Hello everyone and welcome to my first build/project log. This build was long time in making. Mostly because of my slacking and constant changes in design. Also this was the first watercooled build and first project in woodworking and as you can see the beginnings were rough. I apologize for the lack of build photos and poor quality of them. Most of my photos got corrupted and i didnt planned on making build log. Tools used hand saw set of chisels rasp and files jigsaw vibrating sander power drill lots of sweat and blood PC Parts CPU: Intel core i7 8700k Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 GAMING K6 RAM: KINGSTON HyperX Predator DDR4 2x8GB 3000MHz GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING+ 8G PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3 Water-cooling Parts CPU Block: EK Water Blocks EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel Plated GPU Block: EK Water Blocks EK-FC1080 GTX TF6 - Nickel Pump: EK Water Blocks EK-XRES 100 Revo D5 PWM EK-RES X3 - TUBE 250 (204mm) Front radiator: EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream SE 280 Slim Top radiator: EK Water Blocks EK-CoolStream SE 360 Slim Fittings/tubing: mix of Bykski, barrow and EK Coolant: Mayhems white pastel Lets start from the beginning. Cad model and design. Used it just for initial plan and layout. Due to constant changes and poor craftsmanship i didnt made any updated models. But general shape remained the same. My plan from the beginning was to have inside frame with all the components and outside shell that just slides on and covers the ugly bits. The initial plan for the loop Mostly is the same, only changed the valve and pump inlet. Build process will spare you most of the fails, this is the first time it started to look like something. I know it looks scuffed, but the build quality slowly improved with my skills. For material i used bunch of random pieces of wood i found, 8mm plywood and 3mm plywood. Lot of changes and mostly final form of the inside frame. Other side and beginning of the frame of the outer shell. (yes i know, quite a mess around) Outside frame finished. First time trying wood joints and instantly fell in love with them. Got a 3D printer so i made an I/O for the case. The big button on the right was supposed to be switch for temperature display, but am not using that anymore so its doing nothing now. And the wood side of the buttons. The outer shell is glued together. Rads are mounted using 3D printed and aluminium brackets. All important components in place (970 just as a placeholder). Soft tube part of the loop. there are also USB connectors and the other connector is for the case I/O. Beginning of the pain. Decided to do holes in line for the cables, maybe not the best decision, but its too late to change it now. Not the best design for the cable combs, but will do for this build. Also doing this with the cables... PLEASE SEND HELP Not exactly sure if i like it, but no coming back now. Needed really thin 90° USB cable, so had to gut and solder new wires onto a connector. Parts drying after lacquer finish.
Assembly of the cables. Didnt had place to put my storage so i printed nice boxes for them. Looking a little bit cleaner. Not perfect sleeving job, but it will do. I want round corners so few hours with the rasp and files... Time for bending, starting with the hardest one. After few tries it looked somewhat presentable. And bending done. Glad i got a leak tester. Letting it run for a bit with just distilled water. Milk added. Finally assembled, before putting on the finish. For the finish i chose tung oil. After few weeks and 5 coats later it looks amazing. Converted my 3d printer to able to "print" traces on PCBs. First time doing anything with electronics, so head first as with anything i do. Board numba wan was mostly just to test what are the capabilities of the printer. It is to connect case I/O with the PC. Since my motherboard doesnt have temperature sensors header, second board will have arduino and headers for temp sensors. In total 4 sensors, because why not. One for coolant, internal, PSU(taped to the PSU) and ambient outside of the case. Forgot to mirror the board so had to solder everything from this side. Looks ugly but works. Dont want holes in the case so made covers out of acoustic fabric and printed parts. Clickity click Case I/O in place with the little connecting board. After long time in making this build is finally finished, things left are some feet and cutting acrylic sheet for the window, but those are just details. As with anything there are quite a few things i would change/do better, but this was a learning process for me and will take what i learned to my next build. Already have another one in mind and hopefully it will not take me this long . Final dimensions of the case: 610mm X 510mm X 235mm Little bit nicer photos of the finished build.
Hi, I like your style: Rough frame but dilight exterior ; all stuffs are efficient! Very clever your draining WC loop Can you post a picture of the back and the below of the case? And how did you attach the shell to the frame?
I only had time to look at the pictures but I really enjoyed this build, the finished article looks great; I love how you have the grain exposed through the chamfered edges.
Oh right forgot about back And below. The Shell slides onto the frame in kinda like rails. You can see back of them in the back photo(two on the bottom right, one bottom left And two on top) it hold by itself pretty well, but just in case i have that piece detached that holds it in place, it also helps with the warping of the plywood
Pretty ingenious guide rails! If i can suggest to you, maybe you shoud craft some rounds woody feets above 0.5mm up to 1cm for the PSU fan?
yes, thats the plan for the feets, i have wood lathe now so it will be easy. Then glue pieces of carpet on the bottom of the feet and screw it all together. Just havent made myself do it yet
Great first posts. That's a lovely build, especially for a first build. Welcome to BitTech. -Oops. Now you have to make a curved face and top for your next build.
Me too!! I am impressed from the outcome. The only things "out of tune" are the 3d-printed parts, especially the hdd-rack
Looks like high grade Plywood on the outside, with a veneer surface layer Nice work on your first build, are you going to add a window on the side to keep the dust out? Didnt realise you could print solder too, that's very handy.