Scratch Build – In Progress T.R.O.N [V4]

Really great work there.

 

Beer & nuts, Check

Cheers!


The TRON rig is up and running and working pretty dam good I must say (pretty much silent too as hoped – only the Hdd can be heard). Unfortunately by having the case populated and running it means more temptation to relax and get some long awaited gaming in... . Have run a number of games from Crysis to Ruse and Arma2 to Napoleon all working very smooth and looking great at max gfx settings, no stutters/lag so far and I haven’t even overclocked the CPU or GFX card yet.

Anyway, here's a post of Fridays antics which was a tight schedule to get it up and running for a wee LAN session that had been org'd round at one of my mates on Sat.

First off I had to cut a template from cardboard to size the Fan frame which was then transferred to MDF and used as a mould for the acrylic to be heated/melted and bent around. The results:







I then cut out a space for the bottom fan frame feet in the acoustic padding that the PSU sits on.




I then used super glue to bond the frames to the case (with some of the component temporarily installed to ensure I didn’t fowl/clash those items, specifically the GFX card).






Then it was just a case of cramming in all of the components and loading windows which altogether was a long and frustrating task. Damn that GFX card was a tight fit, mental note for next time, bear in mind that the gfx card has to be able be put in the case at an angle therefore the space must be big enough to accommodate at a minimum the diagonal corner to corner length of the card plus some clearance (ended up having to flex the fan frames to squeeze it in just and no more!). Also must remember next time to allow a bit more space for cable routing.





Unfortunately I managed to rip a wire out of the molex pin for the LightTape PSU and didn’t have a crimp tool to fix it (my mate James is going to help me out on that one a little later)... so I wasn’t able to get any shots of the case lit up with the light tape and components in place . Soon enough though I hope!


My next couple of task to finish it all off will be the construction of the last side panel and associated locking arrangement, the wiring mods to neaten up the routing and lastly a Hdd mount. Hopefully I'll get on to all of that this weekend, but for now going to concentrate on OC'n and gaming for a switch .

 

P.S, for sense of scale, was able to fit the case into a Tesco Bag to protect it from the snow when carrying it in from the car to my mates house!




Will post another photo at some point to show the comparitable size against my old Coolermaster Cosmos.

 

your house is very neat.... I think the first time I posted on this thread in a long time. I have been watching however. I must say that you have great plexi skills! awesome work and I love that lighting! +rep

 

Looks great man.... I think I understand your sig now after that last pict! LOL

 

Sorry all, for the long period with no posts/replies, have been doing a lot of overtime of late with work, which has spilled into the home the past week , still busy but hopefully that will be the last of OT for now. As such I haven’t been working on the case, though I have played a few games in the short breaks that I’ve had. Might get back into it this weekend though.

Yeah, erm, the house cleaning... has been at bottom of my list of late... can't think why . Moving-crates from when I moved in last Christmas, have them looked out for going up in the loft, which reminds me, better ask my dad for that ladder so that I can do that this weekend. Another task that eats into potential case building time .

Thanks, hope to get it all finished off the next two weeks, then it'll be another two weeks of cleaning the conservatory for having people round at Christmas . Hopefully you'll see some more Plexi work from me with the next project (already in the planning ).

Cheers, LOL!

 

Very nice work on the fan mounts mate, don't know how I missed that part , nice compact, quiet & awesome looking pc mate +rep.

 

Monster's new Tron headphones might now be a required accessory..

http://www.monstercable.com/tron/default.asp

 

Love it. LOVE IT! Keep 'er goin'!

 

Haha, yeah and I even saw Tron shoes the other day. I went and saw it opening night last night, definitely real sweet and Your case still definitely does it justice!

 

any other updates?

 

Thanks Waynio!

drewl... if only they would release all this gear already!!! you would think they would have timed the release in tandem with the movie...

Cheers! Will do my best, when I get 5 min spare, I'll devote it to getting the last of it finished off.

Lol, I saw those shoes too. What you really need is http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1339119/The-real-Tron-Lightcycle-hit-120mph-costs-55-000.html as the ultimate accessory!!! Lol. (can’t access youtube at work so this was the next link I could get).

Thanks, much appreciated!

Not yet unfort, have been snowed under, both literally and metaphorically. Work and travel has been eating into the old personal time Thankfully today is the last day in the office ... for two weeks , so will get the last stretch finished off during the hols, but alcohol or the wife might scupper those plans, I'm hoping for a somewhere in-between compromise

 

Really inspiring!

 

Awesome!

 

L width?

Hey Andy, can you tell me the width of those Iron L Bars you used in there? it looks like 3/16 inch or even less, can you please tell me ? I plan to build a bender for my project and I want something a little more tougher. Thanks in advance, and great work documenting this project!!

 

quality build mate

 

GREAT work on making this baby, i just love those lights strips so where did you ge them from?

Case is looking very cool but are there any more updates coming ?

 

Second last up-date

Hi all,

Has been a good while since I last posted on this case log, has been a busy few months for me with changing jobs and my wife falling pregnant, so my priorities (both time and money) have been diverted to other things. However, fear not, I have managed to save up some cash and free up some time to return to the project and hopefully complete it, just in time to start the next project.

First off, to answer some Q's:

The Angle Bar was 30mmx40mmx4mm. Would definitely advise a stronger bar or at least brace it with wedges to stop it from bending as opposed to the piece your trying to bend .

You can get the Lighting from Light Tape UK - http://www.lighttape.co.uk/ you will have to contact them via email for a quotation and will advise on payments details etc I just paid over the phone in the end. They are excellent alternatives to LEDs, especially for achieving uniform lighting of acrylic edges etc and where space is confined.


The work log continues:

Right, to start with I had the CPU to upgrade from the i5 760 to a i7 875k, also I bought a couple of new fans as the previous Thermalright X-Silent 140's weren’t pulling in as much air as I’d like, even if they were silent. I was also able to save up for a new SSD which was the main reason this Project had ground to halt (was designed for an SSD due to space restrictions, but didn’t have the money at the time to buy one). Also, I wasn’t too happy with my wiring layout, so as the pc is going to be taken apart I'll take the opportunity to shorten, re-sleeve and neatly re-route the cabling and finally get round to crimping some Molex connectors to the Light Tape PSU and finally permanently install it.








So first off was the disassemble and CPU replacement. Also took the chance to shorten and re-crimp the CPU fan.






Began the task to shorten, re-sleeve and re-crimp the majority of the cabling bar the MB 24 pin and 8 pin cables which were just the length thankfully and already sleeved to suit. Sorry for the lack of Photo's in this part, in my attempt to get this part of the job done in an evening I forgot to photograph my progress, nothing too exciting anyway and you can see the final result a little later.





Light Tape circuit final sleeved, crimped and installed. A quick Photo of the lit empty case.








Mods done, time to re-assemble.


...


The PSU rubber gasket works better when installed, doh , take 2...



Was a little time consuming with cable management, but got there in the end and was pretty pleased with the reduced clutter from before. Also, the combination of replacement fans and the neater cabling marked a notable increase in air flow in the case when I fired it up for the first test run.






Next, installation of the new SSD. The air vent holes in the back of the case were deliberately spaced at time of drilling for the SSD to be side mounted above the PSU, the PSU fan doubling as the SSD cooling fan.





Installation of the GPU which was as hard put back in as it was to take out (not the most friendly of cases for GPUs, something I intend to rectify in my next project whilst trying to go even smaller!).

The front, bottom 140mm case fan also channels its air down between the PSU and GPU and exits via the rear vent holes adding extra cooling to the SSD as well as the intended GPU fan intake.






Finally some pic's of the case up and running again, with the light tape installed and lit.















All that's left to do now is to cut and router the last side panel and fashion the fixings. Next post (in a few weeks time hopefully) will be the final product, with some more professional pictures (been using a phone camera up till, now).

 

I love this mod

 

looks simple but gets the idea across i likes