Case Mod - In Progress Project Slumber Parties UPDATED 12-16-10 Leak testing

Introduction:
This is my first post here on the forum. I've only ran across it recently. So I'm transposing months of work over from my work log on Xtreme Systems. I know its a No No with the Zen of Project Logs (which I just read this morning since I didn't really know the guidelines to making one)

The History behind the build:
Well the title is what it is. My fiance has Transverse Mialitis and has been wheelchair bound since the age of 2. She started her own business as a distributor for Slumber Parties (The 18+ Women only girls night out parties) back in Oct 08. Since then April 09 we went through and replace the furniture in the office with Ikea products using the red and black/brown units. Later this year around I would say August I decided to make the leap to I7 and finally try out water cooling.

Considering here in TX with the game rig I was running dual EVGA 9800GTX KO cards on stock cooling @ 100% fan with Riva Tuner it only took 5 minutes to increase room temps by at least 3* So needless to say my game rig was used for 3-4 hours max for gaming and about 10 hours for benchmarking Max. The rest of the time it was shut off waiting for the cooler season.

The basis of the build is off the red, black, and white theme which follows her business. I couldn't stand the blue lights in the office anymore and I've always wanted to partake in modding just never had the time. Now I'm working from home as her Personal Attendant so I have spare time usually to tinker with stuff around the house. With being her personal attendant I'm paid through the state to basically take care of her. So it allows me to be around her all the time as well as stay pretty busy too.

We take things for granted sometimes when we have another half that helps do things around the house. I know I sure did prior to meeting Barbara.

Key build items are:
Cooler Master Haf932
Foxconn Bloodrage (water cooled version)
I7 920 DO
Corsair Dominator GT 3X2 6GB Kit 2000MHZ
Enermax Revolutions 1050W psu
MDPC Sleeving
NZXT Sentry Panel
Swiftech XT
Swiftech MCP355 X2
XSPC RX360 Rad
XSPC RX480 Rad
FrozenQ 250ML Red Helix res X2
Feser 3/8ID 1/2OD Compression Fittings Ceramic coated in Matte Black
OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD
WD 250 GB Sata for XP install and misc
WD 750 GB Sata for game installs
4 12" White Cathod tubes
XSPC Res Tops X2
XFX HD5870
EK Block for GPU
BFG 9800 GT (PhysX Dedication)
X-FI Fatal1ty Titanium
Custom powder coated and accented Case with cnc work
Primoflex White tubing with red anti kink coils
Custom spray paint by Hugo Montero of Cangogh in New Orleans
Saitek Cyborg R.A.T. 7 mouse
Saitek Cyborg keyboard
Saitek X-52
Acr Labs ForceRS wheel shifter and pedals w/clutch

Still to purchase
More MDPC-X Sleeving
Samsung F3 1TB Sata drive
Sony Bravia 32EX400 32" lcd tv



So anyway without further ramblings I introduce Project Slumber Parties:

Keep in mind this is a copy from a different forum.

09-21-2009, 11:05 PM

So my fiance does slumber parties. The office is full of $3,000 of Ikea Besta and Inreda stuff to match the colors of the business. I've been wanting to ditch the PITA Antec 900 that's served as my server box for ever and always wanted to mod a case. So I moved my server hardware into my game case an ABS A+ El Diablo.

This is my first time going water cooled so I honestly have alot of reading to do. I have plenty of time as I haven't gotten my board, cpu, or gpu/s yet. I've also never painted a computer chassis before.

I picked up a Cooler Master HAF 932 and a cpu loop with a triple rad from someone on [H]Forum. Needless to say that transaction hasn't made me happy. I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Below are the photos I was shown when I agreed to make the purchase:






The following is what I received but wasn't informed of prior to purchase. So its what I have to work with:




What on earth is the goup that collected on the cpu block?



This substance was actually like a putty substance. I just rubbed it off under the bathroom sink. Then after I patted it dry was left with this:



So I put on a magnifying headset with light and grabbed a needle. This stuff Seemed more like dried algae as it came off in fuzzy sheets.

This was after an hour and a half:



There is still some minor crap there that I will clean later. I wanted to make sure I could get the foreign crap off.

Now flipping over the copper block we have another nice surprise:




This must have been from shipping considering I asked to have crushed newspaper stuffed in the case to keep things from moving around. The cpu block was just stuffed in the cpu section of the mobo back plate when I pulled the case out of the box. Which in turn put the copper block against metal so it could rattle and slide while it is shipped. (See below picture) Now I get to read up on lapping also.

Granted The pump and res were tapped down and the 6 gigs of gskill ram and box of case accessories were tapped and bubble wrapped together.
What nice find did I have of that ram with red heat sinks? Thermal paste smeared all over two of them on one side. Considering there was thermal paste on the inside of the anti static bag they were in.

While I was moving the Cooling setup I noticed Some fuzzy green particles floating around in the system:


Is this trash normal? I'm guessing its a form of algae.

Now for the Rad I was rather ticked off when I saw the following as I wasn't informed of this nice little bit of findings either:







Down to the case:

Wow dust buildup. Just wait thats nothing:



Wow and a can of air is what $3 bucks. I paid $397 dollars for beat up and banged up stuff un-anounced to me and it doesn't even arrive clean. Pretty sad. I've never sent anything dirty to a buyer on this forum or any other hardware forum let alone on ebay.


Oh look its the missing bay cover still missing from the initial pic where I asked if he had it and was told yes its sitting right by him in a drawer and he insured me it would be sent along with all the plates. Heck I only got maybe 3 of the IO Plates.

Bare chassis:
I made sure since I am drilling out the rivets and having the chassis powder coated to make sure I have a log of rivet locations:










http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i320/scgt1/Slumber%20Parties%20Case/UpperRearPanelOuterRivetLoc
ations.jpg

Now with a close look over the case we have the following mangled drive hold offs that will get attention later on:



Water damage out the rear:










NEXT UP DRILLING RIVITS:

 

Case Teardown 10-06-2009, 08:53 AM

10-06-2009, 08:53 AM



Ok so I pulled the ol Dremel out and found the appropriate sized metal bit for the job. I've never drilled out case rivets before so wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. I wasn't too afraid of scratching the paint now since it was screwed before I even received it. I still don't get how the heck you scratch a case when you have styrofoam on the front and back of the case and your sliding it in a cardboard box. I guess it can happen.


So since the rain has been holding off I decided to take advantage of it since its been sprinkling off and on as it has been for the last week here in TX. Below we have it half way tore down and drilled out:





Now we have everything drilled out:



The nice aftermath:


Now we have closer looks at the water damage and neglectful modding done to the case:











NEXT UP BEAD BLASTING That is if I even took pictures opppss I'll have to see.

 

10-14-2009, 02:24 PM

10-14-2009, 02:24 PM

I know I've stated more updates coming, but I just haven't found the time or keep forgetting to while I'm on here. The painting process of the case chassis is almost complete. I have serious modding to do to the window panel and possibly the other panel also. So they are at stand stills and still raw steel. I've been lazy (who would have thought) with taking pictures as of late so during the painting process there may be a shot here and there, but its nothing seriously insane like the above workup. I left off with bead blasting being my next post. As I can see above this message window. That's sad.

Since then I've done alot of work and have spent I would say 48 hours wet sanding and painting multiple coats. I wanted to make sure I have the paint fairly thick for protection. I'm still contemplating on if I just want to use clear gloss or a lacquer sealer on the paint. It needs to be durable. I have a pile of cans sitting in the garage from the work. LOL Sad thing is I have one can of clear gloss laying around that I bought and I don't even know if I want to use it or not.

I was at Lowes getting rivets to put the case back together today and strolled down the spray paint isle. Unfortunatly they don't carry Krylon which is what I started the job with and intended to finish with, but I saw one can of Valspar Clear Laquer finish that sounded promising to promote a durable finish that will resist average bumps and bangs.

After the amount of time I spent taping off the top and bottom panels to paint the two tone I wasn't about to blast paint back off and fix a few minor imperfections. Right now the garage is packed with tons of stuff. Including 3 desks from the Ikea Office upgrade which are going in a garage sale this weekend.

So I have pieces of computer case laying on 1/4 plywood sections all over the garage where a solid place is that is flat. So they are safe while drying. Its been nasty lately here in DFW. For the past two weeks in fact there hasn't been any sun. Its been nothing but clouds and drizzly, fog, rain you name it. So I've been working on it when I can. I can't paint in the garage because of over spray. So it gets held off till a nicer day that isn't wet. So now I'm trying to just throw it together to get it in one piece and in a box where its safe. We all know what more then likely will happen when pulling stuff out of a garage for a garage sale. So the time and money I've spent on this case is more of a concern.

There was problems with the air holes on the top and bottom panel with painting. I taped the inside then sprayed the outside. When I turned around and painted the inside and taped the outside. Somehow some of the interior paint is on the exterior air hole surroundings. Its seen up close, but not from away. What is noticed from far away and from angles is a nice feature I wasn't expecting nor was I shooting for. But I'm exceptionally happy with how it looks.

Aside from the missing paint where the colors seperate where the side panels sit from mismatched tapping. I swore they were tapped ok. Some bubbles (noticed on the inside of the top and bottom) from most likely a tad heavy coat of paint here and there and the wonderful up and down temps and humidity here in Texas.

I was going to wet sand the inside of the case as it seems a bit rough, but after looking at it and thinking about it. I believe it will look better with a tad rough look vs slick as a babies butt. Not to mention with all the vents and grills and stamps in the steel there really is no way to wet sand the inside of the case. The only wet sanding that was done is to the Exterior prior to painting, but after primer.

Now what ticks me off is I took the mobo tray, hard drive rails, exterior panel doors out to where I have blasting access. Spent 3 hours blasting those items and completely forgot to blast the chrome off the GTZ to get it ready for paint. IDIOT!!! So that will be another trip. Oh well I may find something else I want to do with the case. LOL

So If I remember of course I will get pics up with updated details. But this post was to hold those followers over. Again I'm terribly sorry for my lazzyness.


On a side note.
Has anyone dremeled a case before? What I mean by this is taking a side panel and cutting out words or shapes. What bits did you use? I was looking at a bit a Lowes for basically slide cutting, but I would have to get a hole started to use that bit. And have to swap back and forth many times to complete the job. What I originally thought of doing was cutting the HAF out on the window panel. I have since changed my mind on that to something much better as it is Project Slumber Parties!

10-15-2009, 02:19 PM

Just spent 2 hours straightening the rad fins that were mashed to heck and taping it off for painting. I promise pics are coming and more details.

10-18-2009, 12:01 PM

Picked up a rivet gun this weekend so the case will be going back together this afternoon. Will do a big update then

10-20-2009, 12:13 AM

Assembling case and logging photos for upload.

10-28-2009, 02:33 PM

Wow did I screw up or what! While sealing the case I ended up getting some runs where the sealer sprayed out odd and thick. So now I'm trying to thicken the areas around the runs to blend them in. Otherwise I have to drill the rivets and start the whole dang thing all over again. I've got a nice thick coat on it right now to start with so I don't think any damage will come to the paint job. The main concern I have with the run area (2 areas being the rear IO panel and the 5.25 drive rail inside) on the 5.25 rail is that I'm going to have some form of window in that general location and don't want the imperfection seen. If I wasn't going to be placing what I want to place there it wouldn't be too much of an issue. Since I am doing someth.ing in that location though I have to try and fix it the best I can.

Yea and all this is after I find out that Harbor Freight sells a Powder coating gun for $60 at that. I've spent that much in paint already. I would have rather gotten the gun and been done with this. At least I get to put my own work into it instead of a gun and oven doing it for me. lol

I have to run to Walmart for some more sealer since I've used all the cans I have here. Just a note when the can gets to where it doesn't want to spray on its own anymore throw it down. Don't try for the last drop by shaking while spraying. Heck @ 12" away I still got screwed with glob spots which caused runs using the shake and spray method to remove the last of the sealer from the can.

Working out some deals on a key component to the build involving THIS

Next up those photos I keep promising.

 

11-06-2009, 01:44 PM

11-06-2009, 01:44 PM

Ok so I've done all kinds of talking out my butt about posting updates with pictures. I've been really busy between just working on the case, work around the house, my kids, my fiance's business, etc.

So without further delay:
Bead Blasted








Painting




















Now here is the unique illusion effect I talked about earlier





Now the radiator fins straightened out to the best of my ability with what I had to work with:




Rad Prepped





Rad Painted






Other Mention tid bits the work space and where I've had to store parts to dry showing why I ended up throwing this together faster then expected:







Next up case assembly

 

11-06-2009, 02:42 PM

11-06-2009, 02:42 PM

Ok last we left off with a ton of photos of the painting progress from weeks ago.

Now we are going to overview the assembly of the case:













Assembled




Above you can see where the color scheme comes from and what its all about.

Next up Glazing

 

11-06-2009, 03:03 PM

11-06-2009, 03:03 PM

Glazing the case for protection:




This was some strange stuff. It made a nice thick hard coating, but it also allowed an over spray dust get on everything. It wiped off, but it just was a strange product.

Now some paint flaws



While doing the glazing The cans were getting to where they wouldn't spray much anymore, but felt like they were a good third full. So I did the biggest mistake I could have ever done which is shake the can while spraying. Which in turn caused some glop spots to spray out of the can and of course cause runs.

So with that being said I re-drilled the rivets out and took the pieces out to the blaster again and started to strip the panels again to start from scratch and from scratch the right way like I was going to in the first place. POWDER COATING

During the blasting last night the compressor motor got too hot and went into protection apparently and I had to call it a night as it was taking forever for it to cool off. I might add that my paint and glaze was much harder to remove then the factory paint job from Coolermaster. So I did one thing right anyway. Made a nice damn durable paint bonding and sealed coat.

Unfortunatly I didn't get any pics of the damage like I thought I did. Sorry guys

Project Slumber Parties gets dropped off at the Powder Coater in Garland Saturday morning where she will undergo the continued paint stripping/bead blasting and then powder coating. If I'm able to take pictures then I will, but this isn't my house and its some guy I found on Craigslist that shows exceptional work and isn't expensive at all. Lets just put it this way. I wasn't done with sealing her @ $3.97 a can and I was already around $55-$60 in supply cost. This guy is going to do the job for less then that.

So if he works out good I'm going to see if I can work something out with him for anyone that is interested. He has a 6 foot oven in his garage so he doesn't play around. From bike frames to wheels and car parts. He does it all if it will fit in his oven. So like I said I will see how Project Slumber Parties turns out and maybe I can work some kind of promotions deal out with him.

Some Surprises are next.....

 

11-07-2009, 12:51 AM

11-07-2009, 12:51 AM

Bit of a teaser:

Anyone wanna guess whats inside?

Its a work of art I'll say that much.


11-08-2009, 11:48 AM

Well I dropped her off at the powder coater's yesterday.

11-11-2009, 05:58 PM

Ok well I screwed up. I started working on the 5.25 rail locks again today. Starting with attempting to strip the paint off the round buttons that say cooler master. Well I didn't have any paint thinner and grabbed the next best thing. Apparently after forgetting I was soaking the things in a glass it decided to well... desolve the plastic. So now I have to hope Cooler Master will sell that item and that item only as I don't need any of the other parts.

I can't believe I forgot about them.

Next up some needed details that were a response to another members comment regarding some parts that were included in the case purchase.....

 

A semi teaser as mentioned also some bonus comeback for the terrible deal I got on the case and everything.

Yea I've since gotten $70 credited back from him. The ram I purchased for $85 and sold it for hmmm $140 I believe since the red in the heat sinks wasn't close to the build. So I have some much more appealing ram on its way via fedex that I got a steal on EVGA Forums a few days ago.


Some more possible teaser information still tossing this one around in my head though.

I've ran across a photo in the cases thread about page 4-5 that had a nice piece of acrylic with something etched in it and red lights making it noticable. I think I'm going to incorporate that into the build also since I know locally where I can get acrylic plexi cheap. :up:

Ok I think I lost myself sometime on XS Forums because this next statement seems out of place without photos of what happend and why I had to order another panel. HMMMM

1/4/2010

Finally got a panel from CM that I can use. Although it was damaged also. CM has got to be the worst computer hardware company ever. Not to mention UPS just added more to why I despise using them. I'll fill in more on this matter when I get the rest of the thread updated. I get pissed with photobucket and stop using it for a while. I basically have to upload a photo at a time or it wont upload. That's even if I leave my 6meg connection open for it to.

Don't really have photos of the powder coat. Just what he has sent me via email. Looks damn good from what I can tell from the photos. I will hopefully be heading back up there tonight along with my window panel to Bei Fie (Member here) to have him cut some things out of the panel. Then shoot over to Garland to the powder coater and drop off the panel and some tid bits from screws to the small metal rod for the rear pci slots that holds the plastic locks in place. If I make it up to him I will take some shots. I could assemble the case tonight if I had any dough left after xmas to pay him for his work. LOL shopping for kiddos eats up money lemme tell ya. I have enough till the 9th to pay Bei Fei tonight for cutting my panel and thats about it. Oh well.

 

Teaser update 1/4/2010 7:38pm

Remember that teaser from earlier?






































Coming up something I hinted about previously revealed....

 

Revealing a hinted item from earlier 1/4/2010 8:17pm

So I did a trade on Hardforum for this:

He was looking for a I7 920 and had a this beast that I wanted since it compliments the whole theme perfectly. I live about 30-40 minutes from a Microcenter which have been selling them for $199.99 the better of the last 4+ months. So we did a swap Cpu for This beauty and a 500 gig sata 2 samsung drive.
So no more suspense. (because I know your just on the edge of your seat)



















Incoming some shots of powder coating....

 

Powder coating shots 1/4/2010 9:18pm

Powder coating shots 1/4/2010


Not sure if I stated this earlier since I've been away from this thread so long.

Ok so earlier I mentioned how the glaze screwed up the paint job I spent a few weeks on. Yea for me. So I took the case back apart again and blasted the paint back off and took the panels to Garland to a powder coater I found no where else but Craigslist. I looked through his galleries on his website and he does great work from what I saw. I'm pretty sure I posted when I dropped it off, but anyway here are a couple photos he sent me. He said his flash isn't working right so they aren't the best. Hell I don't take anywhere near the quality photos most of you guys do here with your studio setups and stuff.
First photo he sent me back when we had nothing but cloudy skies and rain. He said his flash wasn't working. LOL I'd say

The following two are the only other ones I've received from him granted they are much better photos and actually show what he is capable of.


I will get more photos of it when I drop the window panel and other bits off. I was supposed to do that tonight, but my fiance has been out of one of her night meds that allow her muscles to relax and help her sleep. So its been a nice weekend for both of us. So today her legs were hurting her too bad to get out unfortunatly. So I called Bei Fei (Chad)and called off the visit for today and messaged Jacob (powder coater) and told him it may be tomorrow or later till I'm able to get up to him.

Next up window panel...

 

Window Panel 1/4/2010 9:33pm

Window Panel

Well I wanted to do something to the window side panel to show off the drive lock detail as well as incorporate the company into the case design. I came up with the patented S that is in the company logo:

I looked through a total of 150,000 fonts and couldn't find that damn font for the S. I eventually took paper and traced it out from a bag Drew it on the panel and drug out a jigsaw.

Looks good huh?

Take a closer look:



I had a piece about 1/4" long left to cut out then needed to reshape some of the panel flat and would have been golden and ready to powder coat after rounding edges up some. Low and behold the panel tore on a seam in the opposite direction of what I was cutting. Not to mention almost 2 inches away from where I was cutting. I was livid. I saw the whole project falling apart. After the paint to glaze fiasco. Then this arg.

I forgot all about posting this nice part:

You know those CM drive lock buttons pictured some time ago? I didn't like the outcome of them. Paint just didn't look right it wasn't consistent and looked blotchy in the recessed area that says "Cooler Master." I decided I would soak the buttons in a glass with goof off to loosen the paint a little so I could wipe the paint off and start over. Well While I was letting them soak outside I was looking through fonts for the above mentioned issue.

Some time went by Oh yea some time all right about 2 hours or so I was like oh crap the buttons. I went outside to find a nice glass of red and black ooze. Oh man lemme tell you. I about lost it. I was so pissed at myself for forgetting them. I felt for sure I was going to have to buy another case just to get the $1.50 worth of buttons.

So First we have the screwed up paint job. Then we have the melted push lock buttons for the drive rail locks. Lastly we have the great defect in material on the side panel. What else could go wrong with this build?

Stay tuned......

 

The story of CM 1/4/2010 10:55pm

The Story of CM

Now to the great experience with CM that I mentioned earlier:

Well anyone that works with metal knows metal doesn't tear. Well at least it isn't designed to. So you could guess what my argument was with CM when I called in after the panel ripped. Of course they wouldn't hold up to their great Korean material. They feed me the bs about how they don't warranty against modding. I kept arguing against the fact of its a obvious flaw in the material. Of course they won. Well much earlier I was told to file a parts request for the buttons that had a nuclear meltdown.

I haven't gotten any updates on that part request number after weeks. So I asked about those since I was told they weren't going to warranty the panel. He said he doesn't know why they weren't already sent out and said they would add them with my order for the panel. Well the next day I ordered a new panel from them. Keep in mind these are 6 small plastic buttons about the size of a quarter they can't cost more then $1.50 for all of them. Hell they could ship in a padded envelope for all I cared. I didn't even mind paying for them. I just didn't want to pay $8.00 or what ever for each pair of the actual locks since I didn't need the whole assembly.

Well like 6 days or what ever went by and I get the package. The panel came in a mint Cosmos box wrapped in a thin plastic bag and a small piece of cardboard paper wadded up in the bottom. I didn't notice any damage to the shipping box what so ever. The packing job was useless. No protection was actually around the panel. So it moved around inside the box. Had this box been crushed by UPS's great service (like many of my packages have been) the panel would have been totally trashed.

Now with the mention of trashed. I did receive the panel damaged. Not by UPS though as you can see the shipping box was great:


That dent is in the exterior of the cardboard and doesn't protrude through the box.

Below is the great packing job:


Now we have the great product:





Great work packing department for Cooler Master!
This was damaged prior to packaging then packaged anyway. Low and behold no drive lock buttons to top it all off.

So I called in furious as hell. I was then told sorry this and that and we will take care of it. Yadda yadda yadda. BS!!!
I asked about my buttons and was told they wont send them because of what happened to them. I told them that's fine. I didn't expect to get them for free, but I wasn't going to pay for the whole lock mechanism when I didn't need the whole thing. I didn't mind paying for the buttons. I had to argue just to get them to ship it 3 day vs ground again. Well It shipped out Dec 15th with 5 locks. I asked the next day after I got the email why it only had 5 locks. They said it was out of courtesy and that they don't warranty items for use with Goof Off. Like I told the idiot (Marvin) yet again I didn't mind paying for the buttons.

Well with the 3 day select shipping it was slated for Dec 18th for the delivery. I kept checking the tracking and it kept saying in transit from CA. Usually late the night before it hits Mesquite then moves on to the local distribution center which is just around the corner. Well the morning of the 18th I look up the tracking again and it still shows in transit. I gave them the benefit of the doubt with xmas and all and waited till the 21st and called UPS of course the shipper has to put a trace on it. I call CM and ask for them to place a trace and was told yet again by wonderful helpful and oh so friendly Marvin that he would call and have a trace put on it and I would get an email order update that afternoon. I waited until 10:30 pm that evening and filed my own trace on the package via the email since CM dropped the ball yet again and didn't do it.

I waited and waited for these two idiot companies to figure out what was going on until I called in a few days before new years. I believe it was somewhere around the 27th. Asked firmly to talk to a supervisor right off the bat. Told him that their service was terrible in their packing department because I'm going through this crap when I had a panel right here at the house, but it was damaged prior to packing. I told him about the package being lost and that I was told on the 21st that a trace would be put on it. I told him it was never done and I had to do it myself. He said he was sorry to hear that bla bla bla. He said that he would personally call ups and see what was up with the package. I asked if they could ship another package out with proper packing along with 6 locks. He said they would get that out same day. Of course we all know business's only ship out by noon. Everything else goes out the next day. So another package is shipped 3 day select with 6 locks supposidly this time.

Well got that package today. In a pretty beat up Sniper case. I asked ups if I could open it to see if its damaged. She said I had to sign first. I said well what if its damaged. She said I would have to pay the shipping. Huh? Since when do you pay shipping when the shipper damages the contents? Wow just adding to the long list of reasons I HATE UPS!

So I signed opened it up right there in their office. There was another smaller case box inside. Inside that was the panel. I pulled out the panel inspected it and well not as much damage as the previous one. It was fixable. Basically the top and bottom corners were bent out from 90* on the screw mount side. I just put each corner on the rug and pushed down. Good as new. Inside was a smaller power supply box enclosed were 7 lock setups with buttons. Of course only 3 of the setups were complete. Hell I just wanted the damn buttons though.

CURRENT UPDATE ON THAT 2ND PANELIt is still MIA and doesn't show it was ever delivered anywhere. Hows that for great shipping? Don't get me started on the 3 month ordeal with UPS and Samsung's terrible RMA dept.

So that's more or less up to speed so far on the build. Waiting on a day where the fiance is feeling up to driving around to get Chad (Bei Fei) the panel for cuts and then the parts up to Jacob for powder coating.

I will take some photos of another part of the build tomorrow. Hell I haven't even opened the box yet. I just know what it is and know the guy is good for it.

Next some CNC work...

 

CNC work 1/6/2010 12:43am

CNC WORK 1/6/2010

So was able to meet up with Bei Fei this evening to get the window panel from hell cut on the waterjet. This guy is awsome at what he does. Very hands on and works hard at making sure things are done how you want them. Something that alot of people don't do anymore these days. It took a bit to get it sized right for the panel. I originally sent images to him with the large letter on the top and the phrase below it. He then returned a modified layout to me that looked so much better then I would have thought it to. I never even thought to lay it out the way he did. Just plain spot on Awsome!


Below we have the panel along with a test cut piece of steel w/ flash:

The fiance kept telling me she wanted this piece over and over so I asked him if we could keep it. LOL Shes already got a use for it.

Next up photo of the same thing without flash so there is no glare:


Next we have the panel right after the cut:


Finally a poor quality video from my digital camera. It seems black and white and semi dark because of the distance from the machine. The camera and I were getting wet as it was. LOL

Must invest in a better camera or get the different lenses for this Canon!

Now the idea and goal for today was to run to have the panel cut in Irving then up to Garland to Jacob my powder coater. Well I checked my email before I left Arlington and didn't hear back from Jacob so I thought everything was cool. After I was at MultiCam and back on 635 I called Jacob to let him know I was on the way and got his voicemail. I then checked my gmail and he sent a email probably right after I left the house. He was heading to a Mavs game. LOL So I wasn't able to shoot any more photos of the case being powder coated. I just left the parts and window panel at his house. Hopefully he checks his email before he goes to bed since its just sitting outside his garage.

So we will see what I can come up with on Sunday when I will be stuck in Dallas for 9 hours with nothing to do. LOL

Next did a little shopping to attempt to improve photos...

 

Some shopping 1/8/2010

Some photo supplies

Picked up supplies today for a light box. Considering we have a trip to take mid April to New Orleans for her companies convention. Going off what was spent last year $1200 after xmas taking any extra funds I had. I'll be looking at putting back all my extra cash from here until then which is about $200 each check. Since I'm only paid twice a month its going to take that long to get the money for the trip unfortunatly. So as per anything new coming to the thread or the build being completed before May....


Its pretty much on hold for any new purchases which will include:
I7 920
white tubing
Matte Black BP Compression fittings
New tube res
Possible 2nd loop for GPU
If above is the case then
Another tube res
Dual ATI HD5870
or
ATI 5970
or
Something out of the NVIDIA 300 series
I've always used NVIDIA never once have I used a ATI card.

So with the amount of the above I unfortunatly have to put PSP on hold for the time being. This really sucks. I haven't played a pc game since June 09. :-(
So any more updates for the next 4 months will only be of what I already own and anything done to those items along with Light box photos.

Amature photos coming up...

 

Lightbox complete 1/9/2010 1:27am

Lightbox photos

So I setup the lightbox.


Still toying around with light placement. I shot about 15 photos with different settings and angles with the Canon. Only 3 or so came out not terribly blurry. Not used to shooting closeup shots. I'll be taking alot of shots of parts again in the light box including some parts I haven't taken pictures of yet. Hopefully this will keep me busy for a couple months until I can start buying parts again. Sigh..........


2:04am


Ok I was going to go to bed since its after 1am but..................







Here is a reveal of something I mentioned about much earlier when I stated I sold the ram I had and found a killer deal on EVGA forums.



Forgot my little guy! :-(



$250 Shipped for these beauties!!!


Mucking around with gear.

Ok well since I got to looking at some of the parts closer since I have so much time on my hands now. PSP will be getting a bunch more parts. I was going to get a tube res and mount it to the mobo tray, but after looking at my pump which was told it was a mcp 355 with a DDCT-01 top it appears to actually be a Laing DDC-2TPMP which I dunno what that is. Its also manufactured in 07/06. I dunno about you all, but thats a bit old to use not knowing the history of it. Especially coming from the guy that screwed me over on this whole deal anyway.

I mean maybe pumps last forever maybe they don't I would prefer to take the safe route and just go new. The pump top is scratched up pretty bad so I would like to just replace the pump and get a new XSPC res top. Which would nul the tube res. Unless I could utilize a 250ml tube res to feed a dual loop of 2 mcp 355's w/ XSPC res tops???? Anyone have any input on this?

I would like to utilize the fill port at the top of the case. So My thoughts would be:
Fill port on top of the case to 250ml tube res
tube res to 2 XSPC res tops (at the fill ports)
Of course the res tops feeding the pumps
the return would be back to the res tops from rad with a Y fitting I presume.

Any thoughts, opinions, gripes, or complains?

Here is a tentative list of WC gear:
[/IMG]

I have the new style cpu block on the list because I still don't know if I want to use the one that I got out of this deal. :-( For $80 bucks though thats a big chunk on the total.

Of course the first total column would come first and some of the fittings might change amount wise. Without having the case here to install parts to see how everything will fit its hard to say what I will need compression wise. The 2nd loop will come after I lock down some gpus. I will be using an aircooled 8800GTX 320mb for the hold over until ATI drops prices or NVIDIA wakes up and drops the 300 series at our feet.

1/10/2010 12:32 am

This has got to be the best light box photo yet. Too bad they all don't come out like this. :-(

I don't get how the corners keep coming out like they do though. Not enough light in those areas I assume. Will have to cut some more notches in the foam board for more light placement locations. I have 4 painters lights all aiming in the center on the object at hand so I don't know why some of the photos are still coming out funny. This whole light box thing is a complete different turn on taking photos so I have to learn the camera all over again.

Picked up some Krylon Fusion Plastic paint the other day just waiting on it to warm up some so I can have another go at the replacement buttons.

Will be heading out to at least take photos of the case if not pick it up tomorrow afternoon.

1/13/2010 12:45pm

Wish me luck. Pulled out the Fusion paint and heading to the garage for those drive lock buttons. Its finally warm enough to do something with it. Pics to follow as long as I don't screw them up. LOL

1/13/2010 10:25pm

So it was finally a warmer day here in north Texas and as promised:



Next up assembly.......

1/13/2010 11:41pm

Just one assembly shot for now. I need to let the paint cure more on the buttons.

One lock is with the hammered steel paint. The other is just stock. The exterior of the case, power supply, and rad/s will both have texture to the paint. So I felt the hammered steel would be a better look on the drive locks then the shinny gloss black that comes stock.

I'm open for opinions.

2/10/2010 11:30am


Well I still haven't gotten around to putting all the rest of the locks together. I got back in touch with Bei Fei and dropped off the window panel with him again today to have some more cuts done.

Remember a bit back when I said that CM wouldn't fill my parts request for buttons? LOL Tuesday I received 6 new drive locks. Not sure if they are complete or not (the ones they sent with the third window panel weren't) Doesn't really matter. I don't need them anymore so I will just have extras laying around. I will be picking up the panel today sometime and then running it to the powder coater. I may actually have a case back soon.

2/18/2010 9:05pm

Got my new water block in the mail today and picked up the window panel from Bei Fei then ran to the powder coaters to drop of parts of the cpu block and the panel. I should have a ready case early next week.

2/20/2010 11:26pm

Just placed a group purchase from MDPC over on EVGA Forums:
Black w/ HS = 28.5 meters
White w/ HS = 21 meters
Red sleeve = 13 meters
Red heatshrink = 1.5 meters
Total $76.09

WOW my head hurts with all this meters crap. Damn Europeans!

2/24/2010 5:06pm


Jacob claims he has another 45 minutes on the panels.

2/24/2010 9:38pm

I'm so pissed it isn't even funny. This guy has been stalling and screwing me around since Mid December. Only a few parts even look powder coated the rest look like they have been painted. I already had it painted once I know what paint looks like on raw metal. The parts that are smooth are actually powder coated. The rest of this looks terrible.

During the day today he gave me some pictures via email and he had the outside panel painted red when it should have been wrinkle black. So what did he do went right over the thing in what looks like the wrinkle paint you get at a auto parts store for trunks. Its a different shade and doesn't hardly have any texture on it like the top and bottom panels do.

I'm so pissed off. There are spots that have black showing through where he attempted to fix screw ups in color and change the color. There are bumpy chunks all over the place on many pieces. The hold down for my new Swiftech XT didn't even get the chrome taken off of it to allow proper adheision of the powder. Because he had a metal hanger holding it and of course didn't get anything where the hanger was touching the metal. Shouldn't powder flow and cover that once its heated up? I thought powder flows and fills in any imperfections in the metal. The pieces he did a long time ago sure did and are smooth.

I don't know what I'm going to do now. Part of me wants to bead blast it all over again and paint it myself like the first time. At least it looked good until I put the glaze on it.


Next up the horror of a powder coat gone wrong...

 

Powder coating gone wrong 2/25/2010 4:02pm

Powder coating gone wrong 2/25/2010 4:02pm

Following is the wonderful work done by Jacob.









































Coming up Exterior hell...

 

Exterior hell 2/25/2010 4:15pm

Exterior hell 2/15/2010 4:15pm

Exterior Pieces





















Notice the damage to the panels which wasn't there when I dropped them off.

Some more misc pictures




































Notice the color difference? The one on the left is the same paint I put on it. Also pictured ontop the next photo.




Notice how the so called wrinkle black isn't the same texture?












Pretty nice huh? Yea terrible quality work especially compared to my previous paint job. Which was MUCH BETTER!!!

Coming up some tid bits...

 

Misc tid bits 2/25/2010 9:54pm

Misc tid bits 2/25/2010 9:54pm


Haven't gotten anything yet. My fiance said she wants to deal with him now. She called him last night and asked him what he did? He said well I powder coated it. She said really? She told him something needs to be done considering its all junk work and half a$$ed. He said he can fix it. She told him we have been out there too many times and that he never had anything completed each time I've talked to him when he said he had things completed. She told him she doesn't want him to fix it. He said I can refund some of the money yea we can work something out. She said well I'm on the phone now. He said to get back with him today with an email discussing what we wanted to do as a solution.

Shes been doing her business taxes all day though so............

Side note though I've been painting 6 Yate Loon 120mm fans.
I tried using the Krylon Fusions paint, but for some reason something was on some of the fan blades that didn't allow the paint to adhere and I had black circles here and there all over several of the blades. So I shot them with primer and that did the same thing. So I said hell the hammered steel stuff has divits about the size of all these little circles.

Considering something was on the blades the hammered steel paint made it uniform and actually adhere to the spots everything else wouldn't. I then started going over the black with red. Still doing coats will post some shots tomorrow. Hopefully they turn out ok. If not I really didn't pay anything for them and will get Ultra Kaze 3000rpm ones and start over. Those I should be able to just use the Krylon Fusions paint since they will be new and wont have anything odd on the blades you can't see that keeps paint from sticking. :shrug:

Hopefully I didn't add too much weight to the fans and the motors will still spin them at speed since they are only Mediums and being used for the rads.

Sleeving...

 

Sleeving 4/27/2010 9:14pm

Sleeving 4/27/2010 9:14pm

So I jumped on a Group buy on EVGA forums for some MDPC sleeving.





Now this is what the crap job Enermax does with their sleeving. Why they don't match the ps with at least a red or white stripe instead of the god awfull yellow.




Now keep in mind this was my first go at sleeving. I had to make my own atx pin remover since the first time I went to use the one I purchased from PerPCS it broke a prong off. (I do not recommend AC Ryan ATX pin extractors. They are very cheaply made and supposidly are bendable. LOL Yea a dremel and a surgical steel pair of Tweezers fared much better and are still in one piece for the next stuff I have to sleeve. This whole process took me a week with several hours a day on the couch wearing out my fingers. I went through a brand new lighter and had to go pick up another one before the process was finished. I also had to pick up large black shrink wrap since I didn't think to order that on the GP. Homedepot shrink wrap is nothing like what MDPC sells thats for sure. Its much firmer and doesn't shrink as easily. :-(








Next up Cherry Batch I7 920