Stage 2 - The Case Modifications

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We needed to cut a nice big hole on the side of the case so that the radiator would be exposed. It was not a fun procedure cutting through sheet steel. Note; Second mistake was made here. Now we had done a lot of planning but in our rush to get done we did not stop to think. The hole we are cutting is on the WRONG side of the case. This was a major flaw - But nothing a little grinding would not fix. - It turned out to not be a big deal.

Now the hammering you see is due to fact that we needed every inch for the internal fish tank. With all this stuff going into the case some more modifications had to be made. First we had to find somewhere for the hard drive *the fish tank is where it should be. Two nice little brackets on the side of the 5/1/4 brackets did the trick. The extra width this case provides is the only reason it fits. Next we had to move the rest, power, and LED lights to the out side of the front of the case. They don't fit due too how tight the radiator is to the fish tank. We could have made the "fish tank" smaller but we new that we needed it to hold as much water as possible. So we had to epoxy the rest; power, and LCD's to the out side of the case. It was tight, but since the front panel is curved there is JUST enough room for everything to fit with the panel on. You will need do some cutting on the power button (on the front panel) so that when you push it actually works.

Next we installed our high-powered 120W fan to the power supply with a nice bracket and some epoxy for good measure. This is A killer fan. It sucks cool air into the case. The next peace of work is hard to see from these pictures, but it is on the bottom 5/1/4 shelf. It is an aluminum wind tunnel from with two PII CPU fans on the front sucking air from the outside of the case. We decided to build the wind tunnel so that the air would be funneled to where we wanted it. It is a nice little touch because it is on brackets, and is removable. We also extended the 3-prong power supply from one of the fans so that the motherboard can monitor it.