My Window Step by Step : photos don't do it justice :(

[pete_pumpkin]

Hey people I bought a window kit on eBay from a group called 'modmonkeys.com'; I don't think they are around any more, or at least their website is down
Anyhow I'd been putting it of for months. I got a rotary tool (imitation dremel) for christmas purpously for the window. But yeah I just kept puttingit off. Well yesterday I got of my ass and started the job. This wasn't my first window mod, my first one is here, you could say it was a bit ghetto :0)

First step was to prepare the surface with masking tape so that none of the surrounding paint gets scratched. I heard from some modder that preperation was the key to any succesfull mod.



After that I worked out exactly where I wanted the window. I good idea is to stick it just under the powersupply and behind the drive bays. I figure that there isn't anything pretty to look at there any way Anyway using a washer which was supplied with the kit, I traced around the window with a pen inserted in the hole of the washer. This is a scientificly proven way of getting the appropriate clearence for the rubber moulding



Next step can take anything up to 2 hours. Well it took me about that long being very new with the rotary tool. Any how I slowly worked along the lines that I had drawn. The trick is to do a section at a time 1 to 1.5 inches etc . Let the revs do the work, meaning don't press to hard. It does take a lot of time but it's worth it



Ok once that is done, tidy up the sharp edges with a stone etc. Wipe down the whole thing, remove the masking tape and wipe done the whole thing again. No w the fun part (sarcasm) Placing the the panel down flat on a kitchen table insert the rubber moulding and cut to size. Starting in a corner work the perspex window into the moulding. Well there you have it



Have a look at all those shiney reflections :0)



A few tips:

Don't start the cutting at 6pm other wise you neighbours might spew
Wear safety glasses as the cutting disks like to go BOOM!
Keep the revs at the appropriate level for the cutting disk. Unless using re-enforced ones you'll find your disks can explode very easily at high revs.
Don't cut the window hole too small otherwise you'll get blisters on your fingers trying to get the damn window in
Have fun!

Pete

[Hemerage]

So is there a photo of it finished or what? =)

Wanna see how it looks in the case with the moulding and perspex etc

pics!

[pete_pumpkin]

Grr yeah , whoops I pressed finish instead of preview.

[Syphon]

good stuff.

i'm proud my my window....it was cut with an handsaw and a drill ...all because i couldn't be bothered going down to bunnings to pick up a steel-cutting jigsaw blade (i went down a few days later anyway because i couldn't cut the 120mm blowhole by hand.. tho i tried)

<and> thank God for the rubber strip....otherwise my window would really look like shiet

[valk`]

nice job man!

was the kit easy to use and follow?

[Hemerage]

ahhh there we go
Looks good

How much are the kits? Ive just painted an old case as a test run and thinking of modding it :P
(first time!)

BUt, are you using Win98! with that horrible defualt aqua BG

[Opteron]

uhm whats so special about it? looks like a normal window kit to me.

[valk`]

the fact it has a how to...and hes just showing us a "mod" in the "modding" forum.

[pete_pumpkin]

Thanks people

Syphon> have a look at my first window, about half way down the page here

valk`> The kit came with some really basic instructions, mainly reminding you to use the washer provided when doing the tracing to keep a gap for the moulding

Hemerage> I think I paid almost $30 all up with postage, I'd say the kit it self is probably only $20 worth. It's the way to go tho, because if you were to buy the perspex your self and then fiddle around cutting it etc, it would end up costing you more.

Now for some NEONS!

[pete_pumpkin]

Originally posted by Opteron
uhm whats so special about it? looks like a normal window kit to me.

Look closer

[Hemerage]

asif try piss on someones parade Opteron

Hes happy that he managed to cut his first window, and so he should

I havent done, and id be happy with myself if i did it

[Opteron]

sorry if it seemed a little rude, just that i thought the whole thread itself was about the actual window, not the effort.

sif neons, get cold cathodes!

[Boney]

El_Bambino doesn't seem to be around any more so I feel it is probably my duty to tell you that a jigsaw and a file would have had the job done in a quater of the time, with time left over to have a beer and admire your work.

[pete_pumpkin]

Yeah it's pretty much my first window, I would have thought a jigsaw would leave the edges really rough and maybe buckled etc. Any way I bought the dremel for the purpose of doing some modding. I noticed it didn't really like cutting curves, maybe the jigsaws better at that.
Aren't cold cathodes pretty much neons with a fancy name? Or those it have to do with the intensity of light/color etc? I figure neons might give a nicer color, but less bright than CC? Or are CC like fluros or something but with the inside sprayed with the appropriate color? Beats me

[Syphon]

CCs actually are a lot brighter. neons sorta just glow

using a jigsaw would have taken all of 5min to cut (being really careful as well), but buckling etc may be a problem if the steel is thin (my Aopen has damn thick steel...which made it even harder than i thought to cut)

<edit> brighter!!!