Area 51 ALX restoration.

[AlienALX]

Time to explain properly.. The left side panel arrived with me totally bone stock and intact. However, I made the very regrettable choice of fitting GTX 670 SLI without blower coolers. This soon had my top card shutting down the PC @ 97c. Not good for Kepler. So at the time I basically butchered the side panel. It really did look awful..

So I bought a new one from the USA, hopefully shipping out today so I will have that in a couple of weeks. In the mean time I decided I wanted to play with my toys, so I cracked out three rotary tools. First I marked up the bad panel, with absolutely nothing to lose.



I know hexagons are en vogue right now but the Alienware was using them years ago. I dedided to use an old Bitfenix Colossus side panel as a template to come up with some hex wavy grooves.

Then I set about cutting. Three hours and one melted rotary tool later and huzzah.



And the scrap..



Quick test fit.





And I just have a couple of hours filing, sanding and prepping before I can paint it. I have a few off the wall surprises lined up for this panel as I have a ton of old scrap computer parts so expect something pretty wild

 

[MadShadow]

Very interesting side panel design

Can't say its not original!

 

[Mysterae]

Looking good VT. What colour are you going for?

If your dremelling a lot, order some tungsten carbide bits from China and a right angle adaptor for the Dremel. They eat through steel. Well, the bits do, the right angle adaptor just makes it easier to handle and get in to the awkward areas

 

[AlienALX]

I'm going to repaint the panel in black. Then fit a window and some LEDs etc.

I only went through three bits but due to the way the panel is made it took me ages to cut out the plastic behind etc. Very well built panel tbh. Being alu the metal is more "sticky" too.

Very interesting side panel design

Can't say its not original!

If you look at the first pic you will see an old Colossus side panel. That's where I got the inspiration from. I used it as a template for bits, then just added in a more free hand and organic design

I also have the rest of the parts from that panel too, so I can recycle

 

[AlienALX]

OK so as I mentioned I had something lined up for the old panel that was cut. Something very different...

You'll remember I basically cut up and took apart an old Bitfenix Colossus panel. Well, that's what I'm using. Check out the glass. It has tiny white dots all over it. The only bummer was there were three holes on show, so as you can see I bought hole plugs.



And a rough mock up.



And yeah, I think it will look pretty decent once the panel is repainted

 

[AlienALX]

It's not often I surprise myself any more. I mean, I wouldn't, I'm 42 years old. But today I surprised myself.

Usually when doing mods I buy in all of the stuff I need to do the mod with. This time I just went through a big pile of old crap ready for the landfill. That's not usual for me, usually I want things to be the best they can be but this time I was only doing this panel for something to do and to get the thing covered up to keep the dust out until the new one came.

So yeah, painted the panel.



Montana black FTW.

Flipped it over and put on the double sided foam tape.



Peel, fit glass.



And I gotta admit I was stunned. I only spent £8 on a can of paint and about £3 on a roll of tape. Everything else I Wombled from rubbish.

Some glamour pics. Window fitted.









I tell you what it's actually going to be hard to remove that panel to put a plain one on instead....

 

[SuB]

Needs some WD40

Common misconception, WD40 (Water Displacement Formula 40) is not a lubricant. It's a penetrant

What it needs is silicon grease / oil

 

[Thelosouvlakia]

Common misconception, WD40 (Water Displacement Formula 40) is not a lubricant. It's a penetrant

What it needs is silicon grease / oil

Silicon grease is the best!!! Very useful for cleaning electrical contacts too! I cleaned the headphone plugs on my phone with that ^_^

 

[AlienALX]

Common misconception, WD40 (Water Displacement Formula 40) is not a lubricant. It's a penetrant

What it needs is silicon grease / oil

I used silicon diff oil from my Cougar.. It didn't work... It's better but still squeaks a little. Part of the charm I guess

 

[SuB]

I used silicon diff oil from my Cougar.. It didn't work... It's better but still squeaks a little. Part of the charm I guess

I've got some other plastic-on-plastic stuff I'll dig out the name of it. even better than silicon grease

 

[AlienALX]

I think the squeaking is coming from the pin inside the drive cogs. Sadly the only way to grease or lube that up would be to remove the entire front panel and that's not an option..

It's cool. My lady only opens the front once per session