DIY system unit. DIY wooden PC case DIY computer case
...actually it all started many years ago, around 78, when I was four years old... When visiting relatives, they took out a large iron box with tools, light bulbs, switches and similar “trash”, after which throughout the entire “visit” I was neither seen nor heard. By the way, the owner of that box, my uncle, is very straight arms...
Currently, I work as a carpentry foreman. I have been craving for everything that contains microcircuits for a long period of time, but from the moment I purchased my first computer, the thoughts of “doing something with it” systematically appeared in my head. Then I found out what it was modding... And from that moment there is not a day without thinking about it... By the way, this is my first job...
That's probably enough introduction, let's get straight to the point. Every mod I make starts with a lot of thinking about what I want to do. As a rule, I don’t make drawings (but in vain :)), many thoughts come while doing the work. Unfortunately, at the time the mod started, I didn’t think that I would show my work somewhere (on the Internet), so there aren’t very many photos... Well, let’s begin...
Of course, it all started with a search for the system unit case; a damaged case of unknown origin was purchased, which served as the basis of the system unit. The idea was to make a wooden case and, moreover, it would not be embarrassing to show to friends, but since this is my first work, I decided to focus on the classic layout. The hardware was bought all new, here is a list of what was used
CPU Core 2 Duo E8400, 3000 MHz (9 x 333)
Motherboard Asus Maximus Formula
Memory OCZ XTC SLI OCZ2N800SR2G * 2 pcs
Video ATI Radeon HD 3870 (RV670)
Sound adapter Analog Devices AD1988B @ Intel 82801IB ICH9
Sound adapter C-Media CMI8738/C3DX Audio Device
Disk drive ST3500320AS ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II) * 2 pcs
Optical drive TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S202H ATA Device
power unit CHIEFTEC CFT-500-A12S
CPU cooler Noctua NH1-U12P
Fans Thermal Take Cyclo Blue Pattern A2450 * 2pcs
I don't count the numerous LEDs, neon lights, wires, etc. The tools used were those that are available in any carpentry workshop... Unfortunately, I don’t have a Dremel... For now...
Actually, I started by re-gluing the front panel, base and cover of the system unit. The most important thing in carpentry is not to forget the golden rule. measure seven times, then measure again and only then cut, so we’ll cut off all the excess later.
Here is a photo of the future front panel:
I'll make a little clarification. For the top cover and front panel, I re-glued oak panels and drove them to a thickness of about 17-22mm, then glued the slats along the edges. I made markings on the front panel, placing them against the iron frame of the system unit, after which a hole was made for the 120th fan using a ballet dancer and a hand jigsaw. Next we make the side walls from plywood.
The following photos show how the side wall will open. Plus - when removing the wall, good access to all internal components of the system unit opens, minus - In order to open it completely, you need to move the case away from the wall... Fortunately, you don’t have to open it often...
When the blanks are ready, the fitting of all the parts of the future body to each other begins. And also finishing all sorts of little things...
Subsequently, you should receive a practically assembled body, ready for further processing (grinding, painting)
After some time has passed (there was a lot of work) I begin adjusting the body frame. The thing is that the fans didn't fit in, so I had to cut it a little. Well, since I don’t have a Dremel, we use an angle grinder (don’t forget about Safety precautions)
And cutting off everything that bothered us
Let's start preparing the frame for painting. Due to limited funds, it was decided to limit ourselves to sanding and painting itself...
While the first layer of paint on the side wall is drying, cut out the window (jigsaw, hands) and place the pre-cut glass for gluing
Of course, the painting process takes a lot of time, the intermediate layers need to be sanded (500-600 sandpaper), painted again, etc. and so on. As a result, we get a frame ready for assembly.
But not all parts of the body are ready for assembly, so we are painting the “wooden component”
For unknown reasons, the painting process itself was not photographed, but I can say that everything was painted with DUFA paint. It was opened 4 times with sanding between layers (grit sandpaper 600-800), then it was opened with varnish 2 times... let's start assembling... Photo For some reason they also weren’t done, I can only note that the assembly took place over 2 months (the motherboard was missing, I was waiting for it to be delivered) While I was in “standby mode” I started working on the power supply.
I inserted blue LEDs, cut out a side window, connected a 7-volt fan... In general, standard procedures aimed at “improving the appearance and performance properties” of this device. The fans in the case are also connected to 7 volts (front) and 5 volts (rear). The USB compartment cover is illuminated, and the computer's power button is also located here.
This made it possible not to place the power button directly on the front panel. The DVD-ROM tray is also illuminated and instead of the opening button there is a reed switch (located right behind the stickers that were later removed :))
And finally the final photos
I’m currently hatching plans in my head to build a case based on the Core i7. And, of course, I hope this is not my last article, I’ve also made a test power supply and a mouse (more like testing the veneer technology).
Did: Mikhail Kopylov
Good afternoon, Khabrovsk residents. Thank you very much for the invite! And although it’s not a good idea to start by translating other people’s posts, perhaps someone else will find this homemade project mega-cool.
This is a translation of a post from the Overclock.net forum. User Show4Pro decided to take out all the insides of his super computer and hang everything on the wall. Great idea perfectly executed. For those who are interested in how it was assembled and how it works - welcome to the cat.
The last time I updated my home machine was 1.5 years ago. Well, I thought about upgrading the car to i7 (before that it was Bloomfield), although in fact I didn’t need a more powerful processor. I wanted to buy a new case - Corsair 900D, to replace the 8 year old Super Armor. But I wanted something special, unique. In Battlestations on Reddit, I came across a very simple but elegant solution - a wall computer. And that's where the whole project began.
Accessories:
Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Extreme
Video cards: 2 x AMD HD7970
RAM: 6 x 2GB Corsair Dominator
SSD drives: 4 x 120GB Corsair Force GT SSD
HDD drives: 2 x 1TB WD Caviar Black
2TB WD Caviar Green
1.5TB WD Caviar Green
Power supply: Corsair AX1200i
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Zx
Cooling:
Cooling for CPU:
CPU Water Cooling Radiator EK Supreme HF Full Copper
Pump Swiftech MCP655 /w Speed Control
The cooler itself FrozenQ Liquid Fusion V Series 400 ml Reservoir - Blood Red
XSPC RX360 Performance Triple 120mm Radiator
GPU Cooling
Heatsink for video card EK FC7970 - Acetal+EN
The pump and cooler are the same as for the processor.
Swiftech MCP655/w Speed Control
FrozenQ Liquid Fusion V Series 400 ml Reservoir - Blood Red
Water cooling radiator Watercool MO-RA3 9x120 LT Radiator
Other:
Cooling system pipes
Koolance QD4 Quick Discounnect No-Spill Coupling
Bitspower G1/4 Silver Triple Rotary 90deg Compression Fittings
Monsoon Free Center Compression Fittings
Phobya Angled Clip 90° Tubing Guide
Phobya Terminal Strip Tubing Clip/Holder
The cooling tubes themselves (red) PrimoChill Advanced LRT Tubing Bloodshed Red
Phosphorizing refrigerant, blue color EK UV Blue Non-Conductive Fluid
Cables:
Bitfenix Alchemy Premium Sleeved Extensions
Corsair Individually Sleeved Modular Cables
Creation.
To start, I took photos of all the components in their actual sizes and put it all together in Photoshop. This way I was able to move them around the work surface and decide what it would look like. Well, this is necessary for routing the cooling pipes. Here are a couple of layouts:
I abandoned this due to the empty space in the lower right corner. And the motherboard ended up on the left, although it should be in the very center and attract attention to the entire panel. 
There is also a lot of space on the right, although the power supply and motherboard are closer to the center. In the final version, the cooling tubes stretch along the entire right edge, plus two thermometers appeared there.
I transfer the drawing of the motherboard onto an acrylic sheet.
Since the video adapters will be far from the motherboard, I ordered PCIe slot extenders for each card on eBay. This is me testing how they work. However, later I had huge problems with the cross-function of the cards due to cheap unshielded wires. They ended up on top of each other and created serious interference. The system was stuck loading the BIOS. It was possible to launch it with only one card. In the end, I had to shell out for very expensive cables with good protection. But more on that later.
The goods have arrived!
Most of the water cooling is from Performance-PC. They even gave me a T-shirt and two mouse pads!
Acrylic backing for motherboard.
All acrylic panels are cut at 45° to achieve a glowing edge effect.
The holes are drilled and the fasteners are installed.
TA-dah!!! It turns out that the mother of Rampage III Extreme is eATX format. And this is for the ATX form factor.
I made the correct eATX substrate later.
Time to gut my old dusty case.
In the old computer, the disks are inserted into Vantec HDCS boxes, which make 3 HDD boxes out of 2 5.25" ones.
Video cards.
Supports for all components.
Custom acrylic pump mounts.
Close-up of a rough finish done with a table saw. They will need to be sanded later.
There is a triangular cut in the center of each plate. It will reflect light that is projected perpendicularly inside the plate at the edges. Without a cut, the edges barely glow.
Test with the light on on the sound panel.
All panels are sanded with 120 grit wet sandpaper.
Close-up of sanding.
All back panels are pre-drilled.
Under the table is acrylic snow.
Preparing to paint red.
Surprisingly, Corsair included thermal pads on the blades, although they don't get hot at all.
Marking all components on the main board to mark various slots and holes. Board - 1/4" 48 x 30 fiberboard.
All cracks and holes are marked in their places.
I'm getting ready to cut out the slots with a jigsaw.
I glue the frame.
I paint the inner edges black - to match the color of the carbon film.
Soldering LED strips.
Workplace.
LED strips. Temporary fastening.
I glue a giant vinyl film. This was the cruelest part. I almost had a heart attack. How to stick a film on a phone screen, only x1000 more.
No bubbles!
I use aluminum tape to hide the LEDs on the front side of the hard drive panel, between them.
My assistant is Tommy.
All substrates are installed in their places on the common board using #10 screws. I screwed them into pre-prepared holes.
Checking the light.
Coolant and cables have arrived. I used Bitfenix for the components and Corsair for the power supply.
On the left is Bitfenix, on the right is Corsair. Bitfenix doesn't have black heat shrink on the ends, so the Corsair looks cooler.
Red zip ties to tie up hanging wires.
Backside. All cables are connected.
We test for leaks while the entire system is lying on the floor - this makes it easier to troubleshoot problems.
First start.
Not loaded. I connected via iROG USB to the laptop to view the download log. It turned out that the system was stuck on the VGA BIOS. I disabled one of the video cards - everything worked. I tried to connect another one - it also works. Both cards are not. Did some research and found that unshielded PCIe extenders with ribbon cables are very susceptible to EMI. I tried to shield them by wrapping them in several layers of aluminum foil. 
After 4 layers of foil I was able to get both cards running. But the machine immediately froze as soon as I launched any game or any 3D editor. Moreover, my Soundblaster is also cascaded with a cable to the 3 x1 PCIe slot, and this also greatly interfered with the operation of the video and hung up the system.
As a result, with pain in my heart, I had to order expensive protected extenders for PCIe slots from 3M (approx. $100 each)
Shielded 3M extension cords in place. They turned out to be longer than the previous ones and now both video cards have reached PCIe x16.
Changed the previous sound to SoundBlaster Zx. This one looks amazing!
And finally
At the moment everything is working smoothly. The installation has only 2 fans. It barely moves on the PSU, and I installed another one on the chipset - it’s very quiet. The pump runs at the lowest power, so the computer came out quite quiet. The only annoying thing is that it turns out that some components can be heard operating outside the case. In my case, this is the buzzing of the video and 1TV hard drive.EK UV refrigerant is very sensitive to ultraviolet radiation. I know you shouldn't mix coolants to preserve their properties, but damn if I used it undiluted, I wouldn't be able to see the coils in the reservoir. For both circuits I used about 1/8 of the jar, the rest was distilled water.
From the translator
I in no way claim any authorship of this incredible project. It’s just that I’m a journalist with a degree in electronics engineering, and doing such things is my dream. And to be honest, I would make a table, not a wall. So I decided, suddenly not all Khabrovsk residents are sitting onI don't like standard system units. They are large, have a lot of empty space inside and take up a lot of desk space. I need the block to stand on the table, since I often have to climb into it. Well, yes, I’ll climb in and sit there. No, for example, to connect foreign screws or something else. In general, when I look at it, I want to take half of it and saw off. That's what I did. I bought an old case from the consignment department for 300 rubles, removed the side walls, sawed off the excess metal with a hacksaw and made this compact turret. Its dimensions are 175x220x425 mm. I even painted it, but of course, that’s the most important thing.
There are mATX motherboards with a width of 170 mm. This is what I installed in this case. In all other respects, this is an ordinary office computer, nothing special. ASRock LGA775 G41M-VGS3 board, dual core intel E6600. Inexpensive processor cooler with two heat pipes. I've been using it at work for several years now. Here you can take a look inside. The hard drive fits onto the back wall and makes it impossible to use the PCI-e slot; the PCI slot is available. If you still want to use PCI-e, the hard drive can be mounted above the DVD-RW.
Instead of a side wall, the door has a latch and is easy to open and close.
The front panel was glued together from plexiglass and wooden rulers. Let's look at the BIOS, the processor temperature doesn't matter. Well, yes, the fan makes a lot of noise, and the room where it is used is not quiet, so it doesn’t interfere.
So we open the door, attach a foreign hard drive and work calmly.
It is quite natural that, as a lover of small system units, I was interested in motherboards of the mini-ITX format, size 170 by 170 mm. Let's look at my first design on such a scarf. What's inside us? Intel D945GCLF motherboard – 2 with built-in dual-core Intel ATOM 330 processor. Power supply FSP250 – 50 GLV. DVD-RW NEC AD-7590S slim. Winchester Samsung HD200HJ. DDR2 memory – 2 gb. For this computer, I designed and manufactured the case entirely from aluminum myself. The interior space is divided into two parts by an aluminum partition. In one part there is the motherboard itself, which is mounted on this partition.
In another power supply, hard drive and DVD-RW.
It is closed with a U-shaped lid made of the same metal. This building is packed to capacity, there is no free space there. The temperature is normal, everything works great. Size – 140 X 220 X 230 mm. This is such a modest machine for surfing the Internet, office tasks, photo processing, and so on, it coped with its tasks quite well. This was a long time ago, even before that first turret. Here's another view from the rear, and the whole machine itself.
And finally the last brainchild. Motherboard with socket FM1 GA-A75N-USB3, mini-ITX form factor, AMD A75 chipset, AMD A8-3870K processor, AMD Radeon HD 6550D video card built into the processor, DDR3-4 gb memory, Scythe Samurai ZZ processor cooler. Scythe Kaze Master Ace fan speed controller. In this computer, I used a Samsung 830 SSD with a capacity of 64 GB for the system and software, and for everything else a 2.5 Hitachi 250 GB hard drive. No DVD. If necessary, I use an external USB. First, I managed to cram it all into a case measuring 230x200x170 mm. I had to use a non-standard power supply and the cooler for the processor was another Scythe Kozuti, it is much more compact. In principle, everything worked fine in such a case, but all the fans were spinning at full speed, the processor temperature was at 50 degrees. In this case, it didn't suit me. It makes noise like a vacuum cleaner does not howl, but hisses like an angry cat. Therefore, the case had to be made differently. More spacious. And it became 240x220x360. As you can see, the space occupied on the table has hardly changed, and the height of the case has grown significantly. Well, let it grow. This is what he looks like
.
Here's another background.
The internal structure of the building is two-story. On the ground floor there is a standard power supply, fan speed controller, SSD and HDD. On the second floor there is a system board installed horizontally.
The processor cooler does not push air inside the case, but takes it from outside through an air duct that I glued together from cardboard and covered it with foil. One end of the air duct is put on the fan, and the second is inserted into the frame of the window, which is located on the back wall, goes outside the case and is covered with a metal mesh. On the front wall there is an 80X80mm fan, which blows warm air out of the case, you can warm up.
Now everything is normal. And it does not make noise and the temperature of the components is normal, it increases during some heavy tasks, for example when converting large video files, the processor heats up to 47 degrees, which is also quite low.
The configuration of this machine suits me quite well; no modernization is expected. In addition, socket FM1 is no longer being developed and has given way to FM2. Of course, if necessary, you can change the hard drive for a more capacious one, and if you decide to switch to a 64-bit OS, you can increase the amount of RAM, so this is a complete design. Now about the body. It's made of wood. Glued from pine slats and corners. In general, everything is quite simple. We cut out a board for the base, glue the mount for the legs to it, the front and back walls with PVA glue, and approximately in the middle we screw an aluminum plate on which the motherboard is placed and which provides additional rigidity to the structure.
The side walls are removable and slide into the grooves of the back and front panels. This ensures access to the internals. They are also glued together from longitudinal and transverse slats, the ventilation holes are sealed with a metal mesh, and the inside is covered with foil. All this is closed on top with a wooden lid.
That's it, here's a short review, thank you for your attention, be healthy.
Introduction
The shape of the future body was based on the cube shape, hackneyed in other mods. However, some restrictions were introduced, namely the minimum possible sizes. Considering that the maximum (height) side of the motherboard was 32cm, then the internal volume should be 32x32x32cm. The second condition of the mod was to create it from the simplest and most accessible material, the processing of which does not require high-tech and expensive processes (laser cutting, airbrushing, etc.). At the beginning, I wanted to create a cube from solid natural wood 16-20mm thick, which can be bought in construction stores, but however, in the nearest store the price turned out to be quite high - 300-350 rubles per 1 m2. The choice fell on... plywood. Yes, ordinary plywood 10 mm thick. According to calculations, a quite affordable sheet of 1500x750 mm came out for about 150 rubles. In order to hide from the sides of the mod all the fastenings, errors and alterations on top of the inner body, it was decided to make decorative panels from 5mm plywood.
In principle, the entire fashion process is clear from photographs. But let me make some clarifications:
Fig.1-3. Round cables from the power supply. I decided not to use standard Molexes, but used 4-pin round connectors purchased from Micronika. The shower hose is attached to the Molex with a staple made from a paper clip, and the connector itself is screwed into the plastic seal of the same shower.
Fig.4. Placing components in the power supply bay. The power supply was placed upside down under the motherboard. The air passing through the power supply is blown into the bottom of the cube by a 120mm fan. A cheap compressor also found a place in the power supply, but I did not decide to experiment with connecting it to the general power supply and simply removed its cable from the case, giving me the opportunity to turn it off if necessary.
Fig.5. One of the IDE power cables was not unplugged and moved to a connector, so it, along with the motherboard power cables, comes out of the power supply. Below them are the power sockets for the devices and the glued-in power connector for the water block (+3V removed from SATA).
Fig.6. rear wall with cut-out holes for the motherboard and expansion cards. In the center of the power supply comes a socket for a 220V power cable. Two grilles from old cheap speakers turned into a protective mesh.
Rice. 7. Illuminated case fans are protected not only by a handle for carrying the cube, but also by a metal mesh (purchased from IKEA). The mesh is located between the inner body and decor panels.
Rice. 8. The hinged cover block houses DVD and CD-RW. The IDE cable passed through the bottom wall of this block so that it remained in the case. On the other side, a Molex connector is embedded into the wall, from which power is already supplied. There is also an LPT connector for an LCD screen built into the back wall.
Rice. 9. Water block for bubble mod. To fill the water, a neck cut from a plastic bottle is cut into the upper wall. Since there was a water cooling device in the future, brass tubes were glued into the milled holes in the lower part to hold the shower hose (fitting?). An aquarium sprayer was glued into the rear part from the bottom - it gives more bubbles than just perforating the tubes. A panel with the necessary buttons and switches will be attached close to the large through hole on the inside. Six UV diodes are responsible for illuminating the water block.
Rice. 10. Front panel. Rear view :) It contains: reset and power buttons, two switches for the water block illumination, two USB ports, 3 variable fan control resistors and a 10-diode indication of HDD operation. Since the POWER, RESET and HDD LED contacts on the motherboard are already grouped together, using a multi-core wire and a USB connector managed to reduce the number of wires to a minimum.
Figure 11. The actual internal layout. Part of the air blown into the case by the right fan is taken by the processor turbine cooler. The hard drive is hidden under the wires on the left wall.
Fig. 12. The case is switched on without the front decorative panel.
Fig. 13. The work of bubbles in a water block
Fig. 14. Housing without decorative panel in night mode.
Fig. 15. Front decor panel with holes for DVD-CD-RW and water block. To highlight the contour in the lower part, the cut out part is glued to a metal mesh with super glue. I also immediately cut out the stealth panels for DVD and CD-RW.
Final photos of the body
Fig. 16 – night building
Fig. 17 – daytime
Fig. 19 - DVD tray with attached stealth panel.
Fig.20 – front panel.
Anton aka =SNAKE=
antogor (a) pochta.ru
25
/10.2005
Introduction
This article will help you decorate the front panel of the case using available materials, inexpensively and, of course, with your own hands. Indeed, it is this that we see more often, it is this that the person who sees the case for the first time pays attention to, it is she who is remembered, and it is she who determines the style of the case. Well, what could be more ordinary and nondescript than the simple yellowed “face muzzle” of our iron friend, with a dimly burning yellow-green LED and an occasionally blinking and equally nondescript red one? After asking myself this question, I started modding.
If you are tormented by the same question, then congratulations, you are either a modder, or a future modder, or the happy owner of a cool case. Nature deprived me of such happiness, but what can I do? You'll have to do it yourself, which is much more interesting and cheaper than going to the store one more time.
We will act in stages:
Replacing the case LEDs (hard drive loading indicator and power indicator) and making them glow. I think that this phrase can hardly be understood correctly, so we read on.
Flop guide illumination.
Hi-tech plug is the highlight of the room.
Here is a photo of my default Space K1 case:
Here's the state of the building now:
^^ Find one difference ^^
It would seem that there is only one difference - a “leaky” plug, but it’s not so simple. We act according to the plan.
First stage. Replacing LEDs is where most modders start their modding life. It would seem that everything has been said about this, but even this mod, in addition to various “fade-away” pulsed lights, can bring variety. This is what the location of the LEDs on my case looks like:
^^Plastic window separately^^
Black plastic is translucent and creates a semi-mirror effect. When the computer is turned off and the LEDs are not lit, nothing is visible behind it due to its relatively large thickness. When it is turned on, the LEDs shine on the semi-mirror surface and the light beam forms a circle on it. It is from this circle that we will make the image. In general, this idea is not new and is often used by modders; it’s nice that case manufacturers are using new solutions.
Before bringing the idea to life, I want to show a few examples of the versatility of the idea. It is not necessary to use a semi-mirror surface for this mod. The effect can be achieved with ordinary plexiglass, glass, even paper. Let's look at an example with plexiglass. We need thin plex, I took a CD box. The required piece is cut out and painted on one side with a thin layer of paint, preferably white, as it is easier for light to penetrate through it. Most likely, you will paint on a newspaper; in this case, be guided by the inscriptions in it: they should be dimly visible through the painted glass. Here's how it worked out for me:
^^Glass appears completely opaque against a white background^^
A small coat of paint provides almost the same semi-mirror effect, except that only the light is visible behind it. Then we cut out the desired image from self-adhesive film (if desired, from electrical tape, but it’s more difficult) and paste it onto the glass on the reverse side (the reverse side that was previously painted). Next, we apply a fairly thick layer of paint to the side with the pasted image, thick so that, unlike the layer of the first side, it does not transmit light. You can also replace this thick layer with primer, which is what I did. You need much less of it than paint.
^^Reverse side after the primer has dried and the film has been removed^^
There is also an option to cover this side with film. In this case, we need to cut out not the image, but its reverse part, that is, what you would have thrown away in the first case should turn out to be something like a stencil. Photos of the result:
^^And this is what this glass looks like with backlighting^^
In this case, you can easily and effectively combine colors.
Having gained experience, we begin to implement the idea on the front panel. I chose the Hurricane grille shape and, after drawing it in, printed it out in different sizes on a piece of paper.
^^Sheet with images^^
The desired size was selected, two images were pasted onto self-adhesive film. Next, I cut out images of the grills themselves and pasted the resulting stencil onto the plastic from the back side. I also had to seal it completely from the inside with black film.
Here's what we got:
^^Beauty! Our first result^^
The standard LEDs were replaced a long time ago, with blue and red ones, but now there is only one blue one, and the hard drive boot LED has been moved. The blue LED was replaced with a brighter one, powered not by the POWER LED, but by 5 Volts from the power supply, since power appears there all the same at the same time, and it did not have enough power from the motherboard.
^^Power button, Reset and LED^^
The photo shows that there is only one LED (only on POWER, where we read the other one further) and in the center, one socket for the LED is removed.
^^Lighting LED on the stand^^
I placed the second LED (HDD loading indicator) at the very bottom of the front panel to illuminate this former ventilation hole:
Previously, these holes were covered with black paper mesh. Instead, I used plexiglass from the compact box, painted on the visible side with a small layer of black paint, and matte on the other side, for a more uniform distribution of light. Of course, it didn’t become matte, and on the one hand, it didn’t become matte on its own; fine sandpaper and a stream of water, under which it was sanded, helped with this. The connector that previously stood next to another connector from the POWER indicator was moved and glued into the recess for a bolt or screw for the fan in the front wall of the chassis. It was lucky that this recess turned out to be right in the center, at the bottom of the case, in general, where it was needed, and the fan would be held there quite well even with three bolts.
^^Illuminated ventilation holes in the dark^^
We finished the first part, the result is obvious, and it would seem that the LEDs were replaced and a couple of variations on the theme.
Let's get started to the Floppy backlight floppy drive Again, all paths have been explored, articles have been written about everything, the flop guide has been mocked in every possible way, but why mock him? Now in many cases the hole for floppy disks is made in the form of a slot, why not highlight it, and not the slot of the drive itself? This is much simpler and more efficient, two LEDs are enough, which means the costs are lower, but, as is usual with such methods, this is not for everyone.
So what do we need?
Two bright LEDs, preferably 3mm
Resistors for them
A few wires
My LEDs were already 10 mm in size, so like it or not, I had to cut it. After sawing, they became even smaller in size than 3 millimeters. Connected in parallel to 5 volts. We count the resistor:
R= U/I=(5V-3.8V)/ 0.025A + 0.025A=1.2V/0.05A=24 Ohm, approximately 25 Ohms, but since the local store only has 100 Ohm resistors, I had to go with what was available, connected four 100 Ohm resistors in parallel, so I got 25 Ohms.
R average = 1 / (1/R1 + 1/ R2 + 1/ R3+ 1/ R4) = = 1 / (1/100 Ohm + 1/100 Ohm + 1/100 Ohm + 1/100 Ohm) = 25 Ohm.
Everything was soldered and insulated with heat shrink. It was decided to fasten it in such a way as not to spoil the flop. To do this, I glued a small piece of electrical tape to the lower edges of the flop and superglued the LEDs onto it.
Here's what happened:
Let's summarize. Perhaps the simplest mod that exists, but despite this, it noticeably transforms the face of your iron friend, and you don’t need to disassemble the floppy guide, drill it, remove the curtain, in general, you don’t need a lot of things, but for this happiness you need to be the owner of a case with floppy disk slot.
Let's move on and proceed to the final stage. Let's take a look at the housing plugs. What's interesting about a piece of plastic? Nothing, but don’t leave this injustice. We will make a beautiful plug from the stub. I decided to do this with a ZIP drive plug.
We will need:
Again two LEDs, again better than 3mm, resistors
Few wires
Any unnecessary board, preferably more beautiful
We will place the board behind a plug, having previously made a window in it. You can take it from anywhere, be it a non-working motherboard, a video card, I took it from a non-working disk drive that was sold to me for free at a computer store. At the moment, almost the only capable part of it is the data sticker. Here is his board with a piece already cut out:
^^Sawn out board from a disk drive^^
I cut out the required piece with an ordinary jigsaw, and in order not to cut through the entire board (I liked the part in the middle) and not spoil it all, I first made a hole and inserted a jigsaw file there. Everything was sawed off, leveled and sanded.
It's time to think about the mounting method. I have a case with a “U”-shaped cover, and the cover is removed along with the front panel. Of course, this is extremely convenient if you open the case every day in order to once again take out an “unnecessary” part from the computer, the case opens from four sides at the same time and no sneaky piece of hardware can hide or avoid flying from the balcony, but for modding this is very annoying . I had to come up with fastenings. It is unlikely that you have the same case, so you can avoid this by simply gluing the board to the plug.
These are the plexiglass mounts I made:
I drilled holes in the mounts on one side and, using M3 bolts and nuts, screwed them to something similar to a grille, which breaks off when it is necessary to place a device in this compartment. The board itself is glued to the mount with super glue. In order for it to stick, I had to tinker with a soldering iron and some sandpaper. The board flatly refused to stick due to the abundance of micro resistors and contacts. They were all soldered and sanded to a smooth surface.
Next, the LEDs were cut down to reduce the space they took up. To obtain a clearer beam of light, I did not cut off the remaining part of the lens. The LEDs are glued to the board, again using Plex fasteners. I connected the LEDs in parallel to the LEDs of the float guide, having previously replaced the resistors and switched the power supply from 5 volts to 12 (fewer resistors were needed, based on the fact that I only have 100 Ohm resistors, and only one was needed). That's it, we've finished the soldering work, the last push remains, but first, photos of what we've already done.
^^Board on case and with backlight^^
We put on the case, remove the plug being tested, and take a look.
Let's start with the jerk. As you probably guessed, it will involve making a window in a plug. The plastic in my plug turned out to be quite soft and easy to process. Plastic thickness 3 mm. In the absence of a Dremel, it was decided to use a drill. Using a thin drill, I drilled holes around the perimeter of the desired cutout (preliminarily marked), and cut the thin partitions between the holes with a knife.
^^ZIP cover with cut out part^^
I glazed the plug with plexiglass from the disc box. I don’t recommend this method, because firstly, you are unlikely to find a box without scratches and other problems, and secondly, when cutting and processing, you will probably add these scratches. I ruined about five pieces of glass during processing. It would be much better to take ordinary plexiglass 1 mm thick; it scratches much less.
I glued the glass to the plug with super glue. Glued, assembled, placed in an illegal place.
^^View of modding at night^^
Total. Our high-tech mod is complete. I think it looks very impressive. The idea can be effectively used for stealth mods. The board will also look good in places where nothing like this should be, for example, behind a window on the right wall of the case (initially this is exactly what I wanted to do).
All plans have been implemented, with the help of several simple mods we have noticeably transformed the front panel - the face of our case.
Special thanks to Ivan Teplyakov aka _thin128_ for providing digital photography.
FreON
Fre0N (a) yandex.ru
26
/07.2005
