Scratch Build – In Progress ESKIMOD 2.0 - [COMPLETED]

Thanks! I can't wait to tear all the paper off the acrylic, but I know I need to be patient to avoid unnecessary scratches.

Ha! "Uniquely unique" is my favorite new compliment!

Omg, just looked up the dfi lanparty mobo. Had no idea that color combo was out there.

Thanks!

 

Cutting panels, slowly but surely. 11 to go as of today, 4 more cut before I had to run out. 7 left.







Reprinted all of the bases for the fan grills. Found there's a discrepancy between the software and the printer of 1.016 percent. Might as well take the time now to get it correct.



While I'm at it I'll make a removable fan filter accessible in the back. Should just be able to pull this panel and slide it out. This is where all of the air intake will be, so it should work out well.



Glamour shot.



Designed a support to go under the bottom acrylic panel. Between the PSU, HDDs and SDDs there could be some bowing if I don't.



And anyone got any suggestions for cutting circular holes out of acrylic? It will be 3x3mm deep.

 

Yay! Panels are finally all cut. Window is TBD. Need to do some figgerin' on how exactly I want it installed.

Will be getting screw mounts in place this weekend and carefully tracking my final package of parts.

 

nice update Todd! Imagining those grills attracting a lot of Honeybees

 

Ha! Grills for attracting the honeybees, and those sexy Mnpctech case feet to attracting the honeys.

 

Well it turns out I was able to get the cutting of the holes in the triple 140 fan grills figured out.





Ole mister reliable dremel saved the day for me.



And how to sand down the inside of a circle? Well... how about an old wine bottle, sandpaper and some masking tape?



Okay, it's finally time to break out the shop vac...



And the first look at that green acrylic. These will really be hidden in the end, so it won't be a big issue if a couple of minor scuff get on them.

 

Good progress this weekend. Got the panels cut for the rear deck.



And the filter inset between the gold panels.



And ran a quick test of the rear deck fans here.



And got all of the panels attached (finally).

 

So... ever wonder what happens to acrylic when you sandwich it with sheet metal and run a high speed rotary cutting tool through it? Well, it blows up pretty much like this:



Thank goodness for the jeweler's saw to save my sanity.



Much happier with the cuts.



Outside edges cut. Just need to get the inside.

 

You did that using the 1/8" drill bit, right? Using it on 1/4" plastic is pushing it, so two sheets... Yeah, you know. It's only good for roughing cuts anyway. Most of the cutting action is melting too.

 

It actually worked fine going through 3 layers of acrylic for the 3x140 fan & filter sheets. It's because I have sheet metal sandwiched in the middle that generated all the crazy heat.

I think I invented a new element out of it. I call it "pricklyfur". It looks soft, but it's not.

 

sandwich indeed

 

And sometimes this is why you build something by hand. Not cuz it's going to be more perfect. Just for the epic moment you get to say "I made that".

 

Major sponsor update today. This week my final two sponsors came in. Big thanks to Alphacool and ModMyMods.com for their contributions to this project!



Alphacool has been generous enough to contribute some of their outstanding watercooling supplies to this project. Big thanks to them.



ModMyMods.com if you haven't checked them out is an online watercooling supplies company. They're relatively new and small, but the customer service has been incredible to deal with. They've been super helpful and are genuinely supportive of modding projects. I really can't even tell you how much they've done to help me out. Kudos to them. You have a loyal customer for life.

Off to the update!

Firstly we have the NexXxoS ST30 3x120 radiator. The X-Flow design is going to be just perfect for this project. Having ports on either end is going to allow me to really simplify and stealth this loop. More on that in a bit.



And the fit is just fabulous. Yay for pre-design. Actually, I didn't even have a rad picked when I designed it. Thank you jeebus.



Next are the Susurro 120mm fans. Having finally seen these up close I may actually save them for my next project. There's a really cool rubberized coating and my plans for the front fans are actually pretty invasive.



Mr. CPU block.



A bay res. Don't see these used much these days, but the fit in the side panel is actually pretty amazing.





The accessibility of these side panels is going to be so great. This is honestly the most terrifying part of the build for me. I'm going to have to mod that res to put ports on either side to run the loop. Wish me luck.



And a bridge for the dual GPUs. This I'm really excited about using. It's going to help me really temper down this loop.



This is the loop on the cards today. I do like complex and symmetrical loops, but a nicely minimized loop is what I'm going for on this build.



As per the design.



Flow indicator. The color on one side is good.



The other side does not match.



Thus the reason this has been on top of my computer the past month.



Some 3D print PLA stored in warm water. I'm going to model up a replacement paddle wheel (name?) for the middle and print it and I have no idea if PLA will contaminate and ruin my loop. Let me be the first to find out for you modderverse.



After a month in the water it's clear and the PLA is intact. I'm going for it.



Once again big thanks to the amazing sponsors for this build.

 

That CPU block... Can you peel off the black plastic to make it clear, or does it need to be on?

 

Good question. It looks like it is removable. I do have some leds to put into it, so I'm going to hold off on that for now and see what the back lighting looks like first.

Nice idea.

 

Thanks for the answer. I really like Aquatunings different blocks, but for some reason they decided to make the CPU with the plastic cover, while making everything else available in a clear version

 

I hadn't actually noticed that. What do you know? lol

 

Well, after 2 weeks on the road finally got back home and able to do some work on the project. Of course after I mowed down the wild field that was hiding my house first.

Started with tearing down the old Eskimod build. Need some of the parts for the new build.



And some test fitting of the parts.



Got the motherboard and GPUs mounted.



Working out the fit of the PSU.



And designing the PSU mount.



And test printing.



Test fit looking pretty good so far. Will need some exhaust holes for the back.



And checking the length of the cables. Cable combs are printed, just not used yet.



And this little beasty may be remembered from a previous project if you follow what I do.



HDD interface card. Let's see if it can make my raid array hot swappable.



Designing the mount. Test print is currently underway.

 

Busy day again. Got brave enough to mod the bay res. Boy, this one felt like modding at it's finest. Scariest part of the build so far. Had to drill new holes into the bay res. Popped some fittings in and ran a leak test. So far so good! We'll see if it's still water tight at build time.



Then into the side panel.



And printed a custom mount to hold it in place. Nice and tight, should be good to go.



And a few screw holes later and the flow indicator is mounted on the other side.



And an exhaust hole for the PSU.



Sorry for the poor quality pics. Took them all with the phone today.