Early Season Blues

[OJ46]

mine is just a square panel so lucky on that regards

That certainly helps, but will it be the correct size...

Firstly - OP you have decent paint skills and good modding skills. At this stage I would take a different case and paint it in your colours. The work done looks so good so far, and the build concept is ace. Don't give up!!

Second - my girlfriend has a laser cutter and I'm starting to cut the odd bit of acrylic for PC modding. Not that I want to interfere with Parvum's business, I like their product, but I wonder if I can help you guys get your projects moving forward. It'd be good experience for me too.

Thanks LuckyBenski, my builds are never going to be up there with the best due to lack of equipment, time and talent, but I always aim to do them to the best of my ability so hopefully this one will be salvageable. I will give it a week and see what sort of response I get from Parvum but the extra stress this is causing really isn't needed atm, so if it drags on much longer the plug will unfortunately have to be pulled

That's certainly of interest, I'd never rip Parvum off though so if in the future I did decide on another acrylic build it would definitely have to be a 'clean sheet' design. In the mean time I may be hassling you for a few bits and bobs for this build if you're interested. On my last build I made things like a radiator shroud with light diffuser by hand (hate the light given off by LEDs when not diffused!), but could make these a lot more accurately + interesting with a laser cutter added to the mix!

 

[OJ46]

Looking good, I best get learning Inkscape! I'll send you a quick DM with any ideas for custom parts once the build has started if that's OK

 

[OJ46]

Email from the guys at Parvum yesterday afternoon and thankfully it looks like the rest of the case will be shipped Monday, so hopefully next week the issues can be pushed to the back of my head and it will be time to crack on with this build.

Excuse the extreme bodge on this (I can edit photos fine, but I'm truly awful at this kind of work!) but thoughts on this for the 80mm fan guard? Running through similar ideas for the 120mm fan but need the case here to see if my attempt to make things smoooooth is going to work... Hopefully be able to try it next week!

 

[OJ46]

Was just a quick bodge up to see how it would look really, will have to learn how to use Inkscape properly now so I can do a proper version... This should be fun and not at all swear word inducing!

 

[OJ46]

Still have zero idea what I'm doing, but through trial, error and swearing I've ended up with this... Am I right in thinking this could now be cut with a laser cutter? Sorry for the stupid questions but as I said, I have zero knowledge when it comes to Inkscape / laser cutters etc

 

[OJ46]

Think that makes sense, might be easier to start over and do it all in the correct thickness to start with so I'll give it a go Sunday if I get time. Thanks for all your help LuckyBenski, much appreciated

EDIT: Had a go at tracing over it in the correct thickness, hope this is OK!

 

[OJ46]

Definitely going to try it, just going to wait until the case arrives so I can see how much spare room I have around the fans as I have another idea in mind that could mean extending this guard by a few mm. I'll use exactly the same acrylic the guys at Parvum use, so the colour would be a perfect match for the inside of the case

If I send you a link to the correct acrylic once I've finalised the design(s) would you be able to order & cut it for me? I'll obviously pay you for the materials, postage and your time

 

[OJ46]

Cheers mate, will get back to you via email as soon as the case arrives and I've finalised the design

 

[OJ46]

So the case still hasn't arrived as Parvum are still having issues with the supplier, but just had an email now and they've found somebody else stocking the correct acrylic who is thankfully based nearby, so all should be sorted tomorrow... Hopefully next week the build will finally start taking shape and I'll be able to get any other bits measured up ready for designing & cutting

 

[OJ46]

Soooooo, a parcel arrived! Yes, the Navy Blue has finally been sourced so it's time to crack on and actually build something



This bit was supposed to be light blue (as was the rear internal panel, but that isn't going to show anyway...)



So vinyl to the rescue!



Not going to have much free time over the next couple days and need it to be in working order for tomorrow, so bodged things together for now...



...And it lives!



A very 'temporarily thrown together' look and feel but at least now I can see the potential



So the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer a train and progress is being made, and hopefully I'll be able to get a tiny bit more done tomorrow morning then crack on with it properly next week.

 

[OJ46]

Sorry for the awful photos, not a lot of light in Wales today but hey, photos mean progress so it's all good!

Got the fans in



Installed the Farbwerk...



...And the Aquaero



Started wishing I'd bought a bigger case but squeezed the SSD in



Yeah, gonna need to tidy this!



GPU in



Case together just in time to start using for Speedway streaming



Now debating whether to put mesh under this so it matches the front vent...



Either way, quite happy with that for a days work! Hopefully crack on with a bit more at some point next week



Just need to make the guard for the rear fans, sort the lighting out, design something for the front fan, cut some vinyl for interior details, tidy all the cables and make the front logo light up... Should keep me busy for a while!

 

[OJ46]

Cheers mate, really happy with how it's progressing so far

Got to be worth chasing them up on it, especially as you've already paid for it!

 

[OJ46]

Cheers mods

Only a tiny bit more progress for now, but I've mounted the LED strip properly with a diffuser.



I was originally going to mount it to the roof using strong double-sided tape, but then I noticed something... Yep, if you screw a bolt into each block it fits perfectly into the cavity on the ends of the strip, and holds it perfectly flat against the side and roof panels



Didn't get time to set the lighting up properly (Speedway was on again!) but set it to blue and gave it a quick try.



Still loving the Halos



And I think this has made my mind up... Going to leave it open.



Only had a spare few minutes today between jobs but found time to fit this.



A few mm further over and this could have been an issue, but luckily it fitted perfectly



Even if it did mean even more wires around this side!



Getting a bit cramped now...



Also found the perfect tool for cutting acrylic accurately: This little beauty made by Tamiya for modifying plastic models



Once it's dark I'll test the EL Panel and have a play with the lighting (needs to be very subtle as it'll be under the TV and don't want it to be distracting), then it's headache time again as I try and figure out what to do with the front fan. Laters

 

[OJ46]

Tested the EL Panel last night at 5v so it's properly dim (none of the lighting is anything like as bright IRL as it looks in the picture) but still had this happening:



BALLS. Was hoping the light wouldn't shine through the white plastic but once it's properly dark in the room it shows through. Now the easy / common sense solution would be to cut the EL Panel to the exact size needed, but unfortunately due to the positioning of the wire and the cube holding the top of the case to the mid-wall that can't be done, so on to plan B: Cover the rear of the front panel in black acrylic, leaving only the badge + fan vent clear. Hopefully this will stop the light getting through but guess we'll find out later, if not will try it with some reflective tape instead.

 

[OJ46]

It really comes to life with LED's on.

Thanks faheemrazzaq, still a bit of work to do tidying it up and stopping the light coming through the case but should look OK once finished

What fan filter mesh is that? Plastic or metal?

Good to see another several month parvum wait for you you don’t learn do you?

Haha I must be a sucker for punishment mate. It's more annoying as I always try to support smaller companies and UK based companies whenever possible and they do make great cases, just a pity the customer service could potentially lose them a lot of repeat business. Hoping things will improve before I get tempted to do another build...

Not sure if I'm allowed to post where I got it from so Mods, please delete if this is against rules, but it's PVC mesh from ModDIY

Onto the progress: Not a lot to report, but have sorted the badge lighting from this awful wonkfest:



To this:



Much better! A nice, slim, even halo effect all the way around



Also removed the front mesh as I wanted the front and top to be more consistent, so now looks like this



Next job will be covering the inside of the roof panel in black vinyl to stop the LED strip shining through, cut some vinyl for GPU logo's etc and hopefully then I'll have the rear fan guard / shroud ready to fit next week (massive thanks to LuckyBenski for cutting this for me), and we'll be nearly done, just need to get my head around what to do with the front fan then!

 

[OJ46]

One down...



Two to go.



Hoping that solves it

 

[OJ46]

Love it! That's going to finish the rear of the case off a treat cheers mate

 

[OJ46]

BEFORE:





AFTER:





I'm calling that a success

 

[OJ46]

Had a delivery today and happy to say LuckyBenski has done a cracking job, it's perfect cheers mate





BEFORE:



AFTER:



Much neater



Only need to sort the front fan now and it's as good as done

 

[OJ46]

Yeah I've always found fans ugly, not sure why but side on they always bug me. Did the same on my last build to shroud in the front fans + rad but took that a step further, making it into a diffuser for the LED strip as well

Spoiler