Questions regarding case modding

[Vitalius]

I have some questions regarding disassembling my PSU and Tower cases.

Regarding my Tower case,

It is an NZXT Phantom case. I want to disassemble it completely so that modding it is easier. I would just take out every rivet using a drill then use nuts/bolts to reassemble it once I need to put it back together.

What precautions should I take when doing this so I can reassemble it easier, or prevent damage to the case?

I'm also considering making the motherboard tray removable so that future upgrades can be installed easily.

How would I go about doing that, or is there something preventing me from being able to do it?

I've never had a case with a removable motherboard, so I'm kind of clueless if I need a special rail or something for it to slide on or I need to cut it a certain way to make it work like cases with it built into them do.

Regarding my PSU case,

I'm going to be painting the case and messing with the fan on the inside. I won't be messing with the components inside the PSU case except maybe sleeving the wires.

What precautions should I take for this as well or how can I be safe about messing with the insides of my PSU?

I know capacitors can hold a charge for quite a while and wouldn't know how to discharge them to make it safe.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[tinytomlogan]

You would need to take out the rivets and then replace with new rivets or nuts and bolts yes.

Asking how to make the mobo tray removeable does not inspire me with confidence in your abilities. Might be best to keep things simple for now because with something like that you need a lot of basic knowledge of engineering and your tools. Without these even the simple things will look terrible....

Plan your mods first dont just make it up. The point of a mod is it should look standard after - ie as if it was designed that way.

PSU wise again paint ok but the rest leave it or youll kill your rig.

 

[Vitalius]

Thanks TTL.

This is something I'm doing next summer more than likely. I'm just building the knowledge and experience for it now.

I'll probably study lots of images/videos of removable motherboard trays between now and then. If I can get my hands on a case that has one, I'll look at it as well.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Research and planning is the key. then when you are doing it measure once, measure twice. Have a brew then measure again!

 

[CPMFW]

Thanks TTL.

This is something I'm doing next summer more than likely. I'm just building the knowledge and experience for it now.

I'll probably study lots of images/videos of removable motherboard trays between now and then. If I can get my hands on a case that has one, I'll look at it as well.

just get yourself a cheap fugly case, disassemble it and put it back together, then see if it looks fugly again

Research and planning is the key. then when you are doing it measure once, measure twice. Have a brew then measure again!

my dad always used to say: do it nice or do it twice

 

[Jason-CL]

Research, research, research, practice, practice, practice. Unless you're a natural savant when it comes to modding, I would suggest that you know the ins and outs of your tools, what they can do, what they can't, and what materials they work best with.

Then practice. As CPMFW said, buy a cheap ass case (sometimes you can get em for free on Craigslist or the like) and go to town.

 

[SEBAR]

When disasembeling the case there is really no problems with removing the rivets, just be sure to use the correct size drill bit when removing the rivets so that you do not enlarge the holes. You should probably forget about the removable motherboard tray because it is a useless feature. I have a case with a removable motherboard tray and I have still not removed it to install the system or to upgrade. As far as PSU mods you really need to be careful if you decide open up the PSU, there is enough charge inside to kill you. There was a teen that decided to mod his PSU and ended up dead because he did not know what he was doing. You are better off buying a PSU that looks good out of the box and has modular cables that can be sleeved.