Corsair 900D Unforgiven - The Metallica Build

[onevoicewild]

Hello Everyone - This Is corporative build. My name is Mike ( onevoicewild ) I am Building a Corsair 900D Case Mod, I live in the USA.  My Good friend Sam ( Do Until Loopy ) lives in London UK and he is doing all the renderings and developed the design based on my original Ideas. We started work on this several months before the case was actually available,  Working on some of the signature pieces for the case and refining the design.

 

Sponsored By :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my Original Inspiration for the theme, I like the way it looks and a lot of people are doing game themes so I wanted to try something a little different. 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an example of Sam's awesome renderings. Were waiting to see who else want's their products displayed here?

 

 

 

 

 

I started working on the front emblem for the case.  This came to be known as the spiky thing.  I think it drew enough blood from me to earn it's name. I have Made most of the pieces by hand, out of necessity to keep costs down.

 

 

 

 

I used rusting techniques and paint splotching to get the colors I was looking for. 

 

 

 

I was very happy with the way It came out. I went through several saw blades trying to find one that was acceptable, Most blades these days look like something out of alien and not the traditional look I needed.

 

 

We have multiple versions of the case that we were considering for the final finish.

 

The standard version.

 

 

 

 

This is the Heavy Metal version, which seems to be the favored look.

 

 

 

 

 

I was fortunate to have a heavy sheet of Copper about 26" x 27"  3mm thick and about 27 pounds.  The current cost of a sheet like this would be $$$$  It had an acid etching on the other side but I decided it had to be sacrificed to the Modding gods.  The down side is that I'm using  the back side that had a lot of deep scratches that continue to plague me continually.  Lets just say my upper body strength is increasing daily.  

 

 

Next on the agenda it to craft the Metallica emblem.

 

 

Well every thing has to start somewhere. Ruff, Ruff my kingdom for a CNC machine. ha ha

 

 

Fortunately one of my personal traits is extreme stubbornness ! This took a full week of 2 to 3 hours a night cutting, filing and polishing.  Big Pain, but there is truly a great satisfaction in being able to craft something with basic tools. When your modding a case that isn't available you tend to have a little time on your hands.  Oh my hands  !

 

 

 

 

I'm good with that ! It came out better than I hoped for.  I have to say that Sam's whole world is exact precision and having him looking over my shoulder has helped me bring up my game to a higher level.  I had to Laugh, after it was done he liked it but had to point out that the edge bevels were done at 45 degree angles and not the prescribed 30 degree angle.  Ha Ha there are just some places you can't get needle files into, no matter how small they are !  But that kind of attitude pushes me to do a better job than I might with out Sam pushing me for perfection.

 

 

 

I love how moody this polished Copper is, depending on how the light hits it.

 

 

One of the programs Sam uses for his renderings Is solidworks. One cool thing about it is you build components separately and then you can plug them into anything. 

Here is his render of my sound card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Owen at MNPCTECH made me some very special grills for The Metallica Build.  He made two 200mm Nautilus grills and a quad ring OverKill grill.  These beautiful grills are key to the overall look of the case.

Just to give you an Idea of how large these grills are, that is an 140mm fan behind it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hate people getting finger prints on my fan blades so I wanted to add some deterrents to go along with the theme. 

 

 

 

 

The crazy thing is that I may not even be using these 200mm fans on this build.  People had been pushing me to use a 360 Nautilus grill on the front instead of the two 200mm.  I had that grill on my 800D so I temporarily robbed it to see what kind of a finish I could get on it.  Once I was done I swung over to the 360 camp. 

 

 

The red headed step child. My 800D

 

 

 

Bill Owen had ask me if I needed another 360 grill to replace the one I was robbing of the 800D. I told him oh no I won't need one.  My 800D said WHAT?  Parts cost $ 0 Dollars Shipping cost $ 0 Dollars

Stealing parts from the rig your currently using - Priceless !

 

 

This is one of my prize toy's, when I first saw one of these I knew I had to have one!  So I have to ask myself the question ? why do I have a sanding block in my hand ?  As modders we want to make something unique. Manufactures can only stock the stuff that sells, It's up to us to take it from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a reason that people Anodize things.  It's very durable and in this case, very hard to sand off.  This actually turned out to be my saving grace.  All I had was fairly fine sand cloth so it was going slowly. The plan was to flat sand and polish the top like I did on the 200mm grills.  I almost wish I had stopped where I was at the picture below, but that wasn't the plan and I hadn't yet realized how interesting the developing pattern was becoming.

 

 

 

 

Once I pushed on I started to realize just how good it was looking so I decided to see what I could do with it.  I was very happy with the

outcome and that's why I decided to go with the 360 Grill on the front Bezel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam wanted to do some renders in an office setting.  Metallica has to have an office somewhere? I don't imagine it being this clean, but hey maybe the groupies needed something to do between shows?

 

 

 

 

 

Here Is a night shot to test the lighting.

 

 

 

 

Here Is an early Rad that was rendered, but once we got better products from EK we will not be using it ! but I owe it to Sam for taking the time to do it.

 

 

 

 

I wanted to hand make an EK emblem out of respect for there sponsorship.  This actually turned out to be a little harder than I expected !  the problem I had was lining up all the duplicate angles and sizes.  When your filing away metal if something isn't right you have to go back and file out all the other areas to match.  The size I decided to make was 3" diameter but the pilot drill on my hole hog was just a little bit to big to keep from nicking the edge of my cut lines. File, File, File. I finally got it nice so I didn't have to start over.  Some times I my worst enemy, but I'm out here paying my dues and learning as I go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I put a polished aluminum disk in behind the Copper to get some contrast.   

 

 

 

Because I will have so much shiny stuff on this build, I have learned to love the reflections they throw off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Sam made some renderings to show off our sponsors products.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had been talking to Michael Wood with Mayhems Dyes and water cooling fluids about a fluid they had in development, called Liquid Metal. It would be absolutely perfect for The Metallica Build! we hope it's mysteries can be solved before we finish the build.  As I said it Is still in development so don't go asking for it ! I'll let you know If it is ready.  They have many other great products that are available now.  I did want to show you the liquid metal though it is very cool looking.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIjpj2oGv9E

 

 

 

 

Unforgiven - The Metallica Build is sponsored By :

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

[That Norwegian Guy]

Well this is certainly worth following...!

[MzCatieB]

O.O nice work and awesome 3d renders

[simplebob]

holy mother of technology

[Adler Polk]

This is probably the most bad ass looking build i have ever seen....  Very nice metal work also!

[felixbearpig]

i love this build , i also like that the fans can literally take you finger off

cliff would have been proud

[bennyino]

looks so beast

[Dantheman]

Awesome, being a huge metallica fan i approve and wish i had enough money to do this 

[liveturbo24]

looks good

[onevoicewild]

Oh yes there is a god.  I think this was sitting in the office for two days that I was sick. I might have had a sudden recovery if I had know that it was delivered.  Everyone is showing pictures of the stupid box ! that's not what I want you to see in this picture. On top of the box is a one of a kind OverKill ring grill made just for this build  Also there is some very special mesh that I will incorporate inside the case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did a test fit on the grill so I could see what it looked like and get some pictures.  I was so excited I actually mounted the fans on the wrong side of the bracket.  I figure things out eventually he he he

 

 

 

 

The Biggest Rush In Modding is taking a perfectly beautiful case just as it is and committing to cut some big ole holes in it.  Better not mess up now !  Because there are no replacement parts for this case yet I measured and cut very carefully.

 

 

 

It came out well, This is not the final surface so I did have a little room for error.  it did require a lot of hand filing, I drilled the holes with a 4 1/2 " hole hog bit which is just a little smaller than an 120mm opening.  I miss my drill press that I lost in the divorce ? Got the girl back but not the drill press.  Ripped off again ! ha ha  don't ask  hand to forehead. I actually had smoke come out of my hand drill twice, don't fail me now !

 

Painted the edges of the cuts so they don't show up at steep angles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right where it was supposed to be. whoo

 

 

 

 

 

Starting to look better. It's still an empty suit while I am waiting for parts to come in.  I have plenty to do before that anyway so I'm not in a hurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[onevoicewild]

Thanks every one ! Me and Sam Are having a blast with this build. thanks again - glad to be here !

[onevoicewild]

Ok I said Sam was from London. Well I think he was heavily Into the Guinness the night he did these and from the results I think I'll be buying him more in the future !

 

 

 

 

 

I think I just found a guy that can do the Air Brush Art for this Skelly, I really like it for the off side of the case.

 

 

  

 

 

Next on my agenda was to do the thick Copper window frame.  This was a one time shot at getting this right because it takes up most of the sheet of Copper, so I cut it very carefully.  I picked up a trick from Cheapskate to square up long straight sections of material and it worked perfectly.  What I did was buy two belts for a belt sander and glued them to each side of a straight board, Screwed that to my work bench and ran it up and down the length, paying special attention to keeping it square. These Master Builders Like Cheaps have tons of tricks to deal with every situation.   

 

 

 

 

I had to square up the inside also so I screwed in a second board that held the piece in place so I could sand it also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little did I know but I was just about to get into a week of work trying to polish the frame to an acceptable level.  Back to those deep scratches I mentioned. I had already done a ton of sanding on the sheet before I made the first cut and I decided to finish smoothing the actual pieces when I got to that point.  well here I am and there are still some scratches so I started with a ruff grit to remove more material.  The problem is you create new hopefully smaller  scratches and you have to progress to finer and finer cloth only to realize that there were still some left. Grrrr after multiple cycles of this I finally got what I was looking for. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a lot of work !  but it was well worth it to get the kind of finish that I wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the people that have purchased Corsair 900D cases have been asking for Corsair to offer a clear window, because the smoked glass Is highly reflective.  Luckily I like to mess with things so I ordered in a precut sheet of 3/16" clear cast Acrylic to see what it looked like.  Here we go again ! the factory window sets over 12 male stubs that stick up from the window frame. The problem is that this required me to drill so close to the edge of the glass that I'd already consigned myself to the fact that I was going to crack it.  Thanks to Good quality cast Acrylic, Brad point bits and some very careful drilling I was able to do it without any Issues.  I graduated trough three drill sizes to get up to the size I needed.

 

 

  

 

 

I do truly have to laugh. Corsair makes cases with clear windows and the people cry for colored windows. So they make a case with a beautiful smoked black window and the people want clear windows.  This falls under the category of you just can't win.  I have one other sheet In a lite bronze color that I may try?  As you will see in the pictures the clear glass also has a big reflection to it.  I actually like the factory glass and I'm not sure which I will use until I get some Hardware In the case. I just wanted something to do that didn't involve sanding or polishing for a few days he he he. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The clear looks pretty reflective too. It just depends on the light in the room your in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where our current progress is. I'm trying to find an acceptable diamond plate and waiting for parts.  Thanks to every one for checking out our build and don't forget the great companies that support our community because some of the builds out there that we get to enjoy are only possible with the support of these great companies!

 

 

 

 

[Nicktrance]

[hiyayhi]

That is looking so awesome!

[JordanMac]

wow that case is just so awesome with all those mods!

[91wow]

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I wish I had this amount of time and money to make a build like this... Maybe when i get a job I will get the moeny and the experience to do it.

[onevoicewild]

[ImpureHunter]

And i drilled 4 holes to mount a fan on the side panel and was pround well.......  :wacko:

[ExDreamer]

Simply wow,if only i have the talent and money to do this.

[bradscoolio]

[Oseirus]

I almost hate seeing builds like this, simply because the sheer amount of unadulterated BADASSNESS makes me think of how bland and boring my own rig is, and how woefully untalented I am to even consider any significant modding. I can make it look clean, but nothing even remotely close the level of dedication, quality, and awesome being dumped into this, and many other builds.

 

I offer the most bitter, jealous, and sincere "Fantastic Job!" that any human being is capable of giving. Would sell my soul for a work of art like this.  

[onevoicewild]

Oseirus I feel the same way when I look at other people's builds!! When we got sponsored I started looking at other builders they were supporting and thought I'm not worthy , I'm not worthy. Some of the mods out there are so complex that it's hard to even imagine how they thought it up? I just want to make the best case I ever made and keep it within my current ability level. If you enjoy modding just keep learning and you will amaze your self! Thanks so much for the kind words! I didn't even know this site existed, There are some really good people here.

I forgot to post one render that Sam did that was really good ! I don't think anyone Is ready to offer us a set of titans so when we first planned this I tried to keep it somewhat realistic on the hardware. 2 water cooled GTX 680's and an extended ATX mother board, because this case is so big you really have to use some of that real estate. Nothing is final on this but the board that was rendered is a Gigabyte Z77X-Up7 with a 3770K processor. Yes this stuff is a little dated, But we have forgotten just how powerful the hardware is these days. If your a fan boy for another brand, get them to send me some stuff ha ha. There are many good products available and I'm leaving my options open until I get to that point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Is what a 900D looks like broken down flat for painting.  It took Bill Owen 50 minutes to take it apart and let's just say he's done a few cases!

 

 

 OMG I'm so glad I don't have to do that for this build !

[leafXequtioner]

WOW

[Bupalooga]

Holy shit bricks dude! looking super awesome, love it!

[Focux]

ur build has caused a quake across the vast galaxy of interwebs that measured over 9000 on the ritcher scale. kudos.