memnoch_thedevil

So this will be my first full case mod, with custom paint, and a pretty radical change in the case design over all itself.

I chose the Lian-Li PC-P50 case, because it is new, not a lot of people have it yet, and it is 100% tool free, and once you strip it down, you can tell Lian-Li designed this case to be a modders case.

The case is exquisite, and I am a complete noob when it comes to tools and modifications. So needless to say, I was quite nervous taking a virgin case and chopping it to pieces.

This cases's layout is pretty much perfect as it is, but I wanted something different. The only thing about the case's original layout that I didn't like, is that the hard drive cage was facing front to back, and I would have preferred the side facing orientation.

So for this mod, the goal is to reorient the hard drive cage and make it smaller, but still large enough to accomodate 3 hard drives. The reason for cutting the hard drive cage smaller is to move the PSU from the rear of the case, and bring it to the front.



I want to add 2 140mm fans in the bottom of the case, and seal off the motherboard area to make it a top to bottom air flow design.



You can see from this front shot of the case, that you could add 2 more (in addition to the 1 stock that comes with the case) of the hard drive cages that have a 120mm fan attached. I wanted to try and keep the cage, so it would be easier to mount the hard drives, but I don't think that the size will permit it, so I completly took the hard drive cage apart and made a smaller version of it, and the fan will be mounted to the side panel instead of the cage.

I will post pics of the actual mods a little further down.



This is a side shot of the case, I will need to get a piece of plexi cut to cover the holes on the motherboard tray, I am thinking about something with a design in it and backlit with an LED, like the i7 logo.



Here you can see the orientation of the front hard drive cage, and walls of the cage. I took out all the rivets, and removed the walls, and I will cut it to size, and re-rivet the new size.



Not much to say here, but a shot of the top 2 140mm fans.



Here is a picture of the sketchup model I am working on to help give a better visual of what my overall goals are. Eventually watercooling is my goal, but the cost is prohibitive, and nearly $700 (will be more that is just the main components) to set it up the way I want to.



Here is another angle of it to show the wall's using acrylic. The side wall towards the front will actually be a mirrored acrylic, and I will cut holes similar to the ones on the motherboard tray for the wires from the PSU to the motherboard. Also will cut holes for the pumps. I haven't completly decided on the resavoir location's or types, but here is one possibility. I might mount them to the same wall the pumps are coming out of, just above them, and use cylindrical resavoirs. Still have a way to go before I am ready for that decision so it's on hold for now.



The next few shots are of the case stripped, and possible locations of fans, PSU etc...











My youngest, he is as obsessed with my case as I am, always right there trying to be involved lol.



This is my first cut, the placement for the PSU, which will be front facing and mounted in the front of the case. I have reversed the fan so that is it now an exhaust and will add a fan below for intake, to keep with the over all air flow of the rest of the case.



Here is the holes I cut out for the 2 bottom 140mm fans, but as you can see, it is hard to get the circles correct. The fans fit, and all of the blades are exposed, but it just doesn't look clean. So my fix for this, I will measure 1" from each side, and 1" from the back and cut out the rest. Then draw up a vector in CAD, and have an acrylic bottom piece laser cut out, and mounted in that space



This is the top I/O panel cut out, that I will modify as well. Thanks to zittware, (over at Austinmodders.com), he cut out a new i/o shield for the power/reset, and in this space will be the Zalman fan controller, with a custom acrylic laser cut out face, that zit also worked up for me.



This is what the i/o section looks like under the shroud, I will need to shave some of that off so the fan controller fits.



Here is the new i/o panel, currently at the bottom of the case, but I am going to reorient it to the top instead, because of the PSU placement.



Another shot of the i/o.



Here is a shot of the fan controller face plate.



Another shot.



Will add more later.


First update:








Second update:

memnoch_thedevil

Minor update...finally finished the bottom acrylic piece, it is to scale, with the proper layout for my fans and PSU + all of the screw mounts and case feet. I downloaded a free plugin for sketchup, to do a render, but no clue what I am doing here, so anyone feel free to point me in the right direction. Also, if anyone knows how I can convert this to a vector, and what program I can use to create the vector so I can take it to the shop in the next town over, please let me know also.

In the meantime, here are a few more snip shots of the bottom acrylic piece. I am still undecided on the overall color of the internals. The outside will remain black, and the board is black and red, so I am thinking of a candy red clear coat for the inside frame, tray etc...












Another small update:

I scrapped the original sketchup at the top because it was borrowed components and not to scale, and I have been working on a new case from scratch for sketchup to get better dimensions and a more accurate feel of the over all case design. It is pretty dam accurate, I sat and measured everything out from my actual case with a square rule, and drew it up. I left off things like rivet holes, and holes for panels etc..I didn't want to waste that much time on the unnecessary. This is what I have so far:




This is an iso shot of the frame and how it will be. I will cut the bottom out .5" around, and 2/16" up front near the PSU, leaving room and holes for the feet. You can see the bottom acrylic piece I will have cut out in front of the case. I already have a vector worked up for that piece. Tossed some color to see what it looks like, I am still undecided on a final color.




Another angle of the above.




This shot shows the acrylic piece in place, and a different color slapped on the case



This is just a blue box I slapped together to represent the 2 x 140mm rad, it is sized to its dimensions to give me an idea of what kind of room I am going to have, and well...not much. But with the Typhoon III looking so promising, it may work out worlds better and fit any way!


That's it for now...off to work...running late as usual.

Shiryu_Libra

hey... that's look awesome

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jpz

How are you planning to run cables inside your case?

Also, where are you planning to put the radiators when you are ready to buy parts for the two loops? You also need someway to run tubes from the outputs of your two pumps by the PSU out of that section of the case.

What size radiators are you planning to use?

Is your case high enough off the ground to plug the AC power cable into your PSU from underneath?

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doat

Very nice what program did you use to make those renders? I have 3dmax but never installed it and i want to design some reservoirs and other stuff.

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jpz

I can tell you with certainty that they were made using Google Sketchup. It looks to me like he took and edited screenshots instead of using the render feature.

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doat

oh i see, thanks +rep

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CallmeRoth

Love the concept. Hopefully you can get it to work without much trouble.

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memnoch_thedevil

Thanks!

Ok, I am looking at 2 x 280 Rad's (2 x 140mm Rad), one in the top and one in the bottom. That's why I am doing 140mm fans in the bottom for now for air cooling, and later I won't have to modify any further for the rads.

I haven't finished the back wall yet, but that is where the cut outs will be for the cables, basically 2-3 holes should do, one at the height of the GPU's and one at the height of the 24pin, then the SATA cables could either get their own hole or use one of the existing ones. The rest of the cables will be like normal, behind the mobo tray, and into their proper spots, ie on the bottom of the board for front i/o and sound, then the top of the board for the 4pin.

The fans will be connected to the fan controller so not an issue there.

There will also have to be holes cut for the pumps tubing to be run through, I just will probably add those later, so I can keep the air flow sealed.

I am using risers for the PSU to give it more height when screwed into the bottom acrylic panel I will have laser cut, and then also use 1" feet on the case itself. For added room I am buying a right angle server PSU cable to give me more clearance, and that will run the length of the case, under neath it.


Sketchup

That is correct, this is my first time ever using a program like this, and it has been very trying to learn it lol...I am unfamiliar with the render feature, and even posted in my original thread asking for help with sketchup, so that I could clean my pictures up to post, because they looked off and funny.

Perhaps you can help? lol

Thanks, I think it will. I am closer to being finished then it looks, really not much more to do but cut out the bottom, and cut the cages. Then I can get it painted, and have the acrylic cut once I finish the vectors. After that, just cutting the side panels for the 120mm fan holes for the hard drives, and the window on the left panel. Then of course mounting everything lol

Probably a lot more than I realize tbh...heh

ckybam3

Subd...I like the idea.

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