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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 3, 2005 17:20:13 GMT -5
hmm i tried getting it off an no can do.. how do i get to the other latch, it's behind all the drives. how did cutting through the SECC go when you put u're fan in? I figured doing them separatly wouldn't be as much of a struggle. Im ACHING to do some cutting so i can window this
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Post by crusier on Aug 4, 2005 4:09:59 GMT -5
The plastic side panel is inserted into all the guides and then pushed up until the counter parts to the latch (located on the plastic panel - small plastic ramp affairs )dimples on the metal side panel slide up over them and lock it in place. The rivets you see at the front middle and top there are used to hold the drive cages in, along with attachments to the front sheetmetal and the far lip. To remove the panel You need to pry the plastic out about 1/16th of an inch at those labelled latch points to allow the plastic to then slide down and off. You'll need to verify the locations by looking down between the plastic and the sheetmetal from the top while the side door is open. Remember the tab at the rear bottom used to support the side panel when opened needs to have room to drop clear. It takes about a half inch drop for the plastic to disengage itself. In cutting the plastic and sheetmetal be very careful that the two cutouts are properly aligned. I just cut a smilie into mine to get some airflow and it just seemed to match the power on button icon. I removed the filter foam and did some finnish work on the holes after the pic was taken ages ago. The cutouts in the top and rear are simply used for additional airflow also and I'm currently cooling the chassis with an artic cooler on the vid card and the 2 rear nidecs that came with the system. Needless to say there are other changes made to the system. glhf
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 4, 2005 8:23:42 GMT -5
awesome.. thanks alot. do yo uthink it would kill the drives support if they werent attatched to the side panel as well as the front?... cuz i'd like to make a big window and that would cuz out some of the rivets on the side
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Post by crusier on Aug 4, 2005 16:07:03 GMT -5
You would still have the drive cages there right behind where the removed sheetmetal was. The cage assemblies add additional rigidity to the whole left side. There's a reason Trow's window is shaped as it is...hehe
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 4, 2005 17:55:12 GMT -5
hmmm i know you would still see them there. But I wanted to have a window like on a regular case. hmmm we'll see what i can do ,maybe ill make a cool window near the back or something who knows. or cut the bottom part of case out so you see through the bottom and not where the drive cages are.
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 5, 2005 2:03:17 GMT -5
thinking about doing this type of design for my side panel.. and yes i know the one line is at an angle i actually want it to be at more of an angle but i wanna see how much room i have once i get the plastic off to work with it this would be my dream window m dream window tapes/ masked outwith fan placement. thats my idea for the front door.. whats everyone thing. my dream window should only cut out some of the bottom support for the drive bays so it'll be held from the top of the case as well as the front .
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Post by crusier on Aug 5, 2005 6:09:29 GMT -5
See the dream thru or explore some more....looks interesting
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 5, 2005 7:16:57 GMT -5
i think the dream will be the safest thing to do and will give me the best results
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Post by devnull on Aug 5, 2005 11:11:43 GMT -5
This is probably way out of anybody's fabrication ability but what about making a whole new plastic piece for the side. That way you can cut your window how you want and not have a rediculous looking 'L' or 'LL' left over from the DELL on the side panel.
Unknown -- I think the bottom two pictures are sooo cool. If you could do that it would be very very sweet, though I still have reservations about the side panel having an 'L' left over.
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 5, 2005 11:46:35 GMT -5
me to i wanna do a full window but i think that would compromise the structural integrity of the drive cage if i find out that it'll be fine without the side holding i'll to a full side window but i think this design i have masked out now is best for form and function till i see what happens I could always just cut a 92 mm hole over the remaining 2 L's and put a filter over it to let air flow over the cd rom and stuff.
im really looking forward to cutting it sometime soon before school starts.. so it'll be soon anyone have any tips for cutting plexi? so i can mount the fans on it and have a hole and stuff? also how thick should the plexi be?
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Post by ben on Aug 5, 2005 15:55:05 GMT -5
i think you should do a full window, maybe find a way to brace the door. run some pieces of aluminum around the boarder of the window for support? dont know how much that would strengthen the door though.
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 6, 2005 21:56:21 GMT -5
well i could always cut the L window then turn it into a full window later.. whats people think about the front door
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 8, 2005 22:35:39 GMT -5
so im looking at cooler guys and starting to make a cart for my next stage of mods so far i have www.coolerguys.com/840556011040.htmlwww.coolerguys.com/840556035398.htmlwww.coolerguys.com/ultramem.htmlwhat else is needed. i think if i have time im gonna cut the window this weekend. what thickness of of plexi do people recommend ? i don't want it to be too thin and im thinking about just screwing it into the side panel. I've ordered the artic cooler silencer from cooler guys. It's on sale for 20 bux and comes to 28 after shipping. hopefully it'll be here by the weekend so i'll be in business
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Post by unknowngod430 on Aug 8, 2005 23:58:44 GMT -5
well the window itself is cut out i think im goin to mount it using liquid nails and caulk. so it has a nice clean finish.. i gotta sand the edge of the window but i don't happen to have any sand paper beside the dremel and i don't feel like kicking that up at 1 am. i took the fan off the one side of the heat sink that was closest to the rear fans cuz the insulated wire kept gitting into the fan blade. and i dunno how much benifit it actually gave me. Also i moved the fans on the side so they're both over top the video card and then put the front 120mm fan on temp controlled, since Im going to need the adjacent pci slot for the artic coooler silencer. well i'll be off to home depot 2morrow to get sand paper and liquid nails and stuff .. Maybe if im bored and feel adventureous i'll do it 2morrow. here's pics of the plexi cut and taped in place i think i have 1/8 inch plexi.
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Post by unknowngod430 on Sept 24, 2005 10:57:56 GMT -5
goin home to mod the hell outta my case... window(s)... moding the HD bay making my own fan controller and sheathing the drives.... WOOOOO!.... and maybe some sleeving.. will have pictures as soon as i can... WISH ME LUCK@!
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Post by unknowngod430 on Sept 25, 2005 1:41:15 GMT -5
ok so it was a pretty successful night.. didn't get the window in.. damn breaking cutoff wheels... however i did get the drives sheated with clear acrylic and made the fanbus... however one of my thermaltakes manual controll heads came off. looks like im gonna have to get that fixed... started cutting out the top grate for some extra air however m last cuttoff wheel bit the dust. im having a little trouble making the front door work with the drives.. but im being creative i might just have to make an acrylic front door.... I've cut the window outta the plexi..same basic shape as my dream window just angled more.. since i've unfortunaly only gotten like 50% of what i wanted to get done actually done... ill be working alot of 2morrow on finishing it up... hopefully after 2morrow all i'll need to do is get an acoustipak.. a sunbeam minibay, a 5 connector Tmolex extention, and maybe/probably the zalman 9500... well i'll have pics when i get back to school at somepoint
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Post by unknowngod430 on Sept 25, 2005 23:47:35 GMT -5
IT"S DONE!!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01174fu.jpg" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01188sg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4927/dscf01188sg.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01198xb.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9180/dscf01198xb.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01209jk.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8381/dscf01209jk.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01210qe.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/3299/dscf01210qe.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01223if.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6196/dscf01223if.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01236bm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4539/dscf01236bm.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01246up.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7954/dscf01246up.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01258wp.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8770/dscf01258wp.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01269sf.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6531/dscf01269sf.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01270jv.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/7066/dscf01270jv.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01289cc.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9616/dscf01289cc.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf01297ra.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3932/dscf01297ra.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> MUAHAHAAA>>> unfortunately i need to get in contact with thermaltake but oh well... next off the last mods stated in the affor post.. didn't sleeve or move the HD bay cuz it was late and i really didn't need to.. on well maybe in the future sorry for it just being links. copied the wrong line.. so im glad to say im the 1st xps owner with a custom window sheathed drives and fanbus... it was modding hell this weekend.. but it DEFINATELY payed off . still need to sleeve the wires. but ill say it was a good start.
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Post by stevogabe on Sept 26, 2005 18:49:05 GMT -5
looks pretty good. just the inside needs some cleaning up. good work
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Post by unknowngod430 on Sept 26, 2005 21:48:50 GMT -5
yea i gotta sleeve the wires and im gonna put some sound deadending in and run the wires under that....
if anyone wants to send over there molex tools ill be on my way to sleeving... im looking at getting the sunbeam mini dock ... pluging all my fans in there and then using a tmolex extender to plug in the drives .. taking votes on what heatsink i should get to replace the stock one... i was thinkign about the new zalman but im hearing mixed things..
should i put in more lights? like maybe sound activated typo thing
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Post by TRow on Sept 27, 2005 16:22:51 GMT -5
Nice work man, pretty neat stuff.
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