Scratch Build Project ZOE

[Zesti]

Hi all, been reading this forum for a long time, but now it's time to start my first project log here.

Project plan:
- Compact LAN-party computer, volume about 22 liters
- Scratch built from aluminum
- Jet Age -inspired design

Colors:
- Exterior: Metallic red and black
- Matt black / carbon fiber interior with a touch of red
- Mostly black sleeving
- White/red LEDs, indirect light

Preliminary hardware specs:
CPU: i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge)
CPU cooler: Antec H2O Kühler 620
MB: Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Z 4x4GB 1600MHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD7xxx
PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus 750W
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
HDD: n/a
ODD: n/a
Fan controller: Aquaero 5 Pro with Aquaremote
Others: MDPC-X sleeving, screws and connectors

Umm, yeah. I'm buying most of the components later when case is closer to finishing. However, I've bought some parts that don't get old too fast. For example PSU is ordered and should arrive soon.

And if someone is wondering where the name 'Project ZOE' comes, here's an explanation:
I started to number my builds when I got more serius with this modding stuff.
So my first build was Z01 'Vanilla'.
Second build was Z02 'Embolado'.
And this one is Z03 - hence the name ZOE.

Ok, let's go ahead to The Good Part aka pictures. First just some parts and then construction pics.

First 16mm switch with white led ring. I'll be using one as a power switch and possibly a second one for reset.




MDPC-X crimp contacts and 24pin housings. This build will have custom lenght cables since the case will be quite a compact. I think that for example GPU power cables should be like 20cm long.






Aquaremote for Aquaero. Don't know if I really need it - I just had to get one.




And the Aquaero itself. Bought the Pro-version since I don't like the capacitive buttons on the XT.






These are the tools of destruction:






And now finally - Lets get started on the case itself.

First part is cut from 5mm aluminum plate that I happened to have around.




Then we need a new sheet of 3mm aluminum. (There's a protective film over it.)



Didn't took any pictures while cutting because I think you all know how it looks like.

Anyway, here's a freshly cut part:




And suddenly there was two of them!



Sooo.. How will those go together?

Ok, little bit of tape and lets hope it stays together long enough..





Like that.

Now those parts just need sanding etc.

That's all for now. I'm hoping to get next update online soon.

[Zesti]

Fedmas and Razer2007, thank you both.

Cheapskate, haha, thanks. I like to think that 'why build another black box when you have freedom to do whatever you want'.

L1U, yeah, I'm eagerly waiting for new graphics cards generation. I just hope they aren't physically very long.. It'll be really annoying to fit 300mm card into this case.
And those pictures are already resized to 1000px wide which I think is a good compromise between details and screen resolutions. Hopefully it wont be huge problem for users with smaller screens since this forum can resize pictures pretty well.

yassarikhan786, thank you. And sorry, this is in fact my first public project log anywhere.. I might make project log from my last mod (LiLi PC-8N modded to inverted ATX) since I'm thinking about making some changes into it. But we'll see about that later.

[Zesti]

Nah, I don't have photoshop. I just resize pictures in IrfanView and save them with 95% quality. It would really hurt to drop quality more for faster downloading..

[Zesti]

Thank you all for nice comments.

PSU arrived to the post office and I went to pick it up with a bicycle.. Didn't realize that SilverStone uses ridiculously large boxes for their power supplies. Nearly broke my backpack when I stuffed the box in it.

But it was well worth it.. Even the box is beautiful:



And the PSU itself.. I must admit that I was waiting for lower quality. Surface finish is very nice, connectors are easy to use and so on. Even more expensive Enermax PSU's I have used aren't this nice.









I like it.. But it has so much stickers to remove.

You might also wonder why I got Silverstone PSU and not Corsair, Seasonic etc. Well, here's the number one reason for that; Silverstone uses 1:1 -connected modular cables which are really easy to sleeve. Here's 24pin connector connected to the PSU:



Oh, and those images are now 800px wide and a bit lower quality. As a result they should be over two times faster to download..

[Zesti]

Thank you yassarikhan786 and Mork.

Wing Zero, hmm, never heard of such game.. Seems that I have to some reading.

Fuganater, problem is not knowing which cable has which voltage, but the look of cables. Most PSU manufacturers use Y-wires etc. in their 24pin cable which looks really bad with sleeving. But with Silverstone there's only those 23 wires in 24pin motherboard connector that makes it look way better and cleaner. Same with other cables.

KoSoVaR^, that is 110% sure MDPC-X sleeve. I'm also using MDPC-X connectors, crimping tool and crimp contacts.

I just don't like the look of heatshrink, so I decided to do things a bit different this time:

[Zesti]

Thanks guys.

Nocturin, by reading other worklogs and forums.

Got couple more parts cut from 5mm aluminum.. Cutting is now much faster with new blades.

And btw, it was hard to get parts stay together with tape long enough for pictures. So excuse those large seams.





Most of the connectors will be moved here.. HDMI, USB's and so on.

Now to properly mount those parts together and do some sanding..

[Zesti]

Thanks guys.

KoSoVaR^, It doesn't really matter if crimp contact doesn't go completely over the sleeving. Head of the sleeve is of course melted and it's crimped really tight. I can put wire into connector and pull it really hard and sleeve stays on. Compared to the heatshrinked sleeving it stands much more pulling force. Hopefully that also means I can get sleeving a bit tighter than usual.

Next small update should be coming soon.

[Zesti]

Thank you Normano64.

I got bored with sanding so I decided to get parts attached properly.

By the way, drilling and tapping M3 threads into 5mm aluminum was really tedious job.. But now case supports it's own weight - no more tape.

[Zesti]

Thanks nagyizom and jrs77.

jrs77, I got a piece of 5mm aluminum just laying in the garage for a few years. Originally I got it free from a friend to use in my combot. It ended up being too thin for a modern combot and was hence left to dust.
Rautasoini in Hervanta has sometimes good pieces of scrap aluminum, but it's really a question of luck.. Most of the time their aluminum is useless (cheese-quality, wrong sized pieces and so on).

[Zesti]

Time for a smallish update.

Started to build IO-panel.. PSU mount first.







I'll cut motherboard and graphic card openings later when this part is mounted into the mobotray.

[Zesti]

Thanks guys.

Aluminum is anodized.. I ordered normal aluminum sheets, but they came with anodized surface. I'm not complaining about that. It's really a shame to ruin nice surface finish with cutting and painting..

Screws will be countersunk and changed to more classier, but they also won't be visible when I finish.

[Zesti]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been really busy lately.

But anyway, I got some work done. Motherboard tray is rough cut, made some slots to attach it and IO-panel together. Also cut some L-profile for mounting.

Quick picture of the progress (with Tape Mounting ™):



I'll write a proper update at some point with more pictures.. Too tired to do that now.

[Zesti]

More pictures you say?

Well, here's some.







Those pictures might need some explaining (?). IO-panel is on top of the case, PSU is in the front and window will be 'left-handed'. So this design has 90° rotated motherboard just like SS Raven 2 etc. - or in fact I'd prefer to call it 95° micro-ATX.

Until next time.

[Zesti]

Hi guys.

Today I sanded most of the parts.. Example:



Gah, can't really see anything. Reminds me that I'd have to buy a macro lense. But I'd call surface finish smooth.

Then I took one meter long 15x15x1mm aluminum L-profile and cut a bit off it for bending. The bending itself went pretty easily:



I'm also happy how L-profile ends go together with other parts.



More bending.. And the sun is also starting to go down. Days are way too short when winter is coming..



And then we were ready to do some gluing. I used quite strong glue that can hold 18kg / cm^2.. Should be plenty for a computer case.

And now I can just wait - it will take full 24 hours to cure completely.



Oh, and I ordered CPU cooler - Antec H2O Kühler 620. Got it for a pretty good price and I've been happy with it in my last build. But this time I'm thinking some modifications for it..

[Zesti]

Thanks guys.

Glued parts looked good after the night - I'm happy how it worked out. Feels sturdy and looks clean.

Glue itself is meant for house building etc. and can be used with almost any material. I'm not absolutely sure what type of glue it is since 'MS-polymer' says nothing to me.

[Zesti]

Got the Antec Kühler today. Looks ok'ish, but it will need some modifications to look better.

Took a couple of quick photos:





Soo.. How to modify this? My first idea was to add heatsink over the pump, but it turned out that all the heatsinks I have are too small. So maybe just a simple aluminum part with chamfered edges and a logo?

A quick render to show what I'm thinking:

[Zesti]

Thanks Axly and KoSoVaR^.

I got another L-profile cut and glued. Also sanded many parts, drilled holes and made a truckload of other thing. And the result of all that work looks just like before.



All those small things aim for having shell cut and bent this weekend. It's a major part that has to go right and hence preparing takes quite bit of time. So hopefully everything goes well and the next update is a good one.

[Zesti]

Umm, it's not backwards.. Look at the teeth.

[Zesti]

I used most of the day bending the aluminum shell. It was way harder than I never imagined. I started with one meter long and 178mm wide strip.. Which I accidentally cut to 179mm and I had to sand one millimeter away. What a boring job. Then I started to bend it and it took forever to get right. In fact first bend was 5mm in wrong place and I had to move the bend those five millimeters. Second bend was a bit easier, but it was still darn difficult. I almost gave up couple times when every bending and fitting seemed to go to wrong direction. But in the end it came out very well - I'm happy.

Oh, and for bending the shell I had amazing tools: leather gloves and spray cans which had the right radius.





So much scratches.. But worry not, everything's going to be sanded lightly before painting. Those are also reason why I wanted to keep the protective plastic on the shell.

In the next picture one screw is missing.. It was loose and dropped into the snow. Couldn't find it anymore.

[Zesti]

Thanks guys!

Logically next step would be continuing with the chassis, but there's more complicated parts ahead. Not as bad as bending the shell, but I felt it was time to do something smaller and easier.

Soo, you remember the render about cooler top? Well, I made the logo for it:





Not bad for a first try.. And now that I look at it, I might do another one for the front panel.