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  <title>Modshop - Newest Comments and Worklogs</title>
  <link>http://modshop.net/worklogs_comments/rss</link>
  <description>Just the deets on what's going on and who's been talking</description>
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  <pubDate>August 22, 2008, 12:16 am</pubDate>
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Penguin Palace]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/penguin-palace]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[Incredible...some mad case modding skillz there.  One of the better ones that I've seen.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-12-18</pubDate>
  </item>
  
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Work log has been posted]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/1719/worklog/work-log-has-been-posted]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[The Penguin Palace Work log has been posted at: www.valhallaarms.com/casemods/]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-12-04</pubDate>
  </item>
  
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Build notes and Specs]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/952/worklog/build-notes-and-specs]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[This was a &quot;quick&quot; case modification that grew from a vague idea I had about running water through the sidewall of a case. Quick, meaning only 40-50 hours from the time I started to pick up tools.Some of the features I wanted to be part of a waterfall construction included using some sort of clear plastic case, and using blue or white UV reactive dye in the water. Those factors became the starting point for a design. As I started to think things through, I decided that the waterfall could move from side-to-side in the panel (from the inside of the case to the outside, and then back in again), rather than trying to construct deep enough cross-sections to show traditional rear-to-front flow. If I was going to use a clear acrylic case with UV lighting, the appearance suggested a snow or ice theme. To create the effect, I wanted to use lots of blue, white and silver wherever possible.A friend at work donated an old Plexiglas custom case he had from several years ago. This became the starting point for the modifications. One can tell this was different from most of the current clear plastic cases on the market now; for one thing, the entire front bay assembly had to be removed to install drives. Only part of the side panel opens, and this swings on clear plastic hinges. There were no slot covers on the rear, so I would have to cover that somehow, and while the I/O port cover might fit in the rear opening, it would not snap in, and if it did left too much of a gap to attach cables. The case also had numerous 90 mm fan openings in the front, side, top and rear of the case.This was not intended to be my day-to-day system, but I still want it to be fully functional for whatever I choose to use it for. I kept the required components to minimum, not even installing a floppy drive, modem or other expansion devices. (If I need a floppy, I can always use a USB floppy drive.) I did install a DVD-RW drive, a single 250GB SATA hard drive, and a USB card reader. The video card is an EVGA nVidia 8500 and the system board has the usual 10/100 LAN, serial and parallel ports, USB and sound support. The Intel Core 2 6300 CPU is water cooled as is the hard drive. Since the DVD and card reader I used were black plastic, I popped the bezel and tray cover off and painted them metal-fleck silver. The Thermaltake hard drive cooler is brushed aluminum, so did not need anything special. Instead of the typical black radiator, I installed a blue one, and installed white Silverstone 120 mm fans on the radiator and in the front of the case.I tried and rejected a couple of things during the build, starting with the front panel. I created an icicle and lace effect to protect the front fan, but ended up adding screen mesh in the end. I tried adding some commercial plastic holiday icicles that had a chunky- clear, frosted, and iridescent finish, but decided these really made the case look cheap and scraped all of them off. I also tried creating a layered side panel for the waterfall sealed with silicone caulk, but when I tried to drill holes to mount it, the seal broke between the plastic. I salvaged most of the shapes of the side panel and used them on the back side of the case, but the front panel and icicles went in the trash.I used &quot;General-Purpose Plastic Glue&quot; (found in the plumbing section of Lowes) which gave a slightly milky appearance to attach the layers of together. Starting with two pieces of 1/4&quot; acrylic sheet 24x48&quot; in size, I would cut off a section and trim it down to a rough shape using my band saw. To shape the icicles along the bottom edges and cut openings in the center of the shapes, I used a Dremel tool with a high-speed rotary cutter bit. By building up several layers of 1/4&quot; acrylic sheet and carving the edges with irregular scallops and gullies, I can create an icy-looking surface that will catch and diffuse the lights in the case. To attach a Danger Den Reservoir to the top, I created a shallow dome with a depression to help direct any spills into the fill port. This was positioned to be centered in the top fan opening, using the frosted edges to conceal the screw holes around the fan opening. Layers at the front and rear help create a rounded edge and break up the boxy outline.In time-line progression, I started work on a full (side-panel) size waterfall panel to cover the hinged side door, but the silicone seal broke as soon as I drilled the panel for mounting. Setting this panel aside, I had to consider a different approach that could use general purpose glue. Instead of creating a single-thickness panel for the water to flow through; I came up with the idea to have several smaller and shorter channels that would zigzag down and through the door. Starting at the bottom of the door, I enlarged the fan opening and then created a reservoir from several layers of plastic. Each section has an outside shape that was similar to the opening in the door and an internal hole that followed the bottom edge, but reduced the top and sides with each layer. With the layers assembled, the reservoir section was glued to the inside of the door and held in place with clamps until the glue dried. A hole was drilled and tapped with a 1/8&quot; pipe thread tool, ready for a brass hose fitting to be attached. This process was repeated by adding a section to the outside of the door, with a slope ending at the reservoir opening. At the top end of the slope, a hole was cut through the door back to the interior of the case. Then, more layers on the inside with a slope in the opposite direction and another hole to the outside of the case. At the top, two more layers create a channel sloping down and a hole for a second brass fitting is cut and tapped at the top of the channel.At this point, I was not happy with the iridescent icicles and shape of the front panel, so I removed and discarded what was previously built. After creating a new frame to fit around the drives and support the front reservoir, I added some layers to create a layered icicle effect below the drives and around the fan opening. Thinking about the feet, commercial LED illuminated feet are available, but the symmetrical appearance was not the look I was after. I had the idea to create more a free-form blob, maybe even with a melted appearance. I compromised and went with a frosty, multi-layered look that diffuses light shining down into it. Four layers of acrylic were assembled, and then shaped with a cylindrical burr to give the appearance of many more thin layers. The finished feet were glued to the bottom of the case.For the side panel behind the system board, I cleaned up the failed waterfall panel and cut sections to be trimmed and glued in place. Additional layers were cut to fit the space next to the drive bays and to create some overlapping edges around the front of the case. With the carving mostly complete, I drilled out small holes above each of the feet on the inside of the case. The front and rear feet are illuminated by a pair of wide-angle blue LEDs were wired in series. The LED wires are attached to a pin assembly that is inserted into the end floppy connector of the cable powering the water pumps.I created a special &quot;ripple&quot; disk that distorts light from multiple blue and cyan LEDs to create an effect similar to light reflecting off of or passing through moving water. Starting with a 4&quot; disk of clear Plexiglas, I carved random channels in the surface. A heat gun was used to melt and polish the surface creating long lens-like ridges on the top of the disk. The disk is mounted to a tiny gear motor that has the 5 volt power further reduced with a voltage regulator mounted on the circuit board. LEDs were added in groups of three, wired in series and protected by a resistor. The LEDs are all wired to the 12 volt power on a Molex style connector. To conceal the motor and LEDs, I drilled 4&quot; holes in several layers of 1/4&quot; acrylic and glued these together to form a block. The sides of the block are carved and left frosted to scatter the light, but make it harder to see the mechanism. The circuit board and disk assembly is held in place with double stick Velcro.The last bit of case lighting I installed were three ultraviolet (Cold Cathode Fluorescent) tubes, two long 15&quot; ones on either side of the drive bays, and a standard 12&quot; one in the rear by the case slots.System Specs:CPU: Intel Core 2 6300System Board: ECS nForce 570 SLIT-AVideo: EVGA nVidia 8500HDD: 250 GB SATAOptical: Samsung DVD RWCase: unknown mfg. custom-built 1/4&quot; Plexiglas case (&quot;salvage&quot;)OS: Dual Boot Ubuntu (hence the penguins) as the default OS and Windows XP Home.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-10-19</pubDate>
  </item>
  
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Penguin Palace]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/penguin-palace]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[Congrats on the win!  Good luck.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-10-16</pubDate>
  </item>
  
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Penguin Palace]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/penguin-palace]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[You've got my vote, need some work on your card reader and cd rom drive face covers. but overall very nice work.]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-10-15</pubDate>
  </item>
  
  <item>
    <title><![CDATA[Penguin Palace]]></title>
    <link><![CDATA[http://modshop.net/users/jadragon/rig/penguin-palace]]></link>
    <description><![CDATA[This is super cool.  I love this one!   Would love to know what components were used here and what case did you use?]]></description>
    <pubDate>2007-10-09</pubDate>
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