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Loading ...Dark Media Case Mod
gryphon
This Mod started during my AS level study leave, which were a very boring few weeks. There was an old micro ATX case sitting in the corner of my room just waiting to be modded, so why not?
Let me introduce you to the victim:
Firstly - that front panel has to go. Otherwise it’s a surprisingly nice case, a bit heavy but decent cable tidying options and no sharp edges to speak of, which is a miracle considering its age. It originally held a 300mhz pentium (in the background) so Im guessing it’s about 7 years old, but that’s a pretty random guess.
From the start I knew I wanted a black and red colour scheme, I think mainly because all other computers I’ve built so far have had bright green or blue lighting, so something different was required of this one.
So, where to start… what does every modded pc have?
A window. In the picture above you can see a vent running along the bottom edge of the side panel, i decided to cut that out, leaving a rectangular hole, hopefully to be filled with mesh, to aid airflow. To decide on a shape for the main window I pulled out a curve stencil and started experimenting. The result of which was 2 leaf shaped holes. I’ve managed to lose the pictures I took of cutting the window, so you’ll see in the pictures further down what I mean.
Second job was to make a new front panel. I wanted a brushed metal finish, possibly painted black. The metal of my choice is aluminium, as it’s so easy to work with. Those of you who read my plog on ‘making a cpu waterblock’ might remember my dads’ barn full junk, It didn’t take a lot of searching to gfnd a 4mm sheet of aluminium that would fit the purpose. All that remained was to cut it to shape and a bit of sanding.
Cutting the Aluminium with a jigsaw:
Using a belt sander with 100grit paper to remove the paint and give the panel a brushed finish:
Next i cut out a hole for the CD drive. After carefully marking out the position of the drive (using the case as my template) I cut out the rectangle for the drive.
At this point I had the idea that if I fitted a sheet of perspex behind the aluminium, and put red LEDs in the perspex, I would have a nice red glow all the way around the front panel. Worth a try at least, so I cut the perspex to shape too:
Cutting the perspex turned into a bit of a nightmare, after trying various power tools (including a dremel), and only managing to melt the plastic I resorted to scoring and snapping it to shape, on my second try this was successful. (on the first try I shattered my sheet) I used the jigsaw to cut out the hole for the cd drive.
I decided that the bottom of the aluminium looked a bit bare so I drilled 3 small holes in a vertical line in the middle bottom of the panel. If you look closely in the pic above you can see the pencil markings for the holes.
Next I painted the side and top panel (it’s one n shaped sheet of metal) black. I have read lots of guides for spray painting, to get a perfect gloss finish etc. but I feel that if its prefect it doesn’t have much character, and hence prefer brush painting. Recently I found a nice effect could be achieved using a fast drying matt black paint and continuously brushing it in one direction, with 5cm strokes, getting smaller as the paint gets tackier. This leaves you with an interesting, almost wood grain finish. Needless to say that is the technique I used on this case, with the following result:
While waiting for the paint to dry properly I soldered together a chain of LEDs to illuminate the perspex sheet, i covered some of the wiring with black braiding to suit the theme of the case:
Next I need to fit the windows and a power button, which I’ll update this blog with when I’ve done. In the meantime any comments/suggestions/crit is very welcome. Thanks.
Gryphon - this looks good - can’t wait for the next update! Can you tell me what sort of black paint you used and whether you strippad and primed the metal first? I’m working on a media center project (see project zero) and having stripped the paint from the case I’m trying to work out the next stage - leave it bare metal but varnished, paint it as you have done or prime and paint to get a smooth finish.
@greentrident
The paint i used was a stove paint (for wood stoves). Its vey thin paint and it has a drying time of 20min, but its tacky in about 1min, which makes it easy to get the effect with. Ill check the proper name when i get home.
It will need a varnish over it as its easily scratched.
One of the reasons i like this method is its quick - just 2 coats and no sanding needed, then varnish over the top.
As for priming the metal - i just used an orbital sander with high grit paper to texture the origional paint - it was strong enough to act as a goode base.
Ill put a close up of the paintwork in the next update.
Update: The paint is Stovax Thermolac brush on stove paint, cost me £5.99 for a small can (200ml) that has covered the stove and 2 computer cases, with some left to spare.