the toolbox

Load N' Go
system specs:
AMD Athlon XP 2100+
Asus A7N266-E
Thermaltake Volcano 6Cu/Cu+ HSF
4x 80mm Sunon Fans
32x12x8x8 LG GCC-4120B CDRW+DVD Combo drive.
60gb Maxtor HDD
40gb Fujitsu HDD

dont forget my other mods

click here if you want one big page with all the images together, otherwise click on the links below to bring up the image that goes with its description.

01/20/2003 23:30-5
finally got some pics online of of the final rendition. you can see the geforce4 on the inside, and you can see where i added the 2 new fans and changed the usb ports. removed the old 2port one and added a new 4 port one. i hot-glued the old holes and painted over them with black. you can see it in the pics i used a flash with, but not in the ones i put online here :)
oh, and you can see that i finally also painted the cdrw/dvd drive black too. they tray is still normal colour though so it looks a bit weird when you eject it :) and i couldnt get / forgot to paint the volume wheel too. oh well.
12/18/2002 21:00-5
oh baby. finally got my motherboard back from RMA. the toolbox was outa commision there for a few months until i got off my ass and sent it in. but its back and better than ever! while it was outa commision i bought a 2100+ and a geforce4ti4600, which are now both in the toolbox. man does it smoke now!
doesnt look any different, really, but its much faster.
04/28/2002 20:30-5
alright. got my new cdrw/dvd combo drive! woo
too bad it looks like ass. its white! it doesnt match. i really dont wanna paint it. i think i'll stealth mod it somehow...

04/21/2002 15:00-5
ok i'd say its pretty much finished now :) woo heh about time eh
check out the pics at the bottom for the final shots
i think i'll rearrange this whole page too soon...

04/11/2002 23:00-5
i finally got my new camera and am able to take some more pics.
i got the lid and wheels painted black, and it looks good!
the only bummer is that after i put the windows in the lid (yeah i cut big gaping holes in it :) ) it looks like shit... see for yourself
i also finally resized all the images so it wont be as bad to view them all on one page.. the link for that is below...

03/04/2002 19:00-5
ok i added a few more pics, and fixed a few bugs with other pics.
after looking at it, the top actually holds 110lbs (or 50kg)

03/04/2002 13:30-5
aaaaaaargh! i've been [H]ammered.

stay tuned kids, the ride isnt over yet, i have more pics to put on later today or tommorow, and more ideas on this case. i need windows. in the lid. :)
oh, also, i think i read on the top of the case that you can stack up to 70lb (!) of weight on the top of this thing. i'll take a pic of where i saw that later today.

ron ferrier: fyc.

03/04/2002 06:00-5
this is going to be short and to the point. i was looking for a case to mod, something unusual. i've seen all the cool stuff they cover over at [h]ard|ocp and littlewhitedog and so on and so forth, but i needed something else. so i modded a Mastercraft Load N' Go toolbox :) thats right, a TOOLBOX. not just any toolbox, but a toolbox with a telescopic handle and wheels! WHEELS! WEEEE! i can wheel the thing around when i take it to lan parties and friends places and stuff! :)

lets just get on with the pics now, shall we? we know that why you are all REALLY here.


the front, unfinished
i HAD some pics without the cdrom and floppy, but i think i overwrote them... oops...
the front, with more
here you can see the usb ports are in, and also the power buttons and LED's... those LED's are superbright red's, you'll see them further down...
cdrom and fdd cutouts
ah i found a pic with the cdrom and fdd cutouts, the extra usb ports are bolted in on this one though
the back, with all the holes cut out
what you see here is the hole for the motherboard atx connections, the slot that the top of the backplane fits into and the temporary hole for the audio cable to go through... i'll build an extender plate later... the soundcard is at the bottom cause its an ACR card that came with the mobo.
the left side, with the fan hole cut and the power supply installed
the power supply is a bitch to install, i ended up stripping the top 2 screws on it, so its bolted in via the fan as well now
the inside, unfinished
the usb port is in there SOLID, i drilled holes in the slot cover it came bolted to, and made a small holder from plexiglass i had (was gonna use black plastic but i fscked it up the first time and made it too small). i then screwed through the front with fan screws to hold it in place. it holds really well.
cutout for the card slots
here you can see a closeup of the card slot cutouts, it really helps stabilize the motherboard and also i can keep the backplane flat with the back of the case
the back, mobo installed
here you can see how the motherboard fits from the back. you can sorta see the card slot backplane up in the shadow underneath too
the inside, motherboard view
this might explain the backplace cutout a bit more
the inside, motherboard view 2
heres another angle
the inside, bottom layer
heres the layout of what is underneath the motherboard. the power supply on the left, the cdrom and fdd in a bracket (which i ripped out of an existing case) in the middle, and the hdd in its ripped out bracket bolted down on the right
finished
woop, all done :)
the inside, finished
complete with all wirings and buttons and leds hooked up
the front, finished
heres what the front looks like finished, with the lid on
the back, finished
i really need to pull off that sticker
the left, finished
complete with the power supply and exaust fan, you can see i've cut off the original power supply grill and replaced with a regular one, for improved airflow
the right, finished
heres the intake fan, and the one of the screws that holds the hard drive cage in
the top, weight displayed
here you can see the weight the top can hold. it was a real bitch getting a pic of this, since its over so slightly embossed
the front, powered on
here you can see the difference in the leds as the unit is powered on. damn they're bright!
leds reflecting
heres the leds (both power and hdd) reflecting off a case side panel, just to show how bright it really is
leds straight on
damn they're bright, shining right into the camera
lid mod, stage 1
here you can see where i started cutting out the windows for the lid, after deciding on a 2 window design
this stuff doesnt cut with a knife as easily as the black plastic of the base. i had to start off with the dremel...
lid mod, stage 2
got it all cut out... knife work, mostly, and smoothing with the dremel...
lid mod, stage 3
and now the ledges for the window to rest on. man that was hard! time consuming...
lid mod, stage 3, close up
here's a closeup after stage 3 where you can see the ledges... geting them just to the right depth and not cutting it right off was really hard...
the underneath of the lid
now looking at those pics of the window cutouts above, you probably went 'what the fsck?' here you can see that the underneath is lined with a grid of plastic. this is why you can put so much weight on the lid without it collapsing, and it'll look really neat under the window too :)

04/11/2002

the lid, black
ooo its nice and black, and it matches the rest of the case perfectly! i used an automotive flat black spray paint. i'm really impressed with how much it matches the plastic of the case. i put on 3 coats, and then used acrylic sealer, its clear, matt finish too, and now the paint wont rub off...
the lid, black, another angle
a slight angle, you can see how the lucite looks like shit. probably cause i shaved down the edges so it'd counter-sink a little better. its glued in place with plastic model glue. works really well, melts the plastics together.
the wheel, black, full side view of the case
oooo nice isnt it.
the wheel, closeup
the yellow you see there isnt this wheel, its actually a reflection of the INSIDE of the wheel on the other side... i didnt paint the inside of the wheels, cause i never actually took them off... masked off the rubber with masking tape and painted them with spray paint (same as lid) on the spot.

04/21/2002

the t shaped trim
ok so the window by itself looks like ass. like, REALLY bad. so i decided to buy some t-shaped metal trim and put it on. i got this stuff but its a little tall, so i had to cut most of the bottom of the T off with a hacksaw...
trim, almost done
ah, all cut. this is just a dry fit. man getting those corners just right took some time. what you can sorta see is that i took some off each side of the windows so that the T part of the trim could slip down and sit flat and not move around... then i used some epoxy to glue the trim down after using the model glue on the acrylic windows again to hold them in place...
the lid, finished
well heres the lid all finished finally, complete with trim and the handle put back on.
let me tell you a little about this trim. man was it a bitch! i had to take OUT the already glued in windows (they just popped off, glue didnt hold well thank gawd). then i repainted the spots where the glue lifted the paint, and reapplied some clearcoat hardener. so the trim i have is T shaped.
cold cathode in
woo, got my cold cathode in! i kinda wanted it at the back, but there really wasnt a lot of room to bolt it down anywhere there... as you can see (very small though) i used some spare acrylic, bent it a few times, and make brackets for the cathode to sit it. the brackets are screwed down from the front with fan screws.
cold cathode 1
ooo it works! you cant really tell how good it is in normal room lighting though...
cold cathode 2
... so i took a pic in the dark! heh, the camera had real trouble focusing though, and i turned off the flash.
cold cathode 3
heres a nice close up. still pretty fuzzy. can't do much about it, cause the camera cant handle the dark.
the toolbox
done? we'll have to see about that... 04/28/2002

the new front
ok this looks like total ass. hmm... gotta either paint it or stealth mod it... i vote for stealth mod so that i dont void my warranty by painting it...
told you it wasnt quite done...

01/20/2003

final back
the back, nothing special here. i'm going to deal with the audio jacks there that i modded. some dont work and i dont really need all 5. just headphones and mic.
final left
ah the left. brand new power supply (cost me a bundle, but its a good one, i didnt have to mod the grill on this one, it came that way! woo!) and an extra fan, for a total of 3 fans now on this side.
final right
the right side, with the new fan makes 2 on this side. man this baby keeps cool, 30degC at all times! weee! took me a while to get this side just right, i had to cut the sh** out of the hard drive bracket to make it fit under that new fan.
final inside
ahhh... the inside... thats a big honkin video card, it actually HITS the lid, hence the piece of tape i have on the lid where it touches, just in case there is some electrical type problems... see the next pic to know why...
final under lid
and here is what i mean. thats a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil glued to it. you are probably saying to yourself right now something along hte lines of 'wtf!?'. heh. its a reflector for the cold cathode! it shines in all directions, so why not have any red light redirected back down at the board that would normally be simply absorbed by the black underside of the lid.
final front
and for last, the front, finished. note the nice black cdrom and the new usb ports.



small and large picture of Load N' Go toolbox at the top ripped from Canadian Tire's website