Tt Matrix VX: A HardwareLogic Mod!

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by stinger608

Well how about some pictures of updates in here

DAAAAMN, easy killer

The weekend has just started, hold your horses!

[stinger608]

ah Just kiddin man.

Just seeing what kind of reaction I would get

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by stinger608

ah Just kiddin man.

Just seeing what kind of reaction I would get

So are you satisfied with the reaction you got from me then?


Anyway, my side project is finally finished and I'll post up all the pictures of it tomorrow (in its own thread). But that means that I have all day tomorrow to work on this case, so expect A LOT of pictures tomorrow night!

[stinger608]

Yea pretty much

[gvblake22]

Ok Mr. Stinger, HERE'S YOUR WEEKEND UPDATE!!!!

First up is the top blowhole, beginning with cutting out the fan hole:


Then trimming up the mesh fan grill:

Then testing for fit:



Then doing some filing and sanding work on the baffle thing:


It's kindof hard to see in the two pictures above, but I rounded the edge of the inside hole and sanded down the rest of the surface a little in hopes that the paint might stick better.

And speaking of paint, this part will get the "HardwareLogic Red" paint job as well:

[gvblake22]

Then it was time to work on my idea of adding an 80mm intake fan to the front of the case...
To do this, I snagged a piece of thin sheet rolled aluminum that is easy to bend (you'll see why):


Once I got it trimmed up with the tin snips and the holes drilled...


...it was not time to bust out the modder's favorite friend... Mr. Dremel!!

This thing cuts through this stuff like a hot knife through butter. Here's what I ended up with:


The sides are then folded in to create a "box"



That will slide into two empty 5.25" drive bays:


But I found out that there were only holes drilled on one side of the drive cage, so I had to drill some of my own on the other side to secure the fan frame in place on both sides:


And finally, we can't have that ugly silver thing inside this beautiful black case!

[Captain Crunch]

Sweet cant wait!!!!!!!!!!

[gvblake22]

And to round out the weekend of modding this case, it was time to start on the drive stealthing idea I was toying with!
In an effort to keep the mesh theme of the Matrix throughout the case, I really wanted to find a way to stealth the drive(s) with the stock mesh drive bay covers. After some tinkering I found out that the mesh is actually metal, not plastic! So I was able to just bend up the little tabs of the mesh and pull it away from its plastic frame:


But those little tabs were crampin' my style, so they just had to go...



But here was my next hurdle...

How do you make mesh not see through?!

Here was my answer:



I just cut off and trimmed up a strip of the wide velcro and stuck it inside the mesh drive bay cover:



This made the mesh cover not see through and also provided me with an easy way to secure the bay cover to the drive's tray...



I know you can still see the drive through that little crack, but it's a good start. Still have to tweak it a little to get it to all sit flush and figure out a good way to still be able to open the drive from the outside. But we'll save that nidbit for later

[Mithosphere]

ooh nifty idear with the velcro

[stinger608]

SWEET update Blake!!!!