Cooler Master Haf XB Harley Davidson Mod

[tastegw]

Starting on a new project for an upcoming build. I will be using the Cooler Master Haf XB as my canvas.

Some parts in the mail:

2X Overkill grills from mnpc tech

2X 3"OD 18" aluminum pipes from CX Racing

1X 2'x2' black diamond plate and 1X 2'X4' brushed aluminum

10 pack of towering inferno nut covers (only needed 2 :/)

3X 140mm Cougar Vortex Hydro fans

Work begins in about a week or so
Items left to order:
• Harley Davidson etched acrylic window clear for top panel
• 2x 14x6 arcrylic window orange or clear for side panels
• Harley Davidson orange spray cans
• misc bolts and supplies

Will update when work has started

 

[tastegw]

Scetch of front panel design change plans

•Mesh to be removed and replaced by either brushed aluminum or black diamond plated aluminum.
•Overkill grills to be mounted flush on fan holes, planning on painting grills black to offset both the orange fans and the brushed aluminum, or leave as is if using black diamond plate.

 

[DanishDevil]

Interesting concept, subbed.

 

[tastegw]

Work got a small start today:

Case Chassis: Cooler Master HAF XB
Case Theme: Harley Davidson

So I finally got back home and found some packages waiting to be unboxed

Sadly, not everything came yet, but I did get some goodies.

1x Cooler Master HAF XB case
2x Overkill Grills from MNPC
3x 140mm COUGAR Vortex Silent fans (orange)
2x 80mm Cooler Master standard fans
2x 80mm Link Depot standard fans
10x Inferno Nut Covers
1x 2'x2' Black Aluminum Diamond Plate

Items purchased today:

some new dremel bits
self etching primer
orange glossy
clear coat
various glue/tape/tools and stuff

Still awaiting:

2'x4' Brushed aluminum slab
2x 18"L 3"OD exhaust pipes
1x Transparent Amber Acrylic (enough for both sides)
1x Transparent Clear Acrylic (spare for top)
1x Laser Etched Clear Acrylic /w logo at top of post
1x Decal pack

edit: forgot to mention what the specs will look like after hardware is purchased (though nothing is set in stone just yet)

LGA 2011 Platform X79
Intel Core i-7 3820 (to be replaced with 22nm 6 core in Q3
Undecided on motherboard, but i really wanted a Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 board (its got orange on it lol)
Zotac 660ti (to be replaced by 780's dual or tri sli Q2)
AIO cpu cooler (all in one)
Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300w PSU
16/32GB quad chan kit, undecided on details
Western Digital WD VelociRaptor 1TB HD

 

[tastegw]

Unboxing the case was a treat, this little thing had some real weight to it.

The panels are fairly thick and overall quality is very good.

I wanted to start by removing the front panel mesh, to my surprising the mesh that I had read was non removable was actually removable

even the filter was removable

this was all easier than getting the front panel off the case on its on. Next step was to remove the plastic grid from the front panel, and I got delayed, so that will wait until tomorrow, but I did get 2 of 2 nut covers reduced in length and ready for sanding before calling it a day today.

so to tease you with what these are for, here is a mock up using the actual items:

will have more ready for you hopefully tomorrow.

 

[tastegw]

Before I continue, I wanted to show detailed images of these COUGAR fans, they seem to be of really good quality, though, I have not tested them out just yet.

boxed

front

rear

top

sleeving

accessories (screws / 3 pin to molex / toolless push pins)

side by side with the basic cooler master fans that came with case (120mm)

enjoy.

 

[de.das.dude]

sub

 

[stinger608]

sub

Yep, same here.

 

[tastegw]

thanks guys!

I began some cutting today on the top panel.

Tools used:

Standard Corded Dremel
EZ Lock 456 Metal cutting blades
number 438 sanding bits

first thing to do was to mask the sections that needed cutting, I cut from the inside today for 2 reasons: 1) the outside will not even be seen once mod is finished , 2) it was easier lol with the way the panel was set up.

once I had my lines drawn with a 90, I began to cut (my dremel skills are not very good, but i do my best)

cut completed after about an hour and a half

this case has the thickest panels I have ever cut before

next step was to sand the edges so its smooth and safe to work around, no pics of that sorry. but I did use both the dremel and manual sanding methods.

part 2 of the work was to continue with the nut covers, I had cut them last night, but they needed some sanding.

one is not finished, the other is, can you tell?

different angle


thats it for now, will update later tonight or tomorrow with more work done, next thing to do is start on the front panel grid, that has to go!

 

[t77snapshot]

This Xb mod is going to be awesome!! Subbed for sure

May I have permission to add your log to the "Members Build Log" section of my Cooler Master Haf-XB Case Club here ? and I would love for you to join the club as well.

 

[tastegw]

This Xb mod is going to be awesome!! Subbed for sure

May I have permission to add your log to the "Members Build Log" section of my Cooler Master Haf-XB Case Club here ? and I would love for you to join the club as well.

sure thing man, thanks a bunch!

 

[tastegw]

Front Panel work:

unsure on what the tool was called that was used to cut this, but it did a pretty good job. it did need some heavy sanding afterwards.


before:

after (front)

back

trash left over

mounted back to the empty case (still not finished yet)

more images of my vision (note that the grills will not be mounted as the photo shows, they will be turned 45 degrees once the diamond plate has been cut and mounted)

I was really happy with the new height of the nut covers

next job is to cut the diamond plate to proper sizing, and get some nice round holes in it.

I also need a light sanding done on the front panel, then prime it and paint it harley orange (not officially harley orange, but as close as i can get) and then clear coat it.
as you can see from the above photos, I may need to putty up some "opps" on the front panel near the right edge and another spot, not sure how ima do that just yet.

enjoy for now, will update prolly tomorrow with more

 

[tastegw]

Small Update for tonight:

Masking and measuring the diamond plate for cutting tomorrow:

I over thunk that one,......when I was trying to figure out what half of the width was.....I was using the height's figure and kept wondering why the math didnt seem right lol.

anyhoot, I messed around with the diamond plate, and I will have more left than I would have used, so I tried to see what it would look like on the top instead of brushed aluminum:

the picture really doesnt do it justice, it looked very nice, I am contemplating whether or not to do both the top and the side panels with the diamond plate also, if i do, ill need to order more of it.

one thing holds true, I cant paint a pattern or strait lines on the diamond plate, so if i go with diamond plate on the rest of the case, its prolly going to stay unpainted, except for clear coats, but then again, I dont think I had any plans to paint the brushed aluminum either, I went away with that idea,.

 

[tastegw]

Hi, so I got back at it this morning, some cutting and some accessory painting.

This is where I left off last night:

Now some cutting was ready to be had

was able to get a pretty solid line today, I was pleased with the results

as you can see, it fits pretty snug in there

another shot

after some sanding, it will need some touch up black on those edges.

now for the holes

I also cut to size a top panel to see if I like it instead of brushed aluminum (which hasnt came yet )

this one still needs some work around the edges, either my case isnt strait, or they sent me a bad cut, cause their 90 doesnt match up with the cases 90, my cut was 90 on the other sides.

some painting and priming:
front panel prime

front panel orange (clear coat not shown in this pic)

these look really nice in the case

thats it for now, im watching paint dry as we speak, tonight I will try and get the nut covers mounted on the fans, a painful task thats going to be.

enjoy

 

[adulaamin]

subbed!

 

[tastegw]

subbed!

thanks man!

small update:

bought some goodies at the auto shop today, not sure if they will be used or where, but its nice to have options:

pretty sure I will use these letters above, got to decide where they will look best once shell is completed.

if i use these vents above, I need to work on them first, cut out the inside so they would be actual working vents.


other update with painting and nut cover:

front panel mounted after clear coat applied and dried

side view

teaser of how finished look will be

nothing is mounted yet in the above, and still deciding on whether or not to paint those grills

nut cover mounting

never mind the void you see, you will not be able to see that from the outside of the case, if needed, I will fill the void and refinish it afterwards.

will update more as things progress.

currently watching pain dry on motherboard tray and PSU mount bracket, as well as the 120mm fan and the expansion slot covers.

 

[t_ski]

Two things:

1. If you decide to use the vents and letters, don't paint the fan grills. That way the silver will accent at several places in the build. You might want to use the same brushed/sanded look throughout though.

2. Be careful with the nut covers on the fans and make sure you get them centered perfectly, or else they'll be out of balance.

 

[tastegw]

mounted the expansion bay covers, they look sweet. orange may be a odd color, but it sure does play nice with black.

inside

outside

you can see the fan I painted in the back 120mm rear slot, I dont like it,...

so I ordered a 120mm version of what my front two intake fans are

at least I know those look good.

anyhoot, will update when I can, enjoy!


---------------

edit for small update:

psu cover done:

 

[tastegw]

Last update for tonight:

Mounted finished motherboard tray:

I am happy with these results

sorry for the light, its making the color look off.

so while I was at the hardware store today picking up some bolts, I checked out the plumbing section because my 3"OD pipes still have not came and I only have 1 day left before I ship out for another 2 weeks.

I saw 2 of these:

they are much smaller than what I have in the mail,

but they look really nice. the problem is, with their smaller size,

I am not sure that one on each side would be enough.

those would be much easier to mount than the 3"OD 18" long aluminum pipes, problem is, I will need 2 more and I bought the last two from that hardware store, I would have to find 2 more tomorrow.
(if my brushed aluminum sheet comes in, otherwise, I will have to wait till next home stretch to continue on these.

edit: just checked my local lowes, they have 2 of these in stock
I will come up with something else for the 3"OD pipes, I like the double exhaust look.

next up for tomorrow:
cutting out the side vents

 

[tastegw]

A small update for today, much to small for my liking.

I drove over to Lowes to pick up 2 more of those pipes, got back home and began working.

I got the first side panel cut out like I needed it

these cuts didnt have to be perfect cause both side panels will be covered up by the brushed aluminum, but the cuts on that aluminum will need to be perfect, thankfully that aluminum is really thin.

Then I started cutting out my 1 1/2" holes for the pipes, and this is where I ran into trouble.

I didnt have a metal cutting hole saw, my so called "all purpose" hole saw bits were doing just fine for me up until today, it cut through my antec case just fine, the decent depth diamond plate, but this case ate it up, so I tried a 2nd bit, it ate it up again...

Boy this steel is hard as nails, so I drove on back to Lowes and bought a proper bit, well almost I guess. I got a bi-metal bit that was suppose to be good enough to cut steel.

So when I got back home, I was able to finish the first hole in seconds, I got the 2nd hole no problems. It was time for the next panel. No go...this bit was toast after attempting the first hole.
So by this time it was too late to make a 3rd trip to Lowes (the closest HW store open today)

But I do have pics of how the pipes fit in my one finished panel (finished as far as cutting and drilling goes)

I ship out for another 2 weeks tonight, so I cant update until I get back and get some more work to do, by then, everything should have came, including:

*Top Panel Laser Engraved CM/HD Logo Clear Acrylic
*2'x4' Brushed Aluminum sheet
*120mm matching COUGAR fan
*extra acrylic (amber and clear) pieces
*orange thumb screws (case screws)
*Amber LED Lazer Light (to shine down the seem of the top panel glass to light up the logo)
*everything else I may have forgotten about

Things left to do:

*2nd side panel, cut out both pipe holes and "window" slot
*cut the brushed aluminum to size for both sides and the top panel
*give the sides and top panel its finish (whether it be painting, or leaving it be, I am undecided)
*finish mounting all panels (no drill holes have been drilled yet)
*test out those fans with the nut covers on them, see if they will be ok, fix what needs fixing
*everything else I had forgotten about

****put a machine inside of it (comes later)

Enjoy for now, see you next time!

 

[epiales74]

Looking great can't wait for the next update

 

[tastegw]

I have decided on how to finish the brushed aluminum.
Originally I had planned on leaving the aluminum with its original brushed look, but after some thought, 3 different colors/finishes just seems a bit much, so other than the chrome exhausts, orange and black will be the dominating finishes on both the interior and exterior.

I have planned a 75/25 black/orange paint job for all 3 aluminum panels (left, right and top). Specific details are not yet ready.

Metal Harley badges are fairly expensive, but I did find a source for some officially licensed badges for a very reasonable price, these badges are less then 2" wide though, but I think those are perfect size for what I will be doing with them.

Comments, suggestions are very welcome, as I have plenty of time to plan ahead.

Thanks!

 

[t77snapshot]

Last update for tonight:

I am happy with these results

I absolutely LOVE the orange and black color scheme you have performed. It very much reminds me for my Tempest mod I did a few years ago.

Keep up the good work tastegw, cant wait to see the final results.

 

[HammerON]

Sub'd for an interesting build

 

[PatoRodrigues]

Subbed! Awesome project!