I started today trying to finish the hinge on the other door but ended with that job unfinished and a whole bunch of other work done. I got the door all lined up and tacked in but I didn't like the feel of how one of the bolts threaded in so I tried to run a tap through it: Looks like that second door won't happen until I get another tap. Instead of doing that I went to work on the PSU waterblock: I would really like to find a sheet of the insulating material that goes under the chips instead of individual pieces but can't seem to locate any. If anyone knows where I can get some it would be greatly appreciated. I also used the new countersink I ordered to finally clean up all the holes countersunk with the O-flute tool that didn't work well. Unlike that one, this one works very well on stainless steel. Here she is: The back plate was also fitted to the frame and attached the same way as the others with bolts and tabs and threaded blocks. Here is the case as it currently stands: The plan for tomorrow is to finish attaching the other door, go out to Home Depot to get the correct size barbs and plugs for the WC system, get some of the bungs welded in, and finally pressure test the frame and waterblocks for the first time.
Looking good as it slowly comes together. Maybe I've missed it when reading this log, but how are you planning on holding the drives where you've mocked them up? I wouldn't have thought a wire suspension would have been too secure for transport.
I'm going to hang the drives by eight fishing lines, two at each corner of the assembly. Four of the lines will attach to the frame above the disks and four four will attach to a point below the disks. This should fix them very securely no matter how the case is moved.
That hard drive placement is scary...but sechsy! Won't the copper tubing sturdy them a little bit when connected? Or are you going to use flexible tubing for the routes to the hard drive plates?
The hard disk plates will be connected with flexible tubing like everything else. I'm just getting to all the details like the exact location and mounting method of the hard disks now so I can't say anything for sure, but as long as the line is tight to begin with (the hard part) the drives shouldn't move a bit.
Take a look at this post: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=1013321&postcount=64 It has links to: DigiKey List and KoolPads
Update Time: I ordered the little insulating pads for the PSU from Mouser this morning. I could only get the TO-220 style pads instead of the sheets I wanted but I'll be able to cut them up and make them work. As for actual work done since last time, there has been a lot. So much, in fact, that this post contains thirteen stunning photographs suitable for framing or as conversation pieces to be placed on a coffee table. Starting off, the hinges got a bit of redesign again. I think this makes it the third or fourth major revision, which also means that I spent way too much time on these things. Instead of the little tapped rods mounted to the case I used normal stainless nuts welded to a little tube which I think look better and are better made. Next up is the little gap obstructing strips welded in where the bottom of the side doors sit. The doors have about a 3/32" gap there and this keeps anyone from slipping something through that gap. The biggest thing that got done was the front panel. The mounting was a little different this time since the the panel is going to sit in the back of the frame tube instead of flush with the front. Instead of a threaded block a piece of angle iron was threaded so that the tab could be welded on at a right angle on the back of the frame tube. That isn't the big news though, the big news is that: I have drilled my best holes in stainless steel ever. Take a look at these babies, perfectly lined up, each spaced exactly .5" inches, great inside finish. You should have seen the chips coming off the bit, perfect little continuious curls. That bit could have handled a hundred more holes too, but I only really needed nine. The little screw assemblies were located and tacked in: And a close-up: And all done: And for some more good news, all the different voltage outputs on the PSU work. That means I amazingly didn't screw anything up too badly. Quite a feat for something that currently looks like this: I also noticed a little something when checking out how to mount the pump: That's right, this pump was made in West Germany. With the front panel on it was finally time to start locating all the other parts like the PSU, pump, and CD-ROM. Here's how it all looks with the parts sitting in their approximate locations:
In summary, more work got done today. Not in summary, a lot got done again. I went to the hardware store and got the fittings and bolts I need to put everything together correctly. With these parts I was able to start leak testing the waterblocks. And here we go: The hard disk blocks checked out perfectly at 20PSI, but the PSU block had a few pinhole leaks caused by milling down the weld bead. Under normal circumstances a weld that behaves like this is unacceptable since it means that it didn't penetrate the base pieces well, but this being copper makes it a special case since if I were to put enough heat in to penetrate well the pipe would almost certianly melt away. To take care of the holes I ran some solder down the length of the welds and now it's all better. The next job was to install the CD-ROM. I measured out where the hole in the front panel had to go, marked it out, and used another favorite tool to make the rough cut: The plasma cutter isn't mine, it's my neighbor's, but it's on long term loan. It makes a nice clean cut but I'm not very good handling the torch so I leave about 3/32" to clean up. From there the panel went on the milling machine to take it out to the final dimensions. It came out absolutely perfectly, nice and square with about .030" left for paint on the edges. The next step was to make the CD-ROM brackets. I usually just drill single holes for the drive screws but since it's so important to have the drive flush with the front panel I slotted them this time and they came out pretty well: They haven't been welded onto the panel yet, but for good reason! Having something nice and easy that gets a lot accomplished makes a very nice start to working tomorrow. You might have noticed that I haven't been doing much work on the side doors. Well, they're going to take a lot of boring and hard work that I'd rather not do to get the warp out of them and do the final fitting, so I'm going to put the job off for as long as possible.
As "vault like" as the case is supposed to look, I'm always surprised to see how beautiful it really is! Keep up the good work!
The CD-ROM brackets are all welded up and it looks pretty good. Well, except for the mockup drive having Dykem blue all over it from getting it all aligned or the burnt plastic, that doesn't look too god. In other news, against all odds the doors have been sucessfully straightened and fit nearly perfectly now. I have a pretty good method figured out now, it's too bad I don't have any more to do (not really ). Here's the process: First force the panel into shape with a variety of clamps: Then use a torch to relieve the stresses created by the clamping. You can pretty much visualize where the panel wants to bend. It just needs to get a very dull red, you don't want to put any more heat than needed into the panel since you can warp it worse than it was. With this done the clamps can be removed and the panel can be checked for progress. Repeat as necessary, I had to do it twice per panel. When done you can finally gaze in awe: With the doors finished I was able to complete the lock by hooking the doors onto the lock bolts. The original plan was to have them connect rigidly to the door, but when I tried to work out how to do this today I notice that there was no possible way to do it and still be able to clear the frame tubes while opening the door. It turns out that no matter how the piece is contorted it will still follow the same path around the hinge! Who'da thunk it! So I had to go to plan B and add a hinge to the whole thing so that the arms can move out of the way of the frame tube when opening the door. A little bit more work to do and a little bit of convience in use sacrificed (the arms have to held when closing the door) but it seems to be the only way it can be done. At its current state of completion the case weighs 52lb (23.5Kg) without hardware or water. As for hardware, I still have to pick everything out but I should order it all this week so I have time to fit it before paint. I'm pretty sure that I want to go the Pentium D route, dual core is more appealing to the way i use my computer than the raw speed an Athlon64 would give me. It's too bad that Athlon X2s are so ridiculously priced. I also need to pick out waterblocks for the CPU and GPU. The problem is that they need to fit the case which is going to be a bit difficult. There is almost zero clearance above the graphics card slot so the block's inlet and outlet must be to able to be moved to either face the end opposite the ports (I'd call it the rear) or come vertically off like a CPU block. Directly above the CPU is the CD-ROM with only about 3.5" inches of clearance. I'm pretty sure I can away without using right angle fittings but only if the barbs terminate low enough to permit the tube to make the bend under the drive easily. Does anyone have some suggestions on blocks that fit these requirements? Edit: One last pic to show how it all looks at this point:
looks cool. You ARE going to stealth that cd-drive somehow, aren't you? EDIT: And which blocks ever you'll use, use silicone-tubing. I can be bent much steeper angles without flattening it. (had to use dictionary again ) And EDIT 2: Welcome to the club, my case weights 26kg's
im loving this work log. nothing better than a custom built case, instead of just cutting a few holes in a prebuilt case, or even worse getting someone else to cut the holes. i dont post much but couldnt resist telling you how much i like what your doing.
It looks sweet all buttoned up...that big combination wheel in the front is SWEET! 52lbs is MASSIVE...and all that without the gear inside. How about putting a little sled or ski type attachement on the bottom that would accept the blade of a hand dolly? I remember you saying you wanted to leave out the wheels. Maybe a sleeve on each side that you could slide rails into and carry it like the Ark of the Covenant! That'd be pretty cool, though you'd have to always have a buddy help move it.
Weight total today: 56lb I decided that the smaller Eheim pump won't do the job in this new case because the system is so restrictive so I swapped it out for the 1250 in my current case. I also topped off the system for the first time in two years. Here's the tool I made to fill it: With that done I went and did something completely unrelated and finally permanently attached the radiators. Here's some pictures since I don't really have anything to say.
