The Project - Breathing new life into an older case

gamblingman said:
I love what you were doing with that case. But I haven't seen you posting anything lately, any updates for us on the "creation"?
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Should have some up tonight... bats in the camera were dead... Have pretty much all the mods done except final painting..
 
Last couple until I get the final painting done.

Grills in the panel:
picture013.jpg


Rear with grill attached:
picture014.jpg


Case itself will get painted with a dark gray or black hammerite style finish. I plan to put a red LED fan in the intake to provide a soft glow through the side panel and two small front vents. The PSU will have a 120 fan in it to provide the extra ventilation. If this proves inadequate, I will cut an exhaust port in the side panel over the CPU area. I'm going to leave the floppy port in the front bezel for this machine as I actually have to have one available.

Unfortunately the the size and positions of several key parts, notably the PSU and the DVD drive, prevented me from putting a fan in the top panel. As it sits the case should provide plenty of airflow for a stock core 2 setup.
 
schw32m said:
After dis-assembly of the entire unit, I ran the all the parts through the dishwasher (ahem, don't let your wife, mom or SO catch you doing this unless you live in a house like mine where running strange metal parts from equestrian gear in the dishwasher is the norm).

First thing to address is the restrictive airflow coming in from the front.

I understand that the louvers in the lower ports were to be both decorative, and to keep out rocks and low flying birds. But the design really sucked for airflow.

Picture027.jpg

case007.jpg


So I set out to solve the first problem, open up the lower ports. Getting out the Dremel and exacto knife, making sure I had paid up the blue cross this month, I commenced to work.

The result here.

The rough cut:
case008.jpg


The final results:
case009.jpg

case010.jpg


Haven't decided whether to leave the ports open as shown or to fit some black aluminum screen over the holes as yet. With the cut outs done as shown there is now a 3/4 inch clearance from the back edges of the ports to the steel on the front of the case.
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This is cleanly done, but I thought of something yesterday.

If those small portholes are the only openings on the front panel, your front panel fan will have to suck in all the intake air through them, and the total area isn't much different from the original perforated steel panel with the very restricted airflow. That means the vast majority of your cooling air will be coming in through the left-panel grilles.

My case was similar to yours: all the front air came in through a collection of small (but now much-enlarged) slots.

What I did to mine is shown below: I used a dremel cutting bit to cut out the entire bottom of the front panel to open it up and let in a LOT more air. I can't see the opening, and air flow is drastically improved.

Just a thought. :)

 
OvenMaster said:
This is cleanly done, but I thought of something yesterday.

If those small portholes are the only openings on the front panel, your front panel fan will have to suck in all the intake air through them, and the total area isn't much different from the original perforated steel panel with the very restricted airflow. That means the vast majority of your cooling air will be coming in through the left-panel grilles.

My case was similar to yours: all the front air came in through a collection of small (but now much-enlarged) slots.

What I did to mine is shown below: I used a dremel cutting bit to cut out the entire bottom of the front panel to open it up and let in a LOT more air. I can't see the opening, and air flow is drastically improved.

Just a thought. :)

Click to expand...

Nice catch!

I never even though of that one until I opened up another case I was going to do and noticed the similar opening you marked out.

Thanks :)
 
YVW. I like what you're doing and I'm taking notes... the only problem(!) is that the LED fan you want to put in the front might light up the desk or floor right under the panel because it'd then be open.

I know, it destroys the original effect you wanted of light through the ports. So you're gonna have to make a choice: effective cooling? Or good looks?
 
OvenMaster said:
YVW. I like what you're doing and I'm taking notes... the only problem(!) is that the LED fan you want to put in the front might light up the desk or floor right under the panel because it'd then be open.

I know, it destroys the original effect you wanted of light through the ports. So you're gonna have to make a choice: effective cooling? Or good looks?
Click to expand...

A sort of compromise. I can live with the light bleed from the bottom or if that doesn't work or is too harsh I could put a small cold cathode in under the drive bay to be a little more indirect. So I didn't do as big as you marked but it is a significant enlargement:

picture034.jpg




Stoic Sentinel said:
Sweet, where'd you get 'em (the grills)?
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The grill was made from a honey combed aluminum insert that would go into a screen door as a reinforcement. Cut about a 6 inch by 14 inch section, epoxied it to the inside of the panel and weighted it down with 30lbs of weight in sandbags to hold it flat while the epoxy set. Makes the grill fairly permanent and adds some strength to the panel.
 
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