Scratch Build – In Progress The Mineral Oil PC - 3/24/2011 - More leaks :(

great mod

 

My thought was that the hard drive(s) will vibrate when used, which could cause some ripples in the oil if they are attached to the back plate. Also, I'm assuming that the back plate will be partially submerged in order for the oil to flow completely over the PSU.

BTW, I'm no expert on mineral oil or doing a project like this...these are just thoughts I have

 

I think you have more important problems if you're hard drives are vibrating The model is not up to date, the PSU will be a little lower in the oil than it shows in the pic. Keep the comments coming.

 

Pretty nice scratch build so far. Have you been looking at Hardcore Computers' Reactor PC for inspiration? It has a lot of similarities to what you're doing here

 

Thanks I've seen that Reactor PC before, but I didn't deliberately try to copy any of it's features. I think a lot of the similarity between different mineral oil cooled computers is due to the fact that it's the most logical design. It'd be hard/impossible to seal the back ports on the motherboard, so the easy thing to do is point the motherboard upwards.

 

I hear you. I certainly didn't mean to imply anything negative, on the contrary, I think that yours is impressive, being a home project on a limited budget.

Still, the Reactor is freaking amazing O.O

 

Been watching this with interest as i've been meaning to build one for appx 4 years lol but never seem to find the time ( even got the shed full of aluminium to be used ).

Looks great so far and am looking forward to watching it evolve further

p.s. must have really piqued my interest to make me join a forum

 

Thanks. Just sit down one weekend and start drawing up plans! I started by drawing sketches while bored at work and it kind of snowballed from there. Being bored is expensive.

+cookie for using the correct "piqued" instead of "peaked"

Nothing negative was inferred It was more of a general observation.

 

The problem i have is more a case of an overactive mind and my constant struggle to keep up with ideas lol.

The aluminum ( american spelling to make it easier on everyone ) is bosch rexroth profile stuff for construction. I figured it would prove interesting as it already has a channel in it which would make for great fitment of the acrylic/perspex/polycarb sheets.
It has to be said that its not the cheapest in the world though once you add in the cost of the fittings.
Fortunately a previous employer was kind enough to allow me to take about 20 metres of the stuff + fittings for my own personal use which i have already cut to lengths ready to make a fairly large cube shaped ( coffee table? ) pc.

Was thinking of building it as something of a room centrepiece lit up and it did also cross my mind to make a double skinned one with the outer portion being a tropical fish tank but i figure that may be quite hard to regulate the temperature lol ( obviously using temperature of the oil to heat the fishtank portion ( who says oil and water can't mix ).

One other difficulty with this idea is might have to consider glass instead because of possible toxic implications of the plastics on the fish.

See, sometimes i have the craziest of ideas.

Thanks for the compliment on my spelling btw.

 

That sounds like a pretty neat idea. Do it and don't forget to post a project log here! Might have to get tropical fish or something to withstand the high water temps though.

 

More Electrical Work

Today was a beautiful day. After a rather dreary beginning of the week with temps around 10F, it was a very pleasant 75F today. I went for a bike ride in the afternoon.


I decided I should probably test submerging some components in the oil. I'm mainly concerned with the oil eating away plastic, so I made sure to get 2 types of capacitors on my test subjects. My guinea pigs are a dead HD3870 and a 9200LE.


Then I got to some more serious work. Back shot of the wiring for the plugs and switches that the PSU and pump power cords will plug into.


And from the front. I think there is an LED in the switch, but I don't know how to wire it up.


I made sure to draw the template for drilling the holes on the back this time.


These actually aren't as much work to file as all of the buttons for the LCD were.


Still took a long time though.


And then with the two sets mounted and in place.


The wiring on the back.


Quick test to make sure it fits on the frame.


And now to wire up the internal outlets. I bought the conduit boxes, single outlet receptacles and the covers along with a few other goodies at Lowes today.


Then I bent a piece of aluminum for use as a mount.


And then did it again.


View from the top. 4 screws for each mount and a small 8-32 nut to hold it in place.


And what it looks like from the inside. I had to make sure to mount them out of the way so wires coming out of the motherboard wouldn't run into them. I almost mounted them in a position that would have made it impossible to plug stuff into the motherboard backpane.


The outlets wired up.


And all done.

That's where I stopped today. Since it was so nice, I went for a bike ride before dinner. Then after dinner I went and saw Watchmen, which was epic. Go watch it.

 

I just have a small question, why didn't you use a power bar/brick?
But great job though...you gave me a good idea about how to power my SE7ENTH COLUMN build...

 

its amazing what all we moders can do with lidle alu and a dremel

 

lol yeah it is.

awesome work so far

 

Because I want to be able to control the two outlets separately. It would have been a lot easier with a power strip. Thanks for the question.

Thanks! Although I'll have you know that the dremel is one of my least favorite tools.

Thank you.

 

If I were you, I'd take the effort (considering what you've already put into this PC) to find the pinout for the switches, and see if there is an LED in them and how to wire it up if there is.

 

Good work!
Unfortunately, I see Watchmen, with my wife... Not a good film for us, maybe tomorrow we will go to see Underworld

 

I looked at the spec sheet, but it didn't mention anything. To be honest, I'm not 100% certain there actually is an LED in there. It just looks like there is.

What! I thought it was really good, but I suppose the copious amounts of over the top violence might not be everyone's cup of tea.

I wouldn't recommend Underworld. Just a sub-par action flick feeding off the success of the first Underworld movie. If The Reader is still showing at your local theatre, I'd recommend that. Or maybe Slumdog Millionaire if you haven't seen that yet.

 

Nice work, great innovation.

 

Looking good.
Very good idea for power distribution, very neatly executed

Edit: BTW, quite a few of those type of switch don't actually have LED's in even though they look like they should.