C P U - S T I N G R A Y

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:47 am

Another Insane Case Mod by Mnpctech.com

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CPU StingRay was commissioned by CPU Magazine for their special issue PC Modder in October 2005.

CF-1009 Midtower by AMS Electronics.

If youre ever on the fence about what case to buy for moddin, the AMS CF1009 remains my all time favorite. Its the most durable construction for an aluminum case I've seen to date. You can easily remove the 2 piece acrylic bezel and plate for cutting fan holes. LED and PWR/RESET buttons are screwed in versus glued. The HD cage is removable. You can modify it so you have, Front and Rear 120 fans. It's painted aluminum, not anodized so less prep work painting. I would still chose this case over any Lian Li. It's simplistic plain jane design makes a great canvas for mods. Excalibur Project by mnpctech.com

Tom's Hardware review of midtower version, CF1006

Addtronics 6896 bezel... matches AMS dimensions

Custom (4" rise) cowl induction hood on 1999 Corvette

1972 Corvette Stingray

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:48 am

Powdercoated Chassis. Candy Apple Red powdercoat

trim for the 5.25 bay I cut from a pre-made rigid sheet of CF.

Bulgin Vandal Resistant Illuminated Switch - Red Ring MPI002R performance-pcs

Added 1.5" washer and drilled a 3/4" hole in center to fit over the switch and make it appear larger. I then covered the switch and washer w/ masking tape, then cut along the outside edge of the light ring w/ exacto knife. So now you have inner push button portion covered with tape... I then sanded the exposed alum w/ 400 grit sandpaper. Then applied Metalcast Red, then after 24hrs, a laquer clearcoat. The clearcoat is crucial, cause Metalcast chips very easily

I'll be mounting the Black Ice Extreme III in the top panel, so the dual 80mm exhaust should really help pull out warm air above the PSU. I really wanted to jazz up the dual 80mm exhaust. I've seen people mount tail pipes on cases.. Since thats already been done, I designed this billet aluminum accent plate. The 80mm AOC fans have milled aluminum frames with plastic chrome blades. I hate the white colored hubs and know others feel the same, so I covered them with carbon fiber vinyl film ...plays off the bezel trim as well.

The fan holes were finished with u-channel molding and fan mounting grommets that help elminate fan vibration.

I used Honeycomb Modders Mesh for the grill behind the aluminum accent plate

PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 850 Ultra SSI from Performance PCs 850W continuous, 950W peak power and SLI READY. Ohhh Mama!

Measures 5.9" x 3.4" x 9.0"

"Will it fit Captain?!"

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:48 am

Retractable 5.25 optical bay cover

Download AVI @ 440K

Jewerly box support hinge from Rockler

Modified... of course

Da big case badge!

Corvette C5 emblem. I modified the emblem a tad and raised it with 1" backing made from wood, then covered with spot puttty, painted, then carbon fiber vinyl.

More "in your face" look I wanted.

The ring never turned my crank much <_<

1" thick pine (backing)

Spot putty, then paint

Those chrome rings around the fans will xplained L8R

"Vette-style" hood w/ high rise cowl induction. This will be covered with fiberglass filler. It will cover the lower portion of the front bezel. It will attach w/ it's nose downward, via 4 hood pins... so its easily removable. The cowl portion will have a intake grill made from Modders Mesh.

22 gauge galvanized steel.

Filled crevices with 3M ScotchWeld DP-190. Let it cure for 24 hours.

1/16th sheet of styrene plastic. Holding over heatgun to form over intake bezel frame

Using DP-190 again to attach hood cowl onto styrene

Evercoat's EVERGLASS Fiberglass filler

Within 15 -30 mins, Everglass is ready for sanding. Here I'm using a Black & Decker Mouse sander with corse grit paper

After sanding the first coat, I laid the hood against the bezel and noticed the styrene had warped on the right side. I resanded it, then placed 3, 1 gallon paint cans on the hood as the filler cured for 24 hours. Yes, the cans were FULL :shock:

Evercoat's EVERGLASS has awesome strength!

I'm going to touch up these spots in another hour

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:49 am

Installing the Black Ice Extreme III Rad on top panel with custom made mounting plate.

Fan vibration isloating grommets

U-channel molding

If you recall, the 5.25 bay and MB tray are offset to the left about 2".

A blessing in some ways... Extra space to hide cables, add more switchs alongside 5.25 bay... even mount a 3.5 device vertically. but, if you wish to center a BixIII radiator in the top panel, measure twice.. no, make it 3 times!

The initial layout I envisioned was mounting the radiator beneath the top panel, but I didn't account for any space for the output line from the 5.25 bay resevoir. Theres only way to go from here, and thats up ^ (top of the panel)

It had to be centered!

No room for error

Just for FUN, I set my new billet handles on the top panel. Looks sweet, but only enuf space for your finger tips

Got the Rad grill finished... Round Hole Modders Mesh painted with metalcast red then clearcoated...cure for 2 days, then I did the black flame lick and clearcoated it again.. In a perfect world, the fasteners would have been black, but nothing on hand in size 6 black machine screws. Painting these would chip.

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:49 am

I'm gonna use 5.5" mikuni carb filter covers, mock them up to look like 427 chrome filter covers... Looks like a minature V8 lying beneath our hood.. Well, make that twin V8s..(2 covers for 2, 120mm fans) We could say its the GM' cross-fire-injection V8 which has 2 air filter covers :cool:

I went over the 4-3/4" diameter... oh well, even better airflow in my book

I'm morphing the Corvette 427 decal/AMD FX logo into a new filter decal

Anodized Red pop rivets from DragonModz.net

I may have replace the #8 size butterfly nuts with #6s to clear the hood. I'm allowing the hood paint to cure for couple days before I handle it.

Its just like setting the idle adjustment on carbs, set them, shut the hood and Go!

The paint on the hood still needs to be wetsanded and buffed out

The hood will raised off the bezel 1/4", not flush as shown here

The hood will be held on with R/C body mount kit from Tower Hobbies and anodized red hood pins

Drilling mounting holes for hood pin mounts

The hood will raised off the bezel (for airflow) with sleeved collars

5.25 Bay res from DangerDen

Hood is buffed... and ready for action

The nose portion of hood will be accented with carbon fiber film to tie together the "racer" theme w/ hood pins

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:49 am

I luv this idea... installing 3.5 fan controller out of sight in HD bay

ou know my boy Lins got his hands in this project too :cool:

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:50 am

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:50 am

Packing shipment of case to CPU Magazine's offices.

ECLIPSE · **Joined:** Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:51 pm **Posts:** 47

kidd · **Joined:** Fri Dec 15, 2006 3:05 am **Posts:** 138

this is my favorite case mod ive seen so far EVER and its the ONLY case mod my dad likes lol

eegg · **Posted:** Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:30 pm

nice paint job

CyberDruid · **Posted:** Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:25 am

I really appreciate your detailed work log Bill, And you learned me some new tricks too! Scotchweld. Never thought of using a electricians' hole punch fro fan holes either--way cool.

Gotta love your paint skillz--and the engineering of the friction lift was tight!

Excellent!

CyberDruid

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Fri Dec 22, 2006 4:09 pm

Good hearing from you CyberDruid. Welcome to the new Forums!

onthagrind · **Posted:** Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:13 pm

Masterpiece. What metal did you use to mount the fans with. I think I may have to do the same with my case.

Bill Owen · **Posted:** Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:34 am

onthagrind wrote:

Masterpiece. What metal did you use to mount the fans with. I think I may have to do the same with my case.

Thank you!

I believe it was 16 gauge sheet metal

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