Case Mod - In Progress The Powerful Pretty Pink Processor (aka, "The PPPP")

The PPPP got featured on the CaseLabs FB page this morning, and the EK Orange Juice shot got featured on the EK FB page this morning. Very cool! I'm duty and honor bound to request that you go "like" their pages immediately.

 

Build log index and Hardware List has been updated in the opening post. This is so unlike me! See what having sponsors will do for you?

 

Wut the hell ^

 

How do I get a mod to clean up the gibberish someone left me above?

 

I'm ready to spin some fans up in the case so that Jennifer can select the final color combination. Quick little project before I start that.

I'm sure we've all learned the trick of shorting the green and black on the 24 pin to jump start a PSU that is not connected to the motherboard. I use it all the time when I'm doing leak testing with my pumps. I've always done it with something ugly like this:





The white wire above has male terminals on it and is shorting the PS_On and a ground, on the motherboard side of the 24 pin PSU cable. You could use a paperclip also. It works...but is big bulky and in the way. So, you still have to plug in the entire 24pin connector to your PSU and have the cable stuffed somewhere. If the PSU is in your case, then the bulky 24 pin cable is in the way of everything. If it's outside of your case, I keep knocking the wire out of the terminals when I move or touch it. So....I decided to short the PSU in style this time.

First...I cut a small piece of 16AWG wire....





....used my handy dandy new wire strippers. I really love these. I've grown to really love strippers. Wait....that didn't sound right.....





Perfect strips every time. I love it when strippers work correctly for me. Wait....that didn't sound right either.







The I used my handy dandy new crimper from Lutro0 Customs and put some female ATX terminals on the end....






And might as well put some sleeve on it so that we are shorting the PSU in style....





Add a touch of heatshrink....and plug directly into the PSU.







That will be a little nicer to live with while I cable up stuff without powering the motherboard up. I'll simply put the PSU back in the case and leave my jumper on until I'm ready to boot this baby. This way I can still power up and test other components....even without the bulky 24 pin cable stuffed in there.

The only caution would be to make sure you know which pins on your PSU correlate to the PS_ON and a ground. The AX1500i is not a one-to-one relationship for the wires coming from the PSU to the 24 pin connector. So trace your own wires carefully before plugging in something wrong.

Now....back to my love for my strippers.....

 

Video of fans spinning! Jenn wanted to see them spinning before she chose he her combination. Almost looks like still pictures in a lot of it since the fans blur so nicely, but it's actually all video. I can only really swap out one fan at a time for the different combinations, but you should get a good feel for what they look like.

Take a 2 minute break, turn up the volume and enjoy!


http://youtu.be/sj5lcxH0RQY


....and yes I see my missing space in the opening.

 

Update on my 3d printed pump stand prototype.....

Earlier I posted a Sketchup view of a quick and dirty pump mount I had put designed. This one....





I did some research online, using "the google", and found lots of online 3d print companies where you can simply upload a STL file and they will immediately analyze and spit back out a cost for printing it in different materials they have available. There is an extension for Sketchup that will create a STL file from your 3d model. I installed the extension and created my STL file, and played around with uploading it to various websites for a cost estimate. OMG.....the 3d printing companies are absolute pirates! The design above would cost anywhere between $500 and $600 to print in ABS plastic at all the sites I went to. That's right....an 8 inch piece of plastic would cost between $500 and $600 to print. OUTRAGEOUS!

A gaming acquaintance of mine had recently been posting in G+ about a 3d printing club that had been started at his work. They had 10 people each pitch in about $200 and collectively buy a printer for their own use. He had posted some pics of the 3d prints he had done so far, and some comments about how cheap the material was. So....I talked to him about possibly letting a non club member utilize the 3d printer for a fee....and his club agreed. Subject of course to availability in the queue, and only if no member prints are ready to go. They decided to charge me $10 plus cost of materials. I sent him the STL file and their printer administrator loaded it to their software, and estimated the cost of the actual materials used at about $1. Yes.....one dollar. You read that right. So.....right now I have my prototype model in the queue at a cost to me of $11. $11 vs $500. I realize that the larger companies need to cover the depreciation on the machine also....but come on. They wanted to charge me $500 for $1 worth of plastic and some printer time? OUTRAGEOUS!

Not sure when my print will run since I have to wait until no member prints are waiting before my print will run. But I hope to be able to show you my first 3d printed pump mount prototype within the week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't make any significant design errors. First 3d printed model....so this one is a learning experience for me.

But the idea of their 3d printing club intrigues me, and makes me wonder whether there could be some interest here at OCN on members participating in a 3d printer club. I'm thinking seriously about starting one. I'll put the rough outline of how it would work into a new thread to gauge interest. I'll post a link to that thread here, so look for it if you are interested in exploring the idea. Even if you only want to 3d print one item.....it would make financial sense to join the club. But the number of things a computer builder/modder could design and 3d print are limited only by their imagination.

 

Man, those prices are ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous is that there are enough gullible people for those businesses to be able to maintain those prices.

Seems like you got a really good deal there. I like your idea for a printing club I'm sure plenty of people would be interested.

I assume we won't be too surprised by the color the stand will have?

 

The club only had a smallish selection of materials/colors on hand right now. This print is going to happen in Black PLA. But they also have some red, and blue. A nice pink is available to puchase if I want to donate some to the club.

 

Still playing around with pump mount possibilities. Built prototype #3 today. Follow the fun below.....


For this version, I thought I would play around with some sheet metal. Never really worked with that before. I picked up a small sheet of 20 gauage steel from my local Lowes....for about $6 bucks.





Drew out a rectangle that was big enough for both sides of the pump mount.....




....dropped the jig saw attachment in my lil' worktable, and of course, donned the appropriate safety glasses.





Rectangle came out nice and smooth. I drew a line through the middle that would separate the two sides of the pump stand...





....and went back outside to the jigsaw to cut it in half. Easy peasy so far.....





Then I drew some lines where I wanted to ultimately bend the sheet metal.




...and used some snips to make a short cut where the bottom base would fold up.







Then I marked the holes I wanted to drill.....




...and commenced to drilling.





So far, everything went smoothly. Now...I don't own a bending brake. So to bend the metal I had to rig up a home bending brake using some wood and a clamp. Not ideal....but worth a shot.





It really didn't come out too bad for my first try on a home rigged bending brake.





Some of the corners came out nice and sharp.....while some were a little looser and sloppier. It was very rigid though. Definitely would hold up well.





For a final version, I could find someone that had a real bending brake and make these bends better. But....I ended up deciding that I don't really like the look of these as much as the aluminum angle version that I've done so far....so I didn't even bother painting or mounting pumps to it. It was a fun try....but I don't think it is the right solution for this build.





I made so much racket banging the sheet metal around with a hammer....that Jenn came out to see what was going on. She agrees that we will not be using these mounts in her computer.




I got notice that my 3d print will definitely run this weekend, so I may have news/pictures Monday of the outcome of that endeavor. I guess that one will be pump stand prototype #4. I have high hopes for that one. But I also like the aluminum angle #2 version, so after I get to see/touch the 3d printed version, I'll know which direction I need to go for the final version.

 

Hey, it looks like you took some design cues from my render, nice.

I think it didn't come out bad at all. Of course you upped the difficulty level a bit by using steel. Some of the flanges look a bit warped, I hope you didn't hit them with the hammer directly. That creates dents that can't be corrected.

Looking forward to seeing your 3D prints.

 

It was pretty much a copy of your render. I did a combination of direct hitting with the hammer, and softening/distributing the blow with a 2x4. But I'd get lazy and start hitting it with the hammer again. I think I could do it much better....but I decided I didn't really like the look of it. It was, however, by far the most structurally sound prototype I've had yet.

Crossing my fingers for the 3d print.

 

Is that a table tennis table that you're using as a bench?

 

Busted! It is indeed.

But it was just for the picture. I have a little work bench table saw top area where I can bolt stuff down.

 

Lol....I thought about the same.

 

Spam removed - hat tip to the reporter. Cheers.

 

Might want to clean up The_Crapman's quote text too if you're being thorough.

 

Haha I thought about it, but thought it was amusing

 

They guy that runs the 3d prints for the club I've mentioned....didn't go to work today. So....no new info about my print yet.

Boooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!