Case Mod - In Progress Project Arc - Finally! Watercooling installed 29-07-2015

Ohh yes Azariel, the shroud is a clever idea that really tidies up the cables. the only thing I'd say is that your work looks so tidy and clean that the top bays look out of place. Just thinking a simple cover would clean it up. (hope it's not a suggestion too far)

Does look really good tho'

 

^ Agreed. The whole case looks so clean, it makes the bays look out of place, but I'm sure a cover is already in the works

 

Awesome cable tidying work so far

 

Hehe, thanks guys! And to be honest....have thought about it several times....but still not sure what to do with it! I could either completely close it up but that will severely block airflow, or maybe just a flat/clean plate on the side but that will leave the SSD+HDD in sight (think will go for a 2,5" hdd to be able to do a 90 deg mounting).

Will have to think about it a bit more!

Thanks man!

 

A plate on the side with a curve going to the back, but not closing the back would look great I think. And it would keep it in line with the rest of the looks.

 

A curve like I made for the PSU shroud will not be possible, as the top radiator is in the way of making that bend unless I do an off set on the side panel. That however would mean the side cover would be almost flush with the side of the case itself and I would like to avoid that

Maybe I'll try to do a more square 'box' around it, but with the side facing the motherboard perforated with some large holes which follow the case's form language and some mesh behind it.

In the past also had plans to completely shroud both radiators, but I actually like how they look now Even the grey parts of the Corsair fans start to grow on me

 

Hi,

Looks awesome mate, love the home made tools... should really try and do the same!
Well done and will certainly keep an eye out!



3v1L,

 

Log 17 - HDD cage and power button

Thanks for all the comments so far folks, much appreciated!

On with another (small) update: HDD cage and the power button+plate.

As usual, I forgot to take several images during the fabrication, but to be honest, nothing unusual going on. Drawing, printing, cutting, filing/sanding and finally painting and picture taking

The only more special thing was that I had to create some mounting brackets for the panel, as the original was a full plastic piece with its own backplate. So a few aluminium brackets were fabricated! Looking like this when mounted:




Now then, just for you some before and after shots Just for the record, the before shots aren't actually my photo's, but its a bit-tech shot of the case-review I cut up (hope you don't mind gods of bit-tech forums).

So, before! To be honest, not too ugly, but the squarish power button just didnt sit well with me, nor did I need all the other connectors. Now I know for a fact I will be cursing at myself at some point in the future for taking out the USB connectors...but ok...



And the after shots:



And a bit of an artsy one (loved the lighting on this one)



While looking at the photo's I see I actually need to slightly bend the brackets as its not perfectly flush, but thats a very easy fix as its aluminum

The LED ring in the vandal switch is red btw, but as its not hooked up yet, no images of that yet.

Next part, the HDD cage! As I decided to go the 2.5"way (meaning 2.5"SDD, but also a 2.5"HDD just to keep the size minimized) I had to think of a way to mount them, but also to have them 90 degrees rotated to have the connectors on the sides.

Next to that, I also wanted to use the rubber grommets from the original fractal drive bays to be able to reduce vibration. Meaning these (again, picture courtesy of Bit-Tech.net)



So due to those grommets I wouldn't get away with some small holes.

So here is my design process with some remarks below it.



1: Trying to mimick the Fractal way of having one bigger circle to put the grommet through and then slide them into the smaller circle. Result: With this setup I would block all airflow between the drives as the holes would be on the sides of the drives itself.

2: Again using the Fractal system, but then with additional slots for air. I actually made this version but failed miserably at it. Without a drill press (using a big cordless hand held drill) the overlapping 'holes' were a complete disaster as the drill bit slipped to the side of the already drilled hole. Next to that, even though I used a center punch, the holes I drilled on the 'air slots' also failed. Result, a mangled up piece of aluminium which I threw away.

3: More simple design, no fancy grommet insertion system (just force them in) and more square air-slots. This one was also made, and was elected as a good alternative

Results: Bent bracket + grommets



Painted and grommets mounted



And finally, in the case (yes yes, drive bay shroud will come later )



Btw, the last image is without the side panel, so the 'white parts' in the photo will of course not be there in the end.

Anyway, last but not least, I finally ordered a lot of components to get the system running! The only thing that is still missing are the water cooling components, but they will come later. Components should be underway as we speak, but here is atleast the updated parts image!

Again, not sponsored, just the parts I ordered/bought



Your comments, remarks, critique, questions and everything else you can think of are more than welcome! Don't hold back

 

Log 18

So.....after a nice holiday it was time to do some modding again and finally get some hardware in!

But first, let me share a nice holiday picture....



That being said, lets get on with the update shall we?

The hardware was supposed to arrive a few days before I would go on holiday, but due to a delay it arrived half way through...leaving me 'overseas' wondering if it would all boot OK (had some bad experiences in the past).



Started with installing the HDD's into their new cage...



Followed by



Now the observant reader will have noticed that I did not use the fancy fractal screws that belong to the nice rubber grommets...As I was installing the drives I realized that SDD's (and 2.5"HDDs for that matter) use a different screw size.... I mean, I should have checked, but as I didnt have any small size drives before I didn't know...So I went into my box-o-screws and found some that 'fit'...and by fit I mean they sink into the grommet, but sit in there quite snug actually...so they actually work. Downside is they aren't that nice black color.

So, onto the rest of the installation with some of the stock parts as watercooling will be added later(left out some of the panel work just to fit things in and it booted! Which made me a very happy Aza.


(appologies for the blurry image...apparently I messed up with the focus point but was the only shot I could use for this stage)

As you could see it was quite messy in there, so I started thinking about some cable management. It would have been great if I could have used the MDPC-X's cable clamps, however, some of the new panels decrease the space there, and they would simply not fit. So I had to think up something myself. Be amazed by my 1337 craftmanship and über proffesional tools!



Edge bent with some plyers


Superduper bending rig (didn't have a rod handy, so just used the drill itself)



Step 1:


Step 2:


And presto!


A nice collection of low-depth clips Which I then proceeded to paint my standard matte black of course


Which work like this (after using double sided tape to stick em on)



Other side (24pin) will be a bit more tricky as its just that much more wires to route and they are quite stiff...



Finally I leave you with an image of the inside of the case, slightly more tidied up I still need to sleeve the PCIe cables, and need to make a solution to hook all fans to (only 3 are hooked up to the motherboard at the moment).



Next steps will be order a lengthy list of water cooling components as I do not have any 'old stock' to work with as my previous watercooling setup used pretty thin tubes with push-in connectors (worked well, but wont use it for this case).

As always, thanks for watching, and your comments are more than welcome!!

 

nice cable clips. They look great

 

looking good there buddy!!

Really like those cable clips.

 

As above. Cable clips are a perfect little mod. props!

 

Wow, these cable clips seem like a good idea!

Mind if I copy them (atleast the idea) to my Redefine?

Great looking build, wanna see this with da tubez (thumb)

 

Thanks all!

Sure, be my guest! One tip though, make the 'lip' at the end slightly longer than I did will hold the cables in a bit better I think (although getting the cables in will be slightly more tricky).

 

Actually atm I'm sitting outside painting my edition of your clips, I'll post an update later to my log, please check it out

In my case these "lips" are very short too, gotta see how they turn out!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4

 

Hehe, very curious what you made will check em out tomorrow (?)

 

the attention to detail is just amazing, this is a perfect example of someone taking a great case and perfecting it! cant wait to see the loop!

 

Loving what you're doing with the case. And those little clips, just pure genius!

How's that little WD treating you btw? Tried cheating in a similar manner with a 1tb samsung I tore out of its usb 3 housing and it's given me nothing but pain ever since.

 

Thanks man!

Thanks! And that little WD is actually behaving quite nicely! Silent, quick and stable (atleast as far as I can tell)

 

Any chance you might get a sudden overpowering urge to tell me what WD you're using there?