My First Mod "Saturn Magnetosphere" Worklog:

56k Beware! a MegaPost awaits your viewing pleasure







This is only the beginning. I have alot of ideas going into this Case Mod.





I still have to adjust the Saturn ring into the center utilizing my adjustment bolt.
Forgot to take the picture but I drilled lots of holes in the center before I put the fan on.
I figure I'll just wait till all the cutting is done and do the fine tuning in the end.



Got a few leds going and hooked fan up. .For now. The entire thing will be lit up verrry soon!
Im reading up on how to make the lights alternate. I would like to make it look like the rotating rings on saturn.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I bought another smilodon case from newegg and the front was damaged so i got them to send a replacement.
Im going to use the damaged front from that, and the front panel that was on this pc case originally and make one, Kewl New front panel.
Need Some ideas. . on how to paint this thing. God forbid it ends up sticky and scratch off!



Here is what I have in the works for the top. The are gonna be enough fans in there to blow the cards out of the box



I guess I'm gonna have to use a black power supply. Forgot about that. Food for Thought.

Thats a good thing to. It just dawned on me "I'd damn better make sure I leave room for the computer parts "

Should I cut the top out bigger? Like open accross the the top more mesh?

I cut a rectangle out of the top and now i'm Cleaning it up a bit.



Here is what i'm doing with the front panel.



Im going to put this front panel in the frame of the panel that was originally on this case.



I have it all cut out. Now I have to trim the inside of the other frame out to fit the new Panel in there.
As well as align the drives from the front panel up with the case. Before filling in the cracks and Gluing.



When I put the plastic edging around the top of the case it cracked.



So I got the heat gun out and warmed the transition or curve.
A Hair dryer will work also.



Note: This is my first casemod so I found the ugliest case I could find for my mod.

Wait and see what I have in the works for a case window.

Whoa, lots to look at

I love it. It looks pretty awesome and time consuming.

Btw, might wanna put at least "DIAL UP BEWARE" in post. I run 3mb DSL and it loaded really quickly... but ya never know for some people.

I'm glad you like it! Its no superduper plexiglass mod with thousands of wires and watercooling trinqits. .
. .but It's mine and Im having fun building it.

The Alien Mothership has landed.

I have 10 Red LEDs hooked up in a circle, and a 2 Blue LEDs on top.



I bolted everything down to the case, and wired the LEDs up on the top panel:



I still have to add another Blue led on the other side and figure out how to attach it where it will look kewl.
All I have left to do is the front panel and fasten down the top of the case.



I just used Spackling to fill in the cracks. And Glued several Sheets of Paper over it.
Before its all said and done, I will contour the front panel for a smoother look.

I got the front panel pieced together and primed for now.
Its a Hybrid Emachine/Raidmax Smilodon Front Panel.




I'm still thinking of adding something on the sides. You will see that Later on.

Feeding the wires through to the backside.



Still Need to Shrinkwrap those wires.

I swapped out the LEDs on the saturn ring. I ended up crushing them the first go around.






Riveting the side back on. And attaching the dome.

It was a pain in the as getting this to stay on.
Its study as all hell now. I dropped it off my work desk the other day didn't move at all.
I filled those extras holes in. Forgot to take a pic.






I decided to put the lights that were on the top on the side.
I think it looks alot better! Needs allot of work though, before it looks Clean.




Filed down the side of the top peice.


This is taking alot longer than I expected. Ive been spending alllot of extra time making sure everything can be removed, with bolts and rivets so I can take it all back off and paint her up. Still have alot to do to get it looking fresh and kleen. I have some sketches of my next mod done up I can't wait to get this one done and start on another.

I painted the front panel black and the grill white.

Here is the front panel:



Here is the Side: I think it turned out preddy good.
I painted it white so the lights would show up better:



I just set the fans on top for now.

I'm going to do a bubble fade from the front panel.
I think that would make it look much better.

Well I didn't like it White. .So I went ahead and Painted it Baby Blue.

One thing I learned this time round if you use a hairdryer "gently" to cure the paint after its dry to the touch
It won't leave the residue that gets on your hands and it doesn't scratch off as easily.
Sanding it down real good with a orbital sander doesn't hurt either.

I took it all back apart and painted everything separate.
Here Is a view from the side:



Here is my workspace and another view:



I'm done with this side. Just Riveting It all back together now and Using the Dremel to File
the rivets down enough where the panels will slide on smooth without a hitch.



Now I have the Case Door on the other side to do, and the Top and It will be Complete.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to put a case window on it yet.
The Metal on the Side door is extremely thick. "Where theres a will theres a way"

Will Post a Lengthier Update By the end of the weekend.

This side is Done. Just needs Windex.

I'm Working on the other side now.

Figuring Out whats needs to be cut off:



Cutting It off, Ive found it you tear the Little buRrs off before it cools It looks allot better:





You can see why I'm having trouble Deciding on a case window:


I guess I'm gonna sand this piece down real nice and hide the wires a little better.

Ive added more pics to the previous updates of the worklog if you care to take a peek.

Trying out the spackling over the door grip Like Nocturnal Did.







Almost like it was never there. .Might have to go over it one more time.

I decided to trim it down to the size of the case.



And I made some pieces to cover the gaps on the sides:





Now I'm going to dremel it smooth and fill in the cracks.

It's on Now! . . I'm getting help from EclectiGopher
He's all work no play. Mean as hell to. He will Dremel the Toenails right off ya.






I found a mounting bracket for that fan so I can turn it from a center post.



I'm gonna cut the square out a little bigger. Damn Cutoff Wheels..
Flying all over the place. .



Cleaning up the inside a bit. . Look at the sparks Fly. .

This will kinda add to the whole "Saturn" Magnetosphere Theme.



I'm Gonna cut some Fan holes out on it. For Saturn's Moons, different sizes.

Here are the moons and, My God there are allot of them.
I'm gonna go with Titan, Dione, and Phoebe.



I may end up repainting the dome Burnt Orange. :think:

Here is what I have going on top.






Here is my Lil' Mach Up for the Top Fans.



I'm Trying to figure out how to attach the mesh on the sides of this top piece.

Putting it all back together to get an idea of whats left to be done.





Work continues on the Saturn Magnetosphere Mod.
















Still needs some cosmetic work. It will be Nice by the time i'm Done!

Getting the top ready for my motorized cylinders







Ive been practicing cutting out shapes with my scroll saw. The skillz didn't happen overnight.



Attempting to make another pipe slide through the center of these without a hitch.





Works Better with sandpaper Just Hot Glued it on there.

Didn't work out as I expected. I will have to bore them out with 60 grit Sandpaper
. . so the smaller tubing will glide through the inside.



Trying to figure out how much needs to be cut off.



I already bought some PVC pipe that will slide up and down from inside those pipes.
. .but I think I would rather go with Clear Tubing.

I'm going to repaint the mesh around the sides.




I figured out the Perfect way to motorize them.

Stay Tuned. .

This Pipe needs to slip over that pipe without catching.

I have a drill press out in the shop, but I lost the key.
So I've been walking around the house, watching tv, boreing them out LOL.





Here are all the pieces going on top. I'm going to cut the domes off the top of the other PVC End Caps,

. . and put Lines in the side of the pipe to let the air out for fans, or put some motorized reservoirs up there.







Now I have to put a set screw in through the side of that hollow bolt to hold it on the motor pole.
And attach the motor to another crossbeam on the top of the PC Case.



As the bolt turns, The pipe will ride the beam up, and down.
I have to get some motors that go forward and reverse.
I might have to make a guide in the sides of the PVC if it decides to spin.

Well my scroll saw wouldn't cut the side panel so. .
I got the jigsaw out and made a square and Put my aluminum panel behind it.



Should I cut some fan holes out?

I still have allot of filing to do, it was all just so scratched up I had to paint it.

Continuing Work on the Side Panel.









Still Needs some fileing down to be square, But other than that, painting, and Installing Fans
This is about as much as I wanted to do with this side.

Here is what I'm doing now.




What if I removed all but the outer circle and put mesh behind it?
I have some left over from the top piece on page 5.

The only thing I don't like about the mesh is it tends to block allot of air from getting out
so by raising it . .will let the air out and still look Kewl.



Cut the fan area out and left some burrs to hold the port into place.



Just a Speakerbox port and a Snipped Fan Grill.



Added some Mesh over the sqaure on the mounting panel.



I just realized I have my fans pointed away from eachother.
Though I have no way to correct it because there will be nothing to attach the dome to. .

Needed some Windex on the other side.



Here is what it looks like under the dome.



With the Lights On.



I turned the fan around.













Should I Sink them down in, raise them, or Both?

I put the case back togethor and the grills on the side don't really match the theme.
So I'm going to make some "Moons" out of plexi and have them raised in place of the grills. Lit up with LEDs

Contouring the Front Panel. I originally used paper michet in the form of printer paper to build it up.
It turned out a little wavy so I'm smoothing it out.

If you use Spackle wipe off the dust before painting with a damp paper towel.





Spreading on another thin layer of Spackle.




Waiting for that to dry.
Cutting out some plexi Fins for the sides.




Safety glasses. . Why? Because it threw a blade one day and flew right past my head.
I had it in the wrong blade guide. . . No real lethal velocity but still kinda scary.



Not sure if thats the shape I want, Just an Idea.
Trying out different ones.

Allot smoother than it was before.




For the fine sanding I used my fingerprint.

While I was turning the plexi the height adjustment feet on the scroll saw caught ahold.



I need a Belt sander.



I'm going to put a LCD Screen in front. Its 5"x6"
If you know of a good place to get a cheap color display within' that size,
That has RCA or VGA connectors let me know.



Well I have to wait on the paint I ordered before I put the fins on the sides of the front.
So I decided to do more work on the side panel.





I cut some plexi out for the rings. I have something special planned
for the planet it will be raised up with mesh . .like I did on the top.



Now I'm going to rivet the inside panel with the fan circles onto the side panel
. .and Hopefully get it contoured where it looks like one piece.





I'm gonna have to build that up a bit more so it looks flush, and Line it up.







I think that turned out preddy good.

The Saturn Magnetosphere is disassembled and ready for paint.

I made a RCA Fan Power Box out of a RF Modulator.




Here is my little fan power box complete.
I figured it didn't really need two indicator lights so I swapped out switches.



Before Lighting:



After Lighting:





I still need to sand the edges a bit. Just figured I try out my new lights.
Now I'm waiting on my Kameleon paint, and my Rotating Fiberoptic LED lights for the glass ring.

I cut the center out because the fans weren't blowing efficiently through the holes I drilled.



Filling in all the holes I drilled trying to attach the glass ring/dome portion.






Masking off the edges . . so there is no paint to scratch off while reassembling the case.




Vacuuming the metal dust outta there before I paint.




That turned out preddy good, I'm happy with it.

My Kameleon Paint Finally showed up Today.



Its Two-Tone Green with a Kameleon Overspray.










Looks like i may need to repaint the Side Panel. But Otherwise Its Bea. .utiful




I painted the underside of the glass with the Kameleon Clear Coat. Looks Awesome!
I may have to take it outside so you can see it.



CPU Fan successfully Installed.



I still have to re-angle the LEDs a smidgen .

Raising the Saturnian section.







About to add mesh around the outside. And make another Plexi Riser for the Lit up saturn Rings.

Very nice and unique mod. I like the theme and the execution, keep it up!

EclectiGopher, what a sport!!!
damn it i need a modding buddy!!
exellent work so far dude, you have a real unique theme goin' on there!!

Some nice work. Very different, but thats what its all about, I guess!

Keep it up.

Well I cut some more plexi out.. .and used smaller spacers.



Lining it up to drill the holes.



Figuring out which bolts to use.





I may have to drop the bottom one down beneath the side panel to attach it.

Moved to Page 2.

Sweet. btw you really should add 56k warning to the thread topic, the amount of pics you post is simply overwhelming