Lan PC - Fractal Design Case *FINAL PICS UPDATE*

Uber_Tiny wrote:

Now if only could get the top of the front panel to take paint right. May have to make a trip to Tammy Hobbies tomorrow and pick up some proper paint for plastic.

You are using primer first, right? You can get plastic primer or "paint to plastic" paint but primer will fill imperfections and hide them.

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BOBDBONE wrote:

Uber_Tiny wrote:

Now if only could get the top of the front panel to take paint right. May have to make a trip to Tammy Hobbies tomorrow and pick up some proper paint for plastic.

You are using primer first, right? You can get plastic primer or "paint to plastic" paint but primer will fill imperfections and hide them.

lol, oh my gawd. I didn't even realize I had skipped that step. Out of all the models I have painted and other PC's I have worked on I have never missed that step till now. Thank you Bobdbone for reminding me. /facepalm

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ugh....freaking paint. Just isn't working out like it should be, even with primer. I'm using Krylon paint and it's just horrible. It takes a couple days of drying before I can attempt to lightly wet dry sand it without it peeling up. Even then it's still tacky to the touch. My dad was telling me that Krylon was crap paint...after the fact. Live and learn I suppose. So last night I stripped it of the black paint and I will be getting better paint later. Anyone have a pointer on what kind of paint works really well? I don't have a paint booth or air brush (yet) so I have to use rattle can.

I got the cover for the inside made. Need to cut some notches and holes out and remove the front drive bay. I finally decided that it has to go for what I want to accomplish. I will post more pictures up tonight of the cover I made.

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Uber_Tiny wrote:

Got the LED lights, fans and H100 all installed.

I found one issue with the Corsair H100 and that is if it gets air bubbles in the pump it is a major pain trying to get them out. It causes the pump to have a clicking sound like the impeller is out of balance. I spent over an hour shaking and taping the pump until it sounded smooth and quite. With the five fans and ASUS UI to control them this thing purrs like a kitten.

Might I ask where you got the LEDs from and if that vendor carries other colors of strips? Thanks in advance and following this to the end every very cool rig! Can't wait to see it in person.

Amazon is amazing for finding stuff cheap!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....4ZEF9XYZ_6

LEDwholesellers on amazon has a lot of other great options. Green, the color I want to get as well, is hard to find and only one person had it, but for way to much.

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Follow these steps -

If raw plastic -

Use a spray can of Plasti-prep and spray it down and then wipe it down with paper shop towels. The Plasti-prep draws the release agents out of the top of the plastic. Otherwise you are basically trying to paint over oil. Follow that up with wiping it down with alcohol.

Find Bullydog adhesion promoter. Mist it on very lightly so it doesn't look like it's covering. It should look like it's only dusting the part. Wait 5 minutes and hit it again. Wait 10 minutes and then spray primer. OPTIONAL - Use a plastic primer.

Primer coats - any primer should work at this point. But don't use self-etching primer. Do 3 coats waiting about 10 minutes in between, and then wet sand once cured or if it's smooth enough for you start shaking your paint.

If you wet sand - sand with 600 grit until smooth. Wash part in soap and water, then dry. Make sure it's really dry. Now you can hit it with paint.

Paint - Spray a light tack coat that barely does anything and wait 5 minutes. This gives the surface the ability to grab onto the upcoming paint. Paint a little more on the second time, then a good medium coat the next time. Do this until it's fully covered.
If you watch the final coats of paint as it hits the surface you want to see it go on wet and start to flatten out. This is called getting good "flow out". The paint hits the surface and flows out to make it flat. If the paint your spraying is too light it will not flow out and will be rough looking partly due to it flashing off or atomizing too soon.

Helpful Notes -

Use Rustoleum.

Lacquers go on smoother than enamels and may not require wet sanding or buffing.
If you go from primer to paint you MUST do it within 1 hour or you have to wait 24 hours. There is a critical point in the curing stage that falls between that time frame. But it's too much junk for me to type.

It MUST be about 70 degrees or you will have troubles. Paint will react better warmer but really bad colder.

Wear clean surgical gloves when handling the part or the oil in your skin will contaminate the part.

That's all I can think of right now but I know theres lots more.

Good luck on it. Be patient.

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Thanks for the tips man.

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Thanks Uber_Tiny very helpful! I may be ordering some stuff from them in the future for sure.

Can't wait to see the new setup at the lan. It looks amazing

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get polishing kit from Danger Den, NOVUS 1, 2, and 3 to get scratches out

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Got the bottom cover finished. Took a lot of custom filing here and there to get it to fit around some protruding parts. Other than that it came out as one tight fit, I can just get it in and out. No pun intended. Measure twice, cut once as they always say. Because I removed the drive bay I needed to create a drive bay. I did so under the cover which keeps it nice and clean inside the PC. I used rubber grommets that came with the PC so the drives should be extra quite in there. I used the Plastifix to weld the plastic parts together. The hole in the top of the cover is for the power cords to the video card will be coming out at. I'm going to sleeve that this weekend. I also mounted the SSD to the top of the cover for aesthetics, and it's cool.

Old drives used to add weight while the Plastifix dried.

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I like it.. Looking real good man

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Yes - very nice. Are you going to bring the motherboard connections up through the cover or will they be exposed coming from the side? Your picture shows the cover coming right up to the motherboard with not cutouts to (sort of) hide that wiring. Just curious.

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That whole is only 3/4". It barely fits the power cables for the video card, which is what is was made for.

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polish the exposed edges of the black acrylic!!!!!!

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DarthBeavis wrote:

polish the exposed edges of the black acrylic!!!!!!

Yeah I haven't even gotten to that. The acrylic still has it's protective cover on it too. When I know I am finally 100% done with that part I will polish all the edges. I had to fill in some spots along the front edge and I will sand that down tonight. My polish kit should be in today. Thanks for the recommendation on that.

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What method do you use to polish the edges? I normally use a torch Twisted Evil

I wish I had a high speed wheel with a buffer on it but I don't do it often enough to really "need" it.

Nickbaldwin86 wrote:

What method do you use to polish the edges? I normally use a torch Twisted Evil

I wish I had a high speed wheel with a buffer on it but I don't do it often enough to really "need" it.

I would use the heat method, but plastifix tends to burst in to flames or bubble real easy. I should have gotten a black plastifix because the clear is just that...clear. I'm going to use a permanent marker on the back side to see what that does. I'm pondering the idea of using molding or just black paint and then hand polishing. It's hard to get get that edge perfect being that it's two separate pieces bound together instead of one solid piece bent. I'm going to test out my ideas on some test materiel first though and see how it comes out.

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DrDarthBeavis is here to edumakate
Wet polish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRvC1pdO3UM
Getting those nice round edges and Novus polish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Using a jig to make nice holes and novus polishing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMC9W3C1JIg

My preferred method I use when I have blue polilsh around this vid by geno when he taught me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMa1ynwfR0k

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Finally...the paint took and came out freaking good.

After the 5th coat I am pleased with the result. Going to let it dry over night and then I will lightly wet dry sand it as there is just a very light amount of orange peal. Then it will be polishing. Should look like glass once done, I hope. Acrylic paints can suck it. This Lacquer paint went on perfectly. Big thanks to BOBDBONE for the pointers on painting. Darth, thanks again for cutting out the side panel and suggesting the novus. I'm not sure it's going to help with the scratch I accidentally put in the window as it looks and feels deeper than I thought, but it sure will help with other parts like the cover.

That stuff in the bottom right is not mine, don't judge me.

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