Spiderman 3 by Matt Fielder

New covers

Here's a tip for you: always check whether or not your hardware is DOA before getting started with your modding. I didn't, and I discovered that I had one dead drive in my pair - but now, since I had obviously taken it apart, my warranty was invalid.

So the lesson learned is: don't rush and miss something crucial.

The next stage of the mod was to get the replacement hard drive covers fashioned out of aluminium. This involved making a template from the covers I took off - measuring the dimensions and making sure that the screw holes were all drilled in the right place - before pulling out some sheets of aluminium and making the cuts.

The final finish required a heck of a lot of filing to get the edges smooth, and that's before starting on the polish.



You can see the cutting and filing that resulted in the final fashioning of the covers.

I had to then reassemble the drives, as well as cutting the correct size of plexi to layer in and create the transparent window for the drive. To seal the platters in correctly, however, I had to make my own gaskets - out of silicone. I laid the silicon out on some sarin wrap and let it cure for an hour or so, before going at it with a razor blade to create the correct shape.

It was then back into the clean room with the drive, gasket, metal cover and plexi layer to screw the whole thing back together.

I think the final result was pretty good - you can see the Spiderman theme pretty well here! The polished aluminium looks a lot like chrome, only slightly more refined and restrained.