Cooler Master Elite 110: from Trash to Treasure

[colladus]

I recently bought a huge lot of computer parts on Craigslist, some of which were for a client build. Not mentioned in the ad, however, was an poor old abused Cooler Master Elite 110. It had dried superglue all over it, random holes drilled in it, at least three coats of different colored paint all over it, and a few missing parts. This is going to be the thread where I document my adventures resurrecting, modding, and building with this case, all with a budget of zero. Everything I put into this case is going to be scrap, and hopefully it turns out usable. The first two pictures are some pictures of the damage the case had, while the third is what the orbital sander revealed about its thoroughly painted history. 

 

I started the mod by sanding the outer panel of the case. This took a good half hour with the orbital sander, and left my hand unusable afterwards. It revealed that the seemingly black case had underneath it: Black, White, Red, Black, and then the metal of the case. I sanded the entire thing smooth, and applied a few coats of spray primer (Pic. 4).

 

Next came the front panel. One of the previous owners had taken to it harshly with a drill bit (Pic. 5), and it had the same paint disaster, but with another layer of white on top. I decided I was going to create an acrylic front for the front panel, gluing it to the tapered edge. This means I only have to worry about the appearance of the edges of the front panel. As far as front I/O, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It got the same sand, primer, and wait treatment as the main panel.

 

I went to my spray paint shelf to find that I have the colors black, white, red, blue, gray primer, and gold. I didn't want to do black or white, to avoid the colors that the case originally comes in. I decided against red, as that doesn't match my room. I decided for blue, as Gold is too tacky, and the gray primer is too matte.

 

For the front panel, I chose a white enamel, and it turned out quite glossy and nice looking. Once assembled with the rest of the case, it looks good. My next mods are going to be a custom acrylic piece to cover the carnage of the front panel, a side panel window, white internal lighting, and a few internal mods I haven't quite figured out so I won't mention here just in case. 

 

That's all there is for now, I'll post updates as they happen.

[Guest]

Holy fuck that's so blue that I can not imagine and write a proper English sentence. Good job

[colladus]

2 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Holy fuck that's so blue that I can not imagine and write a proper English sentence. Good job

Haha, I plan to dilute the blue a bit by masking on some black accents and decals. The side panel window will take away from the blue a bit, but in the end, it'll still be quite a blue build.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, colladus said:

Haha, I plan to dilute the blue a bit by masking on some black accents and decals. The side panel window will take away from the blue a bit, but in the end, it'll still be quite a blue build.

Blue is the best color isn't it?

[colladus]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Blue is the best color isn't it?

By far. Blue, black, and white, is about the best thing I could have done given my materials.