Regular PCI Firewire Conversion to Low-Profile

At the last minute I decided to throw in this firewire card with my HTPC order. I wanted to be able to mess around with controlling the digital cable set-top box with it. Also, I wanted to see what sort of channels (if any) I could download over firewire. As I may have stated previously, I had a vague idea that there were low-profile and regular PCI cards, but I didn't consider it when I was buying my parts. So I ended up buying a low-profile micro-atx case without realizing it. The 1394 card I bought was designed for regular PCI slots, but the slot cover was easily removed by removing the two screws holding it in place. The actual circuit board is more than short enough to fit in a low-profile case. I used this original slot cover as a template for cutting one of my case's stock slot covers. Unfortunately I forgot to take into account the horizontal orientation of the two slot covers and ended up cutting the first hole on the wrong side. Other then that the process went pretty well. When making any modification like this I have a few main concerns:

• The modification allows the item to operate as if it was a stock piece. [The modified slot cover in this case keeps dust out of the case and supports the card.]
• Less importantly, the modification looks as if it was professionally done. [This is more a desire to be able to recreate mass-produced materials at home.]

So according to those standards it turned out pretty well. The card is still removable and fits snuggly in place. The final appearance obviously isn't tremendous looking, but it certainly fits into the general aesthetics of the case with a cursory glance

I'm experimenting with just inserting a Picasa album instead of individual pictures. Hopefully this works out well:

HTPC Case Mod - Part 1

I decided on this case for my HTPC build. The first issue that came up was how to integrate my serial infrared reciever and blaster [The serial IR circuit and its related software will be covered later in a later post]. I decided that the most professional looking solution was to cut a small hole in the front of the case for an infrared window. I had an old Xbox IR reciever that I was able to pilfer off a nice piece of plastic from to serve this purpose. I went through a lot of dumb steps trying to figure out how to make it fit snuggly in. I tried spraying water to keep the plastic from melting, for example. I finally settled on cutting a hole with a combination of a 1/2" drill bit and then a sanding dremel attachment to make in large enough for the plastic. I also used the sander bit to thin out the case a little bit in order to allow the curved tinted plastic window to make good contact. Also, I broke a few pieces of plastic clips off the bottom cover of the front panel in this process, but they do not seem integral to the structure. Its inevitable that I break at least one part of anything I try to modify. If I ever have a perfectly uneventful modification of an object, I will have reached hacker enlightenment and transcend from this plane of existence for sure.

Here is the inital hole in the outer layer of plastic.



I just used hot glue and a irregular shaped hole on the back of the front panel to hold in the window. This looks bad, but it was easy to accomplish and will not be able to be seen from the front.

Here are some shots of the final result. The window is a little rough around the edges, but all in all, I think it looks nice.

The next post will be my attempts to fit a standard PCI card into a low-profile PCI case. I don't have much hope, but I may be able to pull it off without destroy the aesthetics I have going right now.