Case Mod - In Progress Project: Steampunk'd TJ11 DONE!!! October 2012 MOTM Winner!!!

Sorry for the delay in updates. We took a trip to South Africa for some medical appointments last week. Got to do a ton of things down there including visiting a Lion Park!! Was pretty cool to be able to pet some lion cubs.






On with the modding!

I picked up some UN Radiator mounting brackets which are so freaking awesome. They allow you to mount a radiator in your 5.25" bays.



And here it is.





Above it I put the Silverstone Slim DVD drive bay. The rad is touching it because I have to have enough room below the rad to put the pumps.




I decided to install all the rads to see how everything would fit. Here is the 4x120



A surprise will be going in this vacant spot



And the 3x120



Installed the PSU to make sure I had enough clearance for the connectors.



Indeed. There is enough room!




Somehow I forgot to do the rust effect to the back of the mobo tray so that is going on right now. Once its done I can clear coat it and it will be good to go.




I've been doing lots and lots of thinking on how I am going to run the loop. I figured that I need to bring the loop through the midplate twice but I didn't want you to be able to see it the second time. So I measured and drilled a hole above the 4x120 rad and connected it with a Bitspower D-Plug for now. I ordered a 25mm extension to go there.






And here you can see where the pumps will be. I measured and the Bitspower dual D5 pump top should fit under it. If not, I ordered a second EK D5 pump top and ill connect them together using some 90 degree fittings and extensions.





I received my Lamptron FC10 too! I'll be doing a review on it soon.




The last bit for this update are the door panels. I like the 4 small windows in the bottom of the side panels for the rads to get air but I decided to make them into one big window.





Then I added some MNPCTECH Round Modder's Mesh.









That's it for today. I have the spray adhesive coming for gluing the leather fabric to the case and the gold spray paint for the accents and the water blocks. That should all be here Friday so I can do a good bit of work this weekend. I'm also hoping that the pump tops get here by this weekend too so I can do some more testing to figure out exactly what I'm going to do.

Cheers till then,

Fuga

 

a nice job once again, waiting for updates

 

Haha me too... Can't get enough

 

Nice I like the extended mesh at the bottom. Gives it a cleaner look...
Looks like you had some good weather in SA. It's been a bit shady lately

 

Keep it up, just wondering are you going to protect that rust work with a laquer, I could probs ask my painting guy whats best to keep the rust light as i know normal laquer would just darken it.

 

Thanks! More coming this weekend.

Thanks!

Thanks! Ya they told us the week before was wicked cold.

I used a clear coat on all the rust to protect it and to darken it up.


Made myself a little banner.

 

This past week I have really been trying to use my DSLR Sony A350 better. I'm doing alot more manual shots to try and get better pictures. After this update let me know what you guys think.

Here are some pratice shots.














Now for the real update. I forgot to mention I got a 50mm fan for the motherboard.








I also ordered some cable clips that I saw in another build. I think they will help to keep all my cables nice and straight.






I orderd several sheets of 1mm aluminum so I could make a mid plate. (Got lots of extra incase I screw up.



Measured and marked.



Now I didn't take any of the cutting and bending as that is boring. So this is what it looked like after that.





Pretty level



After that I had to find a way to keep it stable so I added some tabs. I attached them with some JB weld. These ones will be secured to the 5.25" bays.



And this one is just to keep it in place.





Now it sits nice and flush.




Now you saw where I am putting the pumps so I drilled a hole for the fill port to the pumps.



And attached the pump.




Next I marked the spots for the fan holes. They are actually a little bit smaller than the 180mm fans because I need the floor space for cables, tubing holes and acessories but it won't effect the performance too much.



I still need to mark it but I have to cut some away under the 24-pin connector for the cable.




I sleeved the 24-pin cable and 8-pin cable.



The heatshrink isn't great so I may redo that.





Then I did some cable managment with some P-Clips






And the rainy season is back here in the Congo! We get some decent sunsets because of the weather.








Now for some more pratice shots.























And the best molex pin remover ever!!!




Sorry for all the photos but the only way to get better is to practice!

Cheers till next time,

Fuga

 

That all looks mighty fine...everything just fits! Cables, metal, fans... Just WOW dude, you made this work very nicely!

Slightly concerned about rust around wires, but I'm sure you're taking the necessary precautions ^^

 

I really like your color choices for the sleeving. And while I am no expert, I thought your practice shots looked pretty good.

 

Nixie tubes! Good man. Now weather that panel!

 

You only need an internal subminiature headphone amp to complete this piece of art !

 

^Make a nice addition good progress & mellow lions, awesome.

 

I like the photos and good progress! As others have said, the color choice for the sleeving fits right in there with the rest

 

woow, looking awesome. love the Tj11 like this!

 

Thanks! All the rust is covered with clear coat so it isn't coming into contact with anything.

Thanks!

I will once I figure out what I'm doing with the front panel.

Not really sure what that is...

Thanks

 

Thanks! I redid it heatshrinkless so it looks even better. More in the next update.

Thanks!

 

Here is another big update for y'all!

Finally got my paint and 3M glue in!

2 types of gold. I will ony be using the Rust-Oleum one though.



And the glue.



I also got in the Bitspower Dual Pump Top



I had to take one of the Acrylic layers off the bottom so the pump top would fit under the 240mm rad in the bays.



Put the pumps on with the Bitspower Mod Kit.



50mm fan grill. Not sure if I will use this or not.



Some fan cables. 1 for each rad.



EK Uni Brackets for the Res (These are so I can mount the res to the 5.25" bays)



And some thermal cleaner so I can get some nice clean chips.





Now for the modding!

I decided to venture in to heatshrinkless cables for the ones you can see at least. Here is my journey.

All the sleeve ready to go.



You have to have the sleeve almost touch the 2 prongs on the ATX pin.



I put some electrical tape on between 1/4" and 1/8" away from the end of the sleeve to keep the sleeving tight and to use as a guide.



Next you use a soldering iron to melt the sleeve to the ATX pin. Don't melt more that what is marked. (Obv the tape is in the way)



Now all you have to do is melt it just a bit more to make it cone shaped basically to fit into the connector.



And here it is all done.



Here is how my 24-pin cable came out.





And the 8-pin




I cut the holes for the fans in the mid plate and a cut-out for the 24-pin cable.






I made this photo so I could figure out which leather I would use for the midplate. I decided on the top one.




Here is how I was originally going to have the cables for the GPUs



But since I'm going heatshrinkless I can't do that so I did this instead.



2 of the cables were straight 6-pin cables but the other 2 were made for 1 GPU each so I had to cut off the extra link.






Now for a sweet mod!



Coming apart...



Presto Chango!!





Did the same thing to the MOFSET block.



Then I painted the SB heatsink.





Looks good!



And then the 50mm fan.







Now that all really ads some pop to the motherboard.


Since I decided to use the darker leather on the doors and here is what the first one looks like.



I also painted the mesh for the bottom gold too. Will be installed in the next update.




That's it for this update.

I'm working on the pump placement and routing to get the water from the res to the pumps effectively. Might need to do some fancy piping under the midplate with extensions and angled adapters... Hopefully some more gear will arrive this week so I can keep moving!

Cheers till next time,

Fuga

 

WOW man

Congratulations!

Awesome job!

 

The leather on the door is definitely the perfect choice and the sleeving does look much better now...
Looking forward to the next update!!

 

woow verry nice update !