Hi all
took me 4 days from sheet aluminium to complete
i liked my other but i like this much more
the dimensions of this one are
385mm height
345mm wide
360mm deep
it houses a large psu going sideways, 2 dvd drives, 8 hdd on bottom deck
upper deck can mount the motherboard with high heatsink like the TRUE & there is about 40mm head room above the TRUE and the expansion card length can hold a 4870x2 with 30mm spare with a nice big fat antec 200mm fan on the front and possibility for 1 on the top, and the regular 120mm fan in usual place
the fan on the side blows through the hdd's straight to the power supplys fan and straight out the case
the top panel is secured with rivet nuts and thumb screws so top easily comes off for maintanence and side panels slide on for quick access
spent an entire day designing this on google sketchup, already had some basic ideas for a flatbed style, the end build turned out identicle to the sketchup other than the dvd drives being on the other side, once everything was installed it was a bit fiddly to wire up but once done its great.
possible mods to be done on it
220mm fan or another antec 200mm fan which could be placed on the top, not sure thou yet, it'll need cleaning more often with the extra dust and all
place a ccfl light behind the TRUE hidden next to side panel to give a pretty cool lighting effect, already place a cothode in their, i'll have to add 2 more pics also added mesh on the front 200mm fan, will add the new pics tommororow, thought i may as well post this one now as i've just finnished fixing my pc because of the 8.12 catalyst drivers messing my pc up, all fixed now thank goodness
almost did a proper worklog but did not, instead you get to see the finnished working state
enjoy the pics, they don't really do it justice i would need a better camera and tripod to get perfect pics, but i'd rather save for a x58 & a i7 920 and 6gb tripple channel ram, oh well.
front view - this is the sketchup design i made
side view - the dvd drives had to be on the left side to give clearance to the front power and reset delrin vandal resistant buttons
Tools
Right side empty view with 2 dvd-roms perfect fit
1 of the hdd cages which hold 4 in between the sheet of metal and the cage i placed a strip of accoustic foam it prevents vibrations from going through the case.
another side view but without 1 of the cages, i just riveted a strip of aluminium to the bottom panel and the cage slides underneath it to hold in place, it works pretty good.
another side view but with the fan holder to blow over the hdd's with 2 dvd-roms perfect fit
rear view
front view 200mm antec 3 speed fan spray painted cream white with a speckled haze of silver, would have used other colours but i had none and it looks pretty good, still want to give it a speckeled haze of a dark colour.
could not find a fan grill for the antec 200mm so rather than just cut a hole and put mesh behind it i simply made a random pattern with the dremel, i could have possibly used the grill from my old antec 900 but decided against it, took ages to smooth it out using the jewelers files but was definately worth it althou i went a little too far on 1 of the cuts with the dremel and when filing i accidentaly slipped and made a couple of scratches oh well.
both side panels slide down and can also rest on the middle tray
nice and flush fit
same again
with the whole left panel being modders mesh it alows for plenty of air release and looks pretty cool me thinks.
the side panel can slide up to 2nd level so they are easily accessed, woohooo and with the case being so compact and packing the features it has there was nowhere else to place the dvd drives so i ended up having to go sideways and placed at the back behind the side panel, they fit perfect, but when i have enough money for some 1.5tb drives i would be able to lose one of the hdd cages and use the 1 and have the dvd-roms at the front as they should be.
set up and ready to roll
just need a better motherboard that has the sata sockets on the side of the motherboard rather than on the face, makes for a wiring nightmare if you using 8 hdd
pretty minimal night lights at the moment.
with the camera flash on
another pic without the flash
ooh and another with hdd activity lol
you can just about see the speckeled silver on the cream painted fan in this pic
topless flash
i'm also going to try a ccfl light right next to the plain side panel, if it turns out good i'll post another pic
just topless
and the great temps this case produces, it beats my last diy case on looks, functionality and tons smaller than my 1st attempt
took me 4 days from sheet aluminium to complete
i liked my other but i like this much more
the dimensions of this one are
385mm height
345mm wide
360mm deep
it houses a large psu going sideways, 2 dvd drives, 8 hdd on bottom deck
upper deck can mount the motherboard with high heatsink like the TRUE & there is about 40mm head room above the TRUE and the expansion card length can hold a 4870x2 with 30mm spare with a nice big fat antec 200mm fan on the front and possibility for 1 on the top, and the regular 120mm fan in usual place
the fan on the side blows through the hdd's straight to the power supplys fan and straight out the case
the top panel is secured with rivet nuts and thumb screws so top easily comes off for maintanence and side panels slide on for quick access
spent an entire day designing this on google sketchup, already had some basic ideas for a flatbed style, the end build turned out identicle to the sketchup other than the dvd drives being on the other side, once everything was installed it was a bit fiddly to wire up but once done its great.
possible mods to be done on it
220mm fan or another antec 200mm fan which could be placed on the top, not sure thou yet, it'll need cleaning more often with the extra dust and all
place a ccfl light behind the TRUE hidden next to side panel to give a pretty cool lighting effect, already place a cothode in their, i'll have to add 2 more pics also added mesh on the front 200mm fan, will add the new pics tommororow, thought i may as well post this one now as i've just finnished fixing my pc because of the 8.12 catalyst drivers messing my pc up, all fixed now thank goodness
almost did a proper worklog but did not, instead you get to see the finnished working state
enjoy the pics, they don't really do it justice i would need a better camera and tripod to get perfect pics, but i'd rather save for a x58 & a i7 920 and 6gb tripple channel ram, oh well.
front view - this is the sketchup design i made
side view - the dvd drives had to be on the left side to give clearance to the front power and reset delrin vandal resistant buttons
Tools
Right side empty view with 2 dvd-roms perfect fit
1 of the hdd cages which hold 4 in between the sheet of metal and the cage i placed a strip of accoustic foam it prevents vibrations from going through the case.
another side view but without 1 of the cages, i just riveted a strip of aluminium to the bottom panel and the cage slides underneath it to hold in place, it works pretty good.
another side view but with the fan holder to blow over the hdd's with 2 dvd-roms perfect fit
rear view
front view 200mm antec 3 speed fan spray painted cream white with a speckled haze of silver, would have used other colours but i had none and it looks pretty good, still want to give it a speckeled haze of a dark colour.
could not find a fan grill for the antec 200mm so rather than just cut a hole and put mesh behind it i simply made a random pattern with the dremel, i could have possibly used the grill from my old antec 900 but decided against it, took ages to smooth it out using the jewelers files but was definately worth it althou i went a little too far on 1 of the cuts with the dremel and when filing i accidentaly slipped and made a couple of scratches oh well.
both side panels slide down and can also rest on the middle tray
nice and flush fit
same again
with the whole left panel being modders mesh it alows for plenty of air release and looks pretty cool me thinks.
the side panel can slide up to 2nd level so they are easily accessed, woohooo and with the case being so compact and packing the features it has there was nowhere else to place the dvd drives so i ended up having to go sideways and placed at the back behind the side panel, they fit perfect, but when i have enough money for some 1.5tb drives i would be able to lose one of the hdd cages and use the 1 and have the dvd-roms at the front as they should be.
set up and ready to roll
just need a better motherboard that has the sata sockets on the side of the motherboard rather than on the face, makes for a wiring nightmare if you using 8 hdd
pretty minimal night lights at the moment.
with the camera flash on
another pic without the flash
ooh and another with hdd activity lol
you can just about see the speckeled silver on the cream painted fan in this pic
topless flash
i'm also going to try a ccfl light right next to the plain side panel, if it turns out good i'll post another pic
just topless
and the great temps this case produces, it beats my last diy case on looks, functionality and tons smaller than my 1st attempt
nice pc by the way
) in the top!
