Scratch Build – In Progress PLXPC - update:300415 MotM / Final Pics...

Once again it´s time for a new Worklog

In the last years we built a lot of systems but only a handful were built for our personal use.
And this will be one of the handful

It´s planned to be used as my personal CAD/Video Editing/ Gaming System so one of the requirements is: It should get nice hardware with a decent custom watercooling loop.
It will be build completely out of Plexiglas in a black / red color scheme.

The complete design of this build aims to the position in which the build will be placed when it´s done. It will be placed on a cabinet in a corner to another cabinet beside it´s TFT so it´s a really closed space which brings a lot of restrictions which we have to deal with.

But before we start the work we want to send out a big thank you to:





for supporting us & our Projects.!

And now let´s Start with a quick rendering which i made to show my idea to my brother and a few other people, so it´s not really detailed and a lot of stuff is missing, but you can get an imagination in which direction this build is orientated.




And like you could imagine we already ordered a lot of black plexiglas so that we could start to cut out the first layers of the base....



And after a few hours of work we got this...... (already the most parts which will be used to build the bottom part of the case...)






as next we´re going to cut out the next parts which are needed to build the upstanding part of the system which will hold the hardware....

 

Do show some machine action for us mill-freaks, please.

 

Sounds cool. IN!

 

thanks m8´s!!!!!

damn, i´ve seen that too late , now the most of the big parts were already cutted in a way so that i could make the rest with normal hand tools. But i bet, there will be a few smaller parts from which i could make a short clip


Maybe you asked yourself why so many layers instead of only a few, that had a simple reason, the material is a bit cheaper and a second reason was that i could integrate cable channels and openings for LEDs.

After we started with all that parts for the bottom of the case, we decided to continue with the big parts for the upstanding "side" because we had to wait for the uv red plexi to be delivered....






In that upstanding part we will integrate mountings for 2 SSD and a normal 3,5" HDD, beside that there will be a bit of space unused so that it could be upgraded in the future....

After finishing the work on the black plexi parts, the red plexi finally arrives so that we could switch back to the bottom of the case and cut out the Red Layer for it,after that we also cut out the part for the upstanding part of the case.....




As next we´re going to make a few changes on all bottom layers, but before we could do this we first want to try/measure if our plannings were correct....


Beside the work on the Base of the Case we also started to work on the Reservoir for the watercooling loop. It will also be made of red/black plexiglas....so we had to cut out a few parts first....





as next all those parts had to be polished and after that we are going to glue them all together.....

 

time for an update

But before i start i want to send out another big Thank you to Asus, Coolermaster, Aquatuning and Adata for their support! In the last days a few packages arrived, so that the most of the needed parts are already here ...(only a few are missing at the moment)






(But the majority of the Watercooling parts are dedicated to another project we´re working on)



Beside that we also continued the work on the Case....better to say on the reservoir....
first we glued the prepared parts together.....and after a short drying period we sanded everything so that we get a smooth bottom and top surface were we could mount our watercooling plugs....





In the drying period of the reservoir we switched over to the upstanding part of the case...
First we had to clean all parts, so that we could fix them on each other in their final position (glued on with adh. tape), then we glued everything together with a lot of Acryfix....)





And after the glue was dryed, we tested in which position we´re going to moutn the LED Strip inside the case, so that we could cut the last "channels" for them.....



As next we´re doing the same with the bottom plate, so that we could cut all channels at the same time....

 

Ooooooooooo.. This looks cool, going to be watching this one

 

thx m8!!

time for the next update!!

last time we prepared the upstanding part so that we could route in a channel for the digital LED Strip....so the next thing was to continue these preparations on the bottom part.....







Like you can see....there will be a small stripe of red plexi which will not be covered by the last layer of black plexi....thats because on thise stripe we will place the upstanding part...

As next we prepared a few smaller details like the parts for the power button....




And then we made a first test with both parts together....

 

EDIT: crap, I was already subbed! Looking good!

 

Massive layered plexi gets me so excited.

 

me too


We already prepared the most of the Water cooling Reservoir, there were only 2 pieces missing....the most important....the outer walls....so we cutted them out from a sheet of clear Plexiglas



after that we glued them to the rest of the reservoir, so that we could start sanding the edges after everything has dryed....



and when the sanding & polishing process is done...the reservoir will be completed......


Beside that we also started to work on a matching Pump Top for the Laing Pump which will be used in this build. But in the first attempt i made a mistake while taking all the measurements which was needed so the first version we made was a bit too small....

here is a picture of the first try....




After we recognized that there was an error, we directly started to make a new version, this time in the correct dimensions....
So we started with a lot of red and black plexi squares again.....they had to be cut out....organized in the correct order and then they will be glued together so that we get a massive plexiglas block




And with that striped block we could start the routing process again......

 

Love it. It looks like there will be some pressure testing in your future.
That's the one thing I hate about dark plexi: You can't see if you get an air pocket in the fusing.

 

oh yeah

yeah it´s really a pain in the a**


small update

we installed and tested the digital rgb strip.....the patterns are more ore less random....(one is upside down) later we will install a few patterns from which you could choose which style of lightning effects you want...




and for the cnc enthusiasts.... a short video of the routing process from one of the radgrills....(just a short clip - then the camera battery had to be recharged.....)

 

Small update:


But before i start, i wanted to send another big thank you to Asus ! Because my new GPU has arrived today!!!




After preparing the main body of this build, we continued with some small plexiglas stripes, which had to be cut out....


Then we took those stripes and glued them around the edges on top of the edges of the black layers....that way we get a smooth and even surface with the other 2 Layers which are a few mm bigger than the rest ...




After the Glue has dried we started the sanding process for the newly created edges....



and last but not least we put the PSU in Place to see if our rips will fit around it....

 

Nice build guys

 

thanks m8!!!!

leeeeets continue this....


After prefitting the rips on the Hardware Side we continued our work on the other side of the case and finished the polishing process, beside that we also mounted the backside of the case so that we could take the last measurements....



With that last measurements we drilled the holes for the Mainboard, tapped them and mounted the Mainboard for the first time.....(we waited up to now, because we wanted to make sure that we could react on changes)




After that, we switched back to the right side of the case....but a short explaination first......

You might have recognized that our Radiator is a bit smaller than the spot in which we mount it.....we´ve made it that way....because we wanted to keep the system upgradeable.....
Which means that we´re now going to mount a 2x120mm Radiator in it....but maybe in the future i want to upgrade to a 2x140mm Radiator so we choosed to integrate that upgrade option in the Case and added a bit more space around the Rad. We also had to integrate that in the right sidepanel with its integrated radgrill.....but this also brings a problem....because with that bigger Radgrill we couldn´t mount a smaller Rad on the same place because the wholes would be inside the slot of the grill......
So we decided to add a 2nd radgrill on the outside of the right sidepanel which gives us the ability to hide the mounting holes for the bigger Radiator and mount the smaller one.....

Like you might remember....we already prepared that grill (its the part from the video)...so we only had to overwork the edges before we could mount it on the case.....




Then we swichted the sides again.....and mounted the pump with its custom top on its position so that we could start to make the first bends on the rigid tubing ......

 

Custom pump top, custom reservoir, scratch case. All looking mightly fine!

 

yeah custom everything... thanks m8!!!


leeeeeets continue this.....

ok, the last time we already prepared the bends of the rigid tubing.....as next we continued the work with a cover for the Radiator and its fans.
So we tooked one of the prepared Grills and added a first stripe of plexiglas to one of its sides.....



after that we did the same with the other sides....except the one pointing towards the mainboard. That side was only closed partially, because we want to rout all the cables between radiator and motherboard so that they are not visible from the outside.



Then we finally mounted the LED Strips in their place so that we could close the bottom part of the case.....




Because we were already routing cables (with the LEDs) we decided to mount the next Cables for the Mainboard as well....



Beside that we also prepared the Cover for the Mainboard.....







The Mainboard Cover is nearly finished....only the front part is missing atm, because we had to measure where the rigid tubing runs through it, so that we could make the changes that are needed for that.....





and last but not least! a little side info:
It´s from another campaign we´re part of .....it starts on Monday 30th March 2015 and here is a short Teaserclip....

 

WOW thanks a lot Combatus for the MotM nomination! it´s always a great honor to be among such great artist!

And also a lot of thanks for everyone who leaves their vote for our little baby



Beside that i also finished the programming of the Arduino...now you could switch between a big range of different LED Animations by pushing just one switch (or keyboard input)
I think we will make a video of the different patterns in the next days.

 

So, lets continue this.....

on the last update we already showed you the preparations for the last changes we have to make on the last shed of the mainboard cover. After preparing everything we cutted the parts away which we don´t need. But after that we had a big hole for just 2 tubes. So we had to close the big hole around the tubes. For that we prepared another small part, drilled holes in both and tapped them so that we can attach the small part to the big.
That way we can take the mainboard cover away without opening the watercooling loop.....




After preparing those 2 parts we had to measure where the tubes exactly pass through the plexiglas so that we can drill holes for them.....
http://www.babetech.de/images/plxpc2/92.jpg{/img]
[img]http://www.babetech.de/images/plxpc2/102.jpg{/img]
[img]http://www.babetech.de/images/plxpc2/94.jpg{/img]
[img]http://www.babetech.de/images/pxpc2/103.jpg{/img]

We also made some progress on the internal wire management......
[img]http://www.babetech.de/images/plxpc2/85.jpg


Then we still have a big hole left .....the one under the mainboard....where you could see the HDD....thats because of the size of the HDD ....its just thicker than the case is....so we have to give it an extra millimeter so that we won´t get any problems. We knew that from the start, but in our plannings we just wanted to use a simple square piece of plexiglas for that. But in the building and programming process of the Arduino we decided to add an additional mini usb plug, a switch for the whole LED lights, and a push button to controll the LED animations. And that small cover under the mainboard seems quite perfect for it...because in that way...the buttons and plugs are nearly invisible but still accessible ......

 

This is just sheer craftsmanship!

Looking forward to seeing the end product, its defo one of a kind!