Case Mod - In Progress Project: The Smiler - Complete (almost) + New Photos Added 08/09

Thanks for the love guys!!

Oh no, somebody noticed!!

Yeah, it really really annoys me - I'm re-doing it next time I drain the loop (that's one of the reasons for the drain). When I originally did the bend I was working with a 20cm bending insert, which simply wasn't long enough to go up (from shroud to first bend) and then around the bend, so - I made the up part as long as I could with the insert I had and went with it... Can't wait to rip the thing out though!

Bit of advice for anybody thinking of working with hard tube - find the longest darn insert you can as a priority!!

 

I love this build, a (maybe) unusual theme but you've carried it off so well.

The Smiler is probably my favourite rollercoaster too so even better!

Keep up the good work

 

Very unusual, don't think I've seen any other roller-coaster inspired builds recently but it's good to be different right

I love the concept of the ride, and how the process of "Marmalisation" is designed to "Correct" you (I presume from Unhappiness) and I think the same concept can quite easily be ported to custom PC design - sure, having a high spec SLI graphics system running a game at ultra settings on 4K is a brilliant experience but, combining this with a system designed to further excite mental senses stands to enhance the thrill... It stands that The Smiler as a roller coaster alone (without the scenery and story) would not be as exhilarating as it is with it all...

P.S, thanks!

 

A small update

A notice on the crash.
Although I would like to stress that this build is in no way affiliated with Alton Towers, Merlin or Gerstlauer - my sincere apologises go out for the poor teens who were involved in the crash the other week, my thoughts and prayers are with you all and everyone effected by the tragic events that day at this traumatic time.

Update #1 - Custom SSD/HDD cover
Having done a brilliant job on the custom PSU shroud I asked my acrylic guy to produce some custom covers for the rather ugly drives in the "glory" spots in the case.



Update #2 - LEDs!
There's going to be a lot going on with LEDs in this case in future updates, but for now I've hooked up some 144led/metre LED strips to a BlinkStick Pro and positioned it behind my logo on the shroud (see previous update) to see what kind of effects I can get, here's a short video:



... Looking promising!! I don't want to give too much away at this point, but I'll be having quite a few addressable LEDs in the case with a number of different effects - got a lot more work to do first!!

Sorry for the slow progress on this, had to take a few weeks out for a family matter - but rest assured this project is alive and kickin'!

 

Absolutely brilliant build! So clean and well thought out. Crazy, but in a tastefully restrained way. The story behind the build is equally interesting and unique. If you don't mind me asking, was the acrylic work expensive?

 

Thank you, there's more to do, just hard to find the time. I think all in (Inc postage) I've spent about £90ish on the acrylic bits, but most of that is yet to go into the build - including a bespoke backplate which will hold the reservoir (I'm moving it), a custom fascia extension piece (so the PSU cover extends across the whole bottom) and the GPU cover, so quite a lot of acrylic (all bespoke) for the money I think.

Keep tuned, should have an update in the next few weeks.

 

Stripped case, SSD & GPU Covers

Once again, only a small update for now.. Had a lot of delays getting the new acrylic pieces sorted but they're now in the pipe line and due for delivery next week, so I thought it was time to get the case stripped down and prepare everything...


Empty case!


Some glory shots of the SSD/HDD with their acrylic covers now attached

Finally.. I've had a custom backplate for the GPU sitting around for some time as fitting it meant draining the loop and I didn't want to do this until everything was ready to go, but as all pieces are now almost ready I could pull out the GPU and get it fitted:


Now I just need to pull it all together and finally get this thing finished!!

 

Looks great. Nice work

 

Gpu looks Awesome

 

Thank you both

Everything is almost ready for another update.. Just waiting on a final delivery in the post

 

Cable Combs, Pump & Fascia

Time for another update

Cable combs aren't something I'd ever thought of using in a PC build, until I recently saw quite a number of builds using them, and as I needed to buy some sleeving & wire from E22 I thought I'd just buy some and see if there was any benefit (they were only a few quid, why not!)


The result using cable combs from E22

I must say I'm blown away with how much a difference these things make! Here's a side-by-side so you can see just how different the neatness is:

Left before and right after using combs

Also finally got around to fixing up the new fascia permanently:



This needed a bit of hacking away at the metal shroud on the h440 in order for me to hook up the RGB LEDs behind (see previous video for a sneak peek!) but the final result is quite a sleek line between metal and acrylic.

Finally seems like I'm getting somewhere with this project...

Keep posted for some exciting updates (I promise! )

 

PETG Tubes

Following a number of highly rated reviews of PETG tubing, and my ongoing battle with trying to make straight bends in this case, I thought I'd try a new approach and use tubes with fittings for the corners rather than bending...

So, I went ahead and bought some of the CoolForce by Nanoxia fittings and tube, cue glory shot of fittings:


I must say, these things look and feel just like Bitspower premium fittings, at a fraction of the cost! Yet to field test these things, but I have a lot of confidence in their ability thus far based on their build quality.

Down to business...

When I bent the tubes for this case originally I think it took around 10 hours to complete all bends, cuts, etc. With A LOT of trial and error - using the PETG tubes and fittings for corners I managed to recreate all of the lines in around 3 hours, quite a difference, so they get a big tick on the practicality front, next up (and something very important in this build!) ... their aesthetics ...



Now, this might just be me - and it may well be heightened by my absolute loathing of the not-quite-parallel bends I looked at for months in this case - but I love the look of the fittings in this case. I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I think for this build it's going to look gorgeous when the pipes flow with fluid.





You may also notice that I've now been able to mount the radiator fans back in sight - as I've simply added a fitting to route up into the rad, so the work on the fan covers wasn't in vain after all!

MOTM nominee - July 2015
I'm humbled to say that my build has been nominated for MOTM for the month of July here on Bit-Tech, so if you like what you've seen in this build so far I would be greatly thankful if you could head on over to the voting thread and cast a vote for me.


Still got quite a big mod to come, which involves a fully custom acrylic LED reservoir holder - and I was hoping I could get this in place this update, but there's still some tweaking needed. Watch this space.

 

Fascia, Res Backplate, IO Shield & Decal

Time (finally) for quite a big update!

First up, the fascia (i.e. logo) on the PSU Shroud didn't look quite right, where the "THE" lettering was countersunk, at most angles it was lost in it's own shadow and looked off - so I've now popped some extra acrylic lettering in the gaps to bring the logo flush with the surface:


IMHO - Looks much better with the lettering flush to the surface!

Next up - something I've eluded to (and I have been planning) for a longggg time: a custom backplate to extend the motherboard tray, to which the reservoir can be mounted, and a custom extension piece for the bottom PSU shroud, to cover the pump & cabling under the reservoir.

So, after many a failed attempt at getting things to line up, and getting the height / depth of the bottom extension piece right here's the final effort:

Worth the months of planning & effort I think

Whilst toying with the back piece I noticed how oddly silver the IO ports are on the otherwise completely black and yellow MSI MPower Max motherboard, and once I'd noticed it - it's all I could concentrate on!! So, I got made a simple cover for it


No more hideous silver ports!


It's all coming together now!! Can't wait to refill this loop!

Finally...

To bring the build right up to theme, I got a custom decal made of the smiler logo:

Love this logo, so hypnotic!

Full steam ahead.. Just waiting for a delivery from Mayhem UK, then I can get the loop re-filled, rewire & route the cables, and play with some custom LEDs. Then time to take this thing into the studio

 

Help!!!

So, my delivery from Mayhems arrived today - so I got straight to filling the loop. But, no matter what I do I can't seem to be able to stop a fitting from leaking!

This is the problem fitting:


No matter what I do - as soon as I turn the pump on, the fitting starts steadily dripping coolant.

I'm thinking this may be a limitation of the Nanoxia fittings I'm using, and the pressure I'm putting on the fitting from the run down to the shroud. Has anybody witnessed anything similar with these fittings when used in long runs?

I think I'm at the point where I'm going to need to re-think the tubing run. I'm thinking maybe something along the lines of:

Res -> Pump -> Left Pass thru -> GPU -> Rad -> CPU -> Right Pass Thru - Res

This would mean the longest tube run in the case is from the CPU to the pass through - which I'm doing at moment with no issue. But, I'm not sure about the asthetics of having a tube going in the bottom of the GPU and out the top! :S Maybe I could go in the side and out the top instead.

Suggestions?

 

I'm not sure why it would leak, have you tried another fitting? Maybe you nicked the seal when fitting it? Is the end of the tube a nice finish without any nicks or scratches?

I like this build, would be a shame to have to re-route everything due to one fitting.

 

can you change the O-ring ?

 

I'd suspect so, might need a "seal spoon" to get it out. Have you not got another fitting to try?

 

I've tried swapping out the fitting for another fitting in the loop which wasn't leaking to eliminate the "bad fitting" possibility. I've also tried with a different o-ring with the same result.

All tube ends have been de-burred using a deburring tool to ensure there's no nicks or un-smooth edges, so this can also be eliminated as a possibility.

I've tried tightening the fitting, loosening the fitting, pushing the tube further into the fitting / further out of the fitting, all to no avail.

This all brings me to a single possibility - the issue is the pressure being put on this particular fitting by the "hanging" fitting opposite.

I do like the current tube run - but that long run from shroud -> rad has caused me nothing but grief! It may well be time to admit defeat and move on to Plan B (Whatever that is!)

 

anyway to "subtley support" the pipe to take pressure off? does it still leak if you support it with your hands?

 

At the moment it leaks no matter what, no amount of wiggles or support will stop it. I did have it in a position where it didn't leak for about 10 seconds, and then the slightest jolt set it leaking again - which is the most concerning thing really - how temperamental the fitting is. I "could" add some support from above the rad to hold the pipe, but quite honestly it wouldn't look good - and I'd still have the niggling thought in the back of my mind about how precious the fitting is :S