Project: Lian Li G505B

zootfloot · 2 Jun 2009 at 17:31

I have finally got round to starting this project as i have now finally decided (more or less) exactly what i want to do.

My initial plan can be read about here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18008281&highlight=username_zootfloot

My first build in the Lian Li A05b can be seen here http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17927490&highlight=username_zootfloot

BUT things have changed slightly since then, the genral idea is that i really would have liked one of those Mountain Mods cases, however funds and the wife would not allow such an extravagant purchase.

So now i have decided to fashion one of my own design using a Lian Li A05b, and a Lian Li G50.

The front panel will be the 2 seperate front panels moulded together, smoothed, filled and painted, the idea is to make the font look as minimalistic as possible.

I am currently on the look out for 6 of the 5.25" bezel cover things that are vented and have the filters as i now want to hide the front fans.

Airflow is going to be conventional Front to Back, anyone who knows the A05b knows that the airflow is reversed.

The 2 chassis' are going to be joined together simply by hinges at the rear so that they kind of stay independant of one another but are very integrated at the same time

In the A05b (Left side) i will have the Motherboard,CPU, HSF and Graphics card and that is all, in the G50 (right side) i will have HDD's, Optical Drive, and anything else i can think of.

The colour scheme at the minute is going to be Matt Dark Red interior, and the exterior is going to be Gun Metal Grey (this may change as i start to think more about the colours....yes i am going to be spraying the whole thing myself, and no i have never ever sprayed anything before.

I am trying to source a 240mm/250mm fan at a reasonable price, the idea is that i will embed it in the G50's Motherboard, so that it draws warm air away from the Motherboard and Graphics card and into the G50 Chassis to be moved outside the case by the rear and side fans.

For those of you that arent familiar with either of these cases here they are....

A05b

G50

Both very attractive understated cases in my opinion, and i am sure i will upset some of the purists with my design.

Anyways onwards and upwards, today i got started on the front panel, i bolted both panels together and then also glued them with epoxy resin glue.
I then lightly sanded all the surfaces and got to work with the filler.

I should point out that i am not known as being the most skilled DIY'er in the world, i have never used filler before and evrything at the minute is purely experimentation and learning curve.

I have very few tools available to me and dont even own a workbench, so if you see me doing anything glaringly wrong please do tell me, i am willing to learn.

Anyways here are the pics of todays adventures, what you see here is after 3 layers of filler, i used 3 because i wanted a perfectly even surface, i want the front to look almost like it was made to be like it is.

Any feedback will be much appreciated, and also if anyone has any of the bits i mentioned i needed for sale feel free to drop me a message.

WantoN · 3 Jun 2009 at 19:29

Hey fella, very interesting concept!

You've done an awesome job blending the two cases together with filler.

-Are you going to sand the entire from back to bare metal before spraying?
-Are the top button hole and the badge aperature on the lian-li absolutely flush? Doesn't look it from the pics!

Ant :cool:

zootfloot · 3 Jun 2009 at 21:26

I am going to be sanding all of the case, inside and out, but only to provide a key, i am not going down to bare metal on the exterior.

Good eyesight there WantoN, they werent absolutely flush, there was a couple of small ridges that i picked up on after i uploaded these images, but i didnt initially feel them because my hands were suffering from Vibration white finger!

I have actually done a touch more filling and it is now flush, just some hand sanding to do to get the exact finish that i want prior to paint.

Ducky Spud · 3 Jun 2009 at 23:35

Nice idea, and looks to be going alright so far!

What are you doing with the edges at the front? The A05B front is squared off but the G50 is angled... you leaving them that way or making them equal?

steveinspain · 4 Jun 2009 at 06:03

Good Man !
I like to see someone doing a lot of work with minimal tools and equipment but taking the time to do it right.
Good luck, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of this..

zootfloot · 4 Jun 2009 at 08:35

Ducky Spud said:
Nice idea, and looks to be going alright so far!

What are you doing with the edges at the front? The A05B front is squared off but the G50 is angled... you leaving them that way or making them equal?

I gave this a lot of thought when originally conceiving the idea, initially i was going to square off the G50 front using some aluminium angle and filling and sanding and i still may do that, but i am leaning toward leaving it as it is even if its just to retain some of the character and so it doesnt look quite so uniform as other cases.

steveinspain said:
Good Man !
I like to see someone doing a lot of work with minimal tools and equipment but taking the time to do it right.
Good luck, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of this..

Cheers steve, yeah i dont have a lot of tools but i have learned to be patient and take my time.

As i said earlier its all a learning curve at the minute.

Interestingly enough i have found out that there is a small component powder coaters just around the corner from where i work, so i may change the plan and get the chassis powder coated and still spray the panels myself.

shadowscotland · 4 Jun 2009 at 09:35

for the small cost (about the same as 3-4 tins of spray) and time saving.
Powercoating is so much better (and more robust/scratch resistant)
if you don't need to pay postage I'd recomend you take this route.

I really like the right hand edge G50 detail - especially as that's where the power button is.
I've a soft spot for both of those cases - as I like small ATX cases will follow this with great intrest

Top job on the filler too.

nigelnathan · 4 Jun 2009 at 22:50

very adventurous I will give you that :cool:

Wedge · 4 Jun 2009 at 23:02

Subscribed, looks like a very interesting project, good luck

jlss · 4 Jun 2009 at 23:32

Nice project you have there.

Matt Dark Red interior i'd like to see that

zootfloot · 5 Jun 2009 at 09:52

Thanks for the support chaps, god knows im going to need it.

I have a few ideas going round in my head but have to get some astethic problems sorted first, so i need some help.

I need to find sketchup models of both the A05b and G50 cases, if not both then just one will do, i am having no luck whatsoever finding any and my skills are absolutely garbage.

So any help you can offer would be much appreciated.