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Planning Peer Review: Project - Bi (working title)

Discussion in 'Modding' started by disturbed13, 29 May 2016.

  1. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    Project Bi – Concept/ Working Title
    *Disclaimer*
    I know that the feet on this case are not tall enough to deal with any carpet pile depth, this case is designed to be on a solid (unnoticeable flex) surface. So a table, counter top, 2x10, something that will allow for proper air flow. The case design is subject to change, if any peers have a better suggestion then my concept I will consider it.
    *End of Disclaimer*

    [​IMG]

    Im posting this as a peer review, I have never designed and built a custom made case/ system before. So please wait till I you see [END] (in parenthesis’ instead of brackets) before you start posting. It would be greatly appreciated. Along the way I will be asking for help from anyone that reads this, I still have a lot of questions.
    This rig is a micro ATX mobo on the gaming side (liquid cooled) and a mini ITX on the recording side. There are 2 machines in one case that is made of plexiglass (that’s what I will be calling it, someone can let me know if it should be acrylic or something else), and it is portable. There is a handle on the top, I know if I make it, I will have to show it. The gaming side will be just that, play video games at 1080p. The recording side is to record all of the gameplay footage (with no lag) and a web cam (for my face) or two (possibly a friends face as well). The main structure of this case will be epoxied together. No fasteners on the outside (except the top), and some beautiful cap head screws inside.

    Specs:
    Gaming Rig
    Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 (rev. 6.0) motherboard
    AMD FX-8350 Octo-core 4 GHz CPU
    16GB DDR3 RAM
    Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 GPU
    750 GB 7200 RPM 2.5” Main Hard Drive
    1 TB 7200 RPM 2.5” physical backup Hard Drive
    1 Kw PSU
    Liquid cooled

    Recording Rig
    Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI (rev 3.0)
    AMD APU
    8GB DDR3 RAM
    AVerMedia Live Gamer HD capture card
    750 GB 7200 RPM 2.5” Main Hard Drive
    1 TB 7200 RPM 2.5” recording storage drive
    500W PSU
    Cooled by H60

    We will start the tour from the bottom up. Here we go!
     
  2. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    The Logo
    [​IMG]
    This is a play on the tri-force (from Zelda) logo, there is a B (the triangles are the bumps of the B) with no out line and an I. so there is Force-Gaming and Force-Recording, thus Bi force. Bi for short, the logo is on both sides.
    Overall case dimensions
    [​IMG]
    For those of you who don’t measure anything in any metric (its shown in MM by the way), the case is 5.64321654” Wide x 18.04981496” Deep (front to back) x 23.19279134” tall. So its under 6” wide, its 18” front to back, and under 2ft tall. Without the handle, not too bad for 2 machines and the cooling power stuffed in there.
    The details
    [​IMG]
    This case sits on 5 case feet from mnpctech, please ignore the lines on the top of each. Those are just for me to easily find the center of each of the representations.
    mn pc tech case feet
     
  3. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    Then we have the bottom of the case, with a hexagon grill. All of the case parts are made from 3mm thick plexiglass, there are 2 clear side panels. All 5 of the case feet should not go through the plexi, I want them to be almost invisible. So the screw that holds them to the bottom of the case will need to be cut and superglue or locktite should be used to keep them from going anywhere. The front part of the bottom has a large surface area that is not perforated, this is for the bolting plate and the power cord for the 500w PSU for the recording machine. Above the center foot is a slot for a ‘tongue’ for the backplane to get glued into. The front and back have different puzzle cut edges to ensure I don’t forget how to put it together with the epoxy. On the right and left side is a groove for the clear sides to sit in.
    [​IMG]
    The front most magenta part is a bracket that is glued into the bottom plate of the case. This will hold the mounting bracket for the 500w PSU, behind that (toward the middle of the case) are two bars that fill the other holes. These lift the PSU’s off of the bottom of the case to give the possibility of more airflow for all 12 fans, and for the PSUs to suck in as much air as possible for themselves. I will get back to the 500w PSU later, im going to focus on the gaming side for now.
    [​IMG]
    At the bottom is the cut-out for the 1Kw PSU, above that is another small slot for another ‘tongue’ from the backplane. To the right of that is a hole for a plug w/ integral switch, that is also for the 500w PSU. There is a link under this paragraph to the website where I got it, above that is the gamine rig exhaust grate. A triple 120mm radiator in a push/pull setup will vent waste heat through that mesh.
    [​IMG]
    plug
     
  4. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    This is the internal radiator mount for the gaming rig, there are locations that will allow me to put a wire mesh fan grill (to keep small fingers out) then mount the fan and a fan gasket to the radiator. And the whole rad w/ push/pull fan setup into the case with just 4 cap head screws. I don’t want the screws to go out the back of the case, so the hole needs to be 1.5mm deep (3mm thick total plexi), and tapped that deep also (if possible). The mount is 6mm thick plexi (just for the record).
    Question A: how do I show the threaded hole (or the right size to thread) in SU?
    Now I just need to find the screws.
    [​IMG]
    There is a significant amount of room on either side of the 1Kw PSU.
    [​IMG]
    I went to monochrome because my laptop is aging, but here is the very weird backplane. I will get to the ‘horns’ at the top later. The hole in the middle of nowhere is for the bulkhead fitting. The notch in the very front (the large one) is for the H60, and the very small notch below that is for the 500w PSU. The two long runs above the PSUs are to run zip-ties through for cable management.
    [​IMG]
    The motherboard (with stand-offs and ram) are now in the model, the IO shield is going to be going out the top.
     
  5. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    I added the rest of the case ahead of adding the GPU.
    [​IMG]
    This is the worst GPU representation that you have seen in AutoCAD. I will use a flexable PCIe x16 ribbon extender, and I have the GPU orientated to show the good looking stuff. All of the cooling channels on the custom designed (yet to be started) full coverage block. I will design the block when I get the GPU (no point in laying plans for something that I don’t have). As for mounting the GPU in the case, there is a plexi tab that is glued to the top panel to form a back. Cap head screws will go from the gpu (HDMI side) into the threaded plexi tab. On the other end of the GPU there are 2 more cap head screws (going into the case to hold a bracket for the tail of the GPU backplate. The picture below highlights the GPU tail bracket.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    There are the 2 hard drives, im thinking about using a 5.25” bay adapter to hold both drives. Just cut the sides off and paint it, then put 2 holes on the bottom and use that to screw it to the backplane.
    2.5" bay adapter
     
  6. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    Gaming Rig Water Cooling!
    [​IMG]
    The overview of a nightmare that I had. Well lets get to it! This whole loop revolves around the XSPC Ion Res/Pump combo. I made a quick mock up from the dimensions that I could find online. I still need to design a custom bracket to hold it to the backplane using cap head screws. If you google the Ion then you will see there are 2 In ports (at the top) and an Out at the bottom. So the coolant goes down to a 3 way fitting, the drain stem is a piece of 13mm ID flexiable hose and a ball valve with a cap pictured later. If its not draining then it will go over to the bulkhead fitting and to the gaming side of the case. A piece of solid tube will take it to the CPU then a quick hop over to the GPU then up and to the rad. That is a Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 120.3 rad (30mm thin :D ) in a push/pull with Corsair SP120 High Performance edition high static pressure (3.1mm/H2O) – pushing the air into the rad. And Corsair AF120 Quiet edition high airflow – pulling the air out of the rad, please watch the Linus Tech tips video linked below. That’s where I got the idea, and after the chilling the coolant goes back into the res.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    linus tech tips duct tape on H60 - Push/Pull set up
     
  7. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    The recording machine ram and mobo are nestled in the corner, and the hard drives are basically in the same place as the gaming machine hard drives. The H60 has its niche, and there is a mounting bracket just like the 120.3 rad.
    [​IMG]
    The highlighted plate is a mounting plate to mount the 500w PSU internally, and run the cable to the back of the case.
    [​IMG]
    Please excuse the ‘paint’ issue, for some reason SU hates me. I bought an angled power cable from monoprice.com that I will do some surgery to connect it to the plug.
     
  8. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    3ft angle power cord
    [​IMG]
    plug
    With the power issue sorted all I will have to do is use the plug that came with the PSU and plug it into the wall. This thought allows me to hide the plug and have the exhaust exit the front of the case.
    [​IMG]
    A small exhaust duct will be made from plexiglass that will be epoxied to the inside of the front sheet of the case.
     
  9. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    This pic shows that there is some room to play with on the plug. And how the notch on the backplane holds the bracket.
    [​IMG]
    I exploded one side of the handle so you can start to see the crazy surface area that they epoxy will have to hold on to. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so I made the area that I referred to as the horns a curve for more surface area for the epoxy.
    [​IMG]
    The other side shows the pegs and holes, the pegs do not go all the way to the middle of the female side. There is an air gap that allows any epoxy to ooze out and should allow everything to seat nicely.
     
  10. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    [​IMG]
    The four holes are for the power and reset switches. The top is for the power switch, there is a link below. And the bottom is the reset.
    22mm power switch
    22mm reset switch
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Empty shots... Okay, that’s all that I can remember. So tear it apart, what did I forget and what did I do wrong?
    (END)
     
  11. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    i was hoping for some feedback
    even if someone thinks its stupid....
     
  12. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Im not into the modding side if bit tech but since no one else gave any feedback....

    The one criticism I would have is that it seems kind of inefficient in terms of space. Like you could expand it to take an ATX size board or shrink it down a bit for the mini itx
     
  13. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    OK, I found you.
    You ask way too much of 3mm plexi. -Especially in the bottom mesh and handle areas. Even 3mm aluminum would be stressing structurally.
    The tabs that hold the handle to the case could probably break with pressure from one finger.
    You gotta think about how heavy a full wc'd rig will be, and work some bracing into the design.

    Also, slot-tab design is awesome, but plexi thickness varies like crazy. I've seen variances from .103 to .13 inch in a single sheet. Be prepared for that. Alum is a lot more uniform 'cuz of how it's made. ;)
     
    Last edited: 22 Jun 2016
  14. disturbed13

    disturbed13 What's a Dremel?

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    okay so my thickness sucks, 1/4" is almost twice as thick
    obviously that is going to be a better choice, but would it be able to withstand the weight?
    ive never worked with plexi before

    and with the thickness issue noted and asside for now, any other critisims about the design?
    anything i should be very weary of or watch out for?

    thanks for your input
     

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