Home made case

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Test fitting of the rubber strip, well pleased with the look.

I even managed to almost make a proper circle with the Jigsaw!!!

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Soldato
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Brilliant thread. Five stars for your effort and progress reports. Well done :)

Will be subscribing to this thread. I look forward to more updates :)
Going brilliantly, good luck :)
 
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Thanks guys.

I am quite pleased with progress so far. The front panel should be interesting to make, cant decide wether I should go solid aluminium or mesh???

Wanna try and incorporate subtle lighting effects, I've got a few ideas about that but will concentrate on that when I get to it. :)

Thanks again guys.
 
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Got a few bits in the post this-morning. 120mm fan, guard and aluminium bar (i'll use this as a part of the structure).

Any luck should be able to test fit the fan a little later today.

Did a little cutting out aswell of the unwanted part of the i/o panel. Started cleaning up the metal ready for me to weld a couple of strips back in place taken from the bit I cut off. If I am lucky I might have this all done aswell a little later on.

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Managed to get the fan mounted and tack in place the strips to the rear i/o panel. Will clean it up and finish welding it later but managed to get the shape almost right, close enough anyway.

The T/take thunderblade is way to noisy at 12v's for my liking so will be modding that one come the time. Does kick out a seriously healthy air flow though!! Knocked 12degC off my mobo temp!!

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Nothing better to do again this-morning so grabbed a few tools and tried tidying up the tray. Finished welding and smoothed as good as I could with the grinder, which was a little awkward being as it was a 9inch grinder I use on my car.

You can probably make out from this photo the bit that has warped, got a little carried away with the welder. Bent it back ok with the pliers after and the IO plate fits nice and snug as it should. :)

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One problem I had once I had finsihed with welding was the amount of heavy penetration which went through into an awkward spot, which I found difficult to tidy. My solution, car body filler!! :D

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Almost there, but still not perfect.

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I'm now debating wether to keep or ditch the steel mobo tray in favour of an aluminium one keeping everything the same light material. AAAAGGGGHH!!!

Its getting all the individual expansion holes cut identical every time thats the only thing putting me off.
 
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So now I'm in even more confusion. :confused:

Do I keep the steel tray, change for a aluminium that I would have to make to suit or Spray the whole thing black and be done with it....Thanks!! ;)

Mind you reckon if I could get a super high gloss finish by spraying it black that could look sweet! :D Use a High quality car paint or something.

So much for this case project being done on the cheap. :rolleyes:

I'll have a think about it...
 
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I know it takes the fun out of making it but couldn't you just buy/get hold of a case chasis and motherboard tray in one then make your own panels and front.

you need to really give it some kind of colour or anodise it to hide all the homemade look

Edit: how much do you think you have spent so far on it and how much do you estimate it will cost once finnished?
 
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The tray I have at the moment is from an A-open full tower. I've modded it to suit the project case, just started thinking how nice an ally tray would look aswell and debating on making one up. The homemade look is cureable without loosing the aluminium finish, Thats not really a problem I dont think.

Money wise about £55!!! Depends really on the outcome. Would hate to think I've spent that only to find its all been a waste!!! Not to mention I could have gone and got myself a good quality Lian-li for that almost. :rolleyes:
 
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Main idea was to keep the internals polished aluminium then have the exterior high gloss black front and sides.

Thinking similar sort of finish to the P180 looking at the pics on that case.
 
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Decided on a having the whole thing complete black with the exception of an aluminium support brace and a couple of other structural parts that hold every chassis panel together. Aiming to make a high gloss black which is as close to mirror finish as possible.

Trying out my idea for ridding the chassis of sharp edges. Afterall Dont want the "coke can" reputation for this case. :)

Heres a pic, hope it stays put when I remove the tape tomorrow!!

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