Hey all. Happy new years. I was cleaning up some stuff, and found an old case that I picked up from a buddy about six months back and it just screamed "mod me, dangit!"
Ive never modded anything before, but have many good ideas for this case..

It is a black rack-mount case, with a flip-down front that hides the CD drives. The HDD and CD cages are all dismantled inside of it, and it is meant for an older computer, with a smaller power supply.

I will post pics as soon as I find out who borrowed the digital camera..

But what I want to do is sand it clean (it's black now) and work from there. Im not sure what kind of metal it is, but it is pretty heavy (and big, too).

I am thinking of finding some way of cutting and putting windows in the sides of it, to show the motherboard (when i find one to put in it) from the bottom up, and then modding it to fit a newer, better power supply that whatever used to be in it.
After that I plan to work on a design for the top of the case.

I have this idea of a window over the motherboard itself, and a cut-design around the edges of it, so it looks cool, light is coming through, but you arent jsut looking down into a bunch of cables and stuff where there's no motherboard.

Then I want to rase the case, or cut channels into the bottom of it to fit some CCFL's, so a glow will emanate from under the big black monstrosity. Maybe green...

Then from there, work on the rest. The front of it really needs some work, it needs to look better than jsut a plastic casefront. I would really like to have a set of toggle switches there, that control the CCFL's in the case or something, maybe.. Hmmm

Anyway, it is going to take a few months for sure, due to lack of cash resources, but I figure it will be an ongoing project, and a learning experience.

Now to my question..
What kind of tools do you folks use to cut your cases? And what does the base tools needed to cut a case usually run, money wise?

Any suggestions you folks can give to a first time modder?

Also- I have some color cel phone LCDs frmo my last two phones that went dead on me, and since cingular gave me a brand new phone to transfer over after they bougt AT&t. Is it possible to rig one of these to work with a PC, maybe show your stats, or something?

Ill post pics of the case as soon as possible. Hopefully tomorrow, even if I have to use my Webcam to do it with.

Thanks.

If you don't know this site already, check it out: http://www.bit-tech.net/ They have some amazing mods as well as tutorials.

get us some pics man, and we will point u in the right direction, cause u confused me with your description.as far as tools, a dremel is ideal, but kinda expensive, you can pick up a nibbling tool for like ten bucks, but beware it will take forever and you will have blisters when your done. also a hole saw is nice for fans. umm what else, a power sander will save u some time, drill, masking tape, thats all i can think of right now.

if you can only have one cutting tool the dremel with some patience is the one. otherwise holesaws, jig saws, sanders are all nice. take pictures of all of your progress to show your accomplishments.
-drew

DONT START you'll end up having your room looking like this and you'll sleep on a chair (jk)
But if you start it'll never end, and that's a fact
Couldn't pass the occasion pimpin my new work room loll
Left side

Right side

Entrance

Work station

Gah. Back . Someone had taken my cam and not brought it back, but I can take pics now. Anyone know of a good hosting site thats free?

www.photobucket.com is good, but they resize huge pics to 800x600. otherwise www.photoshack.com is good.

Some pics of the case. Forgive the quality, had to use my webcame, and it's on its last legs.



The front. That section on the right flips down to allow access to the drives. THe drivecage is disassembled and in the case with all the other trash.



The inside of the case.



The back of the case. It was made for an older, different type of power supply, Thinking that a little cutting can fix this issue.



The inside of the top of the case (which just slides right on.
It's some silvery copperish metal, not sure if this is aluminum, or steel? The case itself is fairly heavy.



My Dremel Multipro model 395 5000-35000 speed tool.
Will this work for doing cutting on this case? Ive never done this before.



Some fo the cutting disks that came with it, I also have a case with some other cutting disks that are bigger, heavier, and more reinforced-looking. Not sure which is which or what to use.


So, finally got pics up. Any ideas, suggestions, anything? Im planning on sanding and tracing out a design on the top of the case, and then cutting it in and windowing it. Or maybe cutting a generic square window that would show the mobo only, and on the outlying parts where the drive cages are and such, maybe do a design cut into the case (something tribal, maybe).

Edit---

So, I changed my design ideas a bit, and threw them on the case after laying down some masking tape (I didnt ahve 3" *cry* but i made do with what was available). I then took it outside, threw on my safety glasses and got to cutting, Unfortunately three reinforced wheels (the big reinforced black ones) was not enough, and I had only three. All I have now are the much thinner wheels, not sure if they will work or not, and will have to try tomorrow. If not, I guess Im stuck until i have the cash to grab some more cutting wheels .

So, Pics:

Chose this as my initial graphic. Chinese symbol for Dragon.



And decided that it was a bit empty still, so threw in a little tribal flair:




Dont mind the mad trash in the background, 90 percent of the room is all torn up and thrown around in odd places, as Im sick, and trying to rearrange the room and clean it up at the same time. Egh.

Anyhow, more pics to come once I make some progress (I hope)

So, I took my dremel to it, and found some reinforced cutoff wheels. I went through four of them and barely made any progress. Hmm. Guess they dont work so good on steel, or i just really suck at it.

Can this steel case lid be done with a jigsaw, or am I pretty much limited to a dremel? Thinking about going out to my local hardware store to see what they think.