Maximum PC

Mnpctech owner and Pro Modder, Bill Owen. Mnpctech customizes PCs into unique designs for clients around the world. 10 Year Retrospective of Mnpctech PC Mods

Maximum PC has a presence at Comic-Con every year as an outreach opportunity—to let the hardcore comics and sci-fi fans know that PC enthusiasm goes hand-in-hand with that kind of fandom. This year we’re using our booth as an opportunity to show the fans at Comic-Con how awesome a great case-mod can be and how PC geekery and sci-fi enthusiasm can meet in a beautiful way. So we’ve hired the best guys in the business to design and build an awesome Star Trek-themed PC, and we’ll be giving one away at Comic-Con and the other one will go to David Gerrold in exchange for some writing he’s doing for us in relation to Comic-Con. - Nathan Edwards, Senior Associate Editor



Conceptual Designer: Mike Okuda is graphic designer who has worked on Star Trek series since the 1980s and is responsible for much of its visual style, including the LCARS interface as seen on Next Generation.



Matt Jefferie's original design of the Tricorder served as Mike's inspiration for styling cues on the "Tricorder Shiek" computer case
design. We could have scratch built a PC that looked just like the Tricorder, but David wanted an actual computer case instead with specific utilitarian features like hot swap bays and a compartment for his Tribbles.



3D design of "Tricorder Shiek" by Dave La Lopa of http://www.hivelogix.com



Top panel and storage compartment



Top panel will be milled from 2" thick 6061 aluminum



This Lancool K-58, manufactured by Lian Li will sacrifice it's chassis to this project.



Lancool K-58 chassis will be painted Matte Black Enamel.



Using Rounded side hand file to smooth the cut edges.



Using Red Scotch-Brite pad to scuff the surface in preparation for Primer base coat.



Lancool K58 chassis painted Matte Black Enamel (1 for david, 1 for comic-con)
Machined aluminum computer case feet, http://www.mnpctech.com/ITX_MATX_Computer_Case_Feet.html





Machined aluminum computer case feet with grooved edges.



The aluminum feet are machined on CNC Lathe, http://www.mnpctech.com/ITX_MATX_Computer_Case_Feet.html



The bare aluminum is nice contrast to the Matte Black.





#10 x 5/8" Black Oxide Fan Screws, http://www.mnpctech.com/thumbscrew.html





Screws will be used in conjunction with fan silencing rubber grommets, http://www.mnpctech.com/FanGrommet.html



#10 x 5/8" Black Oxide Fan Screw inserted in rubber grommet



Black PSU and fan wires cable sleeve kit



We are installing Yate Loon Blue LED 140mm cooling fan









Lian Li Tool-Less PCI Card Holder, 7 x PCI Holder. Works with many Lian Li cases or other modified cases. Specifications: Tool-Less PCI Card Holder, 7 x PCI Holder. Designed for Most of Lian Li Cases. Dimension (W)70mm x (H)145mm x (D)30mm

Updated 6/22/11

The first of 2 lower half of the front bezel is finished. Next step is making the upper half and the compartment door covers.









I'll be sleeving the Sentry this Silverstone FP34S Premium 3.5inch Bay Card Reader & Front I/O combo module with our Black PSU and fan wires cable sleeve kit for everything. (8 mil PolyEthylene Terepthalate (PET) monofilament yarns)



Finished the front Hot Swap bay compartment doors last night. These will be hinged with 1/8" rod. The 1/8" Opaque Red acrylic plates will attach to the back side of the door. Still need to make door handles.

















Update: 6/24/11

Here is where it's at currently, still need to make upper half of bezel, top panel, front grill, emblem and david's name plate.







Here is where it's at currently, still need to make upper half of bezel, top panel, front grill, emblem and david's name plate.

I finished the side panel inlays last night in between playing the Duke Nukem Forever demo... Now, I'm really looking forward to RAGE's release.

Mike wanted the drive faces Stealthed. This mod is very straight forward. I'm using 1/8" diameter rod as spacer, but you can improvise this to whatever you wish for your stealth drive mod... and the aluminum faceplate I've cut is 1/8" thick.







PC Mod Ruler as fence spacer?!





1/8" diameter recessed hole.



cutting 1/8" diameter rod



A drop of ScotchWeld DP-190 epoxy, before inserting 1/8" rod



Apply 3 layers of [url="http://www.mnpctech.com/scotch_4010_tape_of_the_casemod_gods.html"]Scotch 4010 double sided tape[/url], for a tad of flex in the faceplate for contact to the eject switch.





paper fits in gap between switch and 1/8" rod





You now push in lower left corner of the faceplate to activate the Eject.

I don't know if Cryptic Studios is going to have an official presence there this year, but I know some of the developers of Star Trek Online will be there. Maybe youse guys can team up and have some sort of co-sponsored event or giveaway (like, see if they might be willing to give away a free lifetime subscription to STO with this computer).

Thats a great idea Bob!

I will have more updates soon!

the Mill has a Belly ache....

Door magnets were epoxied with ScotchWeld DP-190

Awesome work on these Bill! Was wondering if this case will be displayed at PAX in Seattle as well as Comic-Con? I'll be heading up there again this year and I'd love to see this case in person.

Thank you Brian, as far as I know... just Comic-Con

Here is the entire front bezel assembly. The Silverstone FP34S Premium 3.5inch Bay Card Reader & Front I/O combo module mounts at 45 degree angle in the top panel. It's held in place with m3 set screws, inserted into countersunk holes on each side of the top panel. David chose this model mainly for it's card reader and headphone jack. It's from performance-pcs here It will be mounted in the new top panel.











Upper portion of the front bezel attaches to the top panel with "key" style fasteners for 8/32 machine screws..









David's signature name plate..

Ok, Stealthed Asus Blu-Ray drive installed.





behind the latched door, is 2x 3.5" HD Hot Swap bays





Used Round Modder's Mesh for the front grill, Modders Mesh







Strongest 2 part epoxy available, ScotchWeld DP-190.



The grill will be painted Matte Black.

I must admit, this IS looking more badass than I originally thought, I'm just glad it doesn't look like a tricorder, lol, cuz that's where I thought you were headed (which is why I didn't like the idea at first). Recently, I've even been catching ST episodes on tv every day when eating dinner with the fam, though I do have to make it small glimpses cuz my fiance doesn't care for anything scifi really, lol. Our son loves anything I do though, thankfully. Keep up the good work Bill!

I spoke to Mike on several occasions as to make the case as close to his Concept drawing as possible. He was always very adamant about the case not being "Star Trek Kitsch," which was great to hear. Keep it minimalist, yet stylish and tasteful. Mike also envisioned what matt jefferies, (original star trek series prop builder) would have designed and built for the original set. (Mike designed props and sets for Next Generation) and explained to me that you have account for how the camera will capture the correct aesthetics, details and shape of an object. The side panels are heavy, since multiple materials and thickness were used to capture the right look. It was very important to get the USS Enterprise cut out the right size, so it's easily recognizable. It's pretty cool to know this case was designed with the goal of being as close as possible to a real prop for the original 60's TV series. A very rare opportunity, for which I'm very grateful to MaxPC giving me and I'm confident David will really like it!

After making this case, I'm really looking forward to watching the series again and Netflix is supposed to start streaming the entire series today! I'm hoping to get the kids to watch The Trouble with Tribbles, and go out to Joann Fabrics tomorrow, so we can make some Tribbles for photos of the 2nd case before it leaves. I'm shipping the first case out today, to arrive Wed at Maximum PC, so Gordan can install David's system and they can take photos for the article.

fyi: the 2nd duplicate case will be a giveaway prize at comic-con in san diego, july 21 - 24, http://www.comic-con.org/cci/

I'll post the photos of the 1st case before it gets packaged for shipment as soon as I can!

What would be awesome would be to take a Captain Kirk action figure, and make a lot of correctly-proportioned tribbles, and take pics of them together, like in the episode, but inside the PC, to make it look like they're taking over his PC

How heavy is the whole thing so far?

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Yes, I'm hoping david will bring some to MaxPC and I will check the shipping slip for weight and get back to you. 1st one arrived safely to Maximum PC Magazine's offices today... will ship 2nd with tribbles on Monday.. Here are final photos of 1st one before packing it.

That thing completed looks so badass! I expected nothing less from the MOD MEN. I hope you make a cameo on the next podcast to discuss the build. Awesome work.

Thank you and Would love that opportunity!

Our new podcast studio doesn't have the ability to patch someone in remotely yet, but we're working on it. We definitely want to have Bill on the podcast soon to talk about the build.

That would be epic Nathan and I'm sure the boy genius Andy will be able to figure something out!