Help with aesthetic fans and wiring a cigarette lighter, possibly volume knob, for a 1950's car themed PC

[NickPickerWI]

A client is asking to have a computer built to look like a 1950's car interior. The picture he gave me is attached.

 

He wants it done in wood grain, teal vinyl, and chrome. Awesome idea to me, I'm excited.

 

He's asking to have a chrome push-button to start the PC, with a chrome pull-out ashtray and functional chrome push-in cigarette lighter. I have all the parts selected for these components, but I don't know how to wire the cigarette lighter/what to wire it to - I'd like to know, but he said one of his buddies can handle the wiring if I can get it onto the PC chassis (this is no problemo).

 

I'd rather be able to do this all myself, rather than depend on someone else to come in after I'm done, and hope they do not start the thing on fire.

 

He also told me he wants a chrome volume knob that works, and I told him unless he wants to research how to write drivers for a device that I don't know how to wire into a system internally, this is better suited for a properly selected keyboard. He seemed to understand the challenges with doing this. (If you have ideas for this, let me know.)

 

Also, a lot of the components will be black tones. I'd like to avoid black fans to limit the dark components in the build, but don't know what my best options are. I'd love chrome fans, but don't know if anyone makes them (not that they'd be great fans, anyway). He wants the PC to be as quiet as possible, and the parts list (below) dictates that this PC will need at least three good quality fans for cooling (I'm planning two intake, one exhaust).

 

This may be one of the only builds I see the Noctua aesthetic working for. But I'm not too sure I like how it looks in my head.

 

Let me know your thoughts.

 

Parts list (tenative):

AMD Ryzen CPU (waiting for fall launch)

Cryorig M9 Plus (or AIO, depends on CPU TDP)

NVidia Geforce RTX 3080 graphics card

Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC motherboard

G.Skill Ripjaws V 32gb (2x16) 3600MHz CL16 RAM

Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe drive

Seagate BarraCuda 2TB platter drive

Seasonic Focus GOLD 750W power supply

Cougar MX-330G case

Fans TBD

[Br3tt96]

Such a nice build in a low tier case

[AndrewZScorpion]

Maybe you could spray paint some nice fans teal? Just be careful not to get it in the bearing.

[NickPickerWI]

24 minutes ago, Br3tt96 said:

Such a nice build in a low tier case

Well, there's lots of reasons for this.

 

Firstly, that's the point. Take a cheap case and make it look ultra. The prospect of making a showpiece from something very cheap excites us both.

 

Second, since we might have to buy two cases if we mess something up, it makes more sense to start with a cheap case and mod the hell out of it, rather than an expensive one and mod the hell out of it.

 

Third, we also have 3D printed, aluminum, and maybe steel parts we're making for this. We'd have to do all the same on an expensive case, too. The boxy and geometric exterior will help, and a lot of higher tier cases have injection molded parts with funky geometries that will be harder to build around.

 

And lastly, he does have a hard budget, which includes paying me.

 

It was between this case and a Phanteks Eclipse P300. We still might go for the P300, since its PSU shroud is outside the glass and gives us a nice surface to mod, but we don't like its limited USB on the front panel. Which I could fix, but...anyway, those are conversations we'll have when the time comes.

[NickPickerWI]

23 minutes ago, AndrewZScorpion said:

Maybe you could spray paint some nice fans teal? Just be careful not to get it in the bearing.

We thought about doing this.

 

I'm not a huge fan of painting fans. Most great fans, you can't separate the hub from the motor, so you can't get an even coat. You have to do all sorts of prep to get it to even look halfway decent, and if you want to paint the housing a different color than the blades, good luck.

 

If you don't get an even coat on the blades, the fan puts greater axial stresses on the motor (as it's no longer balanced), which is bad for the motor, and can reduce both its speed and life.

 

Also, if I went teal, I'd want to match the teal of the vinyl, which is another PITA. Color matching dissimilar materials is very hard.

[HM-2]

I reckon something like the older non-LED Corsair SP120/AF120 might work well...you could detach the fan rings for them and spray them using a high-reflection chrome paint. I don't know if the rest of the fan comes apart for painting but you could try something like a plastic dye.

 

FYI, you can separate the NF-P12 Redux and possibly the NF-A12x25 from the fan hub without damaging them. I know in the case of the former as I've painted six of them black now.

[Br3tt96]

2 hours ago, NickPickerWI said:

Well, there's lots of reasons for this.

 

Firstly, that's the point. Take a cheap case and make it look ultra. The prospect of making a showpiece from something very cheap excites us both.

 

Second, since we might have to buy two cases if we mess something up, it makes more sense to start with a cheap case and mod the hell out of it, rather than an expensive one and mod the hell out of it.

 

Third, we also have 3D printed, aluminum, and maybe steel parts we're making for this. We'd have to do all the same on an expensive case, too. The boxy and geometric exterior will help, and a lot of higher tier cases have injection molded parts with funky geometries that will be harder to build around.

 

And lastly, he does have a hard budget, which includes paying me.

 

It was between this case and a Phanteks Eclipse P300. We still might go for the P300, since its PSU shroud is outside the glass and gives us a nice surface to mod, but we don't like its limited USB on the front panel. Which I could fix, but...anyway, those are conversations we'll have when the time comes.

If you're modding the case anyway. May you could just install a good usb hub somewhere on the case and work it into the theme. Most case usb ports suck anyway. I tend to just plug things into the back of the motherboard for faster transfer speeds

[NickPickerWI]

15 minutes ago, Br3tt96 said:

If you're modding the case anyway. May you could just install a good usb hub somewhere on the case and work it into the theme. Most case usb ports suck anyway. I tend to just plug things into the back of the motherboard for faster transfer speeds

That's a good idea. He has an external splitter hub, and was hoping to get away from that. I'd originally picked a premium case for him that had tons of front USB, but then he got into talking about the mods, and we both decided a $120 case wasn't a good plan for that.

 

I could definitely make a chromed ring around a wood veneer inset with USB ports on it, with a hub on the backside, and screw that puppy on. The Phanteks would have the room on the side of the PSU shroud, and also could house the ashtray and the lighter.

 

Again, good idea!

[Br3tt96]

14 minutes ago, NickPickerWI said:

That's a good idea. He has an external splitter hub, and was hoping to get away from that. I'd originally picked a premium case for him that had tons of front USB, but then he got into talking about the mods, and we both decided a $120 case wasn't a good plan for that.

 

I could definitely make a chromed ring around a wood veneer inset with USB ports on it, with a hub on the backside, and screw that puppy on. The Phanteks would have the room on the side of the PSU shroud, and also could house the ashtray and the lighter.

 

Again, good idea!

I am ecstatic about this build now. I've always been a fan of the 50's wood veneer era and love the old chris craft boats.

[NickPickerWI]

57 minutes ago, Br3tt96 said:

I am ecstatic about this build now. I've always been a fan of the 50's wood veneer era and love the old chris craft boats.

Me, too! I'm stoked, it's a great idea, and it will look excellent. I'll be sure to post up some pictures once it's finished.

 

My client's PC is a welcome project to scratch the itch, but without the intensity of my personal mod project. I'm burnt out on it, just spent seven weeks modeling my case and components in 3D, and I'm not done

[airborne spoon]

Wiring the cig lighter is easy, just grab a 12v line and a ground and throw a fuse in there for good measure and you're good to go. For buying one Autozone carries the cig plug to wire in they call it like a 12v accessory outlet or something. For the actual cig lighter you're gonna need ebay or a junkyard.

For painting fans i have the EK vardar fans in my build and i pulled them apart quite easily and painted them and put it all back together with no issues they have been running great for about 3 years now.

[NickPickerWI]

20 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

Wiring the cig lighter is easy, just grab a 12v line and a ground and throw a fuse in there for good measure and you're good to go. For buying one Autozone carries the cig plug to wire in they call it like a 12v accessory outlet or something. For the actual cig lighter you're gonna need ebay or a junkyard.

For painting fans i have the EK vardar fans in my build and i pulled them apart quite easily and painted them and put it all back together with no issues they have been running great for about 3 years now.

Do you think a breaker could work in place of the fuse?