Weird happenings and mod sucess!

I finished cutting the side of my case for my tonight, and while I am not pleased with the results, it still looks pretty cool. The dragon template that I made turned out to be too detailed for the tools I have so I had to improvise and remove some details.

Here is a picture of the mod finsihed

Now, here is where the weird part comes in. I originally didn't have any internal case lighting, that's when I took the above picture. Then I remembered that I had a 10" long cold cathode that I took from my old scanner. I got the cathode and power supply, but didn't have a power supply for it, so I attached an AC adapter for a Sega Gamegear to the power supply and it worked great. The only problem was that the power lines were uninsulated along the bulb, so I put some electrical tape over them.

Here is a picture of my homebrew lighting

I brought it upstairs to my computer room (about 110 degrees without AC) and proceded to put it in the case for some more pics.

This is the really stupid part!

I didn't have a place to plug the huge AC adapter for the cathode in, so I set about pulling out an unnecessary power cord, which I assumed was the speakers becasue they made a lot of noise when I unplugged it.

I proceded to get ready for some pictures. It took about five minutes to get ready for a picture. I had the camera in my hand and was wiggling the cathode (the one with the partially ininsulated power lines) for better lighting. Suddenly the computer shut off. I was sure that I fried my system with the exposed high volatge lines from the cathode!

I tried to start the system several times only getting into windows and getting an error, then finally decided to check the BIOS, where I immeidetly noticed that my CPU temp was at 78 degrees celcius! This was all after about 10 minutes of running without the pump.

I turns out that my fail-safe WC system with the PAL8045 waterblock actually worked, as the CPU got to 80 Celcius after about 10 minutes my 8K3A+ shut itself off!

Woohoo! My system isn't fried, my WC fail-safe works, and I finsihed my really cool case mod!

Scary moment huh. Glad it worked out. Now where's the PICS with the light in the case. BTW nice work shop in the garage.. Lets see that Lian-Li lit up... ;)

ooooooo you are lucky with a capital L just think what would have happened if you didnt have the auto shut off turned on:rolleyes:
anyways the window you made looks really nice. all that hard work payed off

window looks sweet but lets see that light in action :)

Great mod as always Zack, and glad to hear your system is still with us :)

I gotta get either a better light holder or a new light. The old scanner cathode wasn't made to light a large area.

Okay, I got the cathode put in with some electrical tape, and this time I only unplugged the printer. It looks pretty good, but with the backlight on my camera refuses to focus correctly. I played with the sharpness a little to get them presentable.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/zackbass1/CaseBacklit1.jpg

Zack have you decided on how you are going to cover up the scrathes? Will you paint the case or just try to sand it?? I think the dragon turned out real good. I want to cut a TAZ face into my Lian but I haven't found the right one yet. :D

I not sure what I'm going to do with the scratches. This mod has sort of been a practice for the PC-70 I'm going to get ready for a 64-bit system. I might just leave it in the raw.

I haven't found a way to duplicate the brushed look that it came with, so the only solution for me is to paint it. My neighbor paints custom cars in his garage so I could get a professional job done with clear coat and everything.

It turns out that my dad is a seurious car modder (as opposed to case modder) so I end up getting some great contacts for professional stuff, and all the tools. Here's a pic of the car that I got all of my modding experience on with my dad.

http://www.geocities.com/flatdogracing/car-stationary.jpg (copy + paste)

As for doing this mod for yourself, I have some very important tips. First, I did not get the design ready to be transferred to the case. It took about 3 hours in photoshop to get a template made from the original sketch. Use the "photocopy" filter in photoshop to get close, then go in with the eraser and touch up. Also, my main mistake, do all work from the side that faces in, that way you can't see tool marks or small mistakes that don't so all the way through.

I think that this is going to be the last mod on this case. I hope to order the PC-70 for my next computer sometime soon, and get it ready for a 64-bit setup in Janurary. Right now I'm sorting through a whole lot of "never even attempted before" mods to design and then implement.

Since the WC system in my PC-60 is permently installed with the hardware, my current computer will never again recive a mobo or processor upgrade. It will stand as a reminder of the early days of case modding. Remember that we are still in the early days compared to looking back from 2020, like the Henry Ford days of computers still.

And just to finish this on-topic, I plan to do a full writeup of everything I did.

Quote:

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Originally posted by zackbass
Since the WC system in my PC-60 is permently installed with the hardware, my current computer will never again recive a mobo or processor upgrade. It will stand as a reminder of the early days of case modding. Remember that we are still in the early days compared to looking back from 2020, like the Henry Ford days of computers still.
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Wow that was the most touching thing i've ever heard :( hahahahah man good job on the case. damn nice idea on using the game gear adapter. i still got my gamegear hahahahha that's the **** man. Viva gamegear w00t w00t:D