Well, some people might remember my project last summer to make a mini xbox similar to those others have made around here. Unfortunately, I didn't give myself enough time to really finish it, and I wasn't too happy with how it turned out.



It worked great for a year, sitting under a bed. Now that I've got some more free time, though, I'm going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch. Trashing the case, reworking the internals.

One of the things I didn't like about the mini was the missing dvd drive. It was kind of unsightly to be plugging it in the back whenever I wanted to watch a movie. This time around, I'm putting it back...which is usually a problem for a mini. The solution? Mini-fy the dvd drive.

First thing to do was create a new hinge, then chop down the back. The rivets in there are just temporary rods to go through the drilled holes, they work well enough for me to see this works.



Next, the dvd tray was cut down to size, and the back section was put so it would still function exactly the same. (Sorry for the muddy picture)



The dvd drive assembled back together, mostly.



Wouldn't be complete without the classic Halo2 shot. This also shows it sitting in the old dvd tray. You can see that the drive was cut down over 1.5"



The drive open. It seems to still work the same, I would be surprised if it didn't work under power.



Finally, a bit of a teaser of what's to come. The case will be built from scratch. Plexi and stainless, mmm.

Wow this is really impressive stuff.

yah it is

its a mans dream now grab a few cold ones and get to doing those plans

ive never seen someone mod a dvd drive like before me likes

man if XS had a rep system i would soo rep you!

Well maybe if they ever upgrade their board style, and fix the search function we could get it. Cause that would actually be pretty useful, but of course rep is just like post counts, they're only good for making your e-penis bigger.

wow that is good

why not sell the case i bet someone would buy it

Thanks for the responses, all! Always nice to get positive feedback

In case anyone was interested in how the pieces will lay out, here's the basic idea, sitting on top of the old lid. As you can see, there's plenty of room even at the old size, more than this picture shows. This setup is actually smaller from front to back than the old case, as the controller ports will be set under the drives.



Vacation for a week, so no updates for a while. I'll get more pictures up as soon as I make progress, though!

thats awesome man, im loving the case, if u ever wanna get rid of it sell it to me lol

Wow thats intense. Never seen anyone mod a DVD father then cutting it down to size to make the DVD spinable. (you know what i mean)

Good job.

Very cool stuff. I want to make a top loader DVD for a mini. But as small as you made that, it seems like its going to work great.

Oh, and I agree... a rep count is WAY better than just having a high post count, and my e-penis is smallish anyway.

Couple updates, nothing too major yet

I started off by mounting the motherboard onto the plexiglass base. I tapped the plexiglass to take the screws, then use some spacers to hold the board up a bit.

Next, I started working on a mount for the HD and DVD player. I joined the two together to make things easier, then bent some lexan to make a basic HD mount on one side, and a support in the center:





Here's a shot of everything mounted so far. Still need a few more pieces to hold some parts, but it's pretty solid so far.



Best of all, even with the dvd drive added this mini is basically the same size as the old one, less than .25" taller vertically and not quite as deep. It measures in at 9.5x9x3"

Ignore the ugly looking plexi; it still has the protective plastic on it. It will be sanded to give it a frosted look anyway so the lighting will distribute better.








Still a long way to go, but making progress.

dude thats bloody awesome. I loved that old case btw. Keep up the good work.

p.s. my e-penis has grown tremendously over the last 5 months. Idk about that rep system, id prob have a really low one

this is righteous!
'nuff said.

Wow, this is lookin great, I love what you've done with the DVD drive, I've never heard of anyone doing that before, very original and very good idea!

that dvd is some very nice workmanship, this project is looking sweet.

damn, completely crushed my whole slimbox with dvd following haha

wat will i do now, damnit, wat will i do noooooowwww



nah, this is sick though lol very innovative and professional looking. you should see the inside of my slim you have everything working yet? any overheating?

looking good

nice job, i like it... would love to see more.

i always love custom clear cases.

i also want to see more, thats nice work so far

WoW if you complete this, you ahve to write soem kind fo guide on messing up ur dvd drive like that, ebcuase i really wanna know:P

Thanks all

Been a while between updates, but going slow on this one. Not a huge update, but thought I'd post anyway.

I cut the controller ports on the front piece, and tried out what I was thinking of doing with the steel. The idea is to have steel faceplates with borders around all the edges so the plexi (which will be frosted) will light up around the edges. Still need to clean up/straighten the edges, but let me know what you think; better now or just plain?



Cut spaces for the controller ports in the back of the plexi with the engraving bit in the Dremel



The front taped up on the box:



The back:



Final shot



The edges of the plexi will be rounded as well. I'm still working on the brackets to hold it all together, but they should be solid tomorrow. Any suggestions appreciated.

That is sweet, what did you use for the power supply?

i don't really like the metal, but thats because i really like a plain clean clear case.
however the metal its a pretty good idea, so i would keep doing that if thats what u like.

lookin really good, keep it updated and please dont let this project die as its something that i wanna see completed.
what you doing for cooling? Got any lighting planned? i think this would look great with a load of uv leds.
Paul

Cooling will mainly be through two GPU coolers, which should get here tomorrow. There will also be the smaller fans I used in the previous box to help with the airflow.

As for lighting, the box will definitely be well lit. I was thinking of keeping it basic, though, with plain white LEDs. I was thinking blue at first, but white would keep it looking real clean, like the apple keyboards; metal on white looks good to me.



Also, does anyone know a good source for buttons and switches? I'm looking for this sort of button to use as power



I'll probably just end up making my own, but was curious if anyone knew a place I could find them. Thanks

this is the only one i could find close to what you have pictured:
http://www.action-electronics.com/switches.htm#Push

you should check out these switches too, although they are pretty expensive.
http://www.frozencpu.com/ele-70.html

Just the type of thing I was looking for, much thanks!

Mouser has alot of different ones. Check it out. You can click the 'Page xxxx' link and it'll give you a PDF showing all sorts of buttons.

http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=vandal+switch

Made the mounting brackets, and started rounding the edges of the plexi. I'll post a better update later today.

The mounting brackets:



A couple bad pictures showing everything so far.

FrozenCPU has lighted switchs.

http://www.frozencpu.com/scan/se=Electroni...enu_search.html




Almost all vandel switchs are made by Bulgin BTW.

Cooling arrived:

man i love that fan it looks seeexxxyyy

I think it's fascinating how in the past 3 months or so there's been more replaced psu's then I've seen in over a year.

This is nice.

that gpu heatsink is awesome. ive seen the iceberq 4 pro but what is that?? because im making a xbox and i need the heatsinks to be lower so that would be perfect.

yeah me too, im looking for a lower heatsink and that one is koo, how is it in quality? where did you get it? well thanx, and NICE job on that xbox

The GPU heatsink is a Thermaltake Crystal Orb VGA cooling fan, which I found on Newegg.com. It's not quite as short as the Iceberq 4 Pro on the CPU, but at 25mm high it's still shorter than the stock GPU heatsink. Not a whole lot shorter, though; if you're looking for something a lot smaller than the GPU heatsink, you might try something else. The Iceberq is definitely short, though, at 15mm high.





Can't say anything about how they perform yet, but as soon as I get some numbers I'll let you know.

i like it to bad you cant see it once you put it back together
oops never mind you have plexi glass sides

i like those gpu heatsinks they are sexy specially the iceberq4 (i like) ... noticed a lot of people interested so i thought id put up links on where to get 'em...


This is the ThermalTake crystal orb

This is the Vantec iceberq4 (link is to premium but svc also has pro)

---i am ordering a different gpu for my latest xbox project it is still a vantect iceberq but it is simply only that but its cheap and i am short on money (was payday today and i need gas damn oil companies)

link to the other vantect i am using (if anyones interested)

Thats really nice, do the screw holes line perfectly?

Yeah, the screwholes on the Iceberq line up perfectly.

The fans are actually cheaper at Newegg.com where I got them.

Crystal Orb

Iceberq 4 Pro

Jeez...

I also found this, any comments?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...CMP=OTC-Froogle

the only problem i see with that one is how it mounts. do u think it will fit inside the stock xbox bracket?


and Jake2K(poo87). glad to see another fan of MountainDew.

Got the dvd drive working under power, opens fine and all, just need longer ribbons for the move of the drives board. Anyone know if these can be purchased, or should I just extend them myself? (The small white ones that attach to the laser, the opening motor and the motor to move the laser).

Well, I found what cable I'm looking for (26 pin AWM 2896), but it looks like the going price is anywhere from $25 to $100...what did I cut in half?! Didn't think it was that fancy Hoping I can somehow solder some extensions in, if not I don't know what I'm going to do. Anyone got a busted Hitachi they're willing to part with?

Maybe halfway done with one side, then I need to figure a way to keep each joint separate from the others. Some ugly soldering, yes, hope it works in the end

you better hot glue that or use some kind of tape or insulation. personally, me, i think itd be easiest to pull each stran apart a lil more, then wrap tape around each one. you could just spit a load of glue at it, but theres no garentee u wouldnt be gluing them together iether... usually when i just use glue, its clear to the eye that they arnt touching, so its kool... with that though, theres too many wires to pay attention to at once, only way i see pulling it off that way, is doing like 5 wires at a time...holding them in place...waiting for it to harden and dry.. then move onto the next section, and work it in bits like that.

just use tiny bits of electrical tape, and then heat it up so it shrinks round the solder joints

Looks good so far, keep up the good work

Sam

I would definitly pick one of these up for my car if you had them for sale.