Case Mod - In Progress Redefine R4 **FINISHED MARCH 2015**

Nice progress here! Can't go wrong with the black/red theme I see.

 

Looking very nice man! And indeed, the lips should be a bit longer for the cables to stay in properly...that was also one of my learnings Downside however is that you have to bend the clip open to get the cables in if you have such a long lip.

How is the double sided tape working for you btw? As just posted in my thread, a few of mine are starting to come off a bit, but maybe I just put stress on them too early (damn my impatience).

 

Evenge,

Thanks man, i also love the colors

Azariel,

Thanks for your support!
The tape I'm using is tesa's ultra strong (did I mention it in the update?). The specs say it holds up to 150kg/20cm^2, so i think ill be good. One tip though: clean the surfaces with acetone first, it'll hold better

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A rather "wet" update..

Hi again, been a while since the last post..

Anyways, I found money for water cooling parts! Yay, finally

So, here they are:


Testing the looks:


So, let's get to mounting them:
first off, the GPU..





Next up, the reservoir. This needed a bit more work to be done. The Phobya mounting brackets were really ugly black pieces of plastic, so I made a new one from copper and painted it black.
Here is the first prototype:


And the res with the proto:


This was my first idea, to use allen screws (m3) and sink them to the small "holders". I simplified it though: double-sided Tesa Ultra-strong tape

So here is the finished version:


And painted:


I also needed a fill port (and a drain, no pucs of it though [its kinda ghetto ])


Ok, now it is time for the tubing... I used 10mm chromed copper tubing with push-in black fittings.

So, the first tube done and in place:

The reservoir with the holder is seen also, the tape's cover is still un-peeled though..

And then the rest of dem tubez.. I was so excited that I forgot to take any pics during the tubing.. Sorry about that



Filling went fine on the 3rd try:
one not-so-properly installed tube, a leak, a wet mobo and a wet graphics card later, it was fine

I let it dry over the night, and it booted up happily in the morning
Temps dropped approximately to half, so money well spent

I also installed a white led-stripe to the "roof".
Heres a pic of it running:


Still, there a things to do:
- a window
- something to the top to cover the fan holes (allowing air to pass through though, maybe a aluminum sheet on raisers..?)
- a new gfx card, maybe titan once I have the funds.. (670+ triple screen= nono)
- fix the tube running through everyting (in front of the graphics card)

That's it for now!

Please comment

 

Good work mate. I like that you also are working with a Fractal case. Keep it up!

 

Nice going, you're officially way ahead of me now.

A watercooled functioning computer...actually a functioning computer in any state would be ahead of me

I actually don't dislike the tube going across the front. It's actually kind of cool.

I also dig the wire duct/shroud thing, but I don't know if it would look better painted black like the rest of the parts.

Darkened

P.S. Do you still have my small file somewhere around? I could pop by one of these days and pick it up and see Redefine in person as well...

 

Thanks hero!

And darkened,
Ill most definitely look into painting it black, once I take the rig apart again.. It ain't too easy

And yes, I've got the file. Sorry about forgetting it so bad.. How about Thursday evening?

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You've got PM...

Darkened

 

Name plate..

Hi again,

I got an idea of making a name plate (or two) to the case. Now, they're done

Etching aluminum is quite easy:
You mask your piece of aluminum (using laser printer; Google PCB toner transfer for more info), get a jar, a scrap piece of aluminum, salt (NaCl, table salt), water and an old psu. Connect the +12V to the masked piece of alu and 0v to the scrap piece. Fill jar with water, add salt and stir. Put both aluminum pieces to the jar (make sure they're not touching..) and plug in the psu. If all is well, the jar will start to bubble. Wait a few minutes (depending on the size of your creation), plug out the psu and wash the masked al piece. Voilá! (a more detailed guide can be found here: http://www.instructables.com/id/ValveLiTzer-Redux/step6/Etch-the-Aluminum-Plates )

Few pics of the etching process:



a close-up:




Anyway, here's my first try:



I wasn't too happy with it (it has some dark spots and scratches on it..), so I had to try again
I made too pieces, the top most is the failed, original one:




The next step is to paint it:



Then you gotta sand the paint off. Makes sense, right?



Meh, that's it for now, I was thinking of placing one of these to the top-right corner of the front, I'm open for suggestions on the other's placement

Raz out

 

So I returned Darkened's file and he took some pics of Redefine!

Here they are:







More & bigger: https://www.dropbox.com/sc/ynptticxz56hiu1/2hEiiBp7Pk

Oh, and a bit of an update: one of the name plates found its place!



Good night fellas!

 

I received a GTX Titan in the mail last week, here's the update.



Now, lets unwrap the **** out of it:










After the nerdgasming, I put the card in place.
Step 1: Empty the loop
Step 2: Remove the front rad
Step 3: Remove all tubing
Step 4: Redo most of the tubes because I didn't actually like the original ones ("OCD" strikes again..)
Step 5: Install the Titan
Step 6: Install the tubing
Step 7: Refilll the loop

aaaannnddd done!

Now, I'll let the pics do the talking

I made a new drain port:



Still, I'm too ashamed to show you the old one

Here's the interior:



The tube from the res to the drain and the pump now goes straight through the horizontal shroud, no visible bends -> better.
I also had to lower the res. The tube from the CPU to the res is just temporary, hence the extension. It's waiting for a block to the Titan.



Just one more thing: the fan holes in the roof bothered me, so I made a new roof plate from al and painted it black.



There are 10mm stand-offs between the plate and the roof to make airflow possible and have space for the fill port.

Thats it, I think will see a window in the update, who knows?

Bye guys!

 

Nice going man, I dig the new cleaner look a lot. That said, I did like the old tube going across as well.

Are you going to make a new side piece for the shroud or cover up the old hole some other way?

Darkened

P.S. Scratch Stara for me

 

Hi,

I gave a thought for the hole, and decided not to make a new shroud because that would be a huge operation, and I haven't got enough alu plate anyways, so I'll cover it up somehow.

Oh, and the sidepanel with the window covers it up just fine

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Those are the basic choices though, re-do the part, cover it up with something cool or just let it be

More often than not, I'll end up re-doing parts and that's why my stuff takes ages

Just a thought, could that be a place for the second signature plate? Make it show through the window, add a led to light it...

Darkened

P.S. How about them scratches?

 

The name plate could be a choice, we'll see what I'll come up with..

Here's the window design we talked about while taking the pics:


So, the hole won't be seen. Unless I make a mini-window just for the nameplate and its led.. There's one option again..

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Phew, finally. DONE

One great project done, new projects waiting. Its been a long journey, and the build was remade quite a few times. My studies and issues in my personal life kept me from the build at times, thus it took way too long..

Final photos, by Janne Aavasalo (japhoto.fi).








Anyway, here we are. At the end of the road. Thank you all who have taken part in this project.

Please comment, share and tell me what you think