Well dear friends, i hope every one is in the best of health and spirits. It's been a long time since I have updated you all on new mods, but family obligations, work and this simmering heat has not really given me a chance to indulge in my foremost passion modding.
But worry none the less, I am working on some really cool mods...and today Ill be explaining 2 very simple, basic , easy to do and really cheap ( :wink2: as in cost point) Case lighting and control mods.
Firstly lets begin with the control mod....
We all love to bling our PC cases me most of all, Cold Cathodes, Neon tubes, LED lightening what ever we can get our hands on we love to sparkle up our casings.
But then their are times when you just aren't in the mood to have those flashy lights blaring at you.... or u simply want to conserve on electricity and would like to turn them off.
and turning them on/of is not an easy task.. either you need to open your casing...and simply disconnect the molex powering the lights...or some high end CCFL's come with a control swich which can be installed in one of the PCI slots of the casing. Which if you are as lazy as I am, is also a hassel, twisting and feeling your way among all the wiring at the back of the casing to simply switch them of.
So to resolve this tedeous task i decided to design a controller of my own...it's not a new inovation..as their are pre manufactured controllers available (Abroad)...but then whats the fun in that....
So here it goes...
Bought these switches from a local electric shop...their are loads of design/shape/colour varaities and can be easily found from mostly any electric/hardware shop...Cost Rs. 5 each.
For this mod I am using the 5.25 to 3.5 Floppy Drive Bay cover of the CM HAF 932...mostly all CM 690 and above casings with wire mesh designs have this cover.... but if not can be designed very easily...(I guess that can be an upcoming mod)...
The reason why i am using this cover is obvious i want the flow of the casing to remain as natural as possible..so the objective is that the end product looks as if it came factory default..not some rudimentary thingy sticking in ur face...
remove the wire mesh covering the frame...very easy to do...no need to wrestle with it....simply up turn the hooks at the back and remove.
Now comes the tricky part.... designing the faceplate where the switches are going to be installed....I used a piece of acrylic lying around from my previous window mods.... but plastic, metal anything can be used....i prefer plastic cause its easy to mold and work with...
Cut out the holes for the buttons....it is very essential to point that exact measurements should be taken...if the holes are bigger then the buttons then you know what will happen....make the holes very slightly smaller..so that the end clasps of the switches hook into place...
Easy way to do is drill a medium size hole where u want to place the button in the plastic and then file your way outwards to match the size...you cant go wrong this way....
I covered the acrylic with a back sticker to match with the casing....but can be left transparent to see pc inners or as per your style and preference...
Cut the holes to match the frame..so when you want to install the wire mesh back it will easily fit...
this is how it should look like once fitted...
and when the wire mesh is installed .... Please note: if you are covering the plastic with some black sticker or paper...don't cut the holes part for the switches... simply cover the complete piece of plastic with the sticker and then file away the holes.. this insures that you get a perfect covering at all times...
And now the buttons/switches of your choice....fitted in the frame....
Now comes the connecting part.....I am sorry I cannot show you the complete wire as I dint want to go to the pain staking efforst of redoing my cable managment..but the wire itself is very easy to make by your self or u can ask any electrician to make it for you...also I am sure you can find the wire in the market....its a simple male/female molex which is modified to control the current flow with thimbles at one end to connect to the switches...(Maybe ill add how to make this wire later)
Attach the wires to the buttons and fix it in to the casing....
and you are ready to go..control all your bling easily..with the switch of a button...that can be easily reached while playing your games or during your computing experience.
Now coming to the 2nd part of this Mod...
Living in Pakistan is very difficult to find modding, lightening and case bling accessories...almost none of the PC retailers order such stuff..and the ones that do, sell it at very expensive prices...which most of us can't afford...
To counter these problems I decided to search the car accessories market...see whats available and how can they be incorporated in to our PC's.
So here is what I found....an led strip...comes in blue, red, greed colors and 8inches to 22 inches sizes..costs about Rs. 200/- to Rs. 500/-
You must have seen these stripes sparkling away in our traditional TAXIS and SUZUKI VAN's.....
The strips have a sticky adhesive on the back side that can be easy stuck to any part of the casing as well as the connecting wire at one end..
One thing to note here is that buy the correct size...as you cannot cut the strip....if you do, the connection will be broken and the led's wont light up...the substance that the leds have been fixed on is very flexible and can be bended in to any shape you like....
Noe the connection part...take a male/female molex....like the one below...
and remove the + positive and - negative ends from the molex....
connect the led wires to positive and negative ends...
and push the pins back in to the molex...
and your new & cheap bling is ready to be installed in our cases.....
"HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THE MODS"
P>S I apologize for the images quality...but thats the best my cell phone camera was capable of doing....maybe some one can gift me a good quality camera....:crying:
But worry none the less, I am working on some really cool mods...and today Ill be explaining 2 very simple, basic , easy to do and really cheap ( :wink2: as in cost point) Case lighting and control mods.
Firstly lets begin with the control mod....
We all love to bling our PC cases me most of all, Cold Cathodes, Neon tubes, LED lightening what ever we can get our hands on we love to sparkle up our casings.
But then their are times when you just aren't in the mood to have those flashy lights blaring at you.... or u simply want to conserve on electricity and would like to turn them off.
and turning them on/of is not an easy task.. either you need to open your casing...and simply disconnect the molex powering the lights...or some high end CCFL's come with a control swich which can be installed in one of the PCI slots of the casing. Which if you are as lazy as I am, is also a hassel, twisting and feeling your way among all the wiring at the back of the casing to simply switch them of.
So to resolve this tedeous task i decided to design a controller of my own...it's not a new inovation..as their are pre manufactured controllers available (Abroad)...but then whats the fun in that....
So here it goes...
Bought these switches from a local electric shop...their are loads of design/shape/colour varaities and can be easily found from mostly any electric/hardware shop...Cost Rs. 5 each.
For this mod I am using the 5.25 to 3.5 Floppy Drive Bay cover of the CM HAF 932...mostly all CM 690 and above casings with wire mesh designs have this cover.... but if not can be designed very easily...(I guess that can be an upcoming mod)...
The reason why i am using this cover is obvious i want the flow of the casing to remain as natural as possible..so the objective is that the end product looks as if it came factory default..not some rudimentary thingy sticking in ur face...
remove the wire mesh covering the frame...very easy to do...no need to wrestle with it....simply up turn the hooks at the back and remove.
Now comes the tricky part.... designing the faceplate where the switches are going to be installed....I used a piece of acrylic lying around from my previous window mods.... but plastic, metal anything can be used....i prefer plastic cause its easy to mold and work with...
Cut out the holes for the buttons....it is very essential to point that exact measurements should be taken...if the holes are bigger then the buttons then you know what will happen....make the holes very slightly smaller..so that the end clasps of the switches hook into place...
Easy way to do is drill a medium size hole where u want to place the button in the plastic and then file your way outwards to match the size...you cant go wrong this way....
I covered the acrylic with a back sticker to match with the casing....but can be left transparent to see pc inners or as per your style and preference...
Cut the holes to match the frame..so when you want to install the wire mesh back it will easily fit...
this is how it should look like once fitted...
and when the wire mesh is installed .... Please note: if you are covering the plastic with some black sticker or paper...don't cut the holes part for the switches... simply cover the complete piece of plastic with the sticker and then file away the holes.. this insures that you get a perfect covering at all times...
And now the buttons/switches of your choice....fitted in the frame....
Now comes the connecting part.....I am sorry I cannot show you the complete wire as I dint want to go to the pain staking efforst of redoing my cable managment..but the wire itself is very easy to make by your self or u can ask any electrician to make it for you...also I am sure you can find the wire in the market....its a simple male/female molex which is modified to control the current flow with thimbles at one end to connect to the switches...(Maybe ill add how to make this wire later)
Attach the wires to the buttons and fix it in to the casing....
and you are ready to go..control all your bling easily..with the switch of a button...that can be easily reached while playing your games or during your computing experience.
Now coming to the 2nd part of this Mod...
Living in Pakistan is very difficult to find modding, lightening and case bling accessories...almost none of the PC retailers order such stuff..and the ones that do, sell it at very expensive prices...which most of us can't afford...
To counter these problems I decided to search the car accessories market...see whats available and how can they be incorporated in to our PC's.
So here is what I found....an led strip...comes in blue, red, greed colors and 8inches to 22 inches sizes..costs about Rs. 200/- to Rs. 500/-
You must have seen these stripes sparkling away in our traditional TAXIS and SUZUKI VAN's.....
The strips have a sticky adhesive on the back side that can be easy stuck to any part of the casing as well as the connecting wire at one end..
One thing to note here is that buy the correct size...as you cannot cut the strip....if you do, the connection will be broken and the led's wont light up...the substance that the leds have been fixed on is very flexible and can be bended in to any shape you like....
Noe the connection part...take a male/female molex....like the one below...
and remove the + positive and - negative ends from the molex....
connect the led wires to positive and negative ends...
and push the pins back in to the molex...
and your new & cheap bling is ready to be installed in our cases.....
"HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THE MODS"
P>S I apologize for the images quality...but thats the best my cell phone camera was capable of doing....maybe some one can gift me a good quality camera....:crying:
