Scratch Build – In Progress Temporary name: Bloo Balls --6-29-'11 Bloo 2.0 refit COMPLETED page 47

Very interesting. Why don't you move this to the worklog section?

 

enteresan...

 

Quick update...

Rollled my press out and did some cutting to resolve a clearance issue.

Made countersink cuts. This part is best done with a lot of water, so my vise went to the garage later to take a WD40 bath.

Mostly finished brackets.

going to take a nap now...

 

still chopping, no building...

It stopped raining long enough to do a few more cuts. I had to re-figure my cut layout. (I used Illustrator, It's much faster for me.)


-Cut for the drivebay/faceplate.

-Cutting out a block for the motherboard backplate. Like on Hypnotoad, I'm fusing 2 sheets to the back wall to make an offset plate. Here I have a piece of junk plexi vised to my guide to steady the cut.

-#2424blue. It's very dark...exactly what I wanted.

-#2085neonred. Together they give a nice purple tint. This case will either be very cool or incredibly tacky.

My experiment on the side hit a slight delay when I realized the sealant I used was not drying...Well, it WAS a ten year old tube. Why didn't I think it would go bad?

-Machining an edge down...
I screwed up by making the frame before I finalized my dimensions. So My finished botom rails will become my top rails. I am building a new frame to match my plexi cuts.

-grinding a 1/8" inset...

-setting up the rivet holes...

-countersink (pun intended)
Much sanding and polishing to come...

 

excellent ideas small engine block for a reservoir & piston for a waterblock!
i think the piston will do a good job. it's most likely to be cast alluminium. expensive pistons are forged alluminium or have a type of silicon in them. i'd prefer to see threads tapped at either end and barbs fitted and the hose clamped to that. more leakproof option.

id like to see the cooling setup with a huge rad and a strong pump on a oc'ed c2d

 

Thanks. The holes in the piston are 5/8", so the hose was an exact fit. I had made some copper inserts to hold them in place, but the fit was too snug.
-It's just an experiment, so I'm not very worried about leaking.
I do have a huge radiator laid out for this. I thought I had a heater core in the attic, but it turned out to be a refrigerator condenser coil. Talk about overkill !

 

I actually ended the day with putting something together!
I finished polishing the rails. It took longer than expected because one part had some kind of protective coating on it. I ended up having to hit it with 80 grit paper, rather than starting with 400.

-lining up the frame to drill holes for the rivets.

-A quick trick I like to use when I want to keep the drill perfectly vertical. Line up the mark to be drilled in the center of a pipe fitting...

-Then you can use the upper rim to keep your bit aligned.

-I noticed fairly quickly that I forgot to countersink the rivet holes in the frame...

-Used a deburring bit to make indentions where the drive bay rivets will be.

 

looking great!

good idea gringing 1/8" away from the aluminum angles

 

Thanks. It's the little details that make me think I might be autistic or something.

 

First, here's the core for the experiment...


-I took my parts and did a quick layout check. I keep a big pile of dead drives for mocking up. some of the cleanup cutting will have to wait until I get my big tilesaw back.

-putting things together so I could mount the back panel. I like how close I got the fit here.

-My favorite weapons for this: scotch tape and bottles of lead shot.

-test fitting the rivets.

-I noticed the fit for a radiator will be close. I will need to do something to strengthen the back too. It's going to look like swiss cheese.

-Trimming some small parts up in the garage with the table saw was messy. My hair ended up like this too. One of these days I will remember that little bag that came with the saw...

-An order from Tap Plastics came today, (packed like it was explosive.) My glue and my balls for the on switch. They seem smaller than they should be...(please ignore all possible double meanings.)

-I tried out the glue without doing any testing... With more bottles of lead shot.

-OOPS! I treated the glue like acetone. It dries faster and doesn't 'squish' out like acetone. Also, I had the blue side up and noticed that I couldn't see to avoid air bubbles. I'm glad this is the backplate. This can be fixed later...

 

This seems really interesting, but please, oh please change the name to something else than blue balls

Those quick locking systems for the hard drives look really good, only thing I would be worried about is how they stand to be bent when inserting and taking the drives out. Have you snapped any of them so far?

One thing I really liked here is the lawnmower engine block reservoir, that's really cool. You should definitely polish the whole thing and I think it'll look really good. If you decide to do that, you'll be in a world of pain though, polishing between those fins isn't actually that easy, but I think you can pull it off

I'll be keeping my eye on this.

Darkened

 

--Thanks, but naming things is one of my weak areas...
--The drive locks are pretty tough. Lexan was made to bend without breaking. I'm still abusing the test model, and it shows no sign of weakening.
--Polishing the fins is impossible. I used a sand blaster to clean it. It's pretty rough now. I also did some half-*ssed stuff to seal it,(like an old socket stuffed in the spark plug hole.) -so I don't trust it to do any long term running.

-and I think I've done enough polishing aluminum for now. They need an emoticon for bleeding fingers!

 

wow looking good, I really like the design (and the name )

 

This could prove to be very intresting and amusing! LOVE that name Cheapskate...

 

Yeah, very cheap project going on here. The piston should make a very cool looking waterblock, if it works...

Everyones been dying their molex connectors in jars of dye recently. Anyone got a guide on how to do it?

 

Hahaha! Subscribed!

 

Thanks Everyone!

Tjedi AI heated his dye up on the stove. He has pics in his worklog. I used a more passive method. I put the molex in a jar of dye, and let it sit outside for 3 days. I did the same thing with my hoses, but I had to make sure there was no air in the lines.

 

What kind of dye did you use? For what normal purpose is the dye made for (so I can find it easier in a store or wherever)?

 

I love how you used the old moter nice

 

I used Rit fabric dye. -The stuff you can buy in the grocery store. If you can find a flouresent dye for fabrics, let me know. I want some.

Edit- I just did some reading on this. apparently, Rit fabric whitener is actually a UV reactive white dye. I will try it out and post the results here later.