Tazz

Cooler Master Hot Rod

Category

Case Mods

Status

Ready for Battle

Deets

This mod was conceived for the previous CES event. With a relatively short time frame and budget I had pretty much an open slate with the CM690 chassis that I reviewed for Cooler Master.

While I still like using mesh in my designs I thought I would take this one down a path similar to what Cooler Master did but in a different style. The CM690 is a well ventilated mid tower case from the start. I found two things that I really didnt like about it.

1). I didnt like the fan mounts on the side panels.
2) I didnt like how the sides where sunk in a little compared to the plastic top and front bezels.

My remedy for this was to remove the side fans and replace the entire side with mesh. which would give me extra ventilation and also give me the extra thickness to build up the sides with.

As with just about any mod I do. I am limited on the time I have to put into it and the money. So I wanted to keep things a little on the simple side but still achieve the goal. The first step simple called for stripping down the chassis and painting the main chassis a silver metallic. While that was curing I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with the mesh on the sides panels. With in a couple of days I decided I was going to try to do a scallop design like you would see on some of the old hod rods of the day. With that in mind I went ahead and cleared the main chassis to give it a little extra protection and stuck it off in the corner. I knew once I started on the sides, it would take me a little time to get them done.

I originally thought about doing some fins in the scallops themselves and using plexi and back lighting it. This quickly became and issue because of the wiring. I didnt have a hole lot of time to try and make a lighting setup work that would keep from having to run wires to the side. And I hate having to unplug something when I pull a side off the case. So I decided to scrap the fin part of the idea and stick with the scallops.

I hard originally planned on trying to fill the mesh’s holes (the areas I didnt want open). I did parts of it and found out real quick that it wouldnt hold up to a lot of abuse from daily use. So I started back peddling and reverted to plan #2. This time I would simply apply a layer of fiberglass over the mesh, and then use the mes as a guide to drill the holes back out that I did want open. This process also proved to have an issue. With the holes being as close as they where, when I was drilling the holes back out I was creating enough heat in the mesh that it was causing the fiberglass to release from the metal which allowed it to bubble up. Ok, by this time I was really starting to get close to my deadline and needed to resolve the issue. I finally ended up doing the outer areas with the fiberglass and feathering the edge towards the meshed areas. This was not what I had planned but it was going to have to do.

Once that process was complete I then started working the panels into shape for the painting process. I planned on using the Dupli-Color Chameleon paint. I was going to do the one of the lighter options but had to resort to the Red/Blue due to availability. This wasnt a big issue because I did have a plan to accent the blue a little. Once I had things smoothed out nicely I got all the exterior panels painted. I then painted the stock mesh panels and the center scallop meshed areas with the same silver metallic I used on the main chassis. Once it dried, I then cleared everything a few times and started rethinking the lighting options. I planned on using blue LED fans on the inside of the case which should give it a nice even glow with the four 120mm fans. To add a little spice to the front panel. I decided to mod in a couple of DragonModz.net’s DragonMeter hard drive activity lights. I made a few slots on the front panel and mounted the two sets of LEDs (one on each side). I then wired up both sets of LEDs to run off the hdd activity light feed from the mobo.

Link to video of the DragonMeter’s from DragonModz.net installed.