Case Mod - In Progress Project: Endorphin (Update 23/01)

All of that patience pays off in the end. You already know this tho. I love your eye for details DJV!

 

Thanks Bill!

@ B[X] Yeah, that SPECIFIC border was 1mm narrower, but i fixed that problem

Update!

Check THIS out! I'm so frikken amped!

I worked the for most of today (bunked class ) on the mounting of the Chipset and CPU waterblocks. I sourced koolance blocks for the Chipset and CPU, but i didn't have the mounting hardware, so i had to make some.

I started off with the CPU. I cut a small piece of plexi out of one of the sheets i have, masked it up, and started with some measurements:





After some intimate time with my scroll saw:





After that, it was a little more scroll saw work, and then SANDING!! Progress:





Test fitting:





Then all i had to do was a little more sanding, and then polish the edges. End result:













I THOUGHT i was finished, until i test fitted and saw that there are four capacitors on the motherboard that were in my way, so, i masked it up again and made some markings:





Finished:







Then i had to make a panel for the BACK of the board that will hold the 4mm rods that will come up through the board into the new mounting hardware:





Long boring story how i did it, result:





Sorry for the out of focus image.

Then i made a simple mounting bracket for the chipset block. There's no need for me to explain HOW i did it because you'll see by the images that it really is a simple bracket.

Anyway, here's the final result of today's work:



















This is probably the most chuffed i've been with my own work in a while. These pic really don't do it justice. In real life it looks like it was made in a factory.

Too bad nobody will ever see this. lol. Oh well, i'll KNOW about it.

That's it guys

God Bless
Ettienne

 

nice work youve done with that btx board there. anyways, i think it looks great

 

Those looks amazing. really nice cuts. Those polished edges really take it to a whole nother level.

 

Awesome work Dae! Really looks good!

Any specific reason why the chipset block is rotated like that?

 

Thanks guys

Dean, the block is at that angle so that the hoses don't get in the way, but i can rotate the block as much as i want

Anyway, quick update here.

+1 To The Sponsor List

Some of you may or may not have noticed on my website, but i am now sponsored by Performance-PCs!



Last night they sent of my first package. Here's what they're sending me:

1: Some 1/4NPT 1/4" OD barbs:




2: Some Clamps for the tubing:




3: A bottle of PrimoChill ICE Non-Conductive Liquid Cooling Fluid - Blood Red




4: A few feet of 1/4" Tygon




5: And lastly, a D-Tek DB-1 Compact Low Noise 12 Volt Pump



Big thanks to Performance-PCs for hooking me up!

 

what do you use to polish acrylic edges after sanding? When I cut my acrylic and sanded it edges look pretty matt to me..

 

i'm not quite sure, but he might flame polish it. or go up to 200grit wet sandpaper.
cant really answer it for him tho.

 

It seems after wet sanding to 2000grit he uses Brass! (I am using the same method to polish acrylic thats why .)

 

You do some fantastic work with acrylic DJV! I really like your color theme ideas.

fyi: Score on the D-Tek DB-1 Compact Low Noise 12 Volt Pumps! I was pleasently surprised how well they perform.

 

Thanks guys

Yeah, i polish all the way up to 2000 (from 1200 it's wet sanding) and once i'm done with the 2000, i polish it with Brass polish.

If you want a nice little guide for working like this with plexi, you can read the guide i wrote for PCFormat. I posted it up on my website - Here

And thanks Bill This pump is PERFECT for what i need. Nice and small, and according to many people, including yourself, it's a great pump

 

Very nice guide! Bookmarked

 

Top guide dude ! I've a lot of plexi to do on my new project so that will help !

 

definitely one for the books.
hope to see the conclusion. are you still going for the second unit of USB connected storage?

keep up the good work.

 

It looks great and all, but do you really want that much pressure on the plexi mounting bracket? It doesn't look extremly thick and I know I tighten my water block fairly tight... Seems like it'd crack fairly easily.

 

Nice done. But you need to blow your motherboard clean of dust Also as above said. The plexi seems stetched and might break :S I would try and put some metal under if possible. GL

 

Thanks for all the comments guys

1: Yes, i'm still going to do the external USB enclosure

2: Don't worry, the plexi will be ok. It's cast acrylic, so it's more than strong enough for this application. If it was extruded, i'd agree with you guys though.

Update time!Guess what arrived last week?





My tiny little D-Tek DB1 pump:







Some 1/4" tygon tubing, and a bunch of fittings and clamps:





And lastly, my PC-ICE:





"But, wait, that's clear!" you say?! That's exactly what i said! I almost had a frikken heart attack :|

Anyway, don't worry, there's a little syringe with the colourant in:





Okay, on to some modding. I started cleaning the paint off the black panels of the case. This is the side panel:





Remember this?





Looky looky:







I just need to soften and polish all the edges, and then it'll be done

This is an idea of how it will sit on the side panel after i've cut the panel:





I'm pretty much screwed for modding at the moment My drill died. No idea how, but i got to it a few days ago and it just wouldn't work properly. I think i'm gonna go get myself a drill press this week though, so modding will continue.

That's it

God Bless
Ettienne

 

Looking good Dae!

 

damn do i love your work

 

Thanks guys

Get ready for a hell of an update...

I worked a bit yesterday, as i went and bought myself a press drill. Man i dunno how i lived without this thing before.

Anyway, let's get to the update.

A few months ago i got a nice little koolance flow meter (thanks viceroy!):







This little goodie works with a PCI card that koolance sells, and with that setup you can setup warnings and so on. I'm not going to use any of that functionality though, this flow meter is going to be purely an aesthetic addition to the mod. So, i removed the bottom cover (the black piece) and also removed the little PCB. The plan was to simply mount the meter onto a piece of plexi to have in the top section of the case. This was made a little complicated by this:





No problem though. I grabbed a piece of red plexi, cut it to size, gave it a nice bend on the one end, and then after some measurements...





The two holes on the sides are mounting holes, and the bigger hole in the center is for the 6.5mm piece that comes from the meter.

Almost done:





Done. All i need to do now is polish the edges:







Flow meter mounted:





As you can see, it's a PERFECT fit:





I also mounted the pump. Here we have both of them in the top of the case:







A nice shot of the flow meter:





Then i quickly needed to get the HDD mounted:







All three in the case:





I also mounted the reservoirs. I first needed to make the mounting holes:





Fitted:





This is the most amazing tubing i have ever used in my life...





The next step was to make holes in the front of the case for the tubing:





I also had to mod the chassis a bit to accommodate the tubing:





That's as far as i am now. I'm gonna try and see if i can have this mod done before i go on holiday on the 16th. I'm actually aiming to have it done for this coming friday (one hell of a LAN is calling my name) but i'll see how it goes.

Say hello to Jill





Damn she's cute...

Anyway, that's it for now guys. Cheerio!