first off..... a little something to introduce myself.
i am still awaiting the arrival of the actual **case** that i will be working with for this project, but i'm dying to do something. so i ... um ... MODDED my monitor.
"modded in all capital letters? that's craaaaazy!" you say. well, when you see what i've done i think you'll understand just what kind of mad skillZ you're dealing with here. ok, before:
that's right people. i was poor and in college, and the monitor was a gift from my parents. at least it's a step up from CRT. well, that was then.
THIS IS NOW!!!!!
yeah, be-atch! flip back and forth a couple of times so you really get the full effects of my master craftsmanship.
ha. ok. if you're still reading this and i haven't lost ALL credibility already.... here's an outline of what i'm going to do, and also some pics of me testing one process.
THE OVERVIEW
i'm moving a few old parts and several new parts (nothing mind blowingly spectacular) into a new system that i'm going to use as a rather low-traffic webserver for two websites that i run and all my mail and other goodies. (gotta love the Gentoo, people) i'll be working with an all crystal clear, acrylic mATX case and adding a few more drives than the case manufacturer suggests, but not adding any PCI cards because i really don't need screaming fast graphics for my command line. i'm looking forwards to the challenges of working with the tight space and the nowhere-to-hide aspect of the acrylic. note: many HUGE thanks to those who have been posting to help me sort out my cooling issues <3 you rock.
this is what's going in the box:
mATX socket 754 sempron 2800+ mobo
CD-R
3.5" Floppy & 8-1 Card Reader
2 HDDs
5.25" Fan/Light controller
230W mATX PSU
2 80mm intake fans
1 120mm outflow
because all my hardware is separated into three zones: 1. motherboard/cpu heatsink, 2. PSU, and 3. drives , with no extra gobbledygook, i got the idea to sheath each of the three areas in a thin box.
see what i mean:
side view (old version on left, improved version on right)
front view (old version)
the zone with the motherboard will be surrounded with a white holey mesh (maybe metal, not sure yet) that will allow plenty of airflow but still visually obsure the board's components. OH - unless the motherboard arrives to me and it's purple. i think it might be purple. cuz that would rock and i would totally leave it uncovered to go with the theme..... don't be scared. the other two areas will be covered with super-thin wooded cubes (think balsa) with slightly rounded corners. each of these will be all white. all the cables are white. the fans are white-translucent. everything will be covered in a superhard, supershiny epoxy layer that will create an ipod sort of surface. that's right - it's a clear case with all white glossy insides. this is because when i first saw acrylic cases with all the components showing, i thought it was the coolest thing ever, but now i feel like i've been there done that (no offense to anyone) and i'd like to do something a little different.
but in the end, that miiight get kind of boring. so i've got some UV paint that dries very close to clear. (that totally needs to be tested cuz if it sucks i have to rework this idea) i've read the reviews, people, you don't have to tell me that some people have had problems. i'm gonna try to figure something out with it. sooo assuming it does actually work, i'm going to paint traditional style lotus blossoms in UV green and purple in a few strategic places and do some other decorating. anyway ... i don't want to talk out of my ass yet if the UV paint gets all messed up. so while i wait for the UPS man to pay me a visit, i tested an idea that i totally decided against. but hey - that's part of the process!!! i was **going** to cover the drives themselves in very thin acrylic, and then paint that white and epoxy it. but... i realized grouping the components together made the look cleaner, easier to pull off, and provided more channels for airflow. oh, and i will also be working in a more, um, workshoppy area than my livingroom in the pics. but The L Word was on!
without any more ado... the pictures of things that will completely not be in the final project. yea!!!
practice safe modding!
laying out the design and measurements
uncovering the cut acrylic (it was really thin, i could use a utility knife)
i should really do my nails.
right angles are our friends!
testing size of first mock-up. this is the point when i said, "DUH i should, like, cover all the drives at ONCE!" ha. ha.
okokok...
it will be cool. i promise.
amberella.