Project: A Cramped LanBoy; Minor Update Jan 31st 2007

Hi. So this is my first attempt at a full-blown casemod. I got bored with my lanboy and decided to make it a learning testbed.

Goals:

1) Gain experience with painting a case.
2) gain experience by implementing watercooling for the first time.
3) Experiment with different lighting schemes for a subtle, snazy yet tactful look.
Before (my apologies for the lousy photo):


I have a P4 system based around an Abit Max 3 mobo. I replaced the stock NB fan with a Silenx heatsink. As it is, there are green lights coming from the "OTES" fan shroud, blue lights coming from the replacement OTES fan I used from the Silenx NB kit, blue lights coming from the Silenx VGA cooler, and a red LED indicating mobo status. The front fan also has a not so subtle blue LED glare.

The ati 9800pro used to have a zalman heatpipe cooler, but that went into a HTPC, and the silenx cooler seems to get the job done.


The PSU is slightly sleeved, but it doesn't look good. I have issues with my heatshrink methods.

I decided to start by resleeving the PSU. Here you'll see UV red (although it is described better by saying UV orange), and some UV blue sleeving .
Here's a before picture of the PSU.


The first thing I did was remove the old sleeving and I trimmed off the fan speed signal cable and the 6 pin aux connector which I've never used.

Everything was going great until I got to the 20 pin connector. I had to cannabalize a 350W PSU to retrieve 4 wires to patch up the mess I made.

Getting the PSU back together was a chore, and the exit area is messier than I hoped it would be. I have a plan to clean this up a bit, but I'm not sure if it will work.

 

Project AmbiLuminent

Basically, I want to get into watercooling, I want to try producing a decent paintjob, and I want to get creative, all with an already cramped Super LanBoy.

So far, I have a few steps I'm still planning, but my first order of activity was to re-sleeve my PSU (or at least do a more complete job).

My next plan of attack includes flipping the PSU such that it sucks in air from the outside and draws it straight through itself. Hopefully this will allow it to run cooler. I may have to get creative with cutting the blowhole.

The PSU exit conduits don't look too pretty, but with the PSU reversed, this section will be furthest away from eyesight,which would mask it in the light of the soon to be finalized features.

With my PSU sitting above my tower and with both side panels off, the CPU is 4 degrees cooler than it was last night. Given that the CPU fan is at awfully slow speeds, it's clogged with dust, and Abit temperature estimates are inflated, I think that I can considerably lower CPU temps. If they can be lowered significantly, there is great OCing abilities here. I'd have it improvise something for the NB since it's a bit hot when passively cooled, but I don't want a waterblock for it since the sink I have looks awfully nice as is.

The memory I have is Crucial Ballistix DDR3200 (for some reason Corsair memory can't run at advertised timins on my system so after two RMAs I went with Crucial). The system ran well with a gig of Kingston ValueRam, but with the Crucials running at 2-2-2-5, I have a lot of flexibility here. BUT the water cooling is mainly for experiential purposes. There's no better way to learn than hands-on!! With push fittings and non-conducting (well, advertised as such at least) coolant, I'm no too worried about causing a catastrophy.

 

You shouldn't have a problem fitting your water in there. I personally got a small case and I mounted all my stuff on top of my case. The resevoir I got mounted on the back as a tube thing forget the name. The only thing on the inside is the pump which is on the bottom of the case on rubber washers. Just mount all the big stuff outside and put the radiator on top. To make it look good though I say BONDO so that it isn't just a radiator stuck up so its like slanted.

If you need me to elaborate just ask.

 

The reservoir is kind of awkward shaped, so I'm not sure I'd be able to put it just anywhere. As for the reservoir, I was considering attaching that to the back of the case. If anything, I'm planning to house the reservoir above the case in an acrylic case. Actually, I might be able to make an acrylic mounting for a lot of the components. I stocked up on 12 x 12 panels a while back, and I ordered an 18 x 18 UV red panel.

I also plan on painting the case, but need to wait until my workload drops down a bit. I see what you mean by bondo-ing a small elevation for the radiator on top of the case, but there's not a lot of room for the 120mm fan inside the case, and I'd rather not have it at the top where it will be less damped. I plan on flipping the PSU and making a blowhole for its bottom 92mm fan.

I have a while before I plan on modding everything around. With papers due and grading to do, it's hard to justify taking a lot of time to do my first paint-job.

I haven't seriously considered putting the radiator on top, but then again I didn't consider using Bondo either. Perhaps it's time for a reconsideration. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Painting

So I decided to try my hand at paintig. You know, to see how it would go, and how much trouble it would be. If my computer's going to be out of commission for at leat a few days, I need to know what to expect so I don't screw up completely.

Here's me priming the aluminum panel on the kitchen floor. (Krylon grey)


Here's the color I chose, and the right hand side panel (Duplicolor Aquamarine Blue)

Now, I ran through one and a half cans of this stuff because the can kept dripping. Well, the 1st can didn't drip (although priming it in hot water made it bulge), but the 2nd can sprayed random large blobs. After I got frustrated with taking them out, I decided to just leave it and clearcoat it in two days. For the right hand side panel and my first hand at painting, I don't think it's too bad.



Also, I just purchased a small 2 gallon compressor and various things for it, and an airbrush. I don't think that this system will see any airbrushing as I want the mod done waaay before I'll have enough airbrushing skill.

The top of the case will be painted cherry red, with the windowed side being painted the same blue as the opposite side panel. I'm considering redoing the window and implementing a new plastic panel, but I don't think I can duplicate the same smooth rivet-like fixtures.

 

Feel free to skip this brief rant!

Ok, so I hated priming my panels. Today I decided to go ahead and disassemble my case. After drilling through all the rivets and washing all the pieces, I started the priming process. Since I don't plan on the inner parts looking too fancy shmancy, I only put on 2 coats of primer. I sanded only the top panel since it will be the most exposed. I have cherry red auto paint planned for that panel, and cherry red krylon planned for the inner parts, with a few blue and green accents.

I spent about $40 today on a bathroom fan and a ducting kit so that I could eliminate the smell and HUGE amount of overspray that resulted from my last priming experience. But, it didn't help, and I still stunk up the apartment. I think my respirator was going b/c I started to smell the fumes, and now my throat feels irritated. Grr. That's ok, it was a disposable mask and now I have a half-face mask to replace it with.

I'm painting the inner parts tonight so that all I have to worry about later is the top panel. The painting process is such a nuissance since I don't have the proper facilities, and my drop cloths take a while to set up to protect the apartment and my roommates fromt he fumes and debri.

I can't keep my system out of commission for too long, so I'll most likely paint the parts and have them back together quite quickly, or at least assemble them back together in a make-shift manner.

 

Painting, Drilling, Dremeling

Here is a photo of my case as a pile of parts. I drilled all of the rivets out.



My overspray control device.


Although the apartment still stunk, and there was still overspray everywhere, there was a LOT of overspray dust flowing through this system. I suppose it'll be acceptable for use when I start trying to learn how to airbrush, but for spray painting, I will just go outside from now on.



Ok, so I layed down primer coats, and since I already made quite a smell, I decided to paint as much as possible. The inner parts of the case don't require sanding, and I don't care about orange peel, so I just went for it. However, I got careless at one point and damaged the paint a bit. It's the back panel so it's not too much of a concern to me.



I painted the upper panel (it's awaiting sanding/polishing and clear coat) cherry red. The downside is that it's a lot darker than I though. It's a bit darker than the Krylon cherry red. I used burgundy/rust primer. When sprayed onto a white-primed surface, this nice vibrant red glistened. The plus side is that I may be able to get a mroe reflective finish.

Here's a snapshot of the internal components, sans top or side panels. I didn't paint the motherboard tray, or certain parts of the drive cages. The floppy cage is unpainted for some contrast, but I'm not sure I'll be putting it back in.



Now I ran into some problems. While I've been accumulating parts, I've set as much as possible ontop of my dresser. I'm in grad school, so my bedroom is my everything room. It's a good think I have a private bathroom as I set the parts on newspaper to dry after cleaning them thoroughly.

Anyways, so I decided to check my radiator for sizing purposes. I then saw some black flakes on the floor. I couldn't figure out where they came from. Then I looked at the radiator. The paint/coating was flaking off in a LOT of places. I let out a defeated sigh and rubbed off as much loose paint as possible. What's left is a disgrace. BUT I spent too much money on the parts to just replace the radiator. It's a black ice pro which came as part of an asetek HD cooling kit. Frozencpu had it on an ebay auction, so I picked it up for relatively cheap. I added in an Antarctica water block, and so I should have a fairly decent setup here. I'm not seeing to cool anything but the CPU. All I'm seeking is to test the waters before I jump it over my head.

Cracked and flaking:


Raw and exposed:


So I bought myself a holesaw kit. I was really excited, but after a few holes, Ibent one of the pilot bits. I hope they sell replacements. If not, I'll sigh and pick up another arbor bit for $12 or so. The hole saw kit was $70 (not too bad for 9 sizes which have a minimum price of $8 a piece + 2 arbors), and the 89mm was $16 or so.



This is the top panel. It's not really a blowhole, but an intake port for the PSU!



Here's the back panel where the radiator is going to be placed. I'm going to use the 12cm Sunon fan which came with the Asetek kit. I still have the two 12cm fans which came with the case. I *might* use one on the opposite side of the radiator to help the Sunon fan.



After a few more hole drilling sessions and dremel grinding sessions, here's the result. I originally planned on having the radiator on the inside of the case, but with the paint flaking off, I ruled that out.

 

Alright... 2500+ views, and only one person commented? I wonder if I should feel bad about this...

 

Don't worry, if you mod it... they will comment. I think you should try to strip and repaint that rad. I have the same rad and the same problem happened for me, although i have been too lazy to repaint it. I'm looking forward to seeing all the colors come together in the end. You should try learning with that airbrush... you could probably use it to get a better paint job than the spray paint you're using right now also.

 

Thanks for the comments. As for airbrushing a case, that will probably be a while from now, although I have a steel HTPC case that might be a testbed in the future. As for repainting the radiator, at this point I think it may be more trouble than it's worth. What I might do is strip it down as you suggested, and polish the copper a bit. It looks a bit dull right now, but a little polish might work wonders.

Right now the case is assembled barebones style, with the top panel temporarily secured and the side panels awaiting another color coat and some clearcoating. I'm also working on the wiring for a lighting situation, but I'm trying to figure out my reservoir and pump placements.

I have a hydor pump, and when I run a leak test with just distilled water, I'm going to see if there's any difference in running it from a horizontal orientation. If there isn't, then there are a few things I have in mind.

I didn't really describe the rad paint issue well, so here's a few pictures that I took before I rubbed away the cracked/peeled paint.





I'm curious as to whether or not this was due to excess humidity/heat in my room, or due to some other random reason.

 

If you're using 1/4 tubing, it won't be hard...hell, 1/2" can fit in an atx case nicely with 3 blocks :/

 

I had the same problem with the paint on my Asetek BIP2.. It seems only to be a problem with the Asetek radiators, cause my HWLabs BIX1 doesn't have any problems. See here what I did with the BIP2.

 

I don't have a problem with tubing, it's the component placement. I'm going to have only a single block, but I'm going to have to place the pump creatively as I don't want it just sitting in front of the main window.

Hmm... I suppose I'll consider painting the radiator in the future, but for now, I'm so sick of spray paints that it's not even funny. I'm just learning how to airbrush, so it'll be a while before I trust myself with case components.

So far, I'm thinking of mounting the pump horizontally in the floppy drive bay, probably in a small acrylic enclosure. In a few days when I flush the radiator, I'll test the pump in different orientations. The res. looks clean, so I don't mind keeping it in the main window. I may put it in one of my optical bays, but it will require complete disassembly should I want to dismantle the water loop.

Again, *phew*, I thought I was the only one who randomly had paint peel off a radiator.

 

hey there mate,

ive watercooled in my lanboy (cpu, mb, and gfx) if you would liek some pics you can go here: http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2692&page=4

i kinda like the pump where it is.

it is a bit of a squese, but i got it all in there.

im liking the coulor of your lanboy, its good to see more of these being m0dded!

gaz

 

It looks pretty good! I was thinking of putting my pump there, but the res. has nowhere to go then. It'll be a lot easier to make a box housing for the pump and place it somewhere, then for the res, which is cylinrical and difficult to orient sideways.

I ran into a few issues, but I'll get to those after a few new pictures.

I decided to cut an 80mm hole for a fan that'll cool the ram area and provide some fresh air into the system. It's on the top next to the PSU inlet. I bought a 76mm hole saw, and since the hole was to be near the PSU inlet, I felt I had to support the little bridge between them so the metal wouldn't bend.



When grinding down the second hole, the dremel slipped and I made a booboo. That's ok, I'll live. BUT, the hole saw twisted a little bit and so the resulting hole was a bit larger than 80mm. In order to cover the gap between the grill cover and the hole, I'll just use some black moulding. I originally didn't want to (which is why I spent on hole saws) but I think the contrast is pretty nice.



Here's a picture showing the PSU inlet. I had expected this to happen, but not to such a severe extent. Since PSU is slightly below the top panel, there is a horizontal view of the grey PSU cover. My hole is 95% aligned with the PSU fan hole, but there was some uncertainty in the measurement/cuting process (I don't have a drill press, and the table in the living room that I work on has limited clamp possibilities).



So... some moulding will go around here as well, and I'll also use some red EL wire. EL wire diminishes in brightness, so I'll have a power switch to it. With the EL wire, I accidently ripped the power cables off, so I ended up having to solder the teeny tiny wires back together. I'm actually pleased that this happened as it made the connection a LOT stronger.

Here is a view of the top panel (now dust covered) with the reservoir there just because I mentioned it before.



And now here's the side-view of the bare-bones beast. I was curious to see if any parts were ruined by sitting on the shelf in a wooden box for a week. I also wanted to see where the wc parts can optimally be placed.

There are a few things I'm unhappy about, the first being the unpainted PSU lip. I ultimately decided not to paint it, but I kind of wish I had now.

Also, notice the PSU wire outlet. I was kind of embarassed with the job I did on the first few inches of wire stemming from the PSU, so I wrapped it. I was going to use some UV Antec wire wrapping material, but I decided that too much UV would be bad. So I used two passes of aquarium tubing. Two passes makes the section pretty rigid, but I think the color contrast works well as it kind of matches the greenish hue of the optical drivebay.

 

Looking very good! The paint job looks very nice.

I'm interested in setting up a watercooling loop myself, and I just love Antec stuff. Keep up the good work.

 

Are any of those paints/wire sleeves UV reactive, because if you are going for eye-popping colors, that might be somethign to look into.
Other than that, nice color scheme, Aqua+ redish go well together (i think).
It looks like the PSU and drive cages are a different color, are they, or is it just the light messing with me?

Things to improve upon: IMO the yellow cable looks out of place, and the wires in te bottom of hte case could use sleeveing or hiding. Also the grey SATA cable is kinda... just there, sleeve/paint it or hide it, cause the grey look sout of place.
Im not sure if youve finished your wiring yet, but i hope you hit a few of those points, and mostly good job man.

 

Well, the blue sleeves and the "neon red" sleeving are UV reactive. Also I plan on using UV red coolant in the water loop. In addition, I also have UV red acrylic that I'm going to use *somewhere*.

As for the yellow IDE cable, I see what you mean. I'll either replace it or try to sleeve it or otherwise stealth it. I didn't really think about that actually, thanks for bringing it up.

The PSU and drive cages actually are different colors. I used some aqua on th drive cages, and ultramarine blue on the PSU. The side panels are painted the same color as the PSU.

I have a red SATA cable which will be replacing the grey one.

Also, all ugly wires will be sleeved or at the very least hidden. The case as it is now is temporary as I need the computer to be functioning for a few days until I can resume working on the case. So yea, that's why everything is kinda out there and a bit out of place looking.

Thanks for the compliments on the paint, I was just using this case for learnign experience, which is why there are some flaws and randomness. If you notice, the HD cage has a very crude color transition at the front. I *should* correct this, but it's not too noticeable to be worth the effort. Also, the smudged areas on the side of the top panel are fingerprints on painted tape, in case you were wondering.

In a few days I'll have a lighting situation ready for the top panel, and will have figured out how to illuminate everything inside. I'm also testing the pump to see if it'll work as well horizontally as it would vertically.

 

i hope no screws or washers or anything fall into ur PSU, thats mega dangerous.

 

I have a grill that's ready to installed, but I actually never really thought about the dangers of metallic objects falling in.

Thanks for pointing that out. I think I'm going to go out this weekend and buy some fake mesh. I was thinking of fabricating a plastic right-angle duct, but the easiest thing would be to fasten some fake mesh or screening over the hole. I think I'll pick up a package of aluminum-tinted scultping mesh. I may spray paint it blue (the grill is red so I don't want three different shades of red in the same location).

Again, I actually really never thought about this. I figured a grill would provide enough protection for fingers or random objects, but never thought about it from a PSU hazard point of view. The last thing I need is a battery rolling off the desk, or a rivet/screw popping up and in and creating a violent short circuit.

Thanks for the headsup! I think a grill *should* be sufficient, but I don't really want to find msyelf to be wrong, so I'll improvise additional protection.

That actually helps me out in another way. Instead of having to distract from the gap with EL wire, I'll paint some mesh/screen material blue, and add an extra blue LED in there or something.