Sup :thumb:
Since the beginning, I've come to HWC for help in all areas of comps, and have learned countless lessons in the world of CPU building from you fellas! I think the only thing left for me to grasp a huge knowledge of is a better base in the OCing field as well as water cooling.
When I built my first CPU, i bought most of the parts from peers at HWC and had a blast, and built that rig in a stunning Silverstone TJ-07.
However, I'm not one to make use of the TJ-07's max capacities, so I sold that case and decided on the HAF 932 from Mush. Bought it for a great price at $130, and the case was in immaculate condition.
So here we go, a new case at my disposal I had to figure out what i wanted to do with it, as well as whether my parts would be the same. I figured since prices are rapidly dropping in the GPU game i might as well SLI my gtx 260 216's later on, and I happily ordered one the other day! But that's beside the point.
Here was my plan for the rebuild into the HAF 932:
1. After looking at most HAF paint jobs, i saw a consistency of pure black. I figured, well, i wanted to make it a 'little' special, so i decided on a black majority blended with a dark red consistency. So off to the store i went, and picked up 2 cans of Matte Black, 2 cans of 'Wild Raspberry', a can of satin clearcoat, and 2 cans of Self Etch.
2. Side panel. I hate the look of the stock side panel, though it provides great cooling. I had to figure out a way to make it look good + not lose it's air cooling capabilities.
3. Cable management was a big deal for me on this one. Seeing as the HAF is a case built for neatfreaks, I spent extra time making the cables look extra clean.
4. Any extra holes needed for cable management?
5. Fans: i wanted to change from the huge 230mm's to 4 120's on the side panel, as well as 2x120mm's on the top. Havn't gotten to this stage yet but will do as soon as Monday rolls around and a trip to NCIX is in order.
6. Sleeving of any cables..
7. Having a blast while doing it all!
I finished with the whole planning phase, and decided I'll do all of the painting steps one day, and the rest of the build the next (including sleeving and putting it all together)
So off we go, time to pop some rivets!
Part one: Paint job.
I guess i'll make a pretty detailed list of what to do, and wish that viewers hoping getting into the whole painting game can get some experience and knowledge from this. There are definitely a couple steps that are vital pre-paint as well as during the painting phase, though i did not wetsand in between coats which is a good idea for that 'perfect' finish.
Before the paint job, it's usually advised for you to derivet your case - the simple way (grab a 1/8th inch drill bit, throw it on the drill, and pop those rivets out!)
I derivited, and continued on to sand with 220 grit sandpaper.
It was a nice day out, so i decided to paint the same day.
The paint i used was: SEM brand self etching primer, 2 cans of Flat black tremclad paint, 2 cans of Wild Raspberry tremclad, as well as a can of satin clearcoat.
i drew a line inside my garage (less windy). make sure you're in a well ventilated area and are using a filtration mask prior to spraypainting.
and began priming!
the paint job before was rather rough, so i made sure to take extra care in the pre-priming steps. it is important to get a good surface to apply primer on, as well as making sure that it is clean.
a good idea is to wipe down with a non-lint cloth after sanding
after 3 coats of self-etch, (a can and a little bit) i let it cure for 2 hours.. off to the kitchen unk:
back to the garage, and onto the base coat of paint!
a few more coats later...
more to come! :thumb:
Since the beginning, I've come to HWC for help in all areas of comps, and have learned countless lessons in the world of CPU building from you fellas! I think the only thing left for me to grasp a huge knowledge of is a better base in the OCing field as well as water cooling.
When I built my first CPU, i bought most of the parts from peers at HWC and had a blast, and built that rig in a stunning Silverstone TJ-07.
However, I'm not one to make use of the TJ-07's max capacities, so I sold that case and decided on the HAF 932 from Mush. Bought it for a great price at $130, and the case was in immaculate condition.
So here we go, a new case at my disposal I had to figure out what i wanted to do with it, as well as whether my parts would be the same. I figured since prices are rapidly dropping in the GPU game i might as well SLI my gtx 260 216's later on, and I happily ordered one the other day! But that's beside the point.
Here was my plan for the rebuild into the HAF 932:
1. After looking at most HAF paint jobs, i saw a consistency of pure black. I figured, well, i wanted to make it a 'little' special, so i decided on a black majority blended with a dark red consistency. So off to the store i went, and picked up 2 cans of Matte Black, 2 cans of 'Wild Raspberry', a can of satin clearcoat, and 2 cans of Self Etch.
2. Side panel. I hate the look of the stock side panel, though it provides great cooling. I had to figure out a way to make it look good + not lose it's air cooling capabilities.
3. Cable management was a big deal for me on this one. Seeing as the HAF is a case built for neatfreaks, I spent extra time making the cables look extra clean.
4. Any extra holes needed for cable management?
5. Fans: i wanted to change from the huge 230mm's to 4 120's on the side panel, as well as 2x120mm's on the top. Havn't gotten to this stage yet but will do as soon as Monday rolls around and a trip to NCIX is in order.
6. Sleeving of any cables..
7. Having a blast while doing it all!
I finished with the whole planning phase, and decided I'll do all of the painting steps one day, and the rest of the build the next (including sleeving and putting it all together)
So off we go, time to pop some rivets!
Part one: Paint job.
I guess i'll make a pretty detailed list of what to do, and wish that viewers hoping getting into the whole painting game can get some experience and knowledge from this. There are definitely a couple steps that are vital pre-paint as well as during the painting phase, though i did not wetsand in between coats which is a good idea for that 'perfect' finish.
Before the paint job, it's usually advised for you to derivet your case - the simple way (grab a 1/8th inch drill bit, throw it on the drill, and pop those rivets out!)
I derivited, and continued on to sand with 220 grit sandpaper.
It was a nice day out, so i decided to paint the same day.
The paint i used was: SEM brand self etching primer, 2 cans of Flat black tremclad paint, 2 cans of Wild Raspberry tremclad, as well as a can of satin clearcoat.
i drew a line inside my garage (less windy). make sure you're in a well ventilated area and are using a filtration mask prior to spraypainting.
and began priming!
the paint job before was rather rough, so i made sure to take extra care in the pre-priming steps. it is important to get a good surface to apply primer on, as well as making sure that it is clean.
a good idea is to wipe down with a non-lint cloth after sanding
after 3 coats of self-etch, (a can and a little bit) i let it cure for 2 hours.. off to the kitchen unk:
back to the garage, and onto the base coat of paint!
a few more coats later...
more to come! :thumb: