post pics of your latest electronic escapades or bizarre mods

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well this took me the best part of 3 hours to finish
omg i wish i hadn't started
i've put pc's together quicker when i first started doing them
and my fingers hurt more than when i've cut trees down
(probably something to do with pushing the keys through and nearly ripping my fingernails off) well why didn't i just buy a new 1 you might be thinking ,well it's sunday and no shops where open and i like this old thing (hell i think it's like 10 years old) but it worked ok just that i had to press the keys harder on letters n f g and number 4
anyway enough waffle here's what i did
not very impressive i no but woa did it do my head in

pic 1 the mucky old keyboard



pic 2 oh hell a membrane i was hoping it was push to make switches



pic 3 omg millions of rubber key pads no one sneese


pic 4 most of the keys out ,
this bit gave me the most pain as i had to force them out with my finger and thumbnails

sorry no pics of me putting it back together
worst part was them bloody rubber key parts, each 1 had to be lined up, a very very fiddly task
suffice to say it still works
come on i want to see what other members here have done or have got planned
post them pics

[francis511]

I did the same thing to a keyboard (deliberately !) and could never get it to work again.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well i had been meaning to clean it for weeks
and it was to hot in my room to have the pc on so i thought stuff it i'd get on with it
last night ,
regreting it today as my fingers are still sore from pushing the keys out
i'll be posting pics of my mad mod of my case soon although whether i'll
be able to use it remains to be seen

[dr emulator (madmax)]

today, after listening to my dvr making a horrid whining noise since i got it, i decided to wip out the dremel and cut out the side
after drilling it (i didn't use any cutting discs simply because i didn't want to have to hoover up )

yes it's a bit rough but meh i'ts not a work of art and will be stuck under my bench so i don't care
well i then decided to put a switch in it aswell
reason well i've already modded the top of the case with a fan to keep the analogue-digital chips cool, so it doesn't really need it switched on, well only in summer
pic of top chip cooler here
ye ye it's not straight get over it

so there ya go that's what the mad docs been upto today

[Jizzler]

I'm off/on working with this:



Looking to fit: 1 x eATX, 2 x ATX/CEB, 2 x mATX, along with power supplies, drives, etc.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

Originally Posted by Jizzler

I'm off/on working with this:

http://www.theburnerishot.com/photo/...mpaqServer.jpg

Looking to fit: 1 x eATX, 2 x ATX/CEB, 2 x mATX, along with power supplies, drives, etc.

wow thats some case whats the dimensions?

[Jizzler]

Roughly 17" (w) x 23" (d) x 24" (h).

Compaq used that case for quad Pentium Pro and Pentium II Xeon systems. Could hold a maximum of 18 drives in the (not pictured) hotswap bays. Also had a 2+1 redundant power supply system with 750w units.

When I find where I put the other pics of it, will post em, as they will make it clearer to see how it'll lay out.

[pantherx12]

Aww damn, its a shame I didn't take pics of me repairing monitors

I still have some of the after math and unfinished ones though, pics coming soon.!

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well post pics (smaller the better )

[pantherx12]

I recently put an extra fan into my NZXT case


Not the most elegant mod but it works! lowered MB temps by 3-4 c and made the ram run much cooler : ]



Oh and here is the aftermath I was talking about.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

did you get it fixed ? what was wrong with it?

[A Cheese Danish]

Originally Posted by pantherx12

Oh and here is the aftermath I was talking about.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...p/IMAG0019.jpg

If I lived over in England, I would definitely want to buy that Dell stand off you. I got a 15"
with no stand.

Nothing extreme with me lately.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

yesterday i decided to use the case i paid a small fortune for, anyways here's the front all cut out and soldered
yes it needed soldering why ? because it rattled something terrible before i did ,yes it looks tatty
but if you look close you can see that the holes weren't straight ,infact all this case was a bit of a mess

here's a pic of the back minus them stupid grid holes smoothed out with a small dremel grinding bit

take note case manufacturers no one wants them in a case, put some proper metal guards in,
they make the air flow so much easier

anyway now i have that of my chest
here's a pic of the case mod i did (this is a hole i cut last year )
i used the original hole from my old 425 watt power pack as a template with a dremel type grinding tool to get a nice smooth perfect circle not bad for my first case mod ey the circuit pictured is from the speed controller which has a little push to make switch on the top to change it's speed, it has a white switch cap that should have been red, but that must have gone up the hoover

top view of case with extra fan switches

(shame the case is so rubbish)

well it would have been finished today, but for the fact there wasn't enough airflow going through the side hard drive cooler pictured (the fan is on hinges )so i need to do some more drilling
yes there's a bit of gammy tape stuck there which held the fan in as i broke the clip that was originally there

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well today i did a little bit more



ye ye the holes aren't straight get over it
i really wanted to get the angle grinding bits out, but without a flexable drive shaft bit i couldn't do it,
also i couldn't cut the holes two big simply because it would have made the case to weak , the shiny bit is selotape and the black curly stuff is black tape curled up into a circle with another strip stuck to it, why well it's quite effective at catching the swarf (crumbs of metal)that come off when you cut holes and stops the smaller bits getting stuck then coming loose at a later date and messin with ya pc

i might cut some more holes yet as i want to fit a hard drive in the bottom of the case
as there isn't much space, although i'm not sure if i can put one in yet as space is very tight
full case pics here soon

[Jizzler]

To answer yer PM, no, haven't gotten around to working with the Compaq case unfortunately. Going to look for a plating shop in the area to perhaps get it anodized.

But I did a little no-so-bizarre modding this weekend,





Just a simple strip, prime, coat, coat, seal. Camera really shows off where I should have touched up :\ Oh well, I was going to make it a pantyhose computer anyway and it shouldn't be noticeable (Note to self: install more lighting in shop).

[dr emulator (madmax)]

Originally Posted by Jizzler

To answer yer PM, no, haven't gotten around to working with the Compaq case unfortunately. Going to look for a plating shop in the area to perhaps get it anodized.
.

ye i should've thought of painting the xaser but it's to cold for spraying here in the uk,
anyways the aboves only for my net pc, new i7 coming when i've ordered it and paid for it

oh and the case looks ok,
coming to think of it i was going to paint the dvr black but nah it's ok at the mo
will probably post some pics of my retreat here soon as i need to get the f on with it before it gets to cold

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well thursday i decided to do some tests to see if the holes i'd cut were large enough to allow air to flow through to the hard drive

yes the box was teetering over the edge of my desktop why ?well the leads from the old powerpack were only just long enough to reach and my desktop is only small ,well with the fan blowing without the side panel on i was getting about 32 o/c (according to my temp monitor) going up to 37 o/c with the side panel on (this was just the hard drive in the case not the the rest of the pc), so friday i drilled some more holes

now it seems to be at about 32 o/c, well saturday i decided to put it all back together but was struggling to get my graphics card in (which was why i tried to get a refund on this case 4 years ago, only to be told that i had to make things fit by a grumpy old shopkeeper who plainly refused to budge and give me a refund so i had to keep it )
why doesn't stuff fit ?well it is one of these screwless jobs so everything was meant to snap into place ,
did it ? did it heck and the worse part was as i've said the pci/agp slots were meant to be screwless , but has got the the holes for screws that are a few mm out,
why didn't i use the screwless option ey?
well it was made of flimsy plastic and wouldn't have held a fly let alone a huge graphics card.
so after alot of cursing i got my graphics card in ,by which time i had to go round to sir_reals house to look after his boy ,anyways comes home and looked in my powerpack only to see a huge amount of dust ,so i cracked open the case only to find the mains capacitors bubbling now i hadn't had the powerpack running for about 11 hours so i was like so i rooted around for some newer caps only to find i hadn't got any ,so i scrapped it and decided to buy myself a new one ,

well not wanting to cut corners and be a cheapskate i went for a corsair hx 650watt

what's it like?
beautifull and i would definately recomend it to anyone
why ? well it's a very energy efficient power supply
my last powerpack ws drawing between 650-700 watts and had a rating of just 525watts output
the corsair is drawing between 370- 440 watts idle and about 600 full whack and is very quiet ,
it also comes with a bizaare 7 years warranty which is fantastic
suffice to say it will end up in a new build in the future
what rating would i give it ?
well only 8/10
why ?
because the molex connectors are quite tight and fiddly to get in, other than that its great

pics of pc in new case coming to a pc near you soon

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well today i decided to cut and grind down the side bar which is meant to hold a hard drive and a fan to cool down the pci / agp slots

sorry no pics of it before cutting,as camera batteries where flat

next i decided that the fans cables were a mess so i poked a stanley knife in the plugs holes and took the wires out and put them in some 3mm heatshrink tubing
(without using heat as i wanted the cable to be flexible)


here's the result

mm tidier, i used some heat proof sleaving at the fan end (cream colored) as i want to be able to put more on in the future if need be

here's the fan holder all back together and connected ,the white arrow is pointing towards a plastic ratchet clip that does'nt fit my enormous hd 3850 so i'll have to cut that into the right size . it's a good idea, as it holds your cards in place better

[dr emulator (madmax)]

well here it is semi finished (just a few screws to put in here and there,and some holes to fill )


no 1 was a usb port ,why didn't i use it ey?
well i already have one on my card reader and the wires from it just got in the way
no 2 is a electricity monitor whose 5 volt power pack blew after 1 week
so i plugged it in my usb port

[dr emulator (madmax)]

Today i picked up another freebie (something I was supposed to have picked up ages ago) pictured,

ye ye it’s mucky get over it
Well it didn’t work then and it still doesn’t work, so being the inquisitive person I am
I opened it up to see what was wrong (at this point I have to say don’t try this at home or I’ll get in trouble, techpowerup accepts no Responsibility or liability for what you do in your spare time or blow up )(especially if you don’t know what your doing )
well I do I think
On to the circuit pictured

Well it’s quite a simple job of testing for shorts, burnt components, or even something as simple as a blown fuse in the mains plug or on the circuit board (obviously not with the mains running through it )
(remember children electricity is dangerous and even scares the hell out of me )
Well I tested the fuse in the plug and it’s ok. So next I move onto the one on the circuit board labelled f1 pictured above, well well what a surprise it’s dead, I also removed the black sleave to see what it was, only to find it just a 10 amp so it wouldn’t have been any good for my new i7 setup that I’ll be ordering soon
(never mind I can use it on my dvr recorder :wink: )
so that’s it then ?
no way hosey, now I need to know what blew it, which is where my years of fixing things comes in , I hope
Due to the area it came from, I’e my uncles house, which is plagued with surges (lights dimming flickering etch) it really doesn’t surprise me the fuse has blown
So what’s next ?
well i tested those mains capacitors (the blue and yellow coloured parts) pictured above
and they seem ok, and I say seem as without doing live stress tests there is know way of knowing whether they will fail under load
i also tested the diodes and the resistors
so I replaced the fuse , well I could have put a panel fuse holder in but I already had some fuses with pre welded legs so I didn’t bother
I also decided that because I would have to buy a heavyweight surge protector for my new i7 system, that I would only need a 5 amp fuse In this unit (although
always replace fuses with the same type I’e volts and amps and won't be plugging any electric fires into it)
remember folks (it’s always better to buy a new surge adaptor plug system than it is to fix them)
well did it work ?
of cause it did


well as i said earlier neither i or techpowerup hold any liability for what the viewers here do.
my advice is simple get yourself to a college or university and learn safely,
electricity is dangerous and can kill
i learnt tv repair and i'm still afraid of high voltage equipment


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[NeotonicDragon3]

Well I am doing something lamer than all you...
I am replacing Good Dell speakers with free speakers i got from a Friend
going from
2.5W per channel to 1 Wat per channel
6 Ohms to 8 Ohms

This photo shows how conviently the new speakers fit... and they work with the circutry... no my problem is.. I dont have a soldering kit..or know how to solder...
I wonder if there are ways besides solder that can connect the wires to the conacts without fire.....or is soldering easier than i think..and i need to tell my parents i am actually doing this so i can get a soldering kit...

[dr emulator (madmax)]

you could use some of these

you only need to use a pair of suitable pliers (i'e you stick your wire in the end and squish it together)


alternatively you could just solder it

(here's my quick guide)
soldering irons are relatively cheap to buy but i do recomend at least a 30 watt as anything less will result in waiting ages for the solder to melt
also you'lll need a soldering iron stand and somewhere to solder (don't do it on your bed as your likely to burn your sheets )

first let your soldering iron warm up
then take your soldering iron pictured and place some solder on the end with enough space between the iron and your fingers until it melts

(watch your fingers during this or you'll get burnt) it should coat the tip of the soldering iron
then take your wire that your going to use

and twist the end

then take your wire and tin it (i'e coat it with solder)

it should look like this

(tap the wire gently into an old dustbin while it's still hot to get rid of any excess solder) (remember the solder will burn your hand or your eyes if you do that part wrong! i'e wear safety glasses to be on the safe side)
now take your wire and poke it into the speakers tag hole

then solder it until the area around the wire is covered then it should look like this

and that's it

"warning"
please remember this is just a quick guide and neither i and or/techpowerup.com accept any liability for any damages or injuries caused by improper use of any type of electrical product now and in the future. always follow the manufacturers guides and safety instructions

although the only way to gain experience is through practice so get plenty of solder and old bits of wire, and enjoy yourself

[JC316]

Well, I don't have any pics yet, but i do have a bizzare electroic escapade. I just built myself a genuine DOS box. I got an old HP Onibook XE3 laptop, Celeron 700MHZ, Savage S3 graphics, 196MB of ram and a 5GB HDD. The screen is cracked in the upper corner, so I got it for free, and everything else works fine on it, just the screen is black in the upper right.

It had windows 2000 on it, which ran like frozen dog shit and didn't have DOS, so I decided to load up a copy of Windows 98 SE that I had lying around so I could finally be able to play the old games PROPERLY. Now folks, people gripe about Vista and what not, but you just try to go install Windows 98 on something, even if you have the proper drivers. Took me the better part of 4 hours to get that sucker reformatted, windows installed, and all of the drivers working properly. The audio was the biggest problem because I kept having to extract cab files off from the SE disc onto the HDD, because the browser only showed me the autorun on the 98 disc.

Finally got it working though and I am enjoying my old ass games.

Duke Nukem
Ultimate Doom
Quake 1
Jedi Knight (Big reason for this mod since Dosbox won't run it with Vista.)
Daggerfall
And Blood when I find it for a non insane price.

[jmcslob]

I think you need to change your name to Dr. Emulator (ModMax) wow LOL
I've been meaning to do some more Modding myself so far I have not done so much...well actually all i have done is this http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=103424

[JC316]

Here we go, I got a few pics of the DOS throwback machine.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14597.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14599.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14602.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14603.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14605.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14606.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...e/SDC14607.jpg