it doesnt look like a very productive update, but its more work then you actually think. you know those little things that have to be done, but just arent any fun at all... yeah thats what happened in this update. i worked forever making mounting brackets and painting iron surfacer on. first i added that final two hose barbs and drilled their corresponding holes in the diamond plate. i didnt have the correct size drill bit, so it took quite a while. this is how the system will work. i opted to go with 3/8" barbs, mainly because i had a tap laying around for that size. when the tubing goes on for leek testing i will have to first add 1/2" od tubing to the barbs, and then add the braided tubing over that for a snug fit. mounted it. alot more work went into this, but i didnt take any photos. ill take more when i actually have to bolts cut down, and the door closes properly. another from the back. dont mind the overspray, it will go with the effect when its rusted. really coming together. i know what you guys are think. TOO MUCH BLACK AND YELLOW!!! in the beginning i was afraid of that, but like ive said before, this is a small case. the motherboard will cover that secion almost entirely. the other portions of it will be covered by the side panel, so you wont actually see that much of the striping. it will mainly be a hdd/dvd drive thing with accents on the rest of the chassi. i have other plans for the floor of the case. picked my leds up from the post office today. they are a nice green. this honey bun disapeared shortly after this photograph was taken :inno:. im going to athens this weekend, but when i get back ill be cutting a dvd drive window and adding some leds. hopefully my lcd will come in in that time also. im fairly excited about the display because ive never worked with one before. anyways. until monday. discussion
no, i actually think they will be painted a bright yellow color, with some hazardous material stencils painted on them. they will also be distressed and somewhat rusted to match the rest of the case. i feel like such an idiot right now. i guess that didnt cross my mind because it was a relatively new idea compared to most of the case that had been planned about a month ago. i think the fill port is a great idea. the res's ive built coupled with the rest of the hardware are already getting pretty heavy. im actually a little worried about how heavy it might get after i add the water. i definately like the way the case is going right now, but im getting alot of ideas that might lead to some revision donw the road. if i actually went to lans on a regular basis i would definately scrap the res's, but as it stands i dont think ill be moving mine much.
i got my lcd in a couple days ago (ive been out of town), and i wired that badboy up. here we are with a test signal. i had some trouble getting rid of the blocks. it seems when pin three was grounded for contrast to leave it at full, i could get rid of the blocks. i shot a quick pm to angelfire at twistedforums, and he said that it would probably be a good idea to throw a 10k pot on it just to see if i could get it to work. i have to give him a big thanks because hes helped me alot with this lcd buisness. looks pretty nice now. ive got it hooked up to my compaq for some testing and tinkering right now, but i should spend some time working out the mounting scheme for it tomorrow. one in the dark. it looks cool with flash, but in real life you can see the blue at all. tomorrow i should get a good long time to work on the project, so i will probably be "finished" by next week. keep an eye out, and tell me what you think. discuss
thanks so much guys. i really appreciate the support. ive really liked installing the lcd, and im super happy with the result. i think its probably going to be something that gets added to most if not all of my future mods, and at 20 dollars its not going to bank rupt me. ill have some real pics up tomorrow. until then .
so ive been working on some things, but nothing really to take pics of until today. i started painting the res's, but they will look much better closer to copletion. they are kinda plane right now. i also wanted to incorporate some stencils into the theme. i think they look like crap, and i probably wont keep them. im still going to give them a chance and rust the panel and associated stencils, but i just dont have a good feeling. tell me what you guys think. this is where i wanted the lcd to go. i had to do a little work on the bay covers. i didnt get any photos of the progress because my dad had the camera at the office. anyways, i dont know if you guys remember when defyant did the lcd graft, but that is where i got some of the insperation. here are the two bay covers jb welded together with some plex clips for riggedity. close up of the clip. here we are with the plex flush mounted. you can barely tell its there. i picked up some really small bolts for mounting, but they were still too large. i decided that after a while looking for associated traces that it would be safe to drill them out slightly. and mounted. i forgot to take pics of the back, but i will probably put some up tomorrow. i just used the test signal from the powersupply because i deleted port95 off of my current desktop. it was slowing everything down for some reason. anyways... at distance. chassi is ready for rust. it should be looking good pretty soon. hopefully ill have another update tomorrow night. and as always, tell me what you think. discuss!!
thanks so much guys. its getting close to time for the inside, and im still debating on how or if i should make a motherboard cover. ive got a few ideas. hopefully ill post more tomorrow.
Great work swan. Really love what you've done so far. I was lookin' at the way you've set up your tanks and wondering.... would it work better if the tank outlets were at the botton of the tanks. It seems like much of the water would be kind of trapped in the res. Although it would get mixed around as the water flows I spose. Anyway, I did a little drawing of how I would change it. Having said this, I don't have any expertise in water cooling. So what I am thinking may be unnecessary or just wrong . Keep up the awesome work PS: Yes, I have waaaay too much time on my hands
as much as i hate to say it gumbatron, the res's might match the project well, but im not sure how they will preform. in your sketch the res's are about 3/4 of the way full, but i think i will be able to get them both about 97% full (still not completely solving the problem, but making it a wee bit better). i love the way they look, but thats just the problem. i spent way more time planning looks then actual functionality. also, ive put alot of thought into them after being built, and i have actually thought about something like you suggested. my major problem right now is plumbing the system. like i said in the beginning, the case is very small, and the barbs are in pretty much the only place i have left to let water enter/leave the case. that all being said, i ran out of expanded aluminum. in the future when i get some more aluminum i think im going to redesign. i do believe im going to go with a single res design mounted at a 45 degree angle. i really appreciate your looking out for me, and if you have any more suggestions, send them my way. your sketchup is nice also, what did you use to do it?
ive had to spend alot of time preparing everything to be rusted, so not alot has gotten done. its just alot more things to rust then i had earlier anticipated. its ok though because im more pleased with the project thus farthen i thought i would be. today my main goal was to figure out how i was going to cover all the really shiny bits (mobo, video card, waterblocks, pump, etc.). the most obvious solution was a motherboard cover, and this is how i decided it was going to go. looks nice huh? i thought so too. the whole trashcan wouldnt fit inside the case, so i had to manipulate it hahaha. i had originally inteded on making the mounting brackets out of metla, but the case already weighs so much. i just cut two pieces of plex, as shown above. the other bracket broke when i was bending it, and i was too frustrated to make another tonight. this is the idea anyways. obviously the associated "cover". i think this might be where im able to incorporate the stencil. the ones on the side panel were scrapped. this is where it will sit. the mesh will be riveted to the plex bracket, and the bracket will use heavy duty velcro to hold it to the chassi. this is somewhat what it will look like. there is obviously alot more work to be done, but its just a teaser if you will. the pump is hidden behind and extension i made on the cover. i really wanted these parts to not be rusted in case i ever wanted to use them again. the chassi is almost finished, im really excited. tell me what you think. i might work more tomorrow, but if not i will soon.
I think you're right. If you turn your comp 90 deg to fill it you should be able to get it pretty full. Having thought about it more, and drunk a few beers I think it should perform fine. Since the water will be mixed up as it goes through. And the do look really sweet, which is the main thing . My CAD program of choice is ........ (drum roll) ..... MS Paint I see you've had a hardware change since the start of your project. Your mobo dosen't look like my Lanparty NF4. Never the less, the MSI K8N SLI is a fine board I'm likin the mobo cover too. What would we do without those trash cans. Keep up the good work
Hey, that idea about the mesh. I think it's kind of used in too many mods, but what the heck go for it. But that plexi bending was no succses, so I think you should do the bending one more time
you are right, i definately am not using an nf4 like i had earlier anticipated. i decided that i didnt need quite so many options when learning the overclocking techniques. i just decided to go with something a little more basic, that would give me the opportunity to go sli in the future. i have to say those paint skills are really good. i also have to agree that the mesh mobo cover is overdone, but it fits into the scheme perfectly. i couldnt very well go with a plex cover, and i also didnt want the shiny pc parts throwing the whole vibe off. the plex bracket actually fits perfectly, but the second broke because i bent it the wrong way on accident, and then tried to repair it to no avail. once the other is complete and the mesh is mounted to the brackets, i think you will see that they work perfectly.
i built myself a small grindbox because im getting back in bmx. i just wanted something small to play around on for some exercise. i havnt ridden bikes consistantly in probably over a year, but i think im going to start back. i didnt take any pictures of the box, but maybe ill post some later. in other news, i completed the second plex bracket, and it broke all to pieces when i started adding the rivets . i should have known, but the attraction was keeping weight down. right now with all the additional metal, and two full res's im going to be weighing in at about a half ton. sooo..... i went and bought some metal to make the brackets for the mobo cover stable. once again i didnt have the camera when i was in progress, but im sure you understand how i got the bends. sorry for the blurry pics, but you get the idea. then to make sure that the rivet didnt slip from between the mesh holes i added a small washer. i think when its rusted it will look good. at around ninety percent. and in the case. obviously hiding the pump. the shortness of this piece of mesh wont matter as the side panel will cover its shortcommings. passes clearence test. just a teaser. im going to cut the plumbing holes in in the near future, and paint. it will have a radioactive symbol stinciled on. the stinclis from the door will be removed, and the psu descuising will commence. leave me some feedback because its always good to know what you guys think. discuss
are you going to give the mesh the rusty treatment, cause i think once thats done it won't look odd. nice painting btw
