Project: BGAIOC 2T Monster : 19th MAY Log :"SCRAP TIME"

Bananas!
12 HDD's cooled using a bunch of regular case fans?!
This thing's power consumption is bound to drive you bananas after a week…

 

Kinda crazy... Nah, I had mention this in another post:

The 7 Hds are cool by four 80mm fans in a big case, the new set up will have five more HDs but cool by four 120mm fans and a little help from the fans inside each removable bay; the HDs will be isolated from the heat of the other computer components. Is it gonna work, who knows for sure.

Power consumption will be high of course, I'm running two " El Cheapo " 500W PSU at the moment, I most likely add a third one on this project. But remember the HDs don't spin at full speed 100% all the time and lights and other stuff can be switch off. I think, It will consume at least the same amount of power than three average computers. My kids have four computers so in a way I'm familiar with that kind of power consumption. But at the end all comes down to, like driving a car; if you want to use it, you have to put gas on it

Thanks for the comment, it did help me explain in a little more detail, what the heck I'm doing.

 

Well this is a pic so you guys have an idea of the size of this case.

The next two pics shows how all the bays look in place, but once I paint they case the won't be seen. I'm thinking on leaving the area of the fan holes clear so you can see the fans at the rear.


This are the building pics of the top plate that will also hold the power and reset buttons.








It looks like ** S$%& **, let start over




Now that is a better *** S#$% ** At least it balance the top with the bottom of the left side panel.



I have not decided yet what kind of controls, I will add at the left side of the power/reset buttons, that will be deal with later down the road.
We shall continue working on this side at the next post...

 

Great to see you re-did it - not that the first looked shi*, but it shows perfectionism.

 

looking good the only thing i would suggest is that you may want to slow the small fans down, becaus with that amount of 40mms going, it will get quite noisy.

 

You are right, that is when all the controlers in the right side panel, comes in to play. I had 10x80mm fans running in my present case, is not that loud but is anoying some times. Now for this project I'm using 120mm, these can be slow down, but still they will pull a large volume of air. Noise is another thing, that I will not know for sure; untyl the end of the project. If nothing else works, then a set of green earplugs

 

jeebuz! thats one freakin huge case. fitting name, considered...

 

The following are the contruction pictures for the light bars that are going to be the trim, at both sides of the removable drive bays. I'm using a green EL wire to light up the inside of a PVC tube that has been drilled with holes. I also put the EL wire inside a clear vinyl tubing to help disipate the light much better inside the tubes.

First this is what I came out, some kind of hook/bracket, to hold the tubes at the sides of the case.

A test fit, to see if it would work

Now for some mass production, fun..fun







This is how they fit together, I had to marked with a pencil to see the joint.

This it how they work.

PVC pipe has been drill with lots of 1/8" holes

the bar has been painted black and the hooks are in place, 4 per bar.

Now a light up test

now testing both bars


The top of the bar, screw detail.

How they look in place, the bars are attach to the case with four screws of course.



For now I like them, notice how I keep using the; hexagon, circle shapes, in a lot of the trim parts. This trend will continue, please be carefull with your eyesight; in case you find them an eyesore.

 

Well I have tought, that I had finish this side when; I saw this big gaping hole after removing the DVD carrier, you guys will say " of course because you removed the DVDs ". It is ovbious, that this " opening " will ruin my air flow to the HD's. All the air will be suck thru this opening and not thru the HDs bays. Talking about not thinking a head...hmmm. Ok, so five minutes later I came out with this simple solution, a swing door.

I always try to keep it simple, so I start with a scrap of plexi

added some screws to swing the plexi on

made some little holders for the screws

glue the holders to the case

presto a swing door, simple ...eh

it does swing very easy

The case only have the thickness of the plexi, to hide the swing door. Those bars in the side holds the stack of bays from crushing the DVD carrier. So the swing door hides in between the DVD carrier and the first HD bay. That is why the swing door is a little smaller than the actual opening of the case, I believe the swing door will cover 90% of the opening and that should keep a good airflow thru the HDs.


I decide to trim some more of the bottom part of the swing door, now that little piece on the middle will ride, on top of the dvd carrier and won't let it, get caught on the door.

lets do the paint now





is better looking now


Now the opening is smaller and don't look as bad as before....


And just in case you guys are wondering, I haven't test it yet with the DVD carrier. I really hope that all fits together, I will try out much later down the road; if not I will just rip it out, and figure something else out. Crazy or stupid I let you decide......

See you guys at the next post... CrazyModder out..

 

Now is time to work in the case
Next three pics are; front , side and rear of the case in the present condition.



The next two pictures, show the two main components of the case; the inner frame and the outer shell.


After some remasking because, the fan area won't be painted, the shell gets spray painted. I painted the side panels from the inside and the rear panel from the outside, leaving the outside of the sides panels and the inside of the rear panel clear too. It should come out gloss in the outside and in the back too. I know is confusing, just imaging how hard was to mask.


I remask the inner frame too, some parts are left clear and other are black, only in one side.


case frame after removing the mask

case shell after removing the mask

this is the inside of the case fan area


This is the hardware I'm using to fasten the outer shell of the case

a little detail in how it looks on the case

I really don't know how to get good pictures of the case, it has a black mirror finish that reflect alot of light.
This a picture of the front of the case

This is the rear of the case

This is the inside of the case


Oh well at least the case isn't invisible anymore....
Now that you can see the case, I hope that this work log, will look more than a bunch of individual mods.

P.S. Crap I just notice, that I havn't make the middle panel of the case yet, oh well it will be done much later, right now I need full access to the insides of the case. There's still a ton of work to be done to the case, what you see is just the basic structure.
See you guys at the next post..................

 

Here we go again with some more modding in mass production. I need lots of fans for this case, here are some 120mm fans, going to the process of modding.
Basic el cheapo clear fans

take the impeler blades and the wiring off

masking the impeler blades

ready for paint

spray some silver in the back

flip them over and added some easter eggs

add another coat of silver paint

Now is the turn of the frames

all painted in black

after adding the impelers to the frames, I got a nice set of 120mm ready for the case.


All those fans had been wired with four green LEDs.

See you guys at the next post.

 

the fans that used the more rounded end of the egg look kind of odd. i think they would look better if they all matched with the pointy end.

 

still looks really good

 

Yeah they look different, the least rounded ones are that way because I needed a little more clearance behind the radiators. I found out, that I needed more space between the fans and the rads, while fitting the rads. But after all that work modding those fans, they can hardly be seen while in place. The route this case is going, those fans are gonna be buried behind the rads and some other stuff. So the only excuse to do them, was to improve air flow and to satisfy my modding needs.

P.S. Lately I been having this feeling, that this case will end up something totaly different, to what vague idea or concept I had, when I started this project.

Thanks for your comments guys....

 

The whole project is just sick The size of it.....

And btw you should've kept the fans this way
http://www.merloservicesllc.com/images/static/Mod 33post08152006-06.jpg

 

Thanks, would had been a nice " Rainbow " mod.

 

I think this post should have been one of the first ones... it really feels like finally this project gets started. Is time to put some stuffing inside the empty case.
Lets start with the fans, but first a little light show.

This is where the first four fans are going.

The first fan is in place

All four of them are, now are in place

another picture from a different angle

Now the other side fans are in place

another picture from a different angle

Now one picture of the rear view

At the rear of the case all the fan outlets will be cover with mesh and grill stuff, ass soon as I decide what type I want. All those fans are gonna be very hard to be seen, theres a lot of stuff going on front, side and rear of them. But at least I know they are there....CrazyModder ....out

 

Now this side is gonna be fill with some stuff

All bays and front panels are in place

The light bars trim the sides of the bays


Notice the green washers and screws that hold the bays in place

Rear shot, like I said before you can't see the removable bays from the sides anymore.

This is a shot from the inside of the case

And the final frontal shot of the case.


Just remember it still missing the DVD carrier, I'm using it right now, it goes where the swing door is....CrazyModder ....out

 

its amazing how this case is looking now! I really couldn't foresee how cool it would look, and I'm really impressed, KUTGW!

 

Thanks!

This could be the end of this project, there is a hurricane coming to my backyard. People around me are starting to get ready, I too will start putting away the case, tools, and stuff in a secure place. Today I had burn 24 DVDs of data so far, triying to hard copy some stuff just in case. I still hope that the hurricane will turn towards the east some more and nothing happens. People are already waiting in line at the gas stations, we bought 40 galons of gas just for our generator and fill up two cars. Last time we spend 7 days with out electricity and water. I'm 90% ready at this time, If any of you is in the same situation, please don't leave things for the last minute, is better to be ready just in case.

See you guys at the next post......CrazyModder ....out