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Case Mod - In Progress Project: Nutman (update: August 22nd 2011 - FINISHED!)

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Nutman, 21 Oct 2008.

  1. riekmaharg2

    riekmaharg2 has completed the PowerCore scratch build

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    Wow this is looking sweeeeeeet, maybe there is a type of tape you can put over the line then wipe off the jaggy edges with thinners.
     
    Last edited: 7 Feb 2011
  2. AnG3L

    AnG3L Ultimate Modder

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    Really nice update brother!!!! If you want to draw a better line you have to sand the mobo tray, prime it, paint it black and use some good masking tape along with a UV spray this time and let it dry for 24 hours then remove the tape!!! Mod on! :)
     
  3. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Thanks, but there's no way I'm going to sand down a mobo tray I had anodized black myself. ;)
     
  4. Nicksen

    Nicksen Danish Kid :D

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    Looking sweet! :D

    Keep those updates coming! :thumb:
     
  5. RonanH

    RonanH mod-envious

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    Sweet looking build :thumb:

    Here's a good guide to masking tape, selection and usage... link. Scraping the green paint like that forces it under the masking tape, brushing or spraying usually gives better results.
     
  6. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Yeah, that's what I thought, as I also mentioned earlier.
    So I won't try to fix it - brushing is not an option, because I want the line to be as flat as possible. And spraying is hard with paint on a tube. :D
    Thanks for the guide, though. ;)
     
  7. legoman

    legoman breaker of things

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  8. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    The seeping can be caused by the tape only lightly stuck to the surface. Working it down with a fingernail or the rounded edge of a pen body will get a better seal.
    The other problem is you are working with acrylic paint. It dries really fast and you are more likely to tear it removing the mask.

    If you have it, Dow Scrubbing Bubbles is good for removing acrylic, but I doubt it would do as a precision cleanup tool.
     
  9. nathandanielmorris

    nathandanielmorris What's a Dremel?

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    Loving the lighting and the build, keep 'em coming!
     
  10. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Thanks. I did just what you said. See worklog update below. ;)

    Thanks.

    Now, onto the worklog update:

    I wanted to make the UV paint stripe a bit nicer with cleaner looking edges, so I tried pushing the tape really hard down on the surface to make it stick better (thanks to Cheapskate for the suggestion):

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    Off with the tape - for some reason there were no glue residue what so ever this time. Maybe because it had stuck better?

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    THAT'S more like it!

    To test the new stripe, I had to sleeve and mount the SMD LED strips:

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    With the motherboard in place it looks like this:

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    The biggest part of the weekend was spent making cables, sleeving those cables and doing cable management - I can't tell whether it's insanity, meditation or just plain old self-tormenting, but these things take a huuuge amount of time!

    First, I did the LED cables for the reservoir:

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    They look like this when mounted:

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    Then, I extended and sleeved the USB cable for the Multiswitch:

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    At the beginning of this project I had mounted a couple of LEDs in the front, pointing inwards - see these old pictures:

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    I had to make new cables for those:

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    The pumps also required power, so I shortened some of the modular cables for the PSU and only sleeved the wires being used:

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    Pumps connected to the PSU:

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    The Aquaero has a connection for 2 LEDs to show a status - eg. the cooling fluid temperature. And that's exactly what I'm going to use them for, so I drilled a couple of holes for 2 LEDs in the plastic piece sitting at the bottom of the front panel, just under the door:

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    And mounted the LED sockets:

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    Lit up:

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    And lit up after being mounted back on the front panel:

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    As you can see the green LED is too weak, so I'll have to replace that one.

    And finally, a shot of the cable management behind the front panel - all done now. It took forever to complete, but I'm quite happy with it. Too bad it's out of sight, but I know it's been done properly and that's what really counts for me:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 18 Nov 2014
    RonanH likes this.
  11. riekmaharg2

    riekmaharg2 has completed the PowerCore scratch build

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    That lines looking alot better now :thumb:, nice work with all the LED's and wiring too :)
     
  12. Nicksen

    Nicksen Danish Kid :D

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    Much better lines! Its all overall looking very sweet! Good work :thumb:
     
  13. ulysses Cazuquel

    ulysses Cazuquel Sex, Casemod & Rock'N Roll!!!

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  14. AnG3L

    AnG3L Ultimate Modder

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    Nice work on the lines buddy and excellent cable management!!! Moar pls!!! ;)
     
  15. HoryBP

    HoryBP What's a Dremel?

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    Awesome case. Nice LED placing. Hope you will upload more photos
     
  16. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    Yeah, the line came out really well, thank you very much, and I also think it is better now being slightly thicker.

    Join the club! :D

    And thanks for the kind words!

    Oh, SO thank you! As I said, they won't be seen (much), but I like that it's all neat and tidy.

    Haha, yeah - thanks. Getting closer and closer to a total of more than 700 pics! :eyebrow:
     
  17. Nutman

    Nutman Never stuck with stock

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    It's time for another surprise...

    Because I hereby present you with the 6th graphics card during the lifetime of this build: HIS ATI Radeon HD6870

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    This package had arrived from my fantastic sponsor:

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    EK Waterblocks

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    And what could be in it?

    Yes, of course:

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    The black tube is MasterKleer 15,9mm x 11,1mm. Unfortunately, it's not completely black. Under UV light it comes off as dark blue and it's not completely black in dayligth either - more of a very deep, deep blue. It's a bit disappointing, because I now can't use it for what it was intended for.
    Which was to reduce the impression of too much tubing going on - you know, with these looong tubes going to and from the reservoir it all looked rather overwhelming and I thought that using black tubes for the long tubes would reduce this. I still like the idea, but I have to find other tubing to make it happen.

    Those 2 LEDs are UV-LEDs, which I was going to use for illuminating the water in each reservoir chamber. However, I had found some spares in my stash and already sleeved those, so these 2 will go into my collection of spare LEDs...

    Ok, let's take a closer look at that new full cover block:

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    It's very nice. As usual the craftmanship by EK Waterblocks is outstanding. And, also as usual, the package contains everything needed.

    Let's mount the beast of the card:

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    It's lovely to see how the blocks almost appears to be wrapping itself around the components of the card:

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    Mounted in the case it looks like this:

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    The PCB of the graphics card is slightly brown - will have to do something about that, but of course I have a plan for that. More on that in one of the next updates...

    The 6870 card will be needing power, so I sleeved the modular PCI-E cables:

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    And attached them nicely using P-clips:

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    The outcome was rather nice, if I may say so! The plan is to only run the ATX-cable on the backside of the motherboard tray. All modular cables will run on the sides underneath the top radiator. You will see more of that when I sleeve the rest of the modular cables - e.g. the the power cable for the Aquaero and Multiswitch:

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    This cable also runs underneath the top radiator and is nicely held in place using P-clips:

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    Yeah, not much room around the fittings on the top radiator:

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    I also made some extension cables for the fans that sit on the bottom radiator:

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    In fact, almost all cables in this build are measured to the exact lenght needed, cut shorter or extended before sleeving.
    It requires quite some soldering and applying heat shrink before sleeving the cable and this entire process takes lots of time - in fact, I think I spent 1 hour doing just those 2 fan extension cables, but the end result is also very nice.

    Ok, I also want to show you how I routed the cables for the front fans. They're connected to the motherboard (no more room on the Aquaero) and I aim at controlling them with BIOS.
    I routed the cables in P-clips on top of the bottom radiator:

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    I'm not totally satisfied with the way the cables split and run to each fan:

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    I would like to strip both cables close together and have them routed in between the 2 fans. I might correct it later, if I am up for the task...

    Remember the last update (it's really not hard - just scroll up a bit, hehe), where I drilled 2 holes for LEDs that were to show a status from the Aquaero? In my case this was to be the status of the water temperature of both loops.
    I was really content with the amount of light (or lack thereof) of the green LED, so I bought another 2-coloured LED, so now I got 2. Both LEDs plugged into the Aquaero with a temperature sensor attached, I made this video:

    Aquaero LED temperature output

    I think it'll come out nicely in the end when the front panel is back in its place.

    Now, one last thing to show you in this update is my experiments with light in the case.
    I have tried a little of everything - blue, UV, white and green. In the end I had to realize that one colour wouldn't do. A combo had to be put in place to get a result like this:

    [​IMG]

    Of course, it's hard to capture the lights on camera, but this is pretty close. I want the UV-reactive stuff to stand out, but not TOO much - and I want the interiors to be in slight darkness, but not TOO much darkness, hehe.
    In the next update I'll show you how I made the lights, I promise - it's a bit special (=an old classic returns!), so I guess you can start looking forward to that...

    I'll end this update by showing you some mood shots:

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    Last edited: 18 Nov 2014
    bulldogjeff likes this.
  18. bulldogjeff

    bulldogjeff The modding head is firmly back on.

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    Looking good mate. The colour scheme works really well on this one. +rep, nice work.
     
  19. DerKeiser

    DerKeiser What's a Dremel?

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    WOW:jawdrop::jawdrop:

    The attention to detail in your project is just .... wow!

    I love the sleeving, the cleanliness, the water blocks, the hardware and and and... :thumb:

    NICE WORK THERE BRO!:rock:
     
  20. AnG3L

    AnG3L Ultimate Modder

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    Wooooooot!!!! Mad probs to Eddy from EK for the sponsorship, fantastic guy! I love your updates man, so many pictures, excellent sleeving skills, neat build, just mod on!!! ;)
     
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