Scratch Build – In Progress Hotmods.net - The Scratchbench - FINISHED 01-01-2016

I so want that res, cant wait for more pics

 

have you found a block for your 7970 yet? you are on every forum in Denmark trying to find one

 

Yes, it is very nice. I love the idea that it's glass and not acrylic. But I was a bit surprised over the sheer size of it - the glass tube is 80 mm. wide and the base (and of course also; the pump top) are slightly bigger than my old D5 top (EK-D5). Well, at least that's how it feels.

No luck so far.

Well, that's not entirely true.
Coolerkit have actually found an old block and reserved it for me (thanks, Michael!) - problem is that it's not EN Nickel, but simply copper. So, I can either have it nickel plated myself (which I would like to avoid, because the glare/finish probably won't be the same as EK's electro nickel plating method), or I can do as I did: I asked EK if they happen to have a spare block in the old design. Long story.... so, here it is (copied directly from the Hotmods.net facebook page):

"Here's a positive story involving EK Waterblocks.

Now, I've always had good email conversations with EK, and they always responded fast to my various (some of them pesty, I'm sure) questions and sponsoring requests.
I don't think it's a secret or surprise to most of you that I'm absolutely NOT a fan of their CSQ line and I've vented this often and in various places - so many places that I would think that Eddy and his crew know how I feel about it.

With this in mind, let me tell you a good story:

Last week, I purchased an ASUS 7970 for my "The Scratchbench" test bench project. It was simply so cheap I couldn't control myself - and with "Farcry 3" in my game arsenal and with "Crysis 3" coming out soon, I think I needed something more powerful than my 6970.

Now, my 6970 was non-reference and I got the EK-FC6970 V2 block and matching backplate for it - it's just stunning.
I knew that EK make/made a non-CSQ block for the 7970 (last non-CSQ block, I believe), so I started looking around for that one. But I couldn't find it anywhere - well, not in any trustworthy shop, anyway. Couldn't even find any used ones on eBay!

So I was at a loss and started thinking "Should I go CSQ?" - even though I hated the idea and felt (and, to this day; still think like that) that EK had dropped the ball on that one. Still, I had a look around and found that although EK did make a CPU block (the EK Supremacy) that would fit my CPU, they don't make a MOSFET/VRM block in CSQ for my motherboard (ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z), so I would end up mixing designs by going CSQ.

So, I thought: "Let's try to ask EK. It can't hurt, right?" - so I wrote Eddy and Gregor a message, not saying that I dislike CSQ, but that it just doesn't fit my other blocks and if they would still happen to have some classic EK-FC7970 Acetal/EN Nickel block lying around.

To my surprise, Eddy responded REALLY fast, although this was right after Christmas. First of all, he told me that Gregor doesn't work for EK any more, which was new to me. He CC'ed another guy, a Peter Sajn, and told me that Peter would start looking around their stock and warehouse for the block I was looking for. And if they didn't find any, they would ask their resellers to see if any of those would happen to have a block in their stocks.
I was really surprised by the speed and professionalism of EK here. Peter also responded really fast, saying he hadn't found enough parts to put together a whole block for me, but he would start asking the resellers. I was really happy and grateful towards EK for this. It also taught me a lesson - even though I felt they didn't listen to their customers with the introduction of the CSQ design line, they still have an excellent customer service (at least to me) and are willing to go that extra mile for difficult customers - like me, for instance.

I'm not saying that this will win me over on the CSQ side of things - I still think the circles look weird and it's massively annoying that you can now only mount fittings on one side of the blocks, but it made me feel like I should write this to enlighten you all and tell you that EK don't seem to crap on their customers. They just believe that the CSQ line is nice and cool - while still being able to do stuff for their older customers. Thanks, EK!"

 

You got skillz. Like the sketchup stuff too.

 

i read that on your facebook nice service thou

 

plastic protector nutman? what is this ? you know them ?

hows it going ? missing pictures

 

STOP TEASING ME!

I know it was stupid to not use the plastic slot protector while cleaning those caps. I do hope I was able to properly re-shape all the pins in the CPU socket. I mean, I THINK I succeeded, but I guess only the 1st boot attempt will tell.

 

long time no see ?? a status Nutman ??

 

As you wrote in your own worklog:

"Modding is not my 1st priority right now".

To which I would like to add:

"Becoming able to mod again is my 1st priority right now".

Still renovating the office/modding/gaming room, aswell as the workshop in my basement. Solid progress was done last week, though, so we're definately getting there!

 

bah don't steal my lines

well i will say a good work space is very important

i have thrown a small update + pictures on my own work-log your pump is ready to get mounted inside the case this week

but i can say i'll looking forward to see some pictures of your new basement and work space
properly amazing and ofc your mod

 

I'm not really sure how awesome it'll be.
It won't be as awesome as Bill Owen's modding table, nor any of the other top modders' workshops, but it'll be OK for what I got. Which is a 2x4 m. basement, where I need to be able to store other things, too.

 

THIS PROJECT IS NOT DEAD!

Really, it isn't.

However, the worklog seems dead, so let me explain why nothing has happened to this project for sooo long time now.

Well, first of all... I am renovating our apartment and also our basement storage room, where I usually do most of my "dirty" modding work. I have a small workshop set up down there, but, due to the renovation of the apartment, there's really no room for any modding in the workshop right now:



As the apartment was getting more and more ready, I was able to spend some time in the basement room. The plan is to get rid of lots of the junk stored down there (already did, but still much to go) and then build a slightly larger and more logically laid-out-for-modding workshop for me.

First of all, I wanted a bigger table and I wanted it mounted to the concrete wall, to make it much more stable than my old desk.

But first I had to get all the crap out of the room:



And yes, I got a lot of monitors. Old Compaq TFT 8030 18.1" ones - leftovers from the place where I work. I thought I would be able to sell them for app. 30 U$D a pop, but so far no one has been interested enough. Would give me some money for my current project aswell as for renovating the modding workshop, but I guess it just isn't going to be.... they will be thrown out soon, if no interested buyers step up.

However, I was now able to access the room:



A vertical shot might demonstrate better how little room I actually got for modding in there:



I'm not complaining, though. I'm happy to even have a place to do all the "dirty" modding work, and after the renovation it'll become even better, so...

The old table had to go:





Drilled holes in the concrete and mounted the brackets for supporting the table top.
Sadly, I broke the gears in my rotary hammer while doing this. I guess cheap tools can become just TOO cheap. Next time, I'm buying a quality hammer, for sure...





It'll be sweet with the table top fixed to the concrete wall, I'm sure. Since my drill press is going to be mounted to the table top, this will eliminate lots of its vibrations - or, at least, that's the idea. Let's see how it'll all pan out. More to come. Stay tuned.

 

So glad this isn't dead, been eager to see more of this!!!

 

I didnt read every word, but has anyone else suggested making that res bracket into a handle since it goes across the whole thing?

Like this..

 

My mods never die. They just go to dust heaven and return eventually.

Funny you should mention handles. I was (and still am) wondering where to put handles on this this. The res bracket is an interesting idea, but I fear it's not stable enough to be used for carrying the entire testbench. I'll keep looking.

 

Alright, I'm bringing this one back from the dead.

Stay tuned for updates really soon!

 

Alright, let's get this one BACK ON TRACK!

It's been almost 2 years since I posted any progress in this thread - however, there's perfectly fine explanation as to why it's been so long:

January 2013: I discovered Battlefield 3 - and life would never be the same again...
June 2013: I bought a motorcycle - and life would never be the same again...
Autumn 2013: I bought Battlefield 4 - and life would never be the same again...
Winter 2013: I reconstructed the workshop in my small basement room.
Spring/summer 2014: I spent LOTS of time in the newly reconstructed workshop to take care/modify my motorcycle.
Summer 2014: I spent time FINALLY riding my now well maintained motorcycle.

Perfectly fine and quite understandable, no?

Well, it's not like I've been uninterested in the modding world during that time - I just added several new interests/hobbies to my already overflowing bin of hobbies/things I like to do in my spare time.

Anyhow...

In the last update I posted that contained actual pictures, I showed you how I had started reconstructing the workshop. That was in the spring of 2013....

However, I scrapped the plans and the progress I had made down there and it wasn't until winter 2013 I picked up reconstructing the workshop.

Here's how it ended up:





And, as mentioned above, the first project being tended to after the workshop recontruction was this little baby:



That's a first-gen Suzuki SV650s (from 1999) for those of you who didn't know.

Being a casemodder, I, of course, made a worklog to show people what I was doing to the bike, as I went along.

Here's a link to the worklog (all in danish - I just can't be bothered translating it, or posting it on an international SV650 forum. At least not yet...)

Ok, let's get on with the worklog for The Scratchbench! (After all, that's what this worklog is for) See next post...

 

Well I'm glad I'm only getting on board now, so I got to skip the slacking on your part. Nice bike! And all valid reasons for putting this on the back burner too. Gotta recharge the mental batteries and enjoy life sometimes.

 

Holy batass, Batman! A new subscriber!

Well, welcome to this thread revival, and thank you for your comment. I'll be posting another update in....eh, some minutes.

 

First thing to do after the big break was to mark, drill and countersink the holes for mounting the pump/reservoir combo on the designated plate.

Marking:



Centre-punched and ready to drill! The "Dia 1,2 cm" mark is for drilling a 1,2 cm. hole for the reservoir RGB LED wire and it's connector:



Drilled and countersunk:



I promised you pictures of what was inside the boxes from Aquacomputer.

Well, this is the contents of 3 of the packages - one D5 pump with lots of connections and Aquacomputer electronics inside, one Aqualis reservoir and a top to connect those 2 bits. The top also has Aquacomputer magic items built in.

The entire pump/reservoir combo will be mounted on these 4 "rubbery" vibration killers:



The reservoir itself:



The top/pump combo:



This is the RGB LED that will sit inside the reservoir:



In order to fit it, I needed to bend the pins 90 degrees - at this stage, 2 of the soldered wires came lose and had to be re-soldered. At first, I only noticed the red wire had come lose (that was easy to spot!), but the green one had actually also come lose and I had to disassemble the entire pump/reservoir combi at a later stage, in order to re-solder the green wire. Slightly annoying and I think it's a pretty big design flaw by Aquacomputer!



Oh, and what will all the fans, the RGB LED and the electronically controlled D5 pump be connected to? Why, this sweet Aquaero 5 controller, of course:







Comes with a remote controller and everything - AND it's got a water block for keeping the VRM circuit cool!

I found a good spot for the Aquaero:



To match the rest of the cable management solutions going on in this project, I wanted to have most wires run to the Aquaero from "within" the test bench itself - so I marked another slot for cable management:



I also wanted the 8-pin EPS cable to be running inside the test bench and not show too much wire, so I marked this slot to be cut into the test bench's top plate:



Cutting:





The arsenal of tools selecting for cleaning up the cuts:



Done - all the edges don't need to be perfect, because the test bench will be painted at a auto paint shop, so small imperfections WILL be covered nicely by the automotive paintjob later on:





I also wanted to make a cover/enclosure for the Aquaero, so I took some spare parts from an old Lian Li case and marked where to cut and bend:



Cut - and ready for bending:



If you don't have a proper sheet metal brake, but bend stuff like this with your bare hands, it's a good idea to score a recess where you want it to bend:



All bending done:



Fits perfectly:





Cut a recess for the watercooling tubes:



The results of that day's work:



Stay tuned!