Scratch Build Tiny HTPC (semi) passive, Full HD, 1080p bluray(really finished+lil report 28/6)

[ichessblumen]

Hello geeks,


I’ve found these sites after several reviews of some amazing mods and cons.
Now I decided to show you one of mine.
After finishing the last project one year before and the made experiences a plan ripened to build a new htpc.... semi- passive…… without bling bling

The following lines are copied from my other diary.
I started with that project in late February this year. So It could be abit of bewilderingly when reading.

And apologize my bad English ;-)

Here we go with the components:

mainboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, UVD for 1080p
RAM: 2GIG DDR 2 800 any brand
CPU: Athlon X2 BE-2400 (45 W)
GFX: Onboard
HDD: 250 GB, 2.5"
TV-card: Terratec cinergy s2
Optical drive: Bluray Pioneer BDC 202
PSU: 120 W
Cooler: diy
Housing: diy
display: VL-System with IR Control

Cooling:
As you see, the aluminum cooler fins are used as the right "side-plate". I build the cooler from components I bought from conrad.de. The right side-plate is also composed of this 2.0 mm fins. The top plate has an aluminum mesh.
Due to this composition I'll have a good air vent in the housing (hope so).

The vfd-display needs to get stripped. I want to hide it behind a transparent plexi or two way plexi mirror.

As you see, these were my first sketchs.





Next.

First of all , I've "shrinked" a regular backplate from a tower and assembled it on a 1,5mm thick alloy groundplate.
After fitting of the mobo by means of some plastic spacers I layed out the parts to find out the definite measurements.

Then I'll have finished an auxiliary frontplate holding the vfd-display and the blu ray-drive.





next weekend…next progress

this is what I've done :
- insertion of an intermediate alloy piece onto the backplate
- riveting of an alloy L-section onto the backplate slots to make sure good connection to the pci-cards
- cutting the groundplate to fit all components
- added an alloy L- section to the front. this is the fixation for the auxiliary front-plate
- cut and screwed on the auxiliary front
- cut one square tube for the optical drive

it still looks very raw but I am going to grind it before I go on with the paintwork.



Next steps were:

- bent the 0.8 mm alloy which holds the blu-ray drive.
- fastened the dvd-drive holder

- cut out the 1.5mm auxiliary front for the vfd-display and the BR-drive

next step:
- creating the left side of the enclosure.
It consists of 2.0 mm alloy profile and 6mm alloy round.

With that i'm going to create 10 fins on the left side. This will be the test for my "masterpiece".....my diy cpu-cooler

and here some pics, showing the progress.












Meanwhile the fins had made a little progress. I pressed them together and drilled three 6mm holes for the poles ( wow, I'am a poet)...
afterwards I made the curve with a "big dremel" = angle grinder and did the finishing with a file and sandpaper.










well...next step was to screw in the poles for the fins and to find out whether my scratch was correct...and it was.

Thereafter I put the fins on the poles to find out the needed distances between the fins. (7.0 mm)
Next step was to find out whether I can order any material with this 7.0 mm thickness to keep the distance between the fins. Finally I've found some proper nuts and I am going to glue the fins onto the poles by means of 2k epoxy.

Well, here is the picture of the first buildup of the enclosure's left side to get an idea of the final set.


meanwhile I got the blu-ray drive and so I was able to keep on with the work.

here's the list what I've done:

- bent the heatpipes properly ( by means of a a spring, which is for bending of tubes)
- put em into the block
- sandpapered and polished the CPU block
- drank a beer
- sandpapered and polished a 6mm copper plate, which is on top of the cooler and holds the "emergency" pwm-fan
- cut the fins for the right side
- mounted and glued the fins on the left side
- produced a mess






messy….


and more ...

yezz, got the right side ready. must say I was a bit worried whether I can do as I had planned.

So I did it very slowly and thought twice before any failure could happen.

Here's the short list what I've done today and some new pix.

- did a test setup with the cooler and the fins
- pressed M4 nuts into the mobo-backplate( fit perfectly...dunno whom to thank for it..)
- drilled the copper plate
- drank a beer
- thought over it again
- drank another beer
- glued the fins, the pipes ...yeah ready.

Now I will order the front- and top-plate. They are gonna be made by a company with pro cnc milling machines.
I can't handle 4mm alloy.

Well, next steps for me are to construct a hdd-cage and to finish the backplate.



copper plate drilled


Mounted cooler w (emetgency) pwm-fan on top


shot from the right side


Top-front view


Now I’am waiting for my professional made parts . They were announced for Apr,16th.


I’ll do the paintwork of the backplate this week and will come up with an update this weekend.

So far.

Ichessblumen from Germany

[Supra55]

Nice metalwork, this HTPC should turn out well!

[Jipa]

Very nice design and work so far! I'll keep my eye on this one.

[Xtrafresh]

i like it!

one question jumps into my critical mind. Aren't you worried about dust with those open sides?

[mutznutz]

I like that very much

[jokkos]

Originally Posted by Xtrafresh

i like it!

one question jumps into my critical mind. Aren't you worried about dust with those open sides?

I was thinking exactly the same. Couldn't you put some acrylic behind it (on the inside, so the heat goes to the fins and can't come to the inside of the case again? Just a thought.

[ichessblumen]

Originally Posted by Xtrafresh

i like it!

one question jumps into my critical mind. Aren't you worried about dust with those open sides?

1st of fall, thanks for the nice comments guys.

Erm, yes, I think I'll have abit dust in the housing. But which case doesn't have dust inside after a period of time? Most of the fans blow dust into the cases.
I guess putting acrylic behind would increase the inner temps and interrupts the normal air vent. I think the dust will do no harm to the components. From time to time I will used compressed air to blow the dust away. ( Okay, I will go outside darling to do so )

[x06jsp]

Looking Very good there

[mortadelo]

Originally Posted by jokkos

I was thinking exactly the same. Couldn't you put some acrylic behind it (on the inside, so the heat goes to the fins and can't come to the inside of the case again? Just a thought.

I'd use some mesh filter inside the case, against the fins, so the dust would be trapped in the fins and not inside the case.
BTW I love the case, I'm a big fan of small cases.

[francisl1420]

Looking good, some filters or acrylic should help to reduce the dust problem

[Kenny_McCormick]

Great work, I like the desing. Can't wait to see it finished. Keep going!

[E.E.L. Ambiense]

Wow, great work here! I love it. Custom heatpipe bending too!

[brinkz0r]

Damn, you've beaten me on being the first to use those heatpipes for a custom cooler But it looks really good, so I can live with that

[FrooP]

CASEUMBAU \o/

[ichessblumen]

thanks @ all for the nice words....

@ froop caseumbau

edit: it was abit too cold in the garden shed tonight to do some paintwork on the backside...so I have to wait for the weekend

[Rodeye]

this is really slick! keep up the good work!

[ichessblumen]

thank ya rodeye...

I heated the garden shed abit .... so I was able to spray the backplate in a silverish tint.
Small update.


That's it for today.

[felix the cat]

some good looking work there...I take it the onboard gfx is capable of decoding HD videos?

and oh. are the flowers tasting good over there?
f.

[ichessblumen]

Originally Posted by felix the cat

some good looking work there...I take it the onboard gfx is capable of decoding HD videos?

and oh. are the flowers tasting good over there?
f.

thank you felix.

yes indeed, the onboard gfx is capable of decoding the HD videos. Here's a review showing blu ray playback by means of a single core sempron. I use a 2 core BE-2400 and'll have an estimated cpu usage of 25% during hd playback.

and yes, while disgusting flowers I used to flush it down with a good beer or red wine

[ichessblumen]

hi again, it's weekend and time for an update...

Today I built the hdd cage for the 2.5" hdd.( Samsung 250GB)
I took a flat piece of aluminum ( the same kind I used for the fins) and bent it in the brake accordingly to my sketch.



The intention is to fasten the whole thing by means of a modified slot bracket. Here are the laid out parts for it.



Then, after the drilling, filing, bending, drinking riveting and countersunk it looks like this.



Here the reverse view. As you see, there's space for another 2.5" hdd...



And that's yet mounted...



And there was time to mount the fan onto the copperplate after drilling and cutting the M3 threads for it.



Well, that's it for today....