My XBOX 360 Laptop project....almost done

[coukos34]

Hey everyone,

This is my first ever project and I noticed that people don't recommend doing a 360 portable as their first but......oh well, I got really inspired and felt that I had to see if I could do it. after about 2 months, its almost done. It just needs some more sanding/cleaning up and some paint. I used a Hanns-G HW173 17" monitor that I got for a good price. This is what made the project a little harder though, as I needed to move the whole power/inverter board to the bottom half of the unit to keep the monitor portion thin. The whole unit measures in @ 17" x 12" x 2.85". Monitor portion measures in at 7/8".

- Jasper Arcade unit
- 17" screen (1400 x 900)
- WIFI adapter
- 120GB Elite HDD

Here are some more recent pics from the state it is in now. Still looks ugly but will come together with paint for sure. Please excuse the tape, its just there to hold stuff during testing as I will be adding grills to the holes. It uses VGA for the monitor and has component and HDMI connections in the back. I didn't understand the point of using the HDMI/DVI for the monitor screen when VGA is fine for such a small picture. Plus it leaves that valuable HDMI connection for the big screen! I bought a male to female adapter so that I could mount the port in the back. All the slots that are seen will be backed with some type of wire mesh kinda like a grill of some sorts. Thinking of using metal screen door material or something like that.


You can see the knob on the left side for the volume control. I had to steal the audio amp from
some computer speakers I had. If I ever do another one I will DEFINITELY buy a monitor
that has a built in amp and speakers. Would make everything MUCH easier!!!

Here's the back of the unit. I originally started with an original xbox but when I found it near
impossible to keep cool, I went out and got a jasper Arcade unit. SO worth it! Anyways that made
the HDMI an afterthought and it was hard to find a position for it. It also has the ethernet port and
the optical port as well.

Here you can see the monitor buttons and the side mounted USB ports.

Top view. You can see the ring of light that I grafted onto the top. because of its curved shape, it
sticks above a little bit so JB weld was used to smooth it into the top. At eye level I guess it would
look somewhat like a plateau if you can imagine. I have a DVD drive door plate that I cant really put on until
its all painted. I also grafted on the HDD piece for added coolness

Ring of light still works!

Tested for the past week playing ALOT of COD:MW2. Heatsinks get lukewarm at best. I think it has
better cooling than stock as it actually has 3 40mm fans blowing air in as well as the bigger fans
blowing out. Total of 9 fans in the unit (there are 2 30mm fans blowing in front of the CPU as well as 2 40mm in
back drawing air out from the HDD and such. Unit is VERY quite though as it they never spin faster than idle.
(if I could only do something about the Dang DVD drive!!!)

I am doing some final prep and hoping to have it finished and painted by the end of next week. I can't wait I will post the final results when its all finished. Any questions on anything, I would be more than happy to answer. Thanks guys and let me know what you think so far

 

[snowpenguin]

Wow, great work, looks superb even without CNC. Awesome, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[zeturi]

Welcome to the forums! Killer first post! What heat sinks did you end up using?

 

[βeta]

I've been lurking your thread on BH. Love it.

All 3 of you guys making 360 laptops right now are putting Ben to shame with the thickness of your screen. It's good flax.

 

[coukos34]

Thanks for the comments guys! Believe me, I wish had access to cnc machines and all that, I just went with plexi because of ease of access and I knew it was relatively strong. It actually was a little easier to work with than I thought it would be. I'm also really happy with the cooling in this thing. Its so quiet and it also runs extremely cool, I couldn't be happier with it performance-wise. It just needs paint real bad. I think it will look quite cool once its finished. Ill give some updates this week if I get around to painting it.

As for the heatsink. I used an older generation CPU heatsink (the one with the copper pipe) and cut it in half. I then took a heatsink from the original xbox and cut in half and added a half to each side of the 360 heatsink. I essentially added more heatsink horizontally because of what I removed vertically. Ill try to get a pic for ya, as it is hard to explain. GPU heatsink is stock

 

[snowpenguin]

Still loving it, do you have any pics of the build process of the plexi casing? I might go with plexi to make a PS2 Laptop sometime in the near future.

 

[PalmerTech]

What do you plan on using for painting it? I would use Krylon Fusion, it costs a little more than other spray paints, but it is the PERFECT stuff for plastics. It needs no primer, and not only does it just stick to the top, it actually forms a chemical bond with the top layer.

Do you plan on selling it when you are done?

 

[coukos34]

Yea I had heard that krylon fusion would be great for plastic. I picked up a can to test on a scrap piece first. I know it bonds well with plastic, but I wonder how it does with the JB-weld? I have some here and there. Anyone have any experience with using fusion on some JB-Weld?

As for selling it. I'm not sure. I figured I'd make one as a prototype and see if anyone would have interest in having me build them one. The first one is always the hardest and I wanted to see if I could do it, and just how how hard it may be (as well as how expensive). This project def isn't for the faint of heart and it also took longer than I thought it would, but I know if I did another it could be even better. My main focus right now is finishing this project off. I want people to judge it in a finished state.

 

[hailrazer]

It bonds well with every epoxy I've ever tried it on. So it should be fine

 

[J.D]

Bentastic! Fantastic!

 

[XCVG]

That is a pretty sweet X360 laptop. Are you sure it's your first portable?

 

[coukos34]

It bonds well with every epoxy I've ever tried it on. So it should be fine

Perfect! Thanks!

 

[snowpenguin]

Hey, I'm probably going to make a 360 laptop soon and sell it, and probably a plexiglass casing on her. How did you hold the plex together, and what kind of filler did you use?

 

[coukos34]

Been awhile since I've been on the forums here, I have been super busy with new job. I still dont have my laptop painted because it is just too cold outside here. Maybe if I can find somewhere to do it that is both heated and has ventilation.....

I used JB weld to attach the plexi pieces together, its very very strong. I also used JB weld as my filler for the same reason.
Good luck on your laptop. It was a PITA! took alot longer than I thought and ran into numerous problems along the way. Just part of the process I guess though.