neilhart
Moderator
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Messages
- 2,686
- Motherboard
- ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming - ITX/ac
- CPU
- i7-7700T
- Graphics
- GTX960
- Mac
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neilhart’s LOL - Another Custom Case
Introduction:
This case was intended to be a “just for fun” quick project to re-house my thin Haswell motherboard.
The LOL case is a scratch build made up from G5 Power Mac materials from my salvage bin.
As this was intended to be a “zero dollar” build, I used the following components that I already owned.
Motherboard - ECS H87H3-TI, source Amazon
CPU - i7-4770T (45 watt version), source ACME Micro Systems
Memory - Patroit DDR3 SODIM (2x4GB) 1333MHz, source Fry’s Electronics
mSATA - mushkin MKNSSDAT 120GB-V, source Amazon
HDD - Toshiba SATA 1TB 9mm tall, - owned from an early USB3.0 external drive.
CPU Cooler - SilverStone AR04, source Amazon.
I documented my Mavericks installation experience here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...o-unsupported-ecs-h87h3-ti-thin-mini-itx.html
And then I moved to using an i3-4330 CPU and updated to 10.9.2. With this hack, I went back to the i7-4770T CPU and found that I had to add “dart=0” boot flag to the org.chameleon.Boot.plist.
Construction details:
As seen here the G5 mesh was repurposed by selectively reassembling bits to make up the core panel. Nothing really new here. Just takes time and patience to get the hole pattern aligned (x, y, and z directions).
It is hard to see here, I used clear food wrap sandwiched between the parts to be epoxied and the alignment pieces.
I masked off all but the row of holes (actually the land area around the holes) control where the epoxy is to be placed.
Then with the masking removed after the epoxy cures. I used JB Weld for this.
This is after sanding away the excess cured epoxy.
I have trimmed the edges and epoxied in some stiffener strips on the inside.
I used may 10” table saw with an 80 tooth blade to rip the handles from a G5 outer shell. Then cut to size seen here.
This was the test “glue up” where I used quick set Loctite epoxy to put the parts together to evaluate the concept… a go or no go decision point.
I decided it was worth while to proceed.
Here I have reassembled the hole guide strips onto the top surface of the the core and proceeded to match drill the holes that were epoxy filled. Drill press, good lighting and patience.
I cleaned up the two handle pieces, drilled a holes for a G5 power switch assembly and a hole for a drive activity light. Ground bevels on the mating edges and epoxied the two parts together with a stiffener plate and used JB Weld for this. Then used the dremel to grind away the area where the G5 power switch plate will go as material is twice the thickness of the G5 front panel area.
I made up extender skirt pieces for the core which were epoxied to the G5 core joiner pieces. Then after a few coats of paint I had a presentable core.
I then used JB Weld to epoxy the handle part to the core part to form the major portion of the case.
The thin motherboard assembly has plenty of room in the new case shell.
I made up a one piece motherboard mounting plate, cut the slot for the IO plate and used JB Weld to epoxy the mounting standoffs in place. Made up the bridge for the 2.5” hard disk which stands an inch above the mounting plate.
And here is the SOS hack and the empty LOL case for comparison.
Assemble the base to the case shell. Note the feet on the base plate and the screws from the G5 rear fan mounting repurposed to close this case.
The final case.
I used the paint shown on this project. A good number of coats of silver with some wet sanding. Then three or four coats of the clear to form a little more durable surface.
Conclusion:
What started out to be a quick project took much longer then planned. However the end result appears to be worth the effort (a one of a kind system). The system is fairly quite and runs Mavericks without issues. Prime95 Torture Test gets the temps up into the low 60’s.
Introduction:
This case was intended to be a “just for fun” quick project to re-house my thin Haswell motherboard.
The LOL case is a scratch build made up from G5 Power Mac materials from my salvage bin.
As this was intended to be a “zero dollar” build, I used the following components that I already owned.
Motherboard - ECS H87H3-TI, source Amazon
CPU - i7-4770T (45 watt version), source ACME Micro Systems
Memory - Patroit DDR3 SODIM (2x4GB) 1333MHz, source Fry’s Electronics
mSATA - mushkin MKNSSDAT 120GB-V, source Amazon
HDD - Toshiba SATA 1TB 9mm tall, - owned from an early USB3.0 external drive.
CPU Cooler - SilverStone AR04, source Amazon.
I documented my Mavericks installation experience here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/mavericks...o-unsupported-ecs-h87h3-ti-thin-mini-itx.html
And then I moved to using an i3-4330 CPU and updated to 10.9.2. With this hack, I went back to the i7-4770T CPU and found that I had to add “dart=0” boot flag to the org.chameleon.Boot.plist.
Construction details:
As seen here the G5 mesh was repurposed by selectively reassembling bits to make up the core panel. Nothing really new here. Just takes time and patience to get the hole pattern aligned (x, y, and z directions).
It is hard to see here, I used clear food wrap sandwiched between the parts to be epoxied and the alignment pieces.
I masked off all but the row of holes (actually the land area around the holes) control where the epoxy is to be placed.
Then with the masking removed after the epoxy cures. I used JB Weld for this.
This is after sanding away the excess cured epoxy.
I have trimmed the edges and epoxied in some stiffener strips on the inside.
I used may 10” table saw with an 80 tooth blade to rip the handles from a G5 outer shell. Then cut to size seen here.
This was the test “glue up” where I used quick set Loctite epoxy to put the parts together to evaluate the concept… a go or no go decision point.
I decided it was worth while to proceed.
Here I have reassembled the hole guide strips onto the top surface of the the core and proceeded to match drill the holes that were epoxy filled. Drill press, good lighting and patience.
I cleaned up the two handle pieces, drilled a holes for a G5 power switch assembly and a hole for a drive activity light. Ground bevels on the mating edges and epoxied the two parts together with a stiffener plate and used JB Weld for this. Then used the dremel to grind away the area where the G5 power switch plate will go as material is twice the thickness of the G5 front panel area.
I made up extender skirt pieces for the core which were epoxied to the G5 core joiner pieces. Then after a few coats of paint I had a presentable core.
I then used JB Weld to epoxy the handle part to the core part to form the major portion of the case.
The thin motherboard assembly has plenty of room in the new case shell.
I made up a one piece motherboard mounting plate, cut the slot for the IO plate and used JB Weld to epoxy the mounting standoffs in place. Made up the bridge for the 2.5” hard disk which stands an inch above the mounting plate.
And here is the SOS hack and the empty LOL case for comparison.
Assemble the base to the case shell. Note the feet on the base plate and the screws from the G5 rear fan mounting repurposed to close this case.
The final case.
I used the paint shown on this project. A good number of coats of silver with some wet sanding. Then three or four coats of the clear to form a little more durable surface.
Conclusion:
What started out to be a quick project took much longer then planned. However the end result appears to be worth the effort (a one of a kind system). The system is fairly quite and runs Mavericks without issues. Prime95 Torture Test gets the temps up into the low 60’s.