So It's time for my annual build. I actually got started a couple of weeks ago, but now that I have enough content it's time to post. I'll be combining my 3 posts from the original site into one, then updating this thread as well going forward. The theme of this build is Iron man as you can guess. Here we can see victim. This build will be based on the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv MAtx build for 2 reasons. Reason one, the Full ATX version of the case is huge, and this case will have to come with me when I travel. Reason 2 is the Mini ITX version of the case is made out of Steel. First Step is to strip all that sweet sweet aluminium off the case. The easy panels came off first. Now the Feet, You have to remove the rubber as well. Hinges and window removed Hinges and buttons removed Finally got the last 2 panels stripped down as well. The whole case is just covered in this super solid Aluminium. Packages started arriving soon after. Corsair 850i Platinum fully modular power supply. Gotta love Dat Power. Mounted... Reservoir has come to play as well! I skipped a few steps for this, but I added 2 bulkheads to the case that will pass through liquid to the pump, which will be mounted below the floor of the case. Test fitting the radiators... I don't have the final fans at this point, but I want to keep working. I love the look of the cherry red rads with the gold fittings... because you know... Iron Man... Pass through and a sneak peek of the plexi floor that's roughed out... Better view of the rough floor. Time to round it out. A little blurry, but it's too late to go back and re-take it. This fricking bend took 4 pieces of tubing, my wife's assistance, slightly burnt fingers, and a pair of vicegrips to get in place... Totally worth it. Slightly blurry shot of the front fans... EK Vardar fans will be on all 4 slots controlled by a PWM header on the motherboard. And an even blurrier shot of the top rad. (I need to stop working late into the night if I'm going to take photos) Testing Pump location. Looks like it's going to fit. I just need to get some new parts and do something about that cable... Pump disassembled for parts that are in the mail... So future plans... All that Aluminium was stripped off for a reason. It's all off at the Anodizer's place. When it comes back it's going to be a very different color. I have new parts for the pump coming, scheduled to arrive today, as well as a few more parts. This whole build will be liquid cooled, and will be running on Skylake with a 980Ti. Thanks for checking it out and I love to hear comments. Post 2 Just a short update today. I got the bottom plumbing done along with installing the new parts for the pump. I elected to use soft tubing to make maintenance easier as I can remove the pump with much less hassle than I could with hard tubes. View from the side View from the front. The soft tubing won't be seen since the new floor of the case will be opaque. Speaking of the new floor of the case. It's coming along nicely. I keyed the plexi so the paint would stick nicely I then started applying the base color for the floor. You'll see where I'm going with this soon... but for now I'll leave you an in progress shot. Post 3 Just got these pics from the Anodizing place... Can't wait to pick the parts up Saturday! Post 4 Got some more work done today! First off the replacement pump came in Stripped down and ready to have the wires replaced. New wires soldered on, pump is alive!! Also got this guy... Time for some custom decals/masking! Masking for the next coat of paint on the floor is done... Waiting another 24 hours before I can paint again. Sorry corsair... I love you guys, but this is an iron man build... and you're not very Iron man-ey... Cutting time... It's fascinating to watch this thing work... And here's the final result... Going to do a coat of paint for the floor tomorrow... Can't wait to get my panels back to see how it's all coming together. Post 5 Took a peek inside of my high end spray booth this morning (Popcorn box) The color turned out good, but I really hate working with gloss paints...
Floor is good to go. After a ton of polishing I got rid of all that orange peel Removed the masking And got it installed.
A wild package appeared!! AWWWWWWWWWWWW YISSSSSSS Panel shots!! Lets get these puppies on the machine!! MMM.... I'm liking this.. . Lets move this outside... Booty shots! Side panel where the big artwork is going. Our lawn is horrible at our apartment complex... Artsy Shot Loving the hinged doors Show off the fans too... So I'm not sure how I feel about the case red next to the painted parts inside... I'll give it a couple days before I decide... I like the contrast because the inside of the case really pops.... I'll just wait until I get the machining done for the larger window and the graphics done... then I'll make my decision... As always... Gimmie some feedback!!
It's a double update day today! Masked off the window shape. My new dremel cutter made quick work of roughing out the window. and here it is after lots of filing. Nice clean edges, but the anodizing is gone... There's a plan for that. I totally eyeballed this. Gotta get some more gold on this thing. Sprayed down. Window was super easy to install, so there's no progress pics of that, but its in.Here's the back, you can see that I used the existing screw posts and then just glued the corners down with builders adhesive. I cleaned up a little bit of over spray that leaked under the masking with Goof Off... Here's the final result. The new window shows off everything really nicely. there probably won't be any updates for a little bit while I source some parts and find someone with a water jet cutter and a CNC engraver. As always if you want to know or see anything just let me know!
Haha... I learned that simple mods done well usually look better than doing something elaborate poorly.
So I don't have a ton of progress to show today. My paint on a new part didn't come out, so I have to wait for it to cure before I can sand it down and repaint. I got to see how the test piece turned out from the engraving shop, and washed my car. So I'll share those to tide anyone who's gotten used to regular updates from me... Test on the scrap piece of the case Clean and happy car. (If posting the car is against the rules just let me know and I'll edit it out.)
So I finished the reservoir panel, I'm not 100% happy with the paint on the top after sanding off a coat that I resprayed too soon, but since it's behind the res You can barely see it, and the part with the mask looks good. I got a call from my friends that the laser cutting was finished. Deron (the shop owner) posed with the work he did for me. Took it home and added gold to the panel. Paint is dry to the touch, which is exactly where I want it for this step. If the paint cures it's much harder to weed out the masking agent. Most of the big chunks removed... all of the big bits removed, time to start the detail work where the masking leaked or the laser cut a line that was too fine to pull up. Close up shot of one of the areas requiring more clean up This part too. About 1.5 hours of weeding an cleaning up the image gives me this And it's installed I wasn't a huge fan of the Phanteks sticker for headphone jack and Mic, so I had those added as well. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... Lots of goof off, patience, and about 25 qtips.
Some of the hardware started arriving! My custom cables and my motherboard are here! I decided to go X99 instead of C170 since I'm going to be doing some streaming on this computer going forward. That being said lets look at the Part that the CNC guys finished up for me today. After a little razor work we get the rest of the reactor for painting. Painted up, just waiting on the EL panels to get here from china. The motherboard for this project. Quad Channel DDR4, M.2 slot, and a ton of IO... Sadly the USB 3.0 header isn't oriented the best direction, so that's gonna be a little messy in an otherwise clean build. Motherboard in it's new home. Close up of the bottom Behind the panel. I have more parts on the way including cable combs. Everything for this build has been purchased, it's just elbow grease and assembly from now on.
Doing a video update today. I thought it was pretty cool to watch, I didn't get the entire process because my memory card filled up. Let me know what you think! http://youtu.be/9k7lg2WVqy4
Really like your painting technique This will end up looking really good. At first I thought you used vinyl on the sides (which IMO would have been way easier) but I appreciate the dedication
It is actually very easy. I did it on this mod: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=178681&highlight=beto&page=4
Memory and SSD are here Memory installed with a peek at the cables. Put the M.2 in. The green really sticks out. Creative vinyl application to hide the green 5820k Installed... I was surprised that it installed upside down, but it's not a big deal. Water block installed, added cable combs, and bent up the tube from the CPU to the radiator. Same image without flash. GTX 980Ti added in.. MMMM pretty... I'm loving the back plate. Filling attempt (this one ended in disaster, I ended up filling the loop with a different tube and funnel combo later... Tubes all in place, and yes, I used a ton of paper towel... Let's not go into it... I had good reasons. The loop is leak testing and i'm working the air bubbles out. The Original plan to go with gold fluid just looked aweful with the metallic gold paint and the anodized gold fittings. Adding a third gold color into the mix just looked bad... So red fluid it is. oh, and Here's a shot of the mask
My first of 2 EL panels came in, So here's the album for fitting the top lighting. Plexi Fixed in place EL Panel wired and installed Lit up. Hulkbuster Approves. Got the mask almost complete. Paint!! and peel. Still waiting on the EL panel for the front mask... The computer is sitting on my desk, windows is installed... Overclocking is complete... but where's the fun of showing off the final pictures before everything's complete!!
Final Update time! This build is Finished. Higher quality images will be available on my personal website/build blog page diluzio.us
Just for giggles, My wife took pictures of my ghetto photo studio set up in the living room. The backdrop area Using the projector as a studio light I hung the back drop from a curtain rod and a door using some clothes line... yep.... but the results were good at least.
