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Scratch Build – In Progress Baby Moon *Complete*

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by shinji2k, 12 Jul 2013.

  1. Meelobee

    Meelobee What's a Dremel?

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    wow man, that's awesome work. Love the design of the feet! :)


    Note to self: start saving for a lathe
     
  2. KidMod-Southpaw

    KidMod-Southpaw Super Spamming Saiyan

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    Gorgeous! The bad news is that I'm far too desperate for M0AR! D:
     
  3. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Shears? It's clearly two knives! Oh wait, that's the same thing :p. Is it sad that I agonized more about that power jack and the switch than just about anything else?
    Lathes are invaluable. I wish I could afford a bigger one :worried:.
    I'm so tempted to post some pictures of today's work but I think I'll hold off. The paint is supposed to take 7 days to cure but I think if I'm careful I can start assembling tomorrow. I can't wait!

    Also, I'm happy my other project was nominated for MOTM but I'm so much more proud of this one :D.
     
  4. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Update!

    Time to work my magic. OK, maybe not magic.

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    I'm really sore from all the sanding :blah:. I used some nicer synthetic car polish on all the pieces to protect the finish a little, it's better than nothing.

    Time for the big moment.

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    :rock:

    I was worried about the clearance in the back there for plugging cables in but there seems to be plenty of room. Now, you'll have to wait to see the side panels on. Hint: It's awesome.

    I thought I had plenty of sleeving supplies but I can't find any of it :duh:. So I'll have to make a order which means probably mid to late next week I can do a final reveal. I also ran out of 10-24 flat head socket bolts, gotta order more of those.

    Thanks for reading!
     
    Last edited: 1 Aug 2014
  5. Monsieur R.

    Monsieur R. In cornichons I trust.

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    You're definitely moving fast, smoothly and nicely :) What did you use for sanding and as a car polishing ? Is this enough to protect the aluminum or shouldn't you also use some vanish ? Also, looking to your motherboard plate clearance, will you use a GPU or a sound card or anything on the PCI slot? Because, looking at the pictures, It seems that there is not much room for a daughter board and no space for a PCI riser... But I' sure you will amaze us all, again. :thumb:
     
  6. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    I have lots of free time :D. As for sanding, it's similar process to lapping a CPU. I wet sand from 120 grit ->220->400 and then I have some heavy duty scotch bright pads I use as a final pass to smooth things out as needed. As for the polish/wax I believe it's call Mothers California Gold Synthetic Wax or something like that. Aluminum is really easy to scuff and that stuff does offer a little bit of protection. I use that since I have never found a lacquer or clear coat that looks good on brushed aluminum. I always end up with an orange peel that detracts too much from the finish.

    I also hate to disappoint you but I have no plans to use the pcie slot. I have a 150W picoPSU so there isn't much I can run on that when paired with the i5-3570 I'm using. I've thought about pairing it with a 750/750ti but it's just not something that will work with this case. I'd also be too worried about keeping a GPU cool with the small amount of airflow.

    I just realized I never really outlined the hardware for this. It's all recycled since I don't have much of a budget to work with. I found for me I get much more pleasure out of building cases then going all out with hardware. I know many won't agree with me there but to make something unique and interesting is more important than spending 3k on watercooling :p.

    Asrock H77M-ITX
    i5-3570
    2x4gb Corsair 1600mhz
    An old Intel X-25M 80gb SSD
    150W picoPSU
     
    Last edited: 1 Aug 2014
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  7. Monsieur R.

    Monsieur R. In cornichons I trust.

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    Far from disappointing me, I have to admit I totally agree with your philosophy : aesthetic + creativity should prevail on fashionable hardware, which is often the same, for hundreds of cloned builts (regardless of their intrinsic quality). And having a short budget is a great booster for creativity, I know a lot about this :D

    With a 150W pico PSU, you would totally be able to run a GTX 750 (Ti) with aircooling, except if you are a hardcore gamer, but my little finger tells me you're not. And such a GPU could fitt into you're case with a PCI riser is you tilt your MB by 90°, orienting the I/O panel downward. But, well, that's just my 2 cents (and that what I wanted to do in a previous build) ;)

    BTW, thanks a lot for MGCS wax tip :clap:
     
  8. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Thanks for your words of encouragement. Sometimes I just get an itch to make something and sticking with a smaller form factor and cheaper hardware means I get to experiment with ideas and still have some money left over for the next project. In fact I already have something else I've been wanting to build :p. Oh and I definitely am a gamer, but I already have a decent rig from a couple years ago that will probably last another 1-2 years. If it ain't broke...

    As for the case, I bet I could shoehorn a small gpu in, like the 750ti, by using a flexible riser. I'd have to put it where the hdd mount is and just snake the riser around the top. I'd still be worried about heat though.
     
  9. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    So is this a stupid idea?

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    I like the Noctua heatsink since it's about the lowest profile one you can buy, but the fan is a bit weak. I have room to slap an old ap-14 with an adapter plate but since there isn't much fresh air intake, I have to question if more airflow will help any. I have some time so I figured I would experiment :p.
     
  10. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    So I decided to do some stress testing since I am worried about temperatures. I tossed everything in there and brought it inside from the garage. And well... I never realized how close I was to the limits of the NH-L9i cooler I was using. At stock speeds and with the panels off and the Noctua fan I was hitting 73C using IBT and 75C with the Gentle Typhoon. :eeek: I put the panels on and with the Noctua fan I watched as it slowly climbed to 98C before I stopped. I thought I was screwed until decided to underclock and undervolt it a bit. I've got it at 3.0ghz and 0.84v right now and it's maxing out at 60C with the side panels on. So now I get to see if changing fans will help any and also try to get closer to stock speeds while sticking to more reasonable temps. I'm not so worried now :D
     
  11. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Update!

    I've done what I can while waiting on wiring and sleeving supplies. Thankfully I was able to undervolt and disable boost to get my 3570 to like 75C at 3.4GHz with the side panels on. And I found that switching the fan dropped temps 5C. I'm also hoping the oversized fan will cool the mobo a little bit which is good because of the limited airflow. It looks a little silly on the tiny cooler but too bad :p.

    But first I needed to make a bracket to mount it and paint it all.

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    I'm gonna have to remove some stickers, they look really bad. :rolleyes:
     
  12. Monsieur R.

    Monsieur R. In cornichons I trust.

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    Nice work on the fan holder. I know it's maybe too late, but have you consider using slim fans of 12,5 mm thick ? I know Thermalright, Scythe and Cryorig offer some.
     
  13. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    I haven't really considered that, but I have been thinking of getting a slightly better heatsink. This one is at it's limit with a 77w cpu already without the added airflow issues. I have a little more clearance than I expected with the convex sides so I'm going to see what will fit on this board that I might be able to afford. ;)
     
  14. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    You can coax a little more clearance out of a cooler by shaving the top screw mounts off the fan too. This is one of the times that a computer model comes in handy.
     
  15. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    I still haven't decided if I'm going to upgrade the cooler. I was hoping to find a decent one that's like $30 but I didn't really find anything that was perfect. This one works but it's definitely not optimal.

    And since I'm making custom cables for my picoPSU I've been having a terrible time getting pins for the connectors. After some research, I found that the cpu 4-pin connector is the same one as the ones used on ccfl lighting. So that was easy to just add some pins to my order with FrozenCPU. I assumed the connector was the same for the molex/sata but it turns out they are different. They are called pico-SPOX connectors.

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    Luckily I found them cheap at Digikey but now I have to wait a few more days :(.
     
  16. Oozy

    Oozy What's a Dremel?

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    Interesting project with a distinctive futuristic-looking case. What is even more impressive is the fact that you use quite current hardware.
     
  17. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    :thumb:

    I ordered the wrong pins again :sigh:. They looked right in the picture but they are too small. I finally gave up and went to mini-box's website where I discovered they actually have detailed diagrams of the wiring with component part numbers. Let's try this again. I'm also not happy with the paint on the shell, you can still see some tool marks through the paint. I think I'm going to have to try again and use some filler primer. It doesn't really show up in the pictures but I know it's there. I also may have scratched it a little when I dropped the motherboard on it :wallbash:.
     
  18. Monsieur R.

    Monsieur R. In cornichons I trust.

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    Hi Shinji,

    As we use the same Pico-PSU (from what I see, it's a 150XT from mini-box), we have the same issue : the connectors, and their crimps. Good new : I discovered yesterday that the smallest connectors (for SATA and Floppy) where EH Series connectors, from J.S.T., and the bigger one for the CPU was from the PH serie, also by J.S.T. There are, of course, male & females connectors, with specific crimps.

    You can easily order them on eBay (this is what I did for my own PicoPSU) or get them from Digikey : female connector, male connector and crimps. And because the minimum order on Digikey is very high, I bought a small pack of ten from eBay, for 4$ (free shipping inculded, delivery expected in the end of august).

    I hope this will help you ;)
     
  19. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Yup, I ordered some JST EH pins from Digikey earlier today, $3.38 for 10 of them with shipping. I do appreciate the information though. I've never been impressed with how sleeving looks on these picoPSUs so I bought some ribbon cable like you see on Corsair PSUs. I definitely needed to find some pins to make my own wiring, and I think after three tries I finally have what I need :rolleyes:.

    edit

    Digikey does sell them individually, you don't have to buy the giant reels.
     
    Last edited: 6 Aug 2014
  20. shinji2k

    shinji2k Minimodder

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    Small update!

    Don't have too much to show today. I spent a while waiting on components and I repainted the shell. There were still some imperfections in the outside grooves that couldn't really be seen in pictures but I decided to go over it with some filler primer. After that I wetsanded with 600 grit and then resprayed it in black. I think it looks much better now even though you all can't see it :p.

    I did finally get the wiring completed.

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    I am also waiting on my new cooler. I bought an AXP-100 Muscle.

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    I think I have a couple millimeters of clearance but I may need to do some fan modding if my measurements are wrong. I'm not sure if I am going to use the GT or the stock fan, but once that shows up I think I am ready for final pictures!
     

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