Rated: 100% (1 votes)
Loading ...Whoever invented fibreglass - I hate you. I hate you so much.
karsithe
Alright, first thing to mention is that I’ve ordered some more acrylic, so I’ll have to start over with that. The stuff I had ordered turned out to be really pale, which I was just going to go with until I found that Hindleys had fluorescent blue acrylic. That’s what I’d had in mind for the project from the start, but had been unable to find, so I figured it was worth the sacrifice and extra effort in order to get this case looking the best I can.
Whilst I’m waiting on that arriving, I’ve been working on the front of the case.
First, using a hole saw (designed for wood/plastic but it still cut through the aluminium and I wont tell if you don’t) to cut a space for a fan duct. I couldn’t get a saw blade of the right diameter so this will have to be filed out to be a little bigger. Which is lucky I guess because despite all my measurement and careful placement the hole ended up being squint.
There goes my lovely Lian Li badge.
Next, time to fill in those holes - time to break out the glass fibre and resin. I’m also moving the power switch and LEDs so those holes will have to be filled in too.
Made a bit of a mess really, and now most of it needs sanded back off.
Which even with a sander was going to take a really. Long. Time.
I also cut through the hole again with the drill to keep things neat and make it easier to sand.
And finally, a few hours later, the whole thing is flat and smooth, although the back will still need tidied up.
Now the circle just needs widened, you can sort of see the line I’m filing it out to in this picture. The self-etching primer I ordered still hasn’t arrived so I’m not in a big hurry here.
Rated: 100% (1 votes)
Loading ...Flaming Acrylic
karsithe
When complete, the case will have at least 4 pieces of acrylic cut into flame shapes - one down either side of the case, one on the front, and one covering the harddrive rack. Whilst I want to work on preparing the metal case for painting quickly to give it as long to cure as possible, I figured I best get started on the acrylic work to make sure I won’t run into any huge problems with it later.
The design for the first side piece drawn out.
Since I don’t have a scroll saw or a jigsaw I used a Dremel engraving tool to trace over the outline then a cutting tool to… you know, cut it. Honestly, these aren’t real Dremel bits, they’re cheap replicas. But they got the job done fine. Apart from when I snapped the cutting bit in half.
Super-amazing-close-up-macro-photography of the edge.
Aaaand the whole piece cut out. Luckily the rotary tool didn’t get as hot as when I was cutting aluminium, so I didn’t have to keep stopping during this.
So after filing this down with the not-quite-a-Dremel it’s time for some wet and dry sanding. We could be here a while - all the spots round the edge of the acrylic have to go. I’m almost tempted to go buy a chef’s flame thrower thingmy but given that we’re renting this flat and our landlord expects it to not be on fire I guess this isn’t a great time to experiment with flame polishing.
Rated: 100% (1 votes)
Loading ...I wish this window was emo so it would cut itself.
karsithe
Having all the tools and parts I needed to begin, I couldn’t hold off on starting the mod much longer. There’s no way I can afford another case if I mess up on this mod, so suffice to say I was a little nervous. Or more correctly, bloody terrified.
The first task was to cut a window into the case side panel. I’d helped my boyfriend cut a window in his steel case the day before but I wasn’t sure how similar cutting aluminium would be. Since we didn’t have space or money for a jigsaw I used a Black and Decker rotary tool with a large cutting disk.
The first cut was easier than I’d imagined. Of course, what I’d been imagining was that when I so much as put the power tool near the case it would take on a life of it’s own and saw straight through the middle… but luckily staying in control and cutting a straight line wasn’t all that difficult.
However the tool got very hot very quickly, so I had to take a break after every half side of the case to let it cool down. I don’t know if I was just being over cautious but I didn’t really want to burn out the motor.
Eventually, I succeeded in cutting out the window. Unfortunately, my lines weren’t as straight as they had seemed and that meant a lot of filing. There’s no space for tubing round the edges of the window in this mod so they’re going to have to look as neat as possible.
Eventually, I got the edges as smooth and straight as I thought they were likely to get.
Rated: 80% (1 votes)
Loading ...First Steps
karsithe
Two exiting things happened today. First, my case, a Lian Li PC-7 Plus, was delivered.
Pretty 
The nice silver colour almost makes me not want to paint it, but I think it will look better in white.
And now it’s in pieces. When I was first considering which case to get I saw a video review of this one on mpctech in which the case was attached with pop rivets but luckily it’s just been screwed on here.
Although the motherboard tray had to be drilled out - it’s pretty much the only thing I wont be painting.
The second exciting(ish) thing was going to buy some power tools at Homebase and paints at Halfords. My boyfriend and I bought a drill, rotary tool and mouse sander all in the sale, plus a load of sand paper and masking tape. He wants to cut a window on his case, I’ll stick some photos up when he’s done. I got paints, primer, gloss and wax, but forgot to get self etching primer so it will stick to the aluminium case so I guess I’ll have to order some.
Rated: 90% (2 votes)
Loading ...The Plan
karsithe
Everything on my desktop is black.
I haven’t worked with acrylic since high school, and it didn’t go all that well.
And yet, I’ve designed a mod involving a white paint job and large acrylic panels. Typical.
The plan is to mod a silver Lian Li PC-7 Plus around an ice theme, though unfortunately I can’t afford the sub-zero cooling to match. The case itself will be white both internally and externally, with a large window covering one side. On both and side panels and the front of the case, I will screw flames cut from blue tinted acrylic. The computer is going to be liquid cooled so I’m also going to have to squeeze a 2*120 rad into the top of the case, rendering the top drive bay useless.
Here are some sketches of what I’m aiming for:
