Case Mod - In Progress Project FDR (Flight Data Recorder) SFF (Update 12/8/11)

Hi there,

i just realised i signed on a long time ago, and nerver used my Account to post anything... but thats about to change.

Just some short Information about myself: i'm 21 years old, i live in Germany and i study mechanical engineering.

I've always liked the idea of building a small, but powerful PC, that blends in nicely with its environment. After watching craigbru's L.O.S.I.A.S Project coming together, i got myself an Lian Li V350, did some modding including watercooling and after nearly 2 years of building, i still wasn't finished. So i got myself a new toy for the everyday use, a Zotac Geforce 9300-ITX WiFi. Coupled with a Pentium Dual-Core E5200, it was faster than my "old" E2160, but draws a lot less from the wall. I added an 320Gb otebook drive and an rather old 430W Sesonic Powersupply (no 80 Plus ), crammed that all in a "stylish" grey mATX OEM Case, and everything was fine... until i saw the Project Harlot 5 Flight Data Recorder by bootupbuddha. At this point, i had searched a Mini ITX Case that would fit my needs for about 2 months. After reading half of the log, something came to my mind: dind't i wanted to do a Flight Data Recorder theme mod myself some years ago? As i didn't got the thought out of my head, i went into the cellar, and there it was: The old DLT Streamer i got as a gift when i worked for my fathers company in the IT department...

Now that the story has arrived in ther present, lets start with the mod.

The plan includes:

- Watercooling (everything except the Radiator should be internal)
- an Aquacomputer Aquaero PLED
- 1 suspended 2,5" Harddrive
- optical drive external (if needed)
- No fans (i may have to drop that goal..)

The streamer case (already disassembled):





The case consists of 3 parts:





I already cut away most of the rearside, just left the 2 threads for the lid and 4 holes to fasten the new backplate (which i still need to fabricate, i just ran out of 1,5mm alu)







After cutting out the rear, i started to layout some parts (mainboard and pump are just mockups):







The Front will get a plate for the double height 5,25" opening, which will be the mounting point for the Aquaero and some I/O Ports i borrowed from my V350:





Some additional parts( an 150W 12V Power supply that will get its own case, a pair of Bulgin vandalproof switches (green) and a set of 3/8" quick disconnects from CPC in chrome):





The case is going to be bright orange (RAL 2004), yet im still unsure if should incorporate some labels and/or venting holes on the lid... And i think i will need to work on the front aswell...

So long...

p.s.: Bear with me, written english proves to be different than spoken english

 

I've never seen a motherboard like that! Is that socket A or 370 or? I never knew there were older mini-ITX boards with CPU sockets, I thought Via Epias were the only things before the current generations of Celeron/Atom/new sockets..

Looking forward, small builds are always interesting and watercooled small builds even more so!

 

That is a Shuttle FV24, and its indeed Socket 370

 

Finally, an Update (Part 1)...

I moved my lazy ass into town, and got myself 4 m² 1,5mm Aluminium:



(Pics was taken after i roughly cleaned the workshop... the workbench is still cramped with stuff)

I took one of the smaller sheets, and taped it. Then i pulled out my jigsaw, and went to work:



To get a strait line when filing, i use an old mitre saw blade.... works perfekt:



stay tuned...

 

Good start!

I was planning an mITX watercooled rig based on this;

​

I vote for all the text, especially the manufacturer's data plates and serial plates; all that aeronautical gear is too cool!

 

Update

Sry for the crappy Pics, the lighting sucked that day...

I needed an HDD mount, and after some thinking and playing around with the suspension frame for the 2,5" HDD, i decided the best place would be above the motherboard.

Very important: always secure the workpiece, so it cant move while drilling/whatever...



As the lid sits flush against the steel frame, the screws needed to be countersunk:










I also did an Fan Mount for an 92mm fan, because the Pico-PSU gets quite hot under load.

Next on the to-do list:

- finishing the power cable
- drill holes in the backplate for venting, fan power to the radiator, and the 2 quick disconnects

 

Looks promising...

 

I love the idea of this design its great good luck and its one I will definitely be following

 

Finally, the exam period is over, back to modding

I made some holes in the backplate:



At least my measurements were right:




Then, i started mounting some stuff onto the backplate:

Bottom to top: +12V power input, water in, water out, power for radiator fans




Connected some cables to check if i have enough space between the connectors to plug/unplug everything




there will be some kind of mesh behind the air vent, dunno which style yet...



Next thing on the to-do list: mounting the casefeet

 

Very cool project man! It's nice to see you back on it!

 

Very cool, man. Nice work!

 

Thank you very much. It means a lot coming from you, when i got so much out of your sff mods... looking forward to OSIDIAS

Thx to you too


Well, another Update (they will be coming more often in the next days)

As i said, next up are the casefeet.

As the stock feet are some kind of cheap rubber/plastic feet which are often used on OEM cases, i was left with a hole (actually 4 of them) of 8mm diameter. However, the Lian Li feet from another V350 use M3 bolts...



Well, I searched around my boxes filled with bolts, electronic parts and other stuff, and came up with these:



- one rubber grommet with 6mm ID and 8mm OD
- one distance roll with 3,2mm ID and 6mm OD, 8mm long
- two large stainless steel washers for M3
- one large polyamid washer for M3
- two polyamid washers for M6 (i ended up using one in stainless steel and one in polyamid instead..)
- one 22mm Bolt and a nut, both M3 (20mm would have been plenty, but i had these lying around...)


Insert the rubber grommet:



The the distance roll:



Add a polyamid washer:



And a stainless steel one:



Next step requires good aim



nearly finished. turn the case around. take the m6 Polyamid/stainless steel washer, the m3 washer and the nut, and fasten:



wow, i really used 8 pics to describe how to put some casefeet on


Now the text update:

I made a hole in the bottom of the case so that the fan can breathe. I also cut off some excess material from the HDD mounting bars. Installed the pump, and shortened the cable (and the one from the temp sensor) To finish, i started installing the tubing:



I got my PicoPSU today, and i really like it. What i don't like is the fact that i really dont know where to get some new pins for the cable connectors ( they're pretty small). Because i like my cables the exact length they need, i might need to solder this time instead of crimping.

 

Just a teaser pic, im too tired to explain...

that was 2 hours ago:

 

Firstly, delicious work.
I look forward to seeing how this is shaping up.

I have just 2 questions: 1 what size tube are you using? 2 how strong is the PicoPSU you bought? - Which I suppose need alot of watts to operate hardware and water cooling.

 

The watercooling on the itx looks very cool.

 

This is an intriguing project. Looks like it's going to turn out great. Can't wait to see how you manage to fit everything in there, and how you power everything. Might even be tempted to go for water with my m-itx box sometime.

 

Thx a lot.

To your questions:

1. Thats Tygon R-3400 11/8mm tubing. Used to be the standard tubing size for watercooling in germany some years ago. I have around ~100 compression fittings for that size left, so i figured, i might put them to good use
2. Thats a 150W Pico. However, it's 12V rating is only 1A stronger than the 120W Version. I picked the 150W Version, because it A) has a 24pin and B) The Laing DDC3.1 draws some 2.x Amps on 12V on spin-up.

However, when running, the power draw goes down to ~8W. And thanks to the aquaero, i will turn the laing down to about 65% capacity - silence is key here...

Thanks

It's actually my second MiniITX box on water


Update:

I finished stage 1. That includes the actual watercooling loop, and the hardware up and running.

Some Pictures i took on my balcony just seconds before it started raining (there were some drops on the case when i moved back in ):









Some words to wiring and power. I used an 5-pole circular connector for power input. Each connection is spec'ed for 7A, so i had to split up the 12V and GND contacts (150W=12V*12.5A). The fifth connector is to make sure the steel frame has earth potential, a thing that a lot of PicoPSU builds ignore.

The PC itself uses only about 65W at full load, including the radiator fans and the pump teh power draw shpuld never exceed 100W. As i am using a 150W 12V power supply, and i also needed to build a case for that thing, i decided to get rid of all the small power bricks from the docking stations, and integrate some voltage regulators into the power supply case. Thats part of stage 2.

Whats up for stage 2:

- finishing the front, including power buttons, front i/o and the aquaero
- building the power supply case
- painting the lid and the front
- anodizing the aquaero frontplate and the backplate

I realized, i've never schon you a pic of the radiator. So here we go:

 

After over 1 1/2 years of usage and standing unfinished on my desk as my daily rig, this sff experience now gets a step closer to madness.

I'm talking internal rad

I started by trying to fit a 560 into the case, but that didn't work.... kind of:



after that, i tried the 120 magicool slim from the parts drawer, and it fit perfectly:



the magicool was supposed to have m3 threads, but they were completely stripped by the previous owner. however, UNC 6-32 fit fine. I had to countersink the holes, b/c my longest screws are 1".



as i still want to fit an aquaero4 in the front, it's not very spacious in there. Clearance rad to mainboard is about 1-1,5cm, because of the picopsu's wires. After some careful measunring, and remeasuring, aaaaaand remeasuring i made a bracket that uses 2 existing threads in the case bottom.



clearance to the hdd braces is minimal:




im working on the pump mounting right now, the shoggy was to big and not effective (i could still feel and hear some vibrations that got transmitted to the shell), and the EK ddctop was too loud for my taste. it'll get switched to a zern p12 top.

More later

 

this is awesome!
So what happens to the QC fittings? not used anymore?

That 560 wouldn't have provided enough cooling anyways, it's a good thing it didn't fit...

 

im looking forward to seeing this all done
nice work