Case Mod - In Progress Project: RB - 99% complete - photos of major win!

Sneak peak from final page:



GO THERE NOW!


So, it's that time of year again, where I feel the need to start a new project.

Some of you may remember Armour V2.0 from last year, and I'm hoping to build on what I learnt doing that project and my original project (which never got completed) to make one ubertastic pc.

Nothings gone far yet - heck I havent even bought the case! But, I thought I'd post up some teasers.

Big shout out to gcwebbyuk for chucking in a load of extra barbs with the CH4 block I bought from him

Anyway, enough talking, here's some pics of the bits and pieces I have already:













What do y'all think? Ill try and update it as and when parts come in..

 

Nice waterblock

Good photography skills too. Keep up the good work.

 

Cheers! I can't wait to get it all installed, running on air seems to boring now..

 

I received some more goodies in the post today. They'd all seen their fair share of usage, so I got the rubber gloves, ketchup and distilled water out and gave them all a good scrub. In particular notice the purple gunkyness on the pump - this was actually really sticky and a pig to get off.

Anyway, what do you think? I also gave the bottom of the CPU block a quick sand with 2500grit, didn't quite get the shine I expected but improved it from what it was before.




This was after 40 minutes with the ketchup - it was all oxidised before but the ketchup worked a treat and it was no more!

 

nice!! and good photography skills

 

What I think is that I see a heap of nice parts, but no work in progress. Forum rules dictate that project logs should contain pics of work in progress. That means from the first post onwards. Plans, designs and 'teasers' are for the Modding section. Moving for now...

 

nice photos and the stuff .... ouaouh

 

ah, but they were beautifully arranged in the pictures nes pas

 

It seems like an absolute age since I've updated this log - I've been snowed under with exams and reviews work, but at last I have an update for you.

Unfortunately it's not as complete as I'd like, as I didn't have time to photograph everything. Instead, I've only got some shots of the case semi-stripped down. Over the next couple of weeks I should have the time to strip it down completely and reveal something that has quite literally taken me hours of CAD time...

Anyway, some pics:


Excuse the hand print!




Not what you expect from Lian-Li - the case badge arrived half fallen of and there was quite a few scratches in the anodizing. Fortunately they're nowhere noticeable, but for £150 I expected better!





Just a little hint - the stock brackets for the HDD cage will be going, as will the mounts for the 5.25" bay - I've already fabricated my own mounts, but you'll have to wait to see them



Anyway, what do you all think? It's not a case I've really seen modified before, but as it can hold an ATX mobo yet it's still fairly small it fit the bill perfectly.

I hope to update ya'll soon!

 

I felt a little stingy with what I posted yesterday, so made some time today to update you all on what I've been working on.

Basically, because the case won't normally accommodate all the hardware I want to put in it, I've created a custom floor, which reduces the amount of space taken up by the hard drive and removes the CD drive enclosure completely.

With CAD designs made, my College teacher kindly let me use the laser cutter so I could bring my design to life.

What I've got is a layer of red acrylic going beneath the black. The red acrylic has 'bullet holes' all over it so that I can fit some LED's in to make it glow




black


red


Laser cutter didn't quite go all the way through, leaving some rough edges in places where I had to snap the acrylic, so some filing will be needed!




Mock install. I haven't got 2 pumps, but on the left is the T-balancer, then Ill have 2 pumps and the hole on the right is for the Hard disks...


Little power pass-through for the hard disks.




My custom Hard disk cage - the screws I had were completely the wrong lengths, but it's enough to show you how it will all go together.





What do you think?

Tom

PS- can a mod move this back to project logs now please!??

 

Today I drilled out the rivets that held in place the HDD mount and DVD bay rack. Doing so without scratching the case to buggery was actually rather hard, so I wrapped the whole lot in masking tape.

I also drilled the holes for mounting my false floor - hopefully ill pick up the fittings to mount it tomorrow and get it all installed

Anyway, some pics:






How she's gonna look..



And my photography setup (using a Sony A700, flashgun and Zeiss 16-80mm).


Anyway, what do you think? it's beggining to take shape!

-edit-
Pictures are a little below standard - apologies. My brother used the camera and moved the focus point and I managed to use it without noticing

 

You cought my interest Looks really good so far!

 

What he said ----^ Subbed!

 

Cheers guys Hopefully have another update for you soon!

 

Im back - with an update! It's been a while, I've been busy busy busy with exams, which finished yesterday, so I can finally get back to working on the case.

I'd actually done some bits and pieces during my study leave, but didn't have the time to update you all (sorry!), so todays update is fairly substantial.


Got some black hex bolts for about £2 which seemed pretty good.


Pumps have now been mounted to the bottom of the case, with little rubber pieces in the mounts to reduce vibrations.




HDD cage is also in, again with rubber mounts for the hard discs to reduce vibrations....




I installed the floor, with only 3 bolts instead of all 6. I also mounted the T-balancer (which bolts to the floor of the case, and took ages to get the holes alligned)..




The air hole not only looks cool but should also keep the fan controller cool.



What do you think?

Im not sure whether to get black nuts for the top of the bolts or whether the silver ones I used here worked well? Let me know your thoughts!

 

Looking good so far, watching with interest

 

Very cool project, looking great so far

 

You are going to need some vibration dampener under those pumps, or the noise is gonna be MAD!

Love the lasercut acrylic design though!

 

They're on rubber mounts - do you reckon I should put something under them as well? (the base of them doesnt actually touch the case).

 

The more the better I find that the supplied rubber mounts dont do the job well enough. I would put some very soft foam under them instead.
I have a build where I used the rubber mounts, and when the pump is at 100 percent its very noisy. Need to turn it down to 80 percent to get some decent sound level. (18W)