The Chess-Machine

[Ru5ty_t00l]

Hey all,
this mod is for my brother who loves chess .
the case is going to be set in the living room so I'll have to make it look nice and match with the rest .

unfortunately it's going to take a while to finish cause it needs too much work to be done on it and lack of cash to spend on it .
I will try to do my best with the hardware I can afford and the skills I have.
it will also include a water cooling loop .it's my first time so please be gentle and patient with me

enough with talking .... lets mod!



the victim this time is a tt armor va8003bws which I had laying around unused collecting dust. I chose this because I like it , it's huge and the other case are even older than this . I bought it 3 years ago and since then I had always been wondering what could I do to make it look better.
this time I have a clue

here r few pics of it.

first thing to do is to turn upside down the motherboard-tray and the back side of chassis . why? because I want the psu to be at the bottom of the case and have plenty free space at the bottom. this means that the motherboard will be at the left side and the side panel window at the right side.
stripped it down , removed all screws and rivets and turned the mobo tray and back chassis upside down.
unfortuantely few pics r missing because of a faulty micro-sd card

a little obstacle

issue solved with the dremel

need to make it steady and attach it the hdd rack.

the ugly hdd cage

we need to cover it asap

opened few holes and screwed it on

nice , clean and steady


I got a 360 rad which will go at the front.

chassis at the front it totally open so we will need a surface where the rad will be attached

sanded it to make it smooth
next step is opebibg holes for air
printed 2 templates and stuck it together

rad screws are thick

had to strech the holes I did before

lets make a test with the fans and rad on

plenty of room above the rad for the buttons panel or res , haven't made up my mind yet

fortunately it's exactly where I wanted it\

next step is to make a cover to hide the psu and more

bend it to 90 degrees angle

damn , never thought I would succeed

kudos go to B_Negative for his how-to-bend-acrylic tutorial
and to SEBAR for his useful info about turning the mobo-tray upside down

that's all for now .
any comments (even the bad ones), tips , ideas, feedback much appreciated
thanx for watching

 

[The Orange One]

Looks good so far mate! Can't wait for MOAR!

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

Looks good so far mate! Can't wait for MOAR!

thank you!


back to the mod

open 2 more holess at the mobo tray for better support against movement and added 2 pairs of stand-offs
rock steady!

the front panel will be changed , it will be covered by a secret material
for now it stays like this

a test fit for the bottom cover

this will hide the psu and the hdds .
do you think it's way too much? make it smaller maybe?


opening holes for cable management

also opened a hole behind the cpu position

the mobo tray was pretty hard-@ss to cut

filed all the holes to make it look better

next step is secure the 90degrees-angled-cover
but first I have to remove the "lip"

with the grinder (love the sparks and noise!!! )

ready for the cover.

drilled both metal and plexy together. used a 2.5mm drill first . with a 2.5 hole u can put a screw in and it makes threads to the metal . unfortunately acrylic can't be threaded , it cracks .so used a 3.0mm drill for the acrylic

finished for now

thanx for watching!

 

[sheroo]

Lookin' good, can't believe how peppered with holes that motherboard tray is...

 

[Innocent159]

Loving the build.. Waiting for updates

 

[dipzy]

Looking great so far dude

 

[rossi94]

I love the look of the plexi, thought about lighting it up with some leds?

 

[yassarikhan786]

Love the HDD and PSU cover, nicely done

 

[SEBAR]

Very nice build. I like how detailed you are with your mods. I cannot wait to see what you do with the front panel.

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

Lookin' good, can't believe how peppered with holes that motherboard tray is...

Loving the build.. Waiting for updates

Looking great so far dude

I love the look of the plexi, thought about lighting it up with some leds?

Love the HDD and PSU cover, nicely done

Very nice build. I like how detailed you are with your mods. I cannot wait to see what you do with the front panel.

thank u all guys . I'm glad u like it so far.
there's gonna be an update tomorrow
t.c

 

[AverageNinja]

Gah! ThermalTake! But I love your builds, so be sure to butcher that case good

 

[CPMFW]

looking good so far

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

a little parcel from Lamptron arrived the other day

thanx Lamptron for sponsoring these

I also got these the other day . it's not much but it will do the job until this build/mod is finished

I had to go for a new mATX board after I couldn't find any decent used ATX sized
but the holes (for cable management ) I already opened are miles away from than those needed for this board.
fudge

I know ,it's looking a little funny ,a small board in a big case. Unfortunately I couldn't afford a bigger one


sparks time!!

once I had finished it and there was still daylight I decided to open 2 120mm holes to the roof

the mesh typed roof doesn't provide a steady spot for the drill of the holesaw so I had to use a piece of acrylic above the roof and under the template

nice and clean

I'm going to order few parts and asa they arrive I'll see what goes where , open new holes if needed , adjuments etc.

thanx for watching

 

[The Orange One]

Nice work so far mate!

 

[CPMFW]

waiting for more updates

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

minor update

I went to post office and picked up my parcel from SpecialTech


- 4x Bitspower 1/4" Thread Barb Fitting for 1/2" ID Tubing Shiny Silver
- 1x XSPC Laing DDC Reservoir Pump Top : Plexi
- 1x XSPC 7/16" ID - 5/8" OD (11-16mm) High Flex Tubing : Clear
- 1x XSPC Rasa AM3, AM2+, AM2 CPU Waterblock Mounting Kit : Black

rest parts of the loop are :
- XSPC Rasa cpu waterblock
- Danger Den Black Ice XtremeIII Radiator
- Swiftech MCP355 pump

finally , my first loop is up and running!!!!

it's just a temporary set up to see if everything 's working ok.
removed most of the trapped air and 's running without leaks for 2 hours now.
what concerns me a little is the fact that the pump is running a little hot (a little more than 35 degrees I guess) .

thanx for watching

 

[dipzy]

Great job so far, looking forward to more updates

 

[rossi94]

Very well done, awaiting updates

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

Great job so far, looking forward to more updates

Very well done, awaiting updates

cheers guys, thanx


update

as I said in the beginning of this project this modded case is going to be set in the living room + it's chess themed = wood!

I bought a large piece of mdf today and had it cut into pieces in the store.

every panel will be covered by this material. first I'm going to make a wooden case that will cover the metallic case

after having finished making the wooden case I will try to screw every wooden panel on the metallic and keep the shape at the same time.

the top panel where 2x120mm fans will blow the air through

wooden pieces are screwd on front, left and top panel

that's all for today , I'm exhausted , pretty hard-@ss job for a totally noob working on wood for 1st time.
it needs much more to be done
I'd appreciate if you leave me a comment ,your ideas, thoughts , propositions etc
thanx for watching

 

[The Orange One]

Might Sound like a Stupid Question, but what colour will the MDF Be painted, If at all