Scratch Build – In Progress Project RabidCicada (Mineral Oil Computer) - 20th October 2010

Still looking at options but one thing that immediately struck me is that the snaptite solution has female threading for both pieces.

That means I wouldn't have to use the makeshift female-female couplings that my mechanical engineer and I were tapping. I can just connect them straight to the bulkheads. I really like that.

 

Ahh...The saubli have options for that also. hmm...still looking

 

Talking to some guys from HamptonRubber as they were a distributor for Snap-Tite. Turns out that while Snap-Tite has that part number they hardly ever get requested to make that part AND the lead time on a snaptite solution is about 10 weeks.

They kindly recommended the 'Perfecting' line from Dixon-Valve and Coupling. Specifically the HT series line: 3htbf3 Coupler and ht3bf3 Nipple. Lead time 3 days.

They don't look as nice as the SnapTite ones but seem like they will get the job done nicely.

I asked them about all the companies you recommended ColdZero...and they've never heard of any of them. Then I looked at your location and that explains it. You "european" people have and entire different industrial world over there ;-P. Economically I gotta stick with something these guys carry.

I'm also trying to go with a distributor in Virginia USA since that's where I'm at and it feels good to use locals.

 

Got QDC's, fans, and GTX 580's

So...My QDC's arrived. I'm very happy with those as they fit directly onto the bulkhead...so I don't have to worry about making my own female-female couplers anymore.

All The QDC's together


Female Socket View


Male Nipple View


QDC Fits Bulkhead!!!


I also bought myself 2 GTX 580's over the holiday and they will run in the mineral oil computer when I get it together. In the meantime...here is some GPU pron showing my watercooled processor (CM Stacker 830 Case)

Gfx Cards Folding Away (Folding@Home)


Medium View


Far View


And finally..My secret Santa got me some fans for the MO-RA 3 radiator that will cool my mineral oil beast.

Fans For Radiator


Righto...thats all my loot and progress for a little. I need to work on the Mobo tray and internal frame.

 

MoboTray+Slides!

Alrighty,
It's been a while and my mechanical engineer finally freed up some time to continue working on this.

We got the Motherboard tray and slides assembled. The entire mobo tray is not complete but it's some progress.


You can see that we have some cuts outlined that were still deciding if we want to make (top left and top right). I'm thinking we should make the cuts because it would add to the aesthetic when we get to attach the handle to the mobo tray. If you look back at the 3d model you'll see that we plan to have a handle in the middle of the top of the mobo tray.


We specifically cut PCI slots into the mobo tray to support the cards PCI tabs.


We still need to add a couple things to the mobo tray. It needs to have the top right and left cut. The handle needs to be added. And we are going to add a PCI card rail to attache the screws from the PCI cards to. The rail is going to be a simple aluminum bar attached to the Mobo by large standoffs. The rail is there more for stability than for weight bearing purposes given the orientation.

In the next week we should be able to cut aluminum stock and put together the Internal frame to which the mobo+slides will be attached. That day will be a happy one.

I also got my 2 extra Monitors yesterday . Isn't it beautiful?


I'll probably also get my DIYCNC machine here in the next 2 months. When I get that I plan on CNCing a wooden tiki mask that will be inside the Mineral Oil Computer tank. Still need to modify the sunbeam fan controller to use orange and green LEDs.

Trying to think of a good way to add to the tribal theme with materials that will be alright in mineral oil.

 

Why put things inside? Why not stick things to the outside of the acrylic?

 

I don't want to mar the polycarbonate.

And I though it would look cool with the tiki mask sitting in the bed of aquarium rocks with the aerator bubbles floating around and lit by orange and green LED's.

Why?...do you have an interesting idea? or just probing for reasons?

 

Well its just ive seen this tribal mod somewhere and they had a load of accents stuck on.

 

Ahh...As in you saw a tribal mod somewhere with the accents...gotcha...

Oh...And I forgot to post the best picture somehow. You can see the slide guides fully extended in this shot and how the mobo will be fully out of the mineral oil for service and maintenance.



Don't know how I forgot to put this one up.

Each guide can hold above 100 pnds. Strong and sturdy!

 

Large Progress

Alright.

I don't have 'in progress' pictures because my Mechanical engineer likes to work by himself, and at odd hours of the day/night. But man do I love that guy...in a totally platonic manner, and he is good at what he does.

I get to use high grade aluminum 6061-T6 thanks to that guy.

Here's the fully assembled External Frame, Internal Frame, and mobo tray with some stand-in server mobo, graphics card, and my actual powersupply Seasonic st500 1.5kw. This has taught me that I will certainly want to design a lid for it...but I will first get it running and in use as my main computer before I do that.

Fully Assembled, in operational configuration
The top most edge of the motherboard sits a couple inches down from the top of the tank so that leaves plenty of breathing room for turbulent mineral oil..which I might have because of the pump.


During extraction


Fully extracted
You can see the joining plates I use to connect the internal frame to the external frame. They are the 8 bolt pieces you can see directly below the extracted mobo.


Front Lower Left View
This lets you see a little more detail about the internal frame. You can see the foot of the internal frame laying across the bottom of the case.


Fully extracvted view from the Back
This lets you see more of the design from behind. If you're picky you'll notice the design changed a little. We ended up not needed the lower reinforcement bar because the upper one and the 6061-T6 aluminum backing were plenty strong >.<.


Closer Extracted Rear View


Rear Lower Right View
For those that want to look over the detail a little more


Nothing looks super polished and bright but that is fine with me. Like I desribed before I plan to populate it with tribal themed stuff which will probably be accented by the slight tarnishings you see in the metal.

We still need to:

• Add the Mobo handle
• Test Mobo tray PCI slots for fit and alignment
• Drill holes for and install bulkheads
• Seal some missed spots in the polycarbonate case (I've been lazy)

Those are the tasks to finish components that already exist.

After I get that done...then I need to:

• Hook up the radiator and pump
• Leak Test
• Do a flush/filter run to clear out metal debris, dirt, and flux in the radiator
• Design/configure the fan array for the radiator
• Mod the Sunbeam Fan Controller
• more and more stuff......

 

Lookin good

 

Tubing Decision/Purchase made and Mineral Oil puchased

I just order 20ft of Tygothane C-210-A. I need way less than that but this will future proof me a little on mineral oil projects.

I also just placed my order for 15 Gallons of Crystal Plus 70T mineral oil from STE oil.

I can't wait till my stuff arrives!

I also just fixed the one bad looking corner on the case. The Weld-On didn't works it's way all the way through the corner of a bottom corner of the tank. I'm pretty sure it was sealed as you can see the bonded plastic running along the inside edge of the seam. To make sure though, I took my drill and the smallest bit I could find and drilled two lines ina cross pattern so that they intersected with well bonded locations of the seam. Then I just put more weld on directly into the drill holes. That should ensure no leaks.

Patched corner


Got some friends coming over tomorrow for a BBQ, boardgames, Lan Party, and computer case stuff so that should be most enjoyable.

I'll provide a video look at the case, it's features, and design tomorrow morning. Wife is going to bed and dont want to wake her.

 

Case Walkthrough and Breakdown

Case is still incomplete but I figured I'd give a video walkthrough of the case...and some of it's design.

Then for kicks, and to demonstrate how easy it should be to maintain...I go through a breakdown of the case.

 

That's a lot more serviceable than mine. Nice work, can't wait to see it completed.

 

NICE !

Looks like we have the same idea with case frame that stuff is so handy to change if needed.

 

Major Update

Quick Video Update:
*Fixed Video*

I like how I can't say "water" when I get to showing the tank leak testin my bathroom.

Summary:

• Got a lot of parts in and got orings on order.
• Drilled and tapped the eheim 1262 nozzle so I could fit a G3/8 fatboy barb from DangerDen in there (tubing will run from there to the bulkhead in the tank wall).
• Got Radiator setup assembled. G1/4 fatboy barbs, tygothane tubing, and Quick Disconnects. Just missing actual fans.
• Modded SunBeam Rheobus extreme fan controller. It now has green and orange LED's instead of blue. Ran into some issues pairing orange & green together...had to alternate pair of green, pair of orange etc. Messed up the soldering job too, I'll post some casualty photos tomorrow.
• Got tank drilled, sanded edges of holes, and installed bulkheads and qiuck disconnects. Got it in my tub for an overnight leak test. Total pain in the ass. Two trips to lowes and two incorrect drill bit selections >.<.
• Got my 15 gallons of Mineral oil from STE Oil. Oderless, and colorless. It'll make for good heat transfer.
• Have exact orings made from Buna-Nitrile on the way from McMaster. They'll replace the cheapo HVAC orings I'm currently using as holdovers (green orings in the video).

If the leak test goes well, I'll wash out all the construction crud from the case and give the eheim a test with the radiator hooked up.

I hope to do a mineral oil test after I thoroughly vet the Case/Pump/QDC's/Radiator with water, then make sure to clean all the computer components going in...It would be horrible to end up with built up dust or gunk disintegrating into the oil.

Soooo close!

Then when I get it working...I'll build a lid.

 

have you given consideration to what youll use in place of TIM on the various heatsinks in your rig?

 

I was planning on using the indigo Xtreme stuff that legoman666 used for the processor. For the Graphics cards and all stock stuff on the mobo I was just going to leave it alone and watch for temp changes. If things start creeping up then I would re-apply.

Lego says he reapplies eveyr couple months for his gfx cards I believe.

 

Leak test went great. Going to flush out the tank and give the pump a run with the rad in the loop to test the whole loop and the rad for leaks.

 

looking good!
I'm interested to see how your choice of bonded polycarb turns out. I've had mixed results here and a few crazing problems. Keep it away from glycols and alcohols, BTW!