Scratch Build – In Progress *** PHINIX NANO TOWER *** --- MOTY 2011 nomination !!!

Looking pretty awsum!
And that's some badass hole drilling

 

Thanks They're not perfect, some of them are misaligned, but its not that important, cause it will be covered by mobo and drive cage from both sides, so its cool. I drilled them by hand with my new cordless drill I got so excited and started to drill holes in everything around me
Plus that countersunk drill bit makes great finish compared what I got after standard drill bit

 

Yeah, misalignment aside, they're done very cleanly. Good idea with the countersink bit for de-burring

 

Thanks
You see, when you make an update, it may show few major things that has been made, but true is there are always dozens of other small things that need to be done to actually make the big change. That is why scratch build is always so time consuming work. It is fun, that is why I like it, it gives me a lot of pleasure to do something different. But sometimes those small things can be pain in the bottom, if you know what I mean Like those holes.. nice touch, makes mobo tray more interesting than just a plain alu plate, but to drill more than 100 holes, then make pretty much the same moves another 200 times to clean up the holes... I dont measure the time but it was a bit I say Remember going up the attic afternoon and the moment when wife called me for supper at 18:00... boom! 5 hours gone and result is I have perforated mobo tray! Funny, but thats how it works I have to say I'm still surprised how much pleasure modding can give me Afterall, we all like holes!

 

Yeah, any sort of modding/building is very easy to "lose yourself" in, particularly scratch builds. Can be very therapeutic at times, too At least when it goes well.
Which certainly seems the case in this instance

 

Lookin good.

 

Looks so slick!

 

Kudos on the not-so-subtle-after-all sex joke!

 

Small update guys!

Sketches of hardware placement. I haven't showed you before how all will be placed.
Here you can see the whole insides from every angle. I didn't draw graphix card and its block, so used some GTX280 from Sketchup warehouse. As you already know it will be dual chip card with EK block.
Also didn't find H50 sketchup model, so just created a "brick" with fan - I hope you are not dissapointed

First, view on left side - there's GPU card in the back, rear radiator and its fans on the left and basically whole layout inside. This picture has two walls of "power cage" - top and left. There will be a hole for pump reservoir combo, so the tube will stick out nicely from the power cage top and will go almost to the top of the "internal chamber" Oh.. nice word

Actually this was the initial plan, now I know that I got longer tube so you won't see that black bottom part of reservoir. Higher level chamber includes H50 cooler, mobo I/O panel and GPU I/O, which will be seen on other picture later below...



Here's another angle of left and front side of the NanoTower:



Here's the front - I took out the front panel of "power cage" so you could see how the PSU will stand and where the pump will go... this is older picture with DDC pump, but now we know that it will have new EK 4.0 pump! Which is also thinner, so will be easier to mount it between PSU and GPU card.



...and right side of the NanoTower. It will have big window so even when covered with main external panel, you still will be able to see huge graphic card



The picture below is showing the parts in higher level chamber - you can see graphic card mounting, mobo I/O and of course H50, which takes most of the space there...



Again, right side of the case, showing how rear radiator is placed and how the fans are situated inside the case. Notice barbs coming in at the bottom, where from the tubing will be routed to the pump and card.



Now, picture below shows where the drive tray kicks in - you can see now how the dvd will be mounted and it will stick out at the top of the case. Then you have 3x 2.5" drives.
Pretty cool thing is that the whole drive tray has 2cm of depth, so it actually comes in the space between two front aluminium rods! It has hole below every drive for cables. All planned before dremel and jigsaw walks in



Last picture shows a little close-up of the "main internal chamber" I like that name



OK. That is it for now. Tomorrow is a nice cold Saturday, I will try to do some work. Have few things planned so I hope I find some time to make physical update
Till then....

 

rather epic tbh thats gonna be one tight fit! dont forget about tubing kinks and stuff, unless you are planning to form the bends

 

Thanks Retro No problem, I will be using lots of Bitspower compression fittings and 90 degree connectors

 

This thing is very original and innovative. Keep up the great work!

 

Yeah, concerning tubing, have you thought up the routing of tubes, fittings, etc.?

 

Yes, I will be using bitspower compression fittings and 90 degree connectors, cause will have to route it very close to the card, radaitor and pump. All fine, and even with all those 90 degree, the pump will handle it easily cause its just a card in the loop.

 

Hi Nick,

actually never a truer name. You get about don't you, how do you find time to do al your other stuff when your so busy posting everywhere except on chilledpc?

 

Just a small heads up for this weekend and next update.
I ordered and received two big sheets of 1.5mm aluminium - I will slice them up really nicely this weekened One will be cut up for that "power-cage/chamber". This will need 3 panels/walls - one on the left side of the case, one on top right below the mobo and one on the front. Rear part will be opened cause the bottom fans from rear radaitor will suck air there... I will also use L shape alu profiles to attach panels to the frame.
I also got yellow sleeveing for power and fan cables and SATA cables, some black 3:1 heatshrinks for them and a nice small 16mm vandal switch - black with yellow ring.
I made some sketchups to show that power chamber, will add them today....
I also bought acrylic sheets for top and bottom panels - I haven't mentioned them yet - I have an idea of making top and bottom panels out of 10mm thick acrylic. There already are panels made of aluminium, but to make it look more massive I will add thick acrylic panels top and bottom. I have them already, now what I need to do is shape them (maybe make round corners, dont know yet) and paint them with matt black spray paint. ALuminium will be powdercoated in matt black so to match the color I will paint those acrylic with similar paint (or should I use different?).

I think best way will be to sand them a bit with 800 grit sandpaper and then paint them with plastic etch-primer, then matt black... Any thoughts on that process?

Another question: how would you guys mount this pump there? This is how the pump will be mounted - under the that panel, right next to the PSU. Should it be mounted from the bottom of it on some kind of stand, or from the top, hanging? Any ideas?

 

No clue. I'm not even sure what kind of pump it is.



D*mn! I'm useless!

 

This is EK 4.0 pump with their new res combo

I think I'm going to fabricate aluminium frame and mount it to the side panel. Something L shaped and use foam pad for pump. Yep. That will do

 

Damn...That is tiny. And very cool.

 

Well.. I'm in a good mood for the weekend... so wanted to give you just a small teaser))