Scratch Build – In Progress Project Quintessence - 29Jun-She's Live- CPU Magazine!

Very cool! I love seeing great wood builds, and your design on this one is killer.

 

Thanks. Hopefully the end result down the road will be the same.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with this Indigo. It was recommended to me on another forum. To me it is a lot easier to use than Kerkythea. I also got a suggestion to set up an actual lighting studio setup in Sketchup itself before rendering, and it worked wonderfully.

Here is a render done with Indigo of the design and one with the base as you suggested.

 

The base does add something to that design. It'll probably save the bottom raised areas from damage too.

 

Well my daughter doesn't like the base, but my wife and my daughter's friend do as well as everyone who has chimed in so I think the base is a go. Thanks Spotswood for the suggestion.

 

I like the base.

Also, good render, thought it was a picture at first.

 

I did a little more work trying to figure out this rendering thing. I got the cashew wood material from the Indigo site and used it instead of the Sketchup wood material. Pretty sweet.



I'm not sure when I will be starting on this as I've got to go out of town for the last 3 weeks of April. I probably won't be able to start until after I get back.

 

Wow, those are some insane renders! I love the "simplicity" of the design, wood and only wood on the exterior.

 

Already told you how much I like it, but it bears repeating

 

Thank you. I am working on the whole rendering thing to try to get some kind of basic handle on it. It is going to take some work and a lot of trial and error.

I'm glad you like the design. The only part that will have metal showing is the rear panel of the case.

Thank you again Shazza. I didn't know you cruised these waters on Bit-tech.

 

The Build Finally Begins

The Work Begins

I've officially started on this project, so its time to start updating this log. I really wrestled over whether or not to go with air cooling on this one, or stick with water. I've been water cooling now for 6 years. I started into water cooling mainly for silence more than performance as I'm a 24x7 overclocker and not a bench-marker. I also hardly do any gaming anymore, so I'm not looking to upgrade my GPU anytime very soon. I plan on sticking with my GTX260. Now that some good GPU air coolers have finally come out, I decided that I'm going to give air a chance again. I designed this case completely with two different versions, one for water that I rendered in the posts earlier, and one for air (actually two different air models). I finally settled on this design as I think it gives me the most compact design I can come up with that also should allow for good airflow and easy wire management.













I bought a Promilatech Megashadow for the CPU, and an MK-13 for the GPU (I've still got the 3 MCR220 rads, and once I'm done with this project, if I am pleased with the result and noise level, I'll end up selling them. Since I already paid for them, I figure I will keep them in case I decide that I'm not happy with the air cooling and result). If I am going to go air, I am going to go high end.

Plans

As is my usual method, I plan everything down to the nth detail, and print out plans from the Sketchup design. I admire the guys that just pull this stuff out of their heads on the fly, but that isn't me. I like doing the design work first and then building based off of my designs. Once I design everything the way I want it, I take each piece and make dimension plans, and then print off the dimensions for each piece. I did an expanded view of the metal base for the case, and then drew out each piece in flat dimensions so that I would know what to cut out of my 3' x 4'-16 gauge (about 1.3mm) aluminum sheet. This sheet plus another smaller 1' x 2' piece of 12 gauge only cost me $40 cash at a local sheet metal shop. I found a powdercoater online in Florida that is very reasonable on his rates. I plan on having the aluminum powder coated probably in matte black. I would like to do that aluminum in a bronze color or the like, but I don't think he works in any colors like that.









Main Panels Started

I started cutting the main panels out per my plan printouts.





I found as I've seen others suggest that painters tape works very nicely when cutting out holes. I am using my scroll saw, Dremel in places, and a great set of small files to make the cutouts.



Center Support and Spacer

This is the center support for the inside panels. It also gives a space behing the MB tray for air intake for the PSU, and room to run wiring. I used 1/2” 16 gauge square tube as that is what is readily available. I cut my pieces, and used JB Weld to join them together. I could have had a friend weld them, but I don't really need a lot of strength here, and welding can make a real mess.



Bending Aluminum

I wish I had access to a professional metal bender, but with some work and a lot of clamps, my $30 Harbor Freight made in China special metal brake got the job done. The biggest problem with this brake is that when you are bending end folds, the metal wants to slide back out of the brake. Using two 3' clamps against the tray and a screwed down 2”x4” did the trick to keep the metal from sliding back while bending.








Here is a rough fit of the pieces so far. I put a 1' ruler and a paint can to give you some size perspective.





My next step is to drill and countersink holes to screw the MB panel and other panel to the center support. I then will cut out the holes in the bottom panel, and then work on the back panel. That is going to be a bit of a chore.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Unbelievable work! I really love your designs and execution! Mooooooooarrrrrr!

 

The renders look great, will keep an eye out for the completed result.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll keep it coming.

This Indigo renderer is excellent. I can't believe how the results come out. I've barely scratched the surface of what it can do. It would take a lot of time to get good with it.

 

There's not a whole lot exciting to show in this update. I finished cutting out the areas in the bottom panel that needed to go. I also countersunk, drilled, and tapped out 30 holes, 15 per side, to screw the MB tray and the back side to the center 1/2” square tube spacer/support that fits between them. Its amazing how much time little stupid stuff can take.

Transferring MB Tray and PCI Panel Spacing

I set about today getting markings transferred to the MB tray and PCI panel so that I can cut and drill for the PCI/IO panel and MB mounts. I bought a Lian Li Micro ATX MB from Performance-PCS so use as a guide to trace from. According to my Sketchup plans, the MB should sit 13/16” from the bottom of the case. Using clear 1/16” thick acrylic, I cut a piece the size of the PCI panel area, and one the size of the MB tray.





I spaced the Lian Li MB tray 13/16” up from the bottom of the acrylic, and traced out the shape of the PCI panel and the holes for the mounting screws.



I drilled out the corners of the PCI markings in the acrylic with a small 1/16” drill bit, and then used an ultra fine sharpie to dot those corner locations on the aluminum. I did the same for the MB tray. I've got the MB tray mounting holes all drilled and tapped out.





I also marked on the center spacer piece where I need to cut out to allow for the PCI panel slot covers. I used a carbide Dremel cutting bit to hack out the spaces in the steel spacer.



I'll have to take an after picture on this one tomorrow. It took a while, but the carbide bit did the trick, along with some grinding.

Hopefully I'll get started cutting out the slots and IO panel area on the PCI panel tomorrow. I'll be so glad when I'm done messing with metal. I'll take wood any day over metal.

It has dawned on me that I am going to need to have a MB in hand before this project is finished and I get the metal powdercoated. I have to make sure everything fits right as once everything is powdercoated, there is no further drilling/adjusting to be done on the metal without potentially ruining the finish. I have been looking and researching socket 1156 Mbs, and I think at this point, I am going to go with an ASUS P7H55D-M EVO for $124. I would like to go with a Maximus Gene III, but its hard for me to justify the $65 price difference. I have to go out of town next week for a week, so I am hoping to get the back panel cut out and done before then.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Wow I love the intricate design you made for the panels dude... pretty please make a video once you start cutting it out, would be awesome to see a master at work on such a fiddly design!

Side note: Indigo is fantastic isn't it any chance you could post a shot of your studio set up that you used? I really like the soft even lighting you have in it

 

Thank you. I need to break down and get one of these handy cams like the Vado or something. I've passed up the Dell deal a couple of times. My old camcorder is the digital tape kind and it is a pain to transfer the video over.

There is no real science to making intricate scrollwork cuts. It just takes time and patience.

Ieatfish on overclock gave me the idea of doing a studio setup for rendering with Indigo (http://www.overclock.net/8632896-post3.html). I've fiddled with mine though and changed it from what he suggested and really like the results. I went with more of a soft-white rather than the blue and yellow he mentions. Frankly for barely knowing what I'm doing, I'm amazed at the results Indigo gives. I find it so much easier to use than Kerkythea.

 

Great looking mod, it's starting to come together

 

I just got back from being out of town for a week, and have some more pics to show. First, here is that pic after hacking away the area in the center spacer for the PCI covers. Its not very pretty, but this will not be seen at all as it will be behind the MB panel. I just needed the space so that the PCI covers can slide in properly.



Problem with Screws

It is amazing just how much a minor detail can cause you lots of grief. I ordered #6-32 x 1/4” black oxide finished hex head screws from smallparts.com to use to screw the panels to the central spacer, and the case itself together. Thankfully while I was at it, I also ordered some #8-32 x 1/4” phillips screws figuring that they would come in handy since these can't be had locally. I'm using 16 gauge aluminum, which is about 1/16” thick. I wanted to countersink all of the screws so that they would look better, and in no way interfere with the MB. I had tapped out all 30 holes to secure the panels to the center spacer in #6-32, and countersunk the holes. There was a big problem however that I ran into. The allen screws have a bevel that is greater than 1/16”, so even with the holes being countersunk, the screws stuck out well above the surface of the panels. Here is a pic to show you what I mean:



Thankfully, the #8-32 x 1/4” screws have a very shallow bevel, so I ended up having to further countersink all of the screw holes in the panels, and retap all of the holes in the spacer. Recountersinking the holes in the panels was a serious pain. I ended up having to use a 5/16” drill bit instead of a countersinking bit to get the holes right. For a few of the holes, I ended up going back and using a bit of JB weld to fill in a bit as they had gaps around the screws. I can't even tell you what a pain this has been. After having messed with this for a few days, I was able to move on to making other cuts.

Panels

All of the panels will get a good sanding down once I'm done with them, so the scratches in the pics are only temporary. Sanding them down will be the last thing I do to them before going to the powdercoater.

I decided to make a cutout behind the MB so that the PSU would have a more area to draw in air from, and also to provide a bit of airflow behind the MB.



I also changed the way that the wiring plate is done from what I had originally planned. After trying my original idea, I ended up just using a flat plate countersunk with screws attached behind the MB tray. I think this still looks ok, is a lot simpler, and will still serve the purpose. I want this plate to be removable so that if I change out Mbs later down the road and want to adjust where the ATX and SATA cables come through, I can simply make another panel, which would be easy to do. I haven't drilled out the holes in it yet to allow for the cables.





I finished cutting out the backpanel and PCI slots. I had to do a lot of careful measuring while comparing to my Lian-Li Micro ATX mb panel to get the spacing right. I am hoping that everything is measured out correctly. I'll find out when my motherboard comes in.





I bought a GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 MB that should be here tomorrow. I also got a buddy of mine to pick me up a brand spankin new Intel Core I7-875K quad from Microcenter in Atlanta (can we say only $200 + tax boys and girls). I am so glad to have gotten in on that deal.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

The powdercoat might not work well with the JB Weld. I've read that the heating will ruin anything plastic. -If the mount is permanent you might be able to solder it. Tin won't stick to the alum, but it should stick to the screw.
I'm glad to see this project finally going, though!

 

I just came across this build - looks like it will be stunning when finished! Shame you had a couple of problems with the metal working, looking forward to seeing it take shape.