# Mod front fascia



## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

So i needed some clips from Corsair for the front door panel on my 550D cus I broke them. I spend a month trying to get Corsair to sent me some. A couple forum requests, RMA three e mails and a phone call. So they sent me the whole front fascia ( I only needed the clips)

So now i have an extra front door. What could I do to Mod it? Just looking for ideas, 

Its solid aluminum


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## de.das.dude (Apr 5, 2013)

i respect corsairs minimalistic designing. so it would be best to leave it as it is.
plus its aluminium, so its quite hard to work with.


although... if you want you can make a rectangular hole for fitting a temp display/fan control.

and make some round holes to fit power buttons with the colored rings around them and they come in chrome plated.. so it would match well.

for temp disp/fan control go for something touch based, like the Bitfenix recon. also Black and White coloring will match yur case well!


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## Nordic (Apr 5, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> although... if you want you can make a rectangular hole for fitting a temp display/fan control.



The 550d club at overclock.net has lots of mods for the 550d but the only one I have seen is to cut out slot for temp/fan monitor thingy. I'll try and find a pic.

The only other thing I can think of is put some sort of markings or what not but that ruins the minimalism of it.

My clips just recently broke also...


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## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

Ill check out the thread at overclock.net. I think maybe Ill sand it clean or etch a design on metal using acid

They do sell the clips in a hardware kit for $4. I almost bought it but they finally sent some with the whole door. Now i have an extra door


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## Nordic (Apr 5, 2013)

Because there are 50 pages or something, I would start looking at about 25+. Nothing really interesting is posted till around then.

Found it here.


>



I kind of want to get a side panel out of their store.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 5, 2013)

james888 said:


> The 550d club at overclock.net has lots of mods for the 550d but the only one I have seen is to cut out slot for temp/fan monitor thingy. I'll try and find a pic.



Any mod for making the door less of a bitch to open?


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## drdeathx (Apr 5, 2013)

Etch TPU logo on it in the middle and see if you can install some cathode lighting behind the door so it looks real cool in the dark.


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## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Any mod for making the door less of a bitch to open?



I was thinking of machining some metal clips and magnets for the other side. But if you take one clip off on the side you open its not as bad


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## Nordic (Apr 5, 2013)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Any mod for making the door less of a bitch to open?



Yes. Glue the door to one sides clips and remove the other sides clips. Probably just removing one clip on one side would work too.

Do you always rip off the whole door also, I think thats how I broke the two clips at the bottom.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 5, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I was thinking of machining some metal clips and magnets for the other side. But if you take one clip off on the side you open its not as bad



Tried that, it made the door sit unevenly on the side that's missing the clip (I view my rig from the side.) And it's still bad with just one even after greasing it. I've had this thing explode open and pop off the other set of hinges and fall off my desk twice now. They should feel embarrassed for putting this crap on the market.


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## Nordic (Apr 5, 2013)

The case is great, the door mechanism certainly is not.


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## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

james888 said:


> The case is great, the door mechanism certainly is not.



I asked for solutions over at the Corsair forum and they acted like they had never had this problem. Its clearly a design flaw. I kinda turned off by Corsair right now. Then sending me a complete new door just confirmed my feeling. The new door and a broken clip  lol


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## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

james888 said:


> Because there are 50 pages or something, I would start looking at about 25+. Nothing really interesting is posted till around then.
> 
> Found it here.



I was wondering how he did that. Its actually a window in the door that's tinted

This is cool






Cut holes in the cover to clean it up


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## Nordic (Apr 5, 2013)

I feel corsair should of done something along those lines. I hate that if I want one fan in the top I have to take the whole thing off. Same with the side.

Then there is me modding my case for watercooling.


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## Jetster (Apr 5, 2013)

At least you can get the parts to mod. And there not too expensive


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## de.das.dude (Apr 5, 2013)

true that. here in india, if we want to do something we will have to make it ourself.


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

Just spend about an hour on this but you can see the spot I polished. It will be a lot of work but will look cool when its done


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## Norton (Apr 10, 2013)

How about a copper/black treatment on the front?

Here's a link to some self adhesive metal foils:

http://www.softexpressions.com/software/emb/GlueFoil.php

OR

Shiny aluminum finish, fake rivets, and some B-17/B-29 Bomber nose art?


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

Great Idea


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## Widjaja (Apr 10, 2013)

Mailbox.


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

Just some thoughts:


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## Nordic (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Just spend about an hour on this but you can see the spot I polished. It will be a lot of work but will look cool when its done
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130409/Capture016.jpg



Looks like there is some coating on there. What are you doing to polish it.


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

james888 said:


> Looks like there is some coating on there. What are you doing to polish it.




Sanding and aluminum polish


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## Nordic (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> Sanding and aluminum polish



Low grit I assume?


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

james888 said:


> Low grit I assume?



Right now Im just using 220 Then ill work my way up. I think its powder coating but I might try 100 tomorrow just to get the rest off.


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## de.das.dude (Apr 10, 2013)

start with a coarse grit. something higher than 320 or 320. then go to 800. then finish it off with polishing.

dont you have a dremel or something like that? it would be a lot better and easier 

or just go with the metal foil way


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> start with a coarse grit. something higher than 320 or 320. then go to 800. then finish it off with polishing.
> 
> dont you have a dremel or something like that? it would be a lot better and easier
> 
> or just go with the metal foil way



I have a power sander but I don't have any sand paper. Ill get some tomorrow. I did all this with one small piece 220 wet n dry. I will work all the way up to 2000. Then polish. Im just not sure what to do after its polished. I like the idea of a lady painted but I cant paint like that. Maybe a racing stripe


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## Nordic (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I have a power sander but I don't have any sand paper. Ill get some tomorrow. I did all this with one small piece 220 wet n dry. I will work all the way up to 2000. Then polish. Im just not sure what to do after its polished. I like the idea of a lady painted but I cant paint like that. Maybe a racing stripe



You got to have some kinda of college near by with a young artist looking for an easy $20 bucks or something. I have artsy friends who just would love it if I asked them to paint something.


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## de.das.dude (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I have a power sander but I don't have any sand paper. Ill get some tomorrow. I did all this with one small piece 220 wet n dry. I will work all the way up to 2000. Then polish. Im just not sure what to do after its polished. I like the idea of a lady painted but I cant paint like that. Maybe a racing stripe



you can always make the discs. i make them myself.

cut them out and reinforce with cellotape or maskign tape


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> you can always make the discs. i make them myself.
> 
> cut them out and reinforce with cellotape or maskign tape



I don't understand


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## Norton (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I have a power sander but I don't have any sand paper. Ill get some tomorrow. I did all this with one small piece 220 wet n dry. I will work all the way up to 2000. Then polish. Im just not sure what to do after its polished. I like the idea of a lady painted but I cant paint like that. Maybe a racing stripe



If you can find a pic you like (lady, bomber art, etc...) you may be able to have someone make it up as a decal of some sort.... some of the decals I've seen are very high quality but don't know where to go to get one.


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## de.das.dude (Apr 10, 2013)

Jetster said:


> I don't understand



sanding discs can be made from normal sand paper sheet.  its a good idea to do some criss-crosses with tape to prevent it from disintegrating at high rpms


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

30 min of power sanding. That's some tough paint. Ya maybe I can print a decal


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## Jetster (Apr 10, 2013)

okay I'm exhausted


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## Jetster (Apr 11, 2013)

Sanded to 320 grit. I polished a spot to see what it looks like


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## de.das.dude (Apr 11, 2013)

its gonna be a long day ^_^


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## Jetster (Apr 14, 2013)

Well 1500 grit sanding done. It wont be long now


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## Mindweaver (Apr 15, 2013)

that's going to end up looking sweet man!


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## de.das.dude (Apr 15, 2013)

shouldnt it be shinier for 1500grit?

have you thought about getting it nickel plated?


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## Norton (Apr 15, 2013)

Here's some nice nose art 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=nose+art+decal


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## Jetster (Apr 15, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> shouldnt it be shinier for 1500grit?
> 
> have you thought about getting it nickel plated?



I spent about 60 min at each grit up to this point. ill look into the Plateing. im taking it over to a friends ion Tuesday who has a bench buffer


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## Jetster (Apr 17, 2013)

Ok here it is


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## MT Alex (Apr 17, 2013)

Dang, that turned out great


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## Norton (Apr 17, 2013)

MT Alex said:


> Dang, that turned out great



Agreed- very nice!


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## XL-R8R (Apr 17, 2013)

Very tasteful mod for the front of your case.


It actually made me want to try it out myself to see if i could replicate your results on a similar case as it looks fantastic.


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## Jetster (Apr 17, 2013)

i figure i put 6 hour into it sanding. 30 min on a bench buffer then Mothers Mag Polish

Its like lapping your case


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## revin (Apr 17, 2013)

Great Job Jester !
That's similar to what I did for 32 yrs. 6 hrs not too bad either
We'd get an order for few hundred pcs. like that alum and stainless, would end up about 1-2 hrs ea depending on what grade of matrial. Obviously we have vast array of power tools, but again, fantastic job.

Iminage a cast pc of super hard steel that had to be polished like that for an[insert military jet] landing gear part, absoloutly NO machine/scratch/mark ect to .0005[yea 1/2 thousandth of in.] machined edges with radius callout's to +/- .003,Took 12-16 hrs totaly PITA, but we never had a failure, considering it's tempiture would go from sub-zero to 100+ very quickly,where'as other companies had failed and multi-million dollar aircraft damaged.....it was always 1 of my favorite parts to work. Me and my mentior/godfather was the only people allowed to touch them, and the [dod] contractor for them were estatic. I've said too much since it's a ntnal s3cur1ti issue, I'd love to share pictures but  but anyway from a senior cosmetic engineer, you have done a fantastic job


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## Nordic (Apr 17, 2013)

Looks awesome! Puts the rest of the case to shame.


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