Project: MiniBlueServe

[ParrotBoy]

I know, crap name - I'll be having a little competition at the end to name it, with a prize and everything!

I got my Epia C800 with a CFun Cube case yesterday, from a nice man on the forums - woo! Its going to be running as a test PHP server on Red Hat 9 and Apache. Thats all fine, but seeing as it only cost £85, I thought I may as well chop it up and try to make it into something of beauty.

Pictures will be forthcoming in the next couple of days, I need to borrow the GF's camera.

So far I have done the following:
Cut the pesky P4 connector off the 150W PSU
Used spiral wrap on all the internal wiring
Cut a window in the CPU side of the case - it still needs sanding/edging etc
Used a hammer to straighten up the frame, which got bent slightly in shipping.

The plans are:
fit a nexus multi-function panel (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=2903&PHPSESSID=82ef0dbf9b34b56062948f0192c5e49f), with the clear plastic front into the 5.25 bay
Add a pretty bloo cathode inside somewhere.
Swap the nasty HSFan for a bloo zalman northbridge cooler
Add a quiet bloo led intake on the front, and a silent non-lighted blower in the back(maybe - it might not be needed)
Swap the green LED's in the nexus for bloo ones, same with power and HDD LEDs
Wire the reset button to turn on/off the cathode, so I can sleep.

Any ideas for other stuff to do?

[davecrowley]

sounds good so far, can't wait to see the pics !

:)

[ParrotBoy]

Did some more last night, mainly wiring stuff.

Fitted a 4" bloo cathode
Fitted the nexus - it looks SOOOOOOOOOOO sweet in there!
routed loadsa the wires properly, but sodded up one of the fan cables so I need to fix it...

Plan for tonight is to get the window sorted/finished

Gonna get the zalman, LEDs and maybe a lighted fan tomorrow, so I'll be fittin them next week

Need to find some way of making the Reset switch turn on/off the cathode, its a momentary and needs to be an on/off, any ideas?

Will be takin photos over the weekend, will post on monday

[NickB]

Could you just replace the whole switch with a similar looking on/off one? Any chance of any pics?
Nick

[ParrotBoy]

Switch is sorted, got a guy from work bringing me a pus on/off switch that I can just put behind the reset switch (replacing it's momentary bits), he should get it me for tomorrow, so you will get a pic of the case lighted.

Think I'm gonna use silver braid on as much of the wiring as possible, so I'm gonna add some of that to tomorrows order :)

Can anyone give me some advice on how to measure LEDs? do I measure the size of the "bulb", or the flat disk that the pins come out of? Not sure at the moment if I need to order 3 or 5mm ones...

As I said above - pics by monday :p

[ParrotBoy]

Update:

I got the following bits through this morning:
Alaska blue LED fan (with painted blades)
Zalman Zm-NB47J heatsink
Silver braiding kit

so plans for tonight:
get rid of the speed adjuster on the fan - it will be adjusted by the nexus.
Braid s**t loads of wires!
if I have time I'll fit the Zalman heatsink and fix the fan into the front of the case (I'm gonna have to glue bolts in for it)

There will DEF be pics by tomorrow night - promise! Who would have thought that geting your girlfriend or any of the 5 friends who have digital cameras to lend you it would be so hard......

The panel on the case is going away tomorrow, I'm getting a guy I know who sprays cars to give it a new paint job - White pearlaresent (I think I spelt that right) - thats the stuff thats a slightly different colour depending on the angle you look at it from. Oh yeah! :D

[ParrotBoy]

Sorry, its been ages since I updated this - pics will be forthcoming within the next hour or so, but while I wait for my boss to unlock the FTP machine...

Not much has been done really since last time. I've:
braided about 80% of the cables,
almost destroyed the CPU heatsink trying to get it off, need to run the system for ten mins to heat up the thermal adhesive methinks!
got rid of the speed control on the main fan.

This morning I got through a load of stuff for a forthcoming project, as well as some EL bloo wire, i'm gonna underlight the case with it.

Side panel still hasent returned - need to kick my mate up the ****.

I need to sort this in the next week or two - theres a new project coming up I will need all my time for...

[ParrotBoy]

Check it out! We have photos!

OK, they really arn't that exciting but anyway...

A shot of the case at the moment. The window has been cleaned up, I won't be using the chrome edging...
http://www.alterscope.co.uk/MiniBlueServe/HPIM2286.jpg

Fontal shot of the panel with the Nexus installed:
http://www.alterscope.co.uk/MiniBlueServe/HPIM2283.jpg

Pretty crappy shot through the window - it will look more interesting when I get the CPU heatsink installed and turn the lights on!
http://www.alterscope.co.uk/MiniBlueServe/HPIM2285.jpg

Shot of the case naked - the only wires I need to braid now are the big ATX connector and a single IDE cable(not in the case at all at the moment...
http://www.alterscope.co.uk/MiniBlueServe/HPIM2278.jpg

This was supposed to show the extent of the damage to the CPU heatsink(the gold one), but didn't really work...
http://www.alterscope.co.uk/MiniBlueServe/HPIM2279.jpg

The wiring is much neater now than before - the cathode has been hidden behind the frame just above where the window is.
I'll get you an update tomorrow night.