The Malice of the Panda
I built my first computer back during my early years in high school, and ever since I've wanted to do it again. Now I have that opportunity again, and this time I get to use relatively new components (unlike the last one, which was made with parts salvaged from 3 near-obsolete desktops). However, as it is in my nature, the computer is going to be put through some heavy modding before it's complete, and here I'll show you some of the "experiments" I've decided to perform on my newest patient.
Keep in mind, most of these modifications are ones that you can do on your very own computer! What I'll do is show you how I implemented them in my own desktop, as well as simplify the process so that you can try it on your own!
Contents
Concept
If I wasn't excited enough about building my own computer, then what really got me going was dreaming up all of the projects I could try out on my very own desktop. The first thing I wanted to do was put as many lights on the inside of the case as possible, of course without making my computer look like the Vegas strip, or the Griswold family's house on Christmas. I thought about buying those fans with the LEDs already in them, but I though it would be cheaper (and more fun) to put them in myself. Besides, this way I could pick any color I wanted, as most of the fans sold online came in blue.
The next thing I would have to do would be to cut a window in the side of my computer case, because what would be the point of having a ton of lights if you can't even see them? The cheaper cases that I looked at were not made with windows, but there was plenty of evidence online that putting one on could be done, relatively easily too.
The next thing I wanted to do was to give my case some personality, so I decided to add my "signature" to the case in some shape or form, which I would do so by adding more lights (shiny!).
Since I was going to have a lot of fans in the computer (2 CPU fans, 2 GPU fans, 1 PSU fan, and 3 case fans) I would need a way to control the speed of the fans in some way, in order to monitor and maintain a reasonable noise level and airflow. I designed a simple circuit for controlling the speed of any fan plugged into it, an I plan on putting at least 4 iterations of the circuit in the case.
Lastly, remember the Sonic Screwdriver that I built? I said that I got the inspiration to make it by watching a video of someone turning on their computer with an unmodified version of it, so now I get to do the same! I'll be adding a sensor to the computer which will allow me to activate it using my very own Sonic Screwdriver.
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Case Modifications
The case I chose for my computer was the Cooler Master HAF (High Air Flow) 912, which I found on Newegg.com. It's a pretty decent case made by Cooler Master (one of my favorites), which comes with 2 case fans and is pretty customizable. I'm about to take it a step further. The first thing I was able to do was paint the case and put a window on the side panel, looking into the case. I chose to paint the inside of the case, which was originally grey and unpainted, a black color to match the outside. I also wanted a secondary color on the front panel, which ended up being white to complement the red and black color scheme.
The case being painted outside my house. It's hard to tell but I had sections of the front panel taped off so that about half of it would stay black.
The inside of the case was pretty easy to paint; I just bought a cheap $1 can of black spraypaint from Home Depot to provide a really basic black coat. The quality didn't matter too much to me as there were going to be components covering most of the paint job anyway.
For the white color on the front, I bought some nicer paint that was a non-gloss finish, to match the default matte look of the case. I taped off parts of the panel with blue painter's tape, making sure that it was pressed down to prevent leaking. I was surprised at how well the front panel turned out after I tore the tape off; there were a few places where the paint crept under the tape but the paint was still wet enough to wipe it up where needed. As a last minute decision, I also decided to paint the back of the case white, to complement the white on the front, and because I had lots of white paint. I mean, why not?
The inside of the side panel is all marked up and ready to be cut.
The shape of the window on the side panel was designed to fit around the already present form of the side panel. If you look closely at the panel, the area around the window is raised about a half inch above the rest of the panel, and slopes down until it is even with the panel towards the front of the case. There are also 3 faux sports-car-like air intakes on the side, around which I also shaped the window, coming within about a half inch of them.
To cut out the window, I used a basic jigsaw with a fine metal-cutting blade. I clamped the panel to the stand for my table saw, which was a perfect fit. Vibration was a little bit of a problem, but as long as I had my hand in the right place to act as a dampener, there wasn't a lot of movement.
The window itself was the one part of this case that gave me the most trouble. I purchased a sheet of 3/32" thick clear acrylic from Tap Plastics with the intention of cutting it myself; however, I quickly realized how under-prepared I was. As soon as I started cutting the sheet, the plastic began to crack and split. Soon my hopes, like that $10 sheet of plastic, were shattered. I took a few days off before returning to Tap Plastics to try again. I brought in exact measurements of the window's shape to see how much it would cost them to cut it. I wasn't very happy to hear that it was going to set me back at least $60. Instead, they offered to cut a square sheet as close to the size of the window, and also showed me a jigsaw blade that was made specifically to cut acrylic sheets that I could use at home. So I walked out of the store $15 poorer, but prepared to make this work.
The new piece of plastic on the table, prior to cutting. On the left are the jagged remnants of the old piece, which I used for practice cuts.
To my relief, the blade cut the plastic beautifully; I only chipped a tiny corner of the window, which would be hidden by the side panel anyway. Along with the side window, I also cut a piece to cover the fan grilles on the top of the case, to act as a dust cover. I mounted it using half-inch standoffs to raise it above the opening, to allow air blown by the CPU fan to escape out the top.
Preparation to mount the top dust cover to the case.
I was extremely pleased with how the mods turned out. I spent about $35 on upgrades for a $60 case, which is not bad money.
A case I'm going to use and love for a long time.
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Fan Controller
I decided early on that designing and building a fan controller for the case was going to be the easiest (and most fun) route to take. Luckily for me, one of the fans I bought came with a single fan controller, from which I borrowed the circuit design, and simply duplicated it four times.
I decided to build the facade of the controller into one of the drive bay covers that came with the case; specifically the 3.25" drive cover. I drilled 4 holes through a small clear plastic panel, which I *securely* superglued to the drive bay cover.
The fan controller panel, with 3 of the 4 potentiometers standing by for mounting.
The backside of the controller, showing the layout of the circuit.
The circuit itself is rather simple: a transistor, resistor, potentiometer, and voltage source. In fact, I found there was more than enough room to fit four iterations of the circuit behind the panel.
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