EnergyFX's Thermaltake Soprano RS build

[kickbass4777]

heres what have so far with my case mod : ) front bay covers removed and replaced with cheap plastic grille material.

side view of clear window and fan placement , 2 inside over gpu , 1 over cpu on outside with grille mounted.

lastly a peek inside , through the power supply hole. The top fan is behind the front grille covering three 5.25 bays.

 

[steelkane]

your plexi resting on top of the space you made instead of inside it. that way it looks seamless with your nicely polished edge

 

[EnergyFX]

your plexi resting on top of the space you made instead of inside it. that way it looks seamless with your nicely polished edge

Oh, on the top piece... now I follow you. I see what you're getting at. You're right that would help tie the design of the front and top together, but I think I am going to go with the frame around the front plexi.

 

[EnergyFX]

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/99/l_b5df15533b6d4875bad7fa2e11fd7c63.jpg

heres what have so far with my case mod : ) front bay covers removed and replaced with cheap plastic grille material.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/78/l_a6fe0f6feac940f1a83fa304c425305e.jpg

side view of clear window and fan placement , 2 inside over gpu , 1 over cpu on outside with grille mounted.

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/78/l_592bc32798654a789f3c01199aa82561.jpg

lastly a peek inside , through the power supply hole. The top fan is behind the front grille covering three 5.25 bays.

If in the future you want me mod your side window like I did mine, let me know.

 

[kickbass4777]

If in the future you want me mod your side window like I did mine, let me know.

i probably will actually , the thermaltake window out of the box looks pretty cheesy , the "cool all your life " slogan doesnt even make sense to me .

 

[EnergyFX]

i probably will actually , the thermaltake window out of the box looks pretty cheesy , the "cool all your life " slogan doesnt even make sense to me .

I know, right!! Uber lame.

If you just want a plexi piece then that would be easy. If you want the curved tabs removed then you would have to mail me your side panel unless you want to cut them off yourself. Just let me know, we can work the details out when you're ready.

 

[kickbass4777]

i was thinking a plain window with good clean fan ports and a back lit black and blue intel logo : )

 

[kickbass4777]

i would probably leave the curved parts on there i guess they look ok tho

 

[kickbass4777]

oh , i had another question actually. is hot glue a good adhesive to use for grilles and things? not any parts that get hot enough to melt , i was just wondering how well those front grilles will hold up over time . I put them in with a copious amount of hot glue to stick them into the front plastic piece of the case . Another thing i'd like to try is to mod a small bright LED inside of my video cards cooling plastic shroud ( ati xfx 4890 ) to make the whole card glow red . it would look so cool.... but im afraid of damaging my card.

 

[EnergyFX]

Hey, kickbass... you should start your own worklog for your build. You sound like you've got lots of ideas and questions. Having your own log will get you more visibility and solicit advice from other members here on the forum.

 

[EnergyFX]

Did some more drawing. I wish my parts would get here so I can build instead of draw.

The red surfaces on the inside are just to differentiate from the outside.

 

[Cold Storm]

That's going to look sweet once your able to build it! I wish your parts got here too!

 

[EnergyFX]

That's going to look sweet once your able to build it! I wish your parts got here too!

The next couple of weeks should be fun!

 

[EnergyFX]

Typical! Two boxes of goodies showed up today... now that I am back on shift for three days. I was actually a few minutes late to today's meeting 'cause I was playing. :shadedshu

 

[Cold Storm]

that's nice man!! Playing with your toys to much!!

Can't wait for the next few weeks!

 

[MKmods]

oh , i had another question actually. is hot glue a good adhesive to use for grilles and things?

what makes it exceptionally good for modders is the glue in hot glue dosent rely only on solvent to bond so its removable if needed (and there is that whole dry in a few seconds too, sweet and cheap)

 

[EnergyFX]

My 16+ hour workdays don't leave much time to play, but I at least got a picture to share. Here is the laser cut front panel. BEAUTIFUL!

Just to give you an idea of how intricate this is cut, the inside corners of the drive bay openings are ever so slightly rounded to help prevent stress crack vulnerability. I drew the image file up with the inside corners rounded at about 1/64th of an inch radius. The laser was able to meet that radius.

 

[MKmods]

Beautiful, just imagine all the hours saved in cutting , sanding, polishing...

By the way how much was that to get done?..

 

[Cold Storm]

Yeah, I'm with you MK.. It's a great piece of art! Very good!

Now, how much!?!? lol..

 

[steelkane]

Oh ya,, I bet you were happy to see that opening the box.

 

[kickbass4777]

your computer > mine

 

[EnergyFX]

Beautiful, just imagine all the hours saved in cutting , sanding, polishing...

By the way how much was that to get done?..

Yeah, I'm with you MK.. It's a great piece of art! Very good!

Now, how much!?!? lol..

More than I want to admit

Cutting fee: $30
Material: $20 (rape)
Shipping: ~$12

Total ~$62

If I do something like this in the future I will check around with local sign shops. I might be able to get it a bit cheaper that way.

Oh ya,, I bet you were happy to see that opening the box.

I was quite giddy

your computer > mine

lol

 

[MKmods]

actually that was quite good...I tried once to get a piece cut at my local shop and I think they wanted like $50-75 just for the cutting. And it was no where near as detailed as yours.

Those are very good prices....

PS- do you have a room I can rent? Im moving over there
(fancy schmancy stuff like that is very high over here in Reno, I tried to get a small panel powdercoated and it was like $100-125 minimum)

 

[EnergyFX]

actually that was quite good...I tried once to get a piece cut at my local shop and I think they wanted like $50-75 just for the cutting. And it was no where near as detailed as yours.

Those are very good prices....

PS- do you have a room I can rent? Im moving over there
(fancy schmancy stuff like that is very high over here in Reno, I tried to get a small panel powdercoated and it was like $100-125 minimum)

Reno?? Hell, the place that cut this is in Vegas. Pololu Robotics. I drew up my idea in Google SketchUp (because it is so stupid simple to use). I then used a demo version of Corel Draw to redraw it (using all my dimensions from SketchUp) as a .svg file Pololu to use.

As for powdercoating... you can save a lot of money if you aren't in a hurry. Powdercoat shops will often give you a big break if you tell them that you can wait for them to put your part in the oven with a bigger order. For example, a shop here quoted me about $150 to powder coat this case on a deadline, but they could do it for about $50 if they could combine it with a larger order (read "no deadline").

 

[MKmods]

LOL, that was with me waiting for them to get a black order to throw my stuff in with.. Vegas would be sweet as there is a ton of business competition but its way too dam hot for me there...

Thats how I know how to do so much stuff, Im just too dam cheap to pay anyone else to do it for me

Thanks for showing this, its gonna help a lot of people..