Tinker Mods Blog | General

The case modders skillset

You might want to start case modding your PS4 or Xbox One, but what kinds of skills do you need to get started? This will be an introduction for those of you who aren't sure if you can do it. I will begin with the easiest, but most important.

Working with your hands (DIY)

This probably isn't the skill you expected, is it? You might not think about this, but being able to work with your hands can be a pretty big deal. How do you even know if you are good with your hands? Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

If a leg on your favorite computer chair gets wobbly do you flip it over and tighten it? Do you wait until it breaks and/or buy a new one?
You come home today and the lock on your front door sticks. It is hard to use and just about breaks the key when you unlock it. Do you call a locksmith or do you go to the hardware store and buy new locks to install?
You go out and buy a new surround sound system for your T.V., do you plug in the speakers and place them wherever the length of wire permits you to? Do you pull out a spool of speaker wire, electric tape, and wire splitters and extend the wires so you can install speakers throughout the entire room?

Are you starting to get what I'm saying? If you picked the options where you take matters in your own hands and do it yourself, then you are what I would call a "Hands On" or "DIY'er". For those of you that didn't choose those options, you might be at a disadvantage here because you are less mechanically inclined. It will be much more difficult for you to start that case modding project if you don't have this skill! It's still okay if you don't, you won't have to give up on console case modding just yet. But, you might have to work a little harder or seek other options for completing your case mod. (More On that later!)

Drawing and Designing

Some say you can go without this skill. You might get told to just keep it simple and you will be okay. I would be more than happy to argue with anyone who makes that claim. It would be an easy argument to have. All I would have to do is show them these:

Images found at AdamsTechBlog.com

Yeahhhhhhh..... sooooooo.... You can go ahead and "keep it simple" if you like but please don't be mad when your cardboard Xbox catches on fire or an article comes out about your completely random PC case and how it's design would baffle even the strangest oddball art enthusiast.

I think those pictures alone should prove my point, but just because you have no practice doesn't mean you won't be able to learn! Check out These great modding tutorials. Those tutorials go through some great tips and tricks for cutting out cases for your mods! Even if you don't think you can pull it off there are some other cool things you can do that saves you the trouble of telling the fire department why you built an Xbox inside your pizza box. I will go into that later in this post.

Soldering

This skill is kind of obvious but also a deal breaker in a lot of console case modding projects. In fact, I get at least 10 emails a week from viewers asking me if I can fix their case mod because of soldering issues. Let me give you some insight so you don't end up being one of those emails too. Here are some key facts you need to know about soldering:

Soldering isn't a gift from god, you can learn how to solder as good as the best, all you need is practice.
Even if you've done a little soldering, you probably still suck at it. I'm not trying to be mean about what you can do. You just need to know that some soldering applications need very delicate care which requires a lot of experience to do correctly.
Soldering is the most common weakness for case modders. So you are not alone. This is especially so for LED lights. If all your other skills are strong, but soldering game is weak, you can look into LED kits and pre-modded boards. You can find some of those for your console by going to this online case modding supply store.

What's really important here is that you shouldn't give up! If you're starting to feel like you lack some of these skills then you need to look at some options that can give you a... boost, so to speak.

Get help where you need it

This is important because just about everyone has a weakness. Maybe you are a design genius but haven't soldered anything.. like ever. Maybe you can solder a CPU to a motherboard while hanging upside down on the wing of a jet plane but don't have a steady enough hand to cut out a case for your mod. Either way, a smart modder knows how to do what they do best and get help with the rest.

I am no different, when I first started building custom Xbox 360 consoles 10 years ago I was terrible at painting... still am. I can design, draw, cut, and solder basically anything you can think of but I couldn't keep a paint job on the case without peeling for the longest time. While I did make lots of progress and can pull off a pretty good paint job now, it still takes me 10 times as long with 10 times as much effort as others who are better skilled with painting than I am. But that's okay, I didn't beat myself up about it and you don't need to either.

So, you need to be honest with yourself about what you can do and then find the right type of tool to help you when you need it. This is why you should look into pre-made kits. You can still get an amazing case mod for your game console without turning into PizzaModz up there, and you can still do the things you do best! So, head on over to this case modding supply store and see what types of kits would help you finish your awesome case modding project!