BQE owners - this mod possible?

[lazyfly]

Hi folks.

I'm still waiting on the local store to get in a BQE I've ordered and am already thinking of things to *stuff up* tweak.

I went with this case due to Ralf's review stating it breathes better over the sonata - pity it doesn't come with the truepower psu as the price is negligable.

Anyway, apart from the psu one thing I would like on the front of the case is a 3.5mm headphone jack and wondered if it'd be possible to somehow fit a jack to the case beside or below the usb ports and simply drill out a hole in the bezel to accomodate it?

Does anyone know if you can get threaded jacks with a long thread and a screw on either side to fasten it to the chassis?

Thanks for reading and to any replies

[PretzelB]

I searched for such a thing a while ago but didn't find anything. I'm sure it can be done but I'm not creative enough to figure out how.

[Seal]

Yeah it can easily be done. One point though, the front plastic is designed to be removeable, if the jack is fixed to the plastic it wont make it as removeable as there will be a wire attatched to it. Mounting it in other ways is possible but will be much harder.

[r2fugu]

Buy a 3.5mm adapter to accommodate the source in which you intend to plug to. For example, a female to female adapter would be the part you attach to the case. You would then need a male to male extension for inside the case to plug to your source. So here’s how to connect the female to female adapter to the case; as you mentioned, drill a hole where you want it to be. Make sure the hole is not too big (the adapter should fit very snuggly into the hole. Then from the inside, use a hot glue gun to hold the adapter in place. Gluing onto a plastic surface is optimal. Metal may not provide a good enough bond if you use hot glue. Thick epoxy is best for metal. Hope this helps.

[Seal]

welcome to the forums r2fugu!

[r2fugu]

Glad to be here!
-fugu

[the_bfg]

There are 3.5mm sockets for use in cases etc, for example I found one at Maplin (UK electronics/electrics shop) after 4 min googling http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module ... Products=1...

So drill a hole, mount this. wire it through the case out and onto your back panel... very doable... might just do it myself now!

/bfg

[lazyfly]

Hi fellas. Thanks for the input.

I've more or less gone with what you've said, r2fugu. A couple of things to note, though.

1. The only female to female 'passthrough' 3.5mm socket was too long to have been able to glue to the bezel then accommodate the 3.5mm cable that'll pass through to the back of the case and into the audio out socket on the sound card.

2. I wont be gluing.

I bought a pair of switched pcb stereo sockets (Jaycar: cat# PS-0133 for $1 each) which would, if connected correctly, disable external speakers when headphones are plugged in. That's nice but it wont be used

What was even nicer (and useful) was the internal contact points are retained by springs so it makes for a light, smooth plug in/out effect (no excessive force to the bezel).

After soldering up the 10 points between the 2 sockets (5 1.5" wires!!!) the socket not attached to the bezel can be angled 90 degrees so the extension cable can runs down the cases front, through a conveniently placed squarish hole in the chassis, along the chassis length and out the back and looped into the audio out socket on the sound card.

Voila! I mean, sheesh! what a pain Works though and is rather neat and unobstrusive.

Thanks again for the feedback, r2fugu.

[lazyfly]

Oh yeah, while this soundslike a bit of goofing around for little reward it's awesome to have because I have...

...a chewing, evil cockatiel that's already chewed through two headphone cables (Sennheiser cables are so damn soft!) because I couldn't be bothered getting on my knees and smacking my head on the table to unplug them.

Bugger.

the_bfg - where'd your post come from?! I'm *fairly* certain it wasn't there when I posted :\

[lucienrau]

Lazyfly is there any way that you can post pics?

[Seal]

yeah, any pics?

[lazyfly]

Hi fellas.

I'll get some pics up by the end of tommorow.

[lazyfly]

Black 3.5mm cable into audio out on the sb card. Looped back into a expansion slot cover with a rather large hole drilled into it. nb: on-none-on toggle switch for switching the 120mm fan from 12v to 5v as per MikeC's tut.


Cable running through the case.


Cable coming through the (existing) hole in the chassis front and into the 3.5mm stereo pcb socket. nb: the threads weren't long enough to allow for the retaining nut to screw onto the bezel socket so it was glued after all.

The hole was made so the thread tapped the plastic though so it's very snug (and epoxied!) You can get longer threaded sockets but the ones I had were not stereo as advertised besides the pcb ones are spring loaded so there's little pressure when pluggin in/out.


Front of the case and the reason for the mod!

[JimK]

Nice job, looks like original equipment. Now if someone could do the "add a firewire" trick and it looked this good ...

Neat bird too. Has a look similar to my Norwegian Elkhounds (troublemaker, that is).

[Seal]

i might start a pet thread...

nice modding too! looks like its naturally like that!

[PretzelB]

Do you have a part number or description for the piece that you glued to the bezel? I can see what it does but I'm not sure what I'd do a search on if I wanted to get one.

[lazyfly]

Hi PretzelB

The catalogue number is PS-0133 at www.Jaycar.com.au but they only have stores in Australia & New Zealand. You should be able to get the 3.5mm sockets (assuming you use 3.5mm, too) from any decent electronics store, either on or offline.

I used the PCB variant because they were better than the standard socket (stereo chassis mounted variant) for several reasons. The only catch was PCB means tiny pins to solder the wires to but it wasn't that difficult with a blob of blu-tak holding it steady.

Overall, it was worth the effort but if I didn't have a fruity, cable-eating bird I would'nt have bothered.