Case Mods - New custom acrylic case -- Worklog to come

[radodrill]

Just a small update today; but it give a good perspective of what the finished product will look like

Sanded the edges to blend the corners together


Assembled the panels with switches and FPIO to give an idea of how the case will look


I still have to polish up the edges and install the drive bays; then the case itself will be basically complete.

Sponsors:

[cian1500ww]

Brilliant job Radodrill.
Best of luck with it !!!!!!!!!!

[radodrill]

Brilliant job Radodrill.
Best of luck with it !!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Man!

IMO it's shaping up nicely.

[Leora]

I really like the layout and design of your case Between your acrylic case and Colossous's splash-anodised case, i think i might consider a case for my future o/c rig Looks awesome!

[Solarfall]

danm fine jop radodrill you project looks amazing so far.. and i cant wait to see it finished keep the updates coming mate.

[radodrill]

I've also received support from Petra's Tech Shop

Here's what they sent me: Acrylic LED case feet, 3x 120mm chrome fan grills, and water additives (Biocide & Blue, Green, and Red dyes)


The LED feet and wiring harnesses


Case feet in action


One drawback to the controller for the LEDs is that it defaults to a flashing mode when it's turned on; but I'll be eliminating the controller and connecting them directly to a switched 12V line, so that won't be an issue for me.

Sponsors:

[BNDMOD]

Great job..... congract.... i think that you have a goob hand to do thing like this..

[radodrill]

Some progress pics are missing since one of my memory cards died

Polished the edges of the outer panels








Also installed the PCI mounting bracket




Cut out/polished the CD slot cover


Placed in the slot on the front panel


Made some side pieces for the 5 1/4" bay


Glued them into place


With a drive in place


This evening I'll mount the drive bays; so stay tuned for another update

Sponsors:

[radodrill]

Another update; The case itself is finished so next I'll have to make the base and do the wiring

Cut acrylic pieces for mounting the drive bays


Polished the mounting pieces


Glued the mounting pieces to the drive bays


Gluing the drive bays together


Finished Drive Bays


Lining up the drive bays on the top panel


Drilled screwholes at the front of the drive bays


Drilled out holes in top panel


Tapped holes in the drive bays


Screwed them together


Drilled holes at the back of the drive bays


Drilled out the holes in the top panel


Several shots of the assembled case






Sponsors:

[Alik4041]

This picture is so amazing. I'm just dr00ling

/subscribed

Very nice work and highly impressive at that . Good luck with the rest of this, can't wait to see the final product.

[radodrill]

This picture is so amazing. I'm just dr00ling

/subscribed

Very nice work and highly impressive at that . Good luck with the rest of this, can't wait to see the final product.

Thanks a lot; I'm very happy with the support I've received so far.

[TorquedJetta]

crazy nice project man. want to see this completed. how thick is the stuff you are using? I planned on doing one but what I considered good enough was 1/4" and it would have cost me a lot of money.

Wanted something super strong knowing me it needs to be twice as strong as it normally should

[radodrill]

crazy nice project man. want to see this completed. how thick is the stuff you are using? I planned on doing one but what I considered good enough was 1/4" and it would have cost me a lot of money.

Wanted something super strong knowing me it needs to be twice as strong as it normally should

Thanks man; the acrylic I have is sold as 0.220" (5mm) thick; anything thinner and you'd need a support frame.

[radodrill]

but to bad u already scratched the plexiglass sheets up beyond repair.

For the record; the sheets must have had the scratches when I got them form Lowe's (as other sheets had scratches even so they had a plastic film on them).

I did find an excellent way of removing scratches (even deep ones) and still have a mirror finish. Remove the scratch by sanding it out with 120Grit; then wet sand that area with 600Grit; finally polish with Novus #2 using a cloth buffing wheel.

[radodrill]

I finished making my PWM fan and lighting controller. It has 8 fan channels and 4 lighting channels (1 dedicated to the fan lighting). The fan LEDs are connected to separate headers from the fan itself.

First: the circuit I used


Installed 1 fan control channel to work out the layout


Here in the US I wasn't able to find anyplace that had the MIC502 fan control IC available in a DIP package; so I had to make due with the SMD version


Soldering on leads


1 DIPicized IC


All eight channels integrated on the PCB


Added power supply as well as headers for the fan LEDs and fan LED switch


Also installed headers for the case lighting control


And a pass-through MOLEX connector


The underside of the controller


The wiring for the power connectors will also be sleeved later on in the project.

Sponsors:

[natedog420]

wow man you do very great work. thats a lot of soldiering. the case is lookin very nice to. lookin forward to seeing it done and all lit up.

[radodrill]

wow man you do very great work. thats a lot of soldiering. the case is lookin very nice to. lookin forward to seeing it done and all lit up.

Thanks man; it took about a day to make the fan controller. Man was that fun

BTW the molex pass-through will go to the pump.

[radodrill]

Sleeved the wiring on the fan contoller


I also wired up and sleeved the switches for the case lighting as well as the power cables for the CCFL inverters


Sponsors:

[Alik4041]

That fan controller is simply amazing. You should teach me some time

[pranko1]

Omg, wow is all i can say

[radodrill]

Thanks a lot guys; I'm happy with the way it turned out.

[it_burns_when_i_pee]

impressive doesnt just cut it

thats a work of art. nice 1! maybe it would be worth you offering to custom build to order a case for people??

im in the market for a new case and if you were in the same country i'd probably harrass you to do me something, paying you for your time of course!

[radodrill]

Sleeved the cabling for the front panel IO


Changing gears for a while; I cut out the MDF baseboard and rounded the edges


First coat of Lacquer paint


Back to the cabling; Wired up and sleeved the HDD LED, Reset Switch, and Power Switch w/ Power LED


Back to the baseboard again; Second coat of paint


Sanded smooth


I'm hoping to be able to get a piano-quality high-gloss finish; thus the use of the lacquer.

Sponsors:

[Movieman]

I'm usually not a fan of acryllic cases but as the gentleman said above, this is a work of art and one can see the love that went into it..
Excellent work and a great read following this.

[radodrill]

impressive doesnt just cut it

thats a work of art. nice 1! maybe it would be worth you offering to custom build to order a case for people??

im in the market for a new case and if you were in the same country i'd probably harrass you to do me something, paying you for your time of course!

Thanks a million!!!

This is actually my first time doing this kind of a project; and first time working with acrylic. The first is always the hardest But I did spend a lot of time planning this in Pro/E (no sketchup here )

Maybe some time in the future I can do custom cases as a side business. Right now I'm still in college working on a Masters and employed as a graduate assistant so I usually only have time to work on this on the weekends and some evenings.