stuff by ratchet // Tom Freeman

Half-Life is the ultimate game, not to mention the excellence of its enormous range of mods, and it's always been my dream to use HL as a theme for a mod. Since it's freaking hot out, I need a case with a bunch of fans, and I just happen to have a Thermaltake Xaser II that I decommisioned a while ago. I decided that I want to paint the interior orange, put Half-Life on the right side and the lambda symbol and 2 120mm blowholes on top. The front of this case already has 2 80mm hole which I would like to mod to be viewable from the outside via those handy $4 exhaust tubes. I got a job as a computer salesman at Staples today and figured that was as good of a landmark as any to begin work on this beast! I cut the Half-Life on the right side today, and even though i made a couple of mistakes, I'm happy with the result. I printed the design on 2 sheets of paper then meticulously stenciled it onto the case first in pencil then in sharpie.

Let's get to work! wooooo!!11 Saftey first; I spent a whole of $1 on my gear. Took the mask from a supply closet somewhere and got the goggles at the 99 cent store. I'm on a budget after all.

I then cut all this using the remains of a reinforced cut-off wheel I had lying around. I couldn't get into those corners as well as I wanted to and got a bit frustrated. At first I thought I really messed up and that the E would look horrible from the other side, but it came out ok.

I read a guide that said a cutting bit should make quick work of those hard corners. Can you believe that little piece of metal is $6?!?! I was soon ready to remedy my problem.

As it turns out I can't even wield a cutting bit. It kept jumping all over the place and simply made a mess, so after about 5 minutes I put it away and decided to be sneaky and just cut out all the small segements the long way (by cutting out all the area inside and using the edge of the disc to smooth the edge). Whatever, you get what you pay for =P I had put some painters masking tape on the other side beforehand to ensure a clean cut (or so I thought). I don't think this was really neccesary, and I probly won't do it again because it left a nasty melted tape residue.

After removing the tape I went to it with a cone shaped dremel sander and then went at it with some 150 grit sand paper. The results were decent, but there was still alot of residue. I used some Goof Off, and it destroyed the residue, but also my paint =( Looks like i'll have to re-paint this sucker after all (darn).

I plan on putting some mesh behind this and painting the mesh orange. It should look pretty sweet when lighted by some orange or red cold cathodes! Stay tuned, I plan on doing the lambda symbol soon unless work distracts me. Any suggestions!>?!? My brother said it looks bland, maybe I should add windows above and/or below it? Remember this is the right side, not the left, you won't be able to see any components from this side.

Alright I finnaly borrowed a 1/8th drill bit from my buddy and removed the rivets from the top of my case.

I am almost ready to paint the chasis, but have a question that you may be able to assist me with.

The two 3 inch bay cages both have this very convienant locking mechanism on them. Look:

Now, I want to paint these bad boys. The mechanisms are connected via a rivet on the inside. I don't think i could get a drill in there. I have a few options, and am at a loss as to what I should do. I could attempt to dissasemble the mechanisms (I really don't want to...they work great and the rivet is placed in a very tricky spot). Or I could just put some tape of them very carefully and paint (the view right here is from the top. Each of those metal things sticks out just as you see in the pic, the only difference is that the two cages are stacked ontop of one another in the actual case.) I figured that it doesn't really matter how the top of these things look because they are just going to be covered anyway. What do you think?

So I've also sketched out tommorrow's cutting agenda. Two 120mm blowholes and a nifty lamba logo. This also raises another question, but first, the sketch.

As you can see I've sketched 4 little brackets on the lambda logo to hold the middle peice in place. Do you guys think this is the best route to take? I am putting a metal mesh behind this, so I could actually cut the entire thing as a clean circle, then attach the middle metal part (the part that defines the lambda) to the mesh itself. From there it would just take some good positioning and I think it would work. Should I go through that effort, or should I keep it like this? Thanks fellas and have a happy 4th.

So with my faithfull cat Nemo as my constant source of insipration, I indulged in a relaxing day of dremiling.

Here's the little stinker doing something he knows he should not.

Whatever it takes to beat the heat I guess =P Anyway, here's the victim all tied down.

A little while later...

Later still...

And then.....

Good times...I was left with this.

After some half-assed sanding....

Yay, I think that about does it for exterior cuts (not really ) You're probly going to have to wait a while until my next update...I don't get paid until next week, and I'll be leaving for Minnesota some time in the future. Hope you will continue to check this thing out until I finish it. It's gunna be SWEET!

So a friend randomly had a nibbler and I decided to "precision" cut the semi-restrictive (not really) fan guards in the back. This was a bad move on my part... It seemed an easy enough task on my part to simply snip each little connectioin on the grill to remove it, but the nibbler actually forced me to bend the edges of the metal in order to remove them. Seeing as this method was not working, I only finished it on that grill and decided to dremel the rest.

As you can see in the picture above, I used a ruler and made a very simple pattern to line up straight cuts. Thermaltake utilizes these handy fan clips, and I figure since there isn't enough room on the back to use larger fans, I'll just stick with what they're using. Very very easy cuts so I spent a bunch of time sanding. I was dissapointed that the nibbler made the metal so jagged, so I think I'm going to touch it up with the dremel a little later.

There are two more of these fan guards in the front....but I have much greater things in store for them....

I am back from a pleasant vacation from Minnesota and ready to mod. I decided to that in order to do my favorite game justice, I would have to properly paint the chasis of this case. I first took 1/8th drill bit and my buddy's corded drill to remove all rivets in the case. I took detailed pictures of every drivet I would be removing before actually comencing drilling. Here are four of the basic side views.

After drilling out all the rivets, I decided to go inside quickly and get my camera before I cleaned up the mess. Well, I guess my weined dog approved of my work, because by the time I had come back out, the little b@stard had pissed all over my most recently drilled work. It doesn't really matter though, because all these parts will get a fine rub down and will be thouroughly clean before painting.

Before painting these parts, I've decided to use a green brillo pad and a sanding block to prepare the metal. I then rinsed and cleaned the parts with 70% Isoproply alchohol. Here is one of the first items I will be paintning, the mobo tray.

This along with the two support bars are on their second coat of prime right now, and I will paint them orange tommorrow.

On top of painting my case, I also recently recieved some modder's mesh from a fellow PC Apexer. m3_tw0 had some mesh that he wanted to sell, and promptly sent it my way. Great trader, check him out I think he has some fans for sale still. Anyway, the mesh was in perfect condition, and after some sanding, one coat of primer, one coat of orange, and one coat of clear, it was looking pretty snazy. Here's how it looks so far.

I'm digging this mod so far!! I think the chasis is going to turn out great so keep an eye out =D

I finished painting 3 parts of the chasis today.

I used 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of color, and 2 coats of gloss. It turned out quite well.

I also got some casters today although I'm not quite sure how i'm gunna fasten them. This is a rough pic of how I want it to look (except in reality it will be nice and rigid)

Yes that's painters tape around the edges, I am going to put a coat of primer on it before I go to bed tonight, along with some other parts. As you can see the metal has been prepped for painting.

I can't wait till my fan ducts arive

I'm going through a move so I figured I better get one more mod in while I still have a small barn. I cut the front of my Xaser II with a dremel (hot knife through warm butter). I then used a sanding cone dremel bit to sand the edges a little before sanding with paper.

here is the process...

A quick test fit then on to 600 grit sandpaper

No time to dremel the chasis...lots of packing to do.

Here's sorta what I'm gunna do

I've finnaly settled into my new home and am pleased to say that modding has continued on! My dremel broke while cutting the front intake (after cutting some plexi), so unfotunatley I guess all cutting is done =/ The front intake didn't line up perfectly, but I figure it should be close enough. I want to get this case done before I go back to college on sept. 9th.

ANYWAY.....

I got an advanced b-day present....a hand riveter!!

Riveter glory

I'm just finishing up painting the last round of chasis parts

It may look all orange but that's actually some scrap drywall the previous owner of the house threw away. It's supported by some old tv-dinner trays.

drywall

Here's a pic of the other stuff that's all ready to be assembled

As you can see i've already started riveting some parts together.

A note to anyone using a riveter (to hopefully save some frustration), when you purchase a riveter it may not have the correct tip on it! I spent like 10 minutes messing up my paint job trying to use a riveter tip that was too large. Anyway, I bought a rivet combo pack, but it didn't come with any rivets that sit flush with the case. Once i pick some up from Lowes tommorrow I should be able to complete the assembly.

I've decided that white cold cathodes will really accentuate the orange interior, and I have a pair of them that should arrive tommorrow.

It's finnaly coming together!! The next mod will be the feet/casters. It's gunna be sweet!!! Thanks for staying with me through my move =P

Things are starting to come together!

Before finish off the riveting today I had to go renew my drivers license, and before that I painted some random stuff that still needed some attention.

Now for a little game.....

What the deuce do you think this is ???? You get two guesses.

Give up??

It's a piece of cardboard I used to paint the tips of the casters I will be utilizing

Anyway, I passed my test and now have a renewed license.....errrr I mean I finnaly finished riveting the case!

Here's a litlte progress...

Slapped the side panels on to see how it's gunna look

I'm loving it!!! The only thing wrong with it is that the front intake fan didn't quite line up as perfectly as i'd like, but seeing as this is going to be on the floor it doesn't really matter. I hope to find a RC plane or model rocket nose cone to put on it, but only if I have time. Only some minor stuff left to do until I transfer my rig into this bad boy! Stay tuned, the end is near.

I have about 3 days left at my house before I move back to Santa Cruz and get my own studio, so I figured I better hurry up and finish this (for the time being). I took all the parts out of my current case, a Coolermaster Centurion 5, put some mobo mounts on my HL case and got to work.

Here's a shot of the stuff. I then sleeved the cables shown here with some black split loom which

I will later paint with clear UV reactive paint.

Front. I'm going to mount the cd-rom drive tonight (gotta play BF2!!!!)

Left Side

Top - I can't decide on an appropriate fan grill....I painted a standard 120mm grill orange, but it didn't quite fit. I'm waiting for my new dremel to arrive and then i'll make that grill not-so-standard.

Here's the internals, I kind of like a messy case, so bear with me. My personal thought is that if the cables look good then you might as well show em off, they're just as important as the hardware. Although I am going to clean up the cold cathode power unit once I put in the other lights.

More...

As far as the halflife side....

The room I'm currently in doesn't quite have the space that my studio will have, so unfortunatley the right side is hidden (only for a couple more days though). I attached two UV LazerLEDs I got from a fellow modder at our trading post...vf1000ride. This fine fellow hooked me up with these for cheap and they look great. I'm going to use that same clear UV reactant paint behind the mesh to make the text really pop.

The lights

In the light

In the dark. (those white cold cathodes don't leave it too dark heh)..

That's it for now, still working on the casters. Hope it turns out the way I plan. I plan on adding some UV cold cathodes to the main part as well. I'm going to have all the lights hooked up a switch panel in one of the drive bays. I want to have it so that it will look nice and bright in the day so that people will admire the color scheme and also be able to turn off the bright white lights and have a nice UV glow. Once I'm able to afford the clear UV spraypaint, I'm going to paint everything I can with it so the case will look tottaly different in the dark. Thanks for looking.

Ok, well this mod has been done for quite some time now, but since I moved I have had no access to a digital camera Finnaly one of my housemates recieved the cord to his digital camera in the mail, so I figured some concluding shots were in order. I'm sorry the pictures are really blurry, someday I'll buy a quality digital camera so I won't have to deal with this anymore.

Anyway....here she is

Once again, sorry for the blurry pictures, if I ever get my hands on a higher quality digital camera I'll retake them. Since it took so long to get a digital camera, i've already started my next mod, so stay tuned. Hopefully I'll be starting that worklog tonight or tommorrow.

Thanks for checking my mod out. All done for now

I have recently taken some higher quality pics:

This mod turned out great, I hope you enjoyed the worklog!

-ratchet