LOG I Introduction After being fed up with the noise that my computer generates I set out to design something that would suit my two prime needs: Silent and cool. Ofcourse, I could just slap together an MDF box with a load of fans all running on 7v, but that wouldn't really have been a challenge, would it? Since I'm an artist and all I'm pretty big on astethics, so my other goal was to create a case that looks both brilliant and completely/semi proffesional. And I was gonna do it from the ground up. When I was first designing draft versions of the case I went from acrylic to mdf as main material. Both, however, weren't really what I was looking for. I wanted to try something different... something that hadn't really been used (to my knowledge) in a computer case. So I went for fiberglass. Although this material would be perfect for all the nooks and odd angles I had planned, I still needed a material to complement it. Something that I could make the side panels and such from. It didn't take me long to get to aluminium. Put some acrylic in the mix, and you've got the beginnings of an actual project. Planning I've litterally gone trough dozens of idea's before arriving where I am now, and I'm still changing certain bits on a daily basis (I blame my lack in modding experience). There's a couple of things that *haven't* changed since the beginning: It was gonna have two bing 120mm fans on the front, big round corners and it was gonna be red/metalic. Just before I started the actual construction I made a silly mockup out of cardboard. It might give you a slight idea of the direction I'm going in: Yeah... it's bad, I know Construction Phase 1 - "The box" The first stage of construction was to get the basic skeleton of the case done. This consists of the rounded corners (henceforth called beams), the back plate and the inner bevel plate (the plate in a case that you see when you rip off the plastic front... but you probably knew that already). The inner bevel should be strong since it'll hold the drives and 120mm fans. A flimsy bit of alu would bend, scratch and dent to much for long term use. So I grabbed an old (stainless steel) kitchen sink, grinded out a big section and cleaned it up best I could. Introduce slight problem: the plate wasn't straight. Yeah, that sucks. Well, no matter. Just popnail in two alu profiles and all is good again! The profiles also give some extra ridgedness to the case and extra support for the side(panels). Next stop: The backplate. All I could get at the local hardware store is 1 mm alu. I've looked everywhere for thicker stuff, but it's impossible to find around here No matter, I'll just glue two 1mm plates together! To make it extra nice, I made the second plate slightly smaller than the first, giving the whole thing a little bevel. The back will probably need side profiles as well, but I'll sort all that out later when I'm fitting the mainboard and such. Now for one of the hardest bits, that took me a couple of tries to get "right": the beams. I wanted them round. not a little bit round like 90 degree bent acrylic, but 6cm diameter round. Now here's where the fiberglass comes in. First thing I needed to do was get a mold: a big pvc tube. I cut out a section, lubed it up (so the fiberglass won't permanently become part of it), put some fiberglass on and smeared the resin on it. Man that sh*t is toxic. So far, so good. Now for the harder bit: The side and top plate will have to rest on the beams, but they mustn't stick out. That would just look bad. So part of the beams will have to be sunk in by a milimeter. The way I did it was put a strip of 1mm alu next to the edge of the fiberglass and add another layer of the stuff partially over the old one and the alu strip. As you might guess, the fiberglass on the alu strip is slightly higher than the fiber of the beam, giving me more or less enough edge for the plates to fall in (I'm going to be needing alot of that polyester mastic to get them nice and even). I'm not totally satisfied with them, but they'll do for phase 1 though. The next bit is so boring I won't even show it: Putting little sides in the beams so I can screw them to the two plates. So after some cutting and drilling later I've ended up with this! Starting to look like something, no? What I'm doing right now: Patching up the beams mostly, trying to make them look better using the polyester mastic. To be continued
I see some major potential in this case you have designed and are now building. I think that it looks fantastic so far; Red metallic paint will only make it better Good luck with the rest of the project!
Yeah. I think this case is going to be a mighty fine one! and the fact that you build averything from the start is very cool!!!
Working with the mastic turns out to be one, big b*tch. I WILL get a good result , even if I have to sand it all night In the mean time, however, I'm still not quite sure wether I'll go with air cooling or water cooling. Either would be possible in this case. I'm edging towards air, but I haven't entirly made up my mind yet. Some things I forgot to mention: The case'll have around 6 fans (counting two for the psu) If possible I'm gonna get Silenx fans, they're advertised at 11-14 dB while still pushing a decent ammount of air. I'm going to go for mirror finish on the alu sidepanels/front. I have a feeling it would combine well with the crimson metalic fiberglass parts Lighting will be kept at a minimum with a couple of leds (orange/yellow scheme... maybe blue) Still I have some nice idea's planned for this. The baybus is going to have a "unique" feature, if I find a way to build it, that is Btw, I've got a QTec 550 Watt (probably around 430 in real terms). Is it any good? I've heard so many conflicting opinions about this psu, I din't know what to think anymore. I don't want to start modding it only to find out it's ****e.
Copper, copper & much more copper ok, so lately I've mostly been busy making the beams smooth (next update), but in the meantime I've settled on the way this case is going to cool it's components. You see, for the last week or so, I've been getting excited about watercooling . In particular making custom blocks seems like a fun challenge (and highly rewarding as well). So I gave myself a little ultimatum: If I could find copper at the local junkyard, I'd go for watercooling, otherwise I'd simply do aircooling. Well, I found copper alright. And lots of it. You're looking at about 5kg of pure copper . The breadth of the thinnest bar is 5 cm. The other pieces are 6. Alll pieces are exactly 1 cm deep. Best of all, it cost me just $15 Guess who's gonna make some waterblocks! Now all I have to do is pick out some designs.
Damn, can you give me the adres of that junkyard? Is it close to Rotterdam? btw i think this is going to be a an amazing casemod, bookmarked this page.
Sweet deal dude! Heheheheheh, Im going to try my hand at my own silent cooling with copper and copper pipe But it WONT be with liquids Good luck with this, and damn, that is an awesome find!
damn us dutch modders make some cool stuff just cant sit down to see the next update [dutch] goed werk joh, ben benieuwd naar je volgende update [/dutch]
startin to look good just one question: what are you going to do with the sides of those "plastic curves"? they look kinda uneven. amd how are you going to attach the sides ? keep it up
RotoSequence: I'm looking forward to seeing what you're cooking up EdHunTer: They're being sawed/sanded/plastered right now. They're starting to look real nice . I had hoped the outside would've turned out a little smoother (the inside, which touched the mold, is actually completely even). This unfortunatly is what you get when you work with a material for the first time. The panels will be bolted to the sides... still need to make the holes naelq: Well, let me put it this way: One layer is solid, but quite flexible. Two layers is hard enough to beat someone to death with. So it becomes quite solid. Some other basic properties I've discovered so far: - Put in a decent ammount of the harder and it'll hard out in less than 10 minutes. - Put in too little and you'll be waiting a couple of days. (Actually, the mastic form might never fully harden) - It can get warm during the hardening. I've read that it can actually get hot enough to burn stuf, if you put in enough harder - Fiberglass mat looses strands faster than your dog looses hair. The stuff is all over my workplace. - Wear a mask if you're going to saw or sand it, especially if your using a dremel (which I don't recommend... fiberglass flying all over the place). It creates alot of dust. - The resin fumes do quite a good job at making you high. - Vaselin spray is a great way to keep hardening fiberglass from sticking to surfaces you don't want it to stick to (ie molds). - It doesn't seem to stick to metal quite well. If you have a little determination you can seperate the two. - If you're putting fiberglass on fiberglass, sand the surface roughly and well. Otherwise the new layer might not stick properly. - Put on old clothes. The dust gets EVERYWHERE. It's not the easiest material in the world, but it's very easy to mold and change Blood: Well, apart from the corners there will only be one other aspect that will resemble a g5, so don't worry.
