Chunky_Chimp

Yes, I had read that as well. But I'm one of those that just doesn't like waiting around, especially when it comes to cases. Then again I honestly didn't think I'd get it for Christmas in the first place, so only having to pay for the shop work is good, too.

Edit; just checked in with the shop; they had to wait for the cable sleeving stuff to arrive, as they didn't have it before, so they'll have the case done by late Thursday. They only got the kits in today, so I felt bad about bringing the 8-pin ATX extension in as that would probably mean them needing to wait for another order just for that. So I'll leave the ATX power extension bare for now. They wanted to start the powder coating after the sleeving was done for some reason, so you could probably imagine of how surprised I was when I went in to check progress and saw the case sitting on the counter in the exact same condition as I'd left it 5 days ago.

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vis213

might be picking one of these bad boys up tomorrow

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Chunky_Chimp

Update! I went back into the shop today, one of the salesmen called the shop's owner to the front, who came with one of the others that got a peek of the owner working on the case. They all agreed it was "a really bad-ass case", and it turned out to be more intricately constructed than they thought, so it took the guy 5 hours to disassemble and paint the case. It IS fully coated but they've only applied the protectorate to the mobo tray and its back panel area. They actually ran out of protectorate and had an O-ring go bad in their propane heater; if not for those I would have it right now in front of the lens of my Finepix (still need to figure out where I can adjust the ISO in that frigging thing...).

I decided not to spoil anything with pics of what they did so far, but they did bring out the mobo tray for me to look at; all I can say is pics will NOT do it justice, even if I borrowed my dad's EOS Digital Rebel XT. It was that good. He decided against painting the tray handle as repeated use would wear the paint, even with the protectorate, which made sense. It makes a nice contrast, to be honest. As for the rest of the work, he only has to apply the protectorate to the rest of the interior and let it dry; he's guaranteed it will be ready to take home by 3 PM EST tomorrow. As for the cost, he'll have me reimburse for the paint and protectorate, plus 30 dollars for the sleeving, plus 100 (*wince*) for the labor. But trust me, from the look of the mobo tray, it WILL be worth it. Once I have pics up you'll more than agree.

Excellent. When you have your parts installed, post internals pics and I'll start the list.

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N0rmal

That's weird, powder coating is supposed to be abrasion resistant. Are you sure they're not spray painting your case? Applying "protectorate" is not part of the powdercoating process. Is the propane heater for their oven? Parts are usually cured in a 400 deg oven.

I had my wheels powder coated about 5 years and they still look great.

Oh yeah, I brought mine home yesterday, returned the Lian Li PC-P80 I bought last week. That case feels cheap in comparison to the ATCS. Currently taking mine apart so I can take it to the powder coaters by next week. Undecided on a color though.

Chunky_Chimp

I wish I could tell you... the terms he was using hinted at both powder-coating and spray-painting; I.E. using both "protectorate" and "enamel layer". But I did originally tell him to do a powder coat, since I could easily do spray-paint myself. The main reason I won't powder-coat myself is because we don't have a spare oven.

Correct. He complained that because of the failed O-ring that he had to deal with fumes for a few hours last night.

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Oupavoc

Pulled the trigger and ordered this case, it will sere me well until something better comes along
Let the modding commence

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Oup <°))))><™

Chunky_Chimp

Excellent. So if vis213 pulls his own trigger, then that'll be 3 people so far. I was really hoping for more, but I guess the cost was too restrictive for some.

I haven't gotten the call yet, but I'll be leaving (hopefully) one last time for the shop in an hour and a half to ensure it's dry and the cable sleeving is done; the owner said he would do that after the enamel was done drying. Honestly I don't know why they couldn't have done the coating+enamel while they waited for the sleeving materials, but that's just how things work, I suppose. Anyway I'll have pics up sometime tonight, so keep an eye on this thread for some juicy goodness.

Edit; I had one last "duh!" moment and realized I have a spare 3 feet of braided velcro cable sleeving, like this stuff;



I'm going to see if there's a way that I can easily attach it directly to the mobo tray frame in a reverse L shape, from the top near the optical bays going down and over to the power supply. If I can make that work out, it'll look a LOT cleaner.

Argh! Another setback; they needed more time to finish the enamel layer, so it'll be dry tomorrow afternoon. These delays have been really annoying but whatever it takes to get it done, and done right. Sorry about this, it's out of my hands. Since I can't guarantee it won't be delayed again, I won't promise pics tomorrow, but this time I'm confident I'll have it home in the afternoon, and pics should come shortly after.

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vis213

i wasn't prepared for how massive this thing is/was...

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Chunky_Chimp

Does that mean you have the case? That's really how I thought about it when I took it out of the box, too.

Edited; I just now got off the phone; the case is ready to go home, so I'll be picking it up after work Monday, and I WILL have pics in the afternoon then. Yay!

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Oupavoc

Cool can't wait to see the finished product, should be good

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Oup <°))))><™