Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

milhouse · 12:58 PM

Edited 8/6/03: The new and improved mod with Aluminum side panels can be seen here if anyone is interested.
It looks much better in person as you can really see the fit and finish that the Al adds to the mod.

cheers

Original post:

Well my case mod has nothing cosmetically to do with Speed Racer.

the name is a combination of MDD and G5 since that's what the machine is cosmetically.

Check out the Geekage Here.

It was started prior to the G5 release but greatly influenced by Apple's design.
Since the machine started life as an MDD and the mod looks much like a G5, I called it the M(ach)5. (Yes I am a big fan of Speed Racer et al )

My .Mac homepage has basic info for each photo of the mod as relatively few characters are allowed via the "homepage" builder.

The side panels need some additional finishing on the "visible" inner surfaces but I think I'm going to re-fab them in a more durable material.
I initially painted them but the metallic paint finish was uneven and surface imperfections looked like craters from the planet Moon.

I ultimately opted for Kapco 2mm silver vinyl film but it is prone to tears from the perforated metal panel.

The metal shell is attached via .25" cylindrical magnets and is easily removed to clean the filters or to muck about. I thought that was pretty slick.

I had to modify the side panel entry mechanism but I can still open the side panel "normally" for internal access. That's another area that I'd like to better "finish" though.

In addition to the perforated metal shell, I've also done some internal cooling mods that really seem to help with airflow. I made a metal shroud with an integral fan to cover the HS and increase airflow and added a fan on the rear of the CPU HS (both at 7V).

The internal fan guard was removed and only one optical drive installed so that airflow would be less restricted.
I have two external drives (CDRW and DVD-RW) in Firewire cases close at hand.
I find that drive access is more convenient that way.

I have a toshiba laptop DVD drive with the requisite adapters so that, in the future, I could easily add a second optical drive which wouldn't impede airflow too much. Perhaps I'll do that shortly when I'm once again smitten with the "bug".

Comments are welcome

cheers

icruise · Jul 27, 2003, 06:06 PM

Very impressive!

Spliffdaddy · Jul 28, 2003, 01:11 AM

I've seen a thousand case mods and yours is one of the best - as far as final appearance goes.

Very, very nice.

milhouse · Jul 28, 2003, 07:08 AM

wow...thanks for the compliments

Mediaman_12 · Jul 28, 2003, 09:38 AM

Very nice (humm I am inspired, must resist until waranty runs out), but can you still open the side?

milhouse · Jul 28, 2003, 10:22 AM

Yes I can still open the side panel.

In the pict with the top filter you can see two small holes that were drilled in the top right side of the metal MDD case. Those openings allow access to the lever that locks and unlocks the side panel.

I was going to make an integrated button but wanted to keep the case lines clean for now. It can be opened by inserting a brad or thin metal rod through the perforated metal, through one of the two openings, depressing the locking lever.

I'll likely finish that aspect of the case when I refab the side panels by creating an external button or lever to open the panel.

LeeG · Jul 28, 2003, 09:10 PM

That just rocks! Looks great - congrats-

Lee

hadocon · Jul 29, 2003, 09:27 AM

Awesome! I bet this will sppn appear in Wired's "Cult of Mac" section. Best Mac case mod ever!

milhouse · Jul 29, 2003, 11:26 AM

Originally posted by hadocon:
Awesome! I bet this will sppn appear in Wired's "Cult of Mac" section. Best Mac case mod ever!

Never saw that...but it might be pretty cool

Kyle Dreaden · Jul 30, 2003, 05:20 PM

This is disgustingly cool. I love it. I almost want to butcher my MDD and do this. Though, I don't have enough faith in my metalworking abilities to pull it off =\ Where'd you get the perforated metal from?

milhouse · Jul 30, 2003, 08:25 PM

There are lots of sites for metal resellers and manufacturers.

I forget the name at this time (where is that receipt?) but a quick google will provide you with lots of sites.

It was an industrial supplier and you have to buy 30 square feet of the stuff. Some places had you buy more and some a tad less as minimum orders.

If I thought there'd be enough interest I could probably put together a kit with everything pre-cut, bent drilled etc.

i have sheet aluminum coming later this week to replace the side panels. I'm going to do some updates and possibly some handles too.

thanks for the feedback

Azzgunther · Aug 3, 2003, 06:13 AM

Submit it to Applefritters.com!

:XI: · Aug 3, 2003, 11:33 AM

Originally posted by Azzgunther:
Submit it to Applefritters.com!

I'll second that. The end result is very good. Excellent. I take it you did a lot of planning? The impression I get from most case mods is that they're all spur of the moment or a series of mods that culminate in a horrid mess.

How long did it take?

milhouse · 05:36 PM

Originally posted by :XI::
I'll second that. The end result is very good. Excellent. I take it you did a lot of planning? The impression I get from most case mods is that they're all spur of the moment or a series of mods that culminate in a horrid mess.

How long did it take?

I did some sketches and thought about the general design for a few days. Construction planning/prototyping was about 2 weeks and the final mod was another week. I did everything in my mind before I implemented it. I wanted to do it a bit different, which I still may do but I played it safer for the first time out. I started on the aluminum side panels today...

thanks for the complement

milhouse · 01:05 PM

Comments on the updated mod are welcomed.

(see original post)
thanks