Case Mod - In Progress Project: Gearbox 2.0 - mini P180 Back to Basics

blades came today! Expect to see some progress later this week!

P.S. I got installed the OS the other day, runs fine

 

looking good !!

 

Im back! look what was sitting on my front doorstep the other day:


mmm fresh saw blades, so lets get a cuttin!

sorry no progress pictures BUT here is the basic skeleton that i managed to mock up with masking tape:


closeup of the mounting hinge (plastic friction hinge)


heres how its attached to the frame:


and here is how its attached to the motherboard tray:


as you can see, its mounted with a lot of screws...
thats all i got for today, next time i update will be when i figure out how to join these together and start cutting and mounting the acrylic plates

thats all for now
until next time!

 

nice really like that frame im currently working on a 5u rackmount that will something similar to your frame

 

Congratulations on being selected as a contestant in the mod-of-the-month competition!

 

Excellent Work

I love MATX water cooled cases.

BenJ

 

great work!!!! ;-)

 

Congratulations on the mod of the month thing

I have 2 question

1. Why use quick connect/disconnect fittings???

2. How is a friction hinge different from a normal hinge???


BTW super nice case

 

Amazing Sketch Up Pro skills. Shame about the mobo tray - it can be really disheartening when you spend hours on something only for it to go wrong at the last stage.

Keep up the great work though... it will be worth it in the end.

 

wow! I go away on a trip for a few days, and i check the forums while out of town and im selected to participate in the MotM contest?!!? how sweet is that! Im just sorry im not going to be home for a while to work on Gearbox. Anyways, thank you all for showing interest in my project it is verry encouraging. Now, i will proceed to answer some of your questions:


@ The_Beast:
1. Normally, once you install watercooling in a case with a slide out motherboard tray, that slide out function becomes ulsess due to the fact that the CPU block is tethered to the radiattor somewhere on the case. With Quick disconnects with shutoff valves, all ihave to do is press a button and i can slide my motherboard out with all watercooling parts still attached and still un drained. It is a dream to work with even though the fittings are quite expensive.

2. Normal hinges swing free while friction hinges do not. They use friction to maintain their "position". Friction hinges will make my motherboard tray cover more secure and less likely to rattle than regular hinges.

Even if i dont win MotM please continue to follow my log, i promise, more interesting updates will follow!

Until next time!

 

looking good.

 

1. Makes sence, good idea, How much per fitting?

2. That is what I was thinking but I wasn't sure

 

@The_Beast
1. about $15 (USD)
2. yea...

OK guys, time to shift into high gear, once i get Black & White Wavemaster cleaned up I will start working on Gearbox as much as humanly possible to have it done before Newegg Lanfest 2007. Ill have an update up within the next 3 days.

I'd also like to welcome my first sponsor, Petra's Tech, aboard this project!


I purchased most of my WC gear from their shop. Very friendly people, great customer service, and fast shipping; please check them out!
http://www.petrastechshop.com/index.html

 

Gears to go

If you're not 100% satisfied with the look of the gears, I dug up a template tool (flash) that lets you create practically any pattern you have in mind.
LINK to the Interactive gear template generator.

Gorgeous mod so far, can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

If you purchased what you needed from them, then they didn't exactly sponsor you. :|

 

Exactly what I was thinking...

Or did you buy some stuff and they sponsored the rest?

 

Amazing WOW! Holy, Dude this is some real Work I love that open and close, you did it well done. Well done, Good luck and Update soon Please!

 

Hey guys! sorry no update yet, the weather has been in the 100F 's lately and its practically suicide to work in the garage. I'll try to have an update as soon as possible

@GrendelPrime:
thank you for the link! very interesting program. It may come in handy as i'm finding the gears a little hard to cut with the current design. Only time will tell!

@Duste & Dean MF
haha sorry, I probably worded that poorly. What i meant was that I have purchased from them in the past and they provided excellent service at that time. And recently they have agreed to sponsor me. I received a package (free of charge) from PTS today with the little bits a pieces that will come into play once the mod nears completion. Quoc Ngo "the business dude" at PTS is talking to his supplier in helping me get a free graphics card block. It seems that he will get Swiftech to sponsor me soon with a few WC goodies, however, ill write more on this after the weekend.

@Computerking
thank you for showing interest in my project I will try my best to update soon

 

New Sponsor:

Check em out at www.swiftech.com
Quoc Ngo over at Petra's tech pulled some strings and got Swiftech to sponsor me with a Stealth VGA waterblock on the condition that I use an Apogee GTX as my CPU block. Ill be receiving both blocks soon

Sorry guys, no real update, school has been really busy and ill have to put off work till the dust settles (ill probably get a lot of stuff done during the weekend.

Verbal update:
I cut and filed down all the pieces for the motherboard skeleton and began drilling holes to mount the plexi plates. I also figured out how to install the sanding wheel on my dremel scroll station!

Stay tuned guys, I promise I will post a real update for my next post

 

^^ Thats a nice sponsor to get.