P182 Case Mod:

[Vheox]

P182 Case Mod: Yes! I'm crazy and Yes! I ruined this case!

Initial Thoughts:

- Introduction: So I've been really disappointed with the Antec P182. As far as higher level cases are concerned, I thought Antec did a poor job, at least for the price. But anyway, we're not here to write a case review. The P182 had given me a couple cuts here and there was swapping stuff around, and I thought, well… "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood", right? So I decided to take my revenge by torturing this case. Torture device? Good old Dremel 400 XPR.
- Antec P182: cutting and carving this case was a "personal" thing for me. If you care about this case, such a mod would be plain stupid. This will ruin the noise dampening built in the panel, and ruin the clean look of the P182. You also have a strong chance to permanently damage the side panels (getting a smooth finish when cutting these panels is almost impossible with a Dremel, because they are so thick with uneven material), and getting a replacement is not an option. Antec don't sell a P182 panel by itself. They do sell a P180 panel, which doesn't have the noise dampening. So I strongly urge you not to follow my example. Moving on...

Safety Considerations:
- Side Panel: The side panel of the P182 contains 2 layers of steel / aluminum (something along those lines…) and a thick layer of that noise dampening foam… I say foam, but it's actually pretty solid, and will give your Dremel some work to do. I had first bought the cheap Dremel on sale for $25 at Lowe's… and that died after about 15 minutes of cutting. So if you're going to buy a Dremel, don't get the cheap stuff. Even the 400 XPR would get ridiculously hot… hot enough that I wouldn't be able to handle it anymore, even with gloves on.

Antec P182 side panel cutout view:


Upper View:

Note: that white stuff is glue…

- Cheap (?) glue: looks like Antec just glued the foamy stuff and aluminum together, so when I started cutting the detailed areas, the aluminum came loose in some areas. Not something a little super glue can't fix, but just something to keep in mind.


- Lots of Residue: with this mod, I was essentially grinding away at the panel, instead of cutting it. This allowed for more detailed work, but because of the foamy stuff, there was a lot of debris left over. Be sure your workstation is in an open area you can easily sweep up. There will also be bits of metal flying around, to make sure you're well protected, especially your eyes, hands and feet.


The Tools:

Nothing fancy here:
- Dremel 400 XPR: about $100 at your local hardware store.
- Gloves and safety glasses: don't turn on your Dremel without them. SAFETY FIRST guys. No matter what you're doing, cover your hands and eyes.
- 2 cinder blocks, covered with 2 old towels / rags. This consisted of my work bench. Put the 2 cinder blocks parallel to each other, and put the panel over them.
- Stool
- Compressed air: probably the most useful tool in this very modest arsenal.



The Bits:

don't remember the exact part numbers, but here's the break down. I started with the wheel, to cut a basic shape, then moved to smaller and smaller bits for increased detail.



Getting Started:

stencil of Che on Google, resized and printed so it would take a full page, then cut out the shapes with an exacto knife. Note that in the picture, my stencil has already lived a lot, hence the deformations on the edges.



- Sharpie: I taped the stencil to the panel, then went over all the open areas with a sharpie. I don't have a pic at this point, but by looking around the later pics, you'll get the point.

Cutting:

- Basic Shape: as I mentioned before, I used the wheel to cut a basic shape of the stencil. Note that I had already cut a couple other things prior to this, like an eye, his nose and some hair… just to see if it could be done...



Front View:


Back View:

[Vheox]

Note: be careful of those indentations… the big X if you will. Because the depth of what you are cutting changes, you Dremel may jump…

- Increasing detail: at this point, I'm just going closer to the stencil, and carving away the bulk. Don't go in too much detail here... Because of the size of this bit, you won't be able to make any sharp angles, everything will be round.

Front view:


Bit after use: (notice the bits gets dirty, recycle use of your exacto knife to clean it up)


- Completing details: I used the two last bits to complete the details. The one shown below was used to complete the majority of the work. Anything that has sharp angles, or thin enough this bit couldn't handle, I used the last bit shown earlier (altho I barely had to resort to it).

Front view:

Note: I decided to change the shape of his upper lip at the last minute...

Close-up (note: the edge of the mouth is an example of where I would have to use the smallest bit… work not shown in this pic)


Bit after use:


- OOPS!!!! That's what happens when you don't pay attention… nothing some spray paint can conceal though.


- Taking a break: be sure to take lots of breaks… otherwise you gets more oops's


- Top of the head: same process here

Front view after first stage:


I took this picture with flash to illustrate the width (or rather depth I guess) of the pane:


After finished details, back view:

[Vheox]

After finished details, front view:


- Side hair: once again, same process.

Front view after first stage, with cutout piece:


Front view after first stage:


Front view after second stage:


Front view finished details:

Note: the last sharpie spot you see… I decided against carving it. I figured it would increase stability. The panel started feeling flimsy at this point.

That's pretty much it for the carving part. I was satisfied with the details. Not perfect, but close enough. I finished up with a polishing bit… anything you can find it your Dremel kit. My philosophy is that if you run your fingers through it, and it doesn't draw blood, its smooth enough!

Finishing up:

8 x 10 piece of plexi glass (about $4 at your local hardware store):

Note: X marks the spot… that's where I drilled. I decided to drill with the paper cover still on for added protection.

Drilling some holes in the case to match the holes drilled in plexi glass (all done with Dremel… take it easy on the plexi glass, it's slippery!!!)
8 x 10 piece of plexi glass (about $4 at your local hardware store):


Add a little spray paint (low light, no flash):


Front view (low light, with flash):


So I got some bolts and nuts (my girlfriend painted the top of the bolts black with nail polish) and put the plexi glass on top of the panel. I had to put it on the front, or external part of the panel because the back is not an even surface (remember the big X on the back of the panel?). I don't really mind, it covers some of the oops's and prevents people from poking around. Hands off!!

[Vheox]

CASE FINISHED:

All done with the case, for now… Enjoy!

Anarchy view:


Front view:


Che close-up (with flash)


Zoom out (with flash):


Zoom out (no flash)


Che close up (no flash)


I then bought 3 red sound activated cold cathodes from newegg. I put 2 in the back side (behind the motherboard) and one in the front.

CONCLUSION:

- Damages: The side panel in question has gotten pretty bent. Because I spent so much time with pressure on it, it's a little curved. Can't really be noticed when in place, but definitely makes it harder to take the pane out, or put back it.
- Noise: I can't really tell the difference in noise. I have a couple added fans in this case, so it pretty loud, as far as ambient noise is concerned. If I'm jamming music, or playing games I can't hear it, and that's what matters. Besides, most of the noise comes from the front, top or back of the case, which has no noise dampening.
- Closing thoughts: I had an awesome time doing this, ran into only few challenges. The cold cathodes had to be pretty much super glued in. I had bought some 15 inch cathodes, which are way too long to fit on the back panel. I didn't bother measuring for some reason. Other than that, I feel much better!

Questions? Let me know… please no politics and no comments about how I ruined this case... I already know that!

VIDEO's:

No light:
YouTube - P182 Che Guevara Case Mod in darkness

With light:
YouTube - P182 Che Guevara Case Mod in light

Take care!

Vheox

System specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
Patriot Viper 4 Gb PC8500
EVGA GeForce GTX 260
Corsair 850W

[jaketerminate]

This is awesome! Great job, I hope this can get me started on some mods of my own!

[zapionics<alt>]

Its pretty cool. Good job

[Vheox]

Thanks for the kind words guys.



Edit: if my post does make you want to talk politics, take it to their forum! lol... keep abx clean