Along with the replacement case, C3 had cut more X-Fi letters in UV blue acrylic and sent them to us. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, these letters had not had the adhesive backing or metallised vinyl applied. That meant I had to do this myself.
The letters were stuck down on to a sheet of brushed aluminium effect “cockpit trim” film, available from auto shops. The film was trimmed using a craft knife. Instead of adhesive tape, we used clear acrylic glue to stick the letters on to the case. Note that the letters are applied to the brushed aluminium sheet reversed.
The letters were accurately aligned on the cases side using the set square and then glued in place, taking great care to prevent the glue from running and marring the finish (the acrylic glue has the consistency of water).
Since the letters were made of UV reactive plastic, we used UV LEDs to light them up. (The limo tint is UV blocking so using UV cathodes inside the case would be useless).
Holes for the LEDs were drilled through the side panel and into the backs of the letters. The holes were drilled just deep enough so the LED lighting element was embedded into the letters to give maximum effect.
The LEDs were wired up along with their relevant current limiting resistors and fitted with a four pin PSU connector.
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