Scratch Build – In Progress Project Quintessence - 29Jun-She's Live- CPU Magazine!

Wow awesome job on forming that tubing bro I never saw something like this and that is a brilliant idea!! Cant wait for the final shots!!!!

 

true... molding the tube like that is a great idea
i'll try to do that as well soon

hoping to see the case finished soon

 

Thanks guys. I ran across the tube forming idea some time ago, and it is a huge help. I had 3 spots where I formed the tubing on this setup. Had I not been able to do so, I would have had to use several in-line fittings that would have resulted in somewhat of a tubing hack-job. What's so nice about forming the tubing also is that once you form it, the tubing doesn't push back against the barbs like when you just stick it there. This is handy especially for any tight spots. You can also form tubing to tighter bends than you can get with just putting tubing in place.

I took a bunch of final pics yesterday. I've got to get them all touched up. I try to take several exposures of each pic also so that I can combine different exposures to make for richer pics. I wish I had access to a nice DSLR. I just have a Canon SX120, which is a really decent SLR, but it of course is limited.

 

I had a look at norprene tubing myself a while back but couldn't find it in the UK and couldn't find it in 13/19mm size to fit compression barbs iirc. Great idea forming the bends like that - do they stay like that or do they lose shape over time? Is it just a thermoforming property of norprene or can that be done with standard pvc tubing like primoflex?

Edit: looks like it is available in (1/2")/(3/4") after all. Hmmm.

 

I've formed both Primochill tubing and now the Norprene, and I've found that once formed and put in place, it holds its shape indefinitely. I have one very sharp curve of Primochill tubing that i formed in my Zenith build that I had in place for over a year and it never kinked.

The Norprene in the 1/8" wall really does have an incredible bend radius, the best of any tubing I've used. I'm also looking forward to not having everything covered in that stupid white plasticizer film. This should not effect Norprene like it does vinyl tubing.

 

Finished Pictures

This journey is finally at an end. Here are the final pictures.







































Continued in next post:

 

Here are a couple of pics of my high-speed, uber advanced photo studio. It was a nice, cloudy day in front of my shed in the shade. I only have a simple Canon SX120 SLR camera with a $25 Ebay tripod. I set up a couple of sawhorses with wooden supports and a couple of pieces of OSB board. The background holders are made of 1 1/2” PVC. The black and gray foreground/background is just plain black fabric. The black fabric foreground looks more gray due to the lighting.





Pictures of Lights in the Dark

These pics were taken with a flat piece of 1/4” plywood and black fabric in my bedroom on our bed with a corner of the bedroom behind. Our bedroom is painted a Cranberry color., and I have the windows completely blacked-out making it very dark in there. An article a while back on Bit-tech regarding taking better camera shots helped me with these. I set my camera to shutter speed priority, set it to a 5 second exposure, and used a 2 second timer. I metered the shot (camera button down half-way) completely in the dark, and then once the camera shutter opened, I turned on the bedroom light for about 3 seconds, cut it off, and let the camera shutter continue in the dark for the other 2 seconds. This way I could capture the lights and still get the case.











Thank you to everyone who chimed in and gave encouragement on this project.

 

oooo exciting (needs a "twiddle thumbs" emote)

EDIT:

WOW! what more needs to be said...

 

the amount of awesomesauce in this build cannot be measured

 

voigts.... congratz man

this is just awesome. great looking from outside, lots och character, just enough detail. Perfectly designed and executed inside. No unnecessary empty space, every component fits just in. Top quality job, well done!

 

Excellent. I like how you planned the use of the enclosure for every component and didn't build unused space.

It turned out very well & I enjoyed reading the entire build thread. Congrats.

 

Beautiful! This was a good read and great outcome! Any plans for another in the near future?

 

Truly a beautifull work of art!

But then again... So is everything you touch!

 

stunning little build, brilliant but simple camera techniques.. double win.

 

Thanks a lot.

Thank you again. That tight use of space about drove me nuts when I was running the wiring and putting the watercooling in. I had to make a number of adjustments here and there to get things in place. I got so frustrated a couple of times that I honestly wanted to give up. I had my rig down for 3 weeks while transferring my components over and I was getting quite impatient. Once its all in place, it isn't that hard to get to stuff, but when initially putting it all in, well, that was another story.

I'm casually brewing on a new case for my daughter's computer. I think she has seen this one and my Zenith build and has decided that I should build her a nice one. The one she has is one I built years ago when I first started making cases, and it is pretty basic.

Thank you very much. I like the idea that my case can be seen as art. I try to design with both form and function in mind.

I really would like to save up and get at least a basic DSLR. It would make the photography and editing a lot easier. Being able to shoot in RAW especially would be great. It would allow so much more flexibility in getting the final results right without having to do as much hue and curves adjusting in Photoshop to get the pics to look correct. Its a shame I don't have anyone that I can beg/borrow/plead one from for things like this. Maybe I'll have to start poking around a bit and see if anyone I know has one and I just don't know it.

I did the pics on my last build inside using two studio lights I bought, but it was so hard to get the lighting right that I decided this time to go outside. I'm glad I did. The outside lighting was at an ideal angle, and made getting good pics so much easier.

 

One word : EPIC!
My brother I am really speechless right now, I am messing with my mind to find the proper
words to describe my enthusiasm!!
Everything looks great!! The wood work, the interior, how everything fits in that case so wonderfully, the tubing which looks really nice, everything!!!

I am waiting to see what is going to happen with this mod. I would like to see people offering huge amounts of money to have it in their living room!!! PURE ART brother!!!!

 

Thank you Alex. I always appreciate your friendly and upbeat attitude.

As for the lots of money part, I can assure you that I would hope more than you that people would offer huge amounts of money for it! Not that its for sale in particular, but I would have a hard time refusing a sizable offer. We need to find a way to lure some movie stars or the like to come to this forum looking for custom computers.

 

That my friend is art, no other way to describe it, looks absolutely magnificent. I didn't realise that you had fitted the yellow lighting,it suits it really well . Well done dude, top modding. Looks like another build thats going to be a contender for the MOTY.

 

Thank you bulldogjeff. I don't know about the MOTY part. There are some really nice mods going on right now, to include yours.

I found adhesive backed flexible LED strips on fleabay that worked wonderfully for the inside lighting, and I used two metal LED strips for the front lighting. I like using the LEDs as they seem to last forever, put out almost no heat, and can be left on all of the time.

 

Congratulations mate! She turned out terrific, love the contrast on the front.


Now, what's next?