Scratch Build – In Progress Epic PC X Series 20.10.2010 Its over, finished, complete. Come one come all :)

I would worry about the silicon possible developing a leak. If you have access to a stove, gas or electric. You can solder it. There is also little to no corrosion to be found between solder and copper (look at water pipes running through most homes.) Just my 2 cents.

 

This is looking very sweet

 

You can check any auto parts store. They normally carry different size O-Rings

 

This build definitely has MDPC potential in my book.

 

EK were kind enough to let me know that 33x1.5 mm is the o-ring I would need. Thanks EK!

Thanks mate, thats certainly a dream for me!

 

Im jittery, lets hope this works. That mosfet is gonna leak for sure haha, its so cramped!

 

now im definitely watching

 

http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcchco.html

As above stated, the Swiftech is a wetted plate only, and it's 1mm. The copper will EASILY handle a northbridge or MOSFET block at 1mm, and 2mm copper is what Anfi-Tec uses for a lot of their blocks, as well as I'm betting Watercool for the Heatkiller 3.0 bases as well. It only flexes if there's too much load on there.

Take a good long look at the clamping force spec for the socket you're working with. That will give you a good idea of the force necessary.

 

Cheers mate, rep for the peace of mind


I couldnt get the router bit for drilling the copper and I am still waiting on the 10mm thick acrylic to get mailed. Most likely won't arrive till Monday.

So I got cracking on other parts for a bit. I've started to focus on the smaller details now that the case mainframe is somewhat complete.







The res front plate was the first to come out of the mill.



All that tape for one layer of clear coating and a layer of Epic PC blue.




I also made a start on the tube reducer front plate.






After a few smoothing passes, I was ready to paint.



Made for bitspower






Tomorrow I will be cutting the copper part of the blocks, I wont be able to complete the acrylic part until the pieces come in.

I am dreading doing cable sleeving so I will probably do it bit by bit and do the 24 pin last.

 

Once the paint had settled and another clear coat had been applied, I removed the tape to see what the end result was.

In the end it all turned out quite well and a few bits of stray paint were delt with using isopropyl alcohol. Is there anything that stuff cant do?







After that I had a little test fit and photo shoot with the bitspower...bits.











I got the plate installed on the res and stuck it to the case. I wanted to start introducing some more white and blue into the build. The official colours of Epic PC are blue, orange and white. I wanted a black case though, black is sexy.

The cables will be white and I got some orange cabling coming as well, the watercooling is orange in colour and the res and tube reducer plates are white. The PSU has been partially spray painted black and gold...but thats a post for another time.

 

Actually in love with this build.

 

that spay came out great man, this builds turning into a bit of sex!

 

Well valentines day is coming up soon...

Im glad youre enjoying it, like that

Tomorrow I will be cutting out the copper with a super slow feed rate and a water spray in my hands (oh my poor tools...).

Now for the waiting game.

• I have an order coming in from bitspower
• I have cap screws coming in for the waterblocks on Monday
• Im waiting on 10mm acrylic....also on Monday
• Got some orange cable sleeving...Monday
• Hopefully push through an order from Lamptron for some sexy switches

I am scouring the world for bits and bobs to add to this build

 

Announcing a new major sponsor!



Greig from GAMMods will be supplying the acrylic for the waterblocks, all the watercooling essentials and some cable sleeving too. His contribution to the modding community as a whole has been exceptional and he is outstanding in providing modding supplies that you just cannot get anywhere else in Australia.

In truth, he has been supporting me for much longer than this build and our relationship stretches back to the old days where I was hand modding with a dremel, a heat gun and a table saw (my how times have changed).

It is great to have him on board for this journey, thank you Greig!

 

Congrats on the new sponsor


BTW nice progress on the res, it looks excellent

 

I LOVE this build

 

Might have a new one soon!


On paper, it seemed like these copper blocks were going to turn out awesome. I rang multicam and they came in to get me going with some essential tools to cut through copper and away I went (ill compile the new video later).


Unfortunately, Copper is a monster. It splinters like wood and melts like acrylic, I wasted quite a few cuts just trying to get a good finish on the material. Too slow through the material and it turned to black goo, too fast through and it became rough and splintered.



For those who intend on travelling this dark path, I found a sweet spot at roughly 1200 mm a min through the material at 4000RPM using triple passes. Even then, you will still be reaching for the file at the end of the job. Or maybe I'm just a crap machinist, take your pick


Anyhow, the triangle idea (yes that turned out well -_-). Too much splintering and a little melting made the triangle idea good on paper but terrible in reality. I will need to go back to the drawing board on that one.


At the end of the day, the pieces fit the motherboard and if thats at least something I can take comfort in, then it was worth it.

Before I forget, this is what I need to do.

1. 10 passes to smooth the material

2. Redesign the "turbulance" path

3. Dont break anymore tool bits, they ARE expensive....


Lets hope I can improve on this






Once again, a big thanks to GAMMods!

 

The softer the material the more of a pain it is to mill. Esp. with aluminum and copper because the heat transfers so well with the materials they tend to grow as you cut.

My only suggestion is to get as much coolant on the material as humanly possible as well as high feed and speed and take just a small amount of material off at a time. Unfortunately only experience can tell you the ideals for these variables.

 

I guess I will just stand there with a mist spray in my hand next time and see if it makes a difference.

 

Has anyone thought of using the CPU as the baseplate. You have the equipment and obviously the skills. The best way I can say what I mean is with a quick Paint drawing;