Alienated! Alienware Mod

[Nightingale]

heh dremel will take you weeks of work, probably make your hands bleed, give you carpel tunnel, give you headaches, probably lead to a few scratches from the bits shattering etc when they wear down, and the bits themselves will cost you more then the larger industrial counterparts such as buffing wheels and compounds.

Last time I looked a bench grinder will run you 20 bucks if you find one of those tent sales or you can pick on up at a garage sale occationally. Here are some examples of the wheels and supplies you will probably end up getting if you go this route http://www.jestcoproducts.com/buffing_kits1.html which runs 35 for a whole set to get you a mirror finish. You can also go with a die grinder and get a cheap $20 one and then get a polishing kit for it. I am pretty sure you could probably order everything you need off of harborfreight for pretty cheap. I have ordered a few things off there and its probably not the best place, but its cheap(some of the stuff is also cheaply made so just watch).

 

[Tovas]

Well even more bad news. I dont know what I did to pee off the gods of modding this week but ive sure done a good job of it. Youll find me in church Sunday begging for forgivness and tithing 10% of my bank account.

Was picking everything up to put away and SNAP!

Oh well this is easier to fix than you think you know why? because my current case, is about to become my Alienware case.

I just ordered a 5 dollar 8 inch bench grinder off the ebay and the polishing kit listed above. I should be back in business next week.

After I pray to god and sacrafice a chicken... Im thinking chicken ranch pizza from Snappy Tomato Pizza

 

[clocker2]

Having already media blasted the chassis why not just take the next step and have it powder coated?
Blasting is a prerequisite for this process anyway and the finish ( not to mention the range of colors) is top-notch.

 

[Tovas]

Thanks Clocker but im really looking for a slicked up look. I may have it painted or power coated and use it for the daughters computer. Paint it up nice and pink and put some Hello Kitty graphics or Care Bear graphics on it and let her enjoy it.

The grinder and the wheels came on monday and my friend who also has a grinder have been going to town on the case. Im grinding everything smooth and hes polishing it up. Its a good time and a great excuse to hang out and talk systems and drink a beer or 2.

The case should be done by the end of the week. Ill prolly start a new thread for the case I think it might be better to let this thread of failures die.

 

[Nightingale]

glad your starting to have some luck with this case finally, and for added insurance good luck to you lol. Keep us posted.

 

[Optimus Prime]

no offence but if you aren't going to use the alienware case for the mod i would just ditch the project completly and get in on the next go round. Everyone and their sister has a chieftec/chenming case and i dont think there is a single orignal thing left do with these.

 

[Tovas]

The inside of the alienware is a Chieftec. exactly like the one found here:

http://www.chieftec.com/products/Workcolor/BX01.htm

which is the exact same dimentions as the Antec and Chenming. The only difference is the 5.25 inch drive bay is slightly more narrow. Since Chieftec did not use the standard drive rails used by them and the manufacturers listed above they were able to go a little smaller on the size of the cage. Instead of the rails screwing on to the drive the new series simply uses 2 screws on each side of the drive. In turn the cage simply has a slot that these screws slide in to as you can see from the pictures. The drive locks into place from the back of the drive cage instead of the front.

All of the Alienware "skin" sections are a perfect fit onto the case. My Antec side fits perfectly on the side of the Alienware case, and vice versa. It will still be the Alienware case in essence. The only differnece will be, instead of the Alienware shell being mounted to a Chieftec case. It will now be mounted to an Antec case.

 

[Optimus Prime]

cool mod on.... I was thinking that you lost all of the parts of the alienware in your little fiasco but it seems you still have the plastic goodness. my bad lets get this goin then.

 

[SniperXX]

I cant wait to see this done.

 

[Tovas]

I just spent all day finishing up the case. Ive got everything finished except for cutting out the fan shrouds. It started getting cold, and dark out so ill cut the rear shrouds out tomorrow. Im not going to cut the front out yet cause im going to have at least 1 120mm in the front for the water system.

I also ordered up all the stainless lines, and the blue silicone tubing that will connect between the hard lines and the actual water cooling components last night. These will be for the power supply and the water system. I know its going to be a pain in the @$$ to sleeve the PSU in stainless but its going to look so sweet.

I also went to Home Depot today. I got all the P-clamps that will be used to anchor the hard lined PSU lines to the side wall of the case.

I also purchased various gromits, O-rings, bolts and some sealing washers. These lil guys have a rubber backing made onto them if your unfamilar. I have elected not to use the standard Antec, Cheiftec, Chenming fan mounts. Instead I am going to use the above parts mount the fans to the back of the case. I think this will give the case a harder more industrial look, so I think it should look pretty good.

Anyway enough of the talking you guys want pics.

the front all put back together everything is a tight fit

shot from the back *i tried to get the cat or the GF in this pic, neither would bite*

note on the back of this picture the extra holes I had to drill into the back of the chassis. The holes for the screws to secure the case sides are higher on the Chieftec panel than they are on the Antec.

Here you can see the front mounted USB ports theres 2 on each side no firewire. You can also see some of the cutting i had to do to mount the front facia to the chassis.

All said and done to get the panels to mount up I had to drill a total of 12 holes, and cut 9 slots into the chassis. I think its looking good.

I didnt go for a as polished look as Posidon42 *your case looks sweet as hell btw* so we left the case a little rougher. Which should be a good match with the stainless lines that will be in the case.

 

[magick_man]

wow that is sweet shiot.
i wish i could get my hands on an alienware skin like that.
i am definately going to follow this mod.
ROCK AND MOD ON!!

~Magick_Man~

 

[Tovas]

Thanks Magick. I dont really see anything in this mod that is going to be ground breaking or totally out of the ordinary. Except maybe a hard lined PSU. I know others have done there water cooling system with hardlines. Though I dont remember seeing anything in stainless.

Im just doing a mod im really passionate about, and hopeing it turns out beautiful. And possibly inspire a few people along the way the way I have been.

Hehe Its funny when people ask me why im doing this they all say the same thing.

"Why are you doing all this to the inside of your computer if no one can see it?"

And I reply back. "Because Ill see it, Ill see it even when Im not even looking at ill be able to see it." "Because Ill know its there and thats what matters."

And thats what its ALL about guys. Thats why WE do it.

 

[Tovas]

This changes things. I just got a new offer extended to me by Intel.

Im not sure how much it will cost. Every purchase bundle ive seen them sell has gone for 199.99 at these events. I dont see this selling that low. I wont know what its selling for until I go to ICC on Nov. 1st... this could be fun. I might need more stainless.

 

[Quailane]

Geez, I want to go there!!!!!!!!!

 

[SniperXX]

Geez, I want to go there!!!!!!!!!

Ditto, how do you get to go?

 

[Tovas]

Just takeing the pics from my fan dampener mod and putting them in here for completeness

 

[Wicked Klown]

Ok what made you place the exhaust fans on the outside of the case?

 

[Tovas]

Ok what made you place the exhaust fans on the outside of the case?

Cause I like them there.

 

[SniperXX]

I had mounted the fans on my Antec on the outside back when I used my big Antec as my main case. I did it like 3 yrs ago and your one of the few I have seen do it. I liked it on the outside because on my mod it gave me the space I needed for a massize heatsink mod type thing I was working on.

 

[Tovas]

I had mounted the fans on my Antec on the outside back when I used my big Antec as my main case. I did it like 3 yrs ago and your one of the few I have seen do it. I liked it on the outside because on my mod it gave me the space I needed for a massize heatsink mod type thing I was working on.

I agree Sniper. Its going to look nice and clean with the water cooling system inside. Hell even if i wuss out for a few months and stick a fat heat sink on it, its going to help the over all cluter out.