PROJECT: Nightmare³ Feb 16 Updated Pics

Thanks! Concerning the PSU, its just for the Radbox, it will be controlling the following:

1. 2 x Swifty 655 pumps
2. 5 fans
3. 1 Digital Doc 5+

Yea its overkill but Price/Availability/Quality at the time of my ordering pretty much narrowed it down to the Tagan, And I wanted all the W/C parts on its own PSU.

Components for the actual Computer are as follows:

FX55
Asus Nforce4 SLI-Dlx
Asus 6800EN Ultra
Soundblaster Audigy ZS
2 x Western Digital 74gig Raptor's
2 x Seagate 250gig Barracudas
Plextor 712A DVD-Writer
PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI
Digital Doc 5+
Matrix Orbital 610
The Venerable Floppy

Thats pretty much how it stands right now, and if I hadnt bought all the parts at one time I would be having a FX-57 and 7800GTX, but I didnt believe AMD or Nvidia that they would actually have anything out when they said they would. Then both of them actually told the truth for once and had them out right after I bought all these, and available in Spain even.
To tell you the truth I was ready to kick myself but Im used to throwing away money on computer parts, and in all reality it doesnt really bother me, as the CPU/GFX I have now can do everything I want it to (AMD XP 2700+ & 6800GT) so making the jump up should give me noticable visual improvement on most everything.

I think Im just rambling now....

 

Ahh okay, it all makes sense.

Thats one sweet rig.

All that mdf will act as an excellant insulator (sound). Those pumps make the most horrible high pitched noise though, I had to attach mine to its own variable rate psu to fix it.

Keep up the good work, this is wicked.

 

Yea Im hoping it will be pretty quiet, not only with all the MDF but on the top there is 2cm of cork between the panels all the way around, and on the bottom there is 2cm of high density foam between all the panels all the way around(Started running out of money lol)

Thanks again

 

Other things I got done today was drilling holes in the rad box for the 2 lower fillports (Drainports) which was fun....buying a whole truckload of paint and measuring Aluminum checkplate angle iron. Oh, and being yelled at for the mess on my wonderful wifes patio. More pics tommorow.

 

Well my Random Orbital Sander broke today. Gonna have to do some open heart surgery. For some reason it was making a god awful noise and when I started to dissect it I realized that a plastic plate had snapped on one of its mounts. Ill open it up tommorow and see if I can fix it. Damn thing broke right when I needed it, prior to a finish coat on the inside of the radbox. Oh well, Mr. Murphy and I have been close consultants alongside this whole project. Next project log update will probably be on Monday.

 

Doors (UPDATED)

Well after a whole lot of rain, a sander that was giving me grief and a wife who wanted some attention too, I was able to get back to work on this thing.

I started on getting the doors done, so after the first day of cutting, routing, and chiseling we have this.



With a test fit on the hardware.



Then came the fun part in making the interior panel. Fun because first of all I had to start saving some money, so instead of using cork on this box, I ended up using foam. Second, they were out of the thickness of foam that I needed, so I had to buy the double size and cut it in half......trust me its not easy, in fact it is extremely aggrevating.





Now glue the insulated panel to the exterior panel and thats the door. With the second one waiting for assembly.



Im just a day or 2 from having the construction part of this lower part done. Then its all painting and finish work, and finally component assembly.



Thought I would add a picture of the finished product, also I was curious to see how much the thing weighed so I put it on the scale and with the hardware it weighs in at 5.5 Kilos or about 12.1 Pounds....now imagine how much this monstrosity weighs complete, Im gonna need a winch just to move it across the room hehehehe.

 

amazing work! this is coming along nicly!

 

Radbox Update

Well finally I have some time to get back to updating this thread. Ive been working on and off on the radbox, painting and trying to finish it up so I can start installing components into it. Here is the pics on what I have done so far. The pics are not the best for the following reasons:

1. I hate cameras...
2. I cant move the box outside anymore without an engine lift
3. The paint is semi-metallic and is a pain to photograph with this POS I have
4. My house is not well lit
5. Not enough coffee...or too much coffee
6. Too lazy to polish the fingerprints and dust off the box for the 50th time


Front


Side


Rear



Close up on the spraypaint design



I have to finish up painting edges and such, paint the top, and finish puting the Aluminum on, but I want to get some of the components in before I finish that up.

 

Thanks, slowly but surely.

Updated the project log with new pics.

 

That paint job looks amazing! Can't wait to see more...

 

Thanks. The painting is my weak point if anything, I painted...sanded it all off...painted it again...sanded it all off, I would never make any money painting that is for sure, everytime I see something I dont like I try to fix it and then end up destroying the whole thing and having to start over again. Got to a point where enough was enough! lol

 

What tools did you use to cut the MDF. I see you have a saw but what about those holes?

Also, what type of spray paint did you use? I want to paint some MDF and when I saw yours it was beautiful. I also heard MDF is porous, did you use anything before using the spray? Can you tell me what specific spray you used so I can go pick some up.

 

Also, one more question, is that MB cage from MountainMods? Is it shinny or is it more of a flat black?

 

The 120mm holes were cut by a bi-metal 121mm hole saw, the rest of the holes of assorted sizes were with hole saws and forstner bits. A word about the MDF it will dull down your tools fairly quickly unless they are of decent quality. In other words get carbide tipped saw blades, and bi-metal hole saws.

The paint is fast drying Lacquer based metal paint, and the primer is a fast drying Lacquer based metal primer. Duplicolor "Car's" (remember I live in Spain though so it might be called something different back in the US)

The face of the MDF is not that difficult to prime, as it is semi-finished already it doesnt soak up the primer that bad, but the edges are a completely different story. If you take a little white glue and thin it down a hair with some water, then brush it on it will seal up the edges so it doesnt keep soaking up the primer, or you could just buy some sanding seal and do it that way.

Yes the MB cage, 2 5 1/4 cages, and a 3 1/2 cage that Im not going to use all came from Mt Mods. They are powdercoated and have a gloss to them. Hope this helps

 

any updates?

 

Radbox Components

Finally started putting everything inside and hooking it all up. All the hardware is mounted and all I have left is to finish the tubing. Then the top goes on and I can finish with the outside. Then on to the actual case

 

Update with the component placement, new pics. Im pretty much finishing up with the tubing right now and then I will move on to painting the top and finishing framing it in the checkplate.

 

I cut the top today, and got it primed, and finished up routing and connecting the majority of the tubing. Tommorow I will paint the top and mount the quick disconnects and take some pictures.

 

Updated Project log with a couple of new pics showing the radbox with the top on and the distribution module attached. You can start to see where this is going now a little more, and in the coming weeks when I start finishing up the next cube it should start to look more like a computer instead of a water pumping station.

Also as you may have noticed I switched out the res's and put in 2 of the new Swiftech versions. I was never really impressed with the old ones and they really were taking up too much space in the first place. Time will tell on whether or not I skip the res's completely and just go with a T-line.

This is all new to me so well see what happens. I can already see a possible problem already but how serious it will be I dont know, that being the waterblocks will be the highest point in the case with the air naturally wanting to be caught there...simple matter to fix though by adding T-lines after the blocks. Hopefully it wont happen.

 

Radbox Components 2

Here is a couple of pics of the top in place with the distribution module attached. In the process of running the final tubing right now, sort of a pain and it might get modified in the future depending on whether or not I have a satisfactory flow. 2 panels are also cut and painted that sit in the top to close it up, I will add hinges on them later probably