Welcome to Joe’s Jewel Mod Guide!
God, this project was almsot not good. I'd post pictures, but I'm too embarassed, the reason that I had to do this at all was that I tried to take the original jewel, sand the back off and have a clear one, but when I did that I accidentally melted the jewel. So, I pick up what was left of my dignity and ordered a new jewel from www.gameconsoleskins.com. Notice that's not a link, I'm not so happy with them which you'll learn about soon. I decided to get a platinum jewel, since I had already done the paint job and it matched. Let's see what the sent me:
Notice anything odd? Look again:
THERE'S A HUGE HAIR IN MY JEWEL!!! I mailed them and they said they'd send me a new one but never did, so screw them!!! I also didn't know I would have their ugly insignia in my jewel forever, and didn't know that the thing wasn't rounded but basically a cylindar. Plus, the letters "XBOX" aren't carved but etched, so you can't even put it on the old spot, since the old carved letters used fit on the little ridges on the case. All in all, a complete waste of 10 dollars.
I'm not one to waste 10 dollars, so I set out to improve it. First, I peeled off the sticky and that lame silver pad, so that the jewel is just the silver and the etched letters "XBOX" which are actually clear when the silver is gone. After much thinking, I decided to light it with green LED's. I made the circuit of 4 of them, alternating above and below each letter. After soldering them and bending them into place, I used hot melt glue as a way to hold them there, and to disperse the light. Finally, I made a plug and soldered that on. Here's the result:
And Again:
So, to have a jewel with lights, you need power. I tapped the 12V from the HDD power plug. You can see, I made a little plug for it and soldered it to the wires, which I eventually taped over to shield them. Pretty simple.
So this is what the Jewel looks like with the power off:
And, finally, on:
In order to mount the jewel, you need to cut a hole, but you also need to leave a lip for it to sit in. Notice the ridges the original jewel fit on but the new one just sits on top of.
Here was my sketch of the cut.
And this is after my professional dremel cut (I did this in my kitchen and ate plastic particles for like a month)
SO, finally, this is what it looks like with the jewel in place, and the Xbox on. I think it's tight, and it matches the silver and green theme too. Plus, the contrast of the letters hides the hair in the front, which is obviously visible if you look (though hard to see int he pics)