My Workspace
Got the workspace all set up and ready to go.  Our storage room was a mess, so we spent the weekend cleaning and organizing everything.  Added a pegboard wall for my tools.  All my larger "Power Tools" stay out in the garage.  I wanted this stuff in the storage room so I could work on my electronics (and clean my guns ) in a semi dust free environment.
 

*The purple tools on the right are my wife's.  That side of the workbench is her sewing area. ;)
 
Case Cuts / Holes
I decided to remove all of the rubber grommets from the case, and enlarge a few of the cable management holes.  Also drilled a few additional holes for cable management clamps.  Here is everything before I took the Dremel Tool to it.  I also modified the bottom of the case to accept a 2x120 Radiator.  I had previously made some cuts down there, but wasn't too happy with the end result, so started over.
 

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With this big hole on the bottom of the case now, I decided I needed a good solution for dust management.  I made using acrylic and Silverston fan filters a custom dust filter to go on the bottom of the case.  It secures to the case with magnets, and works great.  It only shows 1 filter, but there are now 2 installed.Also showing a diagram here outlining what types of fasteners I used to secure the fans to the radiators, and radiators to the case.  I found it strange that my top 120.3 Radiator uses SAE (6-32), but the bottom 120.2 Radiator uses Metric (M4-.7).
 

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Here is a shot of my radiators with the fans installed.  I did some minor sleeving, but didn't want to go through the hassle of actually disassembling  the fans.  The parts that are not black are hidden from view, so I am OK with how it turned out.
 

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Here we have the opening on the bottom of the case for the 120.2 rad.  I used a fan grill to help secure everything to the case, since some of the fastening holes were on the honeycomb grid of the case, and didn't tighten down as much as I would have liked.  Picture to the left shows the magnetic fan filter installed over the opening.  It is really easy to take off and put back on, and hopefully keeps my case dust bunny free.
 

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Illuminated Vandal Switches
I decided to use some Illuminated Vandal Switches (Latching, 16mm), to toggle on/off both the LED Strip on the interior of the case, and the illuminated mid-panel.  Here is a pic during the soldering process.  Vandal switch in the death grip of my Octo Helping Hands setup.  To the right is the completed switch, along with the resistor so I don't burn out the LED (470 Ohm, .3w, 5% tolerance), and my custom "Quick Disconnect" power connectors.  I did end up sleeving it, but forgot to take a picture before I installed them.
 

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And here they are installed on the top of the case.  The one to the left (Blue Ring), is the switch for the LED Strip along the outer edges of the case.  The one to the right (Blue Dot), is the switch for the illuminated mid-panel.  They turned out really well and work great.  Only downside is my 2yr old is a button freak, and now tries to toggle them on/off every chance he gets.
 


Next set of pics... Illuminated Mid-Panel construction.

Awesome! Can't wait to see the full build log.

This is going to be amazing!
Keeping my eye on this thread.

Looks like your on the right path...you also have great planning skills. This is going to be a great build and I can't wait to see more.
 

Illuminated Mid-Panel

I have always been envious of the lighting methods used on the MurderMods and Million Dollar PC.  Most of the guides explaining how to build one used Electroluminescent panels, which I could not find in the right size (or for a reasonable price) here in the US.  So I set out to build my own using acrylic panels and a white LED light strip.  Just like my initial case layout, I built my "mock-up" in SketchUp.

Here we have my 3 panels I will be using.  I used 1x Mirrored Acrylic, 1x Clear Acrylic, and 1x White Acrylic.  They will be constructed in that order, with an LED strip on the sides "shooting" light inwards.  The housing will be a box made of Black Acrylic.  The hole will be where some of my tubing will pass through. Once the whole was drilled, I polished the sides to allow for better light transmission on the clear and white panels.
 

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On the left is a pic of the completed box, with the bottom mirrored layer installed.  To the right is the light strip I used for my build.  Purchased it off of Amazon for a really good price.  It is very bright, and easy to work with.
 

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Just an idea of how the light strip will adhere to the box, on top of the mirrored acrylic.  Also shown is the end of the light strip, where I cut it, and soldered on the contact points.  It can be powered by any 12v source, and requires only 25w to light the entire strip.  So I am able to power both the internal case strip and my mid panel with just one 4-pin molex connection.
 

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Here is the completed mid panel box.  The clear layer sits between the mirrored and white acrylic panels.  I did a bunch of tests and found that this "sandwich" combo provided the best light transmission.  I first tried laing the white layer directly on top of the mirrored, but the light transmission was too weak.  By using the clear in the middle, the light passes farther through the top panel, giving a brighter look.On the right is a circuit I am using that allows me to alter the brightness levels of both the LED Strip around the case perimeter, and the mid panel.  It has 3 settings (High, Mid, Low), and works very well.  Only downside is that in order to adjust it, I have to remove my case panel, but once I find my preferred brightness level, I probably won't touch it again.  I installed it on the back of the CPU plate for easy access to the wiring for the Vandal switches.
 

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Here we have the lighting install and running, with a comparison of brightness with the different parts turned on.  I used my phone camera for these pics, so it looks much brigher and washed out than it does in person.  Time to bust out the DSLR for some better quality pics, but I may wait until the final gallery pics once everything else is installed.
 

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And here we have the room lights turned off.  One pic shows illumination with just the mid panel, the other combines the light from the LED strip that lines the interior of the case.
 

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Next up... sleeving and component porn :D

O.o Nice
 

Mr_Armageddon

Chrome-M-Dragon

Wow, nice LED lighting idea, looks like it turned out perfect. If I wasn't so scared to cut my case up i'd build me one of those :P

I did make some cuts on my case for the lower radiator, and in a few places for cable management, but there is no cutting required for the illuminated panel.  It just sits atop the existing mid plate.

Would you possibly be willing to make on to sell? If so I'd be interested. That would look pretty awesome in the bottom of my SR-2 800D build.

that looks like it's going to be a sweet set up... that lighting panel is pretty cool, i like it's stealthy-ness... can not wait to see this one finished...

Thanks for all the words of encouragement and compliments everyone.  The panel really did turn out well.  Just need to start throwing in some components and tubing to see how it will make things look.  I have high hopes 
 
All my sleeving materials finally arrived from Nils over at MDPC-X.  It arrived in 3 different packages, and it looks like very good quality stuff!


 
I am going with primarily Black sleeve with a few Royal Blue highlights.  Also making all custom power cables so the lengths with be perfect, and allow for better cable management.  Sleeving is going to take a while, so I will post some other pics of components and such during the process.

Nice

My "Helper"
I mentioned earlier that my 2yr old is a button freak.  Well I caught him red handed turning my mid panel on and off over, and over again.  Those illuminated vandal switches are just too much temptation for him.  I'm glad his older sister doesn't share his love of button pressing.


 
Looks like I need to put the case up high until this build is done, at which time I can move it into the office (which has a locked door ).

Looking great man! I see you have a lot of work ahead of you for this project. Again I can not wait to see the finished project. And hey, maybe a good idea, get your little helper more into the action with ya! =P Maybe not actually doing any of the real work but you can have him hang around and learn. To learn a great trade like this at his age would be awesome for him in the future! =D

Component P0rn

Still waiting on a few fittings to arrive, and have just started making my custom length PSU cables.  Cables and sleeving will take a while, so in the mean time, here are some nice shots of most of the components going into this build.

EVGA GTX580 HydroCopper 2 - 2X for SLI

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Some of the Bitspower Black fittings I will be using, and the Primoflex Blue tubing.

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Here are the AquaComputer USB PowerAdjust 2 Ultras that I will be using to control pump speed.  The Ultra version can control speed based off of liquid temps, so it should be a nice addition, and keep pump noise to a minimum until faster speeds are needed.

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Here we have the AquaComputer Aquaero 5 LT.  Pretty powerful monitoring and fan control too.  I may end up using something different to control all of the fans in my system, but as of right now, this guy is it.  The USB PowerAdjusts operate independently from the Aquaero, so you can kind of mix and match to fit your exact needs.

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Mr_Armageddon

Chrome-M-Dragon

Wow, nice LED lighting idea, looks like it turned out perfect. If I wasn't so scared to cut my case up i'd build me one of those :P

I did make some cuts on my case for the lower radiator, and in a few places for cable management, but there is no cutting required for the illuminated panel.  It just sits atop the existing mid plate.

Really? I mean i'm with zophar here, you build it i'll buy it lol. My case is different though, I have the Cosmos II. Also there are some things i'd like to cut, and i'd not really have to worry too much about voiding a warranty since I won this case. No warranties for free stuffs lol. Still, i'm not mechanical, or i'm just not that confident in my abilities lol

Awesome... can't wait to see final.