Project: Mac Daddy

Craterloads

Craterloads

Craterloads

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2009
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Project: Mac Daddy

Just like to say thanks to Essexraptor for supplying me with some edge trim. Dont even know him and he offered to send it out for free of charge which i thought was really cool of him, thanks

Hey guys and gals welcome to my project, hope you enjoy and offer some advice down the road.

After being inspired by Project Gattaca I thought I would have a try myself, doing a Mac Pro mod. Was going to do a G5 case mod but they have been done to death so have decided to go with the new 2010 Mac Pro case. Case was delivered on Friday and have to say what a beautiful case! very happy. It was £200 brand new (from the bay) including PSU, and personally would choose any day over similarly priced cases such as the 800D.

Anyhow enough of me blabbing on. Aim of project is to keep build as original as possible whilst keeping any modifications subtle. Will probably watercool a little down the road as there is potential for stealth water cooling, see how it goes.

Build consists of: -

• Apple Mac Pro 2010 Case
• Intel i7 950 3.06Ghz CPU @ 4Ghz+
• Asus Rampage III Gene
• 12GB Corsair Dominator 1600 CL7
• Asus GTX 470 V2
• Samsung 64GB SSD PB22-J (OS)
• 1TB WD HDD
• Corsair HX1000w PSU Fully Braided
• LG Blu ray Drive
• Samsung DVD Drive

Tools / Accessories

• Dremel 300 – 55 Kit (got 10% discount for damaged box :) )
• 2 Kits of MDCP-X Sleeving Kits
• Sunbeam pin modding tools
• JB Cold Weld
• Various Screwdrivers & Bits
• Some second hand tools bought from the bay including Jigsaw, Drill & a Heat gun (£8, cant go wrong)

oh and my budget was £600 whilst in planning stage which was blown away within the 1st day of getting carried away :)

























Sorry about quality of pics. Camera not very good without any natural light. Will get some better pics in morning.
 
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very nice,

is the case new?

i have always wanted to get my hands on one of those cases. there are so many inspirational things that can be done with them.

good luck

subbed :)
 
Ok heres a small update.

Had to remove all internals first


Theres a metal diverder up top which had a fan attched to it which has to be removed so psu will fit. Its riveted in!!!



Also need to remove a small section of this glider thing on bottom, so motherboard will fit. Have masked it off ready for cutting. Wish me luck 1st time using dremel!
 
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Update:

this is the hardest thing ive ever done!! well case modding wise. Heres what that top diveder looks like now :D



Had to drill out the rivets, problem was it was a round shaped rivet so drill would just slip off. After using dremel to make a groove of some sort manage to drill them out. Even after drilling the 2 rivets the divider still would come out. There happens to be 4 bolts on the top and another 2 rivits on the opposite side!! could not get to them with the drill nor the dremel so basically used a flat head screw driver and chiseled the heads off. After a lot of bending out it came :cool:

heres it removed


Nex cut out a section from the bottom glider. This was quite easy as the dremel made light work out of it. Quite impressed since this was my first time using a dremel. Cut is smooth and straight, just need to grind down to make perfect.



Heres section that was cut out. Again this was riveted by 3 rivets to the case but they easily chiseled off.


Will be using this section later to add support to the guide that was cut. Just need to modify it a little but will do once motherboard is marked up in case.
 
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Update:

Today has been a awesome day, got loads done.

First mounted motherboard. Using the original stand off's, they just snap off using pliers. Sanded flat side of stand offs to help with adhesion. Did the same on the back of the case. Once sanded, screwed stand offs into motherboard and applied some JB weld. Placed in case and mounted graphics card to ensure perfect alignment and for some pressure. After a day of drying where here:

Really impressed with this JB Weld. Much better than some stuff i bought from B&Q. Can lift the whole case off the ground whilst hold 2 stand off's so a motherboard will not be an issue.

Next needed to modifty the front cage thing as the I/O stuff, ram and cpu were in the way. Slid cage in and marked off, masked up where cuts need to be made. Heres what was cut:

Quite a lot actually, had to re do it a few times as something would catch but best to cut less rather than to much!!. End result:



Really really please with the result. Fits like a glove and the cuts are just perfection, cant believe it really, looks factory cut. Came out a bit rough with dremel but the file was a god send. Spent about an hour filing making all lines/cuts smooth. Then used a round edged file in the corners to give a rounded factory look.



Even though the cuts came out perfect may use this edge trim (thanks to essexraptor) as i think it looks better with it, not sure yet though. Wish i had more of the stuff.



Only got enough for the top edge at moment. Would like to cover the bottom edge aswell but will have to see if Andy can send me some more:(



This is what it looks like when the cage is fitted.








Might need to cut some more out here later as want to fit the silver ocz ram cooler.


Will be changing cooler at end when i know how much space i have. Might do water cooling as have some cool ideas.
 
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next job was the rear fan (as will be rewiring and re-using, fingers crossed). The fan housing was too big when fitted and would come into contact with the i/o stuff. Had to cut about an inch off the fan housing. Again came out awesome after some filing







 
:eek: this is ******* sweet! I love the mac pro style cases and this looks like it'll come out awesome :cool: (plus im contemplating the practicality for doing one my self at some point)
 
Update:

Havent got much done so far today as of 8 oclock. Have been working on the i/o shield which has been time consuming. As you can see needs cutting.



Problem here is that the audio input box is making contact with part of the lower pci slot bracket, so will have to take out 5mm there so it clears!!



Next masked up



ended up pritty good, still needs filing down to make spot on




Will probably need to take 2mm off bottom and 1mm from bottom right hand side








As you can see i/o panel on motherboard is about 1.5cm away from the case (mac motherboard i/o bits stick out about an inch) So will need to make a recessed i/0 shield for it to fit flush.

i would love to be able to make this, but sadly i dont have the skills!!



but i have a plan :D going to get some of this stuff from the bay and have the seller make one edge 2-3mm and other 15mm.



aluminium angle. then can cut to make a hollow rectangle to fit whole in i/o panel, cut down my original asus i/o shield and insert to complete. Spray silver to hopefully replicate the abpve i/o panel.

Anyhow thats going to take a few days to order so will leave this part alone/ Might aswell work on psu in mean time.

Want to transfer the corsair psu into the original mac psu to keep original look. As need the 3 pin socket to be in the center of the psu unlike standard psu's.
 
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Update:

Really tough day today!! ordered some aluminium angle but they cant cut it how i want, so will need to manualy trim down one edge to 3-5mm. PSU has been a nightmare. Its about 1" longer than the Apple PSU so everythings a sqeeze. Moving the 3pin socket to the center has been especially difficult considering theres no room to monover inside. Have had to remove one circuit board, not sure what it is maybe a regulator of some sort, which will be mounted outside the psu with elongated cables. Thats just the start. Will upload some pics tommorow to better describe.

Not sure if this is even safe what i have done, could just end up with a exploding power supply.
 
Update: This project has helped me realise, i have too much time on my hands!!

Sorry for the slow update for those interested. Got bogged down a bit so took a week out to clear my head. Also room had got too messy as you can see :mad:







Anyhow cleaned up, took a week out and got back to work a few days ago. This i/o plate is finaly finished, took me 4 days to complete :eek:

Started with this, aluminium angle



sorry couldnt be asked taking step by step pics to finished product as had about 4 attemps at getting it right, been an absolute nightmare. But am please to present: -



which i am genuinely proud of considering the lack of tools/workshop and first time attempting anything like this.

Heres a few pics of plate fitted















Fits really well, have apoxied it now to the case. With this done, hopefully can get cracking as this was probably the most difficult part of the build.
 
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