Scratch Build – In Progress Mini Watercooled HTPC - Mosquito - Updated 7th, Nov 2014 - Final Pictures in the Sun

Thanks Hanover! I feel as though I've been improving my skills since my first few projects (my Retro HTPC, and my Music Box being the first 2 woodworking projects)

 

Alright, some more progress has been made on the main chassis of the case…



With the back panel clamped in place to see how it looked, I checked to make sure the dimensions were going to work.




Having decided that the back panel will work, time to bring out some clamps… that was a fun glue up, trying to get all the clamps in the right places lol




Added top and end pieces to the radiator/fan mount to help stiffen that up a bit.




I also glued in some extra blocks for installing a shroud of sorts. This shroud covers the area around the motherboard tray, and will allow me to run some of the wires underneath it.




I marked out where these blocks were, so I could drill them out later.




I also made a 3/4" thick bottom panel for it. I cut a rectangular hole in it so I can mount the power supply in a base that the computer will sit on.




There will eventually be a cover that will go around these square dowels to hide the wires before they go under the cover plate.




I then drilled for and installed threaded inserts to attach the cover plate to the main chassis. I will eventually be either painting or replacing these screws with something less shiny steel.





That’s all I’ve got for this update, so thanks for checking it out, again

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Next up, it’s time to do a little work on the pedestal that this will be sitting on. It will also house the power button, USB 3.0 ports, and audio ports as well as the 1U PSU.




First I marked out the size by referencing the bottom of the chassis. I used another piece of 3/4” plywood for the bottom.




I marked a piece of 1/4” plywood the same way




This was the plan; put the 1U PSU in the base, and run the power cables up through the hole in the bottom of the chassis.




However, I test fit it here too, and it was actually a pretty good fit…




I could even line up the power plug with the hole I had already cut for venting… hmmm




Ok, this is the layout I’m going with now; PSU is now going to be inside, rather than in the base. This allows me to make the base a little smaller now too. I glued in some square dowel to hold the PSU up, and a block to hold it from moving side to side.




I made a little filler piece to make a gap between the PSU and the vent.




I also glued in a few more pieces, and then drilled for a threaded insert to hold the PSU down with the stock bracket.




Meanwhile… I painted the PSU covers black, since now they’ll be visible inside the case.




I came back to glue the spacer piece in place




I think that’ll do, everything seems to line up alright




Here we have the PSU mounted in its final place. The screw in the back holds the PSU from sliding back. There are two (2) blocks glued on either side that will prevent it from swinging sideways, and the square dowel that was used to frame out the back of the chassis were the perfect size to firmly hold the PSU down, without letting it lift up at all.

Overall, that seemed to work out quite well, and I’m pleased with the results. That allows me to make the base thinner than I originally intended, so now I’ll get to tackle that next.

As always, thanks for checking it out, and any questions or comments are welcomed


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Alright, another little update is in order. Now where were we… ah yes, just mounted the PSU and now time to work on the base…



The base is going to include the power button, two (2) USB 3.0 ports, and audio jacks (I’m using the ports I took out of my Lian-Li PC-Q30 for my Dancing Iridescence mod).




I cut out a small I/O plate to go around the USB and Audio ports.




Glued in a little frame around it to hold it in place, since I didn’t want any screws on the outside.




Then time to glue on the pieces for the frame all the way around.




After making a cover to go over the USB/Audio port assembly, that’s the bottom of the base done.




Now it’s time to make the base cover (sides).




Trim to length on the bench hook/shooting board




Golden.




Last piece required a little joinery to get a good fit.




There’s the bottom part of the base cover done.




Now time to glue the top piece in place. To get a perfect fit, I did this with the other part on the bottom of the base… here’s hoping no squeeze out gets away and glues the whole thing together!




And we’re good



As always, thanks for watching

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I suppose I should have included these two as well... I also cut a hole in the top for routing cables (it lines up with the hole in the bottom of the chassis)

 

Time for the next [little] installment; a little cable management help







I’m gluing up a little 3 sided box to cover all the wires from the PSU and where they’ll eventually route into the rest of the case.










Somewhat surprising to me even, this worked on the first try; drilling a 1/4” hole in a 3/8” square dowel without breaking anything.




This will be in place to hold up the back corner that isn’t supported otherwise.




Two (2) screws on each of the sides to secure it in place and all is well.




The other intent of this little box was for a place to mount the res + pump combo, a task which it should accomplish quite nicely.




Once again thanks for checking it out (if anyone is even watching here... ). I should have another update later this week as well, with the rest of my wire management fixings.

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Very nice, tidy construction dude! Keep it up!

 

For a second there I thought it was a mini coffee maker!

I love HTPCs and coffee so, subbed!

 

Thanks man

lol I do not partake in the coffee, but I do love my an HTPC (or 3 or 7) The coffee maker/PC thing has been done before, if I remember correctly... I don't think I'd be able to pull it off as well

 

Wow, I blinked and missed half the build. Looking good.

 

Thanks Cheaps!

 

Ok, time for the other small update. Motherboard tray cable management in progress.




So this is what I’ve got, a solid piece that covers the motherboard tray. It sits about 1/4” above the other part.




I marked out the locations where I’ll have wires leading to the motherboard, and cut some slots in the cover piece to feed them through.




A little chisel and mallet work to clear out the square dowel that was glued in, to make more room for the wires. Try doing that with power tools lol




I continued to chisel out the waste all the way around.






With the bottom wire box cover in place, and showing how it’ll look. It is also worth noting that most of them will be hidden by either the Radiator, GPU, or power supply, so that should help too.


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Alright, that was my little tack on update to the other one this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to have another good update next week. Thanks again for checking it out, and commenting

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Just lurking watching the progress, I can tell your chisels are sharp!

 

Of course, I'm a woodworker I sharpen them somewhat frequently, dull chisels can be scary

 

And… time for another update. This one considerably more substantial than the last one. Making the removable panel assembly.






Lots of clamps… gluing a piece to the edge of what will be the front edge of the side panel




After that, and before I got too far, I cut out the hole for the window.




Adding some more pieces to help with alignment when it goes on the case, and to help the rigidity a little.




This should give a nice view of the hardware once it’s done.




Cut a piece for the top panel, and cut a hole in it for the fan intake. I will eventually put mesh here too. Yes, it took a few trials at the layout lines before I was happy with the size.




I glued the top panel on to the side panel, as the side, front, and top will be one removable piece. It makes things a lot easier.




Added another bracing/gluing piece to the front




Finally I glued the front piece on. I used a few nails to keep things aligned while I clamped it up, but then removed them once the clamps were in place.




Another piece to help keep the top from flexing.




Added a piece to the bottom of the front panel (inside) with two (2) dowels in it. These go into holes drilled in the base, and keeps things from moving around when in place.




And here we have it; the completed side/top/front panel assembly. I still need to add mesh and a window, but that will be one of the last things that gets added.






I set it on a few scraps on the base, to get the idea of what it’ll look like.



Thanks, as always, for checking it out and any comments
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Let’s see, where were we on this one… Ah yes, panels done. So now I suppose we should take care of a few of the odds and ends before we get things thing painted, shall we?



I glued together four (4) mitered pieces that will be the spacer between the top and bottom portions of the case.




This spacer is held in place by some screws. I used screws long enough to reach through the spacer and into the bottom of the main chassis to hold it all together.


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Now with the spacer done, time to turn our attention to the innards… let’s see if I can remember and recap where we’re at.




I believe this is what the layout was at this point. Seems like it’ll work out fine, but I’m not sure I really… like it.




I had this Photon 250 kickin’ around. I know the 250 is too big for this case/layout at the moment, but I like the size and aesthetic of it more I think…




Enter the Photon 170 with D5 mount. When I started this build I didn’t intend to buy another res-pump combo, but… it looks so much better in my opinion. It just seems to fill out the space a lot better than the EK res-top did.






This will also be the final loop layout. It’s a little different, I suppose, but it made the tubing route a lot easier and cleaner. Also required fewer specialty fittings. I had originally planned on building a small internal wall to house some bulkheads to help make it around the end of the GPU, but this works better for me.

The loop order will go as such:
Res/Pump -> CPU -> Radiator -> GPU -> Res/Pump
It might be a bit unorthodox I suppose, but with a 25w CPU and the low powered R7 240 in there, I think I’ll be fine lol



Once again, thanks for checking it out. In the next update I should be getting some things painted and start applying some veneer.
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Realy beatiful Woodwork

 

Thanks man

 

Nice.

 

Thanks Waynio