Case Mod - In Progress Knight's Rest-Knight Rider 30th Anniversary build (12/4/13-Waiting for coolant...)

So I'm slowly making progress even now, and more of the pieces of the interior are falling into place.



This replaces the Swiftech logo on the pump...



Working on the first layer of my cube...



Proper reading materials while working...



Tying together the cathodes...



The rear fans in place...



And an overall hot of where I am now. I've been working on the opposite side some today as well, and I have a lot of paint drying as we speak. I'm making definite progress.

Now, a less happy thought. I know I'm slow with my updates. I thought I'd finally explain some of it. My hands have looked like this for four or five years now. It's hard to remember when they started curling up and clawing up, but there's an awful lot of nerve damage from severe Raynaud's and stupid stunts when I was younger. Some days are worse than others-these were taken after I had worked for most of the day and it had rained all day to boot. Most days are better than this.





Pics were taken while I'm in my wheelchair, as well. Not giving up, not surrendering-just slower is all. Adducted thumbs are a pain to work around, though like I said this is what it looks like after I work a bunch-they're not always this way.

Hopefully there will be more progress tomorrow. I've got some pieces that I'm working on getting assembled at the moment that will finish off the back side of the case and let me focus on the working parts. Also started placing orders for stuff from White Light Lasercutting to start assembling the final parts of the interior before bending my acrylic tubing. More on that tomorrow.

 

Oh boy, i know exactly what you are feeling, i feel my hands this way too after doing hours and hours of modding.

I'm sad because you have this problem with your hands, but man, keep going, you're doing a great job and show to all you're a strong man!

 

I love the raw unbridled engineering look of it --like we're looking at something from the 1960's NASA space program. Then again you're using NASA space program materials, so it would. When are you launching?

Thanks for reminding us all that modding, like all forms of art isn't just a hobby, but a way of life. Kaizo no michi.

 

Today's updates look small, but they're huge steps. Bigger than they look.



This is the beginnings of the front fascia. It has a LOT of pieces, but these are painted and installed now, to provide structural strength to the openings on the sides.



This isn't the door to the containment unit for the Ghostbusters, this is the power supply installed and locked down. The whole thing has been pretty heavily modified, painted and prettified.



And we have a positive lock on the connections to the PSU braid. I'm going to be going over the connection with a multimeter before firing it up (as I had to do some surgery) but it at least still makes lock.



Starting work to make the trim pieces look the goods...



And working on a piece for the backside of the case, we'll see that installed in the next day or two.

Still working, takes a lot of effort to do some of this stuff. Hopefully the top pieces will turn out OK.

 

Another very productive day. Today was mostly about taming Medusa's tresses-almost every wire is in place now. I need to start finishing up some exterior parts to mount the RGB arrays and tuck those wires away as well. They won't really be seen, it's more about keeping things arranged as I add the layers to the case.

So, without further cats, I mean ado...



I've completed the power cables and tied them up. I'll probably wrap the assembly in Kapton before attaching it to the fan assembly. Not sure yet.



I also rerouted the cable from the ESA to the CPU fan port so as to hide it better. I'll probably put a piece of lead over the small piece peeking out from around the video card so as to finish out hiding it.

And finally...



This is the nearly completed backside of the case. Still trying to figure out what to do with the 840 Pro, it's in a very fragile position currently and I'm not content with how it's installed. The cabling is finalized, I'm just working on some tabs to hold down the heavier runs of cabling. The card is part of the dummy electronics that are used to "power" KITT, though the actually impressive stuff isn't installed just yet. Soon...

 

And with this, I think the left side is finished. The case door still shuts, and the inverter necessary is directly in line of a blower fan. Next target is sealing the back of the case. That involves getting the reservoir mounted.

 

Hard lines are in. 1/4" ID 3/8" OD to handle some of those tight turns. I have more tube, I may refine those bends yet but it can handle fluid. System is airtight-forget water, these are pneumatic fittings. Seal is positive on all tubes-you can lift the case with them. Now I need to secure a coolant, we'll see what I come up with.

System is ready for initial boot and loading of necessary software when my cable comes in for the pump to convert to Dell 5-pin PWM operation, as it has the necessary lookup tables as part of the ESA. I'll solder that in and it should be 100% ready for operation. After that it's really just pretties.

I've ordered the Larson scanner, 5m of 3mm side-light fiber optics and the necessary lighting to fire it up. The LED cube is being assembled by a friend after my hands finally proved to be too damaged to do the job right. I'm currently planning to go pester Evil Mad Scientist about the possibility of hooking it up to my HDD activity header to control the speed of the light, but I already have the tech to interface it to the standby power system so the scanner runs even if the system is off or unplugged.

While I wait on the cable and coolant, I'll be checking the systems for loose or exposed wires (after pulling then all through the case, it's likely in a spot or two) and cleaning up my cable bundles/making sure they're fully encapsulated. I'll also be taking measurements for the PSU divider plate to hide the snarl of wires necessary to run all the extensive electronics in the case. I'll also have time to start getting all of that in place for final assemblies. I still have a LOT of lighting wiring that needs tied in. Somewhere in there I need a power button, too.

Still a lot to go, but I should be able to get it up and talking in the forseeable future. We'll see how it all goes.