Adding Style - My First Case Mod

[123beta321]

Hi guys,

Before I start I’d like to say I’ve been following LTT on youtube (along with TechQuicky and Channel SuperFun for a couple years now and I love how informative and how great the content is.

 

My doner case for this project is a CiT Vantage (Blue Edition)

 

Original Case:

 

 

 

 

Stripped Down:

 

 

 

 

This is the case I used for my old PC, whose guts will be going back into the case after this is all done to be turned into a media PC.

 

The Hardware in nothing to rant and rave about; i5 2400, generic m-ATX motherboard, 1TB HDD, 450W PSU, 8GB 1333MHz RAM

 

This project is mainly for fun and “because I can” but also to give me a little, more specialised, experience using the tools before I started my university degree in September.

 

 

 

Initially all I wanted to do was to make a window in the side panel and make fan holes in the top for a dual radiator.

 

 

Rough shape of the window:

 

 

As you can see from this picture the new window will be the same shape as the old plastic shroud on the side pannel which covered the pre-existing fans. I always thought the shroud was ugly, so its about time it goes.

 

 

Rough position of the new fans:

 

 

I wanted to put these fans on the top pannel of the case, but unfortunately the case currently has a top-mounted power supply. Because of this, I’m going to be flipping the rear pannel and motherboard tray (giving me an inverted motherboard).

 

To do this I’m going to have to drill out most of the rivets in the case and fabricate a piece of metal to secure the motherboard tray after it has been flippe (probably out of the metal I cut out of the side-pannel).

 

 

The red rings indicate the rivets which need drilling:

 

 

 

 

 

(Sorry about the picture quiality so far, at this point my new camera hadn't arrived, so I was using my phone camera)

 

 

Starting masking off for the new window:

 

 

 

 

Tracing around the old shroud for the shape of the new window:

 

 

 

 

The First Cut:

 

 

 

Half Way There:

 

 

 

BREAK THROUGH!!!

 

 

 

After Filing the edges and scuffing the side panel to start painting:

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Plan:

 

 

Matt Black with white stripes (where the masking tape it).

 

 

White First:

 

 

Did 3 coats of white before I put the masking tape back on to start the black

 

 

 

 

Drilling out the rivets:

 

Bottom:

 

 

Back panel off:

 

 

 

Two to go before the mobo tray is free:

 

 

 

Aaaannnnddddd they’re out:

 

 

 

Any tips of getting these suckers off?

 

 

Test Fitting:

 

 

 

 

Time to start riveting:

 

 

 

Having to drill a couple new holes to secure things to the rest of the case after flipping the mobo and rear panel:

 

 

 

 

 

Test fitting with the plain side panel:

 

 

 

Bother are a little tight, but they fit!

 

 

After the paint had dried on the side panel there was a bit of overspray where I hadn’t applied the tape securely enough (oops!)

 

 

 

 

So time to do some touch ups, good thing I still have my paints from when I used to collect Warhammer:

 

 

Now its time to do the window:

 

I've gone with having a completely clear window

 

Measuring up the window and drawing in the cut lines:

 

 

Masking up the holes to drill in the side panel to secure the window. I decided to rivet in the window because, mainly, I think it looks cool:

 

 

Holes Drilled:

 

Time to cut the acrylic:

 

 

Test hole and rivet, make sure I can actualy rivent the acrylic without it cracking:

 

 

 

Now to drill into the actual window:

 

And the final window riveted into place:

 

 

 

Top Fan Holes:

 

For the top 240mm mount, I started by punching the guides into the pannel I wanted to drill:

 

Then I drilled some 3mm holes as a pilot hole, before I move onto the 5mm holes for the fan screws and the hole saw:

 

Hole saw time:

 

aaannnnddddd my drill isn’t powerful enough to get through the metal with the 120mm hole saw…

 

 

…so I had to borrow my step dad while I send my drill back and get the beefier model. My step dad’s drill requires a cord, so inside I go

 

Once inside I drilled the holes for the 240mm fan grill’s securing rivets:

 

Now to finish drilling the fan holes:

 

Drilling the holes took longer than I thought, but its all drilled out now and time to clean up the edges

 

Quickly make it into one larger, cleaner looking hole:

 

sing the cutting bit on my dremel left the edges a bit rough, so I changes to a sanding bit to smooth it all down and make the singilar edge “flow” and get rid of any leftover metal shards.

 

 

Adapting the fans:

 

 

 

The fans which were behind the original plastic shroud had been wired to this ugly green PCB. So I decided to get rid of it completely (along with the switch)

 

So I had to get my souldering kit out for the first time in a long while

 

Because its been a while, the solders weren’t as clean as I had hoped

 

Testing the connections:

Using a 9V battery connector I salvaged out of an old RC toy which brok, and they work! My connections are solid and both fans are working great

 

Covering the connections:

To prevent shorting out on the case, and eachother, I wrapped the connections with electrical tape. The wires are going to be run behind the modo tray so they’ll hardly be seen, but I’m planning on eventually sleeving the wires anyway – as well as the wires on the front panel connectors.

 

 

Rivited on the grill and installed the Fans:

 

 

 

 

As said above, I’ve got plans to sleeve all the ugly coloured wires. I’ve also got a plan to make a PSU shroud to, again, make things look cleaner and pull things together. However, this is how the case is going to stay for now, I’ve got an absolutely hectic time ahead of me. But I’ll be back, this isn’t the end of this project of mine.

 

Please guys, any constructive critisism, tip and suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks for tuning in

[FAQBytes]

Looks decent for the most part, but I think you used the wrong type of tape. 

[123beta321]

Looks decent for the most part, but I think you used the wrong type of tape. 

 

Frog tape hasn't taken me worng for whatever DIY I've gone before, what would you suggest though?

[19mk5ant]

Frog tape hasn't taken me worng for whatever DIY I've gone before, what would you suggest though?

Frog Tape is decorators tape which is low tack thats why it peeled back i always use 3m masking tape its always been best for spraying for me!  

[FAQBytes]

Frog Tape is decorators tape which is low tack thats why it peeled back i always use 3m masking tape its always been best for spraying for me!

 

Frog tape hasn't taken me worng for whatever DIY I've gone before, what would you suggest though?

Ditto to the above.

[123beta321]

Ok, now I know for next time. cheers guys

[SilicateWielder]

Looking at all the people who need to drill their rivets to mod their cases I am glad my case dissassembles down to the frame... .-.

[123beta321]

Hey guys, just a small update.

 

I've been playing around with the ideas for a PSU shroud/Cable shroud/Front radiator mount and I kinda like this one of all the itterations I've been playing around with.

 

 

 

I'm thinking making it out of either acrylic or sheet steel - both would be painted to fit the case once its all finished.

 

What are you guy's thoughts?

[123beta321]

Here's a bit of an update for you guys

 

Over the Christmas and New Year's period I was at home meaning (outside of socialising with friends and family, revising for my 1st set of Uni exams and working for some extra cash) I had a little bit of time to do some work on my case. Unfortunately however, it wasn't as productie as I would have hoped.

 

I started by by moving all my hardware from the Corsair Carbide Air 540 it was in and mock it up into my project case.

 

(forgive the mess of cables, they'll be more bareable once the shrouds are made and installed)

 

Found a bit of a snag (an error on my behalf fo not taking it into acount):

 

I forgot to take into account that the case doesn't originally have height for fans, let alone a radiator (rookie mistake by a rookie modder)

 

So I mocked up this shrould I'm going to have to make

 

 

 

So, ontop of removing the 5.25" and 3.5" bays and fabricating the PSU & 360mm radiator shroud, I'm also going to be fabricating this top fan shroud and updating the front IO to accomidate USB3.0 instead of an SD card reader.

 

Unfortunaley I'm now back at university so the only wokr that's going to be done to it for now is conceptual and research. But as always, thanks for reading and any advise is always welcome,