# The Project - Breathing new life into an older case



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

Fall is here and the weather has turned bad. So to give me something to do and because I have been somewhat inspired by the "Frankenstein" threads, I decided to see if I can breath a bit of new life into older but sturdy case. This thing has been sitting in my shop for a few years. I liked the basic design back when I got it and it has gone through several changes in internals over the years.

But like anything else, I finally got to the point where I couldn't stand the color anymore (beige) and with the cooling requirements of newer equipment it eventually got retired. Since it was fairly well built I couldn't just regale it to the scrapheap like so many other cheap cases that have gone through my shop.

So without too much further rambling, I present "The Project"
















The top was partially removed at this point, but as you can see it is a bit rough looking and of course the 'beige' is pretty dingy. I hadn't really thought of a color set for it as yet, although black is always an option (can never go wrong with black). 

Suggestions are open at this point.


----------



## rharding91 (Oct 13, 2009)

Whatever you do just remove the floppy drive slot, looks terrible.


----------



## Bodaggit23 (Oct 13, 2009)

rharding91 said:


> Whatever you do just remove the floppy drive slot, looks terrible.



Aside from using Bondo, that would be impossible.


----------



## linkin (Oct 13, 2009)

Hehe just plug it up with plaster or something. lol


----------



## Bodaggit23 (Oct 13, 2009)

linkin93 said:


> Hehe just plug it up with plaster or something. lol



Exactly. That would be easier than trying to remove a "void" from the front of the computer.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

The front is molded curved plastic so removal is going to be pretty much impossible to make it look right. Can't even machine it into something else without molding a new piece for it. So even though it is outdated, I have plenty of operational faceless FD drives to at least fill the slot properly.

EDIT: After consideration I might be able to close the floppy hole. Will have to do a little experiment with a leftover bay cover... just might be able to form something to cover that area.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

Now I have it broken down into its component parts. One reason to save it is all the edges inside are rolled.. Not a sharp edge in there. The frame itself looks to be 20 or 22 gauge and is riveted together.











After years of use, no matter how clean the environment is the inside of these things get dirty:


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

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.










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:





The final results:









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.


----------



## Bodaggit23 (Oct 13, 2009)

Nicely done.

I would suggest a top mount vent/fan mount as well.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

Bodaggit23 said:


> Nicely done.
> 
> I would suggest a top mount vent/fan mount as well.



Noted.. will come to that when I get to the portion where I work on getting the air out of the case. One of the things I'm considering is allowing the PSU to take some of the duties of exhaust. A lot of the older style PSU while they may have done fine for keeping themselves cool were not all that great in moving a whole lot of supplemental air out of the case.

So with that in consideration and the fact that I wasn't planning on running a turbocharged system in it (I have a couple of dual core boards sitting around the shop needing homes). I figured on letting the PSU handle some of the yeoman duties with exhaust.

This is what I was thinking for power:

Corsair CMP 450VX
or
Rosewill RG530

Both are +80 certified and should be more than enough for what I'm planning on doing with this thing. Both use 120mm fans and will move quite a bit of air in and of themselves while being rather quiet.


----------



## Bodaggit23 (Oct 13, 2009)

Personally, I would mount the PSU upside down and cut a hole in the top so the PSU can get fresh air of it's own, and let case fans take care of the airflow.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

Aside from the restrictions of the front panel, one of the next things to deal with are the restrictions to the front intake fan. The original mount is for an 80mm fan in a clip-in housing. Not too bad all things considered since the housing comes off rather easily, holds the fan tightly and allows easy service or replacement of the fan without having to remove the front panel. The issue to address here was the efficiency of the intake and how much restriction and noise due to the proximity of the sheet metal occurred there. 

So dusting off my geometry, I did some quick calculations on the area of an 80mm circle.

Comes out to 502.4 sq cm. After counting and measuring the holes in the grill it calculated out to 135.4 sq cm. At an almost 4:1 ratio, the air movement is not very good. It would be rather like sucking a nerf ball through a 2" pipe. The original thought was to increase the fan size to 90mm (and that is still an option) but since I wanted to retain the original mount and didn't want to cut the front sheet metal any further I decided to just open up the existing hole.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 13, 2009)

The resulting rough cut and fitting:























I'll still have to debur and clean up the opening a bit more but the basic idea is done on the stock mount. After the back fan hole is done, I'll brush the chassis down and repaint it flat black.


----------



## ScOuT (Oct 13, 2009)

I am going to sub this one...I'll be watching

***Gets popcorn and kicks feet up on computer desk***

BTW...turn your 80mm fan so the wires come out the back side and are hidden from view


----------



## G25r8cer (Oct 13, 2009)

It's looking good 

I love watching these kind of builds 

It's amazing what a little bit of work can do to an old case


----------



## schw32m (Oct 14, 2009)

From the previous picture of the back. The exhaust fan was a little better for ventilation, having 97 holes as opposed to the 69 in the front.






This still left about a 2.5 to 1 ratio in area. Removal of the grill was called for.

Rough cut of the opening:









Fan fitting:






How these will come out with wire grills fitted. I didn't have an 80 mm grill so I used a 70 mm and a 90 mm just to get an idea of how these will look. I'll probably use black grills but for photo purposes, chrome ones work for now.

Back port:









Front port:






Even though the front fan port is behind the faceplate, I still would want to keep sticks, rocks and low flying birds out of the fan. That will come later when I decide what I'll do to gain additional airflow from the front. 

What I'll need to do next is work on a scheme for adding airflow into the HDD bays since that part of the case is very tight and somewhat enclosed.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 16, 2009)

Finally got a chance to do some more work on the case today. Figured out that the HD bays didn't need any additional work since the face plate has enough clearance from the bay port and with the front fan opened up I should get a nice cross draw along the inside of the face plate.  So with that in mind I headed out to give the chassis a coat of flat black. 

Results of first coat:

























Didn't turn out too bad for a first coat with a rattle can. I'll have to do some second coating to the visible surfaces to make sure I didn't miss any spots (these things are difficult to hit all the nooks and crannies in). Would have been nicer if I could have set up the compressor and sprayed it that way but alas I don't have proper ventilation to do that here. When I get to the finish coats on the outer panels I may have to rig something up or wait until a nice day to do the paint outside.


----------



## ganzey (Oct 16, 2009)

lookin good


----------



## schw32m (Oct 16, 2009)

ScOuT said:


> BTW...turn your 80mm fan so the wires come out the back side and are hidden from view



Was planning on that one... actually when I bring the front panel wires out I was planning on putting a zip-tie anchor on the MB plate and routing the wires through there. Also planing on putting all the wiring from the front inside either 1/4 or 3/8 corrugated black loom.


----------



## FairDoos (Oct 16, 2009)

Are you planning on changing the buttons? In my opinion those buttons are Ew. xD


----------



## schw32m (Oct 16, 2009)

FairDoos said:


> Are you planning on changing the buttons? In my opinion those buttons are Ew. xD



Don't know as yet.. Putting off machining the front panel until last. The plastic is an ABS or PVC type stuff and is a bit difficult to machine. Plus the switches are actually mounted on the silver piece. So to make it work I have to find a button that would cover the area of the oval button and fit the post on the switch. Will have to look in the parts box for some buttons I took of a couple other old cases and see what I can do..


----------



## schw32m (Oct 16, 2009)

Diagram of the targeted airflow. The top fan has not been decided yet. I have a couple of pics of approximate position and sizes for the top exhaust fan. I was going after using a 120mm for the top but I might have to settle for a 90mm. The case itself is billed as a mid tower but it seems a little on the small side comparatively. Space planning is going to be a little on the tight side with the top fan.


----------



## gamblingman (Oct 16, 2009)

*project*

I love watching projects like this! I wish I could do one too now, but I cant be doing that stuff in the dorm. Oh well, next year.

Have you thought about keeping the 3.5 slot? I know plenty of people who still need that drive. 

Or you _could_ convert it into a really cool cup holder (lol)

[YT]<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7eAaNI6bfI8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7eAaNI6bfI8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>[/YT]


----------



## bluecity (Oct 16, 2009)

*Front cover*

Would it be possible to Dremel out the floppy opening so you could install a internal card reader. and it still be centered on the cover?


----------



## Ramodkk (Oct 16, 2009)

^ It'd be possible but it would need some bondo work, the card reader has a flat front cover, the front bezel is curved.

BTW, looking nice OP!


----------



## ScOuT (Oct 16, 2009)

Looks good...

Keep it going, I have to see this.


****EDIT****

Is it just me or is there enough room for a 120mm fan in the front?


----------



## schw32m (Oct 16, 2009)

bluecity said:


> Would it be possible to Dremel out the floppy opening so you could install a internal card reader. and it still be centered on the cover?



Wouldn't be centered no matter what I did. 3.5 mounts are off center from the 5.25 bays and without shifting the sheet metal to center the box there would be no way. Better bet would be to put a multi-function card reader/controller in one of the 5.25 bays.



Ramomar said:


> ^ It'd be possible but it would need some bondo work, the card reader has a flat front cover, the front bezel is curved.
> 
> BTW, looking nice OP!



I could machine it out and provide a flat mount (though off centered). Worst problem, aside from making sure I had adhesives that would bond it all together, would be a look similar to this on a Dell I have in the shop:






Going to try and keep the smooth curved lines of the bezel. Best I can hope for so far is to construct a curved piece that I can bond in there and make the lower front smooth. Since that part of the bezel if I do that will get painted, filling seam lines isn't too difficult. Or to just leave it alone and retain the functional floppy. Have plenty of faceless drives so even though it might be dated tech wise at least it would work and not be an open hole.


----------



## Ramodkk (Oct 16, 2009)

Those Dells are ugly... that is all.


----------



## Aastii (Oct 17, 2009)

Ramomar said:


> Those Dells are ugly... that is all.



+1, can't stand them, but hey, it is your rig, set it up how you like, whatever floats your boat


----------



## schw32m (Oct 17, 2009)

ScOuT said:


> Looks good...
> 
> Keep it going, I have to see this.
> 
> ...



Under the face plate yes.. would have to cut some additional porting in the lower bezel to get air to it though.


----------



## schw32m (Oct 17, 2009)

Left side panel with the original louvering:


----------



## schw32m (Oct 17, 2009)

After cutting. The holes will get backed with 3/16" honey combed aluminum mesh. (didn't get a chance to cut the mesh this evening)

This was on the chassis so I could get perspective on the position of the cut outs.













Despite the optical illusion above, the cut outs are square and even.













May have to use a split vinyl bead to cover the dimpling in the sheet metal. A gloss finish on the panel may make those visible. If I use a matt finish I can probably hide those without too much trouble.


----------



## Shane (Oct 17, 2009)

I like the look of this so far....keep us updated!

I realy like older cases,especialy the older full tower cases like this.

http://www.iol.ie/~thedeans/reversemod/image/1.jpg


----------



## OvenMaster (Oct 17, 2009)

This is excellent work. Very similar to what I'd done with my present box, a 1998 generic case with 2007 parts. Opened-up plastic grillework, cut out fan holes, etc. but still that crappy beige. I figured that anyone breaking into my house would see an old POS computer and not bother with it All the external panels are removeable plastic(!), so maybe painting would be an easy option next summer. 

Well done so far!


----------



## schw32m (Oct 17, 2009)

Nevakonaza said:


> I like the look of this so far....keep us updated!
> 
> I realy like older cases,especialy the older full tower cases like this.
> 
> http://www.iol.ie/~thedeans/reversemod/image/1.jpg



 had some friends that had one of those back in the day. Thing was frigging HUGE..


----------



## schw32m (Oct 17, 2009)

OvenMaster said:


> This is excellent work. Very similar to what I'd done with my present box, a 1998 generic case with 2007 parts. Opened-up plastic grillework, cut out fan holes, etc. but still that crappy beige. I figured that anyone breaking into my house would see an old POS computer and not bother with it All the external panels are removeable plastic(!), so maybe painting would be an easy option next summer.
> 
> Well done so far!



Thank you 

This is the first one that I have ever seriously taken the time to modify the case itself beyond putting an extra fan in a stock case. Since I'm doing this one as a multi-media rig I wanted it to look a little different. Most home and business stuff I do repairs on is pretty stock/boring.


----------



## Ramodkk (Oct 17, 2009)

Those cuts look excellent dude! Keep them coming :good:



Nevakonaza said:


> I like the look of this so far....keep us updated!
> 
> I realy like older cases,especialy the older full tower cases like this.
> 
> http://www.iol.ie/~thedeans/reversemod/image/1.jpg



Oh man, those things are massive, I wish I had the resources to mod one!


----------



## FairDoos (Dec 3, 2009)

Where the 80mm is on the front of your case change that to a 120mm

Get a hole cutter 120mm size obviously or close enough then just add the holes for the screws make sure you add an air filter infront of it though to stop the dust or anything getting into your computer :good:

Good Luck with your mod


----------



## schw32m (Dec 3, 2009)

FairDoos said:


> Where the 80mm is on the front of your case change that to a 120mm
> 
> Get a hole cutter 120mm size obviously or close enough then just add the holes for the screws make sure you add an air filter infront of it though to stop the dust or anything getting into your computer :good:
> 
> Good Luck with your mod



Actually that was the original idea. However when I did all the measurements I found that I didn't have enough space to put a 120 there. It would have interfered with the drive bay. As it is the case is surprisingly smaller than it looks.. just barely above a mini-tower in size.


----------



## gamblingman (Dec 3, 2009)

*update*

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"?


----------



## schw32m (Dec 3, 2009)

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"?



Should have some up tonight... bats in the camera were dead... Have pretty much all the mods done except final painting..


----------



## Stoic Sentinel (Dec 3, 2009)

Yay! Love to see 'em. Perhaps they'll spark an idea and I'll be modding my own case (which I'm planning to do anyways )


----------



## gamblingman (Dec 3, 2009)

schw32m said:


> Should have some up tonight...



Sweet


----------



## schw32m (Dec 3, 2009)

Last couple until I get the final painting done.

Grills in the panel:





Rear with grill attached:





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.


----------



## FATALiiTYz (Dec 3, 2009)

Nice work!


----------



## Stoic Sentinel (Dec 3, 2009)

Sweet mods


----------



## OvenMaster (Dec 4, 2009)

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.
> 
> ...



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.


----------



## schw32m (Dec 4, 2009)

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.
> 
> ...



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


----------



## OvenMaster (Dec 4, 2009)

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?


----------



## Drenlin (Dec 4, 2009)

^ Maybe he could put staggered louvers on it?


----------



## Stoic Sentinel (Dec 4, 2009)

schw32m said:


> Last couple until I get the final painting done.
> 
> Grills in the panel:



Sweet, where'd you get 'em (the grills)?


----------



## schw32m (Dec 5, 2009)

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?



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:










Stoic Sentinel said:


> Sweet, where'd you get 'em (the grills)?



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.


----------

