I decided to put some pics of my mod on here. If you want to know what the original case looks like, you can check it out below:



I started with that and decided that I needed to paint the front and real panels to help disguise the dremel work and to just have that total black look I didn't like that gray powdered paint on the chassis. I cut out the fan grill in the rear and the plastic/metal grill in the front. Some light sanding finished it off.



This is the rear panel after a couple of coats...looks cool I think.



The front panel after getting a good coat on it. I didn't bother painting the rest as it will be covered by the front panel plastic cover. With all the grills removed you just see a big blender in the front and back



I painted the metal panels black as well. It's cool because all of the screws and front panel buttons/ports are silver so it should look very nice against the black.



It's hard to see in this pic, but the paint spidered in a few places due to the high humidity outside while I painted. At first I thought I would need to start over, but then I realized that it would give it an old, antique look...sort of anachronistic :cool: Also, the power and HDD LED ports are covered with little foam dots because I want those to shine through. So you'll be able to see them even though the clear plastic is painted over.



This is the skull I chose for my mod...a cheapy plastic Halloween novelty from Wally World. You can't see them because of my crappy digital camera, but it has green LED's for eyes and the jaw actually moves up and down. I haven't decided if I will glue the jaw in the open position or rig it so that it opens upon boot-up. The problem is the tiny motor that actuates the jaw would probably burn out fairly quickly. I'm gonna paint him a metallic silver color.

The pics don't do it justice, but it's turning out good so far. I figure I'll have it done in a couple of weeks. I'll show some progress pics as I go. Any suggestions are welcome

Nicely done, but can't wait how it would turn out. I could understand that if you put to much pressure on the motor it would do just that; burnout! Now thats the great halloween spirit. Just don't located that rig on your door step, because once you hear that ring, you come out to give these lil' kids candy you'll notice that you're system is gone.

"Mommy...look what I got from the nice neighbor..."

Just took the skull apart and took a look around. I didn't realize that it has an infrared motion sensor and a two-position slider switch ("off" and "sensor")...maybe some possibilities there.

There is a small motor in the front which is tethered to a lever which raises and lowers the jaw. Even if I had the jaw move about, that lever would bump against the case and make a knocking noise everytime I booted up so it looks like that badboy's getting glued. I could shorten the tether but then the mouth would barely open.

It also has a speaker in the back of the skull...it utters little jokes and things when it's on...cheesy stuff. Spare case speaker So after removal of the motor and speaker, I'm left with just the battery-powered IC and LED's.

I figure I'll glue the jaw in the open position and mount the IC somewhere in the case. I may just leave it battery-powered since the battery case is small and would be easy to hide. The trouble of hooking it to the PSU (wire stripping, soldering, etc) may not be worth it...especially when I want to upgrade later.

So now I'm pondering on whether to leave it as a sensor activated thing (scare the cat and such) or just have the LED's on 24/7. Decisions, decisions...

sweet! i'll be looking

Wonder if you could rig the LED eyes to the HDD activity light output??

Looking kinda cool in a Halloween style, keep it up.

r4z

kewep the pic coming

keep it up bud we wanna see the final result

The mod is great, but that quartersawn oak table you work on is awesome!

I would hook it up so the eyes blinked and the mouth moved to music lol.

This will look cool.

A couple more mod pics



Got the skull and battery casing removed from the base, removed all unnecessary wiring, and glued the jaw open with Loctite. I'm gonna clean up that battery case with some sanding. There's not a lot of length in the wires so I'm gonna see where it can be mounted in the case. I may need to splice and dice.



This is a better shot of the plastic front panel cover. You can sorta see that cracking effect that I like...adds personality :cool:

Just gotta wait 24 hours for the glue to cure, then a bit more dremel work to ensure enough airflow for the fan and then I'll get him painted

Hehe...it's also over 100 years old...the iron burn left by my grandmother is older than me and I imagine most of you as well



I've thought about that...I'm still trying to decide how I want it to work. It's mostly going to depend on what is the most practical (and least troublesome) setup.



Man, if I really had the time I'd like to have it sing Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" I want it done before Halloween so I'm kinda pressed.

I've got pics of the assembled rig sans skull



The front panel turned out better than I thought...the charcoal allowed the black panels to show nicely and was still dark enough to offset the silver bolts, buttons, and ports.



The rear panel came out very nice I think...offsets the silver perfectly.



A nice shot of the interior If you look closely, I took a cue from another forum member and painted the tops of the caps and heatsinks with green UV reactive paint. I'm going to cut out the side panel and replace it with some Lexan as part of this project. It will be nice to see the guts without removing the panel and I'll run some UV lights to illuminate the board.



Just a shot of the rig running so you can see that the front panel LED's shine through The HDD LED is amber colored (might change it to red or green) so it's hard to see.

Soon to come...skull application

Some skull pics:



This is the skull with a coat of primer. I packed the eyes/nose with tissue and then overlayed that with some tape to protect the black paint inside. That thing sticking out of his forehead is the Q-tip I shoved in the hole which leads to the motion sensor.



This is the skull with a nice coat of silver paint. I chose Millennium Silver because it wasn't too metallic/glossy or matte. I wanted a shade that would stand out but not be overwhelming. I think it looks cool After the paint dries, I need to see exactly where he'll fit on the front and where wires will go. Then I'll do the final dremel work (if necessary) and glue him on.

for some reason this reminds of The terminator

Looking great so far man keep up the work. Can't wait to see the final outcome of this project.

Your project is looking good man, I like the green paint trick.

I ran into that same humidity problem causing paint to spider, but like you, I thought it looked alright so left it that way. It happened on my side panel, but I modded a window, so it's kinda like the heat from inside singed the paint around the window. The rest of the case is like a mirror, but it was painted months ago. Live and learn new things!

Keep up the good work!

if you could somehow mount him, so that the intake fan is in his mouth, that would look pretty cool

with a red LED lit fan