Storm'd!

[Defyant]

I got around the making the second front Storm Vent today, i'm very pleased with the look of them as a pair!


The second one was made as the first was.

as you can see in the above pic..the sight of the original plex front panel now looks way out of place! to fix this and add a contrast to the machined plex surrounds a Smoked or tinted plex background is cut and added.

Next will be to make surrounds for the CDROM and Matrix orbital display.
these be be a rectangle shape.

Centers are marked and cut out again in a frame'd shape.

Next! was the BIG one! beveling a 45 degree angle on the main fron frame.

This was a steady and slow effort...one slip here .......

Next is to take the frame over for some drilling and counter sinking for the hex heads.

The inner shadow panel is layed in

Storm rings added

Top frames

The idea will be that with the tinted back panel only the Storm rings outer main plex frame and smaller inner frames will light up!

should look very interesting!

[Defyant]

Really keen to check out how the Clear plex on Dark plex was going to look!

The first thing to do was to start peeeeling off some of that kaky brown protective paper!

next was to drill and cut back the original holes that would be needed for the case's panel buttons and io panel.

as you can see its a pretty complicated bunch of holes!!more than most cases!

i would have to really measure up and take my time cutting these!

after a bit of cutting in the dark plex the new holes where done.

I also used the flame teknique to smooth out the edges of the holes and give them a clean look.

looks almost factory!

[Defyant]

For those of you wondering what the "Flame teknique" is!?.... this is it!--->


After cutting, say a 80mm blow hole , either with a hole saw or jigsaw! or if you must... a dremal...your left with a ruff edge from the cut.

You can! sand and polish this smooth and shiny...how ever! if you have a bit of practice under your belt..a small flame torch , you can shine these back to a nice fluid looking finish.

Don't hold the flame in one spot for tooo long! you will bubble and fry! Move back and forth over a small area till you see the plex melt back-in on itself and shine.. very much like mig welding,

Also work the plex just above the blue tip of the flame! not the orange bigger part...come inside that larger flame to the top of the blue tip.
Get right in close! and really watch the plex! as close as you can!!
and be prepared to quickly BLOW out little spot fires that start up on the plex.

Happy flameing!

You can see that nice melted smooth look to the edge.

the same is again repeated the the whole tinted panel around the cdrom hole and the whole outer rim.

[Defyant]

The Storm rings are added!

(ive decided NOT to flame polish these!) as having them FULLY polished will not give the lighting effect im after!

the top Frames are added as well.

I think you guys will agree it has a very crisp classy clean look about the front of thr case now, and im happy thats its all still pretty much an original idea.





and of course! how could i end a post without some mandatory lighting effects


i personally love it!

i think that the opportunity here for me to have a ball with diff lights really presents it self!

the larg outer frame can easily be one colour with the Storm rings another! but i'll prolly stick with a blue or a purple to keep in with the STORM'D theme.

[Defyant]

after the last post and the "mock up" shots! i was really keen to get the front end fitted!


First call of the day was to pick a couple of sets of fans! i'm still not sure what the exact fans that i will run.


for now i'll use the aerocool silver blade 2's

another trip to the local fastner shop forsome more HEX heads

A qik test with the new fans

time to screw on the front storm rings!

the bolts that hold the rings on also hold the front fans in place.

fans in place its time to part assemble the the plex case.

[Defyant]

the front of the case has been drilled to match the pattern of bolts from the front frame.


The bolts will not go all the way thru, but stop short but still enuf to secure the frame to the case.

the frame can now be bolted to the front of the case.

The innner area has been cut away to allow the top fan to fit

With the new front "Bolted" into place.

[Defyant]

next was to move onto the upper smaller frames.


One will surround the Matrix Orbital 2 x 24 lcd display the other will be the new door panel for the crom.

these are both drilled and counter sunk then extra holes are drilled into the front panel and the top frame is attached.

the cdrom rom is installed for a test run as is the matrix lcd

[Glock9]

Looking good defyant, I see your OCAU forums worklog is updated earlier, I oticed the copy - paste on the flame technique stuff. What are you going to do with this case when it's done?

[Defyant]

Needing an excuse to use my sexy new router bench! i was off to the plex shop today for what will be the second last time in this project.

Picking up some "cut to size" panels for what will become STORM'D new overlay side panels..

The Original idea was to leave the case clear! but this case is being "STORM'D" so it needed to be Darkend all round.

Using overlay panels keep in with the over all plex theme.


5 new smoked panels and 2 new front clear panels.

Starting with the top.

These panels are cut to the .5mm and are a perfrct fit!

The new side overlay panels fit snug as well.

The orignal side clear plex panel has 2 holes already cut for 2 x 80mm fans! thinking that not a bad idea! i decided rather then cover them up!

i'll add some storm rings as well and make a full feature.......this won't the the cases main side feature! bigger and more special things for that.


Over to the drill press some new rings are cut..... this time rather than make thick clear rings like the front..i decided to go for a more subdue'd sleek look...something that won't stick out like a sore thumb!

the rings are made from the same smoked plex as the overlay panels and arefrom 4.5mm thick plex.

[Defyant]

The new smoked overlay panel is cut to match up with the original side panel.

For now i'll use these fans! but a chrome fans will be brought later to match.

The whole assembly-- rings---overlay panel----original panel ----fans

can now be bolted together for a test run!!