Scratch Build Completed! SSR-X: MOTY Nominee

[Cleveland216]

Weekend Update.

The community is probably sick of seeing me mod out various configurations for a power supply I'm sticking to the Toughpower 1200w, so this should be it for fabrication....



Voiding the warranty! I should have started out with, "Dear ThermalTake, please forgive me for modding..."





This power supply is huge compared to the 850W. Figuring out how to exactly configure it in its compartment.



Unlike the 850, in which the connecter plate was mounted to carbon fiber plate, this connecter plate will be mounted so that the connectors are facing up toward the motherboard. These wires here have to be extended to achieve this.



The start of extending the wires. I also sleeved them even though they hardly will be seen.
What I did notice is that one could de-solder the connections on the board and get thicker gauge wire like 10-8 gauge and use a single wire instead of the 3 wire configuration they have now.

Why do they do this????



Complete





Here is the connector plate is sitting in location. A hole for the connector plate still has to be cut out.





The bottom plate that the power supply will be mounted to. I have cut away at the middle parts of the two boards to reduce weight in the case.









Mounting the power supply to the bottom plate



The mark-out for the connector plate.

I spent most of the today doing the sleeving on the power supply. For some reason Sleeving just seems like it takes along time.

More work on this tomorrow.

[Cleveland216]

Weekend Update Cont'd

I was modding out the power supply yesterday and I switched back to the video card bracket this morning. Don't worry I did return to the power supply today also....



I took out the motherboard interface bulkhead, lets call it to start. I needed to figure out exactly where the video cards where going to be aligned on this.



Pretty simple. Will return later for cutting the holes.



I strengthened the side support pieces with extra carbon fiber. They were to thin and testing with the video cards didn't look so promising. I also need to add brackets for the rear of the video cards for mounting purposes.







I had someone in an different modding forum tell me that I couldn't bend Carbon Fiber! Sorry to prove you wrong

These support pieces will be for the rear of the video cards and provide the 2 of the 3 total mounting holes that will hold the video cards in place. These support pieces will also aid in keeping the video level across the entire bracket assembly.



Could of swore I took more pictures! But here it is minus the mounting holes being drilled.



Back to the Power Supply!!! I took the bottom plate piece and needed to drill and countersink some holes for mounting. This piece will mount to the frame and the power supply will mount to this piece.

I placed the mounting holes close to the holes used for mounting the power supply so in order to give the best mounting strength possible across the bracket. This is acrylic which can break under weighted loads in my experience. This power supply isn't exactly light either.





8-32 fasteners here. These will do the job.



To provide maximum fastening support nuts were added on the other side. The height of these nuts is only about 3-4mm while the motherboards supports are a standard 10mm so no clearance problems.





Now alot of you maybe wondering why not intricately cut out the holes for each connecter??? Because you wont be able to see this connecter plate by the time all the connecters are connected. All the sleeving will hid this so no real point in making big work here. I did think about it though and may return to it.



Here the power supply is mounted!!





I had to make more supporting brackets for the video card bracket. I still wasn't getting the intended support like i wanted too. With these additional brackets I strengthened up the support to the point where I could be happy over the lifetime of the case. Remember, This case does have to last for sometime!

I also glued the one side to the video card bracket assembly. Being that it is composites here, gluing here has its advantages! Where with Aluminium or Steel there is alot of additional prep work and sometimes that still doesn't even help.







Got to work on cutting out and filing the holes for the video cards DVI connectors.





The result!!



looking pretty awesome!

chow!

[riekmaharg2]

Man that PSU is a beast and that tubing looks awesome. Nice work on all the supporting frames too

[Waynio]

Originally Posted by Cleveland216

I had someone in an different modding forum tell me that I couldn't bend Carbon Fiber! Sorry to prove you wrong

It's good fun showing people the seemingly impossible is possible.

Originally Posted by Cleveland216

looking pretty awesome!

Your not wrong pretty awesome is an understatement though, this is very awesome.

[Cleveland216]

Originally Posted by riekmaharg2

Man that PSU is a beast and that tubing looks awesome. Nice work on all the supporting frames too

The PSU weighs as much as my frame and covers! SMH!

Originally Posted by Waynio

It's good fun showing people the seemingly impossible is possible.


Your not wrong pretty awesome is an understatement though, this is very awesome.

When it hit me that I should try it, I was like no way! When it worked, I was even more amazed. I thought the fiber strands from the carbon fiber would come loose and the matrix would be lost. I need to go post this over at Composites Central forum to show them.

Thanks for the continued inspiration. Trying to make it the best build with the tools at my disposal.

[Cleveland216]

Hello. Its been a chaotic week at work for me. Got into a car accident which wasn't my fault. So took it easy yesterday and put some work in today on the build. I also tried to drum up some sponsorship still to no avail. Anyways..........



Took off one of the main brackets for sanding or the early stages of sanding and trimming down to size for reduction in weight.



I cut that end piece sticking out. No need for that!



I never used these types of sanding wheels before but what a great way to do an initial sand.
This is 220 grit wheel here.



After meddling around sanding, I moved back onto the power supply. I have to make a bracket to hold the fan in place above the power supply.





This time I will use red acrylic and carbon fiber. I am keeping the design simple to keep weight down and dis-assembly easy in the future.







More of the supposed "impossible"





These are two of main acrylic frames that carbon fiber will be glued to. I needed to get an inital sand on these before polish. I haven't glued anything yet due to the polishing that still needs to be done! So.........moving on............







Started to cut and file away at the left side brackets. This is not only for weight reduction but also styling. These will be sanded further.





I drilled holes and will do so on the other side. Instead of duplicating the front, I went with holes in the back to give a more traditional air-frame look. Once again these will be sanded down further.

Back tomorrow if I can?!

[Cleveland216]

Hello. It has been a moment since the last update. Or at least it has felt that way! Well I have a big one for you all.



Created a list of some of the things I have to do. I also started to play around with my pictures and add some text.



I made a diagram of the flow direction for the water cooling system.



In still using the same power supply bulkhead frames, I need to cover up the hole I cut for the 850W power supply. The reason I am doing this instead of cutting a whole new piece, is that sometime in the future I may downsize and I would still like the option of being able to insert the 850W with no real problem.





Did some measuring and cutting. I used binding post here instead of allen head bolts.

Hard Drive Cage Fabrication



Taped the area down where the hard drive cage is going to mount.



Started to take measurements to make sure that I have the proper clearance required for all the connectors and such.



These are mock-up hard drives. I won't be using SSD's due to the cost.



Measuring to see how far I need to be from the side frame.



This was a bulkhead that was going to mounted inside, though, after seeing how strong the Carbon Fiber is there is no need for this bulkhead.

Since the hard drives are going into this location, I can use this piece to find out how high I can locate the hard drives with this area.





Laying out. I will have to stagger-step these hard drives due to the pitch of the cover.

I could have laid these hard drives flat and in other various orientations that I looked at, though, I decided this was the best.



Marked out one side of what would become the hard drive cage.











Starting to get a rough look of what this hard drive cage could become.



Marked out the two locations for the hard drives and also a border line.



Both pieces cut and the cage is set into a rough position.



Drilled the holes for the mounting screws. I also drilled holes to reduce frame weight and make the Cage look more stylish.





Both pieces with all there holes cut out.







All I still have to do is cut the sides where the mounting will take place.



I finally got my pump in from Performance-PCS. Time to mount.





Marked out and taped the location.



Positioned the pump and marked for drilling holes.





Look inside thru where the front foot sticks out.





These pieces of aluminium are going to be used to screw the Hard Drive cage from the other side. I will drill and tape these holes out that will be drilled and the mounting bolts screwed in holding the HD cage in place above.









The hard drive frames are now mounted and the pump is mounted. Time to move onto the front intakes.........

Until tomorrow.......hopefully!

[Pranja]

I can't wait to see this build finished.

[Cleveland216]

Hello.







The seam for where the two covers meet wasn't coming together properly in front of the radiators housings, so I had to fabricate a bracket to hold the covers together in this location. Here is the start of the bracket.



Mounting bars



Relative placement. These are needed to due to the countersinking that will be involved later on.



Devcon 2 Ton Epoxy, cures in about 30 minutes and full cure in 24 hours.



Clamped and now waiting



Started working on a new assembly.















More work on this tomorrow, if I haven't run out of acrylic. Either way modding is going down.

and I'm off.

[riekmaharg2]

How did you get that acrylic on the HDD, do you have a clean room?

Nice job on the mounting mechanism too, are you gonna have any vibration dampening?

[Cleveland216]

Originally Posted by riekmaharg2

How did you get that acrylic on the HDD, do you have a clean room?

Nice job on the mounting mechanism too, are you gonna have any vibration dampening?

I was bored one morning about a year or so ago exactly don't remember and I had this hard drive and I just wanted to mod something. This is a throw away for me and I knew I wasn't going to use it anymore, so I took off the top and put on a acrylic top. Would make a nice clock on the wall!

I have considered it and will probably use o-rings to get some vibration dampening.

[Cleveland216]

Hello! Been busy with modding this week. This is a short update........



Taped off the area that needs to cut for the front intake.



Close up.





I need to re-fab those aluminium intake panels. Their dimensions were a little off due to the molding process of the cover.

Peace!

[Waynio]

Progressing along nicely like the HDD cage & everything else.

[Cleveland216]

Hello.

I'm closing in on the completion of this build or at least it seems that way~! So updates will be here and there due to the sporadic nature of the build right now.

Ok, Free Promo Time......



I went to Microcenter and bought my ASUS SaberTooth motherboard for this build. I have used Asus products in the past and their build quality along with customer support is superb.

THANK YOU ASUS









The reason I chose this motherboard is because of the overall military feel and look. The motherboard cover is great in this effect. The cooling system for the motherboard is also unique in the way it channels and vents air. I will be able to vent the exhaust air out the back of my IO port for the motherboard.





I fabricated new intake cover out of aluminium sheet. There is still some modification that needs to be done to these. I'm loving the look though.





I drilled the hole for my reservoir fill port with a hole saw.





I looked at putting the fill port on the cover and underneath the cover. I like the look of the fill port being underneath the cover. If the fill port is mounted on the cover than a thick rubber gasket has to be made so when the cover is fitted on, No water will splash out the top of the reservoir between the junction.

Would like opinions on this though???????????

Thats it for now, Back to Modding

[KayinBlack]

This is some excellent work.

Gonna have any flat CF scraps, or a bit of extra cloth? If so, PM me and we can work something out. Knight's Rest needs CF, and I tried Di-Noc and it wasn't what I was looking for.

[Waynio]

Originally Posted by Cleveland216

Ok, Free Promo Time......

Thought of doing that myself but thought nah I'll just mod the heck out of everything instead so it isn't recognizable.

Good looking mobo though & the corner covers are nicely done I'd offer my opinion on the fill port bit but I'm way too inexperienced on water cooling to know my stuff.

[Mechh69]

Originally Posted by Cleveland216

I know that I'm a bit late to the party but I have a quick question for you. It appears that you are using tapered or shouldered bolts instead of ones that sit flat? I've noticed it in several pictures where the bolts appear to not sit even close to flush.

BTW I love you creativity and they precision you are putting in to this build. Awesome job.

[Parge]

AMAZING work!

But please get an SSD! This piece of art deserves one!

[Cleveland216]

Originally Posted by KayinBlack

This is some excellent work.

Gonna have any flat CF scraps, or a bit of extra cloth? If so, PM me and we can work something out. Knight's Rest needs CF, and I tried Di-Noc and it wasn't what I was looking for.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Waynio

Thought of doing that myself but thought nah I'll just mod the heck out of everything instead so it isn't recognizable.

Good looking mobo though & the corner covers are nicely done I'd offer my opinion on the fill port bit but I'm way too inexperienced on water cooling to know my stuff.

Nah, you could put your Opinion in. Being a MOTY nominee it always counts to me. Thanks for the continued support. As far as the free promo, ya why not!

Originally Posted by Mechh69

I know that I'm a bit late to the party but I have a quick question for you. It appears that you are using tapered or shouldered bolts instead of ones that sit flat? I've noticed it in several pictures where the bolts appear to not sit even close to flush.

BTW I love you creativity and they precision you are putting in to this build. Awesome job.

Those bolts in the pics are only temporary. They will be replaced with proper allen head flush mount bolts.

Thanks for the support. Trying to do the best I can with what I got.

Originally Posted by Parge

AMAZING work!

But please get an SSD! This piece of art deserves one!

Thanks!!!! Thinking about it, more like, will my pocket book allow it.

[Cleveland216]

Hello. It has been a moment!!! I have been modding and waiting and more waiting on part to arrive from Performance-PC's out of Florida, USA.



Ya, yes the box finally arrives.



My new connectors for the power supply along with pins



Compression fittings. I have never used these before in my builds. I will have to order more, these are just the first set for the radiators.



40mm fans for exhausting air. Some of you may think that is not enough, though on a water cooled system you don't need a 100cfm running through your case, imho.



This 60mm equals about 3-40mm and will be used to bring air into the motherboard section of the case.





CoolerMaster Mach Turbines for the radiators. I thought these came in gray, oh well! I may mod these out a little further.



I got this wire light and have a special purpose for it, stay tune on that one.



With the 40mm fans in, I got to work on getting the holes for the mounting drilled and prepared.





There will be a total of 3 fans exhausting the air. I had to go with small 40mm fans due to height and clearance restrictions in top core section of the case. I didn't have room for bigger 80mm and such fans.



Another bracket revision for the power supply fan.



Trying to determine relative placement of where the fan will sit.



Mounting of the fan on its bracket or shall we say bracket pieces.



The fan that I will buy for the power supply will be modded so these bolt heads don't stick their heads over the bulkheads.

Until Whenever!