ICE. A White Slim Clock

[xman]

Never did a white Slim Clock so what better reason that a nice new forum to build one aye. I haven't done a tutorial on "How To Slim" because Nex is doing one so I will start with all the parts in front of me and take it from there. Anyone after a "How To Clock A Slim" tell me and I'll do one of those on my next Slim clock project. This is all the parts required already modded to go into a Slim Clock. It has the clock module connected to the battery holder, (2 x AA batteries), to keep the clock powered even when the Xbox is unplugged. The DVD caddy has been modded to take the hard drive as a Slim has no HDD caddy any longer or at least mine don't, sometimes. This one doesn't OK. The fan has been modded, (60 x 60 x 25 fan fitted inside a cut down original fan casing), again, anyone after a "How To Mod A Fan For A Slim", let me know.

And the painted white Slim Clock Case-

I'll let the paint dry over a day or two to allow it to dry good before I continue. (winter here at the moment)

[Nextelhalo]

Very nice sir, white is such a fine color for the old machines. Looks like your bondo and cutting work turned out perfect.

BTW it's summer here, 100+ degree days, I want your weather.

[Adult Swimmer]

Bondo and Cutting Work? You may want to elaborate on that one. Those holes look machined....I'm jealous ! and its still in pieces. Nice!

[Nextelhalo]

Bondo and Cutting Work? You may want to elaborate on that one. Those holes look machined....I'm jealous ! and its still in pieces. Nice!

Not much to elaborate on, he's really good at what he does, the pics speak for themselves.

[Dawscaus]

what exactly was cut and bondo'd

[xman]

what exactly was cut and bondo'd

1- mark out hole required with masking tape

2- cut out hole with dremel tool or whatever

3- file hole to correct size

4- take off the clock face from the clock and trim it to suit your faceplate hole. It is important to keep all the screw mounts on this plate to allow you to remount the LCD. I use these ones-http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2-2-lcd-bl ... 88?item=18

5- insert the clock face into the panel as a smug fit without flexing the face plate, (very important)

6- now glue right around the joint and in the joint using 2 part epoxy, (I use Arildite 24 hour)

7- Spray the whole face plate with spray putty, (automotive)

8- sand with 600grit sand paper till nearly correct and then sand with 1000grit wet and dry sand paper using wet and keep wet. Water should have a drop of dish washing detergent in it.

Your panel is now ready to paint with undercoat and then your finished color of choice.

[Nextelhalo]

Brilliant work sir

[BuZz]

yeh - nice!

[Dawscaus]

very nice.

[xman]

Clock module install-

It's all going in here. Note the 6 screw mounts, 2 between the button holes and 4 around the display hole. These are all the original screw mounts from the clock.

Buttons in button holes. Note the black dots on the buttons. This is to identify which button goes in what hole. The buttons are all slightly different and go one way up properly so on pulling the clock apart I mark them with 1 dot- top, 2 dots- middle and 3 dots- bottom. The dots also indicate the up position of the button. The switch pressure pads sit in holes in the back of the buttons. Once you install the pressure pads in the buttons, Do Not turn the front panel over or you will be looking for very small pressure pads. You'll need to wait till it's all together to admire your work.

LCD glass goes in. It actually sits in a surround and is a smug fit in place. It is glass so you really can't push hard in the middle or you will put your finger right through it. The black lines leading out of the top of the display are the tracks that carry the signals to the display from the electronics module of the clock. It is clear plastic like sticky tape and you can rip it off the display real easy so don't pull on it. The end of this "sticky tape" that joins the module is literally stuck to the module and is about as hard as sticky tape to peal off. Welcome to the brave new world of cheap consumer electronics. This form of connecting modules or displays is become very popular as no proper multi-wire connectors are required and therefore costs are reduced. The thin white plastic to the right side is the defuser so the LED back-lite light is spread evenly behind the display. It goes over the display and fits in the surround as well. Just make sure before you put it in place, you wipe the display to get rid of your finger prints from the glass that will be there from when you pushed the glass display in place. (Important)

Once you have the defuser in place carefully flip the module over that also has the thick clear plastic that lights up when the back-lite is on. Remember this module has the stuck on connector. Push the module in place and using the screws you pulled out of the clock originally that held the display, screw the display retaining screws back in there holes. Note my ones have a black plastic strip that the screws go through. These were made from a black cable tie or zip tie I cut up and drilled a small hole through. These or something similar are required because you can't use what was originally used in the clock and the screws alone won't hold it all in place. Now locate the pressure pad board in place and screw it into place just like it was in the clock originally. The little board between the display and the pressure pad board is for the back-lite LED so if you want a different back-lite colour, this is the LED you change. The 2 wires that go to this LED board are cut off the module at the module end and go to the standby Xbox power on the Xbox to mother board connector. + on the LED board to your standby power wire in the mother board connector. - to any ground on the machine, metal RF shield, black wire in the game port, any black wire in the mother board connector itself. This will have the back-lite of the clock on when ever the Xbox is plugged into the wall and turned on with or without the machine itself turned on. These back-lite power wires on my machines have small 3 wire connectors on them I put in so I can pull things apart if need be but I'm just like that and this really isn't necessary.

OK, time to flip it over and fingers crossed, it's all working correctly and you can admire your work. Yes, this one is working nicely. Check all your buttons and check for sticking. I've had that before and needed to file the buttons and button holes until I learnt not to paint to heavy around the button holes when painting the front panel. As you can see I started at 10.45pm and the job was done by 11.09pm. Would have been quicker if I had found my magnetic jeweler's screw drive for the screws...GRRRR. It isn't a race though and you must be very careful doing it and I have done this job many times in the past. Now the clock slim face plate is ready to go on the machine.

[xman]

A bit going on behind the scenes on this mod but this is what I can show so far.

The standard slim RF shielding modded to allow for the clock install. Note the shielding cut out around the fan as well. I do similar on all Xboxes. Full sized Xboxes, I cut a hole in the RF shielding the size of the fan and on a slim, I cut the piece right out. If you leave a row of squares each side of the fan hole, it will allow you to "Clip" the modded slim fan back in place. Cut them out and the top of the fan has nothing to hold. The top half a square on each side of the fan hole on this slim actually holds the upper fan clips and stops the fan from "floating around".

This pic shows the stock slim lower case modded to take the clock slim face plate.

These pics show the modded slim clock RF shielding in the modded slim clock lower case.


I know it looks like a lot of work but the plastic I cut with the dremel in about 10 minutes and although the hole doesn't need to be quite this big, this is the fastest and neatest way I have found. I use to cut the exact right sized hole for the clock module but it didn't look as neat and a lot longer time to cut it out so this is the way I do it now. RF shielding is the same story. The shielding cut out for the fan is to increase the fan's efficiency and works very well in slims or stock cases. The object is to make all the mods look factory and not the work of a butcher. The Xbox case when complete, lid, face plate etc and bolted together losses none of it's original integrity. Everything still fits together perfectly and there is no way of "flexing the case" even with the lower case chopped out in this way.

[Mikeosoft]

wow this is really nice work! I have just joined this site, and am going to try something similar to yours minus the clock. I will post up a thread in a bit. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Adult Swimmer]

Thanks for elaborating!!!!! I've never done this modd before. Thanks for taking the time to post. The only bad thing about it, is that it will probably eat at me until I do it!

[BuZz]

I keep misreading this topic!

[blighty]

I keep misreading this topic!

At first glance I thought it was about overclocking xD

[GhostlyGamer]

I keep misreading this topic!

OH GOD ME TOO

[xman]

I keep misreading this topic!

I keep misreading this topic!

At first glance I thought it was about overclocking xD

No, it's not about the sale of ICE or about over clocking sorry boys.
Parts going back in the shell-

Thought I would do a BKO USB mod on one of the ports this time. Saves digging up the USB adapter and as I have a USB hub that has an SD card slot, thought I could view the trail cam photos direct especially now that BuZz has made the zoom feature of the photo viewing even better . Turned out rather sweet actually I thought.

Trying out the HDD placement in the modded DVD tray and how the cables will be run-

Well, that's what I'm up to. I'm actually making a new style top that I haven't shown you guys before but a few of you know about but haven't seen. It is a simple swap over when I finish it with the standard Slim top so I can just swap it on the same machine and grab a pic of both styles. Real interested in what you guys think, I know what sells better and what's easiest for me to make. I grabbed the last part I needed and should have it ready shortly.

[Nextelhalo]

Looking nice and clean as normal X, fantastic work. What are your thoughts on the placement of the HDD? I've kicked around different ideas in the past but always kept the hard drive placed like normal in the xbox. The biggest reason i did it like that was because of the IDE/power cable, i never wanted them close to those heatsinks since they will effect air flow, and you know these slims needs they're air flow.

[xman]

@ Nex, I will change the DVD tray and the HDD tray for ones I use now instead of old ones I made. A bit of progress though. Transforming it into a "Soft top". I kept the standard slim top and just made another that is a soft top so at the end I can show the difference. The makings of the soft top mod-
Using the slim body as a templet, put a standard top on it and masking tape as a cut line from the slim face height to the back height-

The red is my next machine. You didn't see that.

Cut the sides off with a hacksaw-

Cut 2 pieces of angle that suit the sides leaving the ends without the side fins uncovered, (about 20mm shorter than the full sides).

Size the angle up against the side and now the side where the angle is going needs to be trimmed down so the angle is flush with the ends.

Like this-

Perfect, it now sits flush with the ends-

That's about what I'm up to so far. Won't be long now.
Now the angles are siliconed to the sides and once dried, positioned on the sides and the sides should be level with the slim faceplate and the rear of the slimmed bottom....Basically, you should be able to get a ruler and sit it flat on the side and it should be all the same height.
Now, a piece of 3 ply is cut to size using the old top you cut off as your templet. Draw around the lid for a cut line. While you've got the lid, drill through the lid from the underside where the Xbox screws use to screw into it and use these holes to mark where the bolts need to be on the wooden lid. Drill your holes to mount Tee Nuts that suit your NEW bolts. 2 or 3mm bolts are ideal. Your cut made on the wood will need to be about 3mm inside the drawn line you did with the lid or when you cover the wood with vinyl, it will be to big. Knock your tee nuts in the wood and bolt it on and try it for size. This is mine fitted before trimming the wood to size.-

[Nextelhalo]

Nice Xman, i like the soft top idea. And yeessss!!! I saw the brilliant looking red front on your mock up, I asked myself if I remembered seeing that but never did, then i read your sentence above the pic. What shade of red is that?