Scratch Build Evolution

[Editor22]

Current Status




Well hello there,
After realising my last build was just to small I began to sketch up some designs for a much larger case similar in size to the infamous tj07. After about 2 weeks of scratching my head I just jumped in and figured if I start cutting away at metal then maybe some ideas will form. While that did seem to have the desired effect it also had the knock on of alot of mistakes down to poor planning maybe I'll make a blooper reel at the end or something
The Design consists of a 2 tiered case with the bottom section holding hard drives, PSU, radiator and most of the wiring junctions while the top holds the rest.
Made a render of my original sketchup to stick in the shop and help guide my crazy mind.




So anyhow for the first post I'll be spamming a load of pictures that have been taken along the way



First off here is some of the hardware going into the build and my work space including my Christmas presents of a pillar drill, vice and bending brake. Not alot but it beats the hell out of having to work on and old washing machine.





Created a basic frame from 1/2" aluminium bars held together with countersunk m4 bolts, then cut out a plate from 2mm aluminium sheet for the middle. The supports in the lower compartment were to hold the radiator but scrapped the design for something nicer.



Instead of those mounts I decided to hold the radiator in place directly to the side so started working on the bottom compartment panel. Traced my design onto some shiny black 5mm plexi and went ridiculously slow with the jigsaw making sure to stay in the lines by a fair bit for some serious filing/sanding later



Couldn't resist a test fit.



Cut 2 x 3/4" channels and fixed them in, A plate will go in the front of these to hold the reservoir and also gives me the space to route all the wiring out of sight.



To hold the pump and drives in place and give yet more room to manage wiring I cut and drilled a plate to fit in the left side.



I wanted to add a bit of a glow to the case from the middle plate so cut out a overlay from some 3mm fluorescent blue plexi following a similar design to the radiator grill.



Next on the list was the drive rack, marked out and used the jigsaw to cut the main piece then a long necked fretsaw for the hole details. Left a lot of excess as I'm petty new to the joys of bending and didn't want to end up short.



Cut and filed to size then mounted using some temporary fixings





A couple of my favourite shots after a test fit/light




So that's where I'm at now, still a lot to get done but having a great time seeing it come together.

[DeadP1xels]

You have only just started but my mind is seriously blown i love the way you've layed the whole case out drive rack on front

is the bottom section just for radiators and wcing gear?

[imersa]

that is looking really sweet!
the craftsmanship of this build is impressive, subscribed!

[flame696]

Its going to turn out amazing i wish i could do something like this!

[shakka65]

Man I'm speechless at the work you have done so far. Really incredible. I hope you still have the protective covering on your plexi so you dont scratch it up.

[Editor22]

@ flame696, imersa - Thanks

@ DeadP1xels - The bottom houses the Psu, hard drives and a 2x120 radiator, theres some more going down there but I'm holding back posting it until the designs finalized

@ shakka65 - Thanks, The protective plastic got lost somewhere, honestly wasn't me being impatient to see the result at all lol but its ok as there is a metal plate to go on top so a lot of it wont be seen.

[razerz]

The case looks really nice so far, and you are really doing your render justice.

[woodss]

Nice work! keep it up, especially like the well cut vents!

[StEm]

lookin great already

[Editor22]

@ razerz - Thanks mate, I'm really trying to stick to it the best I can this time but crazy ideas jump into my head and I end up getting side tracked onto other parts of the case

@ woodss - Thanks they turned out better than I was expecting actually still got some work to do on that area for the gap in the middle but that is for a later log post

@ StEm - Thanks

[Editor22]

Hey everyone been busy for the last week so was itching to get into the garage today and make some progress, here's what I've been up to.

Needed to make a plate which spans the 2 U channels to the left of the motherboard tray, the idea is that all the cables will route behind it but it also serves the purpose of supporting the reservoir and adding some illumination to it.

Started off by cutting out some 2mm sheet aluminium and drilling the mounting holes, after this I moved onto a 1" hole saw for the window.



Next it was onto the Vice and using some angles and a square I started filing and sanding until I was happy with a nice smooth straight edge.






Fixed it in and found a scrap piece of plexi which happened to be just the right size for a test fit



Clipped in the reservoir and flicked on 2 x cathodes to get an idea of how its going to look




That's all for now, maybe some more tomorrow if I can bear the cold again

[Editor22]

Took some time over the weekend to figure out a way to mount the hard drives and after spending most of Saturday bouncing ideas about for cages and elaborate rails I settled on something simple but effective. The main design needed to allow air to flow from the radiator through the drives and out of the case.





Finally content with the design I converted it from sketchup to a 2d image, printed it out as a template and taped it to some 2mm aluminium.




After the usual process of Drilling, sawing & filing it started to take shape. The cut outs in the corners are so it sits flush against some of the main frame rails.




Time for a test fit with some old broken hard drives.




I want to try and keep the noise of the build to a minimum so using a step drill I enlarged the mounting holes and added some mini grommets. The final mounting will be done with black thumb screws but the cheepo blue ones I have are years old and have lost most of there thread.




Here you can see that there is still a lot of space behind the radiator. Think I might upgrade to a thicker one or maybe run push/pull...




Thats all I got for tonight

[stonedsurd]

Is it alright to have the drives just 'hanging' there?

[Editor22]

Should be I checked the strength and it seems solid, leaving the drives in for a few days to check for any drop or warping and if there is I'll add some support angles or tap the drives for some M4 socket heads.

[Fazanitar]

This is a really great project - love the work I'm seeing so far. The radiator grill looks awesome!
Only thing I would say is that whilst the HDDs probably are secure, they just 'look' unfinished, being secured only from one side. It would look a lot better in my opinion if you put up a central support to secure them on the other side too, just for balance - or maybe a HDD cage all around them.

Anyway - great project and I look forward to seeing more!

[Editor22]

-> Fazanitar

Thanks for the comments I see what you mean about the drive rack now I look at it more guess I'll be making a second plate for the middle if only there was a stockist of lan-li cages that actually had some in stock! lol

[imersa]

Some really really good ideas here.
Some of the aspects of the build seem so common yet you've added a person touch/twist too them!
Really smart case.
Wish I could render designs!
Keep it up.

[Cheapskate]

You might want to add just a thin strip to support the other side of the drives. The leaning is likely making the bottom edge of the drives rest on the cage. That will make the addition of grommets useless.

-Or add a 2nd set of grommets that seat on the bottom of the drives.

Yer doing great! I had to go back to the start because I thought you were modding a LianLi at first.

[Editor22]

Originally Posted by imersa

Some really really good ideas here.
Some of the aspects of the build seem so common yet you've added a person touch/twist too them!
Really smart case.
Wish I could render designs!
Keep it up.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

You might want to add just a thin strip to support the other side of the drives. The leaning is likely making the bottom edge of the drives rest on the cage. That will make the addition of grommets useless.

-Or add a 2nd set of grommets that seat on the bottom of the drives.

Yer doing great! I had to go back to the start because I thought you were modding a LianLi at first.

Yay cheaps found his way in here
I see what you mean about the bottom resting on the cage, its not quite there yet but I've a feeling it would be once the drives are spinning non stop for a few weeks. hmmmm I'm really not sure if I like the drives any more I have something planned in SU that I'm trying to figure out if it would actually work or not maybe I'll post a screen shot and get some feedback
Glad its looking something similar to a Lianli.... oh wait or is that just because I nabbed a mobo tray to stick inside lol.

Bah enough rambling on

[The_Beast]

Very nice, I really like the "hanging" hdds