Project: MACH X


Worklog subforum up... woot. Opening ceremony.

This project started life with a sleek SilverStone TJ03 case that I reviewed.

My concept idea for it was to mod a casing following the simple and classy look and feel of the TJ03. Sleek and clean, inside and outside. This proved to be tough to design amidst the sea of more complicated and tribal mods without looking too plain. I like the look of silver aluminium therefore I will be maintaining this in this mod (my previous mod was chrome plated).

The mod started way back in June 2005. Lots of delays due to my heavy workload on studies and stuff. But nevertheless the project continued to progress, albeit very slowly.

Click on the pics for larger pictures

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[June 22, 2005]

Conversion from ATX to BTX

Now you see it as ATX, soon you wont. Before:


Everything stripped off 1st:


Drilling out the rivets:


After removing the relevent parts:


Riveting the railings in their new position:


Fortunately the relevant holes are already made in the case which made the job a lot simpler, thanks to SilverStone. But I still needed to make another bracket for the upper railing to mount to because now its in the other side of the PSU cage.


And now you see it, its in BTX except that i've decided not to relocate the PSU to the bottom because then i would have to refabricate both the PSU cage and the rear panel. The upper railing hasn't been riveted yet to make way for making the upper air zone later. I just held it in place by screws for testing purposes.




This post has been edited by MetalZone: Nov 10 2007, 12:51 AM

[June 26, 2005]

Right Side Window

Full scale drawing done on card, cut out, and pasted on the sidepanel which has already been completely covered with masking tape.




Dremelling in progress with my Black & Decker RTX.


Soon enough, bad news. My RTX decided to die on me while I was working on the side panel. Hope to get it RMA'ed soon. Sparks and smoke, and the end result, a slight burnt mark on the floor that can be wiped off.


Meanwhile, I got hold of my colleague's AbleTools so that I could continue work. Pictured below are final touches cutting from the back before removing the pieces.


After everything cut out.




This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:11 AM

[July 2, 2005]

1mm thick Aluminium 'L' poles cut and sanded to shape for reinforcements, taking in account of fitting it into the case of course.


All four poles are permanently fixed to the side panel with clear epoxy resin.


After 8 hours, the end result is stunning strength! Its much more rigid and literally doesn't flex at all unlike the stock unmodded panel. Now I will have no more worries about it being too weak due to a big hole cut out of its bowels.




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[July 14, 2005]

Sanding is always the most time consuming part of modding a side window. Do it patiently and the results will be satisfying.
Sanded with 400 grit, then proceeded with 600 and 800 grit. The sharp angles are acheived with my Unimat 1's tiny but precise jigsaw.


The end result after removing the masking tape at the back. The masking tape in front hasnt been removed yet for now. Pics for that will come when I do so.


Up close.


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[Dec 8, 2005]

Finally, after a long delay from the last update, I have a decent break from my studies and I can concentrate on the project.

Removed the masking tape of the side panel, touched up with some 1000 grade sandpaper, and cleaned.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:20 AM

[Dec 8, 2005]

Top radiator intake

Masked the top panel to make the fan grill for the radiator intake/outake.


Drilled and cut some parts with my rotary tool. Till... my Black & Decker RTX blew... the SECOND time. What bad luck. I let it cool down and cut 6cm at a time, only to have it blow up before i could even finish cutting the last bit. I had it, no more RTX for me. I just bought a second hand Dremel MultiPro 3950 which should arrive by this Friday.


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[Dec 15, 2005]

Got my Dremel MultiPro 395 and work continued immediately. I immediately noticed that my Black & Decker RTX had significantly more torque than the Dremel 395 at lower RPM's. Not sure about the higher speeds because I don't use high speeds for cutting.

After finished "dremeling" the straights, before cutting off the corners.


Finished cutting and sanding up to 800 grade for now.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:18 AM

[Jan 15, 2006]

CNC Milled acrylic side panel

Design from AutoCAD printed out with a plotter unto tracing paper to check the accuracy of my dremel cutting. Nothing beats the accuracy of CNC stuff. Some filing needed to perfectly match the accurate drawing.


The finished product from the CNC milling machine. Material used is 10mm thick acrylic.




After doing some filing to make the acrylic panel fit in. Shows how inaccurate my dremel work is, compared to CNC. The Acrylic panel is covered with some shrink wrap at the moment to prevent scratches.




This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:13 AM

[March 27, 2007]

Mid panel

My apologies for the lack of updates and delays. Some work previously done that I haven't updated:

Mid panel section piece cut out of 1mm thick aluminium sheet and sanded. A 'T-square' was made and wrapped with sandpaper; dragged across evenly to create the brushed aluminium effect on both sides. They look better in person actually.


With flash


Without flash


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:13 AM

[March 28, 2007]

Power pole

The power pole. Cut from a rectangular aluminium profile. They close up to form a square pole.






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Honeycomb grill for top radiator intake

Honeycomb grill cut to size. Then the edges were all manually bent and folded with some pliers; to get it embossed. Pretty tough work to get it right. It is then cleaned with thinner and clearcoated (because it's made of steel).




This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:14 AM

Top radiator intake grill mounting

Pieces for the top radiator and grill mounting being cut out of 1mm thick aluminium sheet.


Done cutting. Not sanded and finished yet.


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[April 19, 2007]

More updates on the top radiator/grill mounting.

Done with cutting and sanding the edges. Drilled the holes, and countersunk it so that the screws sit flush (not really flush actually, they are abt 0.2-0.3mm higher). Screwed them together for a test fit.


The other side


I was working late night at this time... measurements and markings made and preparing to epoxy it on.


Epoxied it on, and with a crude way of weighting it down. As I mentioned, it was late night(or rather, morning) and my brain wasn't quite working.
The next morning I discovered that I couldn't take the mounting plate off as a little epoxy had leaked unto the joints on a few screws, and the screws was such a perfect fit that it was very hard to take it apart. Somehow I managed to yank it off and realised that the epoxy only ended up gluing only the screw heads FORTUNATELY! I hadn't put enough epoxy considering there was a 0.2-0.3mm gap caused by the screw heads.


Anyway lesson learned. Round two I was smarter... Epoxied it back again, and this time I used more. And a whole lot of clips came into play to hold it firmly in place.


After the epoxy cured.


I then drilled the holes on the mounting plate a little larger so that it wouldn't be such a tight fit to mount it in (yeah. considering the amount of screws and manual drilling isn't as accurate as CNC). All holes were counter drilled as well to give it a smoother edge. Gave it the brushed treatment on both sides as well.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:14 AM

Test fit with the fans which will be mounted to the radiator.


Fitting in the grill. Had to dremel some of the sides coz it was protruding a little. Perfect fit now.


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[April 19, 2007]

Finally, screwed the mounting plate on.


How it looks like from the outside. Note that I haven't removed the masking tape yet.


Close up at a corner.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:07 AM

[April 24, 2007]

Reservoir for water cooling

The pieces for the reservoir. Tapped 1/4" BSP threads for all the holes.


Testing out the tapped threads for the barbs on an unused piece. It's UV reactive green acrylic by the way.


Now down to the work of sanding all the edges of the pieces. I have to make sure the dimensions are consistent with other pieces by measuring with a Vernier caliper and sanding as necessary. This is to ensure a perfect fit for a leak free joint.


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[April 26, 2007]

Done sanding yesterday. Test fitting.


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[April 27, 2007]

Mounting holes drilled. Pieces ready for assembly.


I used a chemical called Chloroform or acrylic cement to fuse the arcylic parts together. It's a liquid that is as clear and as viscous as water. It is different from glue as this actually "melts" or "fuse" the acrylic parts together. Another commercial name for it is "IPS Weld-On" which is more commonly available in some countries. The parts to be joint are held together with masking tape first. Then I used a chinese brush to apply it right at the edges of the parts to be joint. The capilary effect will draw the cement into the joint. Some prefer to use an application bottle but make sure it does not melt down in Chloroform/Acrylic Cement.


Left two pieces to join. The last pieces are much tougher to get it perfect because now you are only left with one side to apply the Chloroform and allow the capilary effect to draw it in. Sounds easy, but no it isn't...


...Previously you could apply to both sides to ensure a perfect weld. Now you have to get sufficiently enough of it joint by the cement with only one side. I didn't fare so well on a few spots and no matter what, no more Chloroform would go in because the edge already has a little and blocks any more to enter. In the pic, you can see the long last piece is on. Left the last top piece for now.


After an hour, a quick leak test. I do suggest however, that you let it fully cure for a day before the final leak test. I gradually filled and marked out the leaks. I sprung two, which was expected, because of the insufficient Chloroform joint on those spots.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:15 AM

Reservoir complete.


Close up of the top fill hole and you can see the mounting hole.


Close up of the bottom mounting block. The small block will be screwed to the base and the reservoir can be just fitted on top.


Tapping M3 screw threads on the CoolingWorks CoolRad 22T. Oddly, this rad didn't have any screw threads pre-tapped.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:07 AM

[June 8, 2007]

Assembly and construction of internal mods

The original mountings on the PSU cage for the removable motherboard tray which is on the reverse side folded in with pliers (and covered with masking tape to prevent scratches). Originally the case was ATX side remember? Now its on the opposite side.


The mid panel (cut earlier in the previous page) that separates the top section folded with a folding table.


Drilled the mounting holes. Tapping the screw threads.


Riveted the removable motherboard tray railing.


Mounted on the PSU cage.


This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:16 AM

I realised that I would not be able to close the cover of the power pole if it is one single piece coz of the tight space. So I cut it into two sections.
In the pic I'm tapping the M3.5 screw threads the main section which is meant to be removable.


Test assembly of the power pole. Bottom smaller section screwed with M3 allen screws like the other parts shown later. M3.5 thumbscrews used on the longer main section. (I need to use silver ones instead)


Drill and tap the mounting holes for the base of the power pole. L brackets are cut to facilitate mounting.


Screwed in. This is the view from the back of the pole so you can see the inside.


Mounted at the top, also with an L bracket, drilled and M3 screw tapped. (Excuse the dirt left over from the masking tape residue on the mid panel)


Another view from inside facing upwards.


Sorry I forgot to take an overall assembled picture before I disassembled it. But we'll get to that soon!

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[June 10, 2007]

To allow the mid plate to be removable, I didn't rivet it to the center column bracing of the casing. So I fabricated another piece, tapped with M3 screws.


Fitted into the removable motherboard railing, and screwed in. (when stock, it was riveted.) I'm basically almost done with the interior structural mods.


Thats it for today folks. Will be doing the other side panel exhaust soon.

This post has been edited by MetalZone: Jun 18 2007, 12:26 AM

nice mode bro....it along wait for the update but it worth to wait....
keep up modding bro n show us more pics

dude...stop again...? fast fast upload ur new picts.... make me hungry...

as usual beautiful work from metalzone.... this mod is so long in the making... hopes its finishes fast...haha

Ur cutting work is so nice. OMG. Where u get all the tools from?

Thanks.
The tools, err... buy la. Or are you asking in particular where to find the tools? which?

sorry for the delay... got work to do leh

metalzone... sell me the case leh... hehehe...