Difficult Case Cooling Project

Part Two

Fitting out

Building a case from spare parts can be rewarding or filled with major headaches. Such is the case with our current project. The best example is the fitting up of the front panel which was missing when we received the case. The hole can be filled with suitably modified blanks but these are usually available from metal based cases and have incorrect or unsuitable locking mechanisms. In our case there are no means of locking in the blanks so we have had to improvise.

The same process of improvisation has had to be used in the CDROM mounting bays where it is necessary to fit spacers to center any components that are fitted. The absence of suitable screws to fix our parts in place has meant that suitable screws have had to be sourced to replace all those missing parts. One dilemma that we addressed early was the fitting of a floppy drive. In a future project involving this case we intend to fit a small LCD screen into the two bays normally used for small components like the floppy drive. This was something of a problem as for the early part of this project we would need a floppy drive fitted. To solve the problem and neaten the case up while still providing the space for the LCD screen in the future we simply mounted the floppy in reverse. Using a bay mount we turned the floppy drive round and fitted it backwards.

With the balance of the parts fitted to the front bays and some UV reactive Cables in place the case looks like this.

At the front of the case we decided to keep the face simple and clean which meant stealthing out the DVD drive. So we went from this.

To this with the aid of a bit of adhesive.

After a bit of re shaping and fiddling with gaps to allow the drive to operate freely the front face was how we liked it.

Until the LCD screen arrives we decided to"loose fit" the floppy drive covers in the vacant space left. This involved a lot of resetting of the floppy bay holder to clear wiring and data cables.

After a bit of cutting down we were able to fit the covers to hide the back of our reversed floppy drive and neaten up the area. In the pictures below the covers have been "loose fitted" to show the effect from the front and then the reflected blue affect from the side.

Next the PSU and Ram go in and we end up looking like this. You will no doubt have guessed by now that we are going with a blue theme.

Of course it would not be complete without a picture of some of the blue bling that is to come.

Next.........Filling, testing and finalization.