Only a small update for this week, jigsaw and a couple of things I needed to cut the thicker acrylic I have have arrived. Was going to mock up the gpu loop with flex, but decided to strip the paint off of the block so that's also on hold. So far I've been finishing one job, and creating 4 more. I think I'm getting close to the tipping point where I won't be adding as many jobs to the list, or they'll be end-time finishing jobs instead of hurdles. Have almost finished all the PSU cabling now, just the 24-pin to do now. The PCIE ones turned out beautifully and am really happy with the coherent design. until next time, Mod On!
Well that took a lot longer than I’d anticipated. Still have a couple of strands to put into the main 24-pin cable but happy with the results so far. Still have to sleeve various other things, but I’m going to let my fingers heal up before tackling those. Seeing these finished in a pile has given me renewed vigor to tackle the rest of the build. Alphacool NexXxos Fury X Waterblock Next stage is some mods to the waterblock for the Fury X that I’m using in this build, and to put the gpu loop together with flex tubing to test my desired config. Until next week, Mod On!
I was hoping to show some progress on the watercooling side this week, but the powdercoat on the Alphacool NexXxos block is super tough - Aircraft Stripper barely took it off on a couple of corners. I did finish my ATX cables though, so here's some glamour shots in-situ All with MNPCTECH Billet Combs
Thanks Bill! Unfortunately this week I pulled something in my upper arm moving furniture so no modding has taken place. I did get another small project finished and sent out though, so will have a separate post to do with that once I've finished writing it up.
Have also had another crack at taking the coating off of the GPU block, without much success. Have one more idea of how to remove it which I’ll be trying later today. Powdercoat remover didn’t really do much to it, so trying sodium hydroxide as it might be anodized on. I know I could paint it, but I’m a big fan of bare metal and there’s a lot of it in other places of the build. I just got word that I’m receiving something very interesting from Alphacool soon, really excited to share that with you all once it arrives. Until next time, Mod on!
You want drain cleaner, oven cleaner or anything with caustic soda in it. It is anodising, I have seen other people remove it
Getting back to bare essentials A base metal and a stripper walk into a bar… It could be the start of a corny joke.. but it’s really the start of something beautiful. After a whole bunch of false starts, finally success! The anodizing is gone and the bare aluminium on the Alphacool NexXxos GPX block is revealed. Will be so much more in keeping with the overall theme of my build. Black anodizing removed from the Alphacool NexXxos GPX block Anodizing removal in dilute NaOH solution I’ve also solved one long-standing problem with the build. I’ve always wanted to paint the support frame on the Alphacool Susurro fans, as the blue doesn’t fit with the theme of the build. Was scratching my head wondering how to take the fans apart, as they don’t have an accessible c-clip as most fans do. Got to the point where I was going to irreversibly disassemble one so I could see how they’re made, when I decided to have one more go at pushing the fan hub off. Previously I’d balked as it seemed like something was going to snap, but if I was ready to write one off anyhow… Success! Once one came off, all 10 were disassembled in no time at all. Turns out there’s a slightly oversized flexible washer on the end of the spindle, so it holds the fan on with a combination of friction and pressure. Time for paint! Ahh, that’s better! Now that’s out of the way and not taking over my workspace, I can get back to figuring out the radiator placement on the top of the case and the acrylic pieces that I’m making for the inside. Just one more thing for this week, I was lucky to win a prototype tube bending kit from Alphacool (1 of only 7 currently). The Eiskoffer kit is fantastic on first impressions, and I’m really looking forward to learning how to use it as I get closer to the tubing stages of this build. I’m so in love with this case/kit Thanks again to MNPCtech, Modmymods and Alphacool, who have been awesome throughout this process.
Few minor tech support issues, but with the purchase of a new Crosshair Hero WiFi (AC) we're back on track. Have got Ballistix Elite (32gb kit rated at 3466) in there currently for some testing and review. Still working on an issue with my GPU, hopefully that will get resolved soon and regular updates will now hopefully resume. Thanks to you all, and to my sponsors, who have been nothing but patient through these hiccups.
Nice cables, and good job figuring out how to take apart those fans! I tried doing that once, ended up destroying the fan and not learning anything.