Finally, after a long weekend off grafting, brainstorming,entertaining the parents and eating enormous amounts of unjustified food, I can finally sit down and write this mod log update, and since I've been a bit slow on the update i've wanted to include a lot of pictures (quality isn't something i'm over bothered about so no SLR malarkey) so i decided to just make some simple collages' so you can see all the process photos and ill explain it my thoughts and thinking behind everything and it doesnt take up 10 pages at the same time. Some of the photos maybe smaller butif you want larger versions just ask and i can send them or just post a larger one for you.
OK so here we go:
1. Mission 1 was to cut out the front window panel ready to be u-channeled, mesh grilled up and the acrylic window fitted...well here's how it went. Firstly my design involves removing over 90% over the surface area so as you can imagine the strength and structure was a concern, but adding the acrylic and mesh in I felt it was enough to keep its rigidness. Cutting it with a jigsaw was fun to say the least avoiding metal flapping about whilst the structure was being removed, but here's how it turned out.
happy to say the least.
Top left was a practice cut because ideally you'd cut then get it painted but due to unforeseen circumstances I had to live my life the hard way and do it the other way round, but thankfully it turned out perfect and the paint didn't crack or scratch. Note for any of you using a jigsaw, I found it a lot easier to slide the jigsaw across on slippery tape so to speak other than masking tape which makes it better for cutting obviously. A tip for reducing flapping if removing as much of this as i did is drill a large hole in opposite corners and go into the straight at a curve then turn around and finish the last little bit off as you can see on the top right photo.
2. Mission 2: Raise mid-shelf and fix in, make cut outs for Hot Swap Bay cage and re-adjust for Motherboard tray.
This was by far the most difficult mission so to speak, as it disrupted a lot of things by raising it. I want to try keep the PSU in its original place and cutout spot. But more importantly after jumping ship on my decision several times I want to keep the Hot Swap bays for their intended use, not for a custom reservoir as originally planned. Ok so I made a few miscalculations shall we say :/ I basically forgot to take into consideration that when the shelf is raised the back ledge will make the motherboard tray hang out towards the back of the case, so once it was fitted I had to Dremel/jigsaw the ledge off which was tricky to say the least
AND THEN as you will see in the photos to top it all off, the cut out for the Hot Swap Cage wasn't deep enough so it wasn't possible to to attach the SATA 6 PCB
so more cutting out was required whilst the shelf was already riveted in, which made jigsawing very difficult. But nonetheless i managed to finish it causing no damage and the final result was a beautiful sight. One of the photos just highlight the black rivets that im using which i think are a really simple yet effective touch to this case.
This next collage shows the back ledge where i had to cut out so the Mobo tray would fit perfectly vertical. Plus another a couple of photos of other bits.
I finally got my braiding from MDCP X International which is absolutely awesome and obviously my custom personal drawing
And well with a little bit of pretend fixing, the fans are just placed, not fixed, they are not flush mesh grill will be put in and along uchannel on all bare cuts to prevent wire/tubing damage
I haven't got all fans yet but you can get an idea of what its going to look like come the finsihed product
If any of you see any flaws or have some good ideas then let me know.
As for the next steps, braiding the PSU
tedious but come the end result very effective, making a support for the shelf, which will be done using Aluminium tubing
Then time to fit some rads, and cables
