Project Frostbyte Updates

August 7th, 2008

I’ve done a lot of work on my case lately, so I thought I’d make it easy for you to find out what has been going on.

First of all, if you are a little confused about what I am talking about – Here is the original plan for my case.
Then I got hold of the case I’ll be working on.
Next I cut a window into on of the side panels.
I started working on a piece of acrylic.
I did not enjoy altering my front panel with fibreglass. Not one bit.
I got hold of a blowtorch.
I bought some new acrylic and had to make another set of flames out of it.
Then I ended up using more fibreglass to make space for my radiator in the top panel.
And most recently I did some work on the front panel.

As you can see I still have a lot to do – I need to get all the metal work drilled, primed and painted, and I still have several acrylic pieces to cut. To make matters even better, the motor in my not-a-Dremel just burned out – I think I can return it under warranty, but that will still take time.

I’ll keep you updated as the mod progresses, but since I’m going to be away from my flat for a couple of weeks I don’t know how much I’ll get done. Hopefully the case will be painted before then so it has some time to cure.

Subject: Hardware Tags: Case Modding, project frostbyte
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The Front Panel

August 7th, 2008

I’ve also done quite a lot of work on the front panel since I last wrote about it.

You may remember that I had used a hole saw on the front of the case but didn’t have quite a large enough size. Well, finally, I managed to file the hole out so it is big enough to see the fan through.

Unfortunately some of the pieces of fibreglass came off, but I’ll cover that and the slightly wavy edges up with some tubing.

The USB/headphone ports will be behind this hole. I wanted the edges to be rounded to match the acrylic piece I’m going to cover it with.

I don’t think they turned out too badly.

Lots of holes drilled for screws, and lots more still to drill for LEDs. I ordered a pack of 100 UV LEDs from China and I’ll probably get some white ones too to see what looks best.

I’m going to cover each drive bay with a piece of acrylic. Not this acrylic – my newer stuff is a nicer colour, and I haven’t rounded the corners or sanded this piece, but this shows basically what I want.

Here are the big chunky screws I’ll be using to attach all my acrylic to the case, apart from a couple of places where I need thumb screws.

Subject: Hardware Tags: Case Modding, project frostbyte
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You know how I said I hate fibreglass?

August 7th, 2008

You may remember before how I mentioned that fibreglass was the invention of the devil and should burn in hell for all eternity. Well, it turns out I need to use it again.

I’m fitting a 2×120 radiator into the roof of the case (it’s a bit of a tight squeeze but I think it will be fine), which required cutting a large hole for the fans.

My case is emo.

The cutting wasn’t too much of an issue, however as you can see there was a grill already in the top of the case. Some of it will be covered up by a fan guard I am putting on top, but other parts stick out beyond that. So they need filled in. Joy.

Aargh. Arrrrgh. Hate. Aaaargh.

I am not good at this. What a mess. It will all just be sanded off again anyway.

Eventually, after a lot of sanding, the holes are filled in and flat, and the fan guard fits fine. Although it’s sitting on the wrong side of the panel here…

Subject: Hardware Tags: Case Modding, fibreglass, project frostbyte
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A New Set Of Flames

August 7th, 2008

There have been quite a few changes to Project Frostbyte, my computer case mod, since I last uploaded any pictures.

First of all, my new blue UV-reactant acrylic arrived from Hindleys. It’s a much more vivid colour than the stuff I was using before, so even though this means repeating some work I’m glad I switched.

That meant it was time to start work on a piece to go on my side panel.

As you can see my cutting isn’t all that neet – I wish I had a smaller bit for my not-quite-a-Dremel.

Eventually I got the whole piece cut out, now it just needs some filing down and sanding.

And since I was filing this with the rotary-tool-which-isn’t-a-Dremel, I really regretted cutting this shape. How am I meant to get into that corner?

After some time though, I got it all filed smooth, which meant it was time to start sanding by hand.

Luckily, Phil was willing to help. For a while.

Here’s where the piece is going to sit – on the side panel in front of the window. There’s going to be a similar piece on the back side as well. The piece looks a bit long here, but actually the front panel of the case sticks out quite a bit and needs to be covered as well…

…Though in fact, the piece was about a centimeter too long. Time for a trim.

Much better

But still much more work to go.

Subject: Hardware Tags: acrylic, Case Modding, project frostbyte
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Blowtorch ;)

August 6th, 2008

I have a new favourite toy.
That’s right, I bought a cheap cooking blowtorch.

Mostly I want to use it for polishing the edges of pieces of acrylic for my Case Mod but partly I just like owning a flame emitting device.

I tried practicing on a spare piece of acrylic (the old colour, before I replaced it with some new fluorecent stuff) . As you can see below, I messed up a little at first, but after I sanded the pieces completely first I got a fanatastic finish.

I tried to get a picture of it working, but you can’t see the flame. I’m sure you all know what a cone of blue burning awesomness looks like anyway, use your imagination.