Scratch Build – In Progress Hypno-Toad Rebuild--April 2012 quick repair and refit.

I agree about this plug. It looks like the they stuff the power in and just grab some coming out. I would NEVER suggest this stuff for anything mATX or ATX. It looks like they are drawing the output from the traces on the motherboard. My mini-itx motherboards only draw a max of 12 watts with the cute little SSHD. Fanless, no opticals, just SSHD. Why not bang off an email to Hank at PPCS and see what he thinks.?
another $0.02
John

 

@KayinBlack - Thanks!
@John - I can't bring myself to bug someone when I have all of BT here...I just need to get their attention somehow.

Updade time.

-I got a pile of plexi from Delvie's the other day. I ordered some stuff I thought would come in handy on later mods too. The first thing I did was chop two 3/4" strips off the 1/2" sheet. (note to self: mow yard)

-I read here somewhere that someone had trouble getting their tile saw to cut plexi. I must defend my technique! Here you can see the difference between a table saw cut edge and a tile saw edge. The tile saw works great!

-The strips were cut up and one edge was beveled and polished. These replaced the aluminum angles that held the back and faceplate on. One of them needed a counterbore for the handle/foot screws.

-I'm still worried about the electromagnetic interference coming from the PSU. I decided to test it the only way I could. I dug the family Gilligan's Island-style AM radio out and found a station. When I powered up the mobo, the radio went all white noisy. I think I know why the ground wire on the metal box is important now. I will need to work out a mesh solution. Out of curiosity, I moved the radio around Bloo while it was running. I have all kinds of signal bleeding out of the case. Oh, well. My house is in the direct path of the airport runway, and I don't seem to be causing any crashes, (yet.) I guess it's OK.

-Don't you just hate that. I needed a 3/4" hole for some switches I bought from Petra's Tech. The countersink was the only thing that size. The crap propyl plastic fused to the bit. I had fun getting that out.

-Here's the switches in for a test fit. The black AC switch will control the AC fan, and the lighted green switch will control LEDs. You can see I drilled out half of the rivets on the brackets here. (Edit: or not... But I did at some point.)

-There's a nice shot of the holes I made, but more importantly, No aluminum bracket! It worked! First I ran some solvent into the seam between the two panels, let it sit about 10 minutes, then removed the rest of the rivets on the bracket. Then I positioned the new plexi bracket and glued it in before the seam could separate.

-After I finished that, I tore into the new 1/4" sheet. These strips will replace the side supports. I also cut a bit for the pump mounting.
I was on a roll, so I cleaned up the edges on a marble cutting board too. I love to cut sh*t with that saw!

-Here I'm using a mill bit to cut a bevel. This set of brackets are for the drive bays.

-A countersink bit came out to cut the end bevels.

The bracket under the powersupply can't be replaced in the same way the others were. I will need to brace it from the outside. Fortunately, there's a nice fat base on the backplate.

-I need a way to secure the sides without the threaded aluminum frame. I'm cuting nut-shaped countersinks into the new brackets.

That's where I'm at. Thanks to Danger Den for their support.

 

great work on the plexi, i always like looking at your builds as i pick up something new each time i go through them.

 

Thanks. I like coming to BT to get ideas. It's good to know I'm giving some ideas out too, (and being a general, all-around bad influence.)

 

More of the same

Well, I only have one piece of sheet metal let on the case, and it's the bit to secure the cards. I could take it out in the yard and hose it down now if I wanted... and I really should. It's messy.

-The first side panel bracket of the retrofit was easy. It took a long time because it had a lot of testing done to it. I had to do each of the buggers one at a time because each one had it's own unique problem, and I needed the old bars in place to hold everything.

-Here's the first problem child. The drive bay is mounted to the 1/8" angle.

-This is part of the solution. I glued a nut, (ouch!) inside the bracket that mounts to the inside of the bay.

-I milled a spot out of the new bracket to match the bay.

-This spot was glued on with IPS Weld-On #16 (the gel stuff.) All the seams were given the traditional layer of blue permanent marker.

-I had to use the #16 a lot because of uneven areas. I used it on the back bottom brackets.

-Both the brackets behind the motherboard mount needed some milling. The epoxy holding the mobo mounts to the aluminum came off easily.

-The frame is mostly done. I'm short 1 nut, (ouch again.) one of the nuts I bought was the wrong size, so remember to check your nuts carefully.

-I can say so long to all this ugly junk^.

-One of the plans I had that I'm still working the bugs out of is how to make a cover for the TDX block. I bought some 3/4' plexi for this, but I'm having trouble with getting around the hose clamps.

-The part for the pump mount went under the rotary table. I didn't have a design when I started this. I just was playing around.

-Here's the mounting bracket seated in the drive bay. The screw holes on the bracket have little countersinks on them so I can put foam in there. This way the mount is free floating just slightly. To mount the pump, I have some silicone grommets I snagged from a dead monitor.

Now, go buy some DangerDen stuff!!!!

 

hi there cheapskate,

i have lurked the forums for a while now, and love your work, its a little bit of inspiration to the jobless modders (like myself) out there.

i wanted to post a reply in response to your fan choice, its a nice fan, but i think you may be using it incorrectly, i dont believe it was designed as a intake fan, and will end up just moving air within the case around the fan, take a look here for a little better explanation http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/2005/dcfans/ComboCool/a2329/a2329.htm

Matticus

 

Very Very Good!!

 

Thanks Mattkguns, I'm glad you like my stuff. The thermaltake fans aren't going to be recirculating that much. The vents in the sides don't have much area compared to the big hole in front of the fan. I agree they would intake better if I put them outside the case. I was going for a mix of quiet and cheap, and was dissapointed. They have the same db level as a $2 YateLoon fan.
Thanks welder tamarra. back at ya!

 

put words here...


-I beveled and polished the pump mount, but I scuffed the heck out of it on the bench buffer. I also have a tight spot I can't machine polish.

-My solution was to buff it with a scrap of blue velvet. (<--oh, boy! Am I going to hear it about that one...) I rubbed the brick of plastic polish on the material to 'charge' it.

-I opened up the PSU hole a bit, but it still wasn't enough. I added a rounded channel to the inside with a dremel.

-This test fit shows the improvement. I added some more holes to the PSU back earler.

-So, you're all probably wondering where I've been... The voices said I should sand down the faceplate. I finally got the edges beveled too.

-After only the first pass with the polish, I got a pretty good monkeyflection. The big buffing wheel I made works great, but the dremel heats up quickly. I don't want to kill another dremel.

-I decided it was time for a better video card. You can pick up the one I had for $15 at this point. Of course, I didn't spend much this time either, (what's my name?!?!) Ugh! Green and orange! It's like they didn't want it to match with anything.

-The bracket for the Maze 5 fits. That heatsink will be history.

-For now, it goes on the system with air cooling. That RED board is going in a green case?

-I soldered together a switch assembly. I want the components to be removable. I murdered an old floppy drive for the molex connector. I had to solder that joint twice when I realized I forgot the sleeving.

-This is the test run using that fan I destroyed and my trusty Kingston data silo. The camera flash hid the light in the switch.

Go get some DangerDen stuff!!!!!!!!

 

Cheaps,
This sweet. Gonna make some more of the plexi plugs for the unused PCI and/or memory? I Liked them
John

 

Thanks.
I should make one to hold a fan over the vid card. I think that's going to happen to the one on bloo. (I got a new card coming for it too. The reviews say it gets hella-hot.) The problem with making a cover for this one is the colors. Clear doesn't work very well, and green would be ugly.

 

-I got the pump mounted up, Then took a poor shot of the mounting. See it anywhere?

-Check this turd out. I was going to use it to cut the 3/4" sheet. I needed it because the saw can't clear the vises if it's set too deep. I'm glad I found this instead of buying it. What a crooked piece of junk.

-The clamps came out of the whitener... not white. I may need some black dye.

I cut the 3/4" plexi for a cover for the TDX block. First I had to drill 2 big holes for the inlets. I used a spade bit and a lot of water. The water kept the bit from melting the edges of the holes.

-After the holes were drilled, I could trace the block.

-I wanted to see if I could get some prismatic action going with this part. I started cutting funny angles into the plate.

-Here it is rough cut.

-Here's an 'OOPS' moment. You know how circle templates are slightly larger to compensate for the pencil thickness? I kinda forgot...

-So I drilled the hole for the spring too small by 1/32".

-Here It is mostly finished. It needs polishing, and I have added mounts for LEDs to the underside.

Thank you DangerDen.



Log update 3... I'm sleepy.

 

All right, I'm gonna have to do something to top you now.

Consider the glove thrown down.

 

I'm not nearly finished.
Thanks for the free glove. (bad pun)

 

Was it a right or a left one? I'll give you the match to it but it will prolly be a different color..... Sweet work on that waterblock, It'll look really nice.

 

Thanks.

 

I figured out what to do with the old rivet wells...

-I drilled them to fit 5mm LEDs, then capped them with some black opaque plexi.

-Nice effect.

-It really highlights the scars in the material. The LEDs will be run in sets of 3, so with 8 going in the faceplate I will have some extras to work out.

-Something came to visit from the other thread so I could glue braces on the base. I don't want my potentiallly leaky res rocking. The seals WILL come lose like that. The packing cellophane is to keep the glue from making the res a permanent fixture.

-The TDX cover is polished. I need to re-sand the top face. I have some scratches from sanding the dimples. The LED mounts are hard to see because I put a 45 degree bevel on them. It works like a mirror and fires the LED light straight up. THAT part of the plan worked, but no prism effect.

-My poor hose clamps... They have had a long life, and I haven't even used them yet. First they were white. Then I dyed them pink. Then I dyed them UV pink. Then I tried to dye them white again. Now I've dyed them black. There's still hints of red in them, but wow. The black dye works well.

This tiny update was brought to you with help from Danger Den.

 

Dude, that TDK cover looks the mutts nuts!

 

I was thinking, did you ever think of putting some copper accents in with this case? I think it would go really nice with the green and it would give it a bit of an industrial wastland look. Just a thought.... Keep up the good work

 

Thanks. lol -dog balls.
@Thacrudd - No more copper!!!! The copper on the res is killing me getting it cleaned up. The current plan is to paint it (and the handle/feet) to match the radiator.

Edit: Thanks cpemma, for moving the log.