oldman Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 Work-in-progress report #9: Mounting the built-in speakers. In an early progress report, you have seen how the "hood" was prepared for the pop-up speakers. We will now cover how the speakers are going to be placed inside the case. As I go along working in some part of the project, I sometimes find myself changing this or that idea for a better one or what I think is a better one (I guess this probably happens to many in this competition). Anyway, you will see in the photos that I began with a certain idea (that required more work) to install the speakers and then, while at the local automotive store, I had an epiphany and ended up re-doing that part for a cleaner look. We will need flat and L-shaped aluminum lengths and a couple of left-over plastic food containers from the kitchen (well, you can do without the containers but, to my wife dismay, I had already ruined them when I had my epiphany). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 Work-in-progress report #10: The front handle. We already created a rear handle; only a front handle is needed to enable the easy lifting of the CM 840. After removing the bay covers, it hit me (yeah, another epiphany): how easy it was to lift the case by grabbing hold of the upper cross portion of the front panel! Of course, once you install your stuff in the 5.25" front bays, you lose that hold but, what if you recess the items that will go into the first and second upper bays so that they are not flush with the front panel? Since my project was inspired by a car (Porsche 928), I decided to use a temperature/fan control panel that looks like a car gauge. I found the V12XT by Aerocool, which happens to use 2 bays and is short in depth but you could use some other accessory. However, whatever you use must be short in depth because you are having it recessed, flushed with the actual case cage, not flushed with the actual front panel. We will need a bay cover and a temp/fan control panel. I originally said that my intention was to create something that could be done by someone with a limited skills and tools and a limited budget. Well, that V12XT ate up most of the budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 Work-in-progress report #11: Turbo panel installation. As mentioned before, I got a MoBo with a turbo feature. This came handy with the car theme. This "turbo" feature is like a small (wired) remote control that you are suppose to (I guess) just hang to the edge of a PC case. However, although I did want the "turbo" control panel to be accessible, I did not want it visible nor placed in a way that you could hit a button by mistake. I came up with the solution that you will see. It does eat up another two 5.25" bays but, hey, the 840 has 6! Also, the solution will help reduce waste material while still using CM stuff. We will need a piece of metal (leftover from when we installed the windows), the pop-up I/O front panel housing and, of course, the turbo panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozensnail Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 coming along very well, cool little idea on the case front, good to see more as it happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 Aside: As I go along with my postings and looking through the other participants themes and forums (unfortunately not as much as I would like to), I am learning. I have learned what the colors of the round icon before the name of a project means, whether someone has posted, etc. (I have not yet found what all the color changes in login names mean). And, I have found that basically all the participants projects I have seen, list the PC components to be used and post photos of their inspiration. I will address that now. PC components: -Cooler Master ATSC 840 case -Asus P7P55D Deluxe motherboard -Intel Core i5-750 processor -EVFA GE Force GTX 260 (2 for SLI) -Corsair H50 CPU cooler -Patriot G series Sector 5 DDR3 (2 x 4gb & 2 x 2gb) -Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDDs -HP dvd 1260 -Aerocool V12XT panel -MS Windows7 As you can see, most of the components are some generations behind the times. Still, I have found that this combination does real well in game playing at high or maxed out settings. As to my inspiration, here are a couple of photos of the Porsche 928: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 Work-in-progress report #12: A new face for the case. Well, not really, it is just some minor plastic surgery. I did like the front fan panel/cover by itself but not its location. I felt (and this is just my humble opinion) that its protruding off the bottom half of the case was not as aesthetically pleasing as if it were to protrude off the upper half, like some sort of door to the 5.25" bays. Now, I did not want the front fan panel/cover to have to be removed every time you wanted to access the bays so it would need to be hinged. And, since I was making an ATX-ATB convertible case, I could not favor a left or right hinged panel/cover (not without a lot of tooling and expense) so I went for a bottom hinge as you will see. It makes the panel/cover, I will now call it a door, open to the front, same as an oven door. We will need the following: a small piece of scrap metal, a piece of 1/2" U-channel aluminum,a couple of hinges, 4 rubber drawer stoppers and a couple of magnets from the local hardware store, a couple of black screws that come with an attached washer (mainly used for upholstery) from the local automotive store, a 928 wheel knock-off with the appropriate color theme and a perforated pizza pan from WalMart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Work-in-progress report #13: Adding shock absorbers. If you have seen this project from the beginning, you may recall that I had prepared a "hood" for the CM 840 and that it was hinged at the rear of the case, with the pop-up speakers to the front. We are now adding shocks or lifts to the "hood" so that it can stay open (just like a real car's hood or trunk, if they are nor worn out). However, as I went along, I decided (because of the usual, aesthetics and practicality, in another of my humble opinions) to reverse the "hood". This would require shifting the big fan from the rear to the front position as well as repositioning the speakers support since they would now be towards the rear. With the big fan in the front, I thought that I would eliminate the turbulence above the video cards and create a sort of funnel area (almost without obstructions) beneath the fan's new position. We will need a pair of big RC car shocks (the less expensive ones) from the local hobby shop, u-channel and tubular aluminum pieces and a portion of the original wire mesh that covered the top fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Work-in-progress report #14: Repositioning the pop-up speakers. I drilled out the rivets holding the speakers' support and was about to just re-install it to the rear when the Muses hit me. The way I had originally done the support was guided by the fact that I had nothing to attach it to except the 840's upper Mobo tray rail holders. However, at the rear, I had the corner case support columns. Why not use these to attach the speakers supports? Again, this is just a matter of taste but I liked it better. For materials, we will need to take the original speaker support apart and re-do it differently as shown in the photos. That's all there is to it--except more work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Work-in-progress report #15: Encasing the PSU. Inadvertently, I omitted the PSU when listing the components that I was using. It is the CORSAIR TX750W. It is not modular and therefore has a much lower price but we end up with a whole spaghetti bowl of cables coming out of it. So, I decided to encase it to minimize seeing the cables. For materials, I am using aluminum angular pieces and aluminum handle(2) and kick(1) plates used on doors found at the local hardware store. I found them to be in clearance and to have appropriate measurements. The idea, as I have said, is to do the mods quickly, with minimal waste and a low budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldman Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Work-in-progress report #16: Installing the HDD fans. There's a dual fan bracket that could be installed on the side of the HDD cage. However, it was designed to be used with the HDD cage in the ATX configuration. Since I do not want to lose those fans, we will need to modify the HDD cage so that it will also hold the fans in ATB configuration. We will need a couple of left overs aluminum pieces (from the encasing of the PSU) that will need to be bent in an "S" shape and a small 90 degree cabinetry bracket. I do not think that I will need a bottom fan. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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