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High Voltage


retro PC mods

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To cut the panels out of the metal housing, I first made paper stencils to make sure it all lined up correctly, measured multiple times and got to work. I cut out the top of the case for the Motherboard Rear I/O, the rear of the case for the exhaust fan, and the side of the case for the main window and large power gauge.

 

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I painted the inside of the main case with Glow-In-The-Dark paint, so that the lighting inside the case would charge up the glow particles in the paint, and when you turn off the lights or the PC, the inside of the case would remain glowing.

 

I made my own Glow-In-The-Dark paint by mixing Matte Medium with Glow Pigment Powder. I used about twice as much glow powder as what you are supposed to, so that it would have an extra bright glow effect.

 

The pictures in the worklog are in a pitch black room with the only lighting coming from the glow pigment inside the case.

 

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This is the Gauge I mounted on the side of the main box. I really wanted to mod more that I ever had before, so I purchased single LEDs and wired a white LED into this gauge so it would be illuminated when the PC was on. I later wired the LED through an industrial toggle switch that allows it to be turned on and off.

 

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I had never made my own wires before but I wanted ALL of this Mod to be made by me this time. So although I was going to need custom wires, I didn't want anything fancy that would look new and not match the time period or rugged look of the mod.

 

I searched online through a ton of different options and found this fantastic Green with Yellow 16 AWG striped wire that looked great against the gray, and fit the time period of the mod perfectly. I used for the entire mod. 24 Pin ATX, 8 Pin EPS (CPU), 2 x 8 Pin PCIe (VGA), and a SATA Power Connector for the Fans and Lightning.

 

I ended up using 250 Feet of wire throughout the entire mod.

 

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A few months before this mod project started, my Dad passed away. He was a Ham Radio Enthusiast when I was growing up, and belonged to a Ham Radio Enthusiast Club where him and his friends would get together (in a clubhouse they rented) and work/play on their radios. So there was always wiring, radios, and people soldering things around me as a kid.

 

Because of the vintage feel of this mod and the green/yellow wiring especially, it really reminds me of my Dad and I thought about him all the time as I was building it. So I decided to make it be a tribute to him, which is where the "XE2-RMA" comes from, that was his Ham Radio Operator call-sign, and the reason for the antennas as well. 

 

At first I had stickers with the call-sign, and then later painted them on:

 

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Mounted the GPU between the base and the case using MNPCTECH Vertical GPU Mount.

The Vertical GPU Mount was ionized black, so I painted it chalk-gray, then smudged it with chalk-black after that.

 

 

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The green cables going around the perimeter of the base are the actual power cables for the GPU. They go from the GPU, all the way around the base, into the base, up the pipes into the top case, out the top of the case and back down into the Power Supply. GPU Power Cables alone was 136 Feet of wiring.

 

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I did all custom wiring, even for the lighting.

I used 3 Nanoxia UV Rigid Light Strips, cut off the ends, wired them together and then used my own wire to power them from a single SATA power source routed through the toggle switch on the side of the case.

The UV Lights charge up the glow-in-the-dark paint, which looks really great when you turn them off.

 

Picture 1: UV Lights Off

 

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Picture 2: UV Lights On

 

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Picture 3: UV Lights Off after they have charged the glow-in-the-dark paint

 

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On the side of the case I added a "Big Red Button" that serves as the Power Button for the PC. I also added 2 industrial On/Off switches that control the lighting. The left switch turns on and off the white interior light of the power gauge. The right switch turns on and off the UV lighting inside the case.

 

The red button and the switches were all brand new and very shiny. I used clear matte medium (paint) to dull the surfaces, and made various tones of gray using black chalk paint and white chalk paint to distress the button and switches even further. I found that having multiple tones of the same color makes a distress job look much more real than a single color.

 

Original Button (stock image):

 

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Modded Button and switches (distressed):

 

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I originally installed a CPU Air Cooler in this mod, and then decided to upgrade to the MASTERLIQUID ML120L RGB TUF GAMING EDITION All-in-One CPU Cooler.

 

For the rear exhaust, I cut a hole in the rear of the Oscilloscope and used a CaseLabs FlexBay Fan/Radiator Mount to match the front intake color and grill pattern. I mounted the Radiator on the inside of the case and the fan inside the FlexBay assembly. This was the only configuration that would allow me to add-in this great looking AIO.

However, the yellow on the fan that came with the AIO did not match my color scheme, and I did not want an LED fan in the rear of the case, so I purchased a JETFLO 120 Black Fan to use in its place.

 

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The front of the Oscilloscope had a red light that turned on when you powered on the scope. I wanted to retain this functionality and have the Oscilloscope's Power Light be the Computer's Power Light as well.

 

I didn't want to simply wire a light to the panel, I wanted it to truly be "the power light", so I wired an LED to the motherboard's power light headers, and ran the LED into the Oscilloscope's red power light housing.

 

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