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That's looking great! :thup:

Even better if you shine some LED's through the sides of that orange plexiglass - it'll light it up :drool:
 
Have no fear, I have a plan for lighting. Have I mentioned the structure is fluorescent orange acrylic?
 
my only opinion is the radiator should have cut outs under it to suck up fresh air from under the case.
 
You're correct--

Next step: mount the radiator/fan.


First step was to locate my bottom fan, which will be an exhaust pulling air across the radiator.


Radiatorfanmounting1_zpsf5b3d2f6.jpg










No holesaws big enough for the 200mm fan, so I cut this with my scrollsaw.


Radiatorfanmounting2_zps673f9d8f.jpg









Fan and grill.


Radiatorfanmounting4_zpsa7f4397d.jpg





Radiatorfanmounting5_zps07bb9b93.jpg



Mounting the fan and grill and radiator all took a fair bit of planning, because you have screws to hold the fan to the panel, the fan to the radiator shroud, and radiator shroud to the radiator, and the grill to the panel.
 
Next, I located my drain port:


Radiatorfanmountdrainhole1_zps637ddb5f.jpg









Used a ⅞” unibit:


Radiatorfanmountdrainhole2_zps846b6ef8.jpg









With a short length of tubing, plus a bulk head adapter, now I’ve got a drain port:


Radiatorfanmountdrainhole3_zps76f66654.jpg








Time for the final fitting:


Fan and grill:


Radiatorfinalmount1_zps5f4002a9.jpg







Radiator:


Radiatorfinalmount2_zpsbaeab102.jpg









Feet:


Radiatorfinalmount3_zps0927d30d.jpg








Hard drive units:


Radiatorfinalmount4_zps536ad831.jpg










And mount it!


Radiatorfinalmount5_zpsa21f325d.jpg







Radiatorfinalmount6_zps55fdffba.jpg
 
Next goal, work on the plastic back panel. This panel is going to need cutouts for the power supply and the motherboard.



Started first by tapping some mounting holes:


Backpaneltap_zpsa4fd8b4e.jpg


Most of my work, I use 6-32 threading. Its a acceptable threading for ⅛” thick materials. M3 is probably a more appropriate size (finer thread), but 6-32 machine screws are cheaper and available in more varieties.






Then I cut the panel (⅛” gray acrylic), and fitted it:


Backpanelmounted_zpsa6f7c924.jpg









I went to work on mounting the powersupply:


Backpanelpsumount1_zps69e886f9.jpg






To locate the exact position of the cutout, you can do a lot of fancy and precise measurements, but whenever possible, this is my approach:




I mounted up the panel, but pulled off some strategic portions of the protective coating:


Backpanelpsumount2_zps4895704c.jpg








Then I placed my psu where I wanted it, and If you shine a bright light, you can actually locate the mounting screw holes of the power supply. Mark these locations and you actually have the exact location for the cutout.


Backpanelpsumount3_zps576594b9.jpg









Placed my psu bezel, with the mounting holes lined up:


Backpanelpsumount4_zps0e4da1d5.jpg








Traced the outline:


Backpanelpsumount5_zps041f8c48.jpg









And cut out my hole:


Backpanelpsumount6_zps0804d39a.jpg










Mounted it up!


Backpanelpsumount7_zps436120d0.jpg




Backpanelpsumount8_zpsf1f23067.jpg




Backpanelpsumount9_zps86ccb596.jpg
 
Looking real good! :cool:
Defiantly going to be a sweet case, can't wait to see the final product.
 
Time to make the cutout for the PCI bracket.




But first, I’ve got to create a PCI bracket. I’m starting with a full ATX bracket I had in my inventory:




PCIbracket1_zpscc2e6d29.jpg










Being a mini-itx build, I had to cut it down:


Pcibracket2_zps01ef4c14.jpg







Pcibracket3_zps2673dcf9.jpg








Pcibracket4_zps9f5a1ece.jpg











Pcibracket5_zps23f7e763.jpg










Pcibracket6_zpsc27cf82c.jpg









Pcibracket7_zps9cc00d85.jpg
 
Next, time to make the cutout for the bracket:


Pcibrackethole1_zps86a8ff0d.jpg










Pcibrackethole2_zps0cd8e752.jpg









Pcibracketmounted1_zpsabbf6f18.jpg









Pcibracketmounted2_zpseabe73ce.jpg









I can finally drop in my graphics card--7970 with a Heatkiller block.



Pcibracketmount4_zpsee862a6c.jpg








Pcibracketmounted3_zps54c1bc93.jpg
 
At this point, I received an awesome gift in the mail!


Top panel arrived courtesy of Delvie’s Plastics (delviesplastics.com). ⅛” gray acrylic, laser cut fan grill. Basically I passed John sketch with some dimensions, and it turned out perfect:



Toppanelarrived_zps3fc59afc.jpg








I’ll need to add mounting holes, but it was too tempting to just slap it in place and take some pictures:




Toppanelmounted1_zpsd09b2952.jpg







Toppanelmounted2_zps42787976.jpg
 
Next I cut my front angled plastic panel.

Cut them with a beveled edge so that they would sit in place properly:


Bezelpanelcutting_zpsb8b19c37.jpg









Bezelpanelinplace_zpsb5498f43.jpg








Located my switch holes:


Bezelpanelholes_zpsb77a2264.jpg










Always important to test your switches while you still have got easy access:


Bezelpaneltest_zpsf34fe153.jpg


Left button is Power-on with a white ring for Power.

Middle button is Reset with a blue dot for HDD activity.

Right button is a toggle for lighting effects.







And here is the panel mounted up:


Bezelpanelmounted_zps4485bb79.jpg








And from the inside:


Bezelpanelinside_zps51dd5b66.jpg
 
Next task I tackled is a bit of a signature of my exoframe design cases. Since the frame is made of tubular aluminum, I’m going to run a lot of my cables within the frame itself.




To get my switch panel cables from the switches to the motherboard, this is my planned route within the tube frame:


Bezelpanelcableplan2_zpse1fb1895.jpg







Next I started generating the entry holes into the frame.

Here’s the piece right below the switch panel.


Mark my location:


Bezelpanelcableholemarked_zpsb3a0495b.jpg









Drilled 2 large holes to remove material:


Bezelpanelcableholestarted_zpsb0c26765.jpg








Squared it off with a nibbler:


Bezelpanelcableholenibbled_zps323e10d1.jpg









Finished the rough edges with some trim:


Bezelpanelcableholefinished_zps74a4476c.jpg











Also important to file down edges (this is the hole between 2 frame bars).


Cablewiringholes_zpse0685292.jpg
 
Next, I put together my cables.

I needed the following leads: Power switch x2, Reset switch x2, Power LED x2, Lighting switch x2.


Buildingcables_zpsa4c8a8dd.jpg









Threading the cable thru the tubing is actually pretty easy, as the framing is completely disassembleable. Here I started the run:



Threadingcable1_zps8c654d77.jpg












And now I’ve got it pulled mostly thru:


Threadingcable2_zps2b5cca18.jpg










And here it pulled and reassembled.


Cablespulled_zps435b7478.jpg


Actually doesn’t look like much, but that’s the point--that’s 8 leads run across the case.

I’ll come back and finish the sleeving.
 
Time to start on lighting.

As I had mentioned previously, I planned on going with UV lighting. I picked up this roll from Amazon for pretty cheap--UV LEDs on a strip:


LEDlightpack_zps777550b6.jpg











Every third LED set has a spot where you can cut the strip, exposing + and - terminals.


LEDstripsolder_zpsd325bf79.jpg


I’ve soldered on 2 blobs of solder to the exposed terminals on the flexible pcb, and then soldered lead wires to the terminals.












I terminated my leads with a 3 pin fan connector, and heatshrink wrapped the ends.


LEDstripterminate_zps43061a03.jpg












And here is the functioning strip:


LEDstriptest_zps699e7be0.jpg











I put together 4 strips:


LEDstripscomplete_zps3fcffab4.jpg


Each strips has some triangular mounting tabs--this is so the LED strips will sit deep in the hanger brackets, but shine their light out at the proper angle.






A lot of people get lighting in computer cases all wrong--by sticking in lights to shine at the viewer. Most of the time, all this does is blind the viewer. What I want in this situation is to have indirect lighting--I want the very bright UV LEDs to be seen as little as possible--however, I want their light to shine onto my UV fluorescent objects, thus causing them to light up.



And here is a tease of the results:


LEDlightingtest_zps86ee7589.jpg









And a video with this test lighting:



(click to play)
 
The wiring of the LEDs is pretty intrinsic to the case, so I’m going to also run the wiring within the frame.




The cables are small enough to run simply thru grommited holes:


LEDholes2_zpsb3c44bb3.jpg











LEDholes1_zpsaafe6e64.jpg













Ran the cables thru the tubing:


LEDholeswiring_zps83ea7b33.jpg











Cables all terminate here, where I’m using wire nuts to make my connections. We’ve got 4 pairs of leads from each set of LED strip, leads from the 12v line of the power supply, and leads to the switch panel button.


LEDholestermination_zps1b52f279.jpg
 
One of the last pieces I needed to fabricate was a face plate for my USB/audio front panel.

I purchased a Lian-Li unit, and planned out my holes:


USBpanel2_zpsfeae6b04.jpg









Hand cut the holes into slots on my scrollsaw:


USBpanel3_zpsb627d94d.jpg











Mounted it here, front and center for access:


USBpanel4_zps93cecdf1.jpg









As seen from the inside, the cables run right under the Blu-ray burner, hiding them pretty well.


USBpanel5_zpsf74df855.jpg
 
This project is gettin’ there! Time for a final pre-assembly. Make sure everything fits and looks good before the final breakdown for finishing details.





Puttingtogetherfrontside_zps40874ff1.jpg


Yeah, looks a bit like a cardboard box with all the protective paper still on!








Puttingtogetherleft_zps5b1e7a14.jpg










Puttingtogethertop_zps6ba1296e.jpg









Puttingtogetherback2_zps53ee8a95.jpg











Puttingtogetherright_zpsdb42252c.jpg











Puttingtogetherrightsquare_zps13ac0b5b.jpg










Puttingtogetherfrontlo_zps1fa56e04.jpg







Once again, special thanks to my plastics supplier and custom laser-cutting, Delvie’s Plastics.




And, it was finally time to decide on my finishes. After visiting my local aluminum anodizer, Chico Metal Finishers, I narrowed it down to 2 choices:


Anodizingsample1_zpsf585de4b.jpg


Orange and Gunmetal.






Well, altho it may not look it in its cardboard box statuts, this case is NOT about subtlety, so, brushed orange anodize was the choice!


Anodizingsample2_zpsee686d22.jpg
 
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