How the CoolerMaster CM HAF 932? - Page 2

b,

I went ahead and ordered two of those Enzo one piece copper heatsinks and two 40mm fans. I didn't buy fans with led's though. Instead, I got:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/ [...] s560#blank

I was thinking the metallic look would reflect light from the big fan in front.

In the meantime - Were you able to remove the black plastic hard drive mounts from the upper drive cage? I will be taking my case apart this evening.

b,

Good News! I stopped by a hobby shop and purchased a couple of small cans of spray paint:

Model Master #2948 white primer
Model Master #1962 gloss laquer
Testor #1251 copper
Tamiya #TS-30 silver leaf

I wanted to test the paint first so I got a piece of plastic from the spare parts box. First I used the white primer. Silver, high gloss, metallic, and flourescent colors look much better over a white primer than they do over a dark primer. Next I sprayed one half with copper and one half with silver leaf. The silver leaf looked like silver colored plastic. The copper looked a lot better than the silver. Next I wanted to try the gloss laquer. The directions stated not to use the gloss laquer on silver and other high gloss metallic paint but did not say why. I covered one half of the silver leaf and one half of the copper painted plastic. I spayed the other half with the gloss laquer. The laquer turned the silver and copper dark!!!. It does not look good and now I know why the instructions say do not spray the gloss laquer on metallic paints.

The front horizontal grill is definitely going to get a copper paint job. The black and copper sort of reminds me of the Duracell copper top batteries. Hmmmm....copper top.....I'm sitting here looking at the top of the case and wondering what it would look like in copper......

In the meantime the northbridge/southbridge copper heatsinks and fans won't arrive until next week. I've got the entire weekend to work on the case. I'll take photos. I also need to find out why AS Ceramique is recommended for nb/sb heatsink.

b,

Very Kool!

Look like Fedex won't deliver the nb/sb heatsinks and fans until Monday.

When I get home from work today I am going to take apart the case and work on it this weekend.

The reason I asked about the upper drive cage is that I was planning on painting it along with the rest of the interior of the case. I seem to recall thinking the plastic pieces were probably just snapped into place.

b,

Thanks for the info. I remember looking at the plastic on the upper drive cage when I removed the lower drive cage. Didn't see any obvious way of removing the plastic. If necessary I'll simply cut and remove it. I can always screw in the drives. I had to screw them in anyway on the opposite/right side because the tool-less system resulted in loose drives. No big deal for me. I'm not one to swap drives. In fact, I bought my first hard drive back in late 1985. It was a Seagate 10MB RLL drive with an access time of 110 ms. I've been using Seagate drives ever since and never had one go bad.

b,

I removed a few parts from the case yesterday evening.

The plastic tool-less assemblies in the upper drive cage slide out. On the left side of each piece there is a small metal flange sticking out from the drive cage. Grasp the left side of the assembly and pull towards you so that the left side clears the metal flange. Then firmly slide the assembly to the left. It may take some effort but it definitely slides out. I only had trouble with one piece but it eventually slid off.

There are two spings inside the plastic. They have a tendency to fall off when the plastic is slid off. Unfortunately on the first try the springs went flying through the air and disappeared. I was down on my hands and knees in the kitchen trying to find them. One of the springs wound up under the oven.

The upper drive cage looks kind of ugly without the plastic. I'm pretty sure I can reinsert the plastice once I finish painting. At least I hope I can.

I managed to remove the plastic window in just two or three minutes. The window is held in place with very tiny push type pins. Reminded me of miniature compression anchors. Nothing to it.

I couldn't leave things alone. I kept looking at the large mesh screen at the bottom front of the case. I had already removed the small mesh that was screwed to the horizontal grill. I kept thinking the large mesh should also be removed to improve air flow. I grabbed my drill and my 4 inch hole saw that I use to make blow holes in the solid metal tops of cases and had a go at it. The large mesh now has a round opening large enough for a 120mm fan. I wondering if I can find a sheet of copper to replace the rest of the large mesh screen. It can't be that hard to do.

I keep wanting to do something with the top front of the case. I removed that big piece of plastic that sticks up and has all those ports. I have an idea but it's going to depend on what hobby or electronic shops have available. Anyone have any ideas?

JL,

thanks for the tip, with a little extra the tool-less clips did come off. the case is now in pieces, all the rivets are out.

i plan to take some sample pieces to work for chroming. i will use the bottom exterior panel, a screen that i removed from one of the removable the 5.25 covers, and the top power supply cover plate. this should cover every base.

unfortunately, i will be away fromt the factory on business for most of next week, so i may not get it to the chome lab until the week after.

nice idea about drilling out the front/bottom mesh, i think i may do the same to increase air flow. finding copper shouldnt be tough, you could get copper mesh.

as for the interior, not bare steel, it was definatley galvanized. as for the method, idk. i tried to get the info on that, but came up short. it is very thin, though. i should have little problem removing that.

as for the I/O panel on the top/front of the case, i think i will pretty much replicate its current state out of steel. what were you thinking of at the hobby shop?

your build is sounding like it is shaping up. pretty fun stuff!

yes, i had the idea of removing the I/O's from the platic and mounting them vertically in the long oval hole the I/O cables went through. i hadnt thought about the exact mounting procedure too much, whereas i think i am going to fabricate something similar to their current housing, only out of steel.

i plan to install a 12mm fan at the top grill where you are talking about mounting the I/Os. probably an LED fan (red). i am going to install a babybus for fans and LEDs in one of the 5.25 bays, this will allow me to adjust the fans and LEDs.

i have come to the decision that i am going to attemt to recreate all the plastic parts in steel & chrome. i really like the original design. i had thought about cutting out the whole side panel and making one large window, but i think i would rather have the chrome mesh. i think it is going to look amazing.

the only major design change will be the bottom horizontal grill, where the red LED fan is. i am going to make the horizontal slats there wider, and at an angle, to allow for plenty of air flow, but less direct LED light.

actually, another mod i cant stop thinking about would be to add two small exhaust fans into the top battery port, since it would just be open space for me at the moment. should be really simple.

yeah, if you want anything flat on the top, those rivets will have to go. i plat to re-rivet the entire case with stainless steel rivets.

that copper is going to be nice. maybe laminating the copper to slow/stop the corrosion would be worth looking into.

my case will be called 'the toaster' for sure. although i hope it doesnt heat like one. depends on my video card choice.

b,

I just registered my ASUS motherboard. Didn't know there was a three year guarantee. I went to their motherboard forum where they have a thread with instructions and photos about reapplying thermal compound to the northbridge, southbridge, and mosfets. The instructions and photos are very easy to follow. However, there is one item overlooked. AS Ceramique is applied to the mosfets. There is no mention about the thick thermal pad on the mosfet heatsink. They pads are removed from the northbridge and southbridge heatsinks. I asked whether to remove the thermal pad or leave it alone. I am waiting for a reply. I also asked why AS Ceramique was recommended because there was no reference to a technical reason for using it.

b,

I received a reply from the ASUS motherboard moderator. He said not to remove the thermal pad from the mosfet heatsink. Just apply thermal compound to the mosfets and install the heatsink with the thermal pad still intact.

On the other hand, remove the thermal pads from the northbridge and southbridge heatsinks. Clean the chips, apply thermal compound, and then install the heatsinks without any thermal pad. Don't know why.

Finally they switched from AS Ceramique to AS MX-2 about 18 months ago. I am assuming it provides better results.

I popped the 4 rivets at the front of the top panel since I am going to sand the top. The upper drive and the frame are still very sturdy.

Had to watch the Arizona Cardinals lose to the New York Jets. Now the Washington Redskins are giving the Dallas Cowboys a hard time. I hope the Philadelphia Eagles do well against the Chicago Bears this evening. GO EAGLES!

Yeah, sounds odd! I posted another message asking about it.

Didn't get too far with sanding and painting the top panel. I ran out of sand paper for the sander. I did manage to get some of the surface down to bare metal though.

The new nb and sb heatsinks and fans get delivered tomorrow. Don't know how far I'll get due to Monday Night Football.

Major bummer today. I watched the Cardinals, Cowboys, and Eagles lose!!!

b,

I Stopped by the hardware store and picked up some medium grit and fine grit sandpaper. Probably should have picked up some very fine grit paper too. I continued sanding the exterior surface of the top panel. I was making progress in getting it down to bare metal. I stopped when it got dark. Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time. This time of year it gets dark around 6:45 PM and the patio is poorly lit.

I have several different ideas for a slightly modified top panel I am not certain what I will wind up doing until I see what's available at electronic and hobby shops.

ALBINO RACCOON! That's what my girlfriend said when I walked into the house. I wore safety glasses and a face mask when I sanded the panel. There was a lot of dust and debris that settled everywhere. When I took off the safety glasses and face mask there was a perfect outline on my face that looked like an albino raccoon.

b,

SWITCHES - I found some nice switches over at frozencpu.com. It looks like I might be able to get a power switch, reset switch, CMOS reset switch, and a hard disk led all matching and all with 36 inch long cables. I sent an email inquiry. Waiting for a reply.

JL,

everything sounds great. i am happy that i wont have to sand off the paint, i can just use acid or bake it off, but good job. getting the coating off of the interior will be a chore.

16 gauge sheet is exactly correct. i will be using 16 gauge sheet metal steel for my bezel fabrication. it is just thck enough to be strong, but thin enough to work with easily. i

sounds great about the power switches, can you post a link for the specific switches you got? i will be doing the same thing. i had figured i would go through one of my engineering distributors, but it would make sense, of course, that a case-mod company would have it all.

this week, i will be bringing my test parts to work to be chromed ASAP. but i dont know when i will be able to do it. i hope before too long.

good luck, keep it up!

Painting - I managed to finish painting the case. The interior of the case is 100% flat black. All I have left is that black plastic horizontal grill for the front panel. I need to sand, prime, and paint. I went to the hobby shop this afternoon and picked up a can of white primer and a can of copper. The primer and paint are made for plastic. Regular spray paint will eat into plastic. I'd also like to give the exterior of the top panel a second coat of copper.

I stopped at Radio Shack on the way home and took a look at their switches and led's. They had appropriate momentary contact switches for pc power and reset but they were very plain. Nothing to get excited about. They didn't have any 3 wire switches for the CMOS clear/reset. LED's were nothing to get excited about either. I'll keep looking.

I bought the ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe motherboard. I happen to have four matching 1 GB sticks of Corsaircorsair XMS2 memory in my spare parts box. When I read the ASUS users manual I discovered that only two of four memory banks are dual channel. The other two memory banks are single channel. In addition the manual recommended installing only 3 GB of memory for Windows XP Pro because the OS will only recognize 3 GB.

What do you think? Should I follow the manufacturer's recommendation and install only 3 GB of memory? Is there any benefit to installing 4 GB of memory? Are there any other options?

Beats the heck out of me. I started a thread in the mobo section. Might be a matter of correctly interpreting the meaning of the statement.

It could refer to use of a 1GB stick vs 2Gb stick of memory. I'll find out eventually.

The top panel got a second coat of copper this morning. Looks good. I just took the tape off. The only things left to do is clean the interior of the case and take care of the black plastic horizontal grill.

I'm watching the Eagles and Redskins. GO EAGLES!

nice switches. i am liking the red lighted rectangles, squares, and circles. i think that would go great on my build.

but those nickle plated ones would be hard to pass up. man those look pretty! i dont know if i would rather have the domed or flat one, probably domed.

as for the panel, it actually would fit pretty well with my motif. but i just dont think it is big enough. i have played with the idea of cutting out the entire side and putting in a large window. then remount the 230mm side fan and some mesh.

acrylic panel - Well, I soaked it for a couple of hours in hot water. The silver grid is still there so it isn't a decal or vinyl. Must be paint. I don't know if there is anything that will remove the grid without ruining the acrylic. Not sure what I have for options. A copper plate is starting to sound good. I'll think about it.

sounds interesting. It would be sort of like copper tinted glass. Hmmm.....

b,

Are you going to install any lighting inside your case?

b,

I was thinking of maybe one blue cold cathode light that I could mount under the upper hard drive cage.

power switches, BIOS reset switch, and blue led's & caps have all shipped. Should be here in a few days.

In the meantime stopped by Office Max and picked up a sheet of poster board for $1.29. Going to try to make a few templates out of the poster board before buying copper.

b,

PAINT - I gave the interior of the case a second coat of flat black paint. Now it really looks black. I measured the interior of the top panel and cut a piece of poster board to match about a 1/8th inch wider. Then I just popped it in. It did an outstanding job of keeping the paint spray from drifting through all the mesh and ruining the copper top panel. Beats the heck out of taping all the mesh. That's as far as I got this evening because it gets dark outside earlier and earlier this time of year. Tomorrow I'll finish up that plastic horizontal grill for the bottom front. That will be the end of painting. I'll give the paint a few days to cure then I'll start putting things together.

LIGHTING - Yeah, I briefly thought about mounting a light along the top of the case too. You're right, it would provide plenty of light - BUT - some of the light will also shine up out of the mesh on the top panel. Do you think that would be okay?

b,

COPPER - I stopped at a Hobby Bench store after work. They had copper sheets from K&S Engineering. I bought several different small sizes. The sheets were cheaper than the copper plates available on line. I think they are sturdy enough for what I have in mind. I forgot to ask about some sort of laquer that will protect the copper.

ACRYLIC PANEL - Hobby Bench also had clear acrylic panels. I found one that was just a little bit bigger than the one that came with the case. It was the right thickness too. Now I have to find copper colored window tinting film. That might be an impossible task.

SWITCHES AND LED'S - Today I received the black momentary dome switches from All Electric as well as the BIOS reset switch and LED's from Frozen CPU. The switches look good and have a nice "feel" to them. All I need to do is take one of the black switches to Radio Shack and find the right size connector for the wiring.

THE GRILL - GEE! I wish it wouldn't get dark so early. I managed to paint the horizontal grill. There are a couple of odd spots. Looks like I will have to let it cure for a few days, sand the spots very lightly with 1500 grit sand paper and give it a second coat.

b,

Good luck with the chrome test today.

I was thinking automotive film too but when I looked on line I didn't see anything that looked like copper. Almost all of it was shades of gray or dark bronze.