I took some time off from the big smoke and went back to the hills and the trees....had to find myself once again and get some percpective on what i wanted to do and how to get there...

I think I have found some direction.

This Mod, is a Complete Mod, Case and Hardware.

A Home Theatre Case, I was hoping for small form factor but the plans have changed to...'as long as it all fits size isnt important'.

I posted in 'Drawing Board', but the original plans have changed, some elements I'm keeping but others I'm not.

So with out further adue....



I would love to say that this is going to be different from anything you've ever seen, but it would probably be a lie, but as this is my first attempt at a full case mod, it should prove intersting and challenging for me.

A week in the bush.....no internet.....WTF!!...but yeah no internet, just trees and kangaroos to look for inspiration, so I drived into my imagination and came up with this....(Yes its changed from the previous drawings that I posted)



Basic shape, DVD Rom in the center, 2 X 80 mm fans either side of the rom, power and reset switches and I'll be using the Thermaltake Media Center Remote Controlly thing as the central brain for the System. The other stuff I'll reveal later when I've drawn more plans up for it. At the bottom of the Picture you can see preferated lines, that will be meshed, the other lines are the main structure that will go around the edge of the case and the squares with an X are the support beams that will join the front panel to the rear panel.



Rear Panel, consists of a removable motherboard tray at the base for a micro ATX form factor. Up the top Power supply and 2 x 80 mm fans...also a spot for the HDD rack of which I'm hoping to get at least 4 x SATA 320 or 500 gig drives into (I have lot of movies)
Further down the Photo trail you'll notice that the fans and PSU mount are reversed.



This is the possible side panel design, but may change as the weeks go by, but for now it'll be something like this... Alu side panel center cut out, blood red acrylic window, 80 mm hole cut for fan. The fan may end up being external as the grey section on the design shows more aluminium , kind of a massive fan grill, with future elements added, mostly eye candy though.

I have been working on some fan grill ideas for the case, as I'm intending on making just about everything myself less hardware and a few other things beyond my knowledge, fan grills I can do , I just dont know which of the next 3 pages I like, maybe you could help me decide





I havnt done a top design yet, due to the fact that I havnt decided on how long its going to be, after the template panels are completed I'll have a better understanding on how I would want the top and bottom panels to look, so for the moment they are on hold until further notice.

And so now the mod begins...




The MDF Frames, they will be cut tomorrow...



The front an rear panels drawn up ready for cutting...




Front and Rear MDF Panels cut out, certain parts tested and fit ok.


So you might be asking where's the mod, well I gave this alot of thought and I came to the conclusion that this mod is going to cost a few hundred, by the time its finished, and that I dont want it to cost a few thousand, due to silly mistakes on my behalf, so the MDF is my template for the second stage of the mod, this is the first stage.
Basically everything will be MDF, then it'll be test fitted and then I'll move onto the aluminium which is the second part of the overall mod.

Also by doing it this way, if my plans have failed me in anyway, then I have the option to fix it before the second stage.

So with all that said welcome to =[future ne[]n]=

Gavin aka Seth

Gavin, this design seriously rawks.

What is the method and or program you're using with the grid paper?

Wait, Are you penciling out those designs on that paper? (they look printed.. wow!)

Thnx Bill

No program, grid paper pencil, ruler and black marker pen (so it can be seen when photographed)

I think you answered the last question urself lol

Some things I prefer to do the old fashioned way....not too fond of sketchup, but wont knock it either, each to their own.

They look awesome. I don't use sketch-up either.

I used to doodle on grid paper my dad brought home when I was a kid. I'm now motivated to find some large sheets again

At the time I bought the grid book....they also had the same but in A3 sheets, silly me I should have got a few....side panels are going to be a little bit longer than front and rear panel.... but I can get them at a later date...

I'm using 40cm x 28cm x 2mm....its a book of maybe 50 sheets.

All in all a good investment.

i really like the industrial look on this design, waiting for some actual parts

hey sethnmalice,what ever design you go for and your happy with
its gonna be one sick mod

Could Tape sheets together too.

nice design work there Seth, Ill be looking forward to seeing this projects progress, keep up the good work

Cool designs Seth. Very cool

I'll read the log properly, but I first off I have to say that those grills rock and we MUST get some of them into production!!!

@ssR... I'm still researching 'actual parts', not sure whether you mean in the design or in the hardware though, but if in hardware then, im looking at a 754 micro atx that also has pci-e...pc dosnt have to be a beast to function good, its an asus board, ill have more details on hardware when the time arises

@the pain...i just hope i can do the drawings some justice, because what i see and what i draw and what i make may not be the same thing...this is a whole new ball game for me.

@Bill... (wonders why i didnt think of that) lol cheers for the insight:)

@Lutty... Thnx Lutty

@Crunch... Thnx Crunch, hope to have some more soon

@ GAM...First thing Monday morning, ill ring a laser cutting company and see what they have on offer.

Update [15th July 2007]

Well today was an interesting one, I managed to get one of the frame panels cut, the other will be done tomorrow, this test template isnt accurate, its mostly so I can work out the inside space for overall hard drive space in relation to the motherboard and cpu height, because i want to add a productbrand aircooling unit like the asus one i currently have in my pc and it works like a charm, but its rather big so the pre-chassis is to make sure i dont hit any obsticles along the way.

the end result of todays doings...



This is one of the frames, front or back, the other will be posted tomorrow and hopefully the chassis will be completed.


This is with the front panel added to the frame panel, and as you can see, i made a mistake already, but this will be fixed when the alu version is done.

What you may not see is that the front panel isnt flush with the edging of the frame panel and it should be, this is a mistake on my behalf for not clearly marking out the top(front) panel...but this can be fixed.


3D view, 14 mm frame + top panel...the MDF is light, but the alu version will be much heavier.

them there spikey grills do look the part

Bloke those designs look brilliant.

I haven't used Grid paper since highschool.

Man now you have me thinking.

Great work looks killer. Keep it up.