Ok this is my first major case mod...and 1st topic posted here.
Basically this casing is gonna be a double decker case, a steel exso-skeleton to support the stock structure. The stock ATX structure is gonna be stripped to the basics and mounted into the steel skeleton and will be anchored to the walls to prevent my pc from flying away with the burglars. Acrylic will be mounted outside to replace the panels. A custom central water cooling for 2 cpus utilizing a high capacity pump with a car's radiator and if my financial permits, i'll purchase extra 12cm radiators to be mounted inside the case to cool the mobo and my case will be sealed airtight to keep dust free.
PS:Im the technical type, not the designer type, i dun expect i'll be coming up wit an artistic look. But U guys are there to give me a lil artistic ideas rite?

Plans:
1) Strip old case to basics then frabicate a steel exso-skeleton.

2) Spray painting with paint and mount glass and acrylic

3) Custom water-cooling mod, cable management and mobo installation

4) UV light mods, extra radiators installation and airtight sealling

5) Termo-sensors installation and CPU torture test

Today, i jus got a FREEBIE from the pc shop. Old ATX case though but nvm, i can chop it wit all my heart and feel no sorrow for it. Pics will be uplaoded tonite or tomolo cuz my digi cam ran out of batteries .Tomolo i'l start stripping the case to get measurements so tht i know how much steel i would need.

This post has been edited by radioactive: Apr 1 2006, 11:33 AM

Sounds Great ,Anyway good luck, cant wait to see

good luck in your mod there bro, hope to see good results

hmmm...if u would show us the pics of the case that u got as freebie...that would be nice

OK got my pack of 8 duracell batteries. Heres some pics of the freebie case and current case.


The free case, RM 0 In return i bought a cheapo 400W psu from him. And the 8 pack batt on the top


Side view. Doesn't matter how it looks, all i wan is the hdd rack, drives rack and mobo plate.


Back look. Looks pretty empty, if you look closely, there's a package inside, thts the cheapo psu i bought from him, not taking out 5 screws in da middle of the night to snap a pic. Chances are, i'll not use tht psu, probably for testing my unit oni. I'll get a better 1 like CM


My current case, the PC gemilang casing though the internals are all changed.


Side view, the mosquito trap on the left and helped spared my legs from aedes

This post has been edited by radioactive: Mar 5 2006, 02:13 AM

wa...the case looked so old....cuz got some yellowish colour on the metal liao....and y the holes for the PSU is square look so weird???

hope to c wat u r gonna do wif it.....

According to him, an owner put his pc here for repair but nvr claim it for over 6 months so he gave it to me since i always buy or order stuffs from him. Its a AMD Duron age case so the power supply is on the side, i think i'll custom fit the psu on top to make it look uniform with the newer case.

DAY 2:
As i planned i stripped the old case to the basics. Cut a hole for HDD cooling fan with an industrial grinder. The metal wasn't easy to cut though, had to control my pressure on a 10000 rpm disc. Then i took everything off my current rig then re-assembled it back without a case below my table. I still have some work to do with the newer case i took out, removing screws was lots more easier with a batt powered drill..jus spin them out. All done in 2 and half hours time cuz thts the time of the day im free.


Two of my atx casings, newer on the left..older on the right


Most excess have been stripped of, still need more cutting tomolo for HDD fan tomolo.


The side panels, obviously the white one is the older type as panels used to be made in 1 whole piece.


Its all a mess in my room when i take apart my rig, my dad was doubtful if i was gonna put everything back in working order


TaDa...everything is back in perfect working order in no more than 30mins.



The CD drives have no choice but to lay vertical, partly on the ground and partly on the wood. Jus by co-incidence, my psu can fit exactly between the 2 metal support beams


A closer view, the white tape is used to hold my vga card and prevent its weight from breaking the agp fingers. Opps, forgot to use macro mode

Thats all for today, tomolo my dad and i will pay visit to the steel shop to get some L shaped steel beams so i can start my work on the exo-skeleton on tuesday.

This post has been edited by radioactive: Mar 6 2006, 03:32 AM

Wah. Another good story teller in case mods section. Good stuff n nice reading stories for once instead of me writing writing writing. Hhehehe. Keep it up dude.

I still need to learn a lot more, you very pro in case mod until can do mods for other ppl. Need to learn more from you like how you lap mr bond's WC block until so shiny.

friend..try to position your HDD in total vertical or horizontal position. Tilting it to more than 30 degrees would cause the plate spinning inside to vibrate which in the long run causes problems.

wont be long before ur HDD start to show signal of kong-ing if you keep it like that way... anyways, good to see a mod on that fugly free case you got hahaha... really short like dwarf the casing... good luck for ur mod and keep posting

Thnxx pal, tilt it bak to 15 or 20 degrees. Even if it spoils, i can send it back for rma I know the shop's boss very well and i ask him not to put a sticker so tht i can rma it e ven its over some years.

DAY 3:

Busy as usual, manage to cut a top blow hole on my newer case when im free. I also removed the HDD fan grills to opt its looks and air flow. I wonder if i could get hold of a drill's side cutting bit. Its hard to find because its mainly use oni by professionals to cut out something from a block of metal. Im planning to use it to make small round holes of different sizes on the acrylics and side panels. later today, im starting the steel works.


I made a cut in the top of the case to make airflow better, i was allowed to used my dad's steel cutting reinforced resinoid cutting wheel and more expensive and better cutting compared to metal cutting wheel.


I removed the fan grills to maximize airflow and minimize noise level.


A side view of what i did yesterday. BTW...those bricks are used to hold tht case in place.


My faithful grinder, it does lots more than grinding, polishing...brushing...cutting...paint removal.. and its a real quality gadget...used for more than 17 years old which is older than me yet working perfectly til now.


L shaped steel beam my favourite type, easy to farbricate and hard to blow a hole when fabricating.


6 Meters of steel..splitted into 2meter/pc to fit in my car...RM20. Asking tht boss to deliver 1 beam is not worth the extra transport charge


Reposition my hdd to less than 30 degrees...thnxx to Acey and abubin for reminding me.

hmm which case are u modding actually

so confusing.. which one are u gonna mod?

You're only gonna use the mobo plate isn't it?

Ermmm...maybe im setting the modding bar a lil high for myself Actually, im planning to merge 2 casings together inside the steel frame, acrylic will be mounted on the steel frame, so its sort of 2 casing in 1 big case.. 1 case on top of the other much like a building going upwards. My p4 2.8,graphics,other hot stuffs will be on the lower deck and will be the air intake, the top deck will be my celeron 1.7,NIC,HDD...celeron 1.7 produce less heat and can stand higher temps and its the air outlet. I'll have a trial torture run with acrylics on to see if bottom intake/top exhaust provides adequate cooling, if not i'll mount extra front and rear intakes.

The invert mobo plate from my plans...actually means putting the mobo plate on the left side. 1 cpu mb on right and 1 mb on left....but after much consideration...I ask myself...hu's gonna sell me a left side mounting mb? i din noe any factory manufacture tht too. So i abandon tht idea.

DAY 4:
Today, i did almost nothing...the whole day i went out wit my parents and shopping around KL

If i was at home all day long, i would have finish making at least 30% of the steel frame...

I followed my dad to find a side cutting bit around pudu area, Jalan Pasar apparently din have tht item, as i was walking around jalan pasar, i saw a street seller selling MyKad reader...i saw some1 wanting to buy a MyKad reader in this forum...maybe any1 hu knows tis guy go tell him bout it before the street seller is gone. A rotary tool set complete it every bits cost rm299 and rm390 in a shop there, they oso sell the vertical tabletop mounting device to hold the tool vertical to make precision cutting..price:unknown,nvr asked

Ok, finally i found the side cutting bit. It looks like a standard HSS drill bit but its different in a few ways, it has four threads instead of two, a screw-like top and has a hole from top to bottom, according to the boss,its used to channel coolant to the tip when cutting on a block of metal.Heres pic of it and cost rm29.00 for a 4.00mm dia, thts 10x more than a black drill bit of its size.This addition to my collection will enable me make smaller cuts especially a 1.5cm hole tht is way out of a jigsaw's range.



I gotta wake up at 10am tomolo to make up for the lost time.


edited for foul language. pls watch the language ya.

Did i??where..the 'd*m' words arr...thnxx for telling me.

This post has been edited by radioactive: Mar 21 2006, 01:08 PM

Part 1 completed...part 2...half completed.

My casings tht have been stripped and painted black.
The smaller casing...the psu will be mounted on top of it instead of inside which will block the view.


The normal size

My cheapo psu..which i'll be using for my celeron. Sprayed in black