Project Redwood 3.0 -by ZapWizard -Jan 15th '05

I moved into a house just after QuakeCon, I just got Redwood unpacked yesterday.
I still don't have my tools and stuff unpacked yet, so it may still be a bit before I can finish up. (Got to get my home server, and networking done first)

 

Well good luck moving in and hope you get things sorted real soon. Love the project and the progress you have done so far and really cant wait on that touchdial pad you are going to build.

 

You're a man with your priorities straight!

 

nice work zap, i have been on these forums for a while and you still amaze me with your designs, very nice

 

Pure class. Pure, utter class.

 

FINALLY!

Well I haven't done hardly any modding since August.
Life, new job, new house, etc... have been in the way.

With the holiday time off I am finally getting back into the swing of things.
Redwood, which is now a year in the making, is going to be 100% complete soon.

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This was the state of the PC back in August.
It was functional in a ghetto sort of way, with two touch switch's working, and a crappy spray on coating.

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I have decided to do a four fan push-pull configuration on the radiator.
This should allow for good airflow, and a quieter system then just two fans. (Fans running slower, yet more effecient)

This also makes the inside even MORE cramped.
There is amazingly still enough room inside for tubing, wires, and the harddrive.

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I noticed that the black ice radiator has a 1/4" gap on both sides of the core. I tested with a fan and match and discovered that a LOT of the airflow seems to simply go around the core though this gap.
So I closed it up with foam.

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After what has been weeks of prep, sanding, and more sanding I finally have been able to apply a proper finish to the wood.

Getting to this point was harder then it looks.
The faceplate has embedded envirotex lite.
This makes for a totaly seamless window for the LCD, touch-wheel, and touch buttons.
After rough sanding the faceplate, I had to use progressivly finer and finer sand paper's to restore the envirotex to crystal clear.
I ended up going all the way to what is called "mona lisa paper" which is micron sized sand paper, and finally an automotive scratch remover.

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The mousepad, which previously had a coating of Envirotex lite was sanded down to the bare wood to receive a new coating to match the shell.
It took over three hours using 40 grit sand paper and a random orbital sander to get rid of the coating of envirotex. That is some seriously tough stuff.

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More coats of polyurethane tommorow.

 

WOW, that's all I've got to say. I'm glad you got everything in your life straightened out and got this lovely wonderful thing back in movement.

 

WOW, Are you gunna start selling theese?

 

Does envirotex stick to just about anythiing? What about boundaries between one layer and another layer of envirotex - do they stay crystal clear too?

 

No, after a year in the works I will be glad when it's done.

It seems to stick to pretty much anything.
The surface has to be perfectly level for the best effect.
The envirotex is as clear as any epoxy or liquid acrylic can be, that said, in strong light you can see tiny bubbles. But other then that, I haven't been able to see any seams between layers. In fact you can sand it, clean it, and re-pour ontop of it to get a clear finish again.

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The shell is complete.



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The entire shell is glued together and sanded to be seamless.

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The end grain is very tough and was hard to sand, but it turned out well.

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The LCD window, buttons, and touch-wheel windows are completly embedded into the wood.

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Everything fits inside.
The inside dimensions are 11.5"W x 10.25"D x 5.25"H
That is actualy smaller overall then the inside of the Ammo PC
Making the back panel is next.

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The wipe-on polyurethane worked well to get to a hard gloss finish.
The wood however is VERY porus, so a 100% glass coating isn't possible without filler, nor desired anyways.
This is over 6 coats of poly. The last two coats are VERY thin polyurethane, which works well to hold the gloss after drying.

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Yet again the mousepad was too glossy for the MX1000 to work properly. (It mostly works)
The mousepad was sanded to a matt finish to get the mouse to work again.

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This is the real test, the top half of this image is a real photograph. The bottom half is the 3D rendering of the design.
The shell turned out exactly as planned.

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What is left:
Install Watercooling
Re-mount harddrive
Faceplate electronics (The hard part)

 

Zap, I loved your ammo box case, I was amazed by your iPod case, and this is just completely awesome, great work. great work.

 

[stupid question] Just wanted to make sure that the back panel will be made paduak to match the rest of the case.

[good question] How is the heat in there? Does it run hot at all, or doesn't the wood really make a difference?

 

Yes, I have lots of extra Paduak.
I just didn't want to make the back panel with all the cutouts before I knew that I had the guts locked down.

The airflow in the case is wonderful. I was able to test it out at quakecon (air cooled though) The vents on either side are large. Air flows in on the graphics side, around and over the graphics card, over the motherboard and harddrive, then out through the radiator.
Your PC doesn't radiate as much heat through the chassis as you would expect.

 

You make Austin even cooler!
I'm a big fan of all your work, and Project Redwood only increases my admiration.
Truly, you’re a creative genius with the dedication to bring your ideas to completion.
You more than anyone else set the bar for computer modding.

 

Jeeebus the resemblence between the real thing and the model is incredible!

 

That is Impressive.

 

It ain't done yet! Watercooling time.
This isn't my first watercooler, but it's my first proper one

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Running the first test.
The small GPU waterblock is only temporary until I can get a 100% copper model.
Unfortunently the waterwetter I used also stripped the lubricant from the pump, which I had to restore. I had to flush everything and stick to 100% distilled water.

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In order to isolate the pumps' vibrations from the case I am building my own mounting/dampening system.
Each dampener is made of a spacer, washer, nut, rubber dampener, rubber washer, and dome nut. The nut that holds the pump together is permenently attaced to the rod with loc-tite. The dome nut is attached with removable loc-tite.
The rubber dampeners were removed from a old CD-rom.

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The vibration dampeners installed.

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Loop back testing the pump.

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At first the pump vibrates horribly, as there are air pockets it's having to cut through.

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After all air bubbles are purged, the pump runs smoothly.

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All installed for leak testing.
Springs are used to ensure all the tubing is kept kink free.

I have opted to not use a reservoir due to space constraints.
Instead the system will have a cap, and can be filled using a threaded funnel.
Topping off over time is easy, use remove the cap and use a squeeze bottle to add more water.

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The watercooling is all installed.
The pump has been running for about 6 hours.
All air bubbles are gone, and the pump is very quiet.

After a lot of testing I have found I get the best overall flow by pumping into the radiator first, then the CPU, GPU, and back to the pump.
This is because the radiator uses 3/8" tubing, and everything else uses 1/4"
I get horrible flow trying to pump through 1/4" and expand out to 3/8" later.
The added benefit is that the CPU receives the coldest possible water.

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Looking great Zap, the wood finish is sweet!

The water is the same temperature everywhere in the loop

I just hope the pump doesn't cause you any problems. There are some documented issues with the CSP-MAG here.

 

I would be very nervous about this -
As the water heats up from your cpu, wont it expand and be under pressure? I am concerned about the possibility of that pressure popping one of the hoses off. Maybe you could include some extra vertical tubing just for pressure overflow or something.

 

That is effectively true, but not actually true - if you catch my meaning....

(Sorry for the double post, Leeum posted while I was submitting my other post.)