Case Mod - Complete Thermaltake UK Modding Trophy 2018 #TT20

Thanks for checking out my build log, I have been lucky enough to have been picked (1 of 5) to be part of the Thermaltake UK Modding Trophy 2018, It’s been 2 years since the last one, I am very honored to have been chosen.


I just want to say a massive thank you to all the sponsors, Thermaltake, Asus, AMD, Adata, Bit-tech and Scan for their support in this competition.


The name of my project is #TT20.


I have attached some drawing below that I submitted for the project, It will have a very clean look to the build. I always like to try new techniques or do something that I have not done in a build before and this build will be no different.


I will be keeping the front and the top of the case stock.



The back, side and the internal of the case will all be modded,


Back and Side






Front and side,



The Hardware,

• 1 x Thermaltake Level 20 XT chassis
  

• 1 x Thermaltake M360 Plus water-cooling kit
  

• 1 x Thermaltake 850W Toughpower ‘SYNC’ Edition PSU
  

[*]1 x Asus ROG Strix X470 - F Gaming motherboard.

[/LIST]

• 1 x Asus Dual RTX 2080 OC 8GB
  

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU
  

• 1 x Adata SX6000 256GB M.2 SSD
  
  

• 1 x Adata XPG Gaming D10 2,400MHz 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4

2x Riing Plus 20 fans RGB



6x Riing Plus 12 Fans RGB



TT Premium PCI-E 3.0 Extender



I do have more stuff coming once I have them I will update the build log.


Feel free to comment below.


Thanks Richard.

 

Looking forward to it. Well done for being selected. Big fan of yours. Great ideas. Keep it up.

 

Small update,

Had some more goodie from thermaltake,


Thermaltake Dasher Gaming Mouse mat,





Thermaltake X1 RGB, think I am going to mod this.




TT esports Nemesis mouse RGB




Like I said in my last build log I will be updating once I have more products.

If you have any question please feel free to leave them below

 

.
Thanks, hopefully everything will go to plan.

 

Hi Zakk33 the lime green is for another project you can find it under project:Snow, it’s in the forum.

 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend,

I do need some feed back on this post, I don't know if I am going to use pastel fluid or clear with dyes we have lots to choose from, I was going to go orange and black.

Here is the choices,



I have also have another package from Thermaltake,

We have some 90 degrees fitting and some extension, I am still awaiting on c-pro fittings,



We have 2 Pacific RL 360 Rads,





I also got a bending kit and 2x Pacific pump res combos.



The Thermaltake Pacific Lumi Plus, I am going to integrate these in to the custom distro plates.



And last but not least I have been sent Pacific V-RTX 2080 series waterblock, this is a great looking block, can't wait to get my graphics card from Asus.



I also want to show you all version 1.0 of my distro plate for the back of the case, I have never made a block which has two fluids going across each other, be good to get your thoughts on this.



Like always, if you have any question/feedback leave it below and I will get back to you ASAP.

Richard (aml custom)

 

I now have all the parts in,


Ryzen 2700X





Asus 2080, can not believe how big the heatsink is








Asus Strix Motherboard,








Testing,





Now that we have all the parts in, I can start putting everything together, going to test a few designs for the distroplates this weekend, then I will start airbrushing the motherboard and fittings.


Thanks for checking out the build log.

 

I have spent a few days testing paint, machine settings, and even did a quick test on some cable combs, I have also got some sleeving that I will be using, went with orange, carbon and black.


I just need to pick up all the cast acrylic on saturday and then it is full steam ahead.



Cable combs.


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I have upgraded my CNC to the work bee from ooznest,


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Did a little test on machine speeds and feeds,


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This will be the colour, I am using for the sleeving,


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I didn’t know if I wanted to paint my fittings so I did a test think I am going to go black with a hint of orange.
]


Think I am going to stick with the black and maybe add some orange.


I will try and show every process of me making my distro plates, so if you are not following the build log best hit the follow button.

Richard

 

So I have a few days off work this week have the house to myself so thought it was best to get a move on, so I have pull this case apart.



I dont need the back or mid plate as I will be replacing these with distro plates, here is a litlle sneak peek,




I have have no back on the case, I can start the basement, this is going to house the PSU the res and pumps and RTX 2080 card.I want to have a false floor, this will help cable manage the fan cables pump.

Start with marking it out.



I did make a mistake here, I had to move the RTX back 30mm I amended this when I cut the acrylic.



This could have cut with a jigsaw and filed down put I wanted to to use the CNC, plus the more I use it the more knowledge I get.



forgot to share my stack of acrylic I am sure I will need more.



I have place the false floor in to the case and add a big piece of acrylic on the back I am using 3 of these for just the back distro plate.



Its, start to look like something.

I tested the psu, I want this to over hang so it goes through the back of the case.



Think it looks good, at least I know the holes are straight.

Next was to try and get everything level, the has really pee me off, because I want to make the distro at the back of the case, and the case is being judged I need all the edge match and need it to work. I used the CNC to take a mm off at a time on the bottom and the side. I took 5mm each side and it was still a bit off, here is a photo any way.



I know the cause and a way to fix it but I will do that once I have done the distro plate but will need to do it before I put the mid plate in.

This is it for today, I am off again friday so I will make sure I can get the distro plate all done and get some photos up of the process.

thanks for reading the post.

Richard (aml custom pc)

 

Right guy's this started out so well, took a few days off work to make sure I had the time to get this right and it didn't really work.

Lets get started,

This is what I want to make, this will be on the back of the thermaltake level 20 xt.



I have never seen one done where the loops cross over in the distro plate, I have never done one before and with my old machine I had only ever done basic 120 res nothing as big as this and with a short time frame, here we go.

I am using 10 mm cast acrylic 365mm by 465mm. We are doing a base, this is one loop, middle for the second loop, and the third is the lid.

I made a custom bracket on my waste board so I new where to place the acrylic so each piece is using the same zero on the CNC.

This is what we started with,

Lid



I machine out the gpu, psu and the io, and drilled all the holes, everything going well.



Next, We do the middle



Everything still going well, and for the base.



Now that we have every thing is cut we need to tap the holes this didn't go well I normally use 3.3mm hole and use a m4 tap with my drill, this have always work for me when I have made custom motherboard trays and always did it this ways, should have done it by hand as the bit got to hot and was not doing the thread just a hole. I was gutted saw the light, when I should have just taken my time.

We did get a few positives it looked great everything fitted well and I could start to see my vision.

Negatives I messed up on the taps and I will need to sand the channels down.

I did test fitted it in to the case and it look great.





I was hitting my head off the wall and needed to step away, trying to think of a way for it to work.

 

Sorry it would not let me post it all in one here is the next part.

The next day I went back to the shop and re bought the acrylic, I changed the design just a little bit and went back to the machine,



This time when it was all completed I taped all holes by hand,





Once the holes were tapped I needed to screw them all in.





At this point I was yes it done, just need to leek test,



I filled it up and left it over night, the blue tape on the photo below is the fill line



As you can see it drop on a little but its too much.I added a few more screw but it does not seem to work.

I have spoke to a few people, I have no idea where the water is escaping and it could be an issue with the o ring channel could have a few deep pockets, it means the o ring is not sitting right.

Now I have two of them.



I now need to think how I can fix this, or I need to rethink the distro, maybe I should not over lap the channels.

Any ideas leave them below.

Thanks for taken the time to read the post.

 

Right I know what I am going to about the distro plate it is a very small leak, and if I cut another one It could put me behind. I have decided to add acrylic weld to the plates and this should stop the leak, by doing this I may need to add a cover to the front and back.


I have now got the sleeving, I am going with orange and carbon,





I am going to start on the side panel and get the screen mounted,





Got a few late nights planned this week so should have another big log on friday.

 

Don't weld. Add a TINY bit of clear silicone to the channels, placing the o-ring as you go, and clamp that sucker together FAST. If it dries too fast, use some mineral spirits.

 

Thanks cheapskate, I will keep that in mind.

 

I hope you get that distro plate sorted.... as its the coolest distro ive seen

When i route my plex because it's all done by hand i always notice there's a good amount of heat left in the plex from the routing... i can usually feel it as my fingers are always very close to the area...
This does cause a (very slight) amount of warping... some thing you prolly wouldn't even see with the eye..

If you can find the exact spot ? you can apply a small amount of heat and reverse warp the plex in the direction you need ( forcing it to clamp down).... i do this some times on bends to get the shape i want.

I hope the weldon works for you

 

Thanks I will take that onboard, I have seen what you can do with plexi, love what you are doing with your current build.

I thought about what I was doing and what I wanted to achieve, now when I look back I could have done it so many other ways and still got the same look, I guess that comes with modding you are always learning.

 

Right guys had a really rough few days, the back res has failed, so I don’t have much time left to fix it.

I am going to start the panel again but I am going to make it a lot simpler, it should still give the case the wow factor, just not as big, because of this all my panels are now short this includes the base, side panel and the mid plate so I have my hands full for the next few days the build gets pick up on the 7th dec. I am very confident I can get this build done by the 2nd dec ready for final photos.

So I better mod on.

 

great great work so far...

 

Thanks Kim.