Well first of all, hello to everyone who is about to read this great undertaking of mine. I've just signed up to your wonderful forums after lurking for years and must say there is some awesome talent in here. I look forward to sharing my work and maybe learning a thing or two from you guys. This is not my first build and certainly won't be the last, but I feel that since doing The AAXIS Project (my current TJ-07 based system) just over 5 years ago that now is time for change. So... what's the kit gonna be I hear you all ask? Simple answer - not decided yet. I will look at bits and choose as I go through the build process, hence the project name. This build will simply grow and take shape based on whatever decisions I make at the time. This is not gonna be a quick build for a number of reasons, which I will list below : MONEY Yes, that giant of evil that binds us all together whether we have it or not. While not able to go too crazy on parts, I'm estimating a budget of around £2500-3000 for this one (somewhere between $4200-4800 at current rates). That covers case and internals, as well as keyboard, mouse and an official copy of Windows 7 (maybe 8 - not sure yet). TIME/WORK/SOCIAL LIFE I have a job (not currently there due to injury but will return shortly), I have a life to lead. Everything shares time and this build will be in there somewhere. Estimated completion towards the end of the 2011. HEALTH As mentioned above I'm currently injured due to a motorbike accident on 28th Dec 2010. This resulted in a dislocated and shattered left shoulder. Here's a few xray piccies to give you all an idea of the damage and why I'm slightly limited in what I can do at the moment. Dislocation xray - 28-12-2010 by Jaycius Arma, on Flickr CT Scan 1 - 28-12-2010 by Jaycius Arma, on Flickr Humerus Damage Xray - Feb2011 by Jaycius Arma, on Flickr So, there will be delays with this and limits to what I can do in the early stages but we will see how this goes.
Damn Jaycius, I know what you are feeling... I had the same problem (dislocated left shoulder) due to a ridiculous fall (long history...). I had to go for a surgery procedure to stop dislocating every time I had to throw something - because I used to play handball. It's been two months since I had that surgery and I already feel much better now. Please don't waste your time trying to recover it with physiotherapy only - I guess your case won't leave you that option anyway - and go for a surgery, you won't regret. Hope you get better soon! PS: and sorry for my english, I'm brazilian
Finally! Something on this forum that the girlfriend might actually enjoy looking at, and understand! (She's a radiologic science major) Welcome, and best wishes for a full speedy recovery
Unless he's growing the necessary parts from his healing bones (Which would be awesome!), I see no actual modding happening. This thread belongs to modding until he shows something.
You might want to read the project log rules there HAS to be pics of the actual modding in process. now that its been said, hope you recover fast #0
Damn! I forgot I had registered the project here. Thanks for the welcome guys (a little late but better than never ) I had started the project even though I was still in a sling at the time of posted and it is now near to completion. I am happy to report that my arm has healed very well and I have regained 90-95% movement back and am back on two wheels So let me bring you all upto speed with the progress - this may take a number of posts as I've done much since my first post.... (all updates taken from main build log so I won't bother amending them) 19/04/2011 BRAND SPANKING NEW! =============== OK, HERE WE GO! This is the case that the build will now centre around, the slightly old but still excellent Coolermaster Cosmos S, supplied very kindly by my other half (Ain't it cool when ya get a present? :icon_cool ) My current case is a silver Silverstone TJ-07, bought when they first came out, so this mod and indeed case has something to live upto. Anyway, let me introduce you to this baby, fresh out of its packaging... Front view Side view Upper rear view Upper front, door closed Upper front, ports Rear view Side panel removed, rear side Internal view I've already started work on modding this so more pics to come very soon. OOPS!! Quality Control... =============== After drooling and dreaming, scheming up a few ideas and getting a vague plan in my mind, I started with a simple look at the internals. Removing the HDD drive cage to test fit the intended drive I encountered my first hurdle... Take a look and see if you can figure out the problem. OK, for those of you who can't see the problem... Left side - all OK Right side - not OK Anyone have a spirit level? So, as you can see, the hard drives are simply not gonna fit in here. Quite an oversight for Coolermaster's quality control team. Anyhow, I've emailed their customer support and they've agreed to send a replacement through to sort this. LOST IN TRANSLATION ============== Well I happily accepted my box from CoolerMaster off my postman and rushed to open it up. The smile soon dropped to a frown and a state of confused.com... Why? Becasue they had sent the wrong parts to fix the problem. Instead of a new side panel or replacement drive cage, they sent me 2 new side panels that fit into the blue circles at the side of the drive cage. I honestly don't know if they didn't understand English mixed with the initial photo above but I'd expect anyone to see that blunder if they are in the IT trade, even moreso if its their own product! LOL Another explanation of the problem with the previous photos and I think we have an understanding at both ends now. They have agreed to ship me another part out tomorrow (15th April) - although did not specify if its a full drive cage or a new side panel to fit myself... Either way, their support is top-notch and I can't fault them on that. So many thanks to Michiel at Coolermaster's support. LET THE GAMES BEGIN ============== "Where's the modding?" I hear you all cry. Don't fret, young Padewan's, the force is strong with this one. Here we have the aftermarket air vent being modded. This is where it all began... I removed the chrome bars and decided I didn't like the grill. Plastic and ugly in my opinion. So using some pliers I hacked a few of the pieces out so I've got a starting point for a hacksaw later on. Hacking the side vent continues on the opposite side for the same reason. A slow job and one that is not so easy to do with my injured arm, which got achey very quickly. This was the result at the end of day one. (4th April 2011) HACK-A-DAY ========= A few days later and the hacksaw comes out to play. Was a little awkward having to keep undo it and reposition it to just get to this stage. A quick coffee break later, followed by a quick test with the chrome bars in place. Looking good - so let's get back to the cutting. Work continues with the hacksaw. Quite a close cut in the end meaning less work to do filing these pieces down. Turning the vent over I decided to use the hacksaw to give a good cut along the back. Made the mistake of cutting through the screw holders - thought 'b******s to it' - carried on until it was all done. Be warned - cutting this stuff makes for one hell of a mess. Plastic dust everywhere!! Lots of bits and pile of plastic dust. The results of a productive afternoon. Tired out and another achey arm day - calling it quits for now. Another quick bar test - I have a habit of always doing this when I mod something just to make sure I'm happy with it. MARCHING IN FILE ============ Another new day, another bash at the side vent. A quick shot of the vent lined up against the case side panel where I'm thinking of putting it. Very nice indeed. Quite a bit of filing the next day results in this. Theres still some filing and shaping to go to get it perfect but I'm content to leave it here for now. (14th April 2011) A QUICK WIN ========= Well after deciding I didn't like the standard cover for the side panel, or the shape of the window, I wanted a clean slate to work on. So I switched the sides over by undoing the metal supports on the back of each and swapping the top and bottom over, leaving the side ones off both as they interefered with the fit. This works and both side panels fit just as they would. Obviously I have the above hole at the back of the mobo tray now - something to work on for later... THE ONLY WAY IS UP ============= Next object to attract my modding interest - the top of the case. So much to do - so little time. Well - time doesn't really come into it... Anyway, the top vent cover was removed, exposing the 3 bays for the fans at the top. Turning the top vent over and looking at the back section reveals this ugly little sucker. The plastic support at the back looks like it was an afterthought on case design. I don't like it and it interferes with an idea I have so its gonna go anyway. SNAP! Regardless of care while unscrewing this, it breaks off from the back of the vent cover anyway. That just reinforced my opinion that this was an afterthought and a poor piece of the design. Closer inspection reveals its main purpose was to keep the grill in place. Awful!! Oh - and it has a thumbscrew to lock it onto the back of the chassis. Big deal... Either way this does not concern me at all as the part is not needed for what I intend to do. Black mesh removed and the vent flipped over for a quick look Turning it back over reveals the ugly plasticness of this upper part. Its flimsy as it is now and I really don't like that skeletal support grid. Yet another victim on my list... Remember I said I had an idea for that back end? Well this is it! One dodgy hacksaw that still managed to do the job and I cut the end off, separating it from the fan cover. My evil plan for this will be revealed at a later stage... With the top vent out of the way, you can see the plastic for the side panels at the top. Fair bit of space in there so may come in useful later... The back shows two of the 'feet' for securing the upper handles of the case. Screws removed and onto the front we go so I can get these handles off and put to one side. I've already removed the two from the bottom of the case at this point. The upper panel housing the ports and power button needs to be removed to be able to get to the final two feet so that I can remove the upper handles. Off she comes by undoing the 2 screws and sliding the whole assembly forward off the case. ITS A POWER PLAY ============ The ports and power button are housed at the top of the case with a large bunch of cabling being routed down the right side internally. To be brutally honest I don't need anything but the USB ports here - the rest are really of no use to me. So I've decided they are my next victim. The housing section unsecured and the top removed, showing the power button and HDD LED circuitry on the right, with the ports circuitry below and to the left. Close-up of the circuitry for the power button by Doing what I do best - disassembling it from the housing. Here's the wiring for the ports circuit board. Always a wise move to get pics of the cabling before you undo it - just in case... Power button cables reference and close-up As I am either going to relocate the ports or not bother using them at all, I don't need the extra plastic in the housing. A quick line-up and this has been removed. Decided I didn't like the red bar along the front of the housing section and snapped it off easily. Its just a thin, cheap strip of plastic that snaps easily. Once the red line was removed I took this piccie and immediately had an idea come to mind. Initially it was going to be filled in and sanded, but I have a better idea... Two words : "Hello Michael" To do what I have in mind, the back of the bar needs to go. Starting with the centre hole and a small file, a hole was made for a slightly bigger flat file. This was used to file along the edge bit by bit - very time consuming. Using the thin flat file, progress was slow and tedious - and again lots of plastic dust. Cough, cough... More pain from my shoulder meant I didn't do a great job on the other side and they are out of shape with each other. I will work on that later on - but heres a sata cable behind it to give me an idea of what to expect. Test-fitting the board seems fine, and putting the housing back on seems to be good - am happy with the result. Still something about that sliding door that I do not like. Hate it when something bugs me during a mod. VICTIM! Well its not like I need the port holders now anyway, so why not remove the lot? Thats the plan next. A lot of filing, cutting, filing and more filing later... Its getting there. Still far from complete. Another quick test fit. Liking this already Test fitting view from above, showing me the space inside I now have to work with. And that, folks, finally brings me up-to-date for now... Shall bring you more updates as and when I can.
20/04/2011 COVER ME!! ======== 15th April 2011 As the port housing internal space is now gone, and the sliding door above it, I have decided to play with a few ideas for a new cover. First up is this, using 2 of the front 5.25 bay bezel grills. Cutting equal lengths off each side and lining them up proves to be a good match, and the raised V angle matches the rest of the housing perfectly. Now I'm not sure if I will stick to this, but it may work out well as a template for a different cover. Don't know yet... BY YOUR COMMAND ============= 17th April 2011 Just a shot I was messing with of the other air vent. These things shine so much with light, and the way this photo shines just reminds me so much of a Centurion from the original Battlestar Galactica. (Now THAT would make an awesome PC case). 19th April 2011 The air vent for the mobo side of the case, a slightly different affair compared to the other one as this is all one piece. The advantage : its already factory flattened on the back so relatively little work to do to stick it on. The disadvantage : being one piece, the grill has no holes. Not a problem though as I will simply drill through them to create a ring to file/cut through. Completed the drilling and cutting late last night (had to get someone else to do this one as my arm just couldn't handle the tools), now theres plenty of filing to do. That will keep me busy for a day or two... A VIEW TO A KILL ============ 17th April 2011 Bored with plastic, I turn my attention to metal today in the form of the intended window side panel. Not one for spending ages on fancy artwork, A quick splash around with a mouse in MSPaint with one of the previous photos gave me a rough representation of what I wanted for the window. I give you - The Mockup... To get cracking on this one, I turned it over and checked the line up of the vent against the back. As you can see in the photo it is sitting against the bottom metal bracket. Using the original window side panel as a template, I reversed the shape and used double sided light tape to mark the boundaries as a rough guide for the window I have in mind. I needed this initially to know where the metal brackets are so I can decide for definite on the lines. Some tweaking later and new strips put down to give me a better idea before committing ink to metal. Liking it. It goes with the vision of the mockup and I'm happy at the areas of the brackets that will be visible. There are ways around that later... Pen to paper, or in this case aluminium. The final cutting guide for the areas of the side panel I need cutting out. In the end, I took off the top metal bracket and used that as an edge distance guide and ruler - worked beautifully to what I had in mind with the tape. Also a great tool for shaping the corner curves too - simples! 19th April 2011 AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! Rule #1 when someone else works on your mod : make sure they keep within the lines!! There is no way I am able to handle big power tools at the minute, so I asked for some help. The first attempt looked promising and then there was a loud snag and a jump. Result = power tool blade jumps across metal like a stone bouncing on water. Thats a fairly deep scratch and I was a little annoyed but hey - these things happen. Better the case than someone's finger or worse... It is my own fault as I know better when doing this. Should have masked the front totally and took a template of the window, then applied it to the back. Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing... lol. Anyway, this is not as bad as it seems, and I have a solution to fix it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TAKE NOTE OF THIS IF YOU'RE NEW TO MODDING - ITS SUCH AN EASY MISTAKE TO MAKE. * MEASURE, MEASURE AGAIN, PREPARE, PREPARE AGAIN, AND THEN YOU GO AHEAD WITH EXTREME CARE & ATTENTION * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reverted to plan B : lots of drilling holes to assist in the cutting process. That has worked quite well and in the space of about 30-40 mins both holes were cut. Lots of filing left to do to shape the window properly. You're probably wondering why the Coolermaster logo is still there? Well it won't be for long. I plan on keeping that just in case it comes in useful later on, and will cut this out with a hacksaw as the powertools come with too high a risk with the space I've got left. That's all up-to-date again for now. Will post more when I do something new. TESTING! TESTING! ============ 20th April 2011 Got up this morning after a really crap sleep and once suitably awake decided to line up the vent to see if how much of the scratch is covered. Surprisingly, its most of it, and the rest will pretty much be covered by the putty around the vent afterwards - bonus. Pieces in place and on the case is looking pretty sweet so far. Long way to go yet but shes getting there. CUT! CUT! CUT! ========== Remember this ugly beast? Well its time for this to go today. Had enough of looking at it, so hacksaw and me made up and off we went to play. The plastic is weak enough to be bent and snapped once cut. Just worked one side down a bit, then the other. SNAP! Middle comes off easy. Kept cutting and snapping until all cut out. Just these little bits left to file away and tidy up and then thats another piece done. THE STRIPPER ========= Todays plan is to strip the chassis down and put it aside ready for powdercoating at a later date. This way I will also have an easy test with the new hardware before it goes away. That is a while away for now though as I am still waiting to see if I get any sponsorship this time round. Anyway, on with the strip down. The side panels are attached to the chassis with these horrid little inserts and some bigger clips. First reaction was to unclip these little ones, but I found that they only slide in. As you can see here, the bigger of the clips on the left are the ones you want to unclip. Be gentle as they flex well. I used the tip of a flat screwdriver and pulled back gently until they came loose. Then you work your way around the case and eventually it comes away. I would suggest for anyone doing this that you work from the top to the back to the bottom, then carefully undo the front. Once the side panels were off, these rubber circles were simply lifted on one side and pushed out. Dead easy to remove. These levers on the rear are for the side panel release mechanism. Undo them with a single screw on the inside and then push them back into the case. Again, very simple to do. Make sure you remove the little piece they connect to as well annd store this safely (unless you never plan on removing your side panels again. Ever... lol ) With the side panels off, I took a look at tthe rear grill and, as expected, took it off. It will be sent off for a makeover anyway so why not get it done with? No surprise that Coolermaster didn't see fit to put a hole behind the grill as all you get to see is the corner of the chassis underneath. Is that gonna stop me? Hell no!! The cogs are turning as we speak. Will be a bit of a puzzle though I grant you that... Removed the fan at the rear, then moved on to the drive bay quick release mechanisms. These are again simple clips on the inside of the drive bay. Screwdriver to push two of them and they come loose. Take care to keep the springs if you intend to reuse these - there are 2 for each piece. Apart from the PSU seat at the bottom, which is riveted, the chassis is now stripped back down to basics. Now comes that annoying task of figuring out what colour to get this done in. Oh joy... Anyway - thats it for today as I am BEAT!!
02/05/2011 STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A PC CASE ========================== 1st MAY 2011 Not much to report on this update. My arm has been playing up a bit as physio intensifies so I have not touched the case for a while. I gave it a go today however and got some much needed filing done I have now finished filing the main side panel vent - happy with how that looks. Worked on the 2nd vent for the mobo side panel too, as you can see in the photo above. Almost there but arm stops play once again... Money is also tighter than expected this month so my plans have been delayed somewhat. Updates will be few this month unless that changes, so will concentrate on sponsorship for the meantime. 04/11/2011 CANDY FOR A BABY ============= 2nd NOV 2011 Got some new toys for the build a few days back. Haven't had time to do anything with them, but here's a couple of pics to show that the build is still coming along. I have more bits planned for the end of this month. Actual modding of the case will continue shortly now that I have more time on my hands again. ASUS Crosshair V motherboard ASUS Crosshair V motherboard GSkill 4GB DDR 2133 ASUS HDAV 1.3 deluxe soundcard ASUS HDAV 1.3 deluxe soundcard ASUS HDAV 1.3 deluxe soundcard 10/11/2011 THE BLUE PETER METHOD ================= 4th-8th NOV 2011 Weather, work and everyday stuff have stopped me from too much progress this week. Just a few bits to update you all with today Tried the mobo just sitting against the back panel for size judgement Wouldn't be complete without throwing the still unfinished window panel on to see whats gonna be visible. Liking the view so far Have removed the stock cooling for the VRM's, Northbridge and Southbridge chips in anticipation of the watercooling blocks yet to come Using the tried and testing cardboard method, made a basic mockup for the upper rad and fans, and the PSU and planned custom shelf along the bottom. This gave me a much better idea of space availablity and allowed me to get down to some planning Am almost settled on this as the look for the front of the case. As always though, subject to modders madness, mythical hardware and change. Remember the cut-out from the window panel? Well I cut this from what was left and have the intention of adding this to the case as a custom shelf above the PSU. Not a bad cut, just some tidying and bits to take off it, marked with the tape. Thats all for now. Will update more once I get things done. 26/11/2011 LIFE ON THE EDGE ============= 14th - 23rd NOV 2011 Have cut out the iniitial corner on front right and sanded down the sides all round for a better fit. Still not happy so another guideline strip of tape on the front Always testing as I go - you never know when an idea will pop in there... Sanded down the front edge... and an idea did pop in! Marked off an area at the back to help with cable management for the mobo later on A short time later and I've carved out a nice subtle curve thats barely gonna be noticeable, if at all. I hope... Cable management curve - side on view The old faithful B&D drill with the sanding disc I'm using. Proof that you dont need to pay a fortune on modding tools to get the job done. Started working on the edges and got a good result. Its just not the most comfortable of jobs... Moving around, sanding, checking, sanding some more, checking, sanding, testing.... you get the idea... Have done most of the air vent area and have been working on the window curve above it to match. Got plenty more work to do on this but its slowly getting there. Will be working on it this weekend some more. COLOURING BY NUMBERS ================== I have also decided on the colours for the case - here is a photoshop mockup of the case as standard. Please feel free to leave your feedback and comments 27/11/2011 BACK TO THE OLD GRIND ================== 27th NOV 2011 Small but crucial update for you all today. It was a case of back to the grind - quite literally. Decided to get an early start on the side panel and was up and at it just after 9am. Three sanding wheels and about just as many hrs later, I have to say I'm happy with the progress made today. Its still not finished by a long shot, with the straightening and final shaping to do, then figuring out the window and so on. Oh, and still got that damn logo piece to remove... All in all, a good day of work and a nice bit of progress. 01/12/2011 CACHE FOUND ========== Got the package from Kustompcs two days ago, and then the FrozenQ liquid fusion (or T-virus as its become known) arrived this morning. A step closer and some nice toys to play with. My Lamptron fan controller should be here early next week according to Graeme at Kustom. Not sure I've got cash for anything more until payday later this month so unless I get an early visit from Santa then this is it for now. Plenty to keep me busy with though 12/12/2011 Just a quick update this time round. Have been sizing up things internally in the case, coming up with guesses and ideas on what I want. Nothing much that can go into photo format. I did have my Lamptron FC-5 controller arrive but this turned out to need an RMA as the LCD display didn't work and it wouldn't power any fans. Backlight worked beautifully - very nice range of colours - but a fan without control kinda limits the job of a fan controller... So thats been shipped back to Graeme for a replacement that should be coming back soon. 21st is payday so more parts to be ordered then. Unless Santa comes early then I've no new toys to play with for now 17/12/2011 BIG update for you all today. Lots of pics. Took longer than planned to get this update on here but heres what I've been doing for the last month... Took the car bonnet vent and started to hack away at the bits I don't need. The inner parts were ground down to a height that allowed it to sit flush with the side panel. Hate the plastic this is made of but glad its now done. Using tape to show areas that needed final sanding down to straighten out the window, I got to work over Christmas to finish this off. Also chose to get rid of those ugly bars along the top of the side panels. They do their job for structural support but I don't need them. So off they came and I've decided to use the four corners for screwing the side panels on. The right-side panel is shown above. A quick look to see how its coming on Decided on some pre-emptive cutting on the chassis to give me some more cabling options. A big run on the motherboard tray panel and the smaller one on the bottom. I have some ideas for these later but am still debating on what to go where Ordered me some perspex sheets over Christmas and they arrived first week of January. A small piece of purple, large piece of tinted blue and some frosted blue (although it looks more white to me...) Quick test above and I'm happy with that idea so went on with it and got me some cutting and shaping done for the master panel. Wasn't long before they were cut to shape and size (shot with flash) Shot without flash - looks great in person Happy with the master panel, I've moved onto the other one. Plan here is to use the frosted panels. With spare I've also measured out enough to stealth the outer drive bay to cover the screwholes etc. Looks good. You'll see that in a later pic Planning for drilling the bolt holes Another package arrives, this time being the Aquastream pump and delrin Aquatube reservoir from Aquacomputer, EK's VRM block, and some sata cables. More supplies come in a few days later. This time round we've got a 1200w Coolermaster PSU, 2 LG sata drives (dvd-rw & bd-rw), and the USB expansion board from NZXT. Very nice finish on the PSU and a nice set of cables to go with it. Should do nicely A quick test fit and cable routing test. Not happy with the shelf so will modify this later on. Need to shorten it and make it a bit thinner in width. Also not happy with the way Coolermaster did the sata power cables. Who in their right mind wants cables that go like that from the top down?? They have to be changed... ... and change them I did. Undid them and repositioned them so that not only are they organised better, but now they are flush to the drives making it look much tidier. Also, Coolermaster only give you 3 connectors per cable. Screw that - I'm adding all 5 sata connectors onto the one cable. Much better and it can handle it. Minor snafu with the combination of the AC cuplex and EK's block - I swear they do this on purpose. The lower left mounting plate of the cuplex is too big for the EK and needs to be trimmed so that they fit. Its plenty big enough to take a bit of trimming without losing support so I'm not bothered about it. Spent a lot of time over Christmas fiddling with Google Sketchup to come up with a custom front panel. This was revision 2 after 4 days straight of measuring, checking and figuring out what I want. I've changed it since, with the main changes being that USB ports have been added to the bottom and I've redesigned the fan grill. Planning on getting this watercut within the next month or two. Finished off cutting holes for the acrylic today so that they can be screwed down. Both panels are now pretty much ready for sanding and painting. Just have to fill the gaps around the air intake vent and sand those down first. Am currently working on this little puzzle. This is a test cut of acrylic for the upper front cover, which I hope to turn into a removeable lid to hide the fillport underneath. This is still in design stage for now Threw everything onto the case for a quick fit to see what the combined look is like. You can see the stealthed drive bay sheet in this shot, which I think works well. And this is where I'm at for now. Payday next week, so am planning new parts and paint this month if all goes to plan. Thanks for looking and let me know what you think
22/01/2012 A CHIP ON THE NEW BLOCK ================== 22nd Jan 2012 Minor end of week update. Been distracted with bike issues so havent done as much as I wanted to, but this is whats been done for this week. Decided to tinker with other bits while I await money for a new supply run. Chose to install the EK waterblock for the motherboard VRM's. Due to known issues that I don't want to chance, I've taped up the surface of the Northbridge chip around the die to avoid any booting problems. Slapped on some Arctic Silver 5, continued onto the VRM's doing the same and then added the thermal pads. Top off the cake with a layer of waterblock with a sprinkle of screws and this tasty bite is complete. Have also dropped in the CPU ready for its waterblock Made a mounting plate for the FrozenQ reservoir out of the frosted acrylic, screwed into the mobo with the help of three twinned motherboard risers behind. This will help in hiding some cables as theres a nice gap behind it to the holes that are already on the case. Also drilled and screwed in the reservoir mounting brackets. Noooo... I'm not making me a mask. Have worked on getting some holes cut into the shelf for planned tubing and cabling. Still work to do on this before painting Cheap kryptonite? New age chop-sticks? Nope. Turned a one metre length of acrylic rod into 4 pieces and have cut and sanded them down to equal lengths. These will be modding the FrozenQ reservoir at some stage shortly. Have also sanded out a curve on the lower left mounting bracket arm to allow it fit along with the EK block. Might fit it onto the board tonight but I need a cuppa before I do anything else. And thats what I'm right about to do now... 28/01/2012 Quick update - Have ordered a box of new parts for the watercooling - tubing, fittings and some cables. Should be here this coming week. I have the custom plate ordered for waterjet cutting and this should be completed shortly. ETA is about a week away. I'm also going to get paint made up to required colours this week and should have further update on that once tested. I have also withdrawn from sponsorship with Lamptron today as I have sourced the parts myself. I thank them for their consideration in this project to date. Will post updates later next week. 30/01/2012 SPINNING AROUND ============= 30th Jan 2012 Hello all. A few pics for you to show a little more progress. As I mentioned a few posts back, I would be modding the reservoir mounting brackets just to make them a little different. I started on this over the weekend, making final positioning choices for the 4 acrylic rods that I'd precut. All 4 were glued in place on the brackets with minimal fuss and I think make it look better. Should be good when lit up to add that bit extra into the case. ] Today's supply drop consists of the 7 Gelid 120mm WING fans with UV blue blades above. 3 of these are now attached to the 360 rad, with 3 more to go on top for push/pull config when I fit it. The remaining fan will be added as the exhaust on case rear. I've also been out this morning and had the metallic purple paint mixed up to order. Have spent this afternoon doing a very rough test with 2 layers of primer and 2 quick thin layers of purple on some scraps from the case cutting. I'm quite happy with it. Here's a quick sample below (after 2 coats, not fully dry). Feel free to leave any comments. ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE ================= 30th Jan 2012 Well, on a high sure ain't far off as I have been working with body filler for the last hr or so and I think there's more in the air than on my case :-D Slapped a load of it around the bottom edge to make an initial seal, then screwed on the acrylic to keep it in place. I've never used this stuff before, so those of you who think this is as messy as I do then I make no apologies. I guessed at what amount I needed and will see in the morning how it cures, before either adding more or sanding it down as needed. For me it looks ok for now and I can't be bothered to do any more tonight. A PC IN A CAN =========== 31st Jan 2012 Woke up this morning and was not impressed with the filler as it had not set properly. Clearly needed more hardener when I mix it, so I scraped off the worst offenders and remixed a better batch. Minor setback Thicker and messier than yesterday, with a whole headache to come with sanding that bugger down. But I'll get it done somehow Went back to the paint shop and picked up the metallic blue paint that I had mixed up for me. Came home and tested it against the purple on one of the scrap tests from yesterday and I'm happy with the combo. Got cracking with the painting, starting off with the upper fan grill assembly. 3 layers of primer and 2 layers of paint when this was taken. Have spent most the evening stuck in the garage with primers and paints and am now absolutely exhausted. Here's some of the fruits of my labour so far. All of the below are incomplete ITS A DERIVERY, HANS =============== 1st Feb 2012 Today has not gone to plan - and nothings been done aside from stripping out the case chassis. I checked on the side panel now that its dry and the colour is good, if still patchy with a single coat as expected. But I found problem #1 on todays glitch list. Thanks to Coolermasters wisdom in case design, the moving flaps at the front have so liitle clearance in their design that they cant handle extra paint. As you can see above, it scratches as it makes contact. Didn't see that one coming but not an issue as I plan on stopping the flaps from flapping just as soon as I test fit the custom front panel when it arrives. Not happy with the finish on this. Initially thought it was just condensation but the colour seems uneven, so will sand it back a bit and recoat it. Is not noticeable at certain angles but will bug me knowing its there. Todays good news - more supplies!! A whole host of goodies have arrived that I ordered on payday. Box of Masterkleer UV blue tubing, cutting tool for the tubing, a number of compression fittings for the watercooling in straight, 45 degree and 90 degree flavours, an XSPC fill port, eheim damper mountkit, 4 x Revoltec 4 inch blue twin cathodes, 4 x 60cm UV flexlights, and some Phobya sleeved extension cables. More pics below... BOTTOMING OUT =========== 2nd Feb 2012 Yesterday evening was bloody cold here, but I still ventured out into the garage to respray the upper grill vent and do some more work. A few coats of primer and a single layer of purple paint on the mobo-side panel. Needs rubbing down and a few more layers yet. Painted the rear mesh strips and managed to get in a single coat of lacquer. As watching paint dry is not much fun, I got on with some more modding by sanding down the lowest plastic bar on the case bay front surround. This is in prep for the front plate thats coming. I never really liked that part anyway and believe that Coolermaster should have made better use of it. Moving onto today and following another coat of lacquer to all pieces I'm very pleased with the outcome. The respray of the fan grill cover has given a much more even colour spread and the colour comes up more with the lacquer, as well as the fine metallic detail up close which I just can't capture with my phone camera. I've taken a break from anything major today and have simply added the watercooling fittings to various pieces. The motherboard is now significantly heavier than before and I have my tubing plan in mind now that I've had a better visualisation of the real thing. The plan for tomorrow is to get some more filing done to the main chassis, and sanding it down for priming. GAS CHAMBER =========== 3rd Feb 2012 Well this update was supposed to have gone on last night but my eyes were beginning to get sore from spending all day in the garage with primer and paint. I just couldn't be bothered to try and upload the pics. Anyway, I managed to get a lot done, but still haven't got round to priming the damn chassis yet as I had planned. Thats now going to be target for today. Bits all over the place as I spray and let dry Primed the front and rear upper covers After some headscrathcing on how I was going to paint these, I opted to hold them and spray the ends first, let them dry and then I can handle them later for the rest of the spraying. Will see how this works out... Front cover sprayed with first coat (top) and how it looks after 30 mins (bottom). Same for the rear below. Primed and first-coated the reservoir bracket to match the case once its sprayed. Also did the same with the frosted acrylic on the mobo side. Decided I didn't like the frosting or the fact that you could see so much through it once it was lit from behind. So both sides are now primed to help with light leaks and the outer is now blue. Might do the inside too - not decided yet. Lastly, I primed and put down the first layer or purple onto the front bay surround casing. Now I'm getting a feel for the case. Am off to work on it more in about 30 mins so may have more updates later on. WEATHER HALTS PLAY ============== 4th Feb 2012 Started off today with some non-spraying figuring out of where to put the fill port. Has always been the plan for it to go here but needed to line it up with one of the pre cut squares in the chassis. End result as above, but still lots more work to go on with this enclosure. (Ignore the overspray on the edge too - I sanded this down and gave it another 2 coats later on) Completed the first primer coat of the case bars finally. Now I can attach to them to the case for the remainder of priming and paint. The first bum note of the day - got half of the first layer of primer on the case chassis and ran out of primer. Doh!!! Need to go get some more (hopefully tomorrow). Took a break for much needed coffee and warm food, so chose this time to fit the now dry bars to the chassis. One less job to do. Left these with final coats of paint to dry while I warmed up inside. Second bum note of the day when I got back was that paint had run on the rear cover near the bottom. Too much to be ignored so I've gotta now sand that back and redo it. Lacquered the mobo-side window panel acrylic which has brought out the silver-blue beautifully. Depending on light and angle it has quite a good range of colour, so I anticipate the bars should show this nicely. Took it inside once dry to see how it contrasts against its intended purple panel (below). Also lacquered the front cover, and with a single coat on for now its got a nice colour to it. Very pleased with it. Andfor the 3rd and final bum note of the day, the weather goes and halts play. Its snowing well and I can't stay outside in the garage any longer as my blood is starting to freeze too. EMPTY TANK ========= 5th Feb 2012 Ventured out into the wilderness that is Coventry, keeping my head low to avoid incoming snowballs, and made my way to Halfrauds (translation - Halfords ) for some emergency supplies in the form of 2 more cans of primer (and a few more bits n pieces). Came back home and got to work on priming the chassis and allowed it to dry while I worked on sanding down the rear cover that I screwed up yesterday. That has now had a fresh primer base added and a new light coat of purple. More to be added to build that back up to expected standard. The chassis has also had its first coat of metallic blue added and I'm amazed at the colour coming off it. Very happy with that. Only downside is that I've now ran out of blue. I really didn't expect to use so much paint, so thats gonna have to wait until I can get down to the shop for more as I'm back at work from Monday. Updates will slow down naturally but I shall post as and when I've something worth it. Chassis pics below, as it stands now... A NEW FRONT 'ERE ============= 9th Feb 2012 Hope you've all had enough of the cold like me. Time to get back to some progress... Have given myself some small tinkering to do, by way of assembling the main res mounts onto the now completed acrylic board. I think it sets it off nicely - what do you think? I have given the chassis its second coat of blue paint today, and here's the end result in daylight to give a better idea of colour. Its the closest to the actual shade I can give you without showing it you in person. Woohoooooo!!! My custom front panel arrived today. I'm impressed at how close to intended design it came out - fantastic job. One minor snafu in that its missing the 2 right hand holes for the fan due to a software glitch in converting the file but I am not fussed as I can drill this myself. I've lightly sanded the surface and washed it to get rid of any residue and have given it 2 coats of primer so far. Will work on it for drilling and test fit later on before prepping for paint. Many thanks to Adam Lewis and team at www.waterjetcutting.co.uk for making this to spec and for the quick turnaround. I highly recommend their services if you need to get anything made up. Thanks for looking - Jayce 9th Feb 2012 (Cont'd) Two updates today, just before I crash into bed. I've spent another few hrs down the garage giving a few more thin coats of purple to the upper covers. They are pretty much ready for their lacquer coats now. I've applied the finishing lacquer to the drive bay stealth cover and its got a very nice sheen to it as you can see below. Thats one more piece down... Spent quite some time test fitting the parts for the front panel. A few tweaks needed with the reservoir screw holes as they were not quite big enough and out of position by fractions but enough to cause issue. So I redrilled the holes, ruining one drill bit in the process. Also lined up and drilled the two holes to complete the fan mounting holes - what a pain in the ass that was!!! Two ruined drill bits for that as the steel just burnt them out. I tried taking my time but it just would have it. Anyway, got it done finally with a minor warp of the steel. Nothing that can't be fixed. Threw on 2 coats of purple coz I just couldn't resist and its looking ok for now. It has imperfections in the metal that need filling out so this will be sanded down a bit and redone but I got to get me a good look at it, And my patience just doesnt exist tonight so I did a very quick test photo with a few of the bits on. Looking good if I do say so myself... Good shot to show the variation in colours for the purple.
IT'S A COVER UP ============ 11th Feb 2012 Woke up early on this very cold morning as I had to go to work. Decided to tinker with a few bits before I went in and found the perfect bolts to mount the 140mm fan amongst my box of bits. Proceeded to test said fan with power and some UV lighting. Can't say I'm overly impressed with the noise from this as it seems a tad noiser than I expected. But not to worry as I will be having it on speed control anyway, rather than full power. Got home from work and new parts have arrived from waterjetcutting. You might be thinking "whhhhhyyyyyyyyy???" but these were part of the original order and I know they are the same then. Only using 2, with 2 spares, and these are for stealthing the drives as you can see above. Will get down to a quick sanding of the edges and prep for painting tomorrow. Thats all for now
Still waiting on the first post to be accepted by a moderator so the first big chunk is missing at the min. Comments are welcome tho as you can still see where I'm at for now
Hey Jaycius, first of all hope you get well soon! Another thing, is very hard to comment on this worklogs when you post all the updates in just 3-4 posts since there is a lot of work already done that we have to really focus on the last update. I would have gone for another color scheme maybe, but I can see that the work that you did with cutting and filing is very good. The reservoir you are using is not my taste, but I would try not to over do it by adding more acrylic... The painting process is very good! Keep it up, and once again, get well soon!
Granted and thanks for commenting anyway. I didn't want to post it bit by bit for what I've already done - makes it harder to keep track of for me. It IS a lot to take in at once but theres nothing stopping people commenting on bits if they choose to. It still incomplete so will be easier to follow from here on. Well everyone to their own for colour. I have had this in mind for the case from the beginning and I am generally one to stick to plans. With the early cutting and filing - it was indeed difficult with only one arm to rely on, and that got better as I healed. The painting is a first for me - one of the reasons the project was named Growth as this is to push the boundaries of my skills. At the end of the day its just a PC but I'm having fun along the way. Thanks - I am as healed as I'm going to be now. Recovered 95% of my arm motion compared to pre-accident. Hospital did not think I would recover fully, let alone within 1 year. They are quite amazed to be fair. I just want this built now and anticipate completion between April - June
