|
Aopen HX45 doesn't suck enough ...  Voilà, the Aopen HX45. A cheap case that will do the trick without ANY fancy stuff. I’m housing my backup system in it. This is : it hasn’t any function at all, it just sits there … waiting for another PC to crash. For a long time I was thinking about modding it. I made several plans, but due to other plans it was never worked out. But now I’m going to this LAN party … I’m a game – n00b, I don’t know which buttons to press, I don’t know the games, … I’m going to make a complete *** of myself … Need something to draw the attention AWAY from my gaming inaptitude … like a modded PC. Here it goes : Rules : 1. It must be a cheap mod (no expensive components, no expensive tools needed to make the mod) 2. It must be efficient 3. It must not take months to finish, maximum = 2 or 3 days 4. It should be easy (like in : everyone could do it) 5. Once finished, the box should be easy to work in … easy to change components 6. I hate it when cables are hanging around, it should look neat inside. 7. I hate noisy boxes and I will try to avoid it as much as possible 8. I must have front USB ports |
whatdoineed ? WHATDOINEED ? - Plexi : 100x50x0,5 : 2 boards - Hinges, 2 pcs - 2 x 120 mm fan + 2 grills - 2 x 80 mm fan + 2 grills - 1 fan, 80 or 60mm, but only 15mm thick and silent + grill - 1 x 60 mm fan + 1 grill - IDE + Floppy cables (color ?) - Black spiral wrap - 2 adaptors 5,25 -> 3,5 - Metal primer - Plastic primer - 2 Spray paint cans of bordeaux – red for plexi - 2 Spray paint cans of bordeaux – red (but slightly different from previous) for caseframe, PSU, CDROM and floppy - Vernice / Lacquer - Rubbing compound (wax) - Sanding paper, very fine - Power + reset – buttons - 12V lamp + socket for logo illumination + button - 1 case handle - Lock + key - Fan screws - Plexi screws (iron screws) - Protection pads, transparant - Metal filler (fill up holes) - Plastic flexible “current” strips (protection of plexi + easy of construction) I won’t be needing any special tools. A drill, some saws, hammer, screwdriver, file, … |
Modifications   I will put in several fans : Fan 1 : 120 mm Fan 2 : 80 mm in 3.5 inch bay (will be pointed to RAM and CPU) Fan 3 : 80 mm silent fan Fan 4 : 60 or 80 mm silent & thin fan (cooling back of CPU / mobo) Fan 5 : 120 mm Fan 6 : 60 mm silent (draw air away of AGP card) I will remove the housing completely. I’ll only keep the frame, paint it … and use plexi to close it up again. I even have to put plexi to the back to attach the back-fans on. May sound dumb but I’ll paint all but one side of the plexi, … the sides of the Aopen are just too ugly to NOT cover them. Besides, I have to cover all the holes and cables … the backplate will be terrorized heavily as I’ll drill/saw holes to hide USB cables and case connectors, furthermore I’ll cut out a big piece of backplate behind te 3.5 rack to make it easier to hide the IDE – cables. Only annoying thing is the placement of the 5.25 rack, I has to be “pulled back” 26 mm in the direction of the PSU so the CDROM won’ stick out. One side-panel will be transparent and easy to open using hinges and a lock. That way changing a setup will be easy. Over fan 3 I’ll place a handle to make transport easy. I wanted to have all the hardware components in red. I have a red MSI K7T 2 but it’s in my working machine and I don’t want to change it for now. It’s a lousy time to buy something … so I’ll wait for a better moment to complete the case with red components. For now I’ll fill the case with a MSI K7T Turbo-R, XP1700+, Artic Alumina, copper shim, TR AX7, Pabst 8412NG, 256MB Cas 2 SDRAM, GeForce GTS, Seagate Barracuda IV – 40 GB and a 10/100 NIC ... should be enough to be slaughtered with high fps |
looking to be a Noisy case though, too many fans :) you can have a pre-modded HQ45, complete with 2x 90mm papst fans who blow the hair of your head :-) ;) |
Quote:
|
Pabst4412FGL 55CFM 12V 26db (= 120mm) I have several 80mm Pabst casefans lying around that move around 20 to 30 CFM and are under 30db. I will only choose a "louder" 80mm for fan2 (blowing on ram & cpu), .. but as it sits in the 3.5 bay i can easily "muffle" the sound. So i'll have around 80CFM going through the case. Only problem i cannot solve for the moment is fan4 in the backplate, it must be 15mm thin ... and the only fan i can find is a Sunon 60mm with around 5.000 rpm ... and that will be too loud. |
do you really consider it necessary to cool the back of your motherboard? |
Back - cooling works ... according to overclockers.com Had a discussion with Gorgh about that some time ago on shrimpforum. But ... it's very simple, if i can't find a 15mm thick fan then i won't use it |
Quote:
|
nice thread. continue :-) |
Think think think Case is completly de-assembled Cut holes are marked Materials are ordered Mistakes : 1) This is going to take a lot of time. The work itself will be easy, this is cuttin' & paintin' & assembly : estimated 5 to 6 hours (drying time not included) ... the planning & measuring will take a whole lot more of my time. And i'm enjoying this, ... i like to take my time. Hopefully i don't have to wait too long for the parts or it won't be ready at the end of september 2) I wanted to make it cheap ... the listed items will cost around 400 EUR ... a hardcano & baybus included. I included the last two items to make absolute sure it won't make too much noise. Secondly i want to test the influence of the seperate fans. 400EUR is not cheap, i could buy a very nice case for such money ... but not as good as mine ... hopefully the result will look good too. 3) Colorsceme sucks. I'll make the inside completly black, and the outside yellow forgot to mention PSU : Antec 350W forgot to mention : there is no going back :grin: |
Re: Think think think Quote:
moehahahhaaaaa that's the spirit my friend :) |
Going through my spare parts i stumbled upon a taisol cooler .. WITH fan ... Fan Size 60x60x10mm, 2-Ball Rated Voltage 12 VDC Rated Current 0.18A (Max. 0.22) Input Power 2.16 W (Max. 2.64) Speed 4800 RPM Max. Air Flow 21.19 CFM (Min. 19.07) Fan Life 70,000 Hours Noise Level 36dB Connector 3-pin Molex 2695 or equivalen |
fits perfect no? be sure to make some pics :) you might get promoted from newsposter to full blown little 'ol article-factory :) |
Money money money ... 1 Rheobus 4 channel - 5W 33,25 € 1 Black "cussion" pads 1,46 € 1 Car wax 8,65 € 1 Fan 60x60x10 mm 21 CFM 12,00 € 2 Fan Pabst 120mm 55 CFM 44,00 € 1 Fan Pabst 60 mm 11 CFM 18,52 € 1 Fan Pabst 80mm 20 CFM 18,53 € 1 Fan Pabst 80mm 26 CFM 18,53 € 2 Finger guard 120 mm 7,60 € 2 Finger guard 60 mm 6,00 € 2 Finger guard 80 mm 5,70 € 1 Handle 3,17 € 2 Hinges 2,60 € 2 Lacquer - transparent 15,56 € 1 Lamp 3W 3,69 € 1 Lock + key 9,15 € 1 Metal drills 10,25 € 100 Plastic rings 5,09 € 2 Plexi boards 32,48 € 1 Polyester fix - filler 4,16 € 1 Power button 2,00 € 1 Primer metal spray 5,18 € 1 Primer plastic spray 8,40 € 1 Reset button 2,00 € 2 Rounded ATA - yellow 22,80 € 1 Rounded Floppy - black 14,16 € 1 Sanding paper - 600 3,59 € 1 Saw - metal 3,75 € 8 Screws & bolts (8 packs) 11,20 € 2 Spraypaint - Black 10,36 € 2 Spraypaint - Yellow 14,58 € 1 Switch - lights 4,39 € 1 Transparant pads 1,46 € 1 TT Hardcano 2 28,50 € 1 Wire black - 5 m 2,95 € Grand total 395,71 € Could have bought a VERY nice case for that, probably tree times better looking. Oh well, i already had some of the stuff floating around ... and i'm having plenty of construction fun. If more time i could have done the baybus myself, i could have looked more carefully around to choose cheapest materials, ... but ... I'm not going to make any article at all, i'm happy sittin' here in this thread. Pictures will follow someday when i start cuttin' the ***** up. EDIT : *lower* price, thanks to friendly people at Tones |
maybe a little off topic but where does everybody buy does PAPST fans cant find them anywhere??? |
Quote:
|
Done cuttin' & drillin', took 45' to completly ruin the case. Should have worn some kinda ear protection, all i hear is a high pitched "tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" ... Bummer, very smal slip cracked a "support-pole of the frame" .. dunno how i'm going to fix it to strenghten the case sufficiently First thought is special glue and bolting the plexi boards to it. Or better : bolting some alu - small - strips to it. Air flow will be around 101 CFM IN vs. 113 CFM OUT. Maybe i shouldn't care about the noise now since i'm quite deaf atm. Tomorrow some pictures maybe. |
Quote:
|
|
not much metal left is there? :) can't wait to see it with fans installed! |
I can't wait either. But first thing i have to do is to strenghten the frame before i do anything else. I looked into it and there is sufficient space to place some iron support at the back. I still don't know if i'm going to put in a floppy as i only need it for setting up raid under W2K ... or is that "bypassable" ? So strenghtening, filing the sharp edges, filling it up with fans, buttons, drives, psu, rheobus, leds ... and some soldering ... some testing ... and then i'll take some more pictures before i start the painting. Cutting/sawing and applying the plexi should be easy. Hope i'll get it finished before the end of september :wtf2: ... eventually i could skip some things, ... or come with the box like it is atm, just fill her up :grin: |
Please keep us informed, I have two off those cases and I want to mod them. I hope you can give me some tips or advise. :ws: Bosw8er |
Just need more time, too much work atm ... but ... HELL ... i AM going to finish it ... Jippie : all materials arrived. Strenghening has been thought about and will take about an hour to fix. Hehe, maybe gonna put in a Akasa Pax-Mate Sound Absorption Kit i just won on Systemcooling |
If you got any leftovers from that akasa absorption kit, please let me know. I'm looking for a small piece to absorb the vibrations of my pump (15*30cm). Nice work on the aopen. :) |
Quote:
Hehe, going to keep a leftover to put on my chair to muffle farting sounds. |
Quote:
i'll see what i can recover :) |
Update As my mother in law has been hospitalized for a serious illness, I’m working on this just the keep my mind off the very unfair way life can threat you. A small update to keep you informed. I’ve already got some fans  I never soldered before but putting together the rheo was very simple  The reinforcement i made at the back, in iron  Everything went fine exept for the unlocking of the XP1700 …  |
PLexi cutting Leftside, locked … key and lock actually work very well. Plexi may look kinda “dirty” … that’s just the protective film. I’m going to leave that on till I start painting. The white strips you see are “draft – strips” you normally use for windows or doors to stop the draft. It will work fine to absorb the pressure I put on the bolts through the plexi and it works “forgiving” for small cutting errors. Strips’ thickness varies between 1-9 mm.  Side flipped open. The combination of light plexi and heavy hinges prevent the door from falling open.  Nothing special, just the right hand side  Nothing special, just the back and leftside  |
It actually starts to look cool ;-) nice work there, those hours of free time spend on altering your PC-Case really add up! want your XP unlocked , properly? :) |
nice work already. but i am wondering? Is it not easyer to start with L-shaped iron and close that with plexi. than to buy a case and cut it so there is noting more left than a few pieces of iron ;) ;) |
Quote:
|
4 days later, no replies yet. How's it going? Update? Pics? /Me is getting curious :) |
I don't had ANY time to work on it. Just have 1 afternoon and 2 evenings free to finish the thing before the end of september. If there isn't time left, the painting will be done later on. |
This is most impressive! Are you going to smooth the edges of the plexi out using a buffer or something? I've seen rough edges on plexi before and its not pretty :) OH! you could also drill tiny holes in strategic spots in the plexi and mount bright LEDs to have the walls of the case illuminate everything ;) |
Plexi = cut & smoothed Case = cut & drilled & smoothed ... a lot of energy went into the smooth-making ; no sharp edges at all ! All what has to be painted has had a primer job. Don't have the time to install everything for a test run before painting. Don't have the time to mod the PSU (still can do that afterwards) Don't have the time to make it look like a factory job ... hehe, still have an excuse : it's my first REAL modification job. And "making it look like a factory job" wasn't my starting point anyway. Don't have the time to install a kewl looking illuminated MADlogo inside the case (still can do that afterwards) Everything has to be painted before i go on a short holliday next thursday. When i return the following tuesday i should have sufficient time to put everything together. When i have some time left i'll unlock the 1600. |
what dremel bit do you use to smooth the edges and to cut the metal?? |
Just some pictures to keep you warm :^) Iron cuttin' is done with regular electric saw, if you flip the side of the saw you can make a circle very easy. Then i filed the edges with an iron file ... and some sanding afterwards. Panels have had their first color-spray. Tomorrow i'll sand them and give them their second color-layer. Wednesday a last layer ... of clear laquer. Shabby picture of the case, had to use nightvision to make it ... i'm painting underground. The hinges, I/O-shield + euh … don’t know the correct name … things at the back that you flip out if you want to add PCI-cards … will be black also. Bummer, no time to paint the psu also … someday maybe.  Yellow front + top + pieces of CDROM & floppy.  The front is more sculpture-like. Took some time to make everything fit and you can see it won’t look like a factory job … some lines are crooked, some edges cracked, circles are not as round as they should be … You can see the holes for attachment to the case, holes for attachment of the 120mm fan, the 2 blowholes, holes for floppy & CDROM, holes for temp probes & HD-ventilation (front of hardcano looked like **** so I trew it away), holes for rheo, holes for start- and reset-button, 3 holes for the leds, and some front-usb-kinda-ports.  And last but not least the back- and rightpanel. I discovered that the 3 middle panels were a little too short … after everything was sawed. I had no time to resaw the 3 middle plates. Hey, it might look like crap but it won’t dissapoint me in silent-air-cooling-powah.  |
can't wait to see in broad daylight :) |
The painting looks crappy. The painting is not firm enough on the plexi (i used decent primer and a double layer of transparant coating though). I have to be extra careful during transport. The black painting attrackts dust like hell. Bummer i don't have the time to mod & paint the psu. Nevertheless some pics. Colorcombination doesn’t look too awful I think.  PSU should be black … maybe someday. Don’t know what to do with all the wiring … yet.  El custom and super cheapo grill … matching the bolts.  Modified power and reset buttons.  |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:03. |
Powered by vBulletin® - Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO
