Project car boot

Nice work :) This inspires me to get my moding ass in to gear, I havnt done any case modding for a good few years and at the moment my HTPC is currently sporting a non-modded Antec HTPC case.

Maybe an oppotunity? although I really do like the sound of a possible car boot case purchase for a new case modding project.

:)
 
Hi Guys

Sorry i've been off the radar for a while, as you know i've had a tap on the noggin from the old ban hammer.

Thank you all for the positive feedback. I have to say i'm really enjoying this mod. I've modded a few Skeletons but this is the first time i've modded a propper case, so been learning as I go along. metalwork, fabrication, painting whole panels the lot.

Been doing a bit of braiding (lefover braiding keeping with the theme) and have been adjusting the fit of the mesh to the front.

Just about ready to fit the fans now having decided I will fit the internal HDD rack as I may want to add HDDs at a later date.

Also been fabricating a little panel that will mask off some of the spagetti from the non modular PSU. ( even though it won't be seen with the door on) I'll use small magnets to hold it in place inside the case so that it can be removed easily for access. (I work with a 1.5 Tesla Magnet so it's pretty easy to make a "small magnet" or a big one for that matter out of anything with even a small amount of iron in it.

Hope to get a few pictures up over the next few days.
 
Hi G-Dubz glad your'e back, ive been watching from afar your progress and i must say im impressed with your work here. I cant wait to see some new pics. Just so im clear are you using the intel hardware you picked up at the car boot or are you putting new kit into it? Theres arguments that a kit of this calibre would be deserving of a high end setup but would somewhat take away part of that "on-the-cheap" kind of theme that has everyone so interested.....Looking forward to the comming pics.
 
G-Dubs said:
Hi Guys

Sorry i've been off the radar for a while, as you know i've had a tap on the noggin from the old ban hammer.

Thank you all for the positive feedback. I have to say i'm really enjoying this mod. I've modded a few Skeletons but this is the first time i've modded a propper case, so been learning as I go along. metalwork, fabrication, painting whole panels the lot.

Been doing a bit of braiding (lefover braiding keeping with the theme) and have been adjusting the fit of the mesh to the front.

Just about ready to fit the fans now having decided I will fit the internal HDD rack as I may want to add HDDs at a later date.

Also been fabricating a little panel that will mask off some of the spagetti from the non modular PSU. ( even though it won't be seen with the door on) I'll use small magnets to hold it in place inside the case so that it can be removed easily for access. (I work with a 1.5 Tesla Magnet so it's pretty easy to make a "small magnet" or a big one for that matter out of anything with even a small amount of iron in it.

Hope to get a few pictures up over the next few days.
Click to expand...

Looking great man, how come you've had a tap from the ban hammer? What did I miss?
 
A few piccys, and thanks for being patient.

Panel I talked about earlier, getting a bit better with the dremmel, and even learning how to hand file radius curves.

It'll be painted up and held in place with small magnets.







Front fan test fit to show visibility of HDD rack. Bit surprised at how visible this is. what do you think, bin the HDD for aesthetic reasons rack or keep it as it might be needed?









Hope to have some more to show over the weekend.

Thanks again for your support and comments.
 
Don't throw the hdd cage away :D, just put it in a box in case you need it at a later time :).
I've thought about using magnets for holding panels before but scrapped the idea, maybe it's safe if the magnets are nowhere near components or shielded well away from components, but still I'd be concerned about using them in a pc, not really looked into what problems they might cause.
 
think the magnets have got to be pretty strong to cause damage. If you've ever taken a fan apart you'll know the magnets in them are fairly strong as are the magnets in the bearings of a hdd or optical drive. so all in all im not overly worried
 
Just had a bit of a disaster.

While carrying out a test fir for the DVD drive and other drive bay devices I managed to dislodge the piece I fabricated to fill the error I made while cutting right back at the beginning.

I'm more than a bit hacked off.

Decided not to try to do anything with it today, but wait until i've calmed down a bit.

Seems super glue not as strong as I thought.

Big problem of course is not getting the piece back in but re doing the paint, or finding a way to mask it.

Open to suggestions







 
Bummer man. Have you thought about adding some sort of trim (not necessarily rubber) that skirts the whole cut out? Then it could be a means of holding in blank bay covers and the like. Could look crap but worth a try?
 
ch3333z said:
Bummer man. Have you thought about adding some sort of trim (not necessarily rubber) that skirts the whole cut out? Then it could be a means of holding in blank bay covers and the like. Could look crap but worth a try?
Click to expand...

I vote this idea for your fix, might turn out well, might not, but doesn't hurt to try :D
 
ch3333z said:
Bummer man. Have you thought about adding some sort of trim (not necessarily rubber) that skirts the whole cut out? Then it could be a means of holding in blank bay covers and the like. Could look crap but worth a try?
Click to expand...

Thinking of something along those lines. I could fix, fill and re spray but it's a lot of work for a very small piece. Thinking of what I can use as trim as it would need to be fairly flay at the mesh has to go over the top of it.

Other Idea I has was to fix and fill and then mask off a 5mm wide area around the drive bays and hand paint black so as it look like a trim.

Keep the ideas coming guys.

Meantime been making up cables today

These are the new power switch cables (for vandal switches and a few of the cables that will be used as part of the fan matrix











.
 
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Ugh, damn shame that, looking at the strip it looks about 8mm thick, if I done that I would add a trim like ch3333z said.
I am giving you a link to a great place for ordering plastic cut to size, measure the drive bay hole, then add whatever is needed for a frame, the fan hole is pretty close to the bay hole so maybe 5mm extra for the top, 5mm for the bottom & 10 to 20mm for each of the sides at a guess.

If you ordered it here delivery is free & next day & you could order it to size so all you'll need to do is cut out the edge of the hole you want to clean up, just make sure you measure precisely what you need, so that would be the hole & the extra to cover the hiccup, you can also have the corners rounded, but a file makes quick work of that, also you could paint the piece so it fits in perfectly :).

Just before I replied to this, I hit refresh & remembered you're using mesh you could order white foamboard at 1mm thick which I expect would be fine with the mesh going over it, should be dirt cheap also.

I've ordered with these a couple of times & they have been awesome.
http://www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/c....html?osCsid=a56fa0dc17538a674b30017e51a4733c
 
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Waynio you're a star.

Looks like the answer to my problem.

Also likely to cost me a lot of money as a quick roam around the site has started to give me ideas for future mods.

Edit

Not having used the foamboard before, how do you cut it. I'm guessing craft knife
 
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I've now pretty much gotten over my annoyance at having nadgered the front up a bit and set about putting it right. the offending piece had been sanded down and re under coated in prep for a few top coats before being glued back in, gap filled and sanded and then with some judicious masking sprayed over to blend in. I'm also going to order some of the Plastic Waynio put me onto just in case, and may use it anyway if it looks better.

Well front fans are now in and the plate I made to hide the wiring is painted.

Used this stuff before, it's very strung but can actually be removed if you really need to take a fan off.







 
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