Hello agin folks, i apologise before you read this at the overload of posts i'm about to make but i'm copying my posts from ones that i've allready made on a couple of other forums so some of you will have seen this ! I'm about half way through finishing the project so here goes !
I'm finally starting work on my Mountain Mods Opti 1203, i've had the case for 6 months but i was finishing other things and i've spent hours staring at this damn box planning and visualising what i could do to it ! The final plan is quite minimal compared to some ideas i've had, i want it to look neat and tidy inside as well as showing off the simplicity of the cube shaped exterior. I'm going to attempt to hide as much as possible cabling wise with stealth covers and the use of Aluminium mesh and acrylic whilst having one watercooled loop cooling the Q6600 and 8800 Ultra (on a Thermalright PA120.3) and the chipset on the Asus P5k deluxe air cooled with heatsinks and Thermalright HR05 ifx North and South bridge heatsinks. There will be a total of eight 120mm fans (including two Scythe Kama Bays in the 5.25" bays of the OPti) so i'm hoping for good temps whilst not overloading with tubes and wires !
I'd like to say a big thanks to Tom at Chlled PC who supplied most of the parts and went to the extent of sourcing parts he does'nt normally stock, and to Bry at Hangar 17 for his support !
Fistly, theres a few things i did'nt like about the MM. The side panels are 1mm aluminium with a large acrylic window (i bought the case 2nd hand so these panels were allready with it) i found them a little flimsy so i'm going to make new ones out of acrylic. The powdercoat whilst looking good and is well finished for the cause is not really what i wanted for this project. I thought there was quite a bit of orange Peel effect on the finish so i thought i'd try flatting on one of the spare side panels to see how it would look !
You can see the orange Peel below :-
1000 grit wet and dry :-
Then 2500 grit, you can see the paint is flatting (not yet polished) :-
And with a little elbow grease !
It was at this point that i knew i wanted the case painted. This little piece had taken an hour to do (at my 1st time trying ) and you know how big these cases are so weighing up my total lack of skill in the fine finish painting arena and the ideas i had for the case i went to see the professionals which is where the case has been for two weeks and i'm about to leave to pick it up, i'll be back later with a totally different case and i cant wait to show you guys as i saw it pre laquer and its a bit mad lol !!
I'll leave you with a shot of some of the components to squeeze into the box !
I'm finally starting work on my Mountain Mods Opti 1203, i've had the case for 6 months but i was finishing other things and i've spent hours staring at this damn box planning and visualising what i could do to it ! The final plan is quite minimal compared to some ideas i've had, i want it to look neat and tidy inside as well as showing off the simplicity of the cube shaped exterior. I'm going to attempt to hide as much as possible cabling wise with stealth covers and the use of Aluminium mesh and acrylic whilst having one watercooled loop cooling the Q6600 and 8800 Ultra (on a Thermalright PA120.3) and the chipset on the Asus P5k deluxe air cooled with heatsinks and Thermalright HR05 ifx North and South bridge heatsinks. There will be a total of eight 120mm fans (including two Scythe Kama Bays in the 5.25" bays of the OPti) so i'm hoping for good temps whilst not overloading with tubes and wires !
I'd like to say a big thanks to Tom at Chlled PC who supplied most of the parts and went to the extent of sourcing parts he does'nt normally stock, and to Bry at Hangar 17 for his support !
Fistly, theres a few things i did'nt like about the MM. The side panels are 1mm aluminium with a large acrylic window (i bought the case 2nd hand so these panels were allready with it) i found them a little flimsy so i'm going to make new ones out of acrylic. The powdercoat whilst looking good and is well finished for the cause is not really what i wanted for this project. I thought there was quite a bit of orange Peel effect on the finish so i thought i'd try flatting on one of the spare side panels to see how it would look !
You can see the orange Peel below :-
1000 grit wet and dry :-
Then 2500 grit, you can see the paint is flatting (not yet polished) :-
And with a little elbow grease !
It was at this point that i knew i wanted the case painted. This little piece had taken an hour to do (at my 1st time trying ) and you know how big these cases are so weighing up my total lack of skill in the fine finish painting arena and the ideas i had for the case i went to see the professionals which is where the case has been for two weeks and i'm about to leave to pick it up, i'll be back later with a totally different case and i cant wait to show you guys as i saw it pre laquer and its a bit mad lol !!
I'll leave you with a shot of some of the components to squeeze into the box !
