Scratch Build – In Progress Epic PC Kyubu: Help me donate to the Tsunami! | 21.3.2011

Project Kyubu





A big thanks to EKWB and Mach for their support on this one.



Let me start this project log by saying that it hasn't even started yet but its got off to a hell of a start. I'm sure you gave your computer screen a long quizical look just then but before you press the backspace button, let me clarify.

A month ago I sold my CNC and upgraded, whilst this was happening I was busy turning my sign making factory into a studio apartment of which I could work from (Actually thats a lie, the builder is doing that). Lets call him Bob, so Bob the builder is constructing me a factory and I suddenly have a two month break on my hands.

After I got over the holiday mode I decided that I wanted to build a case so crazy, so inspired, so everything I've ever wanted. I chose a theme I could relate to, the specs I wanted and that laid the foundations for the design to take care of itself.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to this mod, it will be a journey you are not likely to forget


What is project Kyubu?


Kyubu is a system that will show you Japanese modern design through my eyes. A system so different, so ungodly expensive that not even I will be able to afford all the parts for quite a while. The materials alone will cost over $600.00 and include several 10mm clear acrylic sheets and over 100 custom cut and polished 3mm acrylic squares.

I will be receiving numerous blocks and fittings from EKWB and the case houses an internal waterloop that will have the least amount of tubing of any case. All the water will be routed inside the 10mm clear panels that make up the three sides of the case and a custom res will complete the look of the build, this thing is going to be awesome.


But what about the X series case? What about Serpentine? Oh the humanity!

Ah, I knew this would come up. Basically the X series case houses old hardware and I use it 24/7 as a storage base, to control my CNC and to design everything that I design. All that needs to be done is the power supply and ta da, its complete.

Project Serpentine is going to be completed and finished long before this case. I expect Kyubu to take at least another month and a half to design the internals and the construction will take well over 6.


Oh Sweet! Please, continue.

Introduction:

At the start of the year I went to Japan and had the time of my life. During the trip two huge things happened.

1. I got engaged.

2. I got inspired.

Lets focus on the second point. Japan is one of the only places in the world that I have been to that gives you an unbelievable cultural experience without everyone around you being absolutely poor (Yes, I spent a month backpacking in Vietnam a year before).

During the trip to Japan I got the idea of creating a case that represented modern Japanese culture. I've seen lantern cases made out of wood and whilst they look fantastic, they've been done to death and I wanted to do something a bit more modern.


The name "Kyubu" actually means "cube" in Japanese, go figure

If you have been looking at the above design and want to know whats going on with that cube array, look no further.


All the sides will be polished, even the shiney sides. All the acrylic will become matte looking. I will probably go with a dark brown for the case colour.


So what is going into this beast?

Glad you asked.

CPU: i7 930
GPU: 5970 or 5870 in crossfire OR the new 6000 Series
Motherboard: Asus Rampage Gene III (yeah, thats a mATX!!!)
RAM: 6 gig Corsair Dominator GT's (I'll see which ones I can afford)
HDD: 128gig SSD, havent decided which one yet (main OS drive)
1tb Samsung F3 Spinpoint (already own it)

Watercooling:

CPU:Ek Supreme HF
Motherboard: Full block Gene Rampage III (still being developed)
GPU: Dependent on which card I get.
Radiator: EK 240

As you can see, I clearly want to be able to play Crysis 2 with this thing and I have actually designed it so that in the event that graphics cards get longer than 360mm's, they will still fit in this case


Is there a project timeline?

One thing I regret about the X series is that it was rushed because I needed a computer for the CNC to work. This project will take A LONG TIME because I simply cannot afford all the components for it. I dare say that this case will be worked on to perfection for up to a year. This thread is here to stay for quite a while.

As you may know, my new CNC comes in about a month and I will work on this project on the side, expect updates to be scarce till then but if you want to make some input or throw a few idea's my way, feel free. I am always on the lookout for good ideas


Design Aspects

Before I start waffling on about the design aspects I should probably note that these files you are seeing are the ACTUAL cutting files I will be using. You are not seeing some random mockup, these drawings are to scale and are all machinable.



10mm thick acrylic lets you take advantage of the depth to do things that would have otherwise been difficult. The entire backplate will become the res which will provide a total of 1.8m^2 of cooling surface area. Unfortunately acrylic isnt a great thermal conductor but it will help somewhat.

The res will also be large enough to include fill and drain ports at the top and bottom of the case without needing large amounts of tubing.



To give you an example of these "channels" I will be making, here are some unpolished ones I have prototyped.



Motherboard trays are often unloved, boring sheets of alloy and are usually forgotten amongst the attention given to other parts of the mod. I have decided to incorporate the design ethos of the case into the motherboard tray and it will be constructed out of 6mm thick acrylic.

That gives it strength and also allows for some depth so I can route cables from behind the backplate. I have yet to place my order with Nils but the sleeving will all be red and maybe some black for contrast.



When midplates first came into off the shelf cases, they were primarily for the purpose of hiding the powersupply and maybe mounting the odd 120mm fan.

My midplate will focus on pump mounting, watercooling asthetics and the mounting of a single SSD drive which will sit flush with the build. I have now set myself up for getting an expensive brand name drive and am looking at either the corsair p128 or Vertex II 120g. Chances are that something better will come out before I go out and get it.

 

Welcome the new member of the family, the only part I feel safe buying because I know it probably won't price drop and a socket change won't render it useless.

Here it is







Design almost complete

Muwahahaha! The design is almost completed and I now know exactly how much material I need and approximately how long it will take to machine all the panels.

I want to get a long lasting polishing scrub, the steel wool ive been using is 1000 grit and rusts whenever you dont use it, sandpaper is a pain...surely there are alternatives?



First up is a machine preview of the grill I will be using inside the case. Everything is being watercooled and I am actually getting the fans to blow into the case even though they are mounted up top.

The reason for doing this is due to the fact that my res actually takes up a large part of the internal case structure and I would rather have it being hit up with positive airflow as opposed to negative airflow.



I have over 200 cap screws on order and I plan to anodise them all red. On last count, the case will need just over 120 of them from the res, radiators and the case frame.

I have chosen to do a white opal backing to the red watercooling and then play around with the lighting behind them. Red cold cathodes tend to have a better spread of light and I might need to add a mounting mechanism for them in order to get a result that diffuses properly.

If anyone has any secrets on how to get them to diffuse evenly, please share.



Green = Silicon
Red = Coolant

This gives you an idea of how I will go about sealing such a massive res.

Step 1:
I mill a 3mm channel into the acrylic and fill it to the brim with adhesive silicon. The silicon bonds with the acrylic like super glue and is given a week to fully dry as it will initially overflow from its channel.

Step 2:
I use the leveling tool to mill the silicon so its all the same height and level, this is done at slow speeds to make sure the silicon chip removal rate is constant.

Step 3: Once level, the m3 cap screws are nut and bolted between a 3mm window, a 10mm backplate and a 3mm opal sheet of acrylic. This ensures that the pressure across the entire sheet is constant and even.

Step 4: Closed loop pressure testing.

In theory this should work as the silicon has simular properties to rubber when placed under pressure. Engine gasket silicon would do the same thing although it does not have the adhesive properties. I will be doing a small scale test for this later on and I am confident it will work as it has worked on a smaller scale with my waterblocks I created a while ago.



The entire case is ready to be cut and my CNC is somewhere on a boat probably making a stop in Singapore before coming to port of Brisbane. I still have a whole heap of things to design internally but they are quite minor and I want to mod them in when I have a more 3D based idea of what the case will look like.


I wont need to develop the CPU block anymore but I might just need to make the SB block as the rampage has quite a space issue on that one.

 

I'd like to see where this is going, you got my attention!

 

Not sure how well the logo will work as a heatsink pin pattern, but the rest is good.

 

Im glad I did, I dont exactly make the most bling bling titles on my threads

Well I will be using the Supreme HF as my CPU cooler and the Southbridge is pretty lean with its cooling requirements. It creates 4 watts of heat, pretty much as long as something is on there, it should stay at acceptable temps.

I couldnt wait to start so I got the guy who bought my previous CNC to machine some of the case parts for me already. My new CNC just made port in Singapore and will be on its way to Brisbane tomorrow. That almost sounds like it will be here soon but nothing travelling 40 knots from Singapore will make it here in less than 3 weeks -_- .

 

Very confused :s

So which one of these have you finished i've lost track of where you have gone now

 

Okay

X Series -> http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=182608&viewmode=author

Started last year, need to sleeve the PSU but cant take the computer apart because it is running as my server at the moment. It's pretty much finished and when I move into my new apartment/factory I will make an effort to finish the sleeving and do the install.



Project Serpentine -> http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=191949

Started recently whilst my CNC was still running, all the designs for this case are complete and when the new CNC arrives mid October, this will be the first case to be completed. This is for a client in Melbourne.



Project doesnt have a name yet

To be started, this is another client build which is a case mod based on the Corsair 800D, the case is sitting in my living room and all the parts have been ordered for it already. Minor mods to be honest, window job, mid plate and backplate modding as well as custom watercooling system and lighting. Should not take long Look for this thread mid October.



Project Kyubu (you are here) ->

My Crysis 2 puppy and my first foray into the X58 scene. Hell this is even my first foray into the DDR3 scene, if there ever was a good reason to let go of socket 775, this build is it.


I will be pumping out content when the CNC arrives and bit-tech shall be awash with my threads MUWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I hope that does clear things up though. If you were however talking about "other" threads then you've missed the train. Project Windtunnel, Canvas, Liverpool case, Arsenal Case and not to mention my mineral oil PC Case have all been completed long ago. You can still find them with google though.

 

Windtunnel was my favourite

Yeh i just remeber X series nearly being done and the other one just started

Seems you have alot of work ahead of you

I watch

 

this will be interesting to say the least

 

I still cant believe that I did that entire scratch case with a mere dremel and heat gun. Man I was poor back then

I sure hope so haha, I wouldnt want you to visit this thread each time and get bored to death, I will attempt to keep my posts interesting.

On an interesting note, I received this in my email today

Whoever is Kevin Shen, you got a laugh out of me


[Time for a small update!





This is my pump mount and I cut it before I sold my machine because I wanted to test some pieces out in 6mm thick black. This piece will sit inside the 10mm acrylic just like the SSD and the pump will also get its own acrylic housing.

What I wanted to point out was that solid acrylic is absolutely rubbish at absorbing light. As you can see, the cast finish just reflects whatever you throw at it but light is fairly important for this build so what I plan on doing is giving every bit of acrylic in the build a matte finish.


This isnt as easy as it sounds. Basically you have to de-polish each bit for about 15 minutes and that means getting conditioner, water, a 1000 grit sponge and going at it like crazy.

Above result? 10 minutes.


What you see here is 15 minutes later, around 25 minutes of polishing.


Although not much of an update, this should give you an idea of what to expect in terms of the finish I am going or rather the look I am going for with the build. This is just a pump mount and it took just on 25 minutes to polish up. I have hundreds of components and parts and over 50 squares that I will be polishing up to achieve a consistent build.

It will pay dividends though, The lighting I have planned for the case is such that you may never ever see the actual light source by looking into the case. You will most certainly see the colour absorbtion on the acrylic pieces throughout the case though.


Question of the day
I was going to get all my cap screws anodised red but the screws I have on order are all zinc plated. Looks like I will be going powdercoating.

All these screws will line and seal that massive red I am integrating into the backplate.
The water coolant will be red, what colour should those screws be?

Dark red?

Red

or

Black?

I'd start a poll but I would rather hear some justification for your choices

 

I'd say pick a color that gives you the most contrast against the surface where you're placing them.
I'm not quite sure what color that is (black? Red?)...

One thing I can tell you is I would not go red on red unless I had the exact shade of red on both parts and the screws became stealthed.... If that's not an option... I'd go black on red or white on red

 

If I would be you and want to highlight the screws I would go red on black and black on red, but if I would hide them as much as possible I would go black on black and red on red.

I'm looking forward to this build and I'm wondering how the pieces ad the lower left and right side (on the first pic) will look like at the end. I can't imagine how it will be looking.

 

I probably want to hide them as much as I can so I will spray them red. If I can get away with a single layer of primer and a single layer of red without the paint chipping, that would be ideal. Any more thickness and I could end up causing problems to the allen head for the cap screw.


Only two weeks before my CNC arrives! This project will be full steam ahead soon!

 

Ek came through with the goods and I cant believe I have to go to dinner now but there are PLENTY of good photos to come!








Let these be a little tease

 

What can i say?
a img says more the a 1000 words


//Dahl1n

 

Dude I think you received my package
Seriously nice boxes collection.

 

The packaging is absolutely unbelievably good.




I've only ever used bitspower in my builds till now so I wasnt sure what to expect of EK's fittings. It's safe to say that these are the goods, these fittings are a quality bit of kit.







A big thanks to Gregor from EK and I will not dissapoint. These fittings will contribute to the looks of what will be an amazing project.



Sleeving came through, MDPC-X of course


Red, to go with the build!


Sandpaper, lots of it. The sponges are great because you can wash them and use them again and again. Bought heaps just in case!



Haha Nils has some of the best drawings for someone who doesn't usually have a lot of time on his hands. As always, much appreciated!


CNC arrives in two weeks, anyone else excited?

 

This will be epic... Those EK goodies are just amazing; it seems the guys over at EK are a notch or two above everyone else when it comes to build quality... Can't wait to see more of you CNC magic...

I've watched a bunch of the videos on your YT channel and they just keep on getting better and better... the quality of work you put out is amazing my man.

I may just have to start putting some money away and have you do some of your magic on a side panel for me early next year....

 

I'll be keeping my eyes on this one for sure.

 

Well here is the Youtube review I did on the blocks

Thanks Voigts, glad to have you on for the journey!