Need a project for that dead Xbox 360?  Check out this detailed Xbox 360 mod which converts the console into a functional PC. Give it a new identity – the Xbox 360 PC.  If you are wondering about the specs that was pushed inside the small case of an Xbox 360, here they are:

• 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 HT (upgraded from 2.26GHz P4 at start of mod)
• 512MB RAM
• 60GB 4200rpm SATA HDD
• DVD-ROM, CD-RW
• 8x USB 2.0 ports
• Integrated Intel graphics

The main challenge with an Xbox to PC mod is fitting everything inside the cramped space of an Xbox 360. The CPU and the power supply have different sizes and line up differently. Innovation is the name of the game as electric0ant shows through careful planning and his project illustrations. Check out a few below. The complete step by step is given on his project page.

Step by Step:

1. The project is born from a faulty Xbox 360 scrapped for the outer case.  Below is fitting the motherboard inside is the first test.



2. Installing Windows XP. In the final mod XP is exchanged for OS X.



3. Fitting the heatsink (taken from a dead P4 laptop) vertically.



4. Wiring up the power supply to the Xbox 360.

The Final Results:

The well illustrated project gives you the headsup about the pitfalls. Maybe you can work your way through it with your own take on it. Let us know what you would do differently if you managed to find yourself a spare Xbox 360 lying around.

Check out some Xbox 360 case mods we’ve covered in the past.

• 15 Exceptional Xbox 360 Case Mods
• All-in-One Wii, Xbox 360 and Ps3 Arcade Cabinet
• DIY Xbox 360 Arcade Style Controller

Ah, the sweet pleasures of a fresh cup of coffee brewed at the click of a mouse, literally. This hacker shoved an entire coffee maker inside (and partially outside) of his PC which is controlled by a simple Visual Basic application. Now you don’t even have to move to grab a fresh cup!

• Don’t Miss: Hack Twitter to Control Electronics
• How to Control Electronics with your PC

While it’s not the most attractive thing we’ve ever seen, we must applaud his creativity.  Above is a screen shot of his application and full details of the project can be seen on the project build site.

Why stop at coffee?

Learn how to build a refrigerator into your PC to have cold one without the hassle of those bulky minifridges.  This hacker build a tiny compartment in the base of the PC with a thermometer included.  You can also install one in your car if you’d like.

]]> http://hacknmod.com/hack/coffee-maker-hacked-inside-of-a-pc/feed/ 0 http://hacknmod.com/hack/ben-heck-the-man-the-myth-the-legend/ http://hacknmod.com/hack/ben-heck-the-man-the-myth-the-legend/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:08:08 +0000 Joe L http://hacknmod.com/?p=5900

If for some strange reason you don’t know of Benjamin Heckendorn  (Ben Heck), he’s the king of hacking and modding, a console modder extraordinaire who turns consoles into laptops, and just about any gaming related hack you could possibly think of.  You can view all of his projects around HacknMod and by checking out his site, Gizmodo and Engadget.

Don’t Miss:

• How to Make a Portable Gaming Console
• 3 Ways to Install a Game Console in your Car

Some of his laptops are pictured above and below.  A the top of the page is an interview with Ben and a brief walk through of his household lab.  We definitely agree that tinkering with electronics is an extraordinary hobby and a fantastic way to make a living too

By the way, Hack N Mod is teaming up with Ben Heck for a super secret project to be announced later this year! More details to come – subscribe for free to stay posted.

Lian Li PC-A01

The site from Germany features some of the ‘world’s most beautiful computer systems’. Dare we disagree? Sleek with an aluminum finish, the photos show an advanced work in black and white tones. And what looks like some good cooling capabilities. Here are two snaps to draw your wows.

Lian Li V1200

We don’t know about the ‘most’ but these same guys do make ‘some’ of the beautiful computer systems. The stylish case mods from Lian Li combine beauty with looks and the V1200 is an example.

Dark-Bade

With this mod we make it a three in a row display of PC Mods from the guys at Million Dollar PC. This one is a surreal creation on four legs.

SubsCover Custom

This looks like a cool work in blue.

Russian Wall-E Case Mod

Are you awestruck? So were we, when we did a post on it some time back. This Wall-E inspired case mod is all in metal. Carefully put together in 18 days with some heavy duty workmanship. The Wall-E build is close enough to be a twin.

R2D14m

Dubbed the R2D14m by designer Pavel Rafalovich, this beast lives in a shiny sleek enclosure.

War-Scarred Look

A galactic war scarred computer meets alien cube from space? Inspired by Portal, of course.

Edelweiss PC

The stunning build in white complimented by and orange-red LED glow is one of our favorites. This is another dream case mod from Million Dollar PC.

Sleek Blue LED Case Mod

A geeky rendering of a Beijing building, this case mod is about ambient effects using LEDs. The picture below on the left is of  the building; the case mod is on the right.

• Get some more examples of geek art in our Fantastic DIY CaseMod Pics.

Massive Heat Sink

A case mod that becomes a passive cooling device using heatsinks and clever design.

DIY Oil Cooled PC

A video how-to on how to cool your PC using mineral oil.

Bonus: Build a Fridge in your PC

Okay, so it’s not a stunning, sleek mod like the ones above but it was too incredible to leave off the list.  An overclocked PC that feels, looks and does like a mid tower mini fridge. It’s a PC that dispenses cold beer!

As we continue to feature what’s cool in case mods, don’t miss out on our gallery of case mods.  Don’t forget to send us tips of cool projects you find on the web for extra cash.

The Dr. Frankenstein MAME cabinet is a retro gaming rig that takes inspiration from the monster novel. The steampunk cabinet is almost gothic in its design. Our previous post on DIY Arcade Rigs was about building an old styled arcade cabinet from the ground up. This Frankenstein build is just about giving the game rig a classically inspired touch.

These pictures above illustrate the building phases starting with the first woodwork. Every little touch adds to the antiquated appeal like the vintage panel meters on the control panel. Awesome detail!

The steampunk, mixed with the retro switches and gagues, and finally the rusted paintjob give it an astonishing vintage effect.  It took the builder about 60-80 hours of loving labor on the arcade rig. Not bad at all when you stand back and applaud a work of art.

Our other top arcade projects:

• Make your own Vintage Arcade Marquee
• Make your own Arcade Cabinet
• How to Build a DIY Nintendo Arcade

Here’s an outstanding project for all you Star Wars fans.  This guy took an R2D2 cooler and turned it into a retro gaming machine!  Inside are eight consoles and a even a projector mounted in the head just like R2D2.  Perfect!  Now you can have a personal gaming robot to follow you around and fulfill all your nostalgic gaming desires.  Unfortunately, these are all the pics and info we have about the project right now.

• Don’t miss:  DIY Retro Gaming Projects

R2D2 Innards:

We can take a look at the guts of the system (minus the projector) and see the wild mess of cables, fans, and retro consoles.  It’s definitely a fantastic feat of engineering to get all of them to fit in such a small space and then have an R2D2 head-mount projector and built in sound system to work on top of it all.  Take a look at some of our related Star Wars projects:

• How to: DIY Star Wars Lightsabers
• Impressive LEGO Star Wars Scene with LEDs
• Star Wars Nintendo Wii Case Mod

• More details about this project
• Hide a hard drive in a power strip
• Recover dead hard drive data

The Innards:

Dimensions:
- 23.5 x 21.65 x 2.5 cm

Technical Specs:
- 320 GB 2.5″ HDD
- PW-200-V PSU
- TSOP flashed with iND-BIOS
- Motherboard v1.4

The case itself is made up of 3mm thick polycarbonate sheets glued together with epoxy and plastic welder. The shiny sleek look comes from a few coats of primer and Krylon Fusion. The shrunken size means that the motherboard and components have to be packed together. But the end result is amazingly functional and eye-pleasing.

We have covered plenty of case mods…but few which have squished such a large console into such a small space.

Don’t miss out on these other Xbox Mods:

• Xbox 360 Hellboy Case Mod
• Simple Xbox 360 Case Mod using Bondo
• Xbox – Rapid Fire Mod

via HackaDay

School is back in session shortly for most college students.  While you could be an average Joe and and buy all your back to school goods, you’ll be far better off building your own DIY projects to pimp your bland dorm room.  These fantastic tutorials will walk you through creating custom, outstanding dorm rooms to show off your DIY skill.

Incredible Lighting:

1. The Emergency Party Button will help make friends quickly.
2. How to Display Audio as Light (Make LEDs Flash to Music)
3. Make Custom RGB Mood Lights
4. DIY Abilight for your PC, TV and more
5. Need more inspiration? See all of our LED and Light projects.

DIY Security:

1. How to Use RFID to Protect your Beer, Valuables
2. DIY Motion Sensing Laptop Security Cam
3. Build your own Laser Security System
4. RFID Door Lock Mechanism
5. All of our security projects

Save Money:

1. DIY Continuous Ink Printer = Unlimited Free Printing
2. Get Free Internet by Making a Wifi Repeater
3. Build Your Own Open-Source DVR

Gaming Hacks:

1. Rapid Fire Mods Make you the Halo King
2. Burn copies of PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360
3. Play all your favorite NES games online, and emulate the Wii and other consoles.
4. Select a console from the categories on the right for more.

Custom Transport:

1. For the outgoing types:  Setup and make your own custom transportation like the Enicycle and iShoes.
2. Video Tutorial: Build your own Self-Balancing Segway
3. Build a Speedy Motorized Shopping Cart

DIY Entertainment:

1. Make your own HD Projector (another version)
2. Stylish High Quality DIY iPod and iPhone Speakers
3. Stream any Video to your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii
4. DIY Wireless Music Remote

Extra Awesome!

If you’re ready to go all out and stand out you need to go the extra mile:

• Beer Launching Fridge
• iPhone Controlled USB Missile Launcher
• Shut Down your PC with a Cell Phone

Helpful Tips:

1. Hack College always has plenty of great tips to help you survive the year.
2. Check out this fantastic dorm layout and use of space for inspiration
3. Put all those extra beer bottles to good use. (another option)
4. Access your PC from Anywhere on Campus for Free

As always, be sure to subscribe for free to receive our hacks for daily.  Be sure to send in your projects and earn cash too!

This guide is a basic introduction to custom case modding. While we prefer all out customization, it’s important to start somewhere with basic lighting, cutting, and painting techniques. The guide walks you through the hands on skills and equipment. To modify a plain PC case into your custom beast of a machine, you will have to start work on three areas depending on what you want the end result to look like – Painting, Cutting and Lighting.

Painting

Metal and plastic parts need different painting approaches. But with the common factor of extreme care and great effort. For preparing metal surfaces:

1. The surface needs to be sandpapered and scrubbed clean of existing paint.
2. Areas to be left out need to be protected with masking tape.
3. The first coat (one or two) is the primer – allow it to hold and get dry.
4. After the specified waiting time between coats, start the spray painting of the case.
5. Apply a few successive light coats for consistency and coating of every nook and cranny.
6. For the final finish, apply a clear coat layer of acrylic paint enamel for shine and added protection.

For preparing plastic surface:

1. A good clean surface is a must-do. Wipe the surface with a lint-free towel and a mild soap and let it dry.
2. Painting on plastic is more deliberate with several very light coats.
3. A few dozen coats might do but allow each coat to dry out before the next.
4. Leave the plastic component overnight for the final coat to completely dry out.
5. A few coats of clear coat enamel paint gets you the glossy finished look.
6. Painting the back of clear plastics and optionally etching the paint with designs gives an eye catching mirror effect.

Cutting

Cutting is where all your precision skills will be brought into play. A slip and its back to square one. Cutting requires rotary tools (dremel) and a need for accuracy. For cutting metal surface:

1. Swathe the target areas with masking tape to protect the surface from nicks and cuts.
2. Draw or trace the ‘blueprint’ of your plan onto the tape.
3. Always cut inside the marked lines of your designs and then reshape and finish the cutout area with a file.
4. And then give a sandpaper rubdown to the edges to smooth them out.
5. A plastic or rubber trim around the cutout is what improves the look and protects it from dust and us from nicks.
6. Trims are easy to find and can be melded to the edges by heating it with a hairdryer.

For cutting plastic surfaces:

1. Mark out the design on the surface and start drilling with a narrow drill bit.
2. Start from inside the design and move slowly towards the marked lines.
3. Drilling heats up the plastic, so keep removing the tiny cut shards as they might fuse again.
4. With the cutout done, finish reshaping and smoothing with a file and sandpaper. (It is recommended to use successively finer grades of wet-dry sandpaper for best results).
5. Finally, polishing compounds help to buff the edges and gives a finished look.

Lighting

Most case mods use lighting to jazz up the look. Three types of lighting are best-loved by modders – Cold Cathode Fluorescent Light Tubes (CCFLs), Electro-Luminescent Wire (EL-Wire), and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

• Cathodes are bright, cheap and easy to install. They are available in a variety of colors and sizes (from 4 inches to 2 feet).
• EL-Wires are lighted wires which can be shaped for trims, wrapped around cables and for other patterns. They aren’t super bright but are flexible.
• LEDs are in vogue because of their exact colors, paltry heat, tiny power consumption, and longevity. LEDs can be inserted in custom patterns and are in sold in DIY, single, or multiple-LED packages. For modding pick the super bright ones rated above 2500 mcd.

The three types of lighting have their own method of installation, wiring and testing. This AMD tutorial is details the requirements of each and a blow by blow case mod guide. The how-to guide also puts in a few tips on how to be more creative with the modding.

For a beginner, PC case modding is about learning how to use the basic tools and circuitry techniques. To see some fantastic case mods in action check out our Case Mod section.