My scratch-built Acrylic Case
 

I pulled a lot of my ideas for this case from www.bit-tech.net. They did cases like "Project 3GClear" and "Orac³" and "The Invisible Case". I used them for inspiration but also had my own specific components that I had to fit in the smallest amount of space possible. So I went to the drawing board and came up with my own version. The final dimensions came out to 11"x12"x13".

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...age//cube1.jpg

My apologies for the rather poor photography. I did it late last night and wasn't very skillful about the whole thing. My plan is to get it in the studio in the next few days after I finish it. Try to capture how awesome this thing really looks. I'll post updated pics when I do!

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...age//cube3.jpg

I still have a few things to finish, including the lid. If your interested, here are the system specs.

Everything I had to cram in there so to speak.

Antec full size 350watt power supply
Abit NF7-S motherboard
AMD Athlon 2500+ "barton" with Zahlman Flower heat sink
ATI 9800 pro video card (128meg/256bit)
1gig Corsair RAM
Samsung 120GB SATA drive
CD-RW 40x
Super Flower Fan Bus (controls 4x fans and 4x thermal sensors)
Apple Pro clear acrylic USB keyboard (custom modded with blue leds for caps/number lock)
Acrylic optical mouse with blue LED lights

And the misc other stuff here
(4x) clear fans with (4x) blue LEDS each
Chrome wire loom from ebay
Rounded IDE cable modified to single device
(3x) 13"x36" sheets of ¼" PETG acrylic from ebay
LEDs and chrome holders from Radio Shack (blue for power on and White for HD activity)
Momentary switch from Radio Shack for power on/off (mounted at the rear)
Clear PVC pipe glue from Home Depot. Found that this was as strong as superglue on acrylic! Nicer to work with though because it gave you about 20 seconds before it stuck for good. Unlike superglue plastic adhesive I tested.

And I don't even want to tally up the $bill$. I know I paid about $30 for the ¼" Acrylic.

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...age//cube2.jpg

So there it is. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The only problem is that now I have the bug. I want to build another one. Different though. Case modding is addictive!

That looks truely awesome. I can't see where the power supply is, I am assuming that it is behind the fan speed controller. Great work on the case!

That is some really nice work. I wish I had that kind of motivation.

That's really fucking awesome. I think if I were to ever do a mod, I mean all out, create everything myself, I would model it after metal gear (rex or ray) or fucking arsenal gear. That'd have some potential.

:eek: That is COOL!

Looks fantastic!

wow, so much better than my case i wish i could build sumthing like that

Great job. The case looks super and it is clear you did a lot of hard work to get it just right.

Outstanding style! Bonus points for pairing it with that Apple keyboard...looks better in front of your box than it does with a G5 :D

I'd like to know more about your airflow, though. It looks like the fan behind the proc is sucking in, and the one over the PCI slots is exhausting? How warm does the system run?

On the top level you are correct. The right fan blows directly on the processor heatsink and the airflow travels around the Video card and gets sucked out on the PCI slot side. Just checked my Abit EQ and the CPU is at 36deg. C with a motherboard temperature of 22deg. C

The bottom level sucks in on the left side blowing directly on the hard drive/CD-RW. There is a 92mm fan above the power supply blowing down into the PSU and a fan exiting the system on the back of the PSU. Lower level temp is about 27deg. C and inside the PSU the thermal sensor reads about 35deg. C.

Chilly! Well chilly enough.

even more bonus points for modding it with blue leds and pairing with an acrylic mouse:cool:

looks awesome man! good job

sweet job dude.. i want one lol

sweet work dude....awesome looken

Finished the polishing the edges on the lid. Took some more pictures. Man I love this thing!!! Came out 10x better than I hoped!

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...page/cube5.jpg

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...page/cube4.jpg

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/onaroll...page/cube6.jpg

Wow, you did a really great job!
I know what you mean about modding being addictive...I'm constantly planning my next build, even though I don't need another PC by any means!
It's an expensive hobby - but it could be worse, right?
At least it's not cars!

That's funny, because for me it "IS" cars too. My next project that I'm shopping for right now is to upgrade the turbocharger in my GST. :lol: It's gonna cost at least a grand $.

Man, that is sweet. Can you build me a fish tank? LOL!

kewl. who said the apple cube is dead. oh wait, it's a pc... ;)

that's awesome. I didn't read the thread, but you should post it on Bit-Tech forums if you haven't already. good stuff. make sure to post it under "mods" and not "project logs," since you didn't really take pictures as you built it, just as it was finished.

Is that supposed to impress me?






well it does. ;)

Great work...I'd be happy with just an old rotten Lian-li myself ;)