I finally got the amibition to start my new case project and committed to it financially too, so now I'm locked in to actually building this thing. Main Idea: Fully integrate a homeade water cooling system into a handmade case made to house an Ahlon 64 based system. Details: Use .75" stainless-steel square tubing as the case frame, water resivor, and distribution header. Overall size is about 22"x22"x7.5", so it is pretty huge (not to mention heavy). I already cut out the tubing for the sides and welded it together with my "133t TIG welding skillz" (always wanted to say that, too bad that it's not quite true). A close up of the welds: A mock-up of all the finished parts. I can't weld the sides together yet because I have yet to drill and weld the fittings for the WC system. When i get the sides welded together the frame will be strong enough to park a small car on top it. There's the TIG welder in back along with some old cars. I've got a big radiator for the case that barely fits the 22" length, but need to design a mounting system for it. Plans for the drive and motherboard fixtures are drafted in my notebook, but I have yet to get metal to machine them from. Since I've been able to avoid most of my Christmas-related expenditures I will have enough cash to buy the needed metal and water pump to build the rest of the case around, so hopefully I'll have some more progress soon.
Stainless does sound good! Mmmmm shiney! What will you make the sides from, stainless or maybe plexi?
I think I'm going to go with plexi if I don't find anything else that would look better, but I won't worry about it until I get there. I still have a lot of work to do before I can even get the sides welded together.
glad to see a welded case for once...i wish i had the stuff to weld, and the knowledge to use(im stuck sordering all my cases together). anyhow, it looks good so far(dont like the fact that you are going with a traditional desktop tower design. i think disco voltane has a good idea, go with some colored plexy for the sides(and of course do etches, sidelighted w/ leds).
I know that I haven't been updating this a regularly as I should (or would like to), but I have been doing a lot of work on my new case (50+ hours) and I'd like to brief everyone in on the progress. As the picture shows I've gotten the motherboard, hard disks, PSU, and radiator mounted (don't worry, they're all mock-up parts). The radiator is two transmission coolers pop-riveted together, and the frame checks out as water-tight as it is right now. I've been strengh testing every part as I go along and everything is ridiculusly strong. The case itself weighs in at about 35lb right now without water. Here's a picture of myself standing on the case before I welded the radiator fixture on. Here's a little action photo of welding the frame together. It appears that I'm on the home stretch with this project but there are still a few key items left to do: 1. Right now I'm working on all the sheet metal covers for various parts. The SS sheet is too thick for snips so I have to plasma cut every piece and it's getting pretty tedious. 2. I've still got to get a pump (suggestions EXTREMELY appreciated) and mount it. 3. Finish installing the brackets for large drive bays.
I like the idea of building your own out of square tubing! Plus the drive mounting mechanism looks like it'll be VERY cool. This one will be fun to follow....
Wow, it takes balls to stand on the frame of your case with the parts inside... I know I'd never be able to do it.
The frame itself doesn't flex in least bit. It felt like I was nowhere near the limit of what it could take when I was on it (BTW: I'm 6'4" and 220lb). As for the bottom of the case not being perfectly flat, it's within 1/8" flat, pretty good for cutting the 45s on the tubing ends with a hacksaw. Those are all mock-up parts in the case right now. You can see that the HDDs don't have tops on them and the PSU has no guts. The mobo is an 8K3A+ that fried on me, and the CD drive is over five years old. Anyone have a suggestion on pump, or at least what size Ehim I should buy?
I'm using a hydor L30 its a pretty good pump is deffinately cheaper than the eheims. Its also prety quiet and is smaller than the eheims
Hey, thats the same welder me and my dad used to fix my brothers car so that we wouldnt need to replace the entire crankshaft. Anywhoo, is the radiator resting on a sheet of something, I dont see any other support beams and it doesnt appear to be attached to the upper part of the case. It appears to be just shy of the width to rest of the tubing on its sides, and is far from that on the left.
Firstly i must tell you i have no experiance with water cooling so if i ask something stupid someone tell me As i read this it implies that the frame is going to be the conduit for the water to get around your system. Am i correct? If so will the 90 degree corners not limit the flow of water quite significantly. Looking forward to seeing the rest of this project.
Like the ideas and the industrial look. Welding is not an easy job especially stainless. Keep going, you 've got us interested now
