Project Log - Black Sunshine

**ephmynus** · July 13th, 2003, 08:20 PM

Well, here's going to be the project log for my new case (made out of a case from a previous mod), Black Sunshine. Named appropriately for the color and the fact that it should be lit up like a Christmas tree when all is said and done.

Here's a pic of the front Bezel already vinyl dyed and the feet about to be.

As you can see, the previous case was black as well but it was a rush job so I'm redoing it. Since I currently have everything in my YY cube, this one will be done with patience. This is an aopen case that had little "divots" in the bottom of the front bezel that have been bondoed and sanded down and now the vinyl dye appeas to be completed. You can't tell much about the front bezel there because of all the paint around it.

Here is a picture of the top of the case which used to house two 120mm fans. This is now a cutout for a window that will be in there once it is completed. It's sanded down now and will be painted once I get my primer and paint.

Here are the old side panels that haven't been sanded down yet. I'm pretty sure I'll be putting a different window in there so the puzzle piece will be gone.

This is my custom digital hard drive activity indicator. I hooked this all up last night to see it work for just a short period of time. Since I was trying to short a couple of wires manually as it wasn't hooked up to my motherboard, I believe I burnt the optoisolator when all was said and done. More have been ordered and this will, hopefully, work just as well as it did originally.

Finally, this is the skeleton of the case that still needs to be cleaned up and painted. My pump and radiator will be in shortly and I wonder, if anyone would care to give their opinion, what may be best for the radiator. I will be fitting two (one intake, one exhasut) 120mm fans on the rad and will, hopefully, be putting it in the top of my case. Now my question is about which way. Should I have it blowing the hot air out of the top of the case (I will be putting a port in the window for this) and have the top two 80mm fans blowing in cold air for it or should I have the 120mm radiator mounted fans pulling in cold air from the top and then the 80mm fans as exhaust for the hot air? I would think the latter of the two but I also don't want a lot of hot air trapped inside. If I am able to put the rad at the top, I will also have 1 or 2 40mm exhaust fans in the rear bottom and also a 120mm intake fan at the front of the case.

Still to come is a customer made rheobus and also a fiber optic "mural"... more on that later.

**Stalemate** · July 13th, 2003, 09:02 PM

Keeping busy, huh?

Looks very good so far!

**ephmynus** · July 14th, 2003, 08:26 PM

I have to warn you, the next update includes a pic of my graphic mod wound. Don't look if you get queezy easily.

**ephmynus** · July 14th, 2003, 08:27 PM

Okay, have a small update and a helluva wound.

First, here are the feet vinyl dyed and I cut up the faceplate for my rheobus and it's been dyed.

Now, here is the beginning of my Fiber Optic "mural" Instead of having a regular logo for the case, I decided to do it all in 1mm fiber. I have 15 red leds coming to take care of the lighting and 20 foot of 1mm fiber to run to each individual hole you see. And, of course, I'll be posting pics once it has been completed.

Finally, here is today's modding wound. I was cleaning up the back of the faceplate for the rheobus and sliced the top of my finger almost completely off. The wound doesn't look too bad at this point but, when you look at this, just remember that all the shiny skin that you see... that isn't attached to my finger. Luckily the wife wasn't home so I didn't have to go get stitches... let's just hope everything grows back together alright

**Stalemate** · July 14th, 2003, 08:59 PM

That has to be the freakiest nail-biting accident I've ever seen!

Tell me more about this vynil die...

My daughter recently took my PC case for an easel by using my permanent black felt-tip CD marker to it.

I'm looking for modding possibilities on this case which "used" to be perfectly sulver.

**ephmynus** · July 14th, 2003, 09:21 PM

Originally posted by a d e p t
That has to be the freakiest nail-biting accident I've ever seen!

Tell me more about this vynil die...

My daughter recently took my PC case for an easel by using my permanent black felt-tip CD marker to it.

I'm looking for modding possibilities on this case which "used" to be perfectly sulver.

Vinyl dye is a wonderful thing... for plastic. It bonds to the plastic so it looks as though it was molded that way. It won't work on metal very well so you'll still want to get a good auto paint for it. If you're not into doing it yourself, you may want to look for a new case. But, if you have some hours and want to be proud of a good finished product, get to it.

**Stalemate** · July 14th, 2003, 10:42 PM

I'm thinking black flames or tribal lines with a black face to complement.

Thanks for the info - I'll stick to paint then.

**Garak** · July 15th, 2003, 05:50 AM

looking good, any more updates????

**ephmynus** · July 15th, 2003, 06:46 AM

Originally posted by Garak
looking good, any more updates????

Woooahhh... slow down their tiger

Hopefully, I'll get the optoisolator in tomorrow and be able to get that lit up for you. I'm going to start running the fiber tonight but I've got to wait on all my LEDs before I can get it lit up. Once my radiator gets here, I'm going to figure out where I'm going to mount it so I'll be able to get the skeleton painted as well. Updates will be coming shortly.

**ephmynus** · July 15th, 2003, 09:23 PM

Here are the beginnings of my rheobus. I wanted to get knobs that had some black in them but I didn't want to paint aluminum ones. Picked these up at ratshack for a decent price and I think they'll end up looking nice.

**EagleAye69** · July 15th, 2003, 10:06 PM

That last pic looks schweet. You gonna be okay from that near-fatal injury man?

**ephmynus** · July 16th, 2003, 10:31 AM

Yea, I imagine I'll make it alright. I took of my bandaid for the first time (minus to clean it) and the top of my finger didn't even fall off. The wife was pretty pissed that I didn't go the ER but that's how it goes. I should be getting the remaining 4 pieces of plexi cut tonight and get the rheobus finished (possibly minus the lighting depending on time). Unfortunately, I blew up my test AT power supply last night so I've gotta wait for a new one to come in. I had hooked an LED up for testing on the backlighting and it was one that I had previously put a resistor on (read, about a year ago). It looked pretty dim under 5V so I hooked it up to 12V and it seemed like it was doing right. About 2 minutes later, my paper supply blew up in a spark filled frenzy, lighting sandpaper and power towels filled with dried bondo on fire... it was an interesting night.