Retro HP Mini Case Mod for 800 G1

Overview

Full credit to the Stockpot for creating this case at least for myself I found it very likeable. The only problem for me was I had some HP G series machines laying around but the wrong models (2xG1's and a G3). These were left over from other projects and I thought I would be able to quickly mod the case to support them. Quickly rapidly stretched into a fair bit of time between other projects, however the G1 case is now finished.

If your looking at buying a machine to do this with and depending what you plan to do with it, unless your getting a cut-throat bargin on the G1's, just splash out and get a G4 600 and use the orginal files. A quick ebay search shows G1 800s can be had for half the price of a G4 600 so depending on what your doing it might be worth the $ saving. Hypothetically if you were emulating a 6th gen console the G1 will strugglehowever older machines should be fine as to why the G1 will struggle:

• Graphics processing - The G1 comes with Intel HD Graphics 4600 vs the G4 600's Intel UHD 630 which is just under twice as good/fast.
• Storage usage adds up fast on newer consoles so the HDD/SSD is a limit - The G1 only supports a single drive either a standard mechanical HDD or a SSD. If you try and install both only one will work, G4 in contrast supports both SSD and HDD natively one via sata and 1 via NVME although you may need to buy the special HP sata/socket cable. To work around this issue with the G1 I had to buy a special 3cm USB cable to feed through the rear IO (which was $6 + postage).

Anyways just didnt want anyone buying a G1 and then getting disappointed, if you do proceed you'll need the top and filter part from the orginal listing those remain unchanged.

Onshape

I found it easiest to remodel the parts I needed in Onshape rather than trying to hack something togther in tinkercad. Your free to copy my files but full credit for the design and its licence always remain with the Stockpot. One place I couldnt get an exact match is the bottom curve on the base edges it's close within a few mm's but not identical. 

I would say I am an enthusistic novice user of onshape but I did my best to make the tabs and files make sense.

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d34fb15a13ef95fe43fec67b/w/ced2aa125da9a35ab96dac52/e/4f7dc93328c203319f6d46e2

Options

Theres a few options with the files to choose from

Base

Created two screw options one for #6-32 heat inserts (stock PC case thread) and one for M4 heat inserts. 

• Base without insert (M4 and 632)
  • M4 named: Base G1 800 M4
  • 632 named: Base G1 800 632
• Base with Insert (M4 and 632)
  • M4 named: Base G1 800 M4 Insert
  • 632 named: Base G1 800 632 Insert
• Inserts:
  • Grill: Base Insert Grill
  • Solid Logo: Base Insert Solid

The base insert is just a small piece you can print and then slot in, I found my G1 getting resonably warm directly under the CPU and as I had to drop the motherboard mounts to 6mm's tall. I was concerned it could get close to PLA soften/melt point particulalry here in Australia were summer temps can sit at 30+C (86+F) easily. You could print the whole base from PETG or ASA/ABS but thats not as user friendly as PLA so to protect the base theres a little drop in panel, either a grill or just a flat panel with a flame icon to go on the inside (me messing around learning dxf embosing in onshape really). I stich melted my grill from the inside with a soldering iron but you could also super glue it in place. It is a tight fit 100 micron gap, if you find it a little to tight or loose just reprint using the scale feature in your slicer. A 0.1% increase or decrease will adjust the clearance by about 50 microns. My base is PLA and the Insert ASA but a PETG insert would work just as well - picture.

Front Panel

• Front Panel with a cutout to fit the stock speaker
  • named: Front G1 800 Speaker
• Front Panel with no speaker provision if you prefer to ditch the internal speaker
  • named: Front G1 800 No Speaker

Back Panel

Two options here, either with the USB pass through or not:

• Rear IO without USB pass through
  • named: Rear IO G1 800 no USB
• Rear IO with USB pass through and cover
  • named: Rear IO G1 800 USB
  • named: Rear IO USB Cover

The other files are the same no matter what, my suggestion would be to print the #6-32 mount holes and get some of those heat inserts this saves needing to replace your CPU heatsink hold downs, MB screws and HDD cage screws. Print the rear IO with the pass through and cover, you can always put the cover in place unused and if later you want to add another HDD nothing to print. If your in a hot climate with minimal cooling, definitly do, do the grill insert or print the whole base from PETG, ASA/ABS

Optional Dual HDD Tray

Sorry wont fit in the stock case but will fit well in this case as it is slightly taller.

• Optional Dual HDD Tray
  • named: Dual HDD Mount G1 800 for Retro Case

STEP Files

In case someone wants to model for a different machine I included the STEP files for:

• Blank Base with no mounts - Base Blank
• Blank Front with no cut outs - Front Blank
• Blank Front IO (note this is taller than the stock front IO) - Front IO Blank
• Blank Rear IO - Rear IO Blank
• Maybe useful - Dual HDD Mount G1 800 for Retro Case

Hardware

Fairly similar to the Stockpots list, no heat sink needed, just heat inserts and bolts.

Recommended version

• 10x M3x10mm countersunk screws
  • 3 for front panel screw on from below
  • 3 for rear IO screw on
  • 4 to screw the bottom to the top (orginal was button heads for these my holes are a hair bigger to simplify hardware list)
• 8x #6-32 brass heat inserts either 3/16ths length or  5/32ths length - both will work but be careful you dont blow through with the longer 3/16ths ones, 5.4mm wide - dont shoot the messanger I found them listed that way with a mix of metric and imperial.
• 7x M3x5.7 brass heat inserts
  • 4 to secure the topto the bottom.
  • 3 to secure rear IO to the back of the top
• A piece of 80-100 micron “Black Nylon Net filter”, the stuff I found around the internet the 100 micron is cheaper than the 80. I believe the Stockpots kit is 50-80micron.

Other than the #6-32 heat inserts you can use whats in the Stockpots hardware kit, good to show some support of the design hours going into this by buying one - Hardware Kit

The rest you can re-use from the motherboard.

Using M4 heat inserts

This is more complicated as you have to replace the bolts on the CPU cooler hold down, watch the video by the Stockpot if you haven't already on how to do this change over, the CPU heat sinks look very similar.

• 3x M4 x 25mm Countersunk for CPU heat sink
• 3x M4 x 12mm Button or Socket head for Mechanical HDD cage
• 2x M4 x 6mm Button or Socket head  two Mb screws on left and right rear corners of MB.
• 10x M3x10mm countersunk screws
  • 3 for front panel screw on from below
  • 3 for rear IO screw on
  • 4 to screw the bottom to the top (orginal was button heads for these my holes are a hair bigger to simplify hardware list)
• 8x M4x4mm Heat Inserts for base
• 7x M3x5.7 brass heat inserts
  • 4 to secure the topto the bottom.
  • 3 to secure rear IO to the back of the top
• A piece of 80-100 micron “Black Nylon Net filter”, the stuff I found around the internet, the 100 micron is cheaper than the 80. I believe the Stockpots kit is 50-80micron.

If you go this route the Stockpot Hardware kit covers everything except the 3x M4x12mm Button/Socket Heads you need for the HDD Cage assuming your G1 has one present, both mine did with mechanical 500gig HDD installed.

Optional Extras

For myself I had a couple old SSD Sata HDD laying around, nothing super big 256gig. I made these the primary HDD's and then used a USB to SATA adaptor to hook up the orginal 500 gig mechanical HDD. 

To do the above you'll need

• Print the Optional HDD Cage, you can only add and remove the HDD's when the CPU heat sink and fan are un-installed, install cage and then lower and upper HDD. It's no accident the upper hdd screw mounts are staggered fwd this is so minimal stress is placed on the 3cm long usb cable. The cage is printable supportless. 
• A USB to SATA Adapter I canablised one from an external enclosurer, just pulled out the board and tossed the rest to recycling like this one
• A very short (3cm) USB A to USB Micro-B with a 90 degrees up, from this link a S2B-W6A or if your a gun solderer you could create one. I'm not a gun solderer and this was the most expensive part I had to buy when adding in shipping. The 0.03m or 3cm long cable is perfect, I did try a 5cm but had to do some fun with electrical tape.
• 8x 2.5inch HDD screws

Disassembly/Assembly

Watch the great video by the Stockpot for the orginal files, its very close for these in regards to assembly and disassembly.

Disassemble G1

As you disassemble grab your phone if you need to take some picy's as you go for later reference. Remeber to save the screws if your re-using them. All my descriptions are written as the front of the G1 being closest to you (baring me muddling up left and right). You will need a T-15 Torx bit or a flat head screwdriver and a small screwdriver to unclip the antennas.

• Unscrew the large knob screw in the center at the rear of the case and slide the top fwd, it works very similar to the Stockpot video so give that a watch - Time index 5:15
• Disconnect the SATA cable from rear of the HDD and remove from the Motherboard, 2 plugs be careful the SATA plug can be stiff and you dont want to destroy the cable,unplug the smaller power plug first then the SATA plug.
• Remove the Mechanical HDD by holding the metal tab/lever on the side of the HDD cage towards the fan/CPU shroud and push the HDD back and then up towards the rear of the G1.
• Unscrew the 3 screws holding the HDD cage and motherboard in, 2 towards the front and 1 at the rear. lift cage out.
• Unscrew the three large CPU Heat sink bolts at the front and lift the CPU heat sink out, can be a little tricky as the fan power cable is wedged in a groove on the left side of the metal shroud so be careful and gentle.
• Unscrew the 4 black fan screws, then disconnect the fan from motherboard and lift out, you can leave this in place if you like unless your adding an extra HDD then easiest to remove it.
• Unscrew the two motherboard screws at the rear of the motherboard in the left and right corners.
• Your Motherboard is now free however if you have a wifi module mounted to the left of the system ram carefully unclipthe black and white wires. If the front of the motherboard is closest to you the black wire goes on the right and the white on the left. These can be a bit of a pita to re-install butmore on that later.
• Unplug the system speaker front left corner little white plug, its keyed
• Gently remove the motherboard by lifting the front up slightly and then sliding towards you it should come out easily, if it wont look for something caught. Place carefully to the side or if you have an anti-static bag stick it in one.
• We next need to remove the front speaker, theres a little white pin on the front at the top right corner of the speaker square at the front. I pushed my finger nails under this and pulled it out. Then gently push the speaker to the right out from the metal clip holding it. Speaker should now be free and ready to re-use
• Next salvaging the Wi-fi antenna's, Remove the black cover from the rear antenna, its in the back right corner of the case, squeeze the top and bottom togther and pull out it should pop off. The antennas are clipped over little metal protrusions on the inside of the case. I simply pushed the clips of the metal (unclipped) and then pushed outwards and they came free.  Very carefully feed the black and white wire through the holes. Hopefully now you have the two antenna's free.
• As we carefully disassembled with nil cutting you can either store the shell in case you want to put everything back in it later (dont forget to save that little white speaker push pin) or simply recycle it as its nearly 100% metal. If you do save it,make sure you store your ref photos somewhere as well.

Assembly

Hopefully between my hardware descriptions and the Stockpot video theres enough info to put the correct heat inserts in the correct place, do watch the video theres lots of good applicable items in there. My heat inserts were all put in by hand using a soldering iron and a cheap M3 brass heat insert end. Depending what your doing you'll either need a couple allen/hex keys, a T-15 Torx or a flat bladed screw drive. A small piece of double sided tape is also helpful if you have the wi-fi antennas. All Instructions are written as above with the front of the machine closest to you.

• Naturally print all the parts and set all the heat inserts in place. PLA works fine, except for the rear IO and the grill insert under the CPU if using it, you could print the whole base in PETG or ASA if your setup to but the insert will work fine.
  • You will need supports on the front panel, there is a speaker cut out and an overhang due to the way the USB headers and switch are mounted at the front. I did my supports very light 7% density with a 0.2mm top gap so they were super easy to remove.
  • Front IO will also need a small support for the switch again go light weight on support density and top distance so its easy to remove.
• If you need to Glue or melt the Grill (or solid piece if you prefer) insert into the bottom of the base, theres a picture of my base showing this. I melted mine in as I didnt want to open a super glue for such a small job, melt on the inside were no-one will ever see it, this only creates a mechanical bond but should be strong enough for the grill.
  • yes I did try adding some fine mesh to create a filter screen but the part is so thin it just fell in half. I did use ASA which dosent bond well with Nylon, you may have more luck with PETG if you want to give it a try.
• Place the white wired antenna on the right of the case near the back right corner. Place the wire so it avoids all the risers and comes across to the left of the case - essentially laying across the bottom of the case. Doing this is slightly easier than trying to push it under later.
• Place the motherboard in and secure it in with the rear left and right screws in the back corners, dont tighten them down secured but so the motherboard can still move around a little. Check you didnt snag or catch the white antenna wire.
• This is a Pita wont lie, carefull re-secure the white antenna cable to the left connector and the black cable to the right be very gentle they should just pop and hold but be gentle if they wont clip they aren't aligned. Just take your time, sometimes I get lucky with these types of connectors and they pop and clip first try other times Im fiddling for 5mins. Once you have them secured it shouldn't be possible to knock them off but dont pullto hard. Run the black cable down beside the ram and place the antenna in the front left corner. Use a small piece of double sided tape to secure the plastic antenna ends in place make sure they are below or inline with the top of the base wall/side, I've attached a picture to show mine.
• Secure the HDD Cage back in place either the stock metal one or a 3d printed one, if your using a SSD card only then screw the screws back in and I assume you had no cage. These three screws help secure the motherboard down. You will need to screw these down tight as we wont be able to come back and tighten.
• Re-mount HDD:
  • Stock cage just push it back in.
  • Custom cage (you'll need 8x 2.5inch HDD screws, SATA to USB adaptor and 3cm USB Cable), this picture and this picture may help.
    • Mount the “boot” drive at the bottom of the cage, this will be connected using the standard SATA cable we removed earlier.
    • Replug in the SATA cable to the motherboard, power and SATA and plug in the cable to the back of the HDD.
    • Mount your future USB drive above this it should be fitted slightly fwd of the lower drive.
    • Plug the SATA to USB adapter into the back of the top drive.
    • Okay our 90 degree bend USB cable we need to add another bend about 1.5cms above the first at 90 degrees. Bend it with your fingers it will spring back some thats fine we just need some angle.
    • Thread the 3cm USB cable through the backplate the small end goes through the hole from what will be the outside of the plate. 
    • Plug the USB cable into the Top HDD, you will need to put the backplate losely into place so the cable will reach.
    • Plug the other end of the cable into the top USB port, this will essentially lock your backplate in position although it will move around a bit. This is the safest way to do this I tried lots of other methods and if youlook carefully you can see in this picture I cracked the plastic top support on the USB to SATA adaptor fortunatly no other damage.
• Remount the CPU Fan, drop in place and screw down.
• Remount the CPU Heat sink, you'll need to thread the CPU fan wire back into that slot, another slightly annoying job, it'll sort of pop in and then you can place the CPU heat sink in place and screw it down. Plug the CPU fan back in once the heat sink is back in place, dont worry if the cable is poking up a bit - picture. Dont forget to replace your thermal paste if its all dry and crusty.
• Tighten the left and right rear motherboard screws.
• Things get easier now
• Pop the speaker into the front plate make sure the cable is poking to the right, this is just a push/friction fit left to right. Dont stress if it dosent fit exactly square (to tight) or is loose as it'll be trapped in there by the motherboard and its cable and it wont affect function - picture.
• Fit the small front IO plate in place, be careful not to catch the switch protrustion, put that in first then twist/rotate the front plate vertical and push in place.
• Mockup to front and make sure its all good.
• Small dab of super glue to keep the front IO in place.
• Replug the speaker cable into the motherboard - yes its tight a small screw drive can help to push it down from above.
• Screw the front panel onto the base
• Glue your Inset panel in place if using one - I recommend the Stockpot wood ones and at $5 USD a bit of a bargin in my view. No I'm not being paid per sale I just really like them.
• And done - picture
• Push the top cover into the front slots and then slowly lower it at the back, gently move your backplate out of the way as you lower it. It will seem to snag but once inside the lip of the backplate you can push the top down into place.
• Place the 4 screws into the bottom to secure the two halves
• Screw the back plate in place with the 3 screws.
• Install the USB cover to go over your USB plug being used by the HDD inside. I mainly added this as I didnt want to be fiddling one day and pull it out by mistake.
• Affix 4 little rubber feet on the underside, you can get 100's for $3-4 AUD, I use them for other projects as well - ali-express example and bunnings here in Australia
• And there it is all done.

Due to the placement of the LEDS on the G1 when it's powered on the switch will seem to glow slightly. I dont have a G4 so not sure if it gets the same effect but I thought it looked a bit funky and cool.