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The Chrome Castle

onevoicewild
Level 9
Hello It's Michael Kaiser After The Metallica Build I went on a year long Gaming binge. I finally found a case that Inspired me.

The Victim of my affection is a Lian Li PC-V359. This is a Micro ATX case, but I will be using a Mini ATX
board so I will have a little extra room for cooling gear and mods, I like the square proportions
compared to the Mini version of this case.



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The case I ordered was Black with black Pillars. The Case I got was Black with Red Pillars
I kinda liked that model too so I'm going to go with it. Funny in the Lian li literature the
red is more of a fire engine red, but this anodized red is a much better tone of red - Sold.



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One of the interesting things about this Case is that the top and three sides slide out of
the corner pillars to give easy access which opens up a myriad of options for modding.


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I had a huge sheet of thick Deep Red Acrylic so the first thing i did was make a replacement top window.
I know there are a million red and black builds out there, but that's because it looks good
I'll just have to find a way to keep it from being boring.



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I didn't know it at the time, but once I put hardware in the case
the red window made everything inside look strange. Well
sometimes we have to experiment to get what were looking for.



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Here is a size comparison between the Lian Li and a Corsair 250D, Most of the hardware I'll be using
would fit in the 250D except the thicker radiator but that wouldn't leave much room for the fun stuff.
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onevoicewild
Level 9
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Putting on some Mnpctech case feet. I do almost all of my work with basic hand tools
In the old Artisan way. I have more time than money, but I like to show younger
Modders that you can do a lot without a CNC mill. I always like to support companies
like Mnpctech that specialize in modding products, we have it so much easier these
days because of what is available right off the shelf.



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This is a freestyle build and I'm working things out as I go. Planning isn't one of
my strong suits, but I have become good at adapting to the situations that I
create. My plan is to put the edge lit red Acrylis under an Aluminum overlay.



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Once I put the stack together, it was just to high to blend into the angles
on the side pillars. Because I cut the Aluminum with the idea of the Acrylic
Being inside of it, this required me to enlarge the window to match the
Aluminum, this was actually a good thing in the long run.



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Somehow Polishing Metal has become my signature thing.
Boy woulds I like to rethink that at times!



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I found these replacement knobs for the top wndow that I think look really cool
They are Audiophile Speaker spikes from Germany that eliminate vibration into the floor



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onevoicewild
Level 9
One side of the case done and three to go. I really like situations where I can build mirrored
Pieces, which saves a lot of time. This is my plan for the sides, I will make two Identical pieces
but different finishes will be used on each side.



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I got this Black Ice SR-1 240 mm rad from Performance PCS for 59.00 bucks which was cool because it was the radiator I wanted anyway. And why do I want this radiator you might ask? Because under that black paint is a solid brass frame. I think you might know by now what i would do with Brass. A lot of people do incredible weathering, I do shiny!



The Defiling of the Radiator - ​Some people paint, I unpaint. I wanted to add to it a little bit,
so I mask off a couple of stripes on the top. I could have just painted them on or used the tape I mask with
But all and all that would have taken just as much time as sanding around them.



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I made a polishing Booth - Ok It's a cardboard box lol



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I'm very happy with how that came out, a great Radiator and now it's all shiny like I like it!



Children don't try this at home! So I wanted to do some swirled metal patterns on one of my side panels. I practiced on another piece and then went for it on the real thing. Looking pretty good so I'll do just a little more, Fatal mistake ha ha 2 1/2 hours of sanding and polishing later round 2. These panels are very thin, so to avoid the Beer can effect I went much more subtle this time. I will have a Candy painted over this and Hope It will look good? I still have work to do on the overlay piece.



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Anodizing removed and ready for grinding mishaps.



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I wanted to add metal bars to this grill, the bars are just lying on there at this point
If I'd only known how tricky it would actually be to attach these bars, I might have
changed my mind. It's better that we don't know what were getting into or a lot of
stuff would never be attempted.



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onevoicewild
Level 9
I wanted to try my hand at some of the fan grills for this build. In the end I had to make this three times before I was happy, fortunately it is fairly thin Aluminum so it was fast to make.



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Back to the side panel with the bars, The issue was that I had to drill and Tap very small bolt holes
Into very thin metal. I wanted all bolts concealed and there was a very real risk of drilling any one
of the eight holes all the way thru. I went thru three sets of bolts and some grinding on a painted
panel to get clearance between layers before I finally won the battle.



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Attached for real this time.



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I really liked how the case looked and I love the brushed black Aluminum, But I wanted to take this
case to the next level. I had done a small favor for a friend of mine Mark Fryer, who just happens to
do Incredible paint work on computer cases with high quality automotive paint. I chose a House of Kolor
paint called Wild Cherry and Mark mixed up a custom Black with just a hint of Black in it.



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The Candy Wild Cherry was sprayed on over highly polished Aluminum
Which gives it an amazing shimmer from the right angles. Perfect!



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onevoicewild
Level 9
I got to make four pieces at a time for the top window. These help hide
the top edge of the case and I decided I didn't have enough pointy things
on the case. They are the Rag snaginist pieces I've ever seen. If you even
move a rag in the wrong direction, your hooked.

Warning I'm from Oklahoma and we just make up words when we want
Good luck with Google translate? lol



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I really like the Asus Strix emblem. I may not actually use a strix card unless Asus
Is ready to step up, I have a Asus Direct CU GTX 770 that I won in the Asus
Rush for the Gold contest and it's all thats really needed for this build.
This was harder than I expected because of how thick the material Is.



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onevoicewild
Level 9
I will be re-positioning the GPU to face the top of the case, the normal orientation always hides
the good part of the graphics card. To do this right I will need to build a new back panel.



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More sanding of course, The other side is black anodized an interesting thing on this
diamond plate the anodizing is thicker on the high points so when you sand it lower
areas come off first, This makes a unique look after polishing to highlight the bare metal.



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I fabricated a new fan grill for the rear fan.



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Well that Is half way good, I just need to find the other half.



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I built a brace to support the weight of the GPU
It's actually more stable than the normal position.



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onevoicewild
Level 9
Forgive me but I found a few more pictures of Marks pretty paint work.



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onevoicewild
Level 9
I always wanted one of these - problem solved



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I had to try several locations to mount the pump combo, I'm gaining
a great respect for people who build smaller cases.



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I decided to run the tubing in Copper this time around.
It Is a little harder to work with than PETG but I'm happy
that I went this way, Not leaks or worries.
Ok there's a bit of a learning curve.



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To get everything to fit, I had to put the end of the pump thru the bottom of the case
This actually works out so I can access the speed adjustment and it's out of view.



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chrsplmr
Level 18
BreathTaking. ty. .c.

onevoicewild
Level 9
Thanks Mate, It was a lot of fun, I'll finish up this build log sometime this week?