Case Mod - In Progress Feeding Frenzy: November-11-2009 video card fan installed

I'm sure photobucket are glad to be getting the hits from you
Don't worry about the stars and the time this is taking, by the looks of things its SO worth it.
Best case!

 

Well as I pointed out a while back one operation often leads to another unforseen one. After removing the PSU resting plate I realized I would have to order some metric taps from McMaster-Carr, some new sizes of buttonhead screws, and some metric nuts. Since I was going to this amount of trouble (got to buy 100 screws/nuts of each size) to replace the four (4) rivets I drilled out I decided to go ahead and remove the wall between the PSU and HD compartments. This was not done purely on asthetic grounds, but also had to do with some mechanical issues as well. From the pic you can see that I was able to remove the top two HD rails as I could get a screwdriver in from the side plate. However, the bottom one needed to come out as well because the combined Raptor and Koolance HD cooler was to thick to fit in the bottom rail unless I cut the bottom of the case where the side panel locks on.






I removed the bottom HD rail a while back and the only way to get to the the screw was by figuring out where it was and drill a hole through the plate so I could insert a screwdriver through it. That is the reason for the pencil lines and the little hole at the bottom.







So the main reason I took out the plate was because I decided that the grey HD rails would look a lot nicer if they were all black. The remaining three sets of HD rails would have required another three sets of holes like the one on the bottom. Even if that had worked I would have had to drill much bigger holes to fit get the rail screws in through the plate during the reassembly phase. Seems to me that this was a major design flaw by Lian-Li in that the compartment plate has to be taken off to get to the HD rail screws.

I also wanted to be able to put back in the lowest HD rail set in case I ever decide to cut the case for a fourth HD/Cooler set. These four sets of rails will be vinyl dyed this week and later re-assembled.







Drilling rivets out seems like a traumatic experience if you have never done this before, at least it was for me. The first drilled rivet is to many a total unknown. So I have decided to give a short tutorial on doing this. If you don't know what a rivet looks like before being used you should know that most companies use what is called a pop rivet. If you ever have installed one you probably know they often make a poping noise when installed. Have no clue as to if that is the real reason, but it "sounds" good to me. You can read a short tutorial on this web page as to how they work. Anyway there are two different sides to a rivet. The one we are interested in is the one which has a slight indentation in it. This indentation serves as a convenient center for a drill bit. Drill size selection for the ones used in Lian-Li V-2000 cases is either a 7/64" or a 1/8" bit. Essentially what you want is to be able to drill the head off and the other part will either fall off or be easily taken out with a pair of needle nose pliers. Here you can see what comes loose when drilling a rivet head.







Here is a bunch of the rivet heads after you drill them.







Here is a close-up of a drilled rivet. What you see is what is left after the head comes off. Then you can either push the remaining part out from this side or use a pair of pliers to pull it out from the other side.







If you are living right and do a good job the mating part hole will look as good as the hole the manufacturer started with before assembly.







If your not living right you might get a slightly out of round hole like this. Please keep in mind that this is close-up photography and is difficult to tell with the naked eye. The milled area to the right of the hole is where I had previously removed metal to allow the ATX power loom bulkhead fitting nut to seat properly. Now I get a chance to fix this right.







After getting the plate out I noticed that the HD rack side sitting next to the plate was bowed a bit. I think this happened during assembly at the factory. In any case I have the other set of HD racks that I will replace this one with after the vinyl dyeing is complete.







So now it is back to the waiting game as I am waiting for more 3mm screws, nuts, and some metric taps to get here from McMaster-Carr. When they get here all this will be reassembled and bolted back together with more buttonhead socket cap screws.

 

Yes it just bugs me that I can't just jump in the car and hit the various places I want to go to pick up supplies. The stitches come out Thursday so hopefully I can start driving again.

 

Well I hope your feeling better! Get well soon!!

 

Man, you got hit a lot worse than I had realized going by the stiches and whatnot. Hope you're feeling better soon. I almost had some idiot hit me today, though that was just because he decided to not wait his turn at a 4-way stop (and of course, as the teen driver, I'd be "at fault" regardless)

Anyways, the project's been just amazing as usual... I still think you're nuts with that much AC gear. I noticed you posted in the AC forums about ordering direct from the states (I swear I've registered at least three times but never seem to be able to log back in... that's what I get for not being able to read German worth a damn beyond über)... did you hear anything about that? I'd love to get one of those price-dropped Aquaero VFDs, not to mention I'll go nuts without one of those posters. Actually, good price on the rads too.

 

Feeling better and better everyday. Feel really lucky to be alive as one of the participants told me I got hit so hard he thought I was dead considering the force with which my car slammed into his (he was at the stop sign behind me) after I got hit. God must have been smiling down at me and obviously has something important for me to do otherwise I would be playing a harp about now.

 

Still having a bit of problem with my balance and some bad headaches, but able to generally get around so long as I take a few pain pills during the day. No matter whether you are a teen driver or not it always pays to be a defensive driver. You can be in the right and really dead so as my mom says just say "FIDO." FIDO = Forget It and Drive On....though some people have a slightly different interpretation.

If I was keeping track of the expense I would have stopped at one Aquastream pump, but FF is about "style." Hey look mom! Ain't I styling now?

The reason you can't log into the AC forum is that they send you a really odd password. To get your own personal password you have to PM Dino from the site. I have had to go back into Outlook sometimes to find it when I accidently delete my AC cookie.

Stephan Willie (the big cheese) says that they intend to ship direct to the USA, but not through the new webshop if I understand correctly. They are still discussing the shipping details with DHL. Also they are not sure if they will require payment in Euro's or Dollar's. When the site first went up you could go back and forth between Euro's to Dollar's but since I brought it up it has disappeared and now it is strictly Euro's.

I don't see why Sharka wouldn't be severely dropping the price on their Aquaero's as they currently have none in stock and none on order. So any new stock coming in would be at the new price unless they decide to order in the OLED version instead. I suspect they will want to get the VFD's down in price as for every $30 drop in price causes more people to want to buy it. I ran a poll about Aquaero's a while back on the [H]ardForum and when it went to under $200 a whole bunch of people would be interested. Also all version 4 Aquaero's can be upgraded to the OLED's for a small sum. The only OLED color is green though. Why don't you e-mail Wes and see what his new price is on Aquaero's?

Hey things are definitely looking up! Check out this A.C. Ryan page! Let's see what I need...

 

Did NOT realise it was that bad! Hope your doing alright!
Tbh, and I'm kinda taking the piss here, but clearly god, or whoever, needs you to finish Feeding Frenzy

 

Even God's impressed by it

 

Well I have been muddling about where to locate the Aquastream controller for the HD circuit. Thought about mounting it in the middle compartment floor, but thought wiring might be a little tricky from a visual point of view. Decided to kill two birds with one stone as I really have no use for USB and Firewire ports on the front of the case. Why they put them on the bottom of a server case is beyond me. In fact why they even put them anywhere on a server case is a mysterious question. The stock cable barely even reaches most MB headers and if you go for a circumspect cable routing it is about 6-8" too short. Wasn't looking forward to adding length to a ton of small wires....so get rid of the dang thing.

Decided that a perfect place for my Aquastream controller would be where the USB/Firewire ports were.






Also decided that since the stainless polishes up nicely a little lapping at 1200 grit would even add a little bling to the party to give some contrast to the black case. Those pesky buttonhead screws just can't stay away from my case.











Here's a side shot that shows the controller between the front radiator mount and the front case wall.







Some more shots showing the controller mounted.











If you think you might want to do this mod I have a few quick suggestions. Put your faceplate on the front of the case and locate it accurately. I used a dial caliper and mine is centered within .001". Then tape it down securely with some 3M blue masking tape. Select a drill bit that fits in the faceplate holes and simply drill away. You might want to open up the area where the LEDS stick through the case so you have a little manuvering room unless you are really good with a drill.

Tomorrow I will be using my Dremel Tool to mill out the area above the oblong hole so that the power wires and Aquastream pump can be hooked up to the controller.

 

I don't know whether God was impressed or pissed off.

 

I have had a hectic week and have not had the time read the bit-forums...Serious stuff....glad your OK TN....

 

Now what's up with an OLED Aquaero? Any pics? Or is that the "standard" LCD one and I'm thoroughly confused... it's not listed on the site and my german is hardly good enough to browse the forums effectively. I definately like the idea of under $200; I'd like it even more if it included a couple of water temp sensors (they'd be far more functional than a $2 stopper).

Anyways, glad to hear you're feeling better by the day; congrats on the ACRyan awesome post win. At first thought the prize almost seems lame, but if you think about it, it's about $150 worth! You never can have too many right-angle molexes and whatnot

 

Me too! Another few inches to the right of impact and it would be a different story.

OLED = Organic LED. Essentially the advantages are no heat output and I think it has better graphics capability. However, it only comes in green (from AC) and it is not possible to change the color with the use of filters like the VFD can. So unless you are into tech the VFD devices give the most bang for the buck IMHO.

You got a stopper with your Aquaero? All I got was some thin film sensors. I agree that a company that is in the watercooling biz should include at least one water temp probe with the unit.

Reminds me that I have to send A.C. Ryan a request for my "prize" as I think those black molex connectors are difficult to get here. I suppose they didn't have in mind that I might want a 100 "kits" All kidding aside I think it was very nice of them to smile on my little quote.

 

Small update for now. Had time to work on my PSU resting plate again. I have found that the right tool can make life a lot easier (if you can figure out what it is). So today we start out with a new tool. I already have a Klein Tools metal nibbler which is one of the best, but it has limitations in getting up close to a shoulder. So I got the cheapie tool and it goes really close, but it is a PITA to use. You pays your money and you takes your chances.







As you recall a ways back I nibbled the plate and left it in a rather sorry state of affairs due to being concerned about taking pain pills and operating power tools. Was going to do the Dremel routine but as it turns out the above tool and a set of Swiss needle files saved the day.







So here we have the basic nibbling done and ready for a little sanding.








Sanded top and sides with 1200 grit wet and dry sandpaper (wet) to give it a slightly polished satin finish. Finished detail work on the slot with Swiss needle files.







Since I probably sanded through the anodizing I thought it might be a good idea to do some polishing and protecting with a metal cleaner and protector.







And after everything was polished and protected I added on the rubber molding to the front of the plate. As I mentioned a while back it is part bling and part functional as it isolates the PSU from actually touching the PSU plate. Hopefully it will cut out any vibration or fan acoustics from resonating through the case. And of course a little X-Acto knife action to restore my circles where the molding crossed the plate circles.







And here we go back into the case.



















By the way notice the screws that are holding the wheels on? The stock screws stuck out enough that they were catching the sleeving on some of my PSU cables. I replaced them with some buttonhead 3mm x 5mm screws and now they fit pretty much flush. See that off white spot on the right side of the pic two holes up from the bottom? I put the molding on with super glue and was fortunate enough to decided to wear gloves. That spot is where the glove stuck to the rubber.

 

Finished up on the PSU resting plate and now I can adjust my PCP&C without having to take it out of the case. Doing some more Dremel tool stuff today and will try and post pics tonight.

 

Complete perfection as always

 

I still don't have an aquaero, I was saying they should include the water temp sensors, and they could double as stoppers as I need some anyways. Maybe I should just order two water temp sensors to use for that and use that as my encouragement to actaully get an Aquaero... For the meantime I'll use the single metal stopper I have and an inch of P&C tubing with some epoxy in the end I suppose.

I thought 100 kits might be a fun request, but I'd imagine it'd be frowned upon.

That aquastream plate idea is awesome. Now I actually wish I was using an Aquastream so I'd have a reason to do the same, as I have no use for those ports either (well, arguably USB, but very very rarely) and I find them a bit unsightly. Maybe I'll end up using some scrap aluminum from various cuts in a similar fashion.

 

God knows I'm not perfect, but I figure something worth doing is something worth doing well. The problem is that it just takes a long time to do it.

 

Did you see the Aquaero Dan (sntmods) has up on eBay? I asked him whether it was the damaged Aquaero he was trying to get rid of, but he said he just got it recently. Says the "infamous missing shipment" showed up a few weeks ago. So he has a lot of Aqua Computer stuff hanging around that doesn't show up on the SNT Systems website and it's going up for auction. Seems like the right time as Sharka is running low on stock and doesn't plan to order for a while. He also blew out about 7 of the old style Koolance HD coolers, but I wasn't paying attention and they slipped by me for cheap. But I did get an Evo 160 grill for a measly 99 cents.

Wait till you see the stuff I did today to get the Aquastream controller to fit properly. I think I may slip the black plate on and see if it looks any better.

If you use the temp sensor for plugs make sure you don't put it in any of those G 1/8 fittings or you will probably never get it out. The collet type grippers are not a problem, just the ones that have teeth.