Tutorial written by : eXentric
Last edited: July 30, 2003

Intro

I was on XBOX-Scene the other day, and being the good supporting citizen I am, I followed one of the advertisements to SystemMods website (http://www.system-mods.com/). I was truly impressed with their neon mods.  I noticed on that page that they state "We are not only offering these services on premodded XBOX's, we will now also do these types of custom installs to any xbox you send us." So, I happily gave them a call on their toll-free number.

The person on the other end of the line told me that they did NOT do these modifications to existing boxes, nor do they have any plans to sell kits to those wanting to do it themselves. I thanked the gentleman, hung up the phone, and set off to do it on my own.

I will provide you with the steps I took using the parts I found after an evening of research. You may be able to find other cold cathode / neon kits that require less work - if so, I'd like to hear about them. I have since noticed that SystemMods uses a smaller 3" kit (the kit I used was a 4"). Out of the 3" kits I found online, all shared about the same profile as the 4" kit I used, and the 4" kit will also provide more light. Again, it's all up to your preference.

Disclaimer

Neon is cool. No, it's damn cool. At least to look at that is. Temperature-wise, however, it's not so cool - In fact, it can get rather warm to the touch. I have done my best to address this issue throughout this modification, so that you can enjoy neon in your XBOX for extended periods of time. As always, however, it is ultimately your own responsibility when it comes to any modification to your box. I take no responsibility for any damage due to the implementation of this modification.

Now that that's out of the way, lets light this thing up!

What you will need

(Click on any picture throughout this article for a larger version)

	4" Cold Cathode Neon Kit (quantity of 2) You can purchase these kits from just about anywhere, but I strongly suggest you purchase this one from Directron.com. This kit includes the molex connector / splitter that allows you to connect it right in line with the XBOX hard disk. It also includes a nice black 12v switch, and the transformer fits nicely behind the XBOX DVD drive. Most importantly, one transformer can supply power for two neon tubes. Unfortunately, you will have to buy two kits to get two tubes, but at least you will have a backup inverter if your main one fails. One kit will cost you $13.99, two of them will run you $26.99. They have four colors to chose from, including Black Light.
	Dremel® 684 Cleaning / Polishing Bit Set I strongly suggest you purchase the entire kit. You can get the kit from Home Depot for under $10. You will at least need the following pieces.
	Dremel® 686 Sanding / Grinding Bit Set Again, I strongly suggest you purchase the entire kit (also under $10 at Home Depot). You will at least need the following pieces.
	Dremel® Cutting Discs I believe these come with just about any Dremel, but if not, they're also cheap at Home Depot.
	RotoZip Bit This one also came with my Dremel.
	Hot Glue Gun I would suggest the smaller crafts glue gun that uses a lower heat.
	Hot Air Gun or Hair Dryer I used the one pictured so it does not need to be anything special, but it DOES need to get very hot.
	Glue I would suggest super glue, but regular white glue will work also (it will just take longer to dry).
	Bic Pens You DO need to get the ones pictured. The color of the ink does not matter, but be sure you get the very thin ones that have use a clear hard outer shell. You need a minimum of two, but grab a few extras just in case.
	Drywall Countersinks These are the smaller-sized countersinks. You do not need the screws. These must be the correct diameter to just about fit in the end of the Bic pen.

Getting Started

The most time consuming part of the whole mod, is converting

 this:   into this:

You will notice that the XBOX jewel is clear except for a layer of green paint at the bottom. This layer is actually very thin and can be literally scraped off of the back of the jewel. But first, you must be able to get to the back of the jewel.

Removing the jewel from your XBOX takes time and patience - especially if you are using a lower powered hair dryer. Still, the lower powered dryer may prove to be the better method because even though I was cautious, I still managed to deform some of the XBOX cover (read on).

Removing the Jewel

Open your XBOX in the usual manner. Set the unit aside and keep the lid. Using the air gun or dryer, thoroughly heat both the jewel itself as well as the underside of the lid directly behind the jewel. Alternate from front to back frequently to ensure even heating.

This heating process takes far longer then you would expect (trust me). I heated the lid for 10 minutes before I even began prying at the jewel. Even then it was not easy to remove. One good practice as you are heating the lid is to rotate it from time time time. Not only from front to back as you heat the jewel, but also flip the lid so that the jewel is upside down from time to time. I did not do this and the plastic posts that the case screws screw into actually started bending due to the heat and gravity... woops. I also warped some of the plastic directly underneath the jewel as I was prying it out, but that is not a problem since we will be cutting that area out anyway.

After heating for 10 minutes+, use a screw driver to slowly rock and pry the jewel loose. Take your time here. If you are not careful you can actually crack the jewel. Unfortunately, your XBOX cover will also be so hot at this point that even small amounts of pressure by the screw driver on the lid will cause the plastic to deform slightly. This leaves small pits where the screw driver was applying counter-pressure. I don't know of a way to avoid this unless you can use some other tool to pry the jewel out that has a rounded edge where it touches the XBOX. Something like a VERY small crow bar would do, but I don't know if such a thing exists. After I was done prying the jewel out, I used one of the detail sanding bits from the Dremel® 686 kit to soften the pits to the point that they are not noticeable if you are not looking for them.

Clarifying Things

Once the jewel is out, first remove the glue, then remove the paint. This is not extremely difficult, but again it will take time and patience as you must pay attention to detail. A knife can be used to remove most of the glue, and the softer cleaning tool from the Dremel® 684 kit can be used to remove the majority of the paint. You want to be especially careful around the XBOX lettering in the jewel. The letters are physically indented into the jewel itself, but they are hollow and you can accidentally scratch off some of the silver paint used in the letters. Use a smaller sanding bit or even a knife to remove the paint closest to the letters.

By now you have probably noticed that the sanding and scraping has left the jewel fairly scratched and pitted. That's where the polishing tools come in. Here are some of my pointers for polishing, although I'm fairly new at it:

When getting the polish out of its container and onto the polishing wheel, make sure you are at the lowest speed setting. Apply moderate force to the polish in the container and evenly coat the wheel. If the polish starts to melt in the container you are rotating too fast and/or not applying enough pressure. You do not need an excessive amount of polish on the wheel.

When polishing the jewel itself, also use a lower setting (1 or 2, but not faster then 3). Vary your pressure and move in a circular direction as if you are polishing a car. Allow the polish to liquefy on the jewel itself and then polish for 10 or 15 seconds longer. Finally, stop and allow the polish to cool before wiping excess polish off with a soft cloth. Repeat these steps often to finish off the jewel. If you keep the wheel on the jewel too long after the polish has liquefied, then the polish will start to bond to the jewels plastic and will either leave dark red streaks in the plastic or give the plastic a pinkish tint. If this happens, allow the jewel to cool and perform the same steps over the same area again - making sure to stop sooner. Fresh polish appears to work the old polish back out of the plastic.

Allowing Light Through

You now have a clear jewel that will allow light to pass through. The problem is, of course, that there is still plastic underneath where the jewel sits. You can't just remove all of it either, because you would have nothing left to affix the jewel to. I found it easiest to use a fairly thick permanent marker (like a sharpie) to simply trace a smaller circle inside the larger one. A lip of only 1/8" is about all you need.

Once the smaller circle is drawn, use a drill or a cutting bit to drill holes all around the inside of the smaller circle. Drill as many holes as you are willing to drill. The more holes you pre-drill, the easier it is to make the hole a smooth round circle when cut out.

Next, use the RotoZip (or other cutting) bit to finish off the areas between your pre-drilled holes. Finally, use the rotational sanding bit to finish things off. Once you are done, you can go ahead and affix the jewel back to the lid using the glue of your choice.

A Problem of Space

There is very little space between the DVD drive and the top of the lid. In fact, there is too little space for the neon tubes to fit. Luckily, the tubes in the neon kit aren't actually the bulbs themselves but instead a protective plastic case. You cannot put the bare bulbs directly into the XBOX for two reasons:

1. One of the wire leads is not shielded and could cause some serious damage to your XBOX if it was allowed to touch anything like your DVD drive.

2. The bulbs by themselves get too hot.

This is where the Bic pens come in.

Remove the plastic cap and remove the ink cartridge from the tube. Then, use the rotational cutter to cut the plastic tube at the two places indicated in this photo. You now have a smaller tube that can safely house one of the neon lights. Repeat this step to produce a tube for the second light.

It's now time to get the bulbs out of their old tubes and into the new ones. But the old tubes are very tough. The plastic end caps do NOT come off. I first tried breaking the glue by applying pressure with a pair of pliers to the end cap, but I almost broke one of the bulbs. The best way I found to free the bulb is to use the rotational cutter to saw down the center of the end cap parallel to the power wire. Be careful, though, not to cut the wire itself. In fact, I found it better to stop 1/8" short of the power wire and just use a flathead screw driver to break the end cap apart.

Heat up the hot glue gun and apply some hot glue to the heat shrink leading to the bulb. Apply the glue as far away from the actual bulb as possible but not so far that the glue will not get inserted into the pen tube with the bulb. Now insert the bulb into the pen tube, twisting as the bulb is inserted so that as much hot glue stays with the bulb as possible. Hold the wires as the hot glue dries, and try to keep the bulb centered within the pen tube as much as possible.

When the glue cools, use this guide to cut the ends off of two of the drywall countersinks. Push the countersink half with the screw hole into the end of the pen tube where you didn't glue. If all goes well, the cut countersink half should keep the neon light suspended in the middle of the pen tube.

Since the bulb is no longer touching the plastic, the tube does not get nearly as hot while the bulb is operating. Still, you should operate the lights for 10 minutes or more at this point to get a feeling for how hot the tubes will be in operation. It is up to you to determine how long you feel comfortable leaving the lights on. I usually leave mine on for 15 minutes or so before I turn them off. The box isn't really hot at that point; I just like to play it safe.

Light the Lid

Before attaching the lights, I used the rotational cutter again to grind down some of the 1/8" lip under the jewel. This gave me just a little more clearance, and I would suggest you do the same. After that's done, you can go ahead and glue the two light tubes behind the jewel. I put one tube just above the XBOX lettering and one just below. The wire leads need to go to the left side of the XBOX when looking from the front (the side with the DVD drive). You can use this image as a guide.

Once the glue has dried, you can go ahead and cut the hole for the power switch. The switch has to be placed so that the wires coming down from the switch do not interfere with any parts in the XBOX. The best placement I found for the switch can be seen in this image. Use the template that came with the neon kit to draw the circle at the exact size. Gradually use a larger drill or Dremel bit to cut the hole out. Finish the hole off using the rotational sanding bit.

 When these steps have been completed, your lid should look like this.

Connecting the Utilities

The molex connector and splitter will connect to the back of the hard drive. Unfortunately, the power wire for the neon kit is not long enough to go all the way around the perimeter of the XBOX, so you will be required to drill a hole through the plastic housing that holds the hard drive. The hole does not need to be very large, and the power connection will look like this when completed.

The inverter will simply sit behind the DVD drive like this. Just be careful that you slide it over far enough that it is not in the way of the wires coming down from the power switch in the lid.

When all connections are complete, it should look like this and this.

Reassemble and Enjoy

After testing the whole thing and making sure it works, place a white piece of paper on top of the DVD drive and hard disk to provide a backdrop for the lights. Finally, reassemble your box and enjoy your new creation.

Here are some pictures of my beast after this mod was completed. I had to seriously tweak the settings on my camera to get some of these shots, but trust me, this mod is well worth the effort.

Good luck, and happy modding.

Tutorial written by : eXentric