Computer Case Mod

This is my ATX computer case. Click pictures for larger photo.

The fan controller. It has room for five fans which connect to the fanbus using RCA connectors. The LEDs are both red and green emitting. I have them set up to show green when ON and red when OFF. The LEDs can also show amber by activating both red and green at the same time, but I did not make use of this. Possible use is to have three position switches to run the fans at 0, 5 or 12 volts using red for 0, amber for 5 and green for 12.

The 'CUSTOM' decal is from a mid-1980s Buick Skylark secured with white glue.

The lighting through the custom cut window. I originally used a car neon tube but found that it to be unreliable and the color was too pale. I built a second light with 12 super-bright LEDs.  This light is shown.  It is much redder and consumes less power than the neon tube. Shown in next photo.

The 12 LED light. The pencil on the top shows the wiring path. Each LED takes 2 volts so I used two parallel circuits with 6 LEDs each in series and wired it to the 12 volt PSU output.

The paint. Gloss black automotive paint.  Three coats of black, two coats of clear with wet-sanding in between with a polishing compound treatment, glaze and then wax. Came out like a mirror.

The custom cut window. I discovered that a dremel-type rotary tool to be too imprecise so I bought some very find scroll saw blades for cutting thin steel.  These turned out to be very satisfactory and produced clean cuts. The window is in the shape of the Greek letter chi with a fan creating the end of one of the lines. Fish charm souvenir seen in foreground.

The front of the case. I used a two-tone color scheme of black with metal for the front grille and other accents. Drives were later purchases.