My first case mod finally done, time to show off!

[GeekGoddess]

ok, This started out as an old steel AT server case from round 1991. Sticker on the back bragged that it came with a whole whoppin' "16MB ram"!! :eek: LOL Jamal had it lying round the house along with about half a dozen of old AT puters and cases. They were keeping themselves company in the basement. Well, I thought that since I would eventually end up workin on my own super waterchiller someday, I would need to learn a few skills in regards to dealing with mods and stuff. Course, the deciding factor was that I had too much stuff crammed into my current case and it was getting difficult to DO anything in there, and the server case was almost twice the size. I'll post a few pix here, but am working on a website so I can post the whole thing,,before, during and after. I'll also have some pix on there of Jamal's waterchiller project too if you wanna see those as well. :)
So, without delay, here some pix:
Front view of before:

[IFMU]

sittin here tapping fingers awaiting the pics to be posted.

tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap ;) LoL

Gotta see what you did with that, looks like it could be a hella nice case!

[GeekGoddess]

The inside, dust bunnies and all,,,,nasty and grey,,,the bit of color you see is a result of not using a flash and the flourescent lights in our kitchen.

[GeekGoddess]

Heres a pic of the side door. It had some hinged on it, so I could swing it open w/out having to take it off. I really liked that idea cause I'm in there so much, so I kept the hinges.

[GeekGoddess]

I didnt take any shots of the top cause it was just as plain and solid as the rest. Looking at the thing, I figured that I was gonna need to do some work on trays and stuff, cause it only came with room for three trays on the front, w/ nothing to hook them up to. I needed room for at least four or five trays, and something for the power supplies. I decided I needed two PSU's, one for my MO, Vid card, watercooler PCI card, HD, & a floppy. The other PSU would run my Rom's, some lights, and fans. As I said earlier, Jamal had about a 1/2 dozen old AT cases in the basement. I went down there and started ripping out whatever I could to use as raw materials. This is also where I got my secondary PSU, since I didnt know about the pin trick to shorten out a 20pin connector, and the old AT PSU's will work as long as something is plugged into a molex.
Heres a pic of some of my raw materials I scavenged (look at all those steel trays and stuff I have piled up!)

[TheDude]

That's a nice big case! It's going to be real nice when you are done.:up:

[GeekGoddess]

OK,,,now heres the one intermediate shot I'm puttin in here. I cut the rear of the case and put in new holes to fit my MO in there correctly, and widened and shaped the area for my PSU's. I took the large tray that you see in the original inside shot that is sitting just under the top tray for the drives, and turned it into a tray that would hold both PSU's. Then I figured out a way to mount my drives. I didnt want to cut up my bezel to fit a floppy and a possible second drive, so I took an old tray, totally cut it up, and reassembled it into a tray that cold hold 2 drives and have easy access to them from the inside of the case. Because the door is on hinges and can swing it open at any time, I put the new tray under my existing drive bay and mounted it facing the side door. Then, when all that was done, Jamal rattle-canned the inside gold for me, while I began to tackle the side door.
EDIT: I also scavenged a old base from another AT case and put it on casters,,lol.

[GeekGoddess]

LOL,,Thanks guys,,,,Im working on the pix,,,The case is done and I'm all moved in. :) At this point I would like to give great thanks and kudos to Jamal for his help on this project. He had tons of patience, and brought his artistic and and painting skills to this project. He did the painting and helped me get the right dimensions and stuff on the door and top so that when I started to use the dremel I didnt mess up too bad. :)
Now, the finished project:

[GeekGoddess]

We painted the entire outside of the case in a nice dark metallic blue, with a few gold highlights. I kept the swing door in front of the drives, cut a couple spots for the readout displays of a couple thermosensors (xmas present from the B/F), and took out an old lock and put in a power switch for the secondary PSU.

[GeekGoddess]

I cut a design in the top which would allow a good 120mm exhaust fan, but would also fit in with the side design. We highlighted it with some yellow cable lights. The design is an Egyptian heiroglyph of the sun.:D

[GeekGoddess]

Before I show you the side and completed project, I wanna show you the inside with most of the guts in it. :) so you can get an idea of how I have it set up.

[GeekGoddess]

Ok, for the side door, I spent 10 hours cutting this design for the window using a dremel. Remember, this was hard steel. I started on a saturday evening at about 8pm, and finished at about 7am the next day. We put a thick piece of acrylic on the inside, to replace to stability of the door from what I had cut away. I wanted a design that would look nice, as well as give me a good view of the inside of this case I worked so hard on. To help frame and highlight the design itself, we edged it with gold, which looks really nice next to the blue, and put on some brass cornerguards. I added a nice handle, and we are using magnets which we got from an old HD to latch the door...lol. I think it turned out quite lovely!
BTW: the design in the door is an Egyptian symbol of the Goddess Isis, a sun mounted in bull horns, with a throne sittin on top. :D :D (What did you expect? I AM a GeekGoddess, after all!!!;) :D )

[GeekGoddess]

WHEW,,,,Im done! As a side note: when I moved into this case, I put in a new Albatron MO, which I got my highest OC ever. 2.5GH w/ 228fsbX11. Next, were prob gonna gut my stock lunchbox size Corsair Hyrdocool2000 and mount it totally inside this case. I have room! :) Course, I think I'll wait a little on that. :D ;)

[Tedinde]

That side windows alone had to take off 20lbs!!! Man my back still remembers those old AT cases!!!!

[GeekGoddess]

LOL,,,well, whatever I took off the weight from the door, the PSU's and drives prob added back on. :) But at least I can carry it w/out help. Man, I used a ton of those heavy duty and fiberglass cutting wheels for the dremel to do it. Talk about dust and grit! We got some dremel carbine cutting bits and a router attatchment, but it wouldnt work the way I needed it to, so, I had to go with the wheels. Im glad I did though, it gave me lots more control over the cuts.

[Trooper_GR]

Excellent work there GeekGoddess :) I admire your patience. 10 hours for that side panel! Wow, I would have given up after 2 hours :D

And I thought that cutting 2 120mm holes and fitting a top window was a lot of work... Man ! :cool:

[faruquehabib]

yes, very impressive with the end result and knowing the patience and skill it took to come up with it

:toast:

[TheDude]

All I can manage to stammer is Wow!
Beautiful job Goddess! That side window on the door is awesome!
A woman who can handle a dremmel like that deserves to be called GeekGoddess!:bows: :thumbsup:

[Hardass]

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Congrats indeed.:toast:

[Charles Wirth]

Great job, thanks for sharing.

For future reference, I have a flat bed router that can cut that case sides perfectly. I can cut any shape needed.

[sky]

nice piece... jeez that thing is BIG!. gotta grab a real big primergy server case from the guy we rent a flat to :D.

oh btw.. put some wheels under it... is easier on your back, believe me ..

anyway, i've never been the dremel-type -more the rough type hehe... way to damn time consuming. so after sketching the outline, i basically get the electric drill and do a string of holes just inside of that outline. when i'm done with that it's time for the jig saw :D. so then the holes will be connected by the saw and eventually the biggie part inside will come off. after that it's more or less grinding and sanding the edges... done.
well it still takes a load of time, but way less than the dremel action...

anyway with that case you can copy mickey's external radiator box setup - just inside your case.

AWESOME! :slobber:

[GeekGoddess]

Originally posted by sky
nice piece... jeez that thing is BIG!. gotta grab a real big primergy server case from the guy we rent a flat to :D.

oh btw.. put some wheels under it... is easier on your back, believe me ..

anyway, i've never been the dremel-type -more the rough type hehe... way to damn time consuming. so after sketching the outline, i basically get the electric drill and do a string of holes just inside of that outline. when i'm done with that it's time for the jig saw :D. so then the holes will be connected by the saw and eventually the biggie part inside will come off. after that it's more or less grinding and sanding the edges... done.
well it still takes a load of time, but way less than the dremel action...

anyway with that case you can copy mickey's external radiator box setup - just inside your case.

AWESOME! :slobber:

Thanks Sky,,,and I did put wheels on it. they are hiding under the base,,,lol,,,just enough clearance so they can move freely yet still be hidden. :) Jamal and I both tried the dremel router thing, wasnt gonna fly. vibrated the thing so much and the steel was so strong, we tried several carbon tipped wheels and bits and the damn things were burnt up w/in seconds. No way was it gonna get done if I had to keep dipping the thing in water to cool it every few seconds. The HD and fiberglass wheels I used did the best job. I used like two of those 36packs of the wheels, and still had to do the final bits w/ the regular wheels after I ran out.

[GeekGoddess]

Originally posted by FUGGER
Great job, thanks for sharing.

For future reference, I have a flat bed router that can cut that case sides perfectly. I can cut any shape needed.

Thanks FUGGER! :) I might take you up on that offer of the router the next time I have a massive steel door to cut, but how am I suppose to do that when your a couple states away? lol

@DUDE & HARDASS...thanks tons guys! :) Everyone's appreciation means a lot. It makes the job done even sweeter. :)

[Jeff]

Great job! That's inspired me to look back into my Alpha to AMD conversion.

Again, great work! :toast:

[sjohnson]

Grovels at the Goddess' feet ;)

Sweet case, you have every right to proud of it!

[TheDude]

Hey! groveling is OK but I saw you lick that toe!;)

[sjohnson]

Shhh! Jamal might be listening ;)

[Tedinde]

Originally posted by GeekGoddess
LOL,,,well, whatever I took off the weight from the door, the PSU's and drives prob added back on. :) But at least I can carry it w/out help. Man, I used a ton of those heavy duty and fiberglass cutting wheels for the dremel to do it. Talk about dust and grit! We got some dremel carbine cutting bits and a router attatchment, but it wouldnt work the way I needed it to, so, I had to go with the wheels. Im glad I did though, it gave me lots more control over the cuts.

Ouch Dremel!!!. I remember the last thick case i tried to cut on was a YY cube case. super thick. Just ate up the dremel wheels. I was cutting the MB back out so i could get to my DD maze 2.2 hold downs easy. this case has 2 chambers in the cube.

I ended up getting the jig saw out.

I cannot imagine cutting all what you did with a dremel. persistance paid off though!!!

You have a one of a kind case that cannot be duplicated. without a serious scavenger hunt.