[Project] Guinea Pig

[WhiteFireDragon]

this will be my first case mod and worklog. it's actually just to practice my case modding since i've never done this before, in preparation for my real project that has been planned for 2 years now! i decided to just buy an extremely cheap case to play with, and the victim is this Rosewill R101 mATX case that i bought for only $20. it was fairly cheap and looked decent, so i decided to give it a try. you probably guessed why this project is code named "guinea pig".

sorry guys, this will only be an aircooled rig (no subsection for aircooled worklog so i thought i'd just put in here. mod, please move if you feel it's more appropriate). stay tuned for my WC worklog but for now, this one will have to do. this is more of a worklog for myself to document, not expecting much comments since this is nothing special . no special hardware planned for this case, pretty much will just take whatever i have laying around go on in it after it's finished, but most likely here is what it will probably have:

- intel e8600
- Asus P5E-VM HDMI
- OCZ StealthXStream 400w
- Crucial 2x1gb Ballistix Tracers
- WesternDigital 80gb Velociraptor
- Thermalright 120 extreme

here's the setup while i'm working on the case








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project now finished. here are the final pics

[WhiteFireDragon]

ok, after i started to already make some cuts, i just remembered to take pics. while i'm transferring those, here is what the original case looks like before any mods. picture stolen from newegg:

[WhiteFireDragon]

i got too excited and started chopping up the case and forgot to take pics. the two areas circled red is what i cut out. that fan grill in the front was way to restrictive and pointless, so it had to go. the other rectangle cut out was for cable management. after i made those cuts, i decided to have plans on taking all the panels apart so it would be easier to paint and make more cuts. took a bunch of pics at all angles of the case so i know the positions of the rivets and how it looks like when assembling back together:

[shazza]

Good progress so far.

I think you win the "Cutest Pet" in a work log contest

[WhiteFireDragon]

thanks shazza. haha cute, but a guinea pig is a sacrificial symbol

[DarthBeavis]

Love the DD mini Torture Rack

[WhiteFireDragon]

Love the DD mini Torture Rack

i needed one that was small, yet holds all my hardware while modding the cases. before, all my crap just lay out on the table and it takes so much space and looks messy.

btw, notice on the bench station how l337 the mounting on my TRUE is. or... lack thereof

[WhiteFireDragon]

here's the panels taken apart before any major cuts:

[Wezly]

btw, notice on the bench station how l337 the mounting on my TRUE is. or... lack thereof

I thought I saw mounting hardware laying about!

[WhiteFireDragon]

I thought I saw mounting hardware laying about!

seriously, it's so heavy that i don't see how it's possible to use this copper TRUE under normal conditions when the mobo is mounted vertically and this TRUE is attached. this TRUE so heavy pushing down on the chip i don't need any mounting pressure. those that have this version can relate.

i'll be using a normal aluminum TRUE when installed. feels about 10x lighter...

[Wezly]

I've seen a rig with a TRUE copper on a vertical MB. I also saw a review of it and the Classified, and they strongly suggested you leave it horizontal. So, I can imagine haha.

[WhiteFireDragon]

well i just didn't feel like snapping a mobo today mounting that thing on. maybe some other day, but not today haha

anyways, just sanded down all the pieces with 120grit sandpaper to prep it for painting. after some measurements, drew that black square to cut out for backplates

[charles_h]

hehe, that Guinea Pig was a nice surprise when I clicked on the thread - very cute!

Looking forward to following your progress.

[WhiteFireDragon]

hehe, that Guinea Pig was a nice surprise when I clicked on the thread - very cute!

Looking forward to following your progress.

the guinea pig is getting more attention than the actual case. maybe i should have name the project "experimental lab rat" instead haha. see if anyone will think it's cute now

some updates. after everything was sanded, all the panels were sprayed to clean the metal dust. it's now drying


the first panel sprayed with a few very light coats of primer


put blue painter's masking tape on and about to spray this one with primer

[WhiteFireDragon]

this is after 3 thin layers of black primer, and 4 thin layers of krylon satin black. i didn't want the gloss black, or the flat black, so satin was in between and perfect. after every layer of primer and paint, i waited about 3-6 hours in between. total painting process took a couple days.

are there any protective coats i can use as the finishing layer? if i just get the clear coat, wouldn't that just make it gloss? (which is what i want to avoid)

[millertime359]

This is going to be interesting.

[WhiteFireDragon]

alright, all the drying is probably done. and even if it's not, i'm going to keep going anyways. last pics before i put all the panels together with steel rivets. all the areas circled in red were dremeled off before painting:

the big square for any backplates from the HSF, and the other 3 areas are for cable management


all these are also for cable management


cut this out to put my own grill on so it's not as restrictive on airflow


cut this off so airflow is also not restricted, but i won't be putting on a grill since it's not needed in the front. the tiny rectangle is for the cables in the front panel to come through


shave off those 3 small notches so the wire can fit there


installed the front USB, audio/mic, power button, reset button, and HD LED wires back on and fitted the wires between the notches

[WhiteFireDragon]

all the panels are together now. man, i should have gotten aluminum rivets. steel rivets are much harder to squeeze than aluminum ones, and i don't need anywhere near the strength that they're able to hold. it just makes it harder to take apart the panels again if i ever needed to.

putting the front panel back on. the wires are a perfect fit going through the cut-out slit.


here's the rest

[WhiteFireDragon]

placing the mobo and PSU inside just to test the fit, and looks like everything is fine so far. i have a dilemma though. which HSF should i use? it's between the aluminum TRUE or the new copper zalman CNPS9900? the copper TRUE is there just for comparison, but i already mentioned it's not going to be mounted in there because of the extremely heavy weight.

[shazza]

paint job looks good, WFD! Looks like you're making good progress.

[millertime359]

looking good.

[WhiteFireDragon]

crap, i ran into some unexpected problems. the two slots cut out near the top right of the mobo tray and optical drive are not big enough to fit some of the PSU wires through there . you can see that i was forced to reroute the peripheral and SATA wires in the same rectangle slot with the main 24pin wire.

i need to think of a solution for this. not sure if i want to take the panels apart to dremel that area again. steel rivets are a PITA to take apart, and that might scratch the paint. i might just proceed with rerouting it, but that'll just make all that dremeling wasted. what to do?

[WhiteFireDragon]

i decided to leave all the panels intact, but will be dremeling the holes wider. i'll just have to be careful to not scratch the paint or overdo it. in the meantime, i also decided to go with the zalman HSF. already put tape to the backplate so it can hold to the mobo

[Wezly]

Have you considered painter's tape to mark out the edge that you will stop at?

I think if you mark out where the edges of the new expanded hole, sand off the paint to the tape's edge, and then cut, you'll have clean lines, and no chipped paint. Then, you can sand the edges BY HAND and sharpie them or paint by hand in case someone with a spy camera will snake in just to check the edge.

[bentleya]

Looking Great, Keep up the work.