Macase Glowy Door Mod - Modjitsu #27

Mariah Carey can glimmer until she drops. We don't care. Ron Prouse shows you how to out-glow the glimmeriest.

ABOVE: The final result leaves plenty of room for personalisation-maybe a window etch?.

Re-badging products is increasingly common, and it doesn't get any more prolific than with this particular case design. If you haven't yet owned a variation of this box, then chances are high that you eventually will... which is good, because it means that a 'case-specific' mod such as this will interest a reasonable number of people!

The obvious feature of the case is the door that conceals all of the drive bays, and it is this attribute that is going to receive some... ummm, attention :)

As with a lot of projects that look simple at the outset, this mod became a little harder as it evolved. My opinion is that you will need at least a medium level of handyman skills, some common workshop tools and, all up, about 10 hours of spare time. On a positive note, this mod does not require any PC downtime as the bezel and door are easily removed, so you can work on it in stages.

ABOVE: With the Perspex fitted, it's time to attach the inverters and wiring with clear Silicon.

Surgery with a Stanley knife

The first step is to remove the door and get rid of the existing raised centre section by carefully cutting the 18 locating tabs with a Stanley knife -- being careful not to end up as an honorary Simpson -- and cutting around the inner-edge of the bottom curve of the door with a hacksaw blade. You will see there is a recessed 'lip' in the door frame on the sides and top (that the Perspex will be glued to), and that is the surface that needs to be perfectly flat, so trim and sand off the 'stumps' of the tabs.

The next step is to get a piece of paper, place it over the front of the door-frame, and trace out the shape of the opening, getting right into the inner edge of the recess. Using this as a template, transfer the shape onto the paper protective-sheet on the Perspex and cut it out using a jigsaw with a 24T pitch blade. For the best results use the slowest setting that you can, taking some extra time getting the shape perfect -- now will really show later! BTW, getting the bottom curve right is the really important bit of the exercise, as there isn't any room for repairing gaps on this part later.

Sand the edges of the Perspex until it is a snug fit into the opening, making sure not to round the profile over, as this is a critical part of the bonding area for the glue. Once the Perspex has been sanded to shape, trim off the protective paper covering around the inside edge where the glue will make contact. Then rough up the exposed surface with 600-grit sandpaper, and do the same around the recess in the doorframe. At this point I suggest you protect as much of the doorframe as possible with masking tape to protect against any excess glue running all over it. Mix up the five-minute epoxy glue, and brush a reasonable amount around the lip of the doorframe AND all the way around the edge of the Perspex... following this method will glue it in an L-section, and give the join maximum strength. This is important, because the door is subject to flexing when it is opened, and a simple butt joint will crack after a short time in use.

To make sure the window sets flat and tight against the frame recess, lie the door face-up and put something heavy (like a brick) on top of the Perspex. Be careful not to glue the brick to the case!

You can now wander off and let the glue cure for several hours - preferably overnight :)
This final stage is only required if your window has ended up with some ugly gaps around the edges of the joint. You can use a paintable filler such as Selley's No More Gaps or automotive 'plastic body filler' ('Bog') to hide those sins!

On this example I trimmed back 3mm of the paper cover all the way around the outer edge of the Perspex, and then ran a thin layer of bog around the joint to give a smooth edge, like using quarter-round on a woodwork join. With everything still masked-up, give the join a quick sand-over with 1,200-grit and then a coat of satin black vinyl paint. You should get a perfect finish!

ABOVE: Black plastic is non-reflective, so the mirrors help to spread the light more evenly.

Light work
With the window finished, it is time to get some lighting happening. I used 100mm bare Jaycar CCFLs on either side of the window, siliconed into place, with the addition of two small squares of mirror plastic to help maximise the reflected light. The wires on the lights were extended and then siliconed into place around the inside of the door so that they entered into the main bezel through a 10mm hole next to the bottom hinge. Two 1/8in holes were drilled at the bottom of the door so that a cable-tie could be used to hold the wiring firmly in place.

The main case bezel has plenty of air-space, and a recessed groove that runs down each side is perfect for the inverters to be placed in, held in place by two large blobs of silicon on the back of each PCB -- this also keeps the high-voltage outputs away from unsuspecting fingers. The 12V power-in wires were extended so that they reach into the case-space, and a female Molex plug was fitted to the end. Plug'n'Play!

Optional step: wire mesh grill

Well, the window looked great, but there was one more addition that I thought would improve it: a wire mesh grill, moulded to the window shape... adding an industrial toughness to the effect.

The best type of mesh to use is expanded Aluminium, which is pliable and ea