The Mailbox.


Here is my second full case mod.

A mailbox. I have been trying to work out how to do this for months now and with the advent of the Mini-ITX sized motherboard I have managed to get it down to size. A Micro-ATX needs a T3 size mail box and by then we are talking tons of wasted space and just plain big. I believe it measured something like 12"x22"x13" or so and that is just huge. So i shelved the project when i found that using a torch on galvanized metal gives off toxic smoke that makes you sick like the flu.


After some time I found the VIA EPIA platform that ran Linux well but wasn't all that fast but fast enough to run about as well as a P2-400 or so... I figured that is acceptable. I ordered one and found that a 6.75" square motherboard is a bit more manageable. A T2 size mailbox is a little smaller 8.5"x21"x10" or so.. Here is an idea of the size of the motherboard, That is a standard 3.5" hard drive next to it.


Here is what I started with a T2 sized mailbox.


After acquiring the box I started working a plan on mounting the parts. First i build a sled out of press board to hold everything as digging into the box overtime you wanted at something is difficult. So i figured that mounting everything on a sled would be the best.  here is the tail end of the sled with the stand offs made the same way as the ones in the briefcase.


Now i had to locate the drives on the sled and mount them. I had this little piece around from an old Mini-AT case.

So having maintenance from work cut it into piece I managed to get a mounting bracket for the HD and the CDrom out of the one piece. 


While killing time at the mall I wandered into a Gags&Gifts and found a chromed Skull. Sweet. I figured this needs to go in the box.

so here is a picture of the pieces from the AT chassis with the skull tentatively mounted on it.


Now for some cool effects. The skull will have the eyes glowing for the hard drive indicator. Here is my attempt at working out how to do it. In the end i ended up using the same clear piping that i used for standoffs as little arm like things to hold the LEDs on one end and slipped over two screw heads screwed into the inside base of the skull. 


After doing a lot of measuring and trying to figure out where to start cutting I managed to get the location of the atx plate and cut it out using a jig-saw and the trusty Dremel. Many cutter discs later here are the back cutouts with the power supply placed and screwed in.


I removed everything from the tray and painted that black to keep down the color in the case. After painting it was time to bolt everything down. I ran into problems with my rounded cable so i am using a standard Ultra66 cable here for the time being. with the hard drive turned 90 degrees it makes it a little hard to get the cable around the corner from the motherboard to the hard drive. But after a little origami with the cable it seems to fit without strain. The bracket that holds the hard drive was also my first attempt to shock mount something. So using a couple grommets and three bolts in a triangle patter in I mounted the bracket to the sled and then screwed in the drive. After that i figured that it goes on the sled first then the MB and the cdrom bracket as you can't get to the side of the drive with everything else there. Here is a shot of everything mounted.


Here is a shot looking in from the door. Everything has been painted flat black now. This should accent the skull more. The red button in the left corner is the on switch. I had been toying with the idea of using the flag as a switch of some king but the last thing you need at a LAN party or something is someone saying "so what does this do?" and move the flag.


I have the mailbox running Debian Linux now and after a little help from matt@zigg.com I have it running happily. It is primarily used to run my email (Ximian Evolution) and Mozilla Firebird (I love getting these popups that try to run a WIN32 program thinking they are smart and going to get me to install stuff like Gator and other social engineering software). This helps my peace of mind that I won't be getting Micro$oft viruses anymore from emails. Now I have to get SpamAssassin working on my mbox files and have them analyzed and such as mail comes in.


Things left to do:



Comments or votes on the paint job let me know Mail Me