So it's been a LONG while since my last post here. Some of the older folks may remember my attempts to start a Bioshock build back in 2010. Well after getting married, buying a house and having 2 kids, I had to cut my losses and just build a standard rig due to space. Over summer though, I thought about a new case, with the remastered Bioshock out. An ITX version complete with Art deco work and an aged copper appearance. After many hours on Sketck up to make a really good design, I ran it by the wife. So now I'm doing an Overwatch ITX scratchbuild instead Why ITX? Well space is a premium at the moment with two toddlers, so it needs to be out of reach of their grubby mitts. Also, I'm still at an age where I can LAN with friends, so the more portable the better. After a few hours work and some research this is where I'm up to: For anyone not in the know, the face is taken from Winston, but sketch up wouldn't let me cut out the "face" to show the fan hole properly so apologies for that, and I'm not about to try and find the broken line! This is the side window, made to show as much as possible without any cables showing. And without the panel you can see the false floor I have planned to help with cable management. Back of the case means you can see that I'm going to use a SFX psu to power it. One of the new Corsair ones for reliability. This view shows the motherboard tray with cable holes. I'm planning on having some cablemod custom made ones, so I don't have as much clutter. Lastly to avoid a boring side panel, I will, or more likely an artist will, "graffiti" the Pachimari from Overwatch on the side to make it more interesting. In terms of scale the case dimensions will be: L270mm x W174mm x H325 This also takes into account the use of a Corsair H100i V2 (or similar) and a smaller length GPU like the EVGA GTX1060 SC, which fairs very well in cooling despite it's smaller heatsink. I figured given the high pressure fans from the rad rans and their proximity to the other parts, there won't really be much room for heat to stay trapped anywhere. The case itself will be made from 2mm aluminium, which will be mostly cut to size before it arrives to me, I just then have to trim it down, cut the holes etc, making it much easier with the little time I have. If you're wondering how the sheets will be fixed together, I've done some research into methods and think that Brazing the aluminium in place (aside from the 2 side panels) will allow for as few screws as possible giving it a much cleaner look. It may need some trial and error, however seeing as you can do it at the same temperature as a kitchen heating torch, it's not too difficult. Any comments, questions or suggestions are welcome.
Steep learning curve So progress has been slow. A couple of busy weekends and a manic work life at the moment have put paid to that. Anyway, here's where we are so far. This shows the front fan hole for the overwatch logo. I had originally intended to cut the shape directly into the Alu, but realised this would lose definition of the logo. As such I opted to cut a plain hole and will stick/weld the logo in place over the top later. More work but should give a better finish. I then moved on to the back panel. I looked around online for dimensions for the PCI and I/O slots. Be careful when doing so, I think some people must have funny rulers as some of them are odd. The grid on the side is for the drilled mesh I'm doing. Punching all those holes was not fun... ...Drilling them was worse however. In the end I sat down doing it as my back was aching haha! You can also see I've drilled then used a jigsaw to remove the I/O plate hole. All this now needs to be filed and titdied up. P.S. Do excuse the top row of drilled holes, somehow I missed my punch hole a couple of times with the drill and they're noticeably inaccurate to my eyes. Next time I might invest in a drill press to do them for accuracy, but funds wouldn't allow that with Christmas on the way. Next I'll aim to cut the window out, should be a simple 20 mins jigsaw job that one. until next time!
So another mental week and a family filled weekend passes by. I managed to squeeze in some time though, much to my wife's annoyance. I jigsawed the window out, but for some reason haven't taken any WIP photos of that. Will take a nice one once it's all tidied up with a file. I did however cut out the silhouette of Winston's face today: A stuck down template may be low-tech, but it's working for me and my coping saw. And after he's finished. I still will need to cut the glasses, nose and mouth pieces, so will be recycling that cut out piece in order to do that. BTW if you were wondering, yes that is a window sill I'm using as a workbench. It's far too cold this week for me to brave my man-shed as it has no heating haha. Finished up the backpanel template for the SFX PSU and then also cut the PCI slots. I decided to do all of it with my coping saw in the end. I'm sure a real metal worker would tell me off, but after using the jigsaw for the window, I liked the control I have with the smaller saw and it means a lot less filing afterwards. Then I templated and cut out the logo for the lower front fan grille. Gotta say I'm really chuffed with it, needs only some light sanding to smooth off, but is otherwise nigh on perfect for being done all by hand. I also looked in to getting some mesh for behind the front fan holes. Not only will it stop my little ones from shoving fingers in a moving fan, but handily I can tidy up the Winston face and bond the features to the mesh itself to hold them in a "floating" kid of way. Took an age of man to find the appropriate mesh. In the end I settled for this 4.5mm hex mesh from eBay. It's weird though the lack of mesh types out there on PC modding sites. And here's the mock up on the front panel. Obviously I need to finish off Winston's facial features, but otherwise I'm really happy with how it's looking. Next up, after a long session of filing, will be the brazing. The wife was generous enough to say I could purchase the equipment on the join account, but I felt like I was stealing so will wait until my post-crimbo pay check to get that in. Not to mention I'm going to be forking out for a simple metal brake as well! But sshhhhhh! Don't tell her about that one! Until next time folks!
Nope you're right they've now gone for me too. I'll upload to another site and see if that works. Sorry! Edit: Hopefully, that's better! Let me know if not!
