Previous related articles for reference purposes:

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences

NAG Case mod: How do I look in white?

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo). Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Ett

Previous related articles for reference purposes:

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences

I’m going to be rolling updates out a whole lot more regularly over the next while, so I hope you’re ready for this.

That’s all I’m giving you in this update  In the next couple of updates I’ll be covering the amazing cooling that was given to us by LandmarkPC, as well as the installation of the 7″ LCD Screen!

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone.  Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Previous related articles for reference purposes:

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Some new gear for the NAG case mod

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

I’m hard at work on this project at the moment. There’s so much going on, and so much to come this week. I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff arriving from the US on Monday/Tuesday, as well as all the cooling for the project. I’ve had endless trouble getting some panels laser cut, which has caused nothing but frustration for me, and delayed my ability to dive into some of the more structural work on the project, but those panels should be here this week. I’ve also got about 150 feet of snow white 18 AWG wiring arriving, but more on that when it arrives.

Before I can speak too much about the lighting, I first want to introduce the sleeving we bought for this machine. As some of you may know, I’m an absolute perfectionist when it comes to modding, and anything less than the best is not good enough for me. That’s why I opted to buy the sleeving for the project from Germany, and I made sure that we got the absolute best sleeving money can buy. So here’s the package that came in the mail:

Loads of goodies in there. Some more detail:

30M of 1/8″ white sleeving:

Some bigger white sleeving for the SATA cables:

I also got some black sleeving:

They sent some samples as well:

Along with that, I also ordered some wire mounts, some rivets, and a tool.

The wire mounts:

And the ATX Pin remover tool.

I also ordered a bunch of heatshrink for the ends.

On to the lighting. One of the most important things in a good, classy case mod is the lighting. Now, it’s really simple to just buy a big fat CCFL and throw that in there, but is it really going to look good? I remember my first little weekend mod had a CCFL in it. I actually still have that CCFL somewhere. After all these years of modding, I’ve really grown to appreciate good lighting. Sure, it takes significantly longer to get it set up, but it just looks so good when it’s done, that it’s all worth it in the end. So I opted to go the LED route.

Since this mod’s colour scheme is white and black , with the whole inside of the case eventually being black, I wanted the lighting to be white. So I got some white wiring for the LEDs:

The LEDs:

Now, I don’t want LEDs flooding the inside of the case, so I chose to place them at the top of the case in the top support beams. I needed to make a piece of plexi that would fit into that bean that would house the LEDs. So, I grabbed a piece of black plexi from my off-cut bin:

Cut out and ready for sanding and finishing:

Once it was cut, I spent some time sanding the edges to make sure that this piece would be exactly the right size. Then I fitted it to make sure it was okay:

Lastly, I drilled six 5mm holes for the LEDs to fit through:

I started wiring up the LEDs:

Looking pretty good! All it needs now is some sleeve!

Here are 5 sets.

I ran out of wire, hence only making 5 sets, hahaha. I’ll pick some wire up this week for the rest.

Fitted them quickly in the plexi. Not yet sleeved:

Then I spent some time sleeving the cables individually. Half way through sleeving the first one:

Done. Looking SO good:

Then I quickly test fitted the configuration in the case and wired it up to a PSU, just to get an idea of what to expect. Honestly, this is exactly what I wanted! A good light, but not so harsh that it’s BRIGHT inside the case:

That’s just about it for now. I’m really amped for everything that’ll be arriving this week. I can see myself working full days on this mod this week, which is exciting for me!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. I haven’t been doing this too much lately, but I’ll get back into it. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Don’t forget that you can catch me at the NAG stand at rAge this year, where I’ll be working on this and other mods. Be sure to stop by and have a look at this mod for yourself!

Cheers!

Ettienne

Previous related articles for reference purposes:

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Some new gear for the NAG case mod

Man, I’ve been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I get.

I bought some 1.2mm thick aluminium yesterday for use in the mod.

There are four pieces lying there. Let me explain what they’re all for. The big guy is for the motherboard tray. Quickly have a look at the stock tray:

This motherboard tray caters for almost every motherboard form factor that exists, hence all the holes. While that’s a great feature, I don’t need it. I only need it to support ATX, and perhaps EATX. The tray also has three big holes along the bottom for cables, etc. I don’t need those either, because I want to make the holes for the cables in the perfect places, not general places like this. So how do we solve this? With a piece of aluminium that’ll cover all of that stuff, like so:

Obviously, it’ll get modded a whole lot before it’s finished, and I’ll get into that just now. The two smaller pieces are for the sides of the bay area. here’s the standard bay area:

And the bay area with the alu sheet covering it:

That’s just a quick test, though. By no means is that the finished setup. This is just to give you an idea of what I’m going for. The last thing I want is a million holes all over the place, so I’m trying to clean it all up

So I started off with the motherboard panel. I needed to cut a big chunk of that alu out. So I’ve got it all masked up and ready for action:

After a few minutes with the Dremel 4000 series, I had this:

I’ve just got to mention something to you guys quickly. That Dremel 4000 series is freaking incredible. I’ve had a 300 series for a few years, and I got the 400 series Digital from Dremel when I just partnered with them (a few months ago). About 6 weeks ago they sent me this 4000 series, and it feels significantly better than anything I’ve used before. Don’t get me wrong, the 300 and 400 series are fantastic tools, and I still use both of those all the time, but the raw power and strength of this 4000 series is just incredible.

Anyway, after a few minutes with my file(s), I was left with some straight and clean edges:

And then it was time for a quick test fit to see if I had done what I wanted. So far, it’s looking exactly how I want it to be looking!

Alrighty. My next step was to cut a small piece out of the bottom of the new panel so as to make space for the rear end of the case getting in the way. These two photo will explain:

So, I measured it all up and got ready for some more Dremel lovin’:

All cut!

After some filing and sizing, it seems to fit pretty well. I’m pleased with the result:

Okay, now onto getting the new alu panel fitted to the motherboard tray. There are a few things standing in the way. A few stand-offs, and this guy:

I’m not going to lie to you guys – I have no idea what that’s even for. My best guess is that it’s for cables or something, but then again, it’s in the way, so who cares anyway, right? I need two things to get rid of this guy. First thing – my Dremel Multi Chuck:

Essentially, this little guy lets me use non-standard sizes in my Dremel tools. Where I’d normally need something with a shaft that’s around 3-3.2mm in diameter, this Multi Chuck allows me to use a wide range of sizes. If I pair that up with a small drill bit from my Dremel Precision Drill Bit set, I have a perfect match:

Wait for it…

BAM!

Now that that’s out of the way, all I need to do is drill holes in the new panel for the stand-offs to come through:

This allows the new panel to sit directly against the motherboard panel, which means it won’t cause any short circuits or anything like that. Perfect!

So, all done, here’s a look at where it’s going:

I actually made a dummy motherboard and GPU specifically for photos and so on, but the progress pics of those were lost  There’s a possibility that I still have those photos on another memory card, but I don’t have that card at the moment. If I find the pics, I’ll upload them.

That board is the EXACT size of a regular ATX motherboard, and the GPU fitted there is the size of a GTX295 (measured from my own one ). Having this dummy allows me to be sure that I don’t build things that will conflict with each other. It also looks awesome in photos.

Anyway, I fitted the board to get a feel for how the board would sit over the panel beneath it, and it’s sitting exactly how I wanted it. Freaking perfect if you ask me!

I’ve left it masked up to protect it. In case you guys may have missed it (or in case I didn’t mention it), the inside of this case will be black. Once I’m done all the cutting work, this case will get sent off to the powder coaters for some fun. I may have it anodized instead. In fact – yeah, I think anodizing is what I’ll go with.

As mentioned, this new alu panel covers up the three holes that the case’s motherboard tray has in it for cables on stuff. While this might seem a little counter intuitive, it’s actually another reason I made this cover in the first place. Those holes cater for a general field of motherboards. That’s great and all, but that’s not what I need from a case. I need this case to cater for one specific motherboard, and I’ll cut the holes for the cables to fit just right for the motherboard I use in the mod. This approach should give the case a much cleaner look and feel, and make the case look a lot more professional.

Unfortunately, I can’t make these holes just yet, because we’re waiting until a few weeks before rAge before we get the hardware for this case, so as to ensure that the machine is running bleeding edge tech.

I’ll start with the bay panels and the other panel next. I’m quite excited for that stuff.

The cable sleeving that I ordered for the project has arrived, and I’m going to get it from NAG today. I’m really amped to get my hands on this sleeving, because I made sure that we use the very best sleeving in the world for this mod. It was imported from Germany specifically for this project. I’m very excited about this stuff.

That’s about it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Cheers!

Ett

Previous related articles for reference purposes:

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I’ve been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the world for this project, furthermore, I’ve been studying like a machine for a paper that I was supposed to write on Friday (it got pushed up to this week Wednesday). Anyway, I’ve got some amazing goodies to show you. First an foremost, I want to show you the little Lilliput 7″ USB monitor that we got from the US for the project.

Inside the box:

The screen:

Essentially, this little guy is an extra monitor for your PC, but what makes it particularly awesome is that it has no NO VGA/DVI connectors, only USB. Using USB alone, this screen connects to your machine as second monitor. This specific one is a non-touch version, but there are touch versions available. I’ll be using this screen in the mod to display system related information, like CPU temperatures, CPU activity, perhaps hardware speeds if the winner of this machine is an overclocker, etc. Really, you can display whatever you like on this device. Here’s a little configuration I threw together quickly just to show you what it can do. This one displays my CPU’s average usage, as well as CPU, GPU, and HDD temperatures:

Now, where will I be using this? You’re thinking that it’ll be on the desk next to the main screen of the machine, like this, right?

You know what? That’s exactly what I’m NOT going to do with it. Here’s just a simple idea of where this little guy is going to go.

That’s right! This monitor is going to sit INSIDE the case! There’s more! I’ve got one last little trick planned that’ll make this screen even more awesome in the case, but that detail will come in another update

We’ve also ordered some incredible cable sleeving from Germany for the machine, which is on its way. I’ll post photos of that sleeving as soon as it arrives, which I’m expecting to be this week. I’ll update you guys on the watercooling setup in that update as well.

Something else I’ve recently received is another new toy from Dremel. They sent me a Dremmel 4000, which I’ve been dying to get my hands on for ages! Some pics:

I wont bore your with the full write-up here, so why not go ahead and read the full post about it here on my website? Many more pics, and a closer look at this Dremel.

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo). Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.