[bushwhacker]

Hmm Dano, maybe i should send one of my case so you can do some mod for me, hmm ?

[Dano2k0]

Bushwhacker, if your in the UK or are willing to ship to and from the UK and pay for the work you want to be done, then sure no problem, i undertake pretty much all aspects of custom work.

This is what i tend to do on a day to day basis as it currently is, modding is my way of life, and has been for a few years as it is.

[bushwhacker]

Cost, please you [comment deleted].

Actually, just small mod. Very small, hoping if you don't mind.

My case plan is found on this link.

http://forums.pcapex.com/case_moddin..._case_mod.html

Or if you really joking about the UK things, how about giving me some suggestions, hmm ?

Oh, and if someone is expert on electronic, i'm going to pay anyone who will build me a small plugs for my case. Read on the link for more information.

Thank you

[Dano2k0]

I don't really understand what it is your asking me.

I'm more than willing to do custom work for anyone, i undertake almost all aspects of modding at a cost of course, i can't afford to work for free.

Ive just noticed your from Canada according to your profile, i'm based in the UK, so depending on what your wanting doing, it could be quite costly, due to two reasons 1) shipping stuff to the UK then shipping back out of the UK isn't cheap unless the item is small and doesn't weigh much. 2) current exchange rates have took away virtually all the work i had for most of the world other than europe. The stuff i used do for the US etc just isn't worth it for them at the moment, its pretty much bang on $2 to £1 so things get too expensive for them now, i assume canada will have pretty much the same problems as the US for exchange rates with the pound.

What exactlly is it you need help / want modding?

I know youve gone on about a PSU in your thread there, though it does seem youve got one sorted so i assume this isn't the issue here?

As for the electronics portion, i wouldn't like to call myself an electronics expert, but i do know a reasonable ammount of electronics, which has been demonstrated in my work on various projects. What exactlly are you in need of on the electrical side of stuff?

Feel free to PM me with your exact requirements and we can discuss this further.

Cheers.



After re-reading the whole thread i assume your wanting to cut part of the front panel for the case and then use filler to fill in the gaps or something?

Just to let you know body filler takes time and skill to achieve good results, though i can give you some information on how to use filler etc, and get good results. It really depends on what your intending to put in your new cut hole, and as to wether or not your even going to need filler, if your cut comes out nice and clean you shouldn't have a problem.

[Daveskater]

Moved these posts to their own thread as I didn't feel this discussion was appropriate for a sticky thread. Feel free to edit the title if you wish.

Bushwhacker, I have a knowledge in electronics (I have an NVQ in "Assembling Electronic Components" and have some other knowledge too - I got the highest grade in the Electronics unit in my college course). What is it you want doing, one of us may be able to help.

[Dano2k0]

Daveskater, thats good to know

Would you happen to have any knowledge or helpfull suggestions about an xbox CPU upgrade project i was in the middle of doing? I never did get it working properly, but for the record heres the pics of the CPU removed from the motherboard and a new one in place, it was a P3-M 1GHZ i was replacing it with.

The BGA rework is a damn pain without super specalised equipment, which i obviously don't have at home, so its a big challenge.





Sorry for the blury photos, but with the camera i used at the time it was difficult to get any much better.

[Daveskater]

I'm afraid I don't really know anything about Xbox 360's, mate, but if you're having trouble soldering it back on, all I could suggest is try and get a replacement soldering iron tip that goes to a narrow point, which should make it easier to get the individual bits of solder.

[Dano2k0]

Its not a 360 CPU mate, its for the original xbox, when running XBMC the extra power would be a great benefit for movie playback to increase frame rates.

Soldering it back on isn't quite as simple as that, it solders on via BGA (ball grid array) the only way to do it is to re-print the BGA, then using a hot air BGA reflow gun is to re-flow the joints, the CPU is on an adapter to get it to the pin out type the xbox is on.

Soldering it while extremely difficult at home (most claim its impossible, but its not, although its extreme stuff to mess with) isn't the issue with this, the issue is getting the clock speed etc setup on the new CPU, the crystal on the motherboard can't really be changed as the MCPX would then be overclocked, and everything else connected would be aswell.

I can solder lovely fine joints aswell though, ive got a good reputation for my xbox 128MB RAM upgrade.



Sorry for the blurry pic again, but its difficult to photograph, soldering these things down (4 of them per board) is a damn pain and time consuming. Abit better shot from distance is here, you can see 2 of the extra RAM chips ive added on this board along with some other mods i was carrying out.



Ideally i wanted the CPU upgraded board for this case, which is still a work in progress to this day as ive not had enough personal time to finish it.

[Daveskater]

Ahh, sorry mate, for some reason I either read or assumed it was a 360

I'm not quite sure how you'd change the clock speed either. If you do some digging there might be a way to enter the consoles BIOS and you may be able to change it from there. Other than that I don't really have any other ideas, mate :frown:

[Dano2k0]

No worries mate, i'll eventually get to sit down again one day and try to figgure it out, i think its going to need some sort of seperate device designing to control the CPU frequency, which i'm not looking forward to trying to figgure out.

I can get into the BIOS on most of my consoles, the Xecuter 3 modchip has custom pre-sets but theres never been an option of overclocking or changing the clock speed due to the MCPX limitations.

You can also get tools to modify custom BIOS settings aswell and then flash to the TSOP or modchip, no one has ever wrote anything for the CPU or simillar though sadly.

[Daveskater]

I suppose it's just one of those things that's going to take some time and a bit of hard work to do.

I hope you get it sorted at some point, mate, post back when you have managed to do it and let us all know how it went

[bushwhacker]

Originally Posted by Dano2k0

What exactlly is it you need help / want modding?

I know youve gone on about a PSU in your thread there, though it does seem youve got one sorted so i assume this isn't the issue here?

As for the electronics portion, i wouldn't like to call myself an electronics expert, but i do know a reasonable ammount of electronics, which has been demonstrated in my work on various projects. What exactlly are you in need of on the electrical side of stuff?

Feel free to PM me with your exact requirements and we can discuss this further.

Cheers.

After re-reading the whole thread i assume your wanting to cut part of the front panel for the case and then use filler to fill in the gaps or something?

Just to let you know body filler takes time and skill to achieve good results, though i can give you some information on how to use filler etc, and get good results. It really depends on what your intending to put in your new cut hole, and as to wether or not your even going to need filler, if your cut comes out nice and clean you shouldn't have a problem.

Thanks for the info about the body filler. How can i make this happens ? How can I cut it out so i can allow my new multimedia reader with floppy drive comes in ? Tell me everything i need to know!

For the floppy area that need to be cut is included on one of the links.

And yes, I got the new 275W F-ATX power supply. 64 dollars on this item and two shippings costs. eep. But i tested it and it is in working condition.

I'm looking forward to have this completed before i moves out.

Originally Posted by Daveskater

Moved these posts to their own thread as I didn't feel this discussion was appropriate for a sticky thread. Feel free to edit the title if you wish.

Bushwhacker, I have a knowledge in electronics (I have an NVQ in "Assembling Electronic Components" and have some other knowledge too - I got the highest grade in the Electronics unit in my college course). What is it you want doing, one of us may be able to help.

Here is what I'm talking about. I would like to have a new custom board, with new wires so i can plug in the audio jacks, Firewire and USB. Shouldn't be that hard.

Here, these pictures might help you to understand my situations. I have a very little experience on the electronic and soldering skills.. and I'm afraid that I might screw up this, so that is the reason why i'm asking anyone who have the journeyman on electronics.

Pictures:

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7052/img1281as1.jpg
Notice the area that need to be built on the bottom - right of case?

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7484/img1282ox6.jpg
This is a skeleton of my case. You can see the skeleton of multimedia area clearly.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/2144/img1283ur2.jpg
A another skeleton for the multimedia case.

This is a outline of WHERE i would like the idea goes. Remember, this is just rough work, but I'm sure you guys will know what I wants.

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3706/img1463rt7.jpg
This is a bonus picture that i want to show everyone what I wants.


Thanks again

[Daveskater]

If you're looking for help with moulding and using filler etc, then Dan is your man as I've never used the stuff. I can quite easily solder things, but I'm still not quite sure what it is you want soldering.

I think that it would be easier for you to find someone nearer to you in your own country who can do what you want, as it would cost a lot to send all your stuff over here and then send it back again.

Are you sure that 275W PSU will be enough? If this PC's going to have anything more than a very basic spec, you'll want a higher rated one.

[bushwhacker]

Like i stated, I'm willing to send away just a multimedia skeleton for someone to work on it. I have no experience on electronic and soldering.

My 275W is just enough for M-ATX / F-ATX or M-ITX boards with a low speed cpu.

Plus, i calculated for E2150, a sata hd, a sata dvd, floppy with media, and multimedia bay.. it came up as 125W, which it is above limit of my old 110W power supply.

Plus, the smallest and most powerful i can find is this.

I'm still waiting for Dano's answer on the modding for plastic.

Got suggestion where i can spring on the custom PCB ( Or i can order some ) along with electronic parts ? Even if i do that, how will i be able to draw the PCB so all will be working together without problems?

[Daveskater]

I'm not sure where you could get electronics parts from or custom PCB's, mate. You'll have to google around for companies in your country. When I had to do a project for my course I just looked around for sites that sold what I wanted and ordered them. It meant shopping for 3 or 4 different places, but I got all the parts I needed.

If you're interested, my project was a circuit that would automatically adjust the speed of a fan inside a PC depending on the temperature of wherever you stick the sensor

[bushwhacker]

Originally Posted by Daveskater

If you're interested, my project was a circuit that would automatically adjust the speed of a fan inside a PC depending on the temperature of wherever you stick the sensor

Care to share me with this useful info?

[Daveskater]

Basically mate, I near enough followed these instructions:
http://heatsink-guide.com/control.shtml

[Dano2k0]

Sorry guys, hadn't had chance to log in till now..

I'm still having abit of a hard time understanding exactlly what it is you want to do on the electronics portion aswell, but for cutting the hole you want, and any places you wish to fill, or re-work will be as followed:

For cutting plastic / metal, you'll want to get yourself a dremel if you don't have one already, use a cutting disk for most of it, and for any rounded corners etc, use which ever bit seems most appropriate at the time, from looking at them alone you'll have a pretty good idea as to what is used for what.

For body filler etc, now thats where things can get tricky, alot of people just can't get the hand of the stuff, thats why car body shops make so much money. Some people can have the time to spend and get a reasonable result, but as they haven't taken other steps required, or not done them properly, there results are short lived.

I'll basically post up a few pictures of an xbox panel i re-worked to give you an idea of what you should be looking to do...

This is just a rough reference guide as to what you should do:

Basically in the picture below, i got my dremel with a cutting wheel attachment, cut out the original controller ports, then marked up where i wanted to re-locate the ports, i then took my dremel again and cut these areas out, i tried to cut out as little extra as possible so they fitted nice and tight straight away, this makes life that bit easier some times. As you can see, ive already used the body filler (bondo is the US term, so canada may be the same) forget about this step for now.



The step you should take after youve cut out the holes and got the material (if any) that needs to be moulded into the panel is 'tacking' the material in place, in this case this was my controller ports, i dabbed a odd spot of super glue on a couple of locations, and put all the ports in, although you could easily break them out again, this doesn't matter as its just a temp fixing untill i fiberglass them in, resin used with fiberglass is super strong.

The next step you'd really want to take is fiberglassing the areas your going to fill over, the material (if any) you have tacked in place will also want plenty of fiberglass moulding onto the back as this will give it some real strength. (note: if you don't use fiberglass, expect all your filler to crack over time and look a real mess) As you can see in the photo below, i fiberglassed all around the controller ports ive re-located, and ive fiberglassed all the areas i will be using body filler (bondo) on the front, if i didn't do this, i'd have had no chance of ever filling them with body filler due to the size of the holes, also if i ever did begin to get anywhere, it would have just cracked away over time and fell back out.



Once your fiberglass has dried, you can then move onto using your body filler (bondo) to fill the holes / gaps you have remaining. Make sure when using this stuff you mix both parts together well, you usually mix approx 2-4 parts hardener to the rest of the body filler, depending on weather conditions, though if youve got the hang of moulding it you can also add more so it will go off faster. Once youve mixed your filler, you'll want to apply this on your areas you wish to use it on, make sure you get into all the depth of any areas your filling, don't just allow there to be air trapped behind the filler, it needs to get into the gaps as much as possible for a better fixing to prevent it cracking in the future.

Don't expect your applying to go amazingly well, especially for a first attempt. You'll find its a very un-even suraface probably, and you may find your first batch of filler wasn't enough to complete the job properlly, if this is the case, apply more of course before sanding.

Once your quite happy youve got enough filler on all the areas you intend to use it on (i'd recommend allow a little bit of filler to overlap even where not required, as you can then sand it down to suit the new profile of the filler youve just applied)

Your next step will be some sanding, have fun doing so, its a real time taker. I'd always recommend sanding by hand, don't use power sanders unless youve applied far too much...

You'll want to start off with the smallest grit number possible, it'll want to be a rough grit for sure. I don't recommend you wet sand at this point. Ensure the filler is 100% set, if its not, it'll just clog your sand paper up all the time. sand it down so its as even as you can possibly get with the surface your trying to get the same profile as.

You'll probably notice you'll be left with alot of little 'pits' in the filler surface, you'll want to either buy some 'spot putty' to try and fill these, though i'd recommend just mix up a small ammount of filler and apply it to all these areas and then re-sand with a slightly higher grit number.

Ive no doubt by this time you'll be begining to get fed up of it not looking much different for hours on end, at this point just to see your actually winning the battle rather than loosing it, i tend to give my work a quick blast with something called 'filler primer' you can get it in the rattle spray can, its basically like a thick paint, this helps remove any minor imperfections, and you'll also be able to see where youve still got more sanding to do. If you wish to cheat, when the profile of two surfaces is almost matched, you can use alot of layers of filler primer, obviously allowing some drying time between each layer, then wet sand it back with a medium grit, you'll notice the profile will soon be somewhat matched, it may take a while at doing it, but you'll deffinatly get there.

If youve got it almost exactly the same profile between the two surfaces (the filler and existing panel) then filler primer is the way to go, give it a few good coats, allow to dry then wet sand it with medium grit paper, you may have to do this a couple of times before you reach a state your satisfied with.

Heres an example of a different panel i was working on, as you can see not all of it was sanded down fully, but to see how i was looking i gave some of it a blast with filler primer to see how much more work i had to go on the areas i'd given the most attention to. Its one of the best things you can do, its very pleasing when things are getting there, but to get perfection takes alot of time and effort, so don't give up on it till youve got it right or you'll be forever dissapointed with it.



When your getting a result like the above, some times a little bit more filler on the required areas (which will be obvious at the time) sand again with medium grit and keep using filler primer (or simillar) to see how its going till its right.

Under normal use, depending on the colour of your paint of course, i wouldn't use a different primer, i'd just wet sand with a high grit fine paper and then take it for the final paint stage.

Heres an example of when i'd got sick of filling and sanding, so gave it a quick blast with filler primer to see how it was going, i was very happy with the results at this stage, but you can clearly see where i had more work to do.



After above i wet sanded the panel down to continue with filler work, applied another thin layer on the required areas, sanded it down again with some medium grit, re-sprayed with filler primer, let it dry, then wet sanded it down somewhat with some medium grit paper. As you can see, by this stage, its looking good.



At this stage, i applied yet another layer of filler primer, wet sanded with medium grit again, and got the following result:



As you can see, thats all about right

After this stage, i was quite happy to apply a layer of colour, which i did and got this result:



Exactlly as i had hoped.

Hopefully this rough guide will give you a good idea of what to do, if youve any questions feel free to ask.

Cheers.

[bushwhacker]

We need to move dano's mod to new thread under xbox modding

Plus.. dano, any luck on the cpu upgrade?

[Daveskater]

You can do that if you want mate, seeing as you're a mod of this forum

If you're not sure how to do it, let me know.