The General

**Grez** · 09-07-2006, 03:50 PM

Well everyone, I'm starting on a new mod. I know that I'm long overdue and still haven't finished the 4472 Deluxe, but at least I'm back on the horse, here. The goal on this one is to create a new machine that is going to be a Christmas present for my Mom and Step-Dad (henceforth referred to by his first name, Max).

Now, they currently have no computer at all...Mom picks up their e-mail on a WebTV unit (I know some of you are shuddering at the thought) that Jen and I bought her (to at least get into the world of technology a little bit) about five years ago. Mom is about ready to bite the bullet on a computer, but doesn't know what to get, and Max...well, he hates computers. Hates them. But I really think he could at least learn to tolerate them, or like them a little, if he just had a decent one of his own to use. So how to get him to take the plunge? This is where my plan comes in.

Max is a huge Indiana University and Bobby Knight fan. I buy him IU stuff for almost every birthday and Christmas present, and he is always thrilled. He attends the basketball games, is a member of the alumni club (even though he didn't go to school there), and will happily correct anyone who utters the slightest criticism of Bob Knight. Like I said, big fan.

As many of you know, I graduated from Purdue, so IU is the arch enemy. But, I'm willing to sleep with the enemy here for a good cause...because I know that if I build an IU computer, my buddy Max will have no choice but to use it. He won't be able to resist. And Mom will be happy because she'll have a full-blown PC instead of the WebTV. I will then be able to e-mail them videos of the kids, and now she'll be able to actually shop online instead of finding stuff and having to call me to do it for her. Everyone wins! The name of this case will be "The General," as that is Bobby Knight's nickname.

My other part of the plan is that I want to upgrade my primary rig (the 4472) to an AM2-based system later this year. That means the 939 system will get bumped down into my HTPC rig. The current guts of that rig have to go somewhere, and it's a pretty decent Athlon XP 2400+ based system. Mom and Max aren't going to game or anything...they need a good PC that's stable, allows them to watch DVDs, and is a good web surfer. Well, I have the guts for that! It's a perfect plan...I'll even send along the first hard drive that's in the HTPC right now, as it already has all of the drivers, etc., for the mobo. I won't even have to do a from-scratch install to get it up and running.

___________________________________

So, the case we're using here is the Chenming 301. As many of you may remember, I was really disappointed after buying this case. The color was supposed to be red, which was going to keep me from having to paint the outside, at least. It's not. It's friggin' burnt orange or rust or some bloody Crayola color that sucks. The window also has pre-cut fan holes in it that are asymmetrical. In other words, ugly. I bought this case to reduce the amount of work I'd have to do for this mod, and instead, it increased it. (To read my original post of my impressions of this case, go here.) Oh, well. So I'm going to do this thing right, and the build, despite being generally a budget build, is going to be a complete mod instead of just some bolt-ons. Hell, I'm overdue anyway.

Anyway, I've had the case for a couple of months, but I actually got started on some work last night, after disassembling most of the case a few nights earlier. I had some stock case-only pics (the "before" pics) somewhere, but I can't find them now. If I locate them later, I'll add them. This stock photo from Xox should give you the idea for now, although you'll have to imagine it as not actually being red but instead orange:

In the meantime, we'll jump right into the true worklog pictorial.

The first order of business was to do the primary disassembly of the case...

I know this one is out of order (as the window is already out of the side panel), but it's the only shot I have that shows you my issue with the window (so you know why I wanted to junk this one and cut my own). Look at those @#$! fan holes! They're not remotely lined up! I know they probably cut these to line up with the CPU and GPU, but I can't stand for it to affect the aesthetics like that. I will create my own good airflow in this baby. That side window has to go...

One of the good things that Chenming did is to attach the side window with those little black reuseable plastic rivets. So I removed all of them like in the pic above, and I'll be able to use them again when I install the new window.

Always bag your parts! By the time I was done with the disassembly, this bag was packed full!

Next, I removed the front plastic fan cage for mounting an intake fan. I usually hate these, as most of them block a lot of airflow, but this one looks pretty good. Coupled with the fact that there isn't room for a 120mm and there isn't a good location to put drill holes directly in the steel cage, I'm going to use this little fan cage again. I'll just paint it to match the case.

Next, I removed the rear parts compartment...one of the features of this case that I really like, despite all of my other gripes.

Removed the slot covers as well...they'll most likely get painted an inverse color from the rest of the back. The only problem with the parts compartment is that it covers up the slots a bit, which means you have to take it off in order to change out cards...kind of a pain.

This is another thing I like about this case...the rear fan grill is a great hex pattern that looks exactly like modder's mesh...it's even convex for a nice overall look. I'll keep this, except I'll be removing it and (again) painting it a contrasting color from the rest of the back of the case.

The front panel disassembled...all of the bay covers and metal bay panels removed, etc...it was a real pain as there were tons of those little plastic tabs that had to be bent at the same time to get the front bezel loose.

After all of the things that are a pain to remove on this case, they did the hard drive cage properly...it's a snap.

Next, it was time to remove those ugly rubber feet. They'll work great as floor protection on some furniture or something later on.

Last but not least, I went ahead and traced a pattern for my new window. At least this was easy, since I could just trace the old window and go ahead and put dots in for the screw holes. It was nice to have a perfect template to work from. And, I still had plenty of acrylic, as this sheet was the one I bought when I did my brother's The Dream of the Blue Turtles case.

At this point, I thought I was ready to go ahead and remove the conjoined top/side panel. Then I looked more closely and...jumpin' inflexibility, Batman! The @#$!&^* thing is RIVETED on! So is the rear fan grill! So is...well EVERYTHING else. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! At this point, I knew that my challenges with this case were not going to stop at the bad paint job. I hung it up for the night, and prepared for the power tool work which happened last night...

...and that, kids, will be my next thread, also to come later today.

It's a start.

solidjake · 09-07-2006, 04:01 PM

Good start, can't wait for the rest of it.

montypythizzle · 09-07-2006, 04:15 PM

u were right on the blue turtles one 2 ccfls is enuff but 4 is poonage well eh i could put them behind my monitor :)
but eh.....
what can i say..

xtremegamer_624 · 09-07-2006, 04:16 PM

Good start, and the reasoning behind the mod is great. I've been there before...90% done with one case, and already wanting to start another. =P

Finally another WL from you, Grez. Always been a fan of them...Going to keep following this, looking forward to more.

Zenshi · 09-07-2006, 04:44 PM

Wonderful! Another Grez mod! Looking forward to this one. I didn't know you were a former Boilermaker. I recall the one or two times I was at that campus, thinking "man there are a lot of red bricks here".

It's cool that you are making this for your Mom and Max. It's been awhile since I've seen a person so passionately against computers. Your goal is to convert the guy eh? Wicked! I like it.

I will be lurking around this thread.

'DomE ^ · 09-07-2006, 05:07 PM

cant wait to see the finished product. loved DOTBT case and the 4472 deluxe

**Grez** · 09-07-2006, 05:08 PM

Once I figured out that I was going to have to essentially cut the case apart to work on it, I kind of got excited about committing some case violence.

I moved out to the garage, because now I was going to have metal flying everywhere...

And here's our initial setup...finally using my new workbench (thanks much to Tech-Daddy for helping Jen pick this up for my B-day surprise)! Although it really wasn't necessary, I decided to break out my big Milwaukee hammer drill to put the hurt on this thing. Got out the good Craftsman drill bits as well. At this point, the thing should basically just fly apart in fear all by itself.

Oh! And I guess we can't forget the St. Arnold's Amber...it's important to have inspiration while you work.

Here's a bad shot of the back of the case...see all of the rivets? I have to remove those outer six, and a matching nine or so in the front...

...plus these rivets on the bottom...

...and then, after drilling all of those boogers out of there, the side panel still wouldn't come off! I found these two other rivets near the top of the 5.25" bays were still holding it on there. They actually keep the 5.25" bay cage in place, along with the side panel, using the same rivets! It's efficient, but cheap. Grrrrrr...

Whew. Finally! The side/top panel is off. But now you can see the one bracing piece from the 5.25" drive cage just hanging loose since the side panel rivet held it in place. The "unremoveable" motherboard tray has the same issue...the bottom of it is not longer attached after removing the bottom rivets for the side panel, so now it moves around. Well, no worries...once it's painted and I put it back together, it will be solid as a rock again. I'm still debating between riveting it back together or finding low-profile screws and nuts, but I have time yet to decide on that.

And now I have the rear fan grill loose...it shrieked its apologies once I took the Milwaukee to its poor, defenseless rivets.

Sorry for the bad picture here...12:45 in the morning, and a bad flash issue.

Anyway, since I'm putting in lighted case feet, I need a place to run the wires, so I went ahead and drilled holes in the bottom of the case where the feet will be mounted. I did my usual procedure: start with a small bit to ensure the hole is centered, and then come back with a large bit to punch the main hole. It keeps you from bending the metal as easily, especially when you're dealing with a lighter, thinner material like aluminum (used in the Chenming 301).

It was late, but I decided I'd go ahead and cut out the metal grill in front of the intake fan. Usually, I would use a hole saw for this job, but due to the hole pattern that was already there, there wasn't a good way to center the hole saw, and it would have slipped and likely made the hole off-center and it would look like crap. But after a quick look, I saw that the pattern of holes had some other interesting geometric shapes, so I got out my trusty rotary tool and turned the hole into a hexagon. Not to be cocky here, but I'm very happy with how this turned out, considering I decided this on the fly, didn't clamp the case (not my usual M.O.), didn't draw any lines, and freehanded the cuts. I guess I'm not too old to have steady hands!

Two minutes of filing, and it looked just like I wanted. That'll provide plenty of airflow for that front fan.

And that's where I am so far...it may be two or three more days before I make any more progress. This is going to be a fairly longish mod anyway, I think. Stay tuned...

**Grez** · 09-07-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 'DomE ^

cant wait to see the finished product. loved DOTBT case and the 4472 deluxe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenshi

Wonderful! Another Grez mod! Looking forward to this one. I didn't know you were a former Boilermaker. I recall the one or two times I was at that campus, thinking "man there are a lot of red bricks here".

It's cool that you are making this for your Mom and Max. It's been awhile since I've seen a person so passionately against computers. Your goal is to convert the guy eh? Wicked! I like it.

I will be lurking around this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtremegamer_624

Good start, and the reasoning behind the mod is great. I've been there before...90% done with one case, and already wanting to start another. =P

Finally another WL from you, Grez. Always been a fan of them...Going to keep following this, looking forward to more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by solidjake

Good start, can't wait for the rest of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by montypythizzle

u were right on the blue turtles one 2 ccfls is enuff but 4 is poonage well eh i could put them behind my monitor :)
but eh.....
what can i say..

Wow. Thanks, guys! I didn't expect to have too many comments yet. LOL. Well, this is going to be another very clean-looking mod, nothing too crazy. It'll be red on the outside and white on the inside to go with IU's school colors. There will be an applique in the window, some sort of custom case badge, and a right-hand side panel logo painting if I have time. I'm also going to be working with a potentiometer-based fan controller, which I will have to mod somewhat to get the knobs to fit inside of the case door. I expect that to be a bit of a challenge. There may be one or two other little surprises...we'll see...

...oh, and I promise that once this is done, I'm going to get back on the 4472 Deluxe and get that booger finished! I want my flame paint job on there!

R.Carter · 09-07-2006, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grez

It was late, but I decided I'd go ahead and cut out the metal grill in front of the intake fan. Usually, I would use a hole saw for this job, but due to the hole pattern that was already there, there wasn't a good way to center the hole saw, and it would have slipped and likely made the hole off-center and it would look like crap...

This is the time that I am supposed to say: "You know Grez, if you had an adjustable circle cutter, you could just lock that bad boy down to your press and be done with it." However, your excellent results are preventing me from doing so...

What does the St. Arnold's compare to? And a quick BTW, we will be serving Delirium at the new office Open House in a couple of weeks. And Dead Guy Ale.

I know that I ain't one to talk about timely project completion, but brother, get this thing done, and finish what you started.

Oh yeah, nice job taking apart the case. Now get to work... lol

montypythizzle · 09-07-2006, 10:15 PM

its is nice cut
not sharing any of the rest of the bottles for xfn members thats greedy grez for you but he gives computer to mom n stepdad wtf who means more
XFN FOR SURE lawl i bet you will get compliments from them also

**Grez** · 09-08-2006, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.Carter

This is the time that I am supposed to say: "You know Grez, if you had an adjustable circle cutter, you could just lock that bad boy down to your press and be done with it." However, your excellent results are preventing me from doing so...

Well man, first I'd have to own a drill press...

Quote:

What does the St. Arnold's compare to?

Perhaps like a Sierra Nevada, only a little more malty and...well, better.

Maybe a much less pedestrian Fat Tire? It's brewed right here in Houston...St. Arnold's makes a wide variety of fine beers. Their Christmas ale is fairly magical.

Quote:

And a quick BTW, we will be serving Delirium at the new office Open House in a couple of weeks. And Dead Guy Ale.

Oooo...good choices. On the Delirium, will it be the Nocturnum or the Tremens (I'm assuming it's way too early in the season for the Noel)?

Quote:

I know that I ain't one to talk about timely project completion, but brother, get this thing done, and finish what you started.

Trust me, I will most definitely finish this one! If I don't, I'm screwed for a Christmas present for Mom and Max! LOL! Plus, I've already purchased all of the fans, cathodes, and blah blah blah, so if I don't get this done, Jen will kill me for spending the money and not delivering the product on time. It will be done before Christmas. The case will probably be done much sooner (that's my goal, at least), and the guts will most likely happen very late in the year. But I promise I'll see this one through to completion, and then I'll be getting back on my poor neglected rig.

Dark_Captain · 09-08-2006, 12:33 AM

Cant Wait To See It Grez

Tech-Daddy · 09-12-2006, 08:30 PM

Gonna ride you like a bad mule on this one bro!
;)

Love the concept, and I like your documenting how to pull the case apart! Happier to see that the bench is working for you! :D

Keep up the good work! Fight the good fight, stay focused and wrap this up. make a quality mod that will help bring another computer user into the world! It is never too late...

;)

I'm watchin you... *grin*

zus · 09-12-2006, 09:04 PM

Looks like a Great build man cant wait to see it done :)

Keep it up

**Grez** · 09-18-2006, 12:30 PM

Well, it's taken a while to update, not just because I'm a busy guy, but because I ran into yet even more problems. See, I'm planning on taking my MGE XG Vigor 500 and putting it into this machine...it's a great budget PSU, and while it doesn't have high amperage on the 12V rail, it's super stable and is perfect for an HTPC, which has been its home for some time. The thing is, it's blue, and I want to mod it to be all red. I bought a new blue Hiper Type R 580W to replace it, and while I love the thing, I don't like that the connectors are red. So, my plan was to swap out the red connectors on the Hiper with the blue connectors on the Vigor, and then just sleeve the Vigor red. Sounds like a simple plan, eh? Well, unfortunately, no.

I started out even taking pictures of the process. I got so far as to take a picture of my setup and tools to be used beforehand:

Then I took a little pic, where I was going to begin the mini-tutorial, showing how you should create little tape flags to label all of your 20+4 pin wires, so they can be put back in the proper order:

But then everything went sideways...

While I am fully aware of how to remove molex connectors (and I have the full PSU modding tool kit), I could not get the bloody 20+4 pin mobo connector wires out, nor the P4 connector wires out. I had even started a thread on it here. It looks like I found one other person who has actually tried to switch these out on a Hiper (I guess most people don't mess with their pretty Hipers), but they apparently didn't have any issue. I went and even put the stupid connector into a vice, inserted the molex tool, and whacked the thing with a deadblow hammer! But the tool still wouldn't drop down in there far enough to release the pins. At about 10:45 last night, I would have been happy to have flown to the UK and smacked the crap out of whatever limey decided to make the plastic housing this bloody tight. Grrrrrrrrrr...

Soon after, however, I calmed down and decided to go with my plan B: just paint the boogers. Now, I don't recommend this for new modders, as it is very easy to forget to cover up some little thing and completely ruin a cable or the PSU itself. But I want stuff to match once this is put back into my case, and so I started the tedious process of taping everything up.

And here's what I ended up with:

You can see that my poor Hiper is completely sealed in a plastic bag, and that only the end of the 20+4 pin connector is sticking out. Paint inside of the PSU = bad news. You'll also notice that I taped up and am not painting the parts of the connectors that will fit inside of anything else (i.e., I'm painting the housings of the quick-connect plugs, but not the very end parts). I wouldn't want that paint flaking off from friction and getting down inside of a power socket anywhere. So there will still be red ends on the plugs, but they'll be completely hidden once they're plugged in.

And, late last night, I came up with a great idea for a white trash drying rack:

Using big loops of masking tape, I can place the cables across the edge of this box, where (with the help of the tape), they'll balance in the air to dry, and thus I can go ahead and paint all sides of the connectors at once instead of having to do one side at a time.

And it works! Here're the cables all primered up and drying:

After letting the primer set up for about 20 minutes, it was time to get the blue paint on there. Here's the 20+4 pin sprayed and drying:

And here are all of the rest of the cables painted and drying:

I waited for the paint to dry to the touch, and then handling everything very carefully, I removed the tape. The results were actually really good:

And here's a close-up of some of the painted connectors:

So, it was a major pain in the @ss, but I'm happy with how it turned out, so it was worth it. Hopefully, I'll be able to properly change out things on the other PSU that's actually going into this rig.

I'd hate to have to repeat this process on the Vigor as well. But you can bet that if I have to, I will. I'm not going to put a blue-sleeved PSU into a red-and-white case. Blech.

So in the next couple of nights, I'll get the Hiper back into my HTPC, get the Vigor back out, slap it into the Chenming frame to get some clearance numbers for the top blowhole (another problem I've run into that I'll save for later), and then cut the blowhole and start modding the Vigor.

'DomE ^ · 09-18-2006, 03:41 PM

that must have sucked taping up all of those connectors. looks sweet thou.

poptya · 09-18-2006, 04:28 PM

wait, so you painted the hiper jsut to stick it in an HTPC?

**Grez** · 09-18-2006, 04:33 PM

LOL...yeah, but my HTPC isn't in a little HTPC case...it's in a Thermaltake Tsunami (with the side window), so you can see everything in there. I didn't want my nice blue theme to get messed up by the ugly red plugs.

Zenshi · 09-18-2006, 09:53 PM

Wow Grez now that is dedication. You are a better person than I am.

Uh, I am not sure if that is much of a compliment.

That looks sweet. I want that Hiper! Yeah yeah, I know. Go buy and mod my own.

tencent · 09-18-2006, 10:19 PM

nice work on that hiper painting. I know how you feel having to mask so much painting the inside of my tower case white while blocking all the white paint from hitting the black paint on the outside and still trying to get even coats.