Case Mod - In Progress Project: Aquarius

Well here it is guys, One of the most amazing mods we have come up with. We already did a review of the Fusion 4000 Chassis so now we are going to mod it!

Brought to you by:

I will highlight just some of the amazing mods we are doing to this. First. It will be a dual system. Ivy Bridge for main system (when it comes out next month) and 1155 low power mini- ITX as the top system. We will have full 3 Loop water cooling. One for top system and 2 for main system. We’re not sure on the video cards yet. We’ll see when Kepler is out. But we intend on at least 3 cards for main system and 1 for top.

Custom electronics through out for monitoring, control and automation.

We will keep it black with UV Green highlights and Chrome fittings.

There is so much more but we don’t want to spoil it for you.

We would like to thank our Sponsors for their contributions.



CrystalFontz Has provided 2X CFA 735 Controllers for our systems.

Azza has of course given us the awesome Fusion 4000 chassis to work with.

EKWB Has sent us a nice Dual Bay Reservoir which we will use in this.

We are currently seeking a few more Sponsors as this is going to exceed many thousands of dollars.


First we started with the top. Our intention is to flip the doors so that they open UP not down.




So we brought out the Modders friend, the Dremel 4000. Complete with extension cable which is a life saver.


Once the doors were removed, we also cut out the design in them to replace with Plexi. In the pictures it looks like the cuts are not clean, but indeed they are perfectly straight. We used Dremel’s Saw Max to cut it out. Works great with light steel.


After all the cutting, we placed a custom cam through the hinges so that we can attach servos to open the doors together.


Here is a video of the result. Keep in mind we don’t have the servos installed yet so we just turn it by hand.
http://www.youtube.com/v/LD-0OpPSRp8

Top door operation
Later we will be adding the servos and plexi, we’ll update the pics then.

We then moved to the top of the Chassis, the Louvers. They didn’t open very far, and you had to do it manually. We cant have that now can we?
First thing we did was remove the stopper on the edges of the louvers so they could raise higher.


Then we crafted a whole new lever action which will also be opened by a servo. Only this servo will be temperature controlled. You will be able to open and close it manually also though.

We fashioned these pins that will connect to each louver. The moving bar will then push or pull each louver.


Louvers in Action
http://www.youtube.com/v/_p65I8ZBYLg
Now we moved on to the newly designed Feet/legs. With this tower being so tall, we wanted a more aggressive and stable stance.


We started with 1/2” Aluminum and painstakingly cut out each piece We will let you guys how they will look when we’re done





This was the remnants.





This is it for now guys. We will be updating you in a couple days with a lot more. We will be fashioning the Legs/Feet and so much more.

 

Here's a small update guys, hope you like it.

We have the legs cut out, but NOT finished. We just wanted to give you guys a look into what they will kinda look like when the PC is mounted on them. They are more than just for looks, they give the rather tall chassis more stability and a more aggressive look. We like it and hope you do too.




We plan on beveling the toes at about a 35 degree angle in addition to polishing it up real good and adding some detail and effects to it. The feet will swivel with the case if it needs to be laid on it's side.
These are on hold for a bit while we move on to the right door. We're very excited about the side doors so wanted to get started on them. So sorry for the short update but more is coming.

 

Looks very cool, sub'd!

 

I don't know about other people, but the pictures are all screwed up for me.

 

Wow Robert, off to a flying start mate. looking good.

 

Have to say that the video of the louvres is possibly one of THE COOLEST mod videos I've seen in a long time!

Epic work man!

 

The feet themselves look pretty stable, but I'd worry about any bolt there shearing.

I love the idea of the doors popping open at high temp!

 

Update

Okay! We have the Reservoir and doors cut out and plexi in place. Some fine tuning left to do so don't start tripping thinking it's done. Just wanted to get you guys some updates so you can see the progress.

Here is door BEFORE:





Then we cut the sides for the reservoir. We stuck sand paper down on the table so we had a flat surface to sand them on to ensure they were flat. After all they will be used to hold in water!



We went ahead and got all the holes drilled for the upper doors and lower doors.



Then went back to finishing the reservoir.



With that almost done we mounted the plexi in the doors.



Then we cut it out for one of our features. We are mounting a 120MM radiator in the middle of the door opening. So the doors will close AROUND the Radiator.







So our end result was this: (with the doors closed)



Hope you guys like it. If you have ideas we're all ears.

 

Nice.

I watch.

john

 

Looking forward to seeing how this looks.

Beed more updates.

 

Huge Update guys. I hope you like it.

We finished the reservoir on the left door. We also finished the right doors. Take a look...






Oh we finished the Upper door also.


Then we finished off the left door with the reservoir.



In this image you can see our diffuser. It will disperse the water the full length of the reservoir.



And here we are with it finished. Hope you guys like it. It will be the reservoir for the video card cooling loop.





Take care guys, thanks.

 

Looks really cool.

Continue,please.

 

Liking the res!

Just make sure you give it a good long leak/pressure test, and a take a video of it

 

Looking very cool, great work.

 

Nice update for you guys. This is really starting to come together.

We decided to lift the top of the case, as if it isn't tall enough, but we wanted MORE ROOM!
So we cut a strip of aluminum and bent it to shape of the rest of the top.












This turned out quite well and will suit our needs.


We moved into the front in which we removed the stock 2 fans and decided to put in a Hardware Labs X-Flow 240mm Radiator.





We permanently attached some DangerDen Delrin fittings



We cut out the vent in the lower area, not only to make room for the tubing, but for some other things we have planned which you will see later.




Huge thanks to Dremel for making that easy to do



We just got in our servos and some other things so we'll begin automation real soon. Stay tuned!

 

Well done this is looking brilliant , wouldn't mind having a blast at this case myself =)

 

Wanted to let everyone know that the project is still alive. We have made a lot of progress on it. We were delayed by the company move, which took almost 2 months.

This is more of a teaser as a "proof of life" thing. I'll get more detailed soon.


As you can see there is a TON of sleeving to do still. We're finishing up the Electronics part which will control the servos and remote control system. Then we have to sleeve all of the temperature monitor wires once we get most of the components in place.
Here's to praying that all of these wires will fit in.

 

Coming along =) Green and blue a bit of an odd choice of colours

 

@Silver - Nah. They're right next to each other on the color wheel, so it works well. DU just needs to throw a bit more blue in there to balance it out.
-Looking pretty snazzy, BTW. The bends on the roof expansion are particularly cool.

 

Yeah, the colours work fine. Paint those Dominator fins one of the blues on the motherboard and it'll look awesome!