Replacing The Front Panel to the Cooler Master CM STC-T01 Stacker Case

I still use this tower case I got in 2005 A couple years ago I modified the stock front panel to accept USB3 ports and it has worked fine. Since a few upgrades ago the firewire port has been unused and the microphone/audio jacks were disconnected for they were set for AC97 audio and not the simpler HD audio that motherboards now favor.

And really, there is no need for 6 USB ports on the front panel. I searched for a replacement panel and could not find anything that I liked so I got the closest thing and did some light modifications.

Got this one on eBay. It can be found from many sellers, this one from China had the lowest price. It has enough space to add a power switch and a couple LEDs. The blue text below the jacks is ugly so it's getting repainted.

Whole thing disassembles easy. The hole for the new power switch is in the middle, two holes for power and HDD LEDs on the right and a hole for future reset switch on the left.

 First wire up. Power & HDD LEDs are pushed into grommets that are hot glued in place. HD Audio indicators are showing wired to the molex socket but were later moved to the fan header on the Cooler Master Muskeeter.

Since the overdone text was sanded off and painted over, it needs some form of identification. Pink and green LEDs are hot glued right above the microphone and headphone jacks. The unused fan header on the Muskeeter allows them to be dimmed.

The reset switch will be added later. Some kind of recessed button that requires a CDROM Release style paperclip to push is the idea.