Billet machining a special Xbox

The world of console modding has given us some amazing projects over the years, usually rendering an original in a completely different form factor. [Modified] did a special bit of console modding on an Xbox Series X, with the unusual result of keeping the exact same form factor. What makes it special? Its Series X received a new housing, which is nearly identical to the original, but instead of molded plastic, it's machined entirely from a single billet of aluminum.

From a certain point of view, it's a bit of a crazy business: pushing the limits of its factory to eliminate 90% of the stock. But on the other hand, it's an interesting story of how to approach such a project, the challenges of reaching further into a part than the tooling is designed, and also how cool the Xbox itself is- same. Of course, he could have made it from an aluminum plate and screwed it on, but in doing so, he would have denied us the chance to follow a machining adventure.

The result is an Xbox that's theoretically the same as when it left the factory, but looks so much cooler. Oddly, the aluminum doesn't act as a heat sink as the console is air-cooled, but especially on the bottom there are more holes than in the original. On the front is an etching of Master Chief from the Halo 2 cover art which really puts the finishing touch on the build - although we wonder if it could benefit from a little resin to make it stand out a bit.

Want more X-series case mods? They don't get bigger than this one!