Obsidiana (obsidian)

This was my first mod but is not finished yet.
This proyect was so pretentious to be the first and exceed my skills and tools , that´s why is taking so long.
The victim:

As you can see , the internal structure and the bottom frame don´t fit with the modern hardware and must be adapted.

This is the main idea

First preview

PD: The HDD later was moved to other location ( dark green in the third virtual image) , with this change I get a place to hide PSU cables and fresh air for the HDDs

Thx ,XFX geforce 250 gts , nice perfomance , great when I buy it , a little old by now.

Zitat von Benny

reminds me on my digistation casemod ...but there i took the complete mainboardtray from another case.

This type of case don´t give too much choices for the hardware placement , the only hope of make diference is an external personalization.

By the way , Digistation is a piece of art ,this is a modest try

Afte I name the project Obsidiana , I realize that the name is already used by a comercial product , I keep the name anyway , because refers to the theme of the mod , is not just a name , I will explain that later.

A little update , the structure with the windows done and painted , the color of the obsidian stone is usually black or dark green (so dark that look like black) , so this is the color of choice

The obsidian is also called "volcanic glass" , so the ilumination should be red or green like the stone , but I will light it in blue , according to the display that goes in the front panel.

Zitat von Benny

hehe well first time i saw the title obsidian, i thought its about modifying a corsair pc-case . But most modern pc-cases are to easy for people like us .

This was my first mod , so I choose an old case , so with it a have nothing to lose if I went wrong .

Update.

The case is going to be full covered with Acrylic Panels in dark smoke color.
You must be wondering why I paint and cut the case if it will be later covered , so I will introduce you the main concept of the theme of Obsidian.
According to the obsidian stone , I want that the case look "dead as a stone" when is turned off and look like some kind of black glass block , so I start to work the idea of an invisible windows.
Here the result of everything put together.

Turned OFF

Turned ON

There is the semitransparent effect

Zitat von Whatever

Great idea! Do you see anything of the window when the light is turned off?

Thank's , I can't see through , that's the idea , we will see how it works without the proteccion film and the hardware inside.

Zitat von Whatever

The picture is not very large so I can not exactly see it.

Click on the two little squares at the rigth of the picture to see a larger image

Zitat von Whatever

You said that you are going to light the entire prjoject according to the lcd in blue...so will you change the green of the cover of the graphics card or will you create your own?
Nice to watch your project

Some parts in the inside will be in U.V. orange , to gain some brightness through the dark smoke acrylic panel , I don't have ideas for the VGA yet , for some details of the appearance I need to wait how it results when everything are put together
In the inside I will place a 12" dual UV cold cathode kit

Thanks for the support , I'm happy you like it.

The front panel is the only panel that will not look flat , so is very important to make it look beauty and with some details , not too many , to not break the line of the design
The front panel has two main items , the display panel and the Power/Reset buttons.
Let's start with the buttons .

Here where I live , the commercial buttons available are ugly , and the vandal type are hard to find and very expensive if you can get them , So I have no options but to make them by myself.
According to the main idea of the design , the buttons will be black and blind with the PSU turned off , and will light when is turned on .

Two holes in the front for the buttons and the stainless steel tube to make the "rings"

Adjusting the diameter to the tube

First approach

Rings mirror polished

All together

Now , images to see the three different looks with the backligth effects

PSU and PC off , the buttons look black and no state leds at sigth

When the PSU is turned on , the logos to of power/reset are visible , but still no indicator leds

When the PC is turned on , the indicator leds appears through the acrylic panel.

PD: Sorry for the pictures , is hard to get a good imagen without reflexion because of the acrylic panels , even without flash

Zitat von Benny

Looks nice and interesting. How do you made the inserts of the rings (with the logos)? and by the way i think the indicator leds would look better also in blue

Thanks Benny
The metal rings are glued to the acrylic panel from the back , The circles in it are made of two layers of acrylic (dark smoke on the outside , transparent burnished on the inside) and in the middle goes the logos , cut in black vinyl plastic with a plotter )
The holes and the acrylic disc for the buttons are hand made , if you enlarge the images you can see some little mistakes on the junctions that I will fix later.

The leds in blue is a very good idea , I keep the original colors (green for the power / red for the HDD) to break the all-in-blue lights in the front panel , It will be better to understand with the pictures.

First prototype of the LCD panel

First "how it would look" of the front panel

I'm not very happy with the result , need to correct some leds position, and some changes in the LCD panel .
The right side meets very empty and boring.

I already have some things to do in mind , stay tuned

Zitat von Benny

Yes, maybe you should move it more to the right side. The LCD panel reminds me on some remote control or something like that, which can be placed next to the keyboard. Maybe a better place for it?

I make it with few details to meet the rest of the mod (some minimalist) . The fact that looks like an RC is bad or good ? 8o
I place it there to break the symmetry , I try it in the center but I don't like the way it look , unfortunately , move it implies to remade all the front panel

Zitat von Desh

Oo it looks a little bit to superimposed to me.

That´s bad , is pasted there but is not supposed to look like this , make all of the same acrylic piece is far from my skills , I hope it look better when I make the final version

Thank for the commentes , I hope you like the final result

Finally I decide to make legs for Obsidiana.
They are small and simple , It will not exceed the cabinet limits and will lay under the PC , so it will be barely visible.
For that I use the same stainless steel tube that I already use for the buttons and acrylic.

First result

After polishing

With leds ON