Scratch Build – In Progress Project: "Nomad" - A Liquid Cooled, i7/SLI SFF system (CANCELLED)

Nice progress, and that's one helluva drill bit! :O

I've always wondered if there's any way to anodise the aluminium shell of those USB ports, seen too many cases and mods where they just sit there looking out of place.

 

They aren't made of aluminium, but probably nickel plated steel.

 

So basically what you are saying is someone could clean up, financially speaking, if they came up with black I/O ports? Hmmm...

I do agree though, and with the rest of this computer getting the black treatment having that little bit of silver peek out might erk me.

 

Dammit this is so awesome... SFF has always been my favourite, and the design of this is great and it starts turning out really nice

 

Good job.

I suscribe to this project.

 

It looks great! I really like the idea

 

Thank you very much. I had never really considered doing a SFF before this project as I had to give up too much. Now that my storage needs have been taken care of it's something of a fun challenge to see if just how small a high-level machine can get.

High praise indeed coming from one of my favorite projects here on bit-tech, thank you!

Thank you - this idea has been evolving for some time. I started the build on revision 14 but with the modifications since I started I would guess you are looking at v.20 or higher

The real fun begins when the tubing gets added, stick around!

 

I'm looking forward to the finished product...

 

This project has come a long way since I last looked in on it. Very nice progress mate, keep it up .

 

Thanks guys. There hasn't been much to report in the past week due to a bit of illness on my part and with the impending holiday for us "Yanks" I probably won't get a chance to work on Nomad again until the weekend.

A little teaser - I did start on the ventilation last Friday night

 

and...132 days later...

...Nomad returns!

Actually, it never really left . Lets just say wintertime in an unheated garage is too much for shomann However with the temps at a delightful 72F this past Sunday, I COULDN'T stay away.

Where I had left off was the eluding to the ventilation. My solution was to procure an industrial ceiling vent used for HVAC systems. It turns out, our office had exactly what I wanted and so a little research and asking around netted me a blank vent cover. (BTW, I would love to give credit where its due, as I got this idea from someone else on their scratch build from these very forums, but have since forgotten where)

(November 25th, 2009)
Clamping this to each work piece instantly made a template. The result isn't as good as if I used a CNC machine, but I am mostly pleased



This is the bottom piece. The section shown below is the main air entry for the "air box" just below the radiators. Note that, before cleanup heavy sanding, the holes look (and are) very rough:



And after, although still not perfect, a far better sight.



(April, 4th, 2010)

I finished the bottom section and then started work on the back of the computer. The sections shown here are where the air is exhausted from the PSU. This is the only fan on this side of the case.



You might also note that I made the plug access for the PSU a simple square hole as the complex shape that was there before bothered me for some reason. Totally aesthetic choice.

And here we have both work pieces, side by side. This technique has produced a good result IMHO, but takes a significant amount of time per section. Next up is the front and back vents for the "air box".



Thanks for watching (especially if you are still here after 132 days of silence )

 

I will follow this to the end even if it takes 132 more days! Amazing

 

Why thanks. Lets hope it doesn't take quite that long

 

That venting looks really professional. Really starting to look good; very clean.



As for mounting your dvd drive: The idea I'm probably going to go with for mounting a slot-loading optial drive is to mount it in a pocket made from 1cm thick neoprene sheeting which'll attach, probably by velcro, to a side panel, with a slot cut into the front panel for the dvds to go into; I don't want any transmitted vibrations.. The button is annoying to try and get working by pushing something from the front panel as is on slot-loading drives, so I'm planning to solder two contacts to the push-to-make switch on the slot-loading dvd drive fascia and connect up to another vandal switch.... Will be very interested to see what solution you come up with to mount your drive.

 

Thanks and welcome to the fun!

The idea I am leaning on is to resurrect my bending brake and/or make a new one. Then I want to make cover with something like your neoprene idea underneath and bolt the assembly the drive shelf - creating a sandwich to hold the drive in place. A little extra planning would have yielded the ability to remove the entire drive shelf with a few bolts, but the DVD drive currently covers 3 of those screws. That also means that I can't just adhere the drive to the shelf itself. Or...I could remake the shelf .

So many choices. So...well ok there is time too.

 

Very cool, clean work. I like how you made the multiple holes, very clever.

 

wow great job
keep it up

 

Hehe, you had me at "only one source - Diet Coke".
Altough I kept reading and really liked it!
Sub'd
Now off for some coke

 

Are the holes...done?

While I reserve the right to make more, I think I am done with perforating the outer walls of my case.



Here is the front intake:



and the back:



The bottom of the case has two areas of perforation. The second, smaller one, is for the air intake for the PSU.



This blurry, out of focus shot of the "airbox" will have to do for now. The worst part about posting a pic like this is that I am the son of a photographer



A few more shots of the complete case as it sits today:

 

How did i miss this? awesome and subbed!