Scratch Build – In Progress H2O-C7 June 26 Still more Rain! SUX

+1

Sounds like a plan mate.

 

Can you just mount it to the floor?

 

I never thought of that. Do you people think it would be OK to just use 2 screws into the MB tray? No upper support? Take some real careful measuring or maybe some small slots since the bottom has NO support now. Just the folded up guides. It relies on the case and the top mount to hold it in place.



John

 

I wouldn't be comfortable with it personally. There's a lot of vibration going on there, and more support would be important I feel. Maybe 2 screws from the mobo tray into some sort of support structure that has the bottom of the HD screwed in (not the sides only, I mean) but that seems like more work for less gain than simply redrilling the top support bar to match the turned around screwholes, or just replacing with the alum angle as you'd thought.

 

I forgot it was sitting on the motherboard tray. Either way is fine. You don't plan on playing catch with this thing.
You could add some plexiglas to the bottom of the motherboard tray, but then it's just as complicated as adding the aluminum bar.

 

Velcro rofl .

 

Marilyn says ...

This is the back of the stock case. OK, I whacked a small hole.


See this area where the original PSU was?
How about? What if? Suppose?



This is the tiny radiator sitting on one of my USB card readers. It just happens to be about the right size.





It would take a brave heart and pure spirit to mount a radiator above the I/O area of a motherboard. Oh, That's us/we Bit-Tech people!

Marilyn thinks it could work up here. The left side where I doodled in with the black marker is where the external PSU will connect - female 20/24 pin and a couple 4 pin Molex and 1 SATA power.
I have no use for the PCI slot so it can be filled in and the radiator hoses routed to that side.
That leaves the res in the front, the tiny H2O blocks towards the center and the radiator at the way back top.

So what do you think about this layout? Too many pain killers. Mind distorted or "make it so"?

John

 

I like it (aren't those rad so freaking cool?)

Make it happen!

 

That fits perfectly. Will you have enough room to connect the hose? IF not jsut use some right angle adapters.

 

I like it too! Maybe a plexi window around it?
Brave hearts around here is the easy part, where it gets harder is the pure spirit and the steady hand.

 

It might come to that. For some reason the 3/8" ID tubing is too large for the rad. It's appears to be about 5/16" or some smaller metric equiv. So small piece of smaller hose, 90 degree fitting mounted close as possible, and hose from there to wherever it needs to go. Really tiny case. I'll whip up the actual measurements tomorrow.

I'm thinking the whole back panel needs to be a custom fabrication for the female PSU sockets and the rad. Alum, or plexi, or something.

I'm actually reaching the point where the case is an impediment. I have a bunch of 1/2" X 1/2" alum angle and 1/2" X 3/4" angle and enough plexi to replace everything. It looks like its coming down to keep the motherboard tray and fabricate the rest.

Am I turning into ArtByTroy?

John

 

The back mounted radiator sounds good. You can cover the entire back panel with plexi, change the layout to suit your needs, and paint the inside of it to mask the metal. I hope you find some 90 degree 5/16 to 3/8" adapters.

 

Really? That's strange. The specs on that rad state:

Is the hose really that loose as you slip it over the barbs? Too loose to use some hoseclamps on it?

I love the idea of mounting that rad in the PSU area myself. I think it could work perfectly, other than the barb issue. It would've been easier had they put the barbs at a 90-degree angle off the bottom of the rad, eh?

 

Thanks for all the repilies guys. Watch for an update today. I've been mocking up what I think will be a nice solution.

john

 

A picture up

I showed the radiator mount pictures to the family and they said "that's where it needs to be". They must read Bit-Tech replies. LOL

So I went to the mighty stash closet and pulled out some tools and some stuff laying around and came up with this.

I grabbed some card stock paper out of the printer pile and made these:





Held em up to the tiny case and decided the front window needs to be bigger to show off the res and pump combo


The rear I/O and radiator opening works fine if I square off the corners of the old PSU mount


Ok the patterns were made I approve this message.
What next? Strathmore made in the UK.


Cut some pieces here:

5 little pieces took some time.
I marked them so you people can try to see how little the case is.
Front:

Back:

"What would you like on the sides?"


One of our forum members is too poor to have a ceiling, but I have a roof!


So what's the big deal! That folks was the back sides.


Borrowed some temporary two sided tape from my lady/wife's scrapbooking desk.

Front 3/4 view

rear 3/4 view

And the roof:



I think this will look OK. I use the alum. angles and supports for the sides and the top and bolt em on with small black cap head bolts.

I'll lose the mirrored front and the stock front USB and audio, but I can come up with my own.

Now that I have patterns for separate panels it should be easier to define where the windows need to go.

Thoughts?

john

 

Looking good John.

Although i do think if you mod that case anymore it may of been easier to do a scratch build

 

oops double post

 

The actual inner skeleton is steel and well made. The wrap around cover would need repainted and filled because of some unknown factory stamping blemishes.

So, for cheap I got the inner skeleton and the motherboard tray. I added the motherboard, HDD, pump/res, and the H2O blocks from Cheapskate.

This log entry was purposefully long for a potential sponsor who has agreed to help with the case.

Sponsor has come through and you will see magic soon.

john

 

Congratulations, but what else could you possibly stuff in there.

 

I like the way this is leading...

Alakazam! *disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving only a pair of safety glasses*