Cosmos Dragon - 2009 Mod Contest Entry

[thechoozen]

Hi @ all

for the Contest i would like to share one of our latest projects...atm....we´re trying to finish all details so that we can display it on the Games Convention Online and the Gamescom this Summer....
but here is the first pic from the original worklog....so that everybody can see with what we started....



it already was displayed on the cebit this year at the msi booth but we had several problems like stolen front doors so that we were forced to overwork the system. During the overworking process we also added a few more details which we are currently finishing....but here are a few pics during the modding process...

the case before the cebit...

the new front doors

matching Medusa Headset

custom pump top

sidepanel in progress


custom reservoir

[thechoozen]

to fullfill all the rules for the contest i copy the complete worklog for this case into this thread i hope thats ok:
ok here we go:

just want to share our newest project with you!

It will be build upon a Coolermaster Cosmos S....i think it will take some time to finish it...but here are the first pictures....

First we removed the Mesh from the Sidepanel and put it a piece of smoke grey plexiglas



then we started to build a CPU Cooler for this System...




and we already made the first cuts into some plexi panels which will later be screwed to the sidepanel....

leak test, leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek test!! just concerned about the CPU

lol
leak test is done today :thumb: everything around stays dry :thumb:

but we haven´t just sitted around....we build a new cover for the Laing Pump which we will use in this system....












today we polished the first plexi panel for the side panels.....it´s not 100% done but that comes within the next days......
here you can see how it will later be placed on the side





then we decided to add a small TFT Display to the front .....




like you see it fits in nearly perfect only a little bit in the height is missing....so that we cut out a small plexi piece which will fit in there....






beside that we also cutout the first parts of the water reservoir which will be used for the cosmos...but i think tomorrow i can show you more progress of that....










today we prepared some deco elements for some ccfls which we will use in the next days......




beside that we prepared the Rez for the cosmos and glued the first parts together....i think tomorrow we will finish it and make a short leak test....









in the last few days we "finished" the rez, maybe we add or change the one or other detail later...but we will see.....
















today we made some progress on the top part of the case....
we made some cutouts into the mesh so that the small legs from the rez can go through it....













just a small update....
in the last days we prepared the next parts for the Top of the Cosmos Case...they are not finished but we had to prepare them all ...to save some time in the later progress....







then we played a little bit around with these babys and decided where we exactly going to place them.....:thumb:



in this project we´re getting the revenge for not making a sketch or plan how everything should look like in the end.... instead of finishing the Top Part we built some more details (and we have some more in our heads) atm the rez consist of 49 parts

[thechoozen]

Sketches and planning are for people who forget their ideas

yeah :rock:

You should go ahead and sneak some plexiglas rings over the tube in the front.

hehehe we also thought on something like this...maybe we will make something in this direction....

today we drilled some holes for the Plexiglas Rods which we prepared yesterday....then we cut a round end on all sides of the rods and put them through the drilled holes so that they connect some of the other parts on top of the case....




then we started another part for the Front USB cover......








today we made some plexi rings which we glued to the last plexiglas piece on the top of the case so that the tube which will be connected with the rez cannot be moved....








then we bended the plexi cover for the front usb part....and glued the edges on.....






thx!!

today we made the last part for the tube routing....it will later be fixed on the backside of the case....




then we made the first parts of the Front Covers.....



and a first part which will "connect" the front and the top of the case....




in the last days we finished the last part which i already showed as it was in progress...and we started the next parts for the Front








in the last days we made some progress on several parts.... we continued the work on the Front Parts which i already showed....now all party have 3 layers....one of the layers got a routing which we will use later.....






then we put the first Fan´s on top of the case to see if they fit....and then we cut their casings to avoid problems with the mesh part......beside that we also put a CCFL under the mesh to see if we get a nice glowing (like we want)






we also mounted the radiator for a quick test mount and made a first cover for the inside.....




then we also made some progress on the front doors which will cover the TFT....




look what i could get in front of my camera when i was just looking out of the window today




but that shouldn´t say that we were lazy today ....
here is a shot of the TFT covers

(the right side is already glued together the left side is raw...)just to show the difference in the color.....

then we put in the next radiator on the inner backside of the case....


and prepared some mounting points which we need in the next steps.....






today we screwed the mounting points to the front and made a few test with the front doors so that we could make an exact measurement for the next parts and see how it will look.....









today we had a lot of work with other projects for some of our customers so we weren´t able to do much on the Cosmos....but we soldered a first temperature module which will be used for the Fans and Lights.....


beside that we made the first "gliders" which will be glued to the backside of the front doors....the little pin which looks out of the part will be used to glide inside the routed part on the front.....


i think this pictures explains it a little bit better......



today we decided to integrate an I-Mon Multimedia Display.....with that we can later use the cosmos with an ir-remote an manage all functions like Mouse, HTPC Functions etc via that....

for the mounting of the display we used the original 3,5" Drive Bay Cover because it does not need much modding to fit it in.....
then we made a small piece of plexi and bended it, so that we could use it to cover the Display while its not working....











today we´ve done some progress on the next parts which will be used to cover the front of the cosmos....






beside that we made some progress on the mechanic which will be connected to servos to open the front doors....i hope that we can show you the first vid in
the next days.....


yesterday we finished the prepared parts which i already showed you.....we will later mount them on the drive bay covers in the front of the case....one of both parts will cover the DVD Drive so that its invisible while closed....for that part we already developed a custom hinge which will be screwed to the case front itself and the plexi part...

[thechoozen]

like promised, here comes the first small vid of the front door mechanism in action (only 1 side atm) its really short....but i think it makes clear how it should work when everything is done

[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rktRMxDHFD0&hl=de&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rktRMxDHFD0&hl=de&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

here are some new pics of the parts which we prepared for the Front of the case....






in the last days we finished another project...but i can´t show you pictures atm because it´s not published yet....but we´ve done some minor progress on the front claps...we used a small spring to connect both parts with each other








in the last days we finished the last part for the front of the cosmos..... behind that cover we will place an old cd drive ....all parts which we not need will be removed....and then we will place a control panel on it where we put in all switches ....









time for an update:thumb:

last week we decided that we will finally use LED´s instead of CCFLs to light up the cosmos....
so the call goes out and yesterday the package from our long time supporter LEDs.de was there.....so i want to use the chance and send a big thanx out to the People @Lumitronix for the support over the last years!!!

[url="http://www.leds.de"][/url]


With the Leds in our hands we decided to attach the first plexi panel to the original side panel....all screws were invisible mounted under the original metal of the inner side panel....that was necessary to drill the holes for the first leds......




i think today we´re going to build finish that to get an impression how it will look ....


today we finished the preparations for the Reservoir Lights....beside that we fill up this red stripe in the upper front of the case and replaced the original power led with a green one...










today we started the last layer.....





after finishing the rough cut....we couldn´t wait to see the lightning in it...so we put a few leds in ....(much more leds will follow:D)...





today we prepared a lot more LEDs to finish the Sidepanel (on the pic there are a few LEDs missing ...)



and we also added 2 UV LED to the Laing DDC Pump Top....




today we painted the first plastic parts for the top of the case....now the red stripe is gone forever.....





today: something new

ok in the last couple of days we finished the mechanics for the front doors and today we made a short testrun to see if it finally works like it should.....on the video it still looks a bit rough....but thats because everything is loose and no screws are in....we just put everything together to see if it works and then we already took everything apart to go on....


[YOUTUBE]RoBFbZ049QE[/YOUTUBE]


beside the work on the front doors we also prepared the next parts....they should optically connect the sidepanels and the front so that everything fits together....on the pictures the middle layer is missing....they come in the next days together with the LED´s in their tips...




in the last days we completed the middle layers of the prepared parts....in the middle layer we will integrate some uv leds which will shine from the side onto the front of the case....






in the last days we were busy with a lot of other stuff but beside that we managed to get the last plexi parts done so that we are now preparing the paint job....(and hopefully the hardware will arrive in the next days )

we will also make another pump top because we are not so happy with the first one....with a bit of luck i can show you some pics tonight when i´m back from the workshop...

but here are 2 new pics with all pieces in their place (we made them before we start to take everything apart to prepare the paintjob)


all covers, claps and doors open


closed



now here are some pics of the new laing top....






today we prepared a cover for the drive bay...its not ready but you will see how it will look like when its done...(the laquer is uv active and has a nice glow in the dark effect)






today something new!!

When we start this project we first build a cpu cooler, now that we have settled on AMD for this project we have to build a new one.......so here are the first pictures of it....










beside that the main part of the cosmos is painted so that we can finish this project within the next weeks....




Today the most important Part arrives.....the CPU

So a big Thank you goes out to the People @ AMD for their support over the last years!!!

They send us this little Package...which includes a complete Phenom II X4 940 Platform which was handpicked special for us:rock::rock::thumb::thumb::thumb:





beside that we finished the pump and the cpu cooler (both with new fittings + painted pump base)





Yesterday a big box with input devices arrives so that the cosmos now has nearly all parts together. For their support we would like to send a big Thank you out to the People at OCZ!!

They really helps us a lot with these parts because the cebit comes closer and closer and the cosmos will be exhibited there...so not much time left....



Today we tested the NIA´s for the first time and had a lot of fun with them :thumb::thumb:


Beside that we did a lot of cable routing, polishing, and putting parts back together.....but here are a few shots:

CPU on the Mobo

painted sidepanel

cable routing in the top panel

front panel


today we did a lot of boring stuff what have to be done so that we can go on....this Project will be exhibited on the Cebit @ the booth of MSI...so not much time left.......:rock:









Thanks a lot to OCZ for their support!!! :rock::rock:

beside that we installed the hardware for the first time to see if everything fits....





beside that we also finished the first side panel....only minor details are missing atm...



today we finished the major part of the system and we also installed a fresh OS so that we can run a few benchmarks tomorrow... i said the major part because we also decided to change some minor parts after the Cebit, but that will follow later...


Here are some more new pictures ...so that you can see were we are atm.....













i think tomorrow i will add some more pictures of the system when we are finished with everything so that you can see how it will look like displayed on the cebit

[biggatomic]

[thechoozen]

on saturday evening when i post the last update everything was fine....
but then on Sunday the Drama begins.....

after installing all drivers for mobo and gfx we activated the small display in the front of the case and everything was fine :rock:




but then we installed all drivers for the i-mon display and see that....



Damn.....but okay...sidepanel of....i-mon out and in and everything is fine :rock:

we also add some new LED Cluster inside


then we run vista update.....(why did we do that :confused: ) and the drama continues....during the update process the small tft turns out of signal and didn´t find any signal up to now.....

but now we are too late to change anything we had to leave for the cebit because the case was expected today for press conferences etc....so after a few hours driving....we reached the MSI booth

after installing everything we mentioned that one claw was a little bit loose.....so we opened the sidepanel once again to tighten the screw.....when we turn the sidepanel back on we cut the 2 wires which connects the sidepanel LEDs to the power source....so we got a little bit of cable burning .....but that could be fixed there so that we could go on with the details when the case is back......









today we modified a w-lan stick which we will use with the cosmos.....





today we picked our cosmos up @ the cebit.....and it really got "hurt" over the last week....
the first things we saw when we arrived at the MSI Booth was the missing Front Doors of the Small TFT....only one of them was found by a friend of us on thursday, but the other one is still lost....so we have to build a new one:wallbash:
the next thing.....not a single led is working....when we left on monday all LEDs are working fine and everything was ok so we have to search where this problems comes from....
the small clap in front of the dvd drive which is closed by a small spring needs a new spring ....because after the cebit it doesn´t have enough power to close the cover completely (i think 100000 people have tried how wide they can open it :wallbash: )
the last thing we already discovered is that one claw of the right sidepanel needs a new mounting point because it only hangs loose on its cable connection....:wallbash:
but here are some pictures of it (and the masses in front of the booth/case...so that is more understandable where the damage came from)






tomorrow we will inspect everything too see what else got damaged so that we can move on with the project....

today we started to overwork the next add on part for the cosmos....we started to disassemble the 5.1 box from a medusa headset ....beside that we already prepared a few plexi layers from which we build the new housing....





i also managed to upload a short video from the cosmos @ the cebit ....

[YOUTUBE]vTqWPpejM4A[/YOUTUBE]

today we did a bit of progress on the new Medusa 5.1 enclosure....we already drilled all holes for the Power LED, the Headsets and all other cables.....





beside that we started to take out the inner part.....




we also cut and glued some plexirods together.....as soon as they are sanded and polished we will make a cover for the small crossfire x bridge....



today we made some further progress on the medusa box and the crossfire bridge but here are some new pictures so that you can seee....















today we made some further progress on the cf-bridge.....we made a backside for it so that the real bridge is fixed between both layers....we also started a cover for the first gfx card...but its only a rough cut up to now......





beside that we nearly finished the medusa 5.1 box....








Today we made some small feets for the medusa box.....after everything was cut out.... we glued the parts together.....sanded + polished everything.....after that we attached them to the medusa box....et voila....nearly done....






as next we will change the red Power Led for a green one and change the color of the poti ....

beside that a package with sleeving material arrived so that we can overwork that part too....(not everything on the picture is for the cosmos)....


today we made some progress on the gfx card cover....






today we bended an old piece of mesh which only lays around so that it fits inside the hole of the gfx card cover....





....soo finally we managed it to paint the small knob for the volume controll black....beside that the power led gots changed for a green one....




today we started to rebuild the small doors in front of the TFT Display....one of them is still missing so we thought we replace both with new ones...so we cutted a few acrylic parts and already bended 2 of them....





a third layer is missing atm...but that will follow tomorrow....



today we made the third layer for the new doors, we also prepared the mounting parts for the inside...so that we hopefully can finish them tomorrow....





in the last days we glued together the small doors ....but when we put them in place to see how they will look on the case....we thought that something is missing....so we started to make a small dragon out of a sheet of plexi...its not finished yet ...but its on a good way..:thumb:









thx!!!

here is another picture of the dragon...nearly completed....




in the last days we prepared everything to complete the small doors...therefore we measured where the dragon will exactly be placed....here is a pic of it....



beside that we glued the first mounting points on the backside...so that it will be finished soon....




today we cutted the small dragon in 3 pieces.....as next we have to polish the last edges (the new ones from the cutting) and then we can glue the parts on the small doors....after that its time for a new test run...







good news...the little dragon "survived" the surgery...today we glued him to the small doors ....and there is a pic of it on the case....:rock:

[PaPang]

Ahh man, you must consider yourself lucky some on-looker didn't mess up your mod more than it was. Jeez, why can't people just admire something without touching or poking it? You've got a winner there IMO, best of luck to you!

[thechoozen]

thx a lot!!

in the last days we overworked the inside of the case to clean up the cable mess.....
here are 2 new pics....

[nicky_82uk]

Absolutely speechless man nice so nice

[PaPang]

If we learned just half the tricks done on the Dragon, we'd have a kick __s project. Speechless is right nicky, hehe. Hey, I thought you just liked cars! Just kidding, but if you tricked out yours with some of this fab acrylic, it would move up a couple of notches, even with all you've done to yours! Ideas popping into your head?

Cheers and Kudos to thechoozen for using acrylic for effect besides function. Quite masterful

[sunnyXtremist]

superb details on the acrylics, nicely done... hand done as I can see...

black and green combi - it's a bouncer.

and asking permission that I might employ acrylic sandwiching (the way you made it) in my future mods.

More Power bro!

[Maxession]

I saw it during CeBit, looked good then, looks even better now, nice job, I like the new dragon!

I don't even wanna know the amount of total hours that passed while working on this extensive mod...

[thechoozen]

Thx a lot m8´s !!! it´s always nice to hear that someone likes our creations!!!!

and asking permission that I might employ acrylic sandwiching (the way you made it) in my future mods.

thanks a lot for the honor....but i´m not the inventor so you didn´t need my permission just mod on my friend

I saw it during CeBit, looked good then, looks even better now, nice job, I like the new dragon!

oh you were there too? maybe we met on sunday when you just started to pack your boxes...we had a short talk with Ron, Knud, Rene and some other from the crew (don´t know if you was one of them?)

I don't even wanna know the amount of total hours that passed while working on this extensive mod...

me too...it was really to much time ....so no more green/black plexi atm - please .....

[Maxession]

I saw it during CeBit, looked good then, looks even better now, nice job, I like the new dragon!

oh you were there too? maybe we met on sunday when you just started to pack your boxes...we had a short talk with Ron, Knud, Rene and some other from the crew (don´t know if you was one of them?)

I'm not part of the crew itself, just a mod. I visited on Friday as my college had arranged a 1 day visit to the event.

[sunnyXtremist]

GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND TO ALL CONTESTANT, IT WAS GREAT TO KNOW YOU