Project: Mozart TX *56k Warning* - Overclock.net

XAnarchy · 09-09-07

My Mozart TX is in desperate need of modding and decent cable management. I would like to make it look better and have a more appealing look about it. Through-out this work-log it will sort of be like my little tutorial on how I did it all, and if I’m unclear on anything, let me know and ill fix it up for you.

Projects: Case painting - 7%
CD Drive modifications – 50%
Fan controller modifications – 5%
Better cable management – 0%

I am open for any other suggestions that you guys might have, if you do post here, it would be greatly appreciated.

CD DRIVE MOD
I saw somewhere a CD drive bay mod, that incorporated the front grill bit on the Mozart TX, which covered up the ugly CD drive bay look. To do this, I started with the original black CD drive cover, and bent the sides off that join it to the case. I took the ends off the CD drives, and sanded them down so they were flat. I put glue on them put them back on the CD drive, then positioned the metal mesh in the right spot and left it to dry. I’ve lost one of the CD Drive covers, so I have to find it at a later date, so I’ve only done one at the moment.

CASE PAINTING
I have started the painting of all the silver outsides so far. Although I have questions about how to get the top silver part off.

QUESTION: The top silver part is held on with rivets, I’m not sure that if I get it off (by drilling out the rivets) I will be able to re do the rivets. If I get a small enough drill bit and am able to drill out the rivets and it comes off. Will the hole still be small enough to fit another rivet in, or, are there different sized rivets that I could use if it does get too big.

PREPING FOR PAINTING
I will start with the sides as my question still needs to be answered for me to start on the top.

I started by taking the acrylic off by using a star head screw driver. By aligning the middle of the screw driver with the middle of the acrylic joining clippy thing (like my use of wording) and pushing down, it losens the clip and lets you take it out. I did this for all of the clips and removed all the acrylic from the sides.

The next step was to take off all of the clips that lock the sides in, this was quite a mission and required a lot of manipulation of the clips. I used to flat file to press down on the clips and try and loosen them and take them off. This was a huge mistake on my behalf, the file cut up my thumb and hand lol, I guess I’ll learn not to do that again! I’m still contemplating painting them, unsure yet, I will decide once the sides are done whether it looks good or not.

After everything was taken off from the sides, I started sanding, I used 240 grit Wet & Dry. This was hard and painful, if anyone else is planning on doing this, DONT! Use paint stripper, it’s a lot easier, and so much less painful.

PAINTING
I used 3 different paints for this project, (2 different brands, if you can help it, get all of the same to make sure there are no mixing errors/reactions with the different paints) Grey Undercoat, Blue Metallic Car Paint and Clear. I used the different brands as I’ve used them before and I know they don’t react. All the paint and sand paper cost me around 20$ from the nearest automotive shop. I found a piece of metal that I used to paint the case on, this is to stop the ground from getting painted. Before painting, it’s advisable to put the paint cans in hot water, this is to stop it from conglomerating and sprays out in a more even spray. I laid down the case and started painting, making sure that I went over the edges to make sure it went on evenly, over lapping by 1/3.

After a little while, I hung the case from a beam and sprayed the edges. I also plan to paint the inside of the panels black, this will have to be done at a later time, however the grey can still be laid down. For now I have only done one coat of the grey undercoat so far, I plan on doing 6 coats, this will ensure that when I sand it with a high grit sand paper, it will be smooth as silk

this helps when laying down the top coat, and will make sure it is smooth as well. I will then move onto the Blue top coat. I plan on doing 10 coats of this, this is to ensure the full colour is achieved and that when the clear coat goes down, it will give a high gloss finish.

FAN CONTROLLER MOD
Basically the fan controller was originally silver, and It didn’t work with the rest of the black mesh/CD drives, so I’m going to paint it black. I started by pulling it apart completely, and finding out which part I needed to paint. I laid down the undercoat at the same time that I did for the side. So that will be completed at the same time as the case, except I won’t need as many coats, and it won’t need to be glossy, will just be matt black.

StormX2 · 09-09-07

Wow man

can i just say one thing???

OMG AT THE HEIGHT OF THAT TOWER!!

and why so many fans up there for hte HD's and disc drive??

Lots of luck on this Project, il be watchign it ;=)

XAnarchy · 09-09-07

Why so many? Good question really lol, because i had them lying around and i figured i'd throw em in there anyway.

And it's only tall because its square xD definately gets attention at LANs

XAnarchy · 09-09-07

In regards to the cable management, I plan on buying some longer sata cables, so I can run them under my motherboard. They currently dont reach if they go under, so 60cm sata cables should fix this. I will also try and get a longer IDE Cables, so I can run them behind the divider and around to the CD Drives.

Question
Do flat IDE Cables run under the mobo alright? Or do the round ones?

- Run the CPU fan cable under the mobo and coming out just at the end.
- Take the unnecessary fan holding clips off the CPU block.
- Run the 4 pin mobo connector under the mobo aswell.
- Longer Sata Cables
- Longer IDE Cables
- Sleeve my sound card cable

xXxBoOmxXx · 09-09-07

Wow nice mod XAnarchy, i wll definatly be watching the rest of this, will you be putting the deltas in this build ??

Rick Arter · 09-09-07

Nice mods to such a massive case.

Rick Arter · 09-09-07

Flat IDE and SATA cables should fir but do not thing the 4 pin will fir unless you flatten it to 1 wire thickness.

XAnarchy · 09-09-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXxBoOmxXx

Wow nice mod XAnarchy, i wll definatly be watching the rest of this, will you be putting the deltas in this build ??

Yeah most likely for the intake in the mobo the CPU cooler and perhaps ungrading the exhaust to handle all the air flow. I might also take off the exhaust grill and just have it open to help the airflow out.

XAnarchy · 09-09-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Arter

Flat IDE and SATA cables should fir but do not thing the 4 pin will fir unless you flatten it to 1 wire thickness.

Could definately be a possibility, if it will make it look good, i dont mind cutting the sleeving off it.

z3nny · 09-09-07

Looks great so far! I almost bought a Mozart TX case for my build. A year ago I bought the Mini ITX 5.25" bay PSU made for Mozart TX, but I ended up using it in a Shuttle SN85G4 mod instead. I'm subscribing to this thread.

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Project: Mozart TX 56k Warning

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