Case Mod: [Project] Pearl in the Rough - Page 2 - Overclock.net

shinji2k · 03-26-09

Day 6.5
A few little odds and ends to tie up until I get my mATX mobo in the mail. Time to make some trim pieces.

Found some angle stock that was the perfect size.

Some mounting brackets I fabricated.

Cut some plexi and aluminum to cover the 5.25" drive bays.

Looking better now.

shinji2k · 04-07-09

Day 7

Time to fabricate the secondary motherboard tray. Got it all cut out.

Top and bottom were cut at about a 25 degree angle to match the tilt.

Working on the ends.

And all assembled.

1/2" Press-in captive standoffs. I screwed them in from the back as well for good measure.

Some shots with the mobo installed.

Here's a little glimpse of the cable management strategy.

I've got some more holes to cut out to route the PSU wires and there will be a cover for the back to hide everything not needed.

shinji2k · 04-30-09

Day 8

Original PSU support tray, modified a little and mounted with custom brackets:

Truing up my backplate/door to the mobo storage area with my belt sander:

Cable management mostly done:

I get bored easily and since my perforated mesh and acrylic came in I jumped over to the door.

I cut the window out and mesh to fit the openings:

Then I made a template for the acrylic and went at it with the router:

I reallllllllly want to peel the paper off to check it out, but I have to force myself to wait until the doors are completely done.

I quick little shot through the mesh of the HDD area.

To change things up, I tried out some paint. I can't afford to power coat so I found some textured black that should work well enough. Here's a test piece:

I hope to find some dark gray in that texture but I have yet to see any. I may have to paint over it with the color I want. We'll just have to see.

Next on the list is transplanting the original door mounting hardware to the new door. That'll require some kind of glue. I'll pick that up tomorrow and go at it.

shinji2k · 06-28-09

Day 9
After much trial and error and an order from McMaster, this the best solution to the door mounting hardware.

The standoffs got screwed down from the front of the door in countersunk holes, to be later filled in before painting.

Next was finished off the drive cage. I bent up some mesh to act as a cover and made acrylic/aluminum covers for the drive bay side and the extra space between the drives and the mobo.

Then I tackled the acrylic that goes the perimeter of case. Little did I know it would drain my will to live and eventually bring this project to an untimely end. There are many failed attempts I will summarize here. The main idea was to bend a 7ft long piece of acrylic around the perimeter of the case. I practiced with some cheap extruded acrylic before I used the expensive cast stuff. It did just fine with my heat gun. To get my 7ft long piece of acrylic I had to glue together two short pieces, I just couldn't afford a 4'x8' piece of acrylic for this project. The bad this was, cast and extruded behave much differently when heated. Cast has a much higher melting point and does not react well to heat and bending to exact radii. After days of trying to get it to work, I cut it into pieces that would fit into my oven. I could use a jig to bend them after I heated them in the oven at 350 degrees for 6min until they were malleable.

It worked well enough so I used some thicker glue to piece everything together.

I also made some case feet.

At no point did it ever look good IMO. Eventually I got so frustrated with things not fitting right and breaking, eventually it got smashed up in a fit of passion. But before I eventually smashed it, I bent my 7ft piece of aluminum I ordered around the acrylic after I brushed it. Brushing merely involved a scotch-bright pad and an eye for parallel lines.

It was 0.05" aluminum so it was kind of hand bendable, but it was tough to work with. I routed out a couple openings before I ditched the whole thing altogether. I settled on not using acrylic at all. It wasn't an easy decision since it was to be the focus of the case, but there was a deadline to meet. Unfortunately, there was no way I was going to get the aluminum rebent to the now smaller case. I ordered more but it won't be here before the end of the comp.

So I started to focus on the wiring. Here's what I had to work with.

These were no longer needed

.

Lamptron fan controller, good for 45W per channel. I didn't like the wiring so I put a 6-pin PCIe male connector on it for some serious fan control power.

Then I sleeved some fans.

Then cut a couple holes for the power buttons at the back of the case (to be sleek).

shinji2k · 06-28-09

Day 10

I may move to some WCing for just my CPU in the future so I kept a spot at the top of the case for a 240mm rad and I made some trim for the fans. Used a template to route out the acrylic.

I switched out the bearing to notch out a little groove for a fan guard.

Used the template to route out the old fan grills.

And polished.

Now on to painting where I completely abandon this project. I had initially planned for powder coating but time constraints worked against that.

PSA: Do not use this textured paint. It is impossible to get an even coat on large or irregular surfaces. It worked well on my small sample pieces, but it was very splotchy no matter what (as you will see later). I tried many different top coats to even it out from flat to satin to semi-gloss and nothing worked. It is impossible to completely sand out of all the crevices in my case so I am stuck with it unless I can find someone to sandblast the crap out of it.

The small parts came out ok, but the case interior is horrible and completely unacceptable. And I really tried to get it even.

As it stands I will assemble everything and continue updating this. I need this case to be done for now no matter how it looks. Over the next few days to a week I should have both systems shoe horned in there after I get a couple more HDDs and random parts.

nafljhy · 06-28-09

thats some real pro work there shinji! glad i wasn't up against you!

shinji2k · 06-28-09

Nah, if I were pro I wouldn't have as many hang-ups working with material I wasn't completely familiar with (acrylic). And I hate painting and I think it knows it

. I have a friend that may be able to help me sand blast it so if I can get that junk textured paint off I just may get it powder coated. Eventually I may be able to figure something out for the acrylic and maybe, a big maybe, I could just finish this with it somewhat resembling the image in my mind.

nafljhy · 06-28-09

no not at all, being pro also means diving into that unknown and i tihnk you did a wonderful job with it for the first time.

i hate painting too! i'm seriously cutting it soo close its a bit nuts..

and i'm sure you'll get to what you imagined in the end! best of luck!

neDav · 06-28-09

Shinji, I don't care what you say, this is some serious professional looking work here. I can't wait to see the completed rig.

shinji2k · 06-28-09

Thanks for all the kind words. For now I just need a case that will hold my two rigs. I will be brainstorming on some kind solution for the acrylic exterior. If and only if I can get that straightened out I'll see what I can do about the paint situation.

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Case Mod: [Project] Pearl in the Rough

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