Dream of the Blue Turtles

VERCETTI

LOL why turtles?, whats next, anteater?

mblough

Not to jack you thread but nice book collection. I have all the same ones. SK & big Tom Clancey fan as well.

Grez

Oh, all of that is getting replaced. This is a full gut-and-rebuild. My brother will be very happy to get rid of the old 1.0 Ghz Socket A CPU. He's getting a 500W MGE Vigor, so it will already be sleeved and have quick-release molex plugs. Nice.

I will do as much WM as I have time for in this build. I want to have my garage cleaned of dust, paint completed, and full assembly done by the middle of next week. This box is cramped too, so WM is going to be challenging.

V, buddy...didn't read all of the top, did ya? I don't blame you, it's kinda long! LOL! This is for my brother, and he loves everything aquatic...wanted to be a marine biologist as a kid and all of that. We used to always catch turtles, keep 'em a while, and then turn them loose. Even built a little habitat for them to separate the breeds that wouldn't get along, etc. Turtle was even his nickname for a while when he was about 10 or so. Anyway, the etching is a surprise for him...he doesn't know he's getting it. So there ya go...it has personal significance to my bro, plus I figured it was fairly original.

Heh heh... no problem...I'm a big reader. I have those three low bookcases plus two 8' bookcases jammed with books. I'm currently selling off about 50 books because I'm simply out of room, and they were just getting stacked around. I needed to just keep what I liked best, and make room for new ones.

Haven't read that last Dark Tower book yet from King...having to gear up for it since it's another one of his 1000 page monstrosities. But I'm pretty juiced about it...I think those books are his best writing.

mblough

Got em on ebay or something? I might be able to patch some spots I got missing. Drop me a PM with what ya got.

I just sold off my warhammer 40k collection too.

Highlights of my collection: Memnoch sign by anne rice. Left Behind series 1-6 signed by both authors, Green Team signed by 'Dick' Marchenko, Blackhawk Down (the book) signed by Mark Dowden, Patriot Games signed by Tom Clancey.

Nice thing about being military is alot of military authors (the later highlights) hit the bases when on promo tours.

keyoshi

Sweet ^ . Ahh, I didn't remeber if you were rebuilding or not. presleeve is nice :D

Grez

Hey everyone...I got a bunch of work done today on the DOTBT case mod for my brother. Here we go....

First of all, I realized the other day what a massive issue wire management is going to be in this case, as it's really cramped. Some things I'm just not going to be able to hide. But, I'll do what I can. So, I've decided to run as much as possible across the floor, and so I wanted a panel to cover as much of that up as I can as well. So, I started by cutting out a nice steel rectangle out of old case scrap. Then, I realized that there is a bottom system speaker that gets mounted in this case, and that this would be in the way of the panel, so out came the jigsaw again to cut a nice little "U" shape on one end, which will wrap around the speaker. Here's a pic of the final cut, sanded, and cleaned-up panel ready for painting:


Next, I also realized another small issue. The front fan on this case originally mounted via a little plastic cage on the inside, which makes it easy to mount, but also increases noise and decreases airflow. So I got rid of the thing and drilled holes to mount the fan directly to the inside of the cage. However, some of the new holes overlapped with the previous rectangular holes for the little plastic cage, which wouldn't hold the screws too well. So, I looked around for the washers the right size, and one quick application of JB Weld later, I have perfect little circles through which I can mount the front fan:


With that crap out of the way, I got onto the business of painting. Here is my white trash spray booth...sawhorses, plywood, a huge cooler on top of my B&D Workmate for a backdrop, and a big sheet of plastic...perfect...

You can see my scrap test metal and a wonderful bottle of Flying Dog brewery's In Heat Wheat...good stuff...

Here are the front panel pieces that are going to be blue (still taped up, but finished...sort of):

I used Dupli-Color's Metalicast primer and (supposedly) high-gloss anodized paint. I DON'T recommend this stuff. I had a hard time, despite thorough mixing, getting the metallic quality to come out with this stuff. I ended up with something pretty good (the picture is bad), but it's certainly not glossy. No worries there, though...I bought auto clear coat (which I tried on some scrap tonight), and it will get clear-coated tomorrow night, which will bring out the shine and give the pieces the look I really wanted. BTW...the paint is NOT splotchy...that's just the s***** flash on the camera in an enclosed space. LOL

While that was drying, I realized that although I have very little opportunity to hide things behind the motherboard tray (since it fits flush with the back panel in places, and is directly beneath a support beam that can't be cut), I will have one or two small opportunities to do so. So I cut out a nice clean little notch in the side of the raised edge of the mobo tray so I can sneak one or two little wires back there:


Ah, and then I primered the main cage and the 3.5" drive cage (using Dupli-color sandable standard gray auto primer...works much better):

After it dried a bit, I sanded it down a little with a 320-grit sanding foam. Smooooooth.

Because of my bad luck with the other blue paint, I tried out Dupli-Color's Auto, Truck, and SUV paint in a color called Intense Pearl Blue. Now this is more like it! I can highly recommend this stuff...coats evenly and covers well, and blends great too. Here are a couple of pics of the finished cage...it turned out sweet:


Again, the pictures do not do this justice. The paint is slick and evenly coated, shiny where it should be, and looks almost like the cage was dipped in it from the factory. I got one tiny little run on the inside back which will probably never be seen. But overall this turned out as good as I could have possibly hoped, especially for a $5 shake-up can from O-Reilly's.

Next, I did the other part of the front plastic panel and the motherboard tray. Both of these are gloss white (the mobo tray will be the only white piece on the inside...just enough for a little contrast around the edges of the mobo). I used Krylon's Fusion paint, which requires no primer and bonds well to plastic. It also works well on metal too. The first can was so defective, however, that paint was shooting out everywhere! I took it back to shop to exchange it (props to O'Reilly's, who gave me no hassle at all), and brought back their only remaining can...and that was defective too. Grrrrrrrr. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad, and I was able to make it work. Both parts turned out really nicely:

Again, the picture does no justice. And also again, the plastic front panel is not quite as shiny as I'd like (although the mobo tray looks great), so it will be clear-coated tomorrow night for a better gloss look along with its blue face panel counterpart.

Last, but not least, I used my 2nd can of Intense Blue Pearl to do the inside of the top and both side panels:


They turned out great too. Hate to sound like a broken record here, but again the pictures aren't giving you the real look involved here. I've got to borrow my buddy's 8 megapixel $2000 Nikon to get glam pictures later.

Paint used today: 2 cans primer (1 Metalicast base, 1 Gray sandable), 4 cans paint (1 Krylon Fusion gloss white, 1 blue Metalicast, 2 Dupli-Color Intense Pearl Blue Auto/Truck/SUV )

So, on the slate for tomorrow night:
1) Let case panels finish drying, and tape off the inside
2) Primer (with Dupli-color sandable white primer) the outside of the case panels
3) Paint (with Dupli-color high-gloss white) the outside of the case panels
4) Clear coat the plastic front pieces

Hopefully, my brother will also show up tomorrow with an extra 5.25" drive slot cover, as I need it to plug an extra hole since I'm planning to use the two I have so far to stealth his optical drives, if possible.

Now I'm going to have another beer, watch a movie, and take it easy for an hour or two...until tomorrow...

Grez

keyoshi

sounds good. You did alot of work. I duno why you say the pics look like crap, they look fine to me. for a defective spray can you did a nice job on teh mobo tray. you bro hasnt had his comp for a while...I thought it was bad a week without my 6800 GT :/

Grez

Yeah, he's starting to freak out. I'm trying to get the whole build done and have it back to him by Tuesday. Wednesday at the latest. I'm doing my damnedest. But this project has ended up being a lot more challenging than I expected...but I guess I signed up for a lot of it too! I'm sure I'll think of something else that I don't have time for before I give it back to him...

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures. The parts are looking really good...the pics really aren't that bad, but this just pops in real life. I can hardly wait to have this buttoned up and for my brother to see it.

keyoshi

lol ^ seems to me, not alot of people get on nemore..

Grez

Ok, so last night I finished up most of the paint, except for the clear-coat I want to add to the front (and perhaps side panels).

First of all, a bit of insanity for starting with my toxic fumes at 11:30 at night:

"Luke, I am your father! Join me, and we will rule the galaxy together!"

Next, I taped up the case panels to protect the pretty blue interior, cleaned the surface to be painted with denatured alcohol, and then primed the panels with white sandable primer from Dupli-Color. Waited 35 minutes, then sanded them down a bit with a 320-grit sanding sponge to get them nice and smooooth. Then, I sprayed my gloss white. It came out really nicely:




So now I'm in the home stretch. Tonight, I'll clear-coat the front plastic panels to add some gloss, and if I have enough left over, I may spray a thin coat on the outside case panels as well. I also will begin assembly tonight (hopefully finish most of it) so that, if all goes according to plan, I can install software, etc., tomorrow and get this bad boy back to my brother.

Now if I can just get that big-@ss Asus Star Ice to fit in the case...

keyoshi

lol. looks good. nice mask :P

Grez

Well, last night I did the clear coat, and I am not happy. It didn't shine like it should, and in fact some places came out very hazy. I'm going to try to take a Dremel buffer/polisher to it and see if that will help. If not, then tonight, I'm going to sand the plastic pieces back down and repaint them, and screw the clear coat. It's been nothing but trouble.

I did start assembling a few things last night...got a couple of fans and the PSU in my very pretty blue cage for the case. I'll post some more pics later tonight.

I also got the windows installed in both the top and side of the case. I spent 3 hours putting the @#$! things in...that locking strip just did not want to go in, and so I had to use a tiny screwdriver all of the way around to push it home. Despite the fact that I taped the windows, I slipped a couple of times and still managed to scratch the acrylic through the tape. Talk about heartbreaking. But, I got some 600 grit and 1000 grit sandpaper last night, along with some metal polish and silver polish. Supposedly I can wet sand the things to remove the scratches and then polish them to take away the haze from the sanding. I'm going to test this theory on some scrap tonight first, and then hopefully fix my goofs. Overall, though, the windows look really, really good. I just need to get those scratches out of there. More to come tonight...

VERCETTI

LOL sorry for not reading, at work I am limited to short post and short reading

keyoshi

ekk that sucks...hope it works out well.. I know this is going to sound like a EXTREME NOOB question but...how do you mount windows? I know you can use a rivet gun..but how else?? BTW, you should do like Vercetti and paint your clearcoat while mowing teh lawn :P

Grez

Hey, that's a fair question...cool to ask, otherwise, how would you learn?
I like to mount my windows flush with the surface of the panel, so I don't mount mine to the back of the panel with double-stick tape like a lot of guys do (which just means they cut the acrylic a little bigger than the hole). I mount mine with locking tubing that fits the case on one side and the window on the other. You make it tight/semi-permanent by inserting a locking strip in the bottom after the mount, which forces the rubber tubing to grip the panel and window very tightly. Unfortunately, Xox doesn't carry this item, which is weird, because it's a fairly standard mod item. Nevertheless, I buy it from a local vendor at just .99 per foot. Here's what it looks like:
http://www.bestbyteinc.com/prodinfo....er=CMO-WIN-LSM
It's a pain in the butt to get it mounted, but once you do, it looks really nice and clean.
Ha ha...too funny. I'm spending so much time trying to get things smooth and dust-free, and here you have me doing V's "Homey" mod with grass clippings and dirt clods and all of that. It sure would have saved me some time, man. Maybe that's what I should do next!

The good news is that I sanded down the blue part of the front panel, re-primered, and re-painted it. It looks great now (used my Intense Blue Pearl paint that I used on the cage...much better). I was just PO'd at the stupid clear coat that didn't work. I was able to save most of the white piece by very carefully polishing it with my Dremel and a polishing wheel on the lowest setting...even then, I made some mistakes, but fortunately that Krylon Fusion can be sprayed right on top of almost anything, and so I was able to make a few small touch-up sprays. When I get home, I think I can hand-buff it with a cloth, and I should be done (with that part, at least).

I didn't get to the repairs on the acrylic last night...planning on doing that tonight, and getting the main build done. Tomorrow, I'm going to work from home and try to sneak in my software installs inbetween doing actual work on my laptop.

Grez

Ok, here we go on some more progress (but much, much more to do tonight)...

First, I started what little assembly I could while I was waiting for paint to dry and such...I got the front intake fan in there (complete with custom "Grez" fan centers):

Yeah, the metal is a bit scuffed around this hole, but this one doesn't matter as it is completely covered by the faceplate. BTW...all fans are being installed with vibration gaskets or rubber washers under the screws to help quiet them down.

Well, sorry for the slight blurriness on this next one...the flash and focus didn't do me any favors (and made everything look like hell, but at least you can get the idea). This is the rear exhaust fan, complete with nice laser cut grill and c-channel gasket going around the hole. It gives you an idea of the look this thing will start to have when done (all nice and bright white, metallic blue, and chrome...kinda like a '71 Trans Am):


And here I am just having put the "vibration condom" on the PSU (since this case is all thin-gauge steel, these things can make a big difference):


Well, as I mentioned before, I was unhappy with the front panel paint, especially the clear coat. I was able to salvage the white piece, after doing some work on it (more on that), but the blue piece p*ssed me off enough that I finally got mad, sanded the booger back down, and re-primered the thing to try again:


Then, I repainted it using the Dupli-Color Truck, Van, and SUV paint (Intense Pearl Blue) that I have grown to like so well. As you can see (or maybe not because of the picture), it was well-worth it:

This time the paint came out nice and glossy, and the color really pops. It's not dead perfect (mostly because I had to do so much sanding), but it's about a hundred times better than before.

As I said, the white panel was salvagable. I used a Dremel tool with a 1" round cloth polishing wheel on it at the lowest setting, and this brought the sheen back out and removed most of the haze from the clear coat. Unfortunately, I had to be really careful while doing this, and at 1:00 in the morning I was tired and inevitably messed up a couple of times. But, while I didn't have enough of the Krylon left to totally respray things, I had enough to touch-up my goofs, and the Krylon sticks well to other paint or even the clear coat. So, that is fixed, and I'll give it a hand-buff tonight to even things out. Whew.


The top and side panels turned out really great, despite my frustration in installing the bloody windows. Here's the top:


And the side:


I'm really happy overall with these, as the molding came out nice and straight, and everything was cut to proper tolerances. The only problem, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was that I scratched both windows trying to get the @#$! locking strip into the molding on each one. One of tonight's projects is trying to remove the scratches from the windows, and I will test my methodology on a scrap piece first. More on that later...

Also, I realized my brother's DVD-ROM was going to be on top and show through the top window. It is (of course) an ugly steel gray, and MSI also put a big, obnoxious label sticker right on top, which I didn't want to see right underneath my turtle etching. So, I figured I'd chrome the top of the drive. However, due to time and budget constraints (remember, my bro needs his PC back, and doesn't have all the extra cash to spend on my chroming material and equipment), there was no way I had time to spray this with chrome. So, I got a little creative and came up with a solution that I like really well (except in totally anal-retentive modding situations) that I like to call the 10-minute drive chrome.

Auto shops (O'Reilly's in this case) sell adhesive-backed chrome trim tape that is weather-resistant (therefore fairly heat resistant) and sticks like mad. It comes in 3" wide rolls that are 5' long, and these cost about $5. I used about a buck's worth on this drive. The drive is a little narrower than 6", so I just centered the edges of the two strips needed to cover the top, and let the excess overlap the edges. Then, I flipped the drive over on top of a plastic cutting board, and used an X-Acto knife to carefully and accurately slice off the excess even with the edge of the drive. Pull the extra off, flip over the drive, and presto! You have a pretty chromed-out drive that will help reflect light up into the etching in the top window:

Pretty slick for a fast, easy mod, no?

Now it's on to some touch-up, buffing, drive-stealthing, scratch-removing, and then finally on to the real assembly! More to come tonight or tomorrow morning...

keyoshi

da*n looks hawt. those windows look really nice in their place. chorme mod is pretty cool. I might buy clear molding, and look at a little da*nit...tutorial on casemodgod, that tells you how to put I think elwire under it and light it up :D

R.Carter

Excellent work, and good luck on the window repairs. I'd love to see exactly how you do that.

I hate to say it, as clever as the chrome tape is (and it really is clever), the chrome tape is ghetto. Clever ghetto, but ghetto nonetheless. I do applaud the effort and understand the restrictions that you are dealing with. The chrome tape is kind of a let down compared to the rest of your awesome work. :lol:

Seriously, nice job. And what do you think of Dead Guy Ale from Rogue (I think)?

Grez

Well, remember that I didn't set out wanting to do a drive mod. The only point of this is to get a good reflective layer underneath the etching in the top window and not spend three days on it. Trust me, this is waaaaayyyy better than the ugly gray steel with a big sticker on it underneath my pretty turtle etching. And (again), it looks better in reality than the so-so quality picture I took of it. Thanks for the props in any case, even if you think my chrome mod is ghetto...LOL

Pics of fixing the acrylic are to follow...and yes, Rogue Dead Guy Ale is killer...I stock that on a regular basis in my beer fridge. Nice and hoppy, but still easy to drink...a favorite around the ol' Grez's household. If you have beer noobs around and they almost like the dead guy, but find it just a bit strong, try Rogue's American Ale...same idea, just a little toned-down.

mechem

hawt as h3lll....

turtles are rocking now.

anyway im gonna be doing a drive mod possibly today so we shall see what happens there (gulp). gonna do windowz and stealthing and possibly relocate the button for the hell of it.