Project Blue Rock!

[maniac]

It's that time again, I have a case laying around that was hiding in a box, so I decided to mod it and make it worthy next to its little brother Log Here! This will be just a case mod and thus no hardware will be living inside it for now, It is a Recom Powerstation (same as raidmax smilodon) and believe it is a pain in the ass to work with, nonexistent cable management is my main concern. It will have a black exterior and a metallic blue interior and will be converted to inverted atx. The exterior paint will remain stock, it has some wear and tear but I will try to make the best out of it, the front leds are not constant as seem to flicker, these will probably be changed.

To Do List:

• 
  [*]Dismantle the case [DONE]
  [*]Reverse motherboard tray[DONE]
  [*]Blanking plate on the side[DONE]
  [*]Sand it down[DONE]
  [*]Paint the main chassis[DONE]
  [*]Fix the front leds[DONE]
• Buy some plexi and the exterior
• 240mm rad Support in the bottom
• Assemble the case

This will take its time as I'm quite busy at the moment and will only work on it on weekends probably.

First set of pics, I know you love pics

Stock Case.

Torn Apart!

Naked Case!

Atleast the panels fit in the opposite position, although creating a major headache with the plexi, I will need to think on this.

That's it for now, guys any suggestions, criticism or if you want to say anything, just say it! I can take it .This mod is still a blur in my head so any suggestion will be considered and re-considered.

Regards,
maniac

 

[Conchubair]

Subbed, as I currently have a huge interest in inverted ATX. From seeing you around id say youll do a stonking job. The antisipation is building inside me already.

One thing though, how come noone does inverted front mounted ATX?

 

[maniac]

Subbed, as I currently have a huge interest in inverted ATX. From seeing you around id say youll do a stonking job. The antisipation is building inside me already.

One thing though, how come noone does inverted front mounted ATX?

cause its a massive headache probably, nothing will fit properly, if you put the motherboard in the front, cables will come out in the front, and you'll end up putting the front in the back and having done a lot of work for nothing.

It just doesn't work in my head

 

[Conchubair]

Well I think ill be doing it in the summer, or roof mounted ATX. Would have done it in a define mini, and used it as a LAN rig, with all the things I actually need in the front I/o.

Kinda off topic, but its projects like yours than really get me thinking.

I<3 invertedATX

 

[maniac]

Started some mock ups and some cutting, till now I drilled out most of the rivets, checked clearance for the motherboard tray and I have to cut some stuff.

This is how the motherboard tray will eventually look, I managed to fit that without cutting anything, just removed the rivets and mounted the back panel upside down.

Rad mount mock up, still need to measure room for the power supply .

Cut these little tabs for a more clean look once the back panel is mounted.

To get a clear image of the case in my head.

Thats it for today, haven't had a lot of time and did some work cause I felt like it. Also sanded the case a bit down as paint in some areas was rough and uneven so I sorted that out.

maniac out.

 

[Conchubair]

Looking good and sturdy there!

 

[maniac]

Looking good and sturdy there!

haha the back panel in the last pic is just sat there with no rivets on the bottom, also there is no roof and no side panels so it might be just a "little" bit wonky for now

On an other note, does anyone have some experience with carbon fibre vinyl, I am thinking about wrapping the exterior of the case with it and I am not sure about the side panel behind the motherboard tray due to the fan and vent cutouts.

 

[mehere]

I've used a fair bit of the wrap and treat myself to one of these

search craft heat gun and you'll find them
I found it better to just lay the wrap on the flat bits add a little heat and you will surprised how much it will stretch round corners

On the vents you can either heat the wrap and press in the holes so it wraps round the panel then cut with a fine blade or just cut to the edge

 

[maniac]

Another Update!

Today I ordered 2m x 0.75m of black carbon fibre film to wrap the exterior of the case, I will eventually post more on that once it arrives.

a couple of days ago I got myself 4 artctic F12's to have 4 matching fans in the rig. Today I sleeved them and these are the results.

Also the front led needed fixing as the resistor had come off and it wasn't lighting up evenly, so I cut the old 1.7k resistor and installed a 1k one, works just the same.

Also decided to paint the front mesh behind the front door and the mesh in front of the front intake fan the same colour as the interior (metallic blue), the fan blades are white so it will create a nice contrast.

And a final pic of todays work, I cut the extra metal pieces from the top and cut a blanking plate for the odd bays, fits perfectly.

Also decided to install a fan controller I had laying around in this case, the front plate was white so I painted it in gloss black, this is the final result.

reagrds,
maniac

 

[maniac]

and not a single f' was givin about this project, probably no one will care that its a double post

So minor update, just sleeved the front panel, first I used blue sleeving on the power switch which looked horribad, re sleeved it to black and looks much better.


before:

after:

Today I went over to the hardware shop and got a primer and the top coat for the interior of the case.

this is the actual colour...

this is it for today.

 

[CreatiXx]

ofc they're f' given lookin forward to see how this will be once done,keep on updating!

 

[Conchubair]

Ooo, interested in how the colour turns out now..

 

[Mark3Max]

Hi maniac ,
This looks like an interesting project , should look pretty cool with the blue interior.
I like the choice of color btw.

 

[maniac]

ofc they're f' given lookin forward to see how this will be once done,keep on updating!

Ooo, interested in how the colour turns out now..

Hi maniac ,
This looks like an interesting project , should look pretty cool with the blue interior.
I like the choice of color btw.

Atleast someone is following

I just wrote an essay and hit the back button. FML.

I'll try this again, today I finished early and had some quality time with the project, I drilled most of the holes that needed to be drilled for all the panels to be riveted together, I also started painting most of the panels and some of them are ready, some still need some work as I did a couple of mistakes and need them to be completely dry before trying to fix them, I will try to get another update out later this week

oops....

maniac out!

 

[barnsley]

That paint is quite bright to say the least B)

Subbed.

 

[maniac]

That paint is quite bright to say the least B)

Subbed.

its a nice blue, not too bright and not too dim, the camera has a hard time picking up the proper colour, its something like this

 

[Mark3Max]

That is a nice color of blue , I bet it's much better looking in person.
I know pretty much all camera's have trouble getting a good picture of metallic colors.
So your putting the motherboard on the left side of the case , are you going to have a windowed side panel on the right side ?

 

[maniac]

That is a nice color of blue , I bet it's much better looking in person.
I know pretty much all camera's have trouble getting a good picture of metallic colors.
So your putting the motherboard on the left side of the case , are you going to have a windowed side panel on the right side ?

yep the panels fit on opposite sides so it will be a simple swap side panels, although the original window has holes for 2 x 80 mm fans which look pretty ugly(see first pic), I am still undecided what to do with that as the original plexi is pretty complex to copy to make a new one.

 

[Conchubair]

If you put the new plexi on the inside you may have more tolerence?

 

[CreatiXx]

Now thats what i'm talkin about! Good to see a case where the interior aint just black and/or white Lookin nice and clean