35 replies to this topic

[bonestonne]

Maybe a Krylon, high gloss clear coat would look good on that, and prevent scratches and blemishes. A matte finish would look just as good I think, that's a really nice red, I just think the side panels should be either a matching, or contrasting color.

[banini_jeque]

Instead of white? I went for the white because I thought it would give it sort of a classic car from the 50s look, especially with the chrome grill. All red probably would have looked pretty cool too. Guess I'll have to make another one...

[MarioMac]

Your mod is awesome, can't wait to see the final result !

Personnaly I want to put a full ATX configuration (DFI LanParty P45-T2RS Plus with Q9550 and 9800GTX+) with 1 HDD and Slim-line DVD Rom. in my graphite case, and your idea to do a new front plate/grill give me some facilities for my project. Thanks !

Very good job banini_jeque !

Any update ?

[banini_jeque]

Well, I've got the system running, but I've been stalling on actually finishing the mod because I can't get native speedstep and boot without NullCPUPM on my EVGA X58 SLI3, and SleepEnabler won't work with 10.6.5, 64bit and NullCPUPM. I can't find any cases of anyone else making it work, and none of the pros on here know what the problem is either. So now I'm kind of looking for another board that I like the styling on that will work. I want to get everything functional before I finish. I like the ASUS P6T6, but all the guides I've seen are using NullCPUPM, which isn't what I want. I've gotta have few/no legacy ports, a uniform looking rear io plate, and good color choices. The Gigabyte X58's mostly have too many legacy ports like IDE and a floppy connector still? Come on. Plus the IO ports on the back don't make sense to me. A four pin firewire port? WTF. Plus two of the USB 2.0 ports are yellow while the rest are black. The GA-X58-USB3 is better, but it uses ALC892 (another problem with my SLI3), and doesn't even have firewire or sata 3. Another option is the ASUS P6X58D series, but I don't really like the weird release tab "wings" on the pci-e slots. Trying to look like a dragon or some ish. Not for me.

[banini_jeque]

Here's some iPhone pics I took last night after forming my new clear acrylic air ducts for the cpu heatsink. Temps are around 42°C during light use at stock speeds. I could probably improve that a little bit by sealing the ducting off better. The lighting was bad, but I don't care because the whole thing isn't done yet.

Attached Files

•  IMG_0198.JPG   1.23MB   74 downloads
•  IMG_0200.JPG   1.32MB   93 downloads

[MarioMac]

Amazing mod

[banini_jeque]

Finally got to the USB and Firewire ports on the front. Still need to do audio. Also added a power button from a PowerBook G4 Titanium.

Attached Files

•  IMG_0463.JPG   276.23K   35 downloads

[Baudouin]

Great job. Congratz. Looks fantastic.

[WhatTheTech]

Amazing!! What a unique and creative front panel!

[Ira Aduro]

So wait, this is from 2010, talk about perseverance! btw that new front is very inspiring, nice design. Seems like you had some problems at first when you had it plasma cut? Is plasma cutting of steel not that accurate?

[banini_jeque]

Yeah the accuracy was terrible. I didn't know what I was doing. Not that I cut it myself, but I just didn't know it would come out so bad. If I had to do it again, I would use thicker material and get it machined.

[Ira Aduro]

I'm very interested in the best way to have parts cut out, working on a few parts myself. When you say machined do you mean CNC cut or on a lathe of some kind? I'm trying to find out what the best end product to cost ratio is. Thanks for the advice.

[apple apple]

MY FN G-D! I remember when you started down this path. Amazing. So many have got caught up in the g5 and pro case mods, and little is done anymore on these little gems. I love what you have done. Great job!

[MiniHack]

banini_jeque
This thread inspired me when I first read it a year or two ago, and it still does now. Lots of work in this case and some time ago I had a little go at replicating this in mirrored acrylic (my advice to anyone thinking the same is - in acrylic - is don't bother!), but to answer anyone else contemplating doing this in any material my advice would certainly be to  find someone you can trust who is not horrendously expensive.
CNC or laser would work, for either type of operation it would be do-able, as long as you do the ground work yourself first and need not be too expensive.
The major part in any project like this is preparation by taking apart the machine you are working on, measuring several times, trying paper templates, getting all the measurements onto the PC and presenting your CNC or laser person with something they can quickly translate into a cutting file.
IF you can do that, or the guy with the machine is on your side and wants to do it for you, then it can be surprisingly affordable. If the machine shop are not particularly interested or have their time taken up by orders from industry then they will make it cost too much to be practical.
But hey, this forum is a good place for finding people that can help.

[KingOssy]

Amazing,it reminds me a bit to Mario mushroom.

[WhatTheTech]

Holy large image Batman...