Case Mod: [Project] Pearl in the Rough - Page 11 - Overclock.net

oliverw92 · 08-30-09

DO WANT! Lol. My school has one nearly exactly the same as that. I plan on having a go at making some hand made stuff soon. A mill + laser cutter = win.

shinji2k · 08-30-09

I'm not going to be able to give much of an update this weekend. Because I want to bend a piece of acrylic that is ~4" wider than the case and then trim it down, I need to make an inner mold with the exact radius of the case. The easiest way to do that is to buy a 3/4" radius roundover router bit. When I first looked for one the cheapest I could find one was ~$50 shipped which was just too much for me to only use it couple times. I had decided to buy some 3/4" mdf and cut it into 4" squares. Then I would round one corner to the correct radius and use the router and the first one as a template to make ~20 matching squares. Then I would stack them side by side and glue/screw then together to make basically a 4x4x14" block with one corner having the correct radius. I don't feel like making that, so after another search I found a cheap 3/4" roundover for ~$27 shipped. Factoring the cost of the wood and the hours it would take, I think it is a good price. I've got some scrap 4x4s and 2x4s laying around to make my inner mold. I've also been practicing on some scrap acrylic and I'm pretty pleased with a new method I've settled on. Let's hope it works on the 12" wide piece. I'll hold off on explaining it, you'll just have to see it action

. Who knows when I'll get my router bit in though.

oliverw92 · 08-30-09

Sounds like you have it all planned!

shinji2k · 08-31-09

You'll like this. I wasn't liking my idea for lighting the acrylic. I had bought some LEDs but I don't think they will be anywhere near bright enough for the effect I want. But I do have some red 6" ccfl lights lying around. I took the lighting element itself out of the plastic tube they come in. I plan on embedding these into the acrylic. They are small enough I can cut some channels in strategic places and I hope I can get by with four bulbs. The term "cold cathode" is kind of a misnomer. They aren't heated independently like some fluorescent lights, but they do give off a good amount of heat. The acrylic should be able to handle it, I've been testing one for a while now and it seems to be safe to use without the plastic sleeve. As a demonstration I grabbed one of the scrap pieces I had been practicing my bends with (I picked the one that already had some polished edges).

I've taped the ccfl to the end with some alu tape to make sure all the light you are seeing is coming from what is traveling through the acrylic. Behold!

Now of course this will be wedged between the case and the outer shell so all you will see are the edges. But this also includes the three fan hole cut-outs and the cut-out for the PCI and I/O area of the mobo tray. I can't wait to put this into action.

xToaDx · 08-31-09

That looks awesome.

Tator Tot · 08-31-09

....awe worthy...

Tatakai All · 08-31-09

Wow, definitely like the lighting creativity. I can't wait till its done.

oliverw92 · 09-01-09

I am LOVING that lighting! Looks great! Is that a piece of acrylic you bent using your new method? Looks as if it worked REALLY well! When you gonna try the big bit?

shinji2k · 09-01-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by oliverw92

I am LOVING that lighting! Looks great! Is that a piece of acrylic you bent using your new method? Looks as if it worked REALLY well! When you gonna try the big bit?

Maybe

. I'll get to it whenever I get my router bit in. Hopefully I get it before the weekend so I can actually get something done.

shinji2k · 09-01-09

I've been mulling around the idea of squeezing in some WCing for the CPU and maybe chipset. About the only place I can fit a rad in there would be the two fans on the top. Everything must be internal, there's no way I would mess up the lines of the case with crap stuck on the outside. I put some hardware in to see what I had to work with.

I figured this would happen. I have a whole 27mm between the fan and the heatsink on the 4870. Since those are 25mm fans I have 52mm from the case to the card. The only radiator I know of that will fit is the BIP which is 25mm deep. That would leave a 2mm gap between it and the video card. I could also pick up some 20mm YL medium speeds or those 15mm Scythe fans and then I would have a little more clearance. If I gained ~5mm with the YLs I could possibly fit the GTS in there which comes in at 30mm. But once again, there wouldn't be a whole lot of space between it and the video and I am worried about airflow issues. I think pairing the BIP with either of the slim fans would be the best choice, but it is really worth all the effort and money to upgrade from the TRUE? Will I really notice the difference with an OCed quad? I may post in the WCing section or just do some more research.

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Case Mod: [Project] Pearl in the Rough

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