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Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Hush!

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Monkey Puzzle, 17 Jul 2009.

  1. MrNitro

    MrNitro Performance Enthusiast =)

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    One sugestion: black tubes out - copper pipes in :naughty:
     
  2. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    Black out - copper tubes in? Do you mean keep the tubes copper-coloured? The trouble is that they don't stay shiny copper - they get to about 40C and so oxidise to brown quite quickly..

    Sorry for the lack of updates - Small update coming - just need to take some photos and upload them. :)
     
  3. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    could you not clear coat them?
     
  4. voigts

    voigts What's a Dremel?

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    A little spray lacquer would do the trick and keep them clear.
     
  5. lobster_johnson

    lobster_johnson Fear the Claw of Justice!

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    Woah, shiny! This is an awesome beast.
     
  6. TotalGaos

    TotalGaos Stainless steel.. hmm..

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  7. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    Thanks for the link TotalGaos - rigid pipes for tubing look a nightmare to change though, and they transmit vibrations, as I've found out recently!

    Small update atm, another to follow with new watercooling bits...

    I've made a replaceable front plate for usb, eSATA, audio etc. Still need to get my hands on some USB 3 ports though, so leaving it as just a flat plate for the moment without holes for the ports for now. Anyhow, the plate is removable so I can attach the aluminium plates (the bits with HUSH milled in) to the 37 copper fins with resin (in the 37 slots in the back) once they're ready and anodised, and take out the plate to adapt to attach new ports (or replace) in future if needed. Only a small piece, but filing it to just the right size and the tabs to the right depth by hand took a while!

    [​IMG]

    I did have a small tab of aluminium cut almost to size, but it's a different grade of aluminium and I expect it wouldn't anodise to be an indistinguishable colour, so instead I cut and filed a section from the piece of aluminium angle in the picture.

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    The finished piece with some of the tools used to make it... missing the big file...

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    The finished plate (upside down).

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    In place, viewed from the back:- I'll need to cut into some of the fins for the USB/eSATA/headphone ports to attach the the little inset plate....

    [​IMG]

    In place and screwed down:

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    Thanks for reading.
     
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  8. TotalGaos

    TotalGaos Stainless steel.. hmm..

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  9. Waynio

    Waynio Relaxing

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    Looking nicely polished mate & probably good thinking on getting the same grade of alu for anodising, not sure if it was absolutely necessary but thinking on like that covers you just in case :), I just know once I see this anodised I'll be wanting to get mine done too :D.
     
  10. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    The rate you're going Wayne you'l be anodising long before me! If you could anodise yours in a gun-metal grey using two the two grades of aluminium I have that would be very helpful. :D
     
  11. Waynio

    Waynio Relaxing

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    Apparently a quality black is supposed to be the most difficult to do perfect.
    Bars are 6063T6
    Sheets are 1050AH14
    So if I do get the different grades anodised it should show nice & clear if there is a noticable difference.

    But I'm still very unsure if I'll be getting mine anodised with the place I wanted to sadly, I contacted them but didn't reply so been preparing myself to keep all the metal naked :D brushed with polishied bits & most of the hidden parts painted.

    I found it is possible to anodise 1 side a colour & the other side another colour but I think it would cost quite a bit extra :hehe:but would be perfect for the back panel.
    I wanted to colour a lot of the internals orange but as close to copper as possible & everything external black.
    Think I'll phone them soon though to see if they are even a real business :lol:.
     
  12. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    Bit of polishing, rerouted the loop slightly, and added Bitspower fittings.

    [​IMG]

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  13. Waynio

    Waynio Relaxing

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    Certainly looks good :), I found polishing bars turn out best for a quality mirror look as it's easier & quicker to do on a bench grinder with mops but if putting in enough time on polishing a wider bigger sheet can turn out just as good but requires a LOT more patience & persistence to make it amazingly good like a mirror, it's fair to believe it's impossible :D but it's possible ;) but something I've not properly attempted myself yet :hehe::blush:.
     
  14. akibro

    akibro hmmm....

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    awesome work mate, keep it up
     
  15. NoobNeb

    NoobNeb Enthusiastic Lurker

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    that mirror finish on the back plate is just.. wow
     
  16. k4p84

    k4p84 What's a Dremel?

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    It's shiny and quiet... what more can we ask for !!
     
  17. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    [​IMG]

    So this project was started in 2009, and got to a working stage with hardware in etc, but as I was moving every year or more frequently for work (sometimes out of the country) I switched to using a modded Lian Li PC7 watercooled case, or briefly a gaming laptop for covenience.

    Last Summer when changing water in my loop I rediscovered this under a table, and for some unknown reason thought polishing it and finishing it would be a good idea. So what do we have?

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    Some work is needed... Those dribbly gummy looking bits on the boxes at the end are polyester resin that was used to fill crinkled valleys left when originally casting the polyester for the water distributor boxes using acrylic sheet for the mold (the polyester resin pulled the protective sheet on the acrylic off as it set). That'll need sanding down...

    Polishing was tricky - it's an intricate design with pipes in the way and is difficult getting between the cooling fins and pipes....
     
    Last edited: 12 May 2022
  18. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    Yes, yes I could! From researching into it there was quite a big research effort because of the need for protecting things like copper and brass statues and brass shell casings for the army in the 1960s by the international copper research association (INCRA) in 1964 with the development of Incralac, a lacquer consisting of a combination of an acrylic resin Paraloid B44 with a chemical called benzotriazole (which chelates with the copper ions to help prevent oxidization by any oxygen that should permeate the acrylic resin). I read a research paper analyzing copper and brass statues polished and then treated with incralac in the 1970s, most of which had held up very well to oxidation (the ones that hadn't had generally been kept outdoors).
     
    Last edited: 12 May 2022
  19. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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  20. Monkey Puzzle

    Monkey Puzzle Minimodder

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    Pro-tip: if you plan on polishing something to a near mirror shine (or as best as possible) do not first get it material blasted.

    It's quite a large hefty case (don't be fooled by the scale from the cat, who is a large Maine C-oon cross). It weighs something like 25kg iirc without the aluminium frame, and the copper back wall would need supporting to sand easily with power tools. This calls for a jig!

    [​IMG]Screenshots_2022-05-11-22-50-04

    I constructed a wooden slatted support frame that the pipes on the copper wall would sit between and then slide in a supporting plate, to allow the copper wall to sit horizontal without the pipes scruffing, and a large 10mm thick plate of aluminium to be drilled for the copper wall to bolt down onto and rest on to keep it flat for sanding.

    To get at the copper wall behind the copper pipes I used a 3" sanding disc rotary padworking up the grits of hook and loop attaching sanding paper discs (400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 then polishing compounds on soft wool pads/mops then cellulose thinner to clean) powered by a variable speed drill. To get clearance to avoid the pipes, the sanding pad shank was replaced with a longer bolt with the same thread. To avoid the weight of the copper from damaging the polester resin covered end boxes I bolted two heavy duty polypropylene stacking boxes together to act as a table sitting inside to take the weight, with a neoprene pad cut around the PP crate shape/lattice, and taped in place to give friction to stop it sliding.

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    Last edited: 12 May 2022
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