jdayton1@comcast.net Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 This is where I left off. I needed to install the eject button somewhere. So I found the center on the faceplate, and cut out a hole. I had to also give the back locking nut a coat of black paint as it would have shown the silver through the faceplate, The button installed. I placed it under the DVD player for easy accessibility. Here you can see where I need to stealth the DVD player, It looks like such an eyesore with the rest of the build. Cooler Master could probably make a few bucks if they sold an option to stealth your drive. I pulled out a few tools to see what I was going to cut it with. Nothing would work as easy as I thought, maybe if I had a nice set of tin snips it would've been used. but back to old faithful. Busted out the rotary tool and cut off the edge of the drive insert. Here is a side view (the one in the middle) of what is left of the drive insert. You can see the new thickness. Next I needed to figure out how to attached it. I tried some self adhesive black foam but it would fit correctly with the full piece. I missed a few steps here, but I'll tell you what I did. I took the original screen material and cut out where the DVD player drive would come out. Then I used some adhesive to stick it the mesh. You can see in the pic where this spot is. I tried then to add some adhesives to the foam backing I put on the drive faceplate. The adhesive gave it an off white once it dried, so don't try this at home, waste of time. I removed the long strip of foam you see there and cleaned it back up. Now what I did that worked much better was, I cut off two small pieces of double sided tape and positioned them onto the DVD drawer faceplate, about one inch in from the sides to avoid the curve of the mesh. I did not want it to stick out at all. The piece of screen that I cut out earlier I used again to give a darker look so you could not see the drawer. Everything stuck together perfect, this is the easiest way to connect the drawer I had tried. Here it is all done and installed. You can see it here attached. Here we go to test it again to make sure all the connections are still good, and the faceplate is good and tight. And she opens. Here is a side view of the tray (I actually got lucky, the drawer was already black and I did not have to remove it to paint). A view of the side now that I am done with the DVD player. A few more things to go and Ill be done. I will make my deadline Hope you all enjoyed and if you have any comments or questions please let me know. * This Worklog post was generated using WorklogCreator - Version: 1.0.1.7 * Free Download: http://www.mod2software.com/worklogcreator/worklogcreator.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdayton1@comcast.net Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 I needed to add a couple switches for the lighting in the case. The cold cathode came with one, but it was an ugly red push button on the took a whole pci slot, and I had to replace it. I have pictures of it to show later on. But I figured I would start this early to give them time to cure after painting before installing them. So taped up and primed. I had to paint the nuts that went on the inside of the case, could not have silver anywhere of course. I taped off the top after the primer dried, and painted the rest of the switch black. Here you can see the switches primed once I removed the tape, and also the nuts are painted now. Taped up what I did not want painted of course. And gave them a few coats of paint, and also a coat of clear to add some durability so they wont chip. While the paint was drying, time to lay out where I wanted the switches positioned. Drilled my pilot holes. Drilled out to 5/32" to easily fit my switches. Test fit, but look at that, they are off, my shaky hands do not help when drilling. I really need to buy a drill press, even just a cheap one. I needed to redo them, as I was not happy and I did not want to try using the same one. So again this time I measure and measured and measured. This time it came out nice. A little off, but still good where the can be adjust to line up. So after all is done, The switches look nice and bright and had a day to fully dry. This is what they ended up looking like. I went with the yellow and black. They looked much nicer. There is the switch that came with the kit. Can you say "UGLY". I can and that is why it can not be used. Here is a look at the full wiring harness that came with the kit. the tape is labeled for my own sake, just so I wouldn't forget something once I cut it up. This is what I will be using to replace and extend the harness to fit my needs. Test fitting my length. Here you can see it out the back where the switches will be. Pulled out the solder station and got to work. Extended the wiring. Heat-shrink. The finished extended wiring. Attached the switch, getting ready to solder. All soldered, I went from this.... To this. I think it is much better, plus it fits the way I wanted it to. This is the color of the enclosure that came in the kit. Who actually thinks this color will work in a case must be high or something. This is the control for the cold cathode, which I removed to paint the case. All primed up and ready for paint. I used regular primer and took it slow. First coat of paint. Since I did not have any plastic paint I just did light coats. I forgot to take pictures of taping off and painting the stripes. But I did just as I did earlier. Lights coats, and some wet sanding untill I was happy with the results. This guy would not move off my table, I had to actually pick him up and move him. Then he hung around and watched me, Finished and dry read to go in. I did not paint the inside as you wont see it, just a look at that wonderful some color blue. The board back in. All back together and ready to go. These are the lights, I laid out where I wanted them. Then sleeved them up. All sleeved up and I am using double sided tape to attach the lights and the control. The cold cathodes in place. I tried other locations and this seemed to give the best lighting effect. I will have pics later on in the finally log with the lights on. * This Worklog post was generated using WorklogCreator - Version: 1.0.1.7 * Free Download: http://www.mod2software.com/worklogcreator/worklogcreator.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdayton1@comcast.net Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Here is another log as I mentioned earlier I am playing catch up on them. So I am trying to keep this build as clean as possible, but there is this bundle of wire that I have running in plain view, as you can see in the red circle. This is of course is because the use of a non modular power supply. I tried, but could not fit it into my budget for this build. Oh well we make do. These are my 3mm LED holders that I will be using. They where standard silver and needed some color. Primed and painted. So I decided I needed to make something to block the view of that bundle of wire and I had some left over black acrylic (Im lucky I bought some extra long ago, and I never throw out scraps...thanks to CattleRustler on that tip) I laid out for some extra LED's to go in also where I thought it might look nice. I was going to go with five, but decided that it might be to much, and I can also add instead of being stuck with a hole if it did not fit into the look. So I drilled in my holes to fit the LED holders and trimmed off the extra lenght, The next step was to make my stencil. I can never do anything simple and just use a blank piece of plexi. I printed out what I wanted and the size to fit. I used my old solder gun tor the name to give it a abused look and cut out the symbol. This is what it looks like once done cutting. Attached it to the acrylic. The look before painting. As always, multiply light coats. All done and dry. The lettering came out a little rougher than I thought. But I will be fixing that. Wet sanded down to a smooth finish. Clear coated it. Installed the LED holders. Looks pretty good. We shall see once it is in. Time to for some wiring. Cut my length foe what I needed. Test fit the length. I also double check, I do make plenty of mistake and try my best to avoid them. Soldered the switch on. You didn't really want to see me do it again did you? Hot glued the LED's in, A view of the front. Soldering the led's together. Attaching it to my wire harness I made. Inside view of it mounted. The finished view of what I like to call my Wire Blocker * This Worklog post was generated using WorklogCreator - Version: 1.0.1.7 * Free Download: http://www.mod2software.com/worklogcreator/worklogcreator.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdayton1@comcast.net Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Well this is my final log for my HAF mod. As of today it is complete. I am not that great at taking pictures or editing them (if I ever do), I hope that you enjoyed the last few months of my build and I hope the pictures did not turn out as bad as I thought.. If you couldn't tell I learned a lot while modding my case and hope someones learned at least one thing from one of my mistakes I will try to make these last pictures as good as I can and thank you all for you comments and encouraging posts through this thread. So on to photos, as always feel free to post and comment. Enjoy. Here is a shot of the front with the side panels open. The front view. You can see the front where I moved the eject button off the DVD to make it a stealth drive Here is the top IO panel. You can see that I painted all the indented lettering that was black. I also painted the symbol on the top and it flush and smooth. I painted the power and reset to match the theme of the rest of case. I also changed out the leds from red to what is suppose to be yellow (I have been through more than three different vendors, and they all seem to amber). A closer view of the Top IO panel. Here you can see the top of the case that I painted with the lines following the sode panel and continuing on, The side panel where cut in the window and added my case name and symbol. I chose a transparent charcoal acrylic instead of a clear one for a smoked look. You can also see what I will from the side. Here is a view of the other side panel where I painted a large bio-hazard symbol. All the stencils I made to be able to give me a wider variety of sizes (plus I never knew they sold stencils like this, I still would have made my own though). A rear view of the side. On the front lower bezel I removed the bars that ran from side to side over the intake fan and also painted on the bio-hazard symbol. The back of the case is what started the theme to this mod. I bought the fan grill which was an all gloss black, and and went through a few paint jobs. I also painted and added a cover to the back grommets. I changed the back thumbscrews from stock silver to a flat round type and painted them. The IO Panel was also painted to match the theme. A full view of the rear. The inside view of the case. My adventure into modding happened because the Haf922 does not have the interior painted. That was the only thing I planned on doing and once I got started and got carried away. Here you can see that I added a cover for the wire coming from my non-modular psu. Beside that I added a bottom intake fan and painted a 120mm chrome grill yellow. I also made a custom screen to go below and filter out the wife's hair. Here you get a bird eye view of the bottom fan. Here is a close up of the 3 1/2 inch bays that I painted the indented Cooler Master lettering. I also learned a new easier way of doing the lettering through this thread (thanks TheLastPriest). A photo of the inside of the case. I tried to hide all the wire I could, which is the reason I made the name plate in the middle of the case. This hides the wire going from the back to the front section of the case. A close up (and different angle) of the inside of the case to see the wire management. Of course you can see the sata cables coming off the DVD player and the video card, and of course the 24 pin atx (sad job I know). Here you can see the cold cathode on the panel. The wire that connects to this is hanging onto the upper drive bays. In this photo I have the back panel on to show how dark it gets. I figured I would show the back of the motherboard tray. I tried my best to keep everything neat and tidy with my current power supply. I thought about cutting off what I did need, but I decided I would probably need those later on for future upgrades to drives and such. So I had to make do. You can also see the back side of the acrylic I used to cover that big bundle of wire. A close up view of the CPU cooler. I could not do anything with the cooler or I would have voided the warranty, so I added a self adhesive aluminum badge I had which is easily removable without leaving any remnants behind in case something should happen to it. A last view of both panels. You can see in nicely with the interior lights on. A better view of inside the case. I hope you all enjoyed this mod, as it was my first one and I enjoyed my time building this immensely. Thanks again to the people that followed me through my process of trial and error. * This Worklog post was generated using WorklogCreator - Version: 1.0.1.7 * Free Download: http://www.mod2software.com/worklogcreator/worklogcreator.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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