Shinai - Antec P380 casemod [Done, done, done Jan 29, 2016]

[InsolentGnome]

Hi, my name's Dave/InsolentGnome.  This isn't my first log, but it is my first one on LTT, so I figured what better way to start in these forums than with my personal rig.

 

Shinai is a weapon used for practice and competition in kendo representing a Japanese sword.  The word "shinai" is derived from the verb shinau, meaning "to bend, to flex", and was originally short for shinai-take (flexible bamboo). Shinai is written with the kanji 竹刀, meaning "bamboo sword".

 

Let's start with the patient, Antec's P380

 

It's really a nice case with a lot of room and good spots for cooling, but what sold me was the aluminum panel on the front.  I like the look.

 

First thing, time for some disassembly.  There's a little too much stuff in here.

 

The cages have to go.  Luckily they're all screwed in, including the 5 1/4" bays.

 

The top should have room for a 360mm rad with minimal modification.

 

Same with the front.

 

There's a nice touch where you can swap what side your I/O panel is on.  I think I'll keep this functional.

 

Think I'll keep the front intake grill and screen functional too, since I'm planning on this being my daily driver.  There will definitely be some upgrades to the looks though.

 

So what, you might ask, am I putting in this nice big case?  Well, I'll tell you the plan so far...

 

Motherboard:  Asus Maximus VII Hero.  Very pretty.  

 

CPU:  Intel i7 4790K Devil's Canyon.  

 

RAM:  16GB of 1866MHz Geil Veloce Enhance.  The gold is growing on me. 

 

Drive:  480GB OCZ Vector 180 to start with.  I'd like to come up with two more of these bad boys.

 

PSU:  Cooler Master V1200 Platinum.  Yeah, yeah.  Overkill, smoverkill. 

 

That's the loadout for now.

 

But Gnome, why did you name your case after a bamboo sword???  To answer this, we need to start rapping.

 

My name is Gnome,

And I'm here to say,

I hope you're having,

A very nice day.

 

Wait, not rapping.  WRAPPING!

 

Start with two, nice hunky pieces of aluminum.  Or aluminium, whatever your flavor.

 

Add in one large sheet of bamboo veneer.

 

Slather them up with some glue.

 

Once it's all dry, iron the heck out of it, and you wind up with...

 

While I was waiting for the glue to dry before the ironing, I managed to do some mock-ups as well.

 

Now I have a nice little template for the back wall, floor, and PSU shroud, plus I can start to pull parts together for the loop.

 

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned!

 

[Leonard]

Looking good.....brown coolant too?

[Bim Job]

YES!

[NeatSquidYT]

Looks nice. One thing though: how would the gold RAM look in black DIMM slots?

[knotz]

That bamboo is absolutely stunning. I would love to work with that in a future build.

[kameshss]

Sexy looking case!

 

Curves on that case is real nice.

[InsolentGnome]

Looking good.....brown coolant too?

 

Nah, red, but that will tie in later.

 

Looks nice. One thing though: how would the gold RAM look in black DIMM slots?

 

That Veloce would really stand out on a blacked out board or maybe an Asus Z97 with the gold-ish and silver accents.

[InsolentGnome]

That bamboo is absolutely stunning. I would love to work with that in a future build.

 

Thank you 

 

Sexy looking case!

 

Curves on that case is real nice.

 

 

Thanks.  Yeah the front and top panels are what sold me on it.

[vXhanz]

Looks good! I've never worked with bamboo veneer, how thick is it? Does it splinter as badly as regular bamboo plywood?

[TheProfosist]

I hate to admit it but all of Antec's cases lately are complete trash unless you mod them. They have really lost their way as of late.

[InsolentGnome]

Looks good! I've never worked with bamboo veneer, how thick is it? Does it splinter as badly as regular bamboo plywood?

 

Couldn't tell you at the moment, not very thick though.  There are a few spots on the bends where a splinter or two popped out, but not really that bad.  I did use a solution that supposedly softens veneers up so they bend easier though.

 

I hate to admit it but all of Antec's cases lately are complete trash unless you mod them. They have really lost their way as of late.

 

This isn't that bad of a case.  There weren't any crazy, gotta have it features, but it's solid and has plenty of room in it.  And the aluminum panels are slick, too bad they only painted them black.  So much potential with those. 

[TheProfosist]

-snip-

 

This isn't that bad of a case.  There weren't any crazy, gotta have it features, but it's solid and has plenty of room in it.  And the aluminum panels are slick, too bad they only painted them black.  So much potential with those.

its not a great case though. The build quality is poor compared to others and even their older cases. Their layouts could be better. I dont seems like their still living in 3-5 years ago with their designs.

[CtW]

IMHO the bamboo looks kinda out of place with the black finish of the case. If the thing was more of a silver/aluminum color, I think it would look better.

[InsolentGnome]

IMHO the bamboo looks kinda out of place with the black finish of the case. If the thing was more of a silver/aluminum color, I think it would look better.

 

Yeah, not gonna stay black, but I need to get all the fab work done before paint.  

[vXhanz]

Couldn't tell you at the moment, not very thick though.  There are a few spots on the bends where a splinter or two popped out, but not really that bad.  I did use a solution that supposedly softens veneers up so they bend easier though.

 

 

You may want to put some kind of finish on the veneer to protect it and help keep those fibers together. You can go with a water based finish or an oil based, though an oil based finish will give the veneer a slightly yellow hue to it without staining.

[InsolentGnome]

You may want to put some kind of finish on the veneer to protect it and help keep those fibers together. You can go with a water based finish or an oil based, though an oil based finish will give the veneer a slightly yellow hue to it without staining.

 

I was planning on lacquering it, maybe a polyurethane.  Still need to do some looking on that front but I have a lot more to fab before I start worrying about it.

[vXhanz]

I was planning on lacquering it, maybe a polyurethane.  Still need to do some looking on that front but I have a lot more to fab before I start worrying about it.

 

Lacquer would actually be pretty good for this build and shouldn't change the color of the wood too much. Lacquer is used a lot more in Japan than it is here in the States and would actually play into your theme very well. 

[Analog]

Looks very nice! Thumbs up for the GeiL RAM kit. You can't se them used that often in build logs these days!

[InsolentGnome]

Looks very nice! Thumbs up for the GeiL RAM kit. You can't se them used that often in build logs these days!

 

Thanks.  I've never used GeiL before but I won them so I figured I'd put them to use.

[InsolentGnome]

Now that my last build is done and set up(cause we all need an i7 jukebox, right?), time to hit the ground running on Shinai!

 

First off, we got some more components in:

 

EK Supremacy block

 

EK D5 with acrylic top

 

Pair of Hardware Labs Black Ice 360 XFlow radiators

 

And plugging things in to see how it's going to fit

 

The radiators fit really well, with only a little bit of work to get some screw holes on the front rad to work.  Everything was looking peachy until I started to play around with pump placement.  Obviously with the acrylic top, I want to show it off, but with the way the XFlow on the front lays out, I'm not liking the tubing.  I could get it to work, but it wouldn't fit the look I'm going for, so I went back and ordered a standard Black Ice 360.  I know it will fit since it's a little shorter than a XFlow and I think the tubing will look a whole lot better.

 

After getting that figured out and working out some plans for the mb tray(unsurprisingly, I had to order stuff for that too), I decided to work on the outside of the case a bit.  I like the look, especially with the bamboo, but it needs a little more flair.  

 

Enter the perforated aluminum...

 

I decided that since the exterior panels have a side profile of brushed aluminum, I'd keep using aluminum for accent pieces.  So, time for some grills!

 

First off, we have to get rid of the slot stuff that Antec put in our way.

 

After some filing, on to the next step, hoping the aluminum piece we cut, fits.

 

Once we get that all figured out, tap some holes

 

And voila!

 

And with the USB panel and exterior panels in place

 

Sorry about the overexposure on that one pic, dang!  Now I just need to decide what to do with the USB bracket.  I had thought about putting a piece of the aluminum on the blank side of the bracket, but now I'm leaning to covering both sides with some brushed vinyl film.  I'll save that for another update though.

[InsolentGnome]

Man i love how you did the bamboo wrapping on the outer panels, consider my abroad the hype train

Hype Train.jpg

 

Thanks!

[Andrew420]

What fans will you use? Will the GPU be watercooled as well? Nice build, especially the bamboo wrap. subbed!

[InsolentGnome]

What fans will you use? Will the GPU be watercooled as well? Nice build, especially the bamboo wrap. subbed!

 

First off, thanks!  I've ordered some EK Vardars, the F3-120mm.  I've been using Corsairs for their looks and price, but these won't be out in the open like my previous builds so I'm looking for performance.  I'm planning for a pair of GPU's under water, but that's all going to depend on budgeting.  I might have to figure the second card as an upgrade path.

 

edit:  Nice!  I just saw your rig specs Andrew and I just got finished building a case for my i7-920 with the GA-X58-UD3R.

[InsolentGnome]

So, small update.  Been dying waiting on one piece of acrylic.  It's just about shut me down completely, but I've done some little pieces.

 

Firstly, my new radiator came in

 

 

This is going to make the hardlines nicer but,

 

 

The hole spacing is just a bit off, so it wont be a direct bolt in.  This isn't a bad thing, as I can make a mounting panel for it that also cleans up the inside of the case.  

 

And speaking of cleaning up the inside of the case, I went ahead and cut a piece of aluminum for the floor

 

 

I only took it back to the rails for the PSU filter because I'm hoping to be able to still use it.  Fingers crossed.

 

One more thing I could do while waiting for material was figure out a pump cover.  I thought about just ordering one, but where's the fun in that.  Plus, making my own allows me use materials that tie the case together.  In this case, the perforated aluminum.

 

First off, I made a ring out of the aluminum, pump sized

 

 

The ring is held together by a solder joint on the bottom.  I did some homework about soldering aluminum together and let me say, I'd rather solder copper any day.  Although, with a few more tries, I'd probably get better with it.

 

 

After cleaning it up a bit.  Passable, but not pretty.  After a little filing and a little sanding though, I got what I was looking for.

 

 

Once all the mock up is done I can put a brushed finish on this bad boy and with some sleeving, I think it'll look great.

[vXhanz]

Looks nice! Very unique.