[Project Log] Haf XB Codenamed "Harley"

Side panel work continued

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Hi again, back home finally and got a lil work done today.

I began with making room for my Kraken, I needed to remove both front bays, the 5.25" and the 3.5"
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I dont have a rivet tool, so I just drilled them out, that was a lil harder than I thought it would be, steel rivets are tough.
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I began to play around with my 3.5" bays cause the case states I can fit 2.5" in there by doing something with the plastic snaps on the right side,....
I couldnt figure this out...will have to look more into that, or maybe i just need to open up my vertex 4 and see if it came with anything to fit it in a 3.5" slot
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anyhoot, I was now ready to get my fan holes done
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note on those fan holes, my hole saw pieces have just about had it, it my largest bit would not cut all the way through, so I had to resort to the ol jigsaw, these holes are not perfect, but the good news is, nobody will see that once the build is all together.
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somebody remind me the next time I do this, to get a damned template to use, that would be much easier.
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next up was to get the mounting holes ready for the top window.
this made me very nervous because this was not just any piece of plexi glass that came with a protective layer on either side, this was a laser engraved piece and those layers were removed well before it got to me, so I had to mask it up with my painters tape before doing anything
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got the holes marked and drilled, and then mounted
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top panel needs a re-finish, that last can of black I bought really sucked, so I went back to the kind that I knew was decent, no painting tonight, but I did get it sanded down to a smooth surface.
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thats it for today, I also watched 2 movies, hit and run and 7 psychopaths, so that hurt my time a lil bit, but it was relaxing.

tomorrow, I plan on getting a lot more done:

refinish top panel, front, and side panels with better spray, adding in design
get "inside" side panels measured, cut, primed and finished
watch paint dry i guess, smoke some cigarettes, drink some dews, and try and remember what the hell else I was going to do

its been a long week for me, from Minneapolis, to Green Bay, to Indianapolis, to Lexington, to Chicago, to Dallas, to Des Moines, to my hometown in Lancaster County, PA ......my brain is fried, should be better in the morning.

have a good night.
 
You was in lex ky? o.0 We probably passed each other at some point in the day. XD



yup, there are plenty of Lexingtons around, but yours was the one.

Today I got a ton completed, well it seemed anyways :D

I will break this up into two posts, have about 40 or so photos.


Lets begin with the front panel willy skull:

So I thought I would try and get a 3/4" hole in the top of the willy skull to slide my power button through as stated in an earlier posting, so I prepped with an X
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Since I don't have a 3/4" drill bit, nor would I be able to properly perform this using a hole saw (which I do have that size) due to what this skull is made of, (weird combo, it appears to be aluminum plated steel)

So I started with a small bit from the box:
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and just kept on going bigger and bigger
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and bigger
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and bigger
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and bigger
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until i reached a point that the largest bits didn't fit inside my drill,
so it was time to grind it the rest of the way out

not quite there yet
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after about a while, I finally got what I was looking for
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ya ya, i know it looks not so circular :D, but that's all good
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it fits like a charm (don't mind the front of the skull being all dirty, that polished right up)
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all in all, I spent about an hour and a half on this one piece, it was a challenge that I honestly didn't think was going to work.

I still need to drill a 3/4" hole in the front panel to mount the button, but here is how the front will look (unless I decide on changes, doubt it, but its still open)
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next post for more:
 
more....:

Did some sanding work with the front, top, both sides

tool of choice here:
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does a nice job, finish is smooth as butter
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its pretty fast too, only spent about 5 minutes per part
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these panels are now ready for primer
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after a movie the primer was ready, I started with some orange on the side panels
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after the orange was dry enough for painters tape, I measured where the lines would be
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and masked them off
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I was now ready for some jet black glossy
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got a few coats on over time and removed the mask from the side panels
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tomorrow, I will need to mount the side vents, and black away any orange that stands out of place
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after a couple coats of clear coat, these were ready for hanging
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more next post
 
continued:

I also got a little bit of the inside side panel work done, I will explain more on this a bit later on:

measurements
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hole placements
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going with 1 3/4" for the inside even though the pipes are 1 1/2"
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holes drilled
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I used a jigsaw to cut the lengths of the panels, no pics on that yet, these two pieces got a coat of primer, but not painted yet, I need to go back and add in the side vent holes first.

I also installed the 3.5" bay into its new resting spot:
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it sits in the bottom, back, left corner facing the left side in case the photos are confusing.

I do believe I am out of photos for now, it felt like I got more done, maybe I just forgot to get photos of that, but anyhoot, will have more for you tomorrow, planned:

*Polish/Wax Front, Sides, and Top Panel to a nice shine
*Mount Side Panel Vents, remove any excess orange paint (before polish)
*Mount Front Panel Art and Overkill Grills
*Finish Inside Panels, to complete side panels so they can be merged into 1 (well, 2 sides of course)
*misc work

enjoy for now!
 
thx fargle :D
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Wasn't really feeling it today but I got some photos

got the front panel ready for the power button
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will look like this when all finished up
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tried some good wax for a nice shine on the panels
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took very long to dry in this cold weather, even in the garage
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but once it dried, no real improvements in the gloss area...

pre-install of the u-channel molding, just to know where to cut it
(wax still drying in photo)
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install top panel window, wax is dry here, but now i gotta re-apply the u-channel
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side panels almost finished
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things I got done but no photos: (sorry, will have photos of these when I return in 2 weeks)
*mounted the vent mesh for the side panels, glue still drying
*mounted front panel art, glue still drying
*finished inside side panels, painted and ready for mounting
*other misc work

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I got a lil frustrated today when things started going a little sour, and just wasn't liking some of my results, i hope it all turns out ok, but at this point, i have decided no more money into this project(excluding hardware), so i have to make it work with what i have thus far. front panel really needs to be redone, maybe down the road at one point, but i gotta stick to what i have currently

big props go out to all of you that can pull this stuff off with ease, experienced or not. this is my 3rd mod, and by far the biggest ive attempted, my previous 2 mods were only side windows and painting solid colors, kinda strait forward stuff. i really feel that i didn't plan anywhere near as good as i should have, especially when i started going off track from my original idea(s)

anyways, everything should start coming together the next time I get back home in 2 weeks, nearly all work is done, just mounting and putting things together is left.

until next time, have a great day!

edit:

the missing pics (still need to be cleaned up around the edges and stuff)

front panel (only thing left is to get Overkill Grills mounted
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side panel(s) (only thing left is to mount it along with the pipes)
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