mals 'more than I can chew?' mod

malfunkshun

malfunkshun

malfunkshun

Soldato
Joined
20 Aug 2003
Posts
6,703
Location
Pembrokeshire
Being fed-up with shoe-horning watercooling gear into various cases. I decided to get something large, but cheap, and make it my own.
A little while before christmas I came across a nice cheap Viper case (ermm forget the maufacturer) on these very forums, which I thought was dimensionally ideal. So having grabbed it I packed it away until the new year as the approaching festivities would take up too much time and money to make a start.

Anyway, here is said case....
DSC00088R.jpg
 
Last edited:
So, what to do with it?
I need it to accomodate my WC setup, which only does the cpu for now, and its 120 dual rad. After much measuring it seems the only place to mount the rad is in the top. Not quite so bad since the top is a nice subsection about 50mm deep :D
DSC00089R.jpg

shows the subsection I want to place the rad in, its marginally too shallow for the rad I have so I am going to cut out just enough to let it sit lower (by that I mean just enough for the area covered by the 2*120mm fans to drop though, since they will be fitted on the underside of that radiator).
DSC00090R.JPG

Things didnt go quite to plan though :mad: After I had made the exact cut out I needed I realised that where the old drive mounts were (front and back) there were too many bits of loose metal so I cut them all away and added a strap to fix the rad to, the strap will be rivetted into place when the time comes.
 
Last edited:
DSC00091R.JPG

just to show how I want the rad, notice that it sits nicely under that lip at the front, allowing the case top to fit in place without issue :D
Now for the case top.
I dont really like the rad grills and blow holes you usually see, so I had to come up with something else.
DSC00092R.JPG

Obviously it isnt staying like that. I have ordered some perforated steel sheet. To make sure the perforated sheet doesnt look stuck on I plan to cut it to the dimensions of the outside of the case cover, spot weld it into place then use body filler to perfectly fill everywhere that I dont want holes. Doesnt sound too painful but its an idea that I want to carry onto the case fascia for top and bottom air intakes (the more than I can chew part). 120mm where the top-most drive bays are (which I hope to duct directly into the forward-most fan on the rad) and one bottom front intake for the motherboard section of the case.
Anyway, the perforated sheet is ordered for delivery this week so I suppose thats about it until next weekend.
 
Last edited:
damn! Just got the steel delivered, I chose 6.4mm perforations because the 8mm option didnt leave much meat in between, now I have it here 6.4 seems a little small :mad: I would guess at about 50% or so removal :( oh well, it will have to do now.
 
Not had a great deal of time this weekend, but I managed to spot-weld the perforated sheet onto the top cover and put the build-up coats of filler on, this pic should give some idea of how it will end up;
DSC00097R.JPG

I also had a chance to chop the fascia to bits too,
DSC00098R.JPG

I left the frame, for want of a better words, with the screw posts to fix it to the case chasis, I dont know if I will be using this to create a similar finish to the top cover, or if I will attempt to fab a new fascia. There will be perforated sections top and bottom for 120mm fans, with the top one feeding a duct into one half of the rad and a drive cage behind the bottom one.
I should have a chance to post again later today showing the aforementioned duct, which is currently in the oven ;)
 
Last edited:
Ok, I made a start on the ducts
DSC00099R.JPG

Didnt get very far, I ran out of brushes for the GRP resin :(
anyway, the one in the pic is solid so I will GRP the sides of the old drive cage within it, take the worst of the rough off (or it will catch no end of dust)
and flash some black paint over it, then mount a 120mm fan filter at the front of it.
I'm going to leave two 5.25inch drive bays immediately beneath that duct and probably a 3.5inch bay below those.
There will then be a straight duct behind this one to feed air to the second fan on the rad, from the component section, which will then be sealed from the drives upper section.
 
wow, 22 January, didnt realise it had been so long. How the time passes when your stuck with work etc.

Anyway, got some more work done today, finished fitting the ducts to feed the rad....

mp5.JPG

needs cleaning up and paint but the hard part is done.

Also managed to make a start on the fascia. The steel I bought isnt long enough to cover the full length of the case front in one piece, so im going to use two which will provide a nice support in the middle to improve stiffness etc etc..
quick pic of the original fascia with the bulk of it cut away
mp1.JPG


and with the metal work positioned ready for bonding

mp4.JPG


........
 
Im going to use GRP to bond the metal to the plastic. Unfortunately new steel tends to be oily so a quick scrub and a thorough drying and we are all ready.
I wasnt entirely sure how well this would work, if at all, because of the lack of material left to join the sheet metal to. Having GRP'd the two sides as a test it is fair to say that its very solid....
from the back,
mp6.JPG


and from the front,
mp7.JPG

I'll finish fixing that section tomorrow and also tie in the bottom piece. What I will do differently, however, is mask off where I want to keep the holes in the steel. Its going to be a bugger to clear the blocked ones out again.
Then it will be a case of preparing the front in the same way as the top. I cant do this until I finish cutting for the bottom intake fan, which should also be tomorrow. So depending on how affected by the GRP fumes I am, I may get a lot done....but maybe not.
 
Yesterday came and went and I got a few bits and pieces done.
I managed to GRP the bottom piece of the fascia into place, roughed out the drive bay and floppy cut outs. In the end I have decided not to make a floppy cut out, instead I'm going to make a bezel to fit it in a 5inch bay.
mp8.JPG

Today, I started backfilling the holes I dont want on the fascia. Lots and lots of holes, but surprisingly small amounts of filler :).
mp10.JPG

I'll rub it down a bit tomorrow and probably give it a light flash over with primer, purely because as it is its very difficult to spot the pits and dips in the surface (it looks nasty but is surprisingly flat, the different materials make it look worse in the photo than it actually is). I did this with the top and it REALLY showed the faults so thats a job for tomorrow.
The cut out for the drive bays, I deliberately made this oversize so that I can create a border around it (probably more GRP) for extra strength and also to allow me to have a plastic edge to fine tune final fitting.
I also started with the primer,
mp9.JPG

both side panels had two light coats of hi-build, then were flatted, then two more light coats then flatted again. So they are basically ready for paint.
Next up I need to fine finish the fascia and get that primed.
 
easter Sunday!! i would doubt it.

Good looking mod thou mate makes me wish i hadn't thrown away my old Juno p6 as it would have been wicked for a mod like this.
 
I know they were open today cause I popped in, not sure about tomorrow. If they are it will be for a very short time with it being easter and a sunday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom