Mod of the Month - January 2010

Aelro Dynamic by Cleveland216

Project Log: Here

Aelro Dynamic is Cleveland216's first scratch build but that's not the only impressive thing about the project. There's a quite simply gargantuan amount of geometry going on here with the exterior of the case looking more like an F117A Stealth plane than something you'd put your PC hardware in.

Thankfully, Cleveland216 started with a mock-up rather than plunging straight in and created a cardboard mock-up of the case to see how it all went together and what kind of hardware would fit inside. What will be just as interesting as the case is the fact Cleveland216 plans to use water cooling.







Once the mockup had been finished it was time to start cutting metal instead of cardboard. Cleveland216 started by using the cardboard sections as templates for the metal parts that would make up the case. The large side sections are apparently for radiators so it seems that Aelro Dynamic will certainly not be lacking in the cooling department.


A large sheet of metal arrived in the post and Cleveland216 started chopping away almost immediately, first drawing round the templates onto the metal ready for the sections to be cut out. If you don't like jigsaws look away now.


With the guide lines traced on to the metal sheet it was then a relatively simple process of cutting out the various shapes. Thankfully the pieces didn't go the same way as most jigsaws, missing parts or never getting completed. Instead the case started to rapidly take shape. Above we can see one section for a radiator already completed.


At first the sections were held together with tape to make sure they fitted as planned. Then it was time to make things a bit more permanent with a welder. Cleveland216 seems to have done a pretty good job too! Something else that caught our eye was the custom reservoir Cleveland216 is working on.

We're loving what we're seeing so far so if you haven't seen the latest updates to Cleveland216's project log make sure you do so here and make sure you vote for your favourite mod this month in the forums.