This is the first contest the machine was entered in. Actually the contest was started about 2 weeks before I did the final touchups to the case.This is the second case I have modded. For my first case I made custom flame decals and a blowhole on the top of the case for a 92mm. So this is my first major mod.I started this case mod in January of 2000. I brought my LEGOS down from the attic to make a few little scenes. I then got the idea to make the entire case out of LEGOS. I had originally intended to make the drives on stilts of LEGOS but that did not work out as well as I had hoped. Over that first month I thought of several concepts and finally decided to build the case you now see in the attached photographs.The following steps outline the procedure for this case made of LEGOS;I started buying LEGOS in bulk directly from Lego. I began building the case as shipments arrived. Once the main box-shape was completed with the hole for the window and back panel, I started work on the window. I used a piece of Ultraviolet reactive PLEXIGLAS and screwed it to the window frame. This added support to the window and kept it from falling apart (which it had done a few times).I cut a piece of LEXAN to fit the back of the case. This would add support for the removable motherboard tray and power supply, as well as the back of the case. LEXAN was also affixed to the case above the window area for added support. With the main structure completed, I drilled holes in the LEGOS and secured the fans and the drive rack to the front of the case. I then made the cut out in the LEXAN and secured the motherboard tray.With the main case intact I started work on the top. I secured LEXAN to the top of the case and cut a 120mm hole for the fan. I then decided to build a LEGO castle scene on the top of the case, so I installed a LEGO base on the LEXAN top. The castle's torches are lit up using yellow and red LED’s and a decade counter circuit. I figured that when you look at a torch on a wall it is mostly bright and when it flickers it dims. I took this into consideration and inverted the output of the decade counter using a transistor switch. The voltage is applied to the LED’s via the transistor. The output from the decade counter switches them ON and OFF to give the effect of an actual torch. The wires for the torches are running inside the LEGOS of the castle. I drilled each piece to create a channel and routed the wires through the blocks to common points under the top of the case (this job took several days in itself).I designed and built two other electronic circuits for this case. One is a decade counter that lights the blue LED’s on the front of the case giving the "knight rider" effect. The other is a multi-vibrator circuit that alternates voltage to 2 LED’s located inside the case. One is on the bottom of the catwalk and the other is inside a Lego computer console. The two electronic circuits are located inside the jail portion of the castle.Throughout the entire process of building the case I had been working on the stealth drives, the floppy drive was tricky because it is a hard device to hide. I thought about not including one in this computer since I rarely use it, but I wanted the challenge. I came up with the idea of the swivel cover, which seems to work rather well.The LEGO scenery inside the case was very important to me. I always liked to make stuff like this, so it was a must, but an important criteria was that it did not impede the airflow. So I did some research and found the cross-braced supports. They would let air flow freely through them. LEGO scenery and parts of the case that were long and flat were installed horizontally to provide a “duct?to enhance the airflow. I even strategically placed some platforms in-line with the video card to provide airflow to it. The scenery only takes up the first 4 inches of the case, the air has 5 inches of free circulatory room on the other side of it all.I assembled a three-channel electronic variable voltage controller with LED indicators. I have the option of 12volts (red LED illuminates) or voltage regulated (blue LED illuminates). I installed two switches on the right side of the bay. The bottom one controls the EL cable and the other controls the circuits mentioned above and the LCD display. The buss is fused on the 5 and 12-volt line on the off chance that the circuitry becomes faulty (I would hate to blow my ENERMAX 330 watt power supply).The LCD is a Crystalfontz inverted red LCD. It is a parallel LCD but I used a serial backpack to make it able to connect to the serial port for data transfer. The LCD was then mounted in the LEGO castle.I installed two sets of 90-degree MOLEX connectors to avoid the mess of wires. One was for the hard drive because I did not trust my data to the possibility of power fluctuations. The other set feeds the CD-Rom, DVD, Bay Buss, Floppy, and Live Drive.The “bay buss?was the third to last item to be built. Wiring the castle was the second to last, and the power connectors were the last other than re-arranging the scenery inside the case.Well that is an overview of the last nine months of my “modding life? I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly did.
