Completed G-X902 Thermaltake Case MOD Invitational S2 Entry

[SpH!Nx]

Hey guys!

This will be my entry for the Thermaltake Case MOD Invitational Season 2 which I called "G-X902". This project of mine will be simple, but would still (hopefully) pack a little bit of "'wow" factor. The name "G-X902" stands for "G" is for the theme and color that I will be using for this project, Gun Metal, and my theme would be, well, a little bit "Gundam-ish". "X9" is for the pc case that will be used for this project and "02" is for the season 2 of Thermaltake Case MOD Invitational. Simple name but still has a "description" behind it.

A huge shout out to all the sponsors, Thermaltake, Newegg and Avexir!

My main materials that I will be using for this project would be aluminum (1/16" thick, which I hopefully won't regret using) and acrylic sheets (of course!).

So, let's get started shall we?

I would like to apologize in advance for the crappy photos. Please bare with me until I get a better camera.

This will be my first time using aluminum sheet this thick, so hopefully everything would work out as planned.

And then of course, as soon as I decided to start some work, weather here got crazy, rained so hard with crazy wind gusts.

A can of Bud helped to throw my "depressed" attitude toward the start of my adventure away.

I have to say, cutting a 48"x 36"x 1/16" aluminum sheet with a jigsaw, is fun... and deafening for sure!

This is a part of the top panel for the case (left door).

After a few more deafening minutes of cutting, I was finally able to make both of the doors for the top panel.

After spending A LOT of time filing the edges using an old set of hand files, I can't hear a single thing anymore. :lol:

Now, off to do the top panel frame! Still not wearing any hearing protection at this point.

Another session of excruciating edge filing. Again, still not wearing any ear plugs or anything at this point. :biggrin:

General arrangement/look of the top panel doors and frame.

Time to do some bending! At this point I am regretting using 1/16" thick aluminum, and regretting on buying a cheap-o bender which is rated to do clean bends of at least up to 1/32" thick aluminum. Dang I'm stupid. It did work though. :lol:

This is the general look of the top panel. I still need to do some acrylic grille blades for the top panel doors.

And for some stupid reason, I can't find the left door! After cutting and filing the top panel doors, the next day, I can't find it anywhere. Got no choice but to re-do the left door. And this time, I am wearing noise cancelling headphones!

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Last weekend, I started the aluminum cuts for the left side panel. I wasn't able to do much since the weather, again, started to get crazy, and I can't do work down in our basement since it is currently being occupied by a lot of stuff.

Next weekend, I'll start to do some acrylic cutting for the panel windows and hopefully the weather won't be as shitty as the past 2 weeks.
That's it for now for me. Thank you for taking your time and dropping by to see my work log. If you guys have any questions, suggestions, (or violent reactions), please feel free to drop a comment!

See you guys on the next update! Hopefully soon......

 

[SpH!Nx]

Hey Guys! Another update!

I was going to post an update last night, but I fell asleep after doing some photo editing for my work log photos (putting in logos). I was exhausted from work, then as soon as I got home, went straight to do some modding/cutting.


First off, this is what I have planned for my interior (bottom) arrangement. Since I am planning on, at first, using x2 480 radiators on the bottom of the case, I ended up having this kind of arrangement. Although I ended using x2 360 radiators since having x2 480 radiators on the bottom with both having push/pull configuration, I won't be able to fit the pumps on the back side, beside the power supply. I will relocate the power supply mounting spot in the middle just like this:

So, let the murdering (well it's just more on cutting) the back panel of the case begin! I missed using my Dremel rotary tool, but I remembered why I stopped using it. If you are interested in getting a rotary tool, please avoid cordless/wireless rotary tools! Almost halfway through my cut, it died on me. So I ended up using my favourite murdering (cutting) tool, jigsaw!

Today, I started to do some acrylic cutting and bending. Quite a learning experience. I learned, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY TOUCH THE ACRYLIC SURFACE RIGHT AFTER YOU POINTED THE HEAT GUN AWAY!

I made 3 pieces of these that will go on the back of the top panel frame.

It will go like this.

Did a little bit of painting so I could try if this gun metal grey color would fit my liking with the red acrylic.

That's it for now for me! I will try to go back on working on the side panels tomorrow. See you on the next update!

 

[SpH!Nx]

Hey Guys! Another update!

I was going to post an update last night, but I fell asleep after doing some photo editing for my work log photos (putting in logos). I was exhausted from work, then as soon as I got home, went straight to do some modding/cutting.


First off, this is what I have planned for my interior (bottom) arrangement. Since I am planning on, at first, using x2 480 radiators on the bottom of the case, I ended up having this kind of arrangement. Although I ended using x2 360 radiators since having x2 480 radiators on the bottom with both having push/pull configuration, I won't be able to fit the pumps on the back side, beside the power supply. I will relocate the power supply mounting spot in the middle just like this:

So, let the murdering (well it's just more on cutting) the back panel of the case begin! I missed using my Dremel rotary tool, but I remembered why I stopped using it. If you are interested in getting a rotary tool, please avoid cordless/wireless rotary tools! Almost halfway through my cut, it died on me. So I ended up using my favourite murdering (cutting) tool, jigsaw!

Today, I started to do some acrylic cutting and bending. Quite a learning experience. I learned, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY TOUCH THE ACRYLIC SURFACE RIGHT AFTER YOU POINTED THE HEAT GUN AWAY!

I made 3 pieces of these that will go on the back of the top panel frame.

It will go like this.

Did a little bit of painting so I could try if this gun metal grey color would fit my liking with the red acrylic.

 

[SpH!Nx]

Last update for this week:

I was supposed to continue work with the side panels, but then I heard that today is the last day of summer, which means this is my last day to do some decent paint work. Well, that's just what I did.

Dismantled the X9 case (man I have never, ever removed that much rivets in my life! ), then did a little bit of cutting for the front panel.

I thought cutting aluminum sheet with a jigsaw is deafening, but man! Steel + jigsaw = .... what? what's that again?

Next week, back to doing some work for the side panel, and hopefully, finish the top panel so I could start to do some mounting brackets for the top panel frame to the case. Thank you for checking out my work log and hopefully see you next week! Ciao!

 

[SpH!Nx]

Hey guys! Not much of an update for this one. Got sick since Friday night, so.... yeah..... Although I tried to still do some work on my project yesterday, but I just stopped. Everything just didn't went smooth. Anyway, the PC components from Newegg came in last Friday (finally) after being stuck at customs for almost 2 weeks. Again, a HUGE shout out to Newegg!

Next week, i'll probably blitz my work progress for this project. That's it for me for now! See ya on the next update!

 

[SpH!Nx]

Hey guys!

Here's a quick update. Finally got the top panel installed in the case.

Tomorrow, I will try to do the side panels (left and right).
See yah on the next one!

 

[SpH!Nx]

Hey guys! Wow, it's been quite a while since my last update, huh? Well, here's my update for this week. I apologize for the lack of updates since I had some personal stuff that I needed to clear out first and the weather here is becoming more pain in the butt. Anyway, enough of that, here's my update.

First off, I received a new set of RAM modules. These DDR4's look tasty! Huge shout out to AVEXIR!

http://i.imgur.com/jfW04PUl.jpg[IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/eR4Jefkl.jpg

Last week when the weather outside was still nice, I started to do the right side panel cut outs.

And of course, spent a lot of time filing the lines down.

Time to drill some screw holes.

The next day after I did the aluminum cuts, the weather got worse. The temperature dropped drastically, and when I say drastically, I tried to do some work outside, and as soon as I got outside, I noticed I could already see my breath. Got no other choice but to continue work in our basement. Kinda sucks since the available workable space down there is only around 5'x 5' max. Anyway, time to do the acrylic cut outs for the right side panel.

So last night, I finally got some free time to do some work again. I decided to start the front panel.

Yesterday I started cutting up the aluminum sheet for the front panel. If only power tools can speak, my jigsaw would be cursing at me for too much abuse.

Went outside for a quick smoke and noticed that it was a bit nice outside. Stopped doing the cutting for the front panel and of course, I decided to do some paint work while it's still nice outside.

I proceeded to work on the front panel from I left yesterday after painting the aluminum pieces for the side panels. Time to get my trusty ol' jigsaw to work.

And of course, time to work my biceps again. Let the excruciating filing down of the edges start!

Time to do some bending! Every time I am bending sheet metals, or sheet of aluminum in this case, that is lower than 22 gauge, I always do a little "chant" before I proceed. "Please dont b*tch out on me, please dont, just this time, please....." Knowing the fact that my bender is only rated to bend 22 gauge and up and knowing that using this bender to bend 16 gauge sheets will probably break the bend or cause some cracks on the bend, that chant of mine kinda helps out ease the paranoia away. For me that is.

The first half of the panel! My little chant never fails!

Here's the 2 pieces of the front panel.

Not the cleanest bend, I know, but I am still happy and quite satisfied with the result. That's it for me for now. 2 more weeks to go, and I still have TONS of stuff to do. See you on the next update! Ciao!

 

['47 Knucklehead]

That is awesome!

 

[SpH!Nx]

That is awesome!

Which is? The chanting part? :haha:
Thanks man!

 

[SpH!Nx]

Holy crap, it's been a while since I last updated this work log! And I want to apologize for that. But here's all of the photos that I have for this project.

Time to move on to painting all of the aluminum cuts for the panels. I got lucky on this one since the day that I did the paint job for the aluminum cuts was the last good day with a to do the paint job. The next day, the weather temperature here dropped to -3c.

And since I relocated the front usb/IO ports, I need to make a cover/panel for it.

And here's all the final photos that I took. And again, my apologies if the photos are crappy.

And that's it for me for this work log! To everyone who checked out my log, thank you so much! And thank you very, very, very much to Thermaltake for making me a part of this life changing event/competition! And to all the sponsors, Newegg and Avexir, who gave their full support for this event, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!! Until next time!