NOTE: Due to my workload and was moving house I was not able to complete this mod. I will do so in the near future and will definitely complete this build. Do check out the short/small tutorial/mod i did for the bitfenix colossus. Hope you guys following understand and do check out for updates in the future

Hi all, this will be my 2nd worklog and this time i'll be working on the prodigy.
my first mod can be found here
This case has caught my eyes ever since it was announced and finally i'm gonna
be doing a mod with it. its not gonna be any extensive mod. just some simple
aesthetic mods.

This is the inspiration for the colour scheme.



Which obviously will be included into the system specs.

so basically the breakdown for the mod plans include:-
- sidepanel windows for both sides
- moving the power/reset/usb panel to the front in the 5.25" bay
- cable management
- orange themed paint job and matching leds

So here is the case, stripped down.





I was ready to cut a hole at the back of the psu cage for better cable management and so i can use a bigger psu,
but look at the next pic. seems like the newer shipments of the prodigy has already the hole there. i was quite
surprised cuz all the mods i've seen online has some amount of the psu cage being taken off. anyway 1 less
work to do then



i will be fitting a Corsair H80 aio water cooler on top so i'll be removing the 5.25" bay. that space
will be used for the front panel later on, and all the bay removed,



and the meshes removed for further paint work.



so as we all know, the prodigy has been lacking on the window department. considering that it is a very small
case, thats totally understandable but i'm gonna give it a treat and after much consideration to maximize space.
and trust me, its not really a lot. here it is being prepared for the cutting works along with the designs drawn in.







So its off to the engineering workshop to cut them out.

This post has been edited by valor89: Oct 1 2014, 01:49 AM

as this mod has already started a week or two ago, the primer has been applied to the honeycomb plastic parts
for the surface coat later on.





so thats it for this post. would appreciate any feedback on the mods and i hope you guys will enjoy this worklog.
for those with any questions regarding the bitfenix prodigy, dimensions, what can be removed, what hardware
limitations it has or any questions that will help YOUR mods, feel free to ask and i'll definitely help you to the
best of abilities.

aites this is all for now. shutting up now

Thank you for the comment on my previous mod and i hope my work lives to your expectation

UPDATE!!!!!

So I'll be updating every once a week cuz of work and what not.
anyway, here's what i've been doing.

My stuff has arrived in good condition.

So this is the Vandal orange latch switches which i ordered from UK. Seems like this has been a very
difficult item to get in malaysia. if anyone is interested in getting this do let me know, we can work something
out for sure.



The metal finish was good and the build feels sturdy. I'll run a test with led to make sure its in working
order before hooking up the entire thing. have to start planning the cable routing and circuit for this
as well lolz.

Next up is some orange led strips. also another difficult item to find cuz i guess orange led is harder
to find haha. i'll have 4 of this hooked up to the casing.



so my side panels has arrived nicely cut by very skilled people. though i made a mistake on the
measurements and some extras were taken off on the one that'll showcase the GPU. i totally forgot
about the limitation box i drew to keep myself from stepping out of bounds lolz. anyway some grinding, sanding and painting shud cover it up.





lastly, the plastic honeycomb parts has been painted and left to cure for a few days. the colour turned out
very well. i had to make do with medium yellow as i couldnt find any orange. i know a lot of shops sells
orange spray but i'm very against using aerosol paint as the finish is not nice and it flakes and chips
really easily. i strictly only use acrylic lacquer as u can read from my previous log ranting about this haha.

anywho, heres the painted parts.





and fitted the mesh back onto the honeycomb faceplate





and finally, some test fitting to ensure i didnt spray too thick a layer haha.





well, to say it honestly i truly am in love with the colours right now and it looks spankingly awesome.

so as of now i have sent 1 of the panels back to the workshop for them to drill 3 holes for the vandal switches
and i'll get work going with the side panels. also have to design the 5.25" faceplate to incorporate the start,
reset and usb. will be using acrylic for that.

so i hope u guys are enjoying this as much as i am. will appreciate any comment/feedback along with
any suggestions you have for me to try out haha. thx and will update soon.

Have a good week ahead

haha. thx bro but nothing compared to your build. i'm yet to venture into water cooling and urs looks awesome

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 5 2014, 09:37 AM

UPDATE!!!!

so this will be a fairly short update as my weekend was kinda packed with other stuffs.
also maybe i got slightly lazy lolz.

anyway the sidepanels came back from the workshop with the holes for the switches but
its was quite poorly done. sry i forgot to take pictures of those. spent quite some time
grinding the holes to make them wider so the switches would fit.

after some long grinding and sanding, here are the side panels ready for painting.





and then some fitting test again to make sure the switch goes in well





fits pretty well dont you think? after that i did take them out to spray paint the primer on, but again
i totally forgot to take pics of the after hahaa. u guys just have to wait till next week.

but i'll be updating mid week as i finalize the circuitry for the led strips and sleeve them wahaha.

anyway thanks for viewing. hope you guys are enjoying this as much as me.
have a good week ahead

haha well it looks pretty good man. will complete this to the best of my abilities

Wow. thanks a lot man. will inform u once the mod is completed. glad u like it

UPDATE!!!!!!

So here is the midweek update that i was talking about. this post will most likely bore some of you cuz
theres no fancy pictures or what not but its more to the design plans for the mod work.

So I'm aiming to put the power/reset/usb panel in the 5.25" bay and my initial plan turned out pretty bad.
The part which i cut off from the side panel was fine and all except the dimensions are really way off
cuz of the amount i could cut. so i move on to plan B. I will use acrylic instead and this time enlist professional
help to cut it to the exact dimensions. i truly recommend shepard here. he has been helping me not only
with the acrylic panels but also giving me advice on the wiring layout for the led strips. u can definitely
count on him for excellent worksmanship

So he needed the dimensions for the front panel so i decided to use cad program to help me with that.
basically modeling the piece then sketching a drawing with all the dimension. wasnt too hard but had trouble
remembering how to use the software haha.

this is the finished model in part. took a while but not really long. 2-3 hrs at most. i know, i am a slow haha



also, the part in wireframe just so u can see the lines and edges clearer



and this, are for shepard to work with. but i decided to post it up here just in case some of you would wanna
mod ur casing and feeling lazy to get the dimensions, its provided. do credit me if u use haha.







i've also been working on the layout of the led strips as well as how i will be wiring them. so for now i dun
think i'll be using all 3 switches even though i am gonna install all 3 switches. i do have plans to make the
fans led lights be able to on/off but due to work and time restrictions, i will probably do that some time else.

so basically the plan now is to wire the female end of the 3-pin plugs in a parallel layout like so.



this is to combat the fact that the switch is on the sidepanel. if i hardwire all of the led strips to the switch,
removing the sidepanel is gonna be pretty crazy. the led strips will then be wired to the male end of the
3-pin plug so when i remove the side panel all i have to do is unplug all the led strips and i can remove it
with ease.

the layout for the led strips will be as so.



well its not labeled but i'm pretty sure u can guess that the red dots are the switches. also i will cut the led
strip wires to the proper lengths to reduce cable clutter and improve the cable management of the case.

well, i hope some of this help u guys in any future modding u guys are planning to do

this weekend i'll be working on the side panels and hopefully we can see some progress on monday's update.
do leave me any suggestions u have or feedback or juz comment and drop by say hi. haha.

have a good weekend ahead

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 13 2014, 10:10 AM

Double Post Reserved

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 13 2014, 10:15 AM

UPDATE!!!!

So this weekend was more to working with the sidepanels and getting them right. Well, spray painting can be
a very tricky thing to get right.

Before that, my custom modular sleeve cables has arrive via post Well, its not that i don't know how to
sleeve, but i have no idea where to get the plug heads that goes into the psu haha. And anyway I dun think
I will have the time to do it anyway. So here are some of the pics.







So those are the pictures showing both ends of the cables. It can be custom ordered to the type of modular
power supply u own so its pretty cool. Also, the cables are according to the lengths I want so all this cables
are measured to the exact length I will need for this build. This will reduce the cable clutter in the rig itself
so all is good And all this is thanks to khfoong81 He did a marvellous job with the cables and
sleeving. I recommend him if you need custom made sleeved cables.

Moving on, here are the sidepanels after it has been left to cure for a week.





Looks good and all but the spray painting did leave quite a rough surface and powdered layer on the surface.



Does anyone know why this happens? It doesnt really happen all the time though. Can it be because of
the spray paint was applied in short burst? Is it suppose to be sustained spray over an area? I checked online
and everyone seems to have different opinions. Oh well, I washed it with water and wet sanded it VERY lightly
so I get a smooth surface and not sand through the entire coat.





So after its all smooth and nice, I move on to the black top coat. For this part I used 600 grit sandpaper for
those who are interested. Basically I sanded it over running water so the sanded parts dun get caught under
the sandpaper and scratch the surface.

Anyway more updates in the next post. LYN only allows around 10 pics per post lolz

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 17 2014, 11:32 AM

UPDATE!!!!!!

So while waiting for the black paint to be dry to touch, I went on working with the acrylic. Acrylic is like the
most annoying thing to cut. Its like so easy, yet so hard. Basically working with acrylic for me is a very
love hate experience. Anyway, I got the measurements wrong when I ordered the acrylic panels to for the
window panels.

I measured it against the panel itself. But I forgot about the case frame itself and missed out the back which
is about 12mm. So basically I'll have to cut 12mm from the ordered acrylic which is this.



as you can see I compare the casing against the acrylic. So yup, some will have to go for a fit. And after much effort and repeated cuts and finally the bend till snap, I got this.



and after pulling the snapped off piece from the acrylic sheet.



So I compared the new dimensions against the sidepanel to make sure the hole is completely covered.



Well, all is good till here haha. So now it will fit the casing just fine I would suppose, the mounting should be
done next week, if everything goes right.

So I'll have to cut some more of the acrylic that is going to the right side of the case cause of the switches.
Cutting a block out was not something I have done before so I just went with it and somehow it came out
alright.



So with that done, I went on with the sidepanels I just painted.Well I forgot to take pictures but the paint
on the black was rough and powdered. I still have no idea why it was like that. Normally I would just continue
on but I decided that I need to at least get a better surface so like the primer I washed it with water and light sanded it again. This time I sprayed with a sustained stream instead of short burst. I went much slower than
I normally do and it turned out pretty awesome.





Turns out a slow sustained spray is better I guess. I did not take a close up shot of the surface cause that I'll
leave it after I wash it down but at the moment its already feeling very smooth. Even my cousin asked if it
was powdered coated. At first I was thinking to do some designs on the side panels but after looking at it, I
wouldnt want to risk spoiling an already very nice top coat. So I'll consider leaving it like that for now.

Well that's all for this update. Now I'll be working up a design for the acrylic and also the wiring works needed
to be done for the led strips. Do leave me any feedback or suggestions you have, I'll really appreciate them.
And hope you guys enjoyed the update. Have a good week ahead

Haha thank you bro. Busy la only can post once a week or maybe the occasional twice a week lolz
And thanks for the sleeves. its very nice haha. will let you know when i hook it up and test them

Hi bro. Plastic parts i would recommend the one i'm using now which is



but i think they got rebranded to this



its a thai brand. it adhere to the part very well and the coat comes out very nicely. i have no idea why it
sprays better and more evenly than other brands. eventhough it says acrylic lacquer i'm pretty sure its
aerosol spray paint as well. but somehow it gives better colour and doesnt particulate in mid air. alot of
other brands i know particulate in mid air after it exits the nozzle, making ur work piece powdery. Also for
some reason its very diluted and the paint sprays unevenly. maybe some other sifus out there can explain?
there is also this samurai brand



this one i see a lot of ppl using, especially our local homebrew modders. I have a can back
home but have nvr got around to using it. i'm not sure if this is acrylic lacquer but u can have a go.

but i'm sharing this with the idea that you're not gonna use a primer. i'm pretty sure you can use the brands
i suggest above without using primer. if u use a primer then it doesnt really matter what spray paint u use,
whether its for plastic or metal cuz the primer will bond very well with whatever surface very well. but the
toa/kobe brand is what i have been using for metal, wood and plastic la and it does very well. for metal
you'll need to use primer cuz it doesnt adhere very well but since u using it for plastic, no biggie there i guess

just remember to always test run a new brand before diving into it. i learnt that the hard way. juz take
some random plastic piece and spray. if u like it then juz scratch the surface with your fingernail to see
if it comes out easily or flakes.

aites i'll stop ranting haha. do let me know what u think of the spray paints u test if u do. have fun

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 18 2014, 09:19 AM

haha. thx bro. i'll post the pic when i get it then u can order from shepard also. i gave him all the
dimensions already. it'll be from inside to outside juz so u know. have a nice day. thx for comment

SMALL UPDATE!!!!!

So i've been working on the design for the side panel where the hdd can be seen through
the acrylic. i will spray on the acrylic so basically it hides the hdd bay. i was stump for quite some time
cuz i had no idea what design was suitable. but in the end i drew inspiration from the thing that
inspired the colour theme of this mod as well.



the center of the design i drew was based on the orange accent of the gpu. so i've been doing it on
proe cad and after many trial and error (proe has this constraint thing where if u dun play along with it,
it'll definitely go bananas) this is what my final render has came up to



haha so now it basically looks like some high tech keycard. and if possible with a 3d printer (hint hint*)
i will definitely want to make a model of that.

so here are the drawings i rendered below



well after i finished the left side i felt the hole was too empty so i drew some stuff in the right drawing.
but i do like the clean look despite feeling a bit empty right there. so what do u guys think?
i'm probably gonna spray it this weekend but do let me know what u think.

This post has been edited by valor89: Mar 19 2014, 01:40 PM

UPDATE!!!!

so i updated way later than my intentional update day but oh well, work has priorities i guess.
anyway this will just be a short update for those of you still following

so the side panels which has been spray painted are doing mighty fine, i washed them down after
leaving it to cure for about a week and the result was much better than i expected.





probably this side panels are one of the best results i've ever done in any mods haha. and here is
a close up shot of the surface. sry the pic is slightly grainy haha



so with that done i've moved on to the cabling works which i am struggling to find time to do.
between work and dota i really have no time man so over the last weekend i got started
on creating the stencil that i'll be using to spray the design i came up with on the side panel acrylic.
normally all the mods in other forums ppl use painting tape, but i have no idea where to find this.
i mean you guys can say why not masking tape but its very different cuz the paint can seep through
the masking tape and it cant be easily cut with blade cuz it tears easily. and also i have to attach multiple layers before i can cut cuz the design is quite big.

so i'm using the same thing i used for my previous mod.



this is basically a transparent laptop skin. the adhesive is strong enuf cuz it uses suction as well
so paints cant seep beneath the skin. and it can be easily cut. i was quite lazy so i asked my sis
to cut it for me haha.



so the left is the design and the right is the stencil for the black paint. i will be painting it this
weekend. and recently i juz sleeved the front panel cables. so here is a shot of the cables.



and after an hour of sleeving. i dont have a molex modding toolkit but a small screwdriver or
tweezers works juz as well. juz have to slowly do it so you don't break the plastic pin haha.
and the final product



so thats it for the latest update haha. hopefully i can do more this weekend cuz i'm dying to play
titanfall so i need this com up and running

have a great weekend guys

Thanks bro!! looking forward to the completed chassis

Haha nice gif. thx lots man

UPDATE!!!!!

Well, the random update is here lolz. Anyway I was very disappointed with my work recently hence the
short mourning period. Remember the laptop skin thing? yea..... that didnt work out too well.



yup, utterly destroyed that acrylic piece. well, its a good thing I bought spares I guess. The black turned out
very well. its just the design which screwed up everything. i guess its due to the laptop skin stickiness
combined with the very complex design so when I peeled off the laptop skin, it just started getting stuck
together. thinking of that give me the shivers. anyway, I was about to give up on the design and just paint
that portion black. till, my bro-in-law reminded me that my cousin recently procured a 3d printer.

and what can you do with a 3d printer? THE AWESOMEST THING EVER.
I'm not kidding. so I asked my cousin and he gave me the cad formats I'll need to save in.

so I dropped by his house to check out the 3d printer and to run a trial test to see how things work out
well here goes then



well, I can imagine most people will go like huh? I though 3d printers are the uber cool futuristic thing?
yup. thats on youtube and probably worth a fortune. go ahead I wont stop you. anyway so we loaded the
file and fire it up.





as a mechanical engineer (by profession, but dun really like it) it was freaking cool to see one churning
out materials and weaving them into objects. this was gonna be the prototype and it's printing at a height
of just 1mm. I was afraid that the plastic wouldnt be strong enough but I was so wrong.



so basically you're looking at the finish product. the net mesh at the bottom is like the base so its easy to
peel the object from the plate. it looks gorgeous and I couldnt ask for any better. its pretty strong as well.
I honestly thought 1mm was really pushing it and it will just snap in 2 at any time.



well this is 1 of the pieces that I removed from the base. see the connecting joints? thats... I have no idea
how thin but the main parts are barely 2mm. so that like 0.2-0.4mm? and it held fine.

so with this, I decided to up the game. my initial design was to be kept as simple as possible cuz i'll need to
cut and spray and whatnot. but with 3d printing, I can be more ambitious muahahaha.

I went back to the drawing board and updated the design and made it more complex than it was before.
Though maybe I'll regret but oh well, high risk, high returns,.



so this is the updated designs. there are more shapes and what not. and I even made some parts through
and through with the hopes that it'll look awesome when led shines through it. like this



so you see there are some parts on the base where there'll be some cutout looking thing. hopefully it pans
out as I hope. So hopefully I can print this out soon and well see how it goes from there on.

and also been working a bit on the wirings for the led strips. manage to secure some 3pin male and female
to use them for the led strips.



I got them from the voltage reducer in aerocool shark fans. since I have a lot of unused fans haha.
There'll be lots of wiring to do. already soldered some but well, too recent for pics but I'll definitely follow
up on that.

Have a great weekend guys.

This post has been edited by valor89: Apr 4 2014, 04:53 PM

haha. sorry guys I went AWOL. have been very busy and have been waiting for parts and whatnot to fly in from God knows where. So i'll be continuing with works in a week or so. didnt thought that i'll have replies on this thread haha. thx to u guys who are following really makes this mod more enjoyable. i'll be mass updating once i get things going so hope u guys enjoy the rest of the mods

haha. toy car can la bro lolz

not too serious bro. juz some cutting and spraying. nothing big haha. i've seen even more serious ones and mine look like childs play. only the cpu will get the AIO cooling treatment. the rest will be air cooled as usual. i have no experience in watercooling and dun have the finance to back that up. hopefully i get some sponsors in the future for a build haha. all the best for your watercooled setup man. do post some pics for us to drool on

lolz. shit aint serious when u can print the shit man. but yea. 3d printer brings modding to a whole new level lolz

thx bro. hopefully u'll like the end product oh and yea. i am a firm believer that we'll be able to build the world with 3d printer

haha. aint so serious when u'r printing casing parts lolz