[Flux]

New batch of mods added on the last page

Update

Day 00.00: Teaser Mod Pics
Day 00.01: Mod log
Day 00.02: Finished Imagery

The Plan:
I recently decided to strip my CM Cosmos 1000 back and paint the interior and other pieces.

I settled on a Charcoal hammer finish paint that I really like the look of. It goes on easy after sanding and cleaning, it sticks nicely and dries very quickly (30 min tack coat, 2 hour re-coat). Its available in a multitude of colours and varying sized cans.

I needed a bunch of supplies as I had nothing to start this mod.
I didn't get anything finer than 800grit because I wont be colour sanding the top coat or applying a clear coat, I like the finish it has already.

The Ingredients:
2 x sheets of 800Grit Wet dry sand paper(wet sanding before top coat)
1 x sheet of 80 grit dry sand paper (To remove Zinc coating)
2 x cans of Hammer Finish Charcoal paint
1 x can of Heavy Duty Primer
1 x can of Wax and grease remover (Cleaning in between sanding/coats)

The Process:
So, I start by removing everything from the case, stripping it down so I can get my fingers and sand paper into every little space. It was a PITA to find all the little lugs CM use to clip this case together, but luckily I found all of them and didn't break anything.

Once I had it apart, it was time for the sanding to begin. I started with the small stuff, scuffing the surface of all the HDD bays with 80grit to get through the layer of Zinc applied at the factory. 80Grit paper did no damage that is visible through the paint, the top coat is smooth and even.
Once I had all the HDD bays and fan housings scuffed up, I moved on to the bigger sections like the door frames and then on to the case itself.

After about 10 hours of sanding, cleaning and sanding some more, I had the desired smooth de-zinced surface I wanted.

On to priming. Which all went extremely smoothly, two coats of heavy duty primer were applied with 30 min drying time in between them. I then sanded back the primer to a nice smooth finish with 800Grit wet dry sand paper soaked in a little dish soap and water. Allowed it to dry for 4 hours and then cleaned it with Wax and grease remover. After it had dried properly, I started getting ready to apply the top coat by hanging all my small parts on wire around my garage (away from any walls you dont want painted), laying out a lot of paper on the concrete floor as this paint creates a lot of dust you dont want on your carpet.

Ready for paint!
I started by applying a very light "quide" coat, it made it easier to see where I hadn't sprayed in the badly lit garage I was workign in. While the case was drying I sprayed the rest of the parts with a guide coat, so they would be ready for paint when I was done spraying up the case. I applied two coats of the hammer finish to the case and accessories, leaving them to cure and dry for 24 hours before the next coat. It made for a nice, smooth, consistant surface.

After its all nice and dry , its time to start putting it back together. There was no sanding required after applying the top coat. Everything went back together smoothly apart from having to sand the edges of the HDD cages back to metal so they would ift properly.

The Pictures:
Paint and Primer

Parts that aren't being painted

Stripped

Prep for paint

Primed up

Top Coat - Please note this is only the first coat. I forgot to get pictures of the second going on.

The Final Result:

There it is, all done. I hope you enjoyed following along.

 

[Diesel Phreak]

Thats really sweet, different from black like everybody does. But it's still dark and looks nice. Great job.

 

[CattleRustler]

 

[minus.fireal]

Looking Good.

 

[Shiryu_Libra]

 

[wastedtime]

well done

 

[Jolly-Swagman]

Looking pretty good there Flux,

Not quite as Dark as the Charcoal metallic that I used on one of my Case Mods, but I like it.

 

[Aaron_Henderson]

Excellent shade of grey there, and the hammered paint should take a beating.

 

[Flux]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I really like the way it came out, It's just proof it really is worth all that sanding,

Cheers.

 

[Flux]

*UPDATE*

Big water cooling upgrade coming within the next two weeks, watch this space for an even bigger work log and some mods.

I have plans for this case....

 

[Flux]

Back again with some mods.

Heres a quick teaser while I get the pictures on the worklog sorted out. Get on now 56K users, cos this is going to get very bandwidth spendy.

 

[CattleRustler]

very artsy-fartsy pics

case = me likes

 

[UnAimed]

Very neat dude +rep

 

[Flux]

Sorry for the delay guys, I can find anywhere that will host 72 hi-res pictures.

Modlog will be up as soon as I can find a decent host.

 

[coffeejunky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flux Sorry for the delay guys, I can find anywhere that will host 72 hi-res pictures. Modlog will be up as soon as I can find a decent host.

If they are under 2mb each, go for www.imageups.com
unlimited bandwidth, reliable and free. If they aren't under 2mb each resize them

 

[Flux]

Howdy fellow Modders,

I'm back again with a few new mods to my cosmos case. My watercooling upgrade didn't work out (money issues), so I decided to start modding this case instead. Please bear in mind there will be around 35 pictures and may take a while to fully download on slow connections.

I only needed to purchase 4 items for this mod:
1x Can of paint - $15
1x stepped drill bit - Already owned
1x 600mm x 300mm x 0.6mm sheet of galvinized steel $11.70
2m of Pinchweld - better than c channel as it grips the material with rubber teeth. $10
Cost: $36.70AUD - much better than $500AUD for wc.

All mods were done with the aid of these tools:
1x Jigsaw.
1x dremel with cut off and grinding bits.
1x set of mini metal files for cleaning up the edges of cuts.
1x power drill and drill bits inc. the purchased stepped bit
4x Human hands.

Step drill:

Pinchweld:

The Plan:
I wanted to add in the proper cable management holes that should have been there from the factory but Flux style. I like things very clean and minimal, I hate bunches of wires of cables with a passion. The back panel area of the Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 needs special attention, with my side door closed, i had a horrible bulge in the panel. This had to be addressed. From here it turned into a full blown mod inc. custom panels.

Ill cover the motherboard tray first off then follow on to the other panels.

Motherboard Tray mods:

I had to remove all the plastics again, which in turn removed some of the paint in the areas where the clips go, no biggy. The next thing on my list was to plan out all the extra holes I needed to be able to hide everything I wanted. I only had to add 6 smallish holes (which grew when I decided to use grommets) and a 1.5" long by 5mm high slit for my sata and motherboard cables to slot through allowing routing behind the motherboard.

Heres a list of holes I added and what they are for.

1. 2x 3/4" round holes in the floor of the case - allows sata power/molex power to pass through and be hidden under the stock floor panel.
2. 1x 1/4" round hole in the tray - allows motherboard and USB cables to pass through hidden under the tray.
3. 1x 1.5" long by 5mm high slit - hidden under my custom panel.
4. 1x 1/4" round hole in the tray to allow PCI-E cable to be hidden.
5. 1x 24 pin sized rounded corner hole - obviously for the 24 pin.
6. 1x 1/2" round hole for 8 pin cable - hidden under the tray and mobo.

Tray Holes:

The SATA Slit:

Grommets:

Finished Internal Holes:

Now lets move on to the good stuff. Custom Panels.

Custom Panels:

This idea started out as just that an idea myself and Minus.Fireal had late one morning after some COD5 LAN madness. As it was an early morning mod, I never took any pictures of the panel being marked out or cut. We used a jigsaw and with a metal blade to hack our way through the panel.

I noticed a few extra stand off holes that almost perfectly framed the free space on the back of the motherboard tray. I screwed in a few stand offs, stood back and then MF mentioned I could cut a panel to fit that section, covering all the ugliness that is the back panel of the cosmos.

So after some frantic early am garage hunting, I came up with 2 side panels from old beige towers. Off with the 80mm fan shroud and vola: instant cover panel. This side wasnt actually used, the ventilation holes in the side panel just looked wrong. We used a back panel instead as it had perfectly square indentations in the middle of the panel.

The next day we got to work, measuring out a section from the side panel. this worked a treat. We had just enough material to cut a nice square panel, and still keep the stock indentations. Heres a few pics of the finished panel
Test fitting:

Sanded:

Painted:

Finished:

We then moved on to the front of the case, where I wanted to add what I call a cover panel, it basically covers the 3 rounded factory holes, also hiding my sata and mobo cables and all around improving the look of the case.

This panel measured in at 120mm wide by 485mm tall. It covers the 3 rounded factory holes, sata and mobo cable and most of the 24-pin hole.
Its also attached by using 3 existing stand off holes in the tray and fixed via extra tall stand offs and coolermaster thumb screws.

Sanded:

Painted:

Finished:

Test Fitted:

I wont cover lining up the screw holes for the custom panels, it was as simple as cutting a piece of paper or card up to the same size as the panel and pushing the stand offs through the paper and screwing them in tight.

Re-fitment:

After both panels were painted and had dried for 2 days, the re-fitment began. I really only ran into to small problems which were addressed easily.

One of these problems was the left hand side plastic outer shell not fitting over the grommets I used. I didn't particularly want to cut any plastic to make this fit, so I gently heated the offending area and and slid it over the grommet. Job Done.

Problem 1:

The next problem was the bottom plastic panel. I needed to remove a small amount of plastic to allow it slide on, missing the grommet. It was a fairly easy operation using a sharp x-acto blade and files.

Problem 2:

Finished Product to follow. Sorting out Pictures.

 

[Flux]

Finished Product:

 

[Jason4i7]

Ok, this is just me, but i would lose the inside u joint molding, to let the back piece look more like the rest. Paint the nut caps, or try to use dark Allen head screws. That would look good IMO.

Besides that. I LOVE that back cable cover. Very nice. +rep for that

 

[Flux]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason4i7 Ok, this is just me, but i would lose the inside u joint molding, to let the back piece look more like the rest. Paint the nut caps, or try to use dark Allen head screws. That would look good IMO. Besides that. I LOVE that back cable cover. Very nice. +rep for that

Fine suggestions.
Do you mean the molding around the edges of the back panel? I only used the molding on that panel to stop the cables getting rubbed or cut.

The screws/thumb screws will be replaced with black allen heads, Im yet to find black ones locally.

Appreciate the comments

 

[Choggs396]

Looks absolutely amazing! Excellent work. I fine example of OCN workmanship.