whole thing primed decent. I then moved on to painting and wet sanding. I went through about six cans of flat black and two cans of clear before I decided to call it finished. The only parts I am really happy with are the front bezel and the inside where I actually managed to get everything even and looking pretty good. If you don't look closely the side panels and the top look pretty good but you can see some spots where there is over spray I missed when sanding.
I forgot to resize the pics before I uploaded them, sorry 56k.
1) This is the outside, obviously:
2) Here is a pic of the front of the case, note the missing power button:
3) Here is a pic of the inside, note how friggin cramped it is in there. I sleeved the PSU myself, big pain in the ass. The cables seem cluttered but there isn't a whole lot I can do about that, there is no room behind the mobo tray for anything larger than an audio or USB cable.
4) Here's a shot of the 120mm top blow hole, it looks pretty neat in the dark:
5) And here are the dual 80mm fans up front. I cut out the stamped grills and also drilled ventilation holes in the bottom of the front bezel to increase airflow.
Well, that's it. I know it's not too terribly impressive but I had fun with it though, and that's the important thing I guess. Let me know what you'se guys think.
