Scratch Build – In Progress Hypno-Toad Rebuild--April 2012 quick repair and refit.

...And the tank still hasn't aired out.

-This set of pics is outdated. Before I sealed the top, I dropped in the glitter I made. I couldn't muster the balls to buy sequins/confetti/glitter in public, so I used a pet-G 2-liter bottle and a hole punch.
I used a allen cap bolt and a lock washer for the mouning posts. That's what the blue glob in the foreground is hiding. I was originally going to cut a keyway groove in the screw top, and lock them with a sliding pin. I decided this was easier.

-I needed to cut holes for the tank inlets, which meant more cutting of the d*mned pet-G plastic. I have to use a coping saw.

-It even tries to melt with a hand saw. I hate it!

-The only thing that does work on it is a fluted dremel bit on low speed. I used that for cleanup.

-Half the exaust from the power supply is venting back into the case. I needed a duckt.

-My first test fit reminded me of something... The powersupply is sitting flush against the frame rail on the bottom. I needed a big hole in the back corner anyway.

-I trimmed off the extra plastic while holding the part down with one of my nuts. Have I ever mentioned these fluted dremel bits are my favorite? It sucks they don't make them with the spiral cutting edge anymore. the new ones are cheap, and are harder to control.

-I took a pic in the middle of sanding. It's easier to see when it's not polished. The power cord for the motherboard will go out the notch in the top. All the other wires will run out the back/bottom notch...
-I hope.

Thank you Danger Den!

 

I have leak tested the tank and it works. I found that it's nearly impossible to get the last bit of water out though.
Right now I'm sanding the hell out of the main frame...

-and this is the only photo I've taken. I had to sand this scar from the aluminum frame days out. After polishing it still looks like cr*p. I have wasted a lot of time sanding this kind of junk.
Once I get the frame cleaned up I can move the motherboard in. Then comes a buttload of fitting.

 

Finally!


-I've been doing a lot of sanding. I really can't tell it did any good. Here's the nice thing about an all-plexi case: you can hose it down to clean it.

-The only problem I had moving the hardware in was one little spot on the video card.

-I'm finally up and running! Here I'm testing the temps on the fans, the PSU, and that monster AC fan. Even with five fans, it was still quieter than the original confuguration.< That's a typo, but I think I like that spelling better.

-Time to get wet!!! The nice people at Forza aren't afraid to add the thermal paste.

- A safety seal on the chip. Pre-packaged bargain system detected!

-DD Tdx and custom cover in place. Kick-*ss combo. Yes, I know my system is outdated. I just want to get it quiet.

-And despite a sorrid history with northbridge blocks, I pulled and traced this one...

-That was the driest filling ever. I didn't spill a single drop. The lines filled up without powering the pump. The squirt bottle on the Feser One was really handy. The rest of the air pumped out in less than a minute. Compared to the 30+ minutes of filling/bleeding/filling on Bloo, This was nothing!

-Here's the 'Toad closed up before it's test run. Now I can start with cable management. I've found the USB plug is too short already, and the front chaser assembly needs to be totally re-done.
Some temps...~70 degree ambient

With fans:
t1: 89
t2: 107
AMD core: 118
GeForce 6600: 98
HardDrive 1: 87
HardDrive 2: 84
-------------
Wet:
t1: 85
t2: 100
AMD core: 80
GeForce 6600: 84
HardDrive 1: 84
HardDrive 2: 80

There wasn't much of a need for water, but d*mn! The fans were loud. I'm down to two fans, and I plan to undervolt the front fan.
The temps with the AC fan didn't change much. I need to do a longer test for that.
The only dissapointment was that my snow globe idea didn't work. The chips are too heavy to move. They just list around on the bottom of the tank.

I'd like to thank DangerDen again. They helped make this update possible.

 

*waits for tumbleweed to pass...*
OK, Here's a single pic update again.

I'm currently chopping wires. Some wires got longer, some shorter, some went away forever.

Show some love!!!

 

I still like this one a lot. All the plexi and that cool fan grill!

Doing cable management? See you in a week or so. Hard to hide anything in a plexi case.

john

 

Thanks. I can't hide stuff, but I can make it look like it belongs there.
I'm going to dye the IDE cables black as soon as I find a big flat container.

 

Got a video of your glitter res?

 

Sorry, Kayin. There's nothing to see really. The flakes just wiggle a bit on the bottom.

-Hay! it's a caterpillar!

-Now he is taking a bath in dye.

And my kind sponsor is probably reading this and shaking his head in regret...

 

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO TOAD

Btw, dying an IDE cable? What kinda dye is that anyway?

 

Regular fabric dye. -Rit brand. You can dye the plugs too, but I don't want them to rust.
I will shorten the cable so the un-dyded bit gets cut off.

 

Great, must try this at some point!

 

Always good to see that people don't want to use them grey flatcables anymore Last time I bought some Asus cables that came with someones motherboard (Abit has them to), with this casemod I just made the whole cable invisible

 

Nice work not easy to do good cable management but is seems to work good for you keep it up

 

Thanks everyone.
I can't get anything properly managed, so I might as well make it all black.

I figured out that the power supply could do with some EM shielding after all. It's making little lines on my monitor screen.

 

how did the dye work on that wire?

 

Looking good Cheaps!
I'm also curious about the dye... and that little squeeze bottle thing you pictured above. What's that used for? Pushing fluid in?

 

Funny you should ask. I just pulled the cable out after totally forgetting about it. I don't know if it was the cold, or a different material on the cable, but I only managed to turn it dark grey. I'm very dissapointed. The stuff I used to wire my LEDs turned pitch black in 24 hours.

I think if I could get it out in the hot sun, instead of 35 degree rain, it would work much better.

@ModMinded - That's something I used on Bloo to prevent the reservoir from exploding. It eases the pressure of thermal expansion without having to expose the loop to air. On this rig it's probably not needed, but I'd hate to be wrong.

On Bloo it was useful for flushing air out of the lines during filling and draining.

 

-The first dye results...
I was so dissapointed in the dye job that I redid it. I got an old babyfood jar, removed the heads, and let the cable have a nice hot bath.

-The next day it was much better.

-I started cutting out bits I could use for wire looms. It seems pointless when two sets of LEDs in the faceplate have shorted out.

-I have been cutting the extruded plexiglas with the scroll saw. How do I keep it from melting? I apply drops of water to the blade as I cut. It's not very kind to the saw, (or safe kiddies!) but hey! Look what I did to that poor drill press.

-I started to dye a 2nd cable when I remembered I had a black cable on Plank. A quick swap and I was done. At the top of this pic you can see the first wire loom I added too.

-I'm working on a cover for the emergency fan here. The cover will be covered...with something.

-Bill from MNPCTech sent me a KICK*SS T-shirt the other day. Thanks again!

Don't forget!! Spend that Christmas money from your Aunt at DangerDen!

 

When cutting different acrylics, did you ever try the little cans of cold spray that you can get from an electronics store. I won't use the RS word on a public forum. We use them to cool components to check for overheating. They might be less damaging to equipment than water, but not as cheap(skate).

I got a shirt too! Happy Holidays from mnpctech. Thanks Bill.

john

 

I have a black IDE cable you could probably have, but I don't know how you would remove the ASUS logo.