Planning Metaversa 2.0: Even More Messing about with concepts...

Looks good. I sent you those rads from the US, though-are you still thinking about them? I found how to connect them all pretty easily.

Looks like the core from the new Airplex Modularity series. Am I right?

 

Those rads are intriguing, but also huge, and I'm not sure about their performance. I need to have a look at them again.

Yup, it's the Airplex Modularity 420 in coppery goodness.

 

Or use the tubing from above in tension to hold them up?

 

The Sketches looks awesome!

 

OK, here are some more designs I have been playing about with. These have all been drawn up around an Asus Maximus VI Impact mini-ITX motherboard, and a set if IN-14 Nixie tubes as temperature/flow/fanspeed indicators. Still somewhat steampunk, still involving some CNC aluminium and brass:



This design involves an XSPC EX280 radiator with dual 140 fans and a brass Aquatube (which I have managed to acquire one of the the last ones of!). Mobo is the Asus Impact; GPU the Asus nVidia GTX670.

The problem with this design is that having the res under the radiator makes it a bugger to fill without trapping air pockets...



This is more of a tower design around an XSPC EX360 radiator with Gentle Typhoon 120mm fans. Still an Aquatube res. The thick plexiglass plate at the front would contain water channels (a bit like nhenhopach's interconnect plate) or P0Pe's watercooling design).

The problem with this design is that it allows only for a 17cm GPU card like the GTX670, which limits expandability a bit.

Then there is this (more Dieselpunk than Steampunk, admittedly):



Again around the Asus Impact, the GTX670 (although bigger cards fit comfortably), and an XSPC EX280 radiator and Aquatube.

The advantage of this design is that it is realtively easy to manufacture (only two identical CNC pieces, four simple pillars and the rest 3mm laser-cut aluminium) and allows for bigger cards. Moreover the wooden panels (here reddish-brown) are magnetically fitted on an aluminium base frame and interchangable for other materials. These are the windowed versions, but there could also be non-windowed ones hiding the mobo and the SSD's from view yet still allowing easy access for maintenance.

In terms of different materials, I was thinking:

• The Wood edition: Walnut, Rosewood, Oak, Cherry...
• The Piano edition: MDF panels painted in gloss black piano lacquer
• The Leather edition: MDF panels covered in old leather, like a good book.
• The Metal edition: MDF panels covered in rivetted polished aluminium, brass or oxidised bronze, reminsiscent of 1950's airplanes or stean engines;
• The Carbon edition: MDF covered in carbon film;
• The Tough Edition: thick profiled rubber and metal covering plastifoam panels. Clip on for those rough trips to LAN parties. Can be made to look badass with "battle damage" if you want.
• The Canvas edition: MDF panels painted with a white primer coat. Add your own car paint or cover in your own airbrushed or handpainted graffiti art.
• The Skeleton edition: for the purists, no panels at all but a look like below:

Yes, I'm planning to build this one. Yes, I am talking to a forum member with l33t CNC skills. Yes, it has the potential to be a commercial product (some details are not visible on these designs for obvious reasons) but if I decide against mass-production for cost/feasibility reasons I will release the SketchUps as open source instead.

 

Where's the spot for nixies?

If these go into production, I want a sponsorship. I have a system to go in already, but this looks better than anything else I've seen working for a long time.

You still want my Illuminato?

 

The nixies are at the top of the radiator, in front of the res. Not very visible; SketchUp does not outline cylindrical glass objects clearly...

Illuminato, is that the keyboard with gemstone keys?

 

http://www.liquidware.com/shop/show/ILLI/Illuminato::Genesis

The Arduino clone with a ton more connections. I thought you wanted it to run the nixies.

That keyboard could still be a possibility with a better keyboard to work with. If someone wanted to donate a Cherry switch keyboard I could set it with amber keys pretty easily, just take time. I could build one in exchange for a case, I think. If you want to consider it, PM me. I need a spare project right now, and I love lapidary work.

 

Oh, yeah! Absolutely, I had it in mind all along --I just forgot what the thing was called. If you're selling, please let me know.

 

YGPM, brother. Anything you want, just let me know, I'll make it.

 

Delicious, as always. I have to say the wood paneled design looks like a StarTrek prop. -in a good way.
I sometimes wish simplification wasn't necessary, but the average machine shop charges $50-$100 every time they have to reposition a part.

 

Flippin awesome!

Gotta love fat luminum. Expensive, heavy and gorgeous. Is there a market for this? Not so sure. But you gotta build one, if not for yourself, do it for us.

 

You'd be amazed how cheap 12mm aluminium plate is.

I sure plan to build it. If it comes anywhere close to the quality of your cases, I'll be a happy man.

 

*hnnnnnggg*

 

Troll. Post moar.

 

Check your email.

 

Troll status retracted. Agree with your assessment. Is this a batch run or single piece production?

 

Single piece at the moment. But Skyrip, who is is doing the CNC-ing, can possibly be convinced to do another. He prefers to do one-off prototypes rather than production runs though.

I can't emphasise enough how much work he has put into this. He painstakingly checked all the details with me and at his insistance even redrew the SketchUp parts in Solidworks, because SketchUp sucks at curves (drawing them as segmented polygons, which would show in the final product). He's been a star.

 

I more meant all parts at once or a piece at a time around other orders. Got some nice amber I dragged out of my secret stash, I should post you a pic of it. Incredible stratification lines, inclusions of air, water and stuff. Would make a nice power button at least...