I am sorry not to offer a quality thread like the ones we can follow on project logs, I never pretend to be a modder, only a modder entousiast, a tinker who wants to try himself in modding, I have limited skills as of now, I am learning of my mistakes, and often discover how tricky it can be to make your ideas coming to life. My time is also limited, I have plenty of other activities, plus my work, ( it started again last week luckilly )...so it is obvious that I do not always know where I am going , I spend time thinking about how I will realise this or that, I try, sometimes I fail and start again, or try another way, so it takes me a lot more time than others, but as Cheapstake said to me once, "it's not a race" All of this to say that after a few days thinking about the following steps, I started this MB armor, but I realise that I can't make significant progress until the case is nearer to completion...I must finish the motherboard tray and the caseback plate where everything is mounted, and I had another crazy idea... My goal in this build is a very clean cable managment, and that the minimum of the loop tubes can be seen running through the case... I first thought about pass-throughs and to mount all the tubbing behind the case, but 23 cms are too short to realise it, and I won't start a new case... The last mod from Douglas Alves, the thermaltake 20th aniversary, inspired me, he managed to make a distro-plate without any CNC machining, and any rubber seal, only by sticking together 3 acrylic plates, I will try something like that too, including wire channels, I made this simple sketch, simple but scaled, the grey lines are showing hardware placement, the red parts are wire channels, blue ones are water channels, I will certainly add a bunch of screws to strengthen it...a lot of work to do anyway... let's see if I am able to realise this now...see you ASAP
Toru showed this was a thing...Because IT NEVER SHOWS UP IN THE BROKEN-ASS GOOBLE SEARCH. Now I find I'm preaching like mad to anyone making their first manifold block. You could make an openable/cleanable setup with this stuff. No need for accurate O-ring channels with this.
Do you mean that Toru made a manifold similarly ? I never noticed if so , however, I am a long time fan of Toru's modding, (leastwise, the mods shown here on BT and a few vids on Utube)... ohh, BTW... you inserted a link " this was a thing" ...I thought it would lead me to the page where Toru showed up his manifold, but I'm sorry to tell you that it leaded me to a site selling silicon rubber sheeting products, called ETSY well, , unless it was the point, if you don't mind to, try to tell me more next time you're passing by, I'd be very grateful to you if you can broaden my knowledge about it, cuz well, ...AFAIK, Douglas Alves's manifold is the first I see, crafted without machining or any rubber seal, and be certain I also scoured google pages about manifolds and distros and nothing showed up, except machined ones...but, anyway, if yourself believe it can make it out this way, nothing will hinder me to do it and...thanks for always beeing here
That was just kinda snarky just then. When I gooble "silicone sheet" I get industrial supply shops and hardware stores, but when I search with Toru's project open, stuff like the Etsy link shows up.
yup , got it, I should have guess... you're mastering snarky comments Well, honestly, I didn't noticed that custom res, seems like he made it out of acrylic and silicone sheets...Toru rocks, indeed thanks Cheaps
Well...let's go , I went to the nearest hardware store to buy some plastic material sheets, no way to find acrylic sheets in my lost area's shops, ordering it online adds consistant fees and waiting, I bought 5mm polycarbonate sheets, it withstands the heat up to 110°C so it should make it out, yet, a doubt remains about potential leaks, is the glue effective enough to provide a proper sealing ? watching Douglas Alves manifold should confort me but he used acrylic and with a larger thickness...... shall I add silicone sheets as well ...time will tell
I tried fusing polycarbonate before. It didn't work well. It quickly crazed/micro cracked. Polycarb doesn't like the glycols used in coolants, and that accelerated the decay. Use distilled water in the loop, and clean your work with only mineral spirits. -No alcohols. On the plus side; it's almost impossible to crack polycarb. You can saw like a maniac. You will have trouble sanding and polishing it, though. It's really tough. I also learned fusing a closed channel setup like this that you need something to purge the fumes from the channels, or they craze/cloud. I used an aquarium bubbler to blow air through the channels overnight. I tried washing the excess solvent out with water once, and that nearly ruined the part. -You can kind of understand why I'm pushing you to do an openable version. You can clean up the channels, clearer faceplate, etc...
, you are right Cheapskate as usual, you know what is to know about it, and I take your expert guidance seriously, yes, polycarb is hard to saw, even worst to sand, I experienced it with all previous parts, all are made out of this material, I used a jigsaw with a metal blade for basic cuts and a wood grater for roughing it, then I had to clamp a guidewire to file the edges, a real PITA ... unfortunately it's the only plastic sheets availiable in the shops nearby , I feared certain specific issues like intolerance to glue, well, I can't say I haven't been warned...it might end with the whole thing to do it again... Yes, I understand why you're pushing me to do an openable version, and I am aware of all the benefits, but...it means no glue right? and involves that the sealing would be performed by the screws only , unless you're thinking about layers of silicon sheets in between like Toru did ??
Thank you for passing by @The_Crapman , you honnor me saying this, but I'm not totally self assured in modding, I am slow, so it's stressless to stash my worklog here, while I am still fumbling around with a few technical challenges , obviously, like I said, when I'll be nearer to achieve it, I will post in PL...
There have been some loooooong project logs, cheaps has had a couple last a few year I think. The mods can just move this thread into project logs for you, rather than making a new one. It's good to see the struggle, you know I've had mine
I really should watch frequently modding section because I missed your log I am in the same situation. When I finished cutting grass in one place it's already grew up in another side. Maybe I can train some squirrels to do the job for me I'm late, I know it, but to avoid a potential hdd's flooding you should have placed them in the upper side of the case. I am following Toru's log but for some misterious reasons I didn't notice the reservoir made with silicon rubber The outlook is better than the o-ring res.
No harm; Cheapskate warned me about that : worklogs tends to get lost in Modding section, anyway, thanks for your visit and comments @Dot_Kappa , I apreciate it I still got a long way to do before ending it, and I will certainly ask to move it in PL, actually I can't really make any progress, I pulled a hamstring , certainly gardening too hard seems like you have the same kind of huge garden, so you know, it's a neverending task , but if ever you manage to train squirrels to help out, hold a pair for me Yes, you're not the first one to mention that potential HDD flooding, and I can't deny, but... I will seal the HDD floor thoroughly, I really like the look of it with the HDD cages at the bottom, and it's a substancial weight wich is better on the lower side... I am not sure I can find the time and motivation to redesign it once again ..., just for the record, I didn't mentionned, but it's not my first whack, I had a totally different idea at the beginning for this hardware, I first wanted to build a desk, and I started a crazy project 2 years ago, based on a futuristic console I saw in Mass effect game, I worked a whole month to finally realise it couldn't be made out of wood, it was pretty strong, but the weight was insane, that's why I skipped and changed it to this giant case...a few pics to give you an idea of my madness , don't laugh - the original desk I saw and this is where I stopped So you can understand how I am crazy , and why it's more than time to finish it
Thank you mate ...coments like this makes me regret to have give up Sorry no updates..., like I said, I pulled a hamstring , and it's recomended to rest , in fact, any tool handling is painfull still, even the mouse after a while, I am in holidays for one week and almost idle, and I'm bored, but this morning, a friend came by and said he had something to show me in his trunk, and if I was interested for free, otherwise he would just through it away...it was a PC case, a Thermaltake Mozart TX I honestly never saw this case before, it's quite an oldie , 2006 years obviously, it has no more feets, but except a few minor scratches on the aluminium front and a small dent on one door, it was not damaged, so I could not accept it to be thrown away It's not a beautiful case, I don't like the mesh rounded parts, but thinking about what I can do with it, or what hardware to put inside... I dream to watercool my old server, a Dell powerage 2600 it could be fun in that case but I didn't solve the problem of the redundant PSU noise that I cannot stand anymore, I am still seeking for a way to replace the server PSUs by normal ones, with or without redundancy I don't care, but still, I don't know the way... And as for the Datamaster hardware..., this idea came to my mind but I don't think it worth it, except that it would fix the potential HDD flooding that most mentioned ...
Yeah, you gotta finish that desk some day. -Maybe not add every detail, since you have enough done already to make it awesome.
Well, thank you very much Cheaps, I was sad to stop the work, but problem is, wood is too heavy, I thought about making it again but using plastic sheets heated and bended on an light metallic armor, but out of wood, it is sooo heavy , imagine the weigh with all hardware and a glass covering the desk, and the base part..., I wouldn't be able to move it out of the workshop
Well, yes, you're right @Dot_Kappa , that was the plan, split the desk into modules to move it out, honestly, I think the part I have done is already about 40 kilograms On another hand......I still have it in the workshop, and reading comments like yours or Cheapskate's one makes me think about finishing it, but if ever, I should finish my NanoTV first, otherwise I would be the champion of uncompleted projects If it's not already the case
One other thing i would suggest next time you build something like this again id recommend you incorporate a built in 2 wheel dolly into the design
