Case Mod - In Progress Project Black Copper: Lian Li P80 & PA140.3

aka_gk · 27 Sep 2010

thx guys, really means a lot for me!
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okay, finally managed to do something.
Resoldered pump from 4-pin to 3-pin, quite straightforward:

found that it's good to paint the connectors with permanent if wires are of the same color

and result! I had to adjust pump case a bit to let the pump fit with new wiring
btw, I sanded off the dents and repainted the pump case, now it is nice black and smooth

this is where it is going to be

and the magic snap caps worked great

aka_gk · 15 Nov 2010

it's been a while since I posted here last time, time to update

Did some more cabling and sleeving, now the lights - cut 4-pin molex, crimped 3-pin fan things to hook it up to the built-in rheobus
(фотки - кликабле, если кто-то хочет чуть покрупнее)

and sleeved (zip tie mount is temporary)

lights off, LEDs on

and sleeved door fans power as well, goes right up to the koolance control stuff

Then to the radiator.
I decided to abandon Noiseblocker PK3 fans, because they are suprisingly do not work well with Koolance TMS-200 tach signal goes crazy, they work well only on max (12v)

So, I got 4 more Yate Loon fans.
LOL check this out (prices from popular US store):
Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PK-3 140mm x 25mm Ultra Quiet Fan - 1700 RPM $24.99
4 x Yate Loon 140mm Medium Speed Silent Case Fan - D14SM-12 - Sleeved $23.80
What a bargain

Immediately started to cut, crimp and sleeve them

this will be the central part in the case, so I did everything with utmost care, digital caliper Cheesecake LOL

Did some soldering for the rad, spent 3 days for this thing

Filed down rad bracket a bit, to let the cables pass freely (p-clip will be holding them)

then sleeved the fans and assembled everything, enjoy

those soft rubber gaskets are from Noiseblockers PK3 kit, atleast some benefit from non-working $25 fans

Gtek · 15 Nov 2010

A lot of work on details... that's how it should be... good job

The boy 4rm oz · 15 Nov 2010

I agree Gtek, a ton of work on the details.

aka_gk · 18 Feb 2011

update time

made some progress yesterday, finished soldering stand off to the koolance splitters
got some missing stuff: flux (Goot paste), solder and torch

whole setup overview

doing that for the first time, not everything went well

results are not perfect, but I'm glad I didn't wasted anything those joins will not be visible afterall

The overall idea is as following: when we have watercooling in the case and a whole bunch of expensive stuff we don't want it to get wet, right? So, when we have draining or filling ports near the hardware we have quite a good chance to spill coolant on it, all this mess is to reduce the chance Also this is the way to make WC look neat and clean, a part of build's idea too.

Let's start from the bottom, pump outlet goes behind the 5.25 bay to the splitter and here is the first thing, drain port.
Sorry about the terrible tubing - I used old tygon cut outs for this first mockup

As you may notice due to the construction of splitters drain outlet is slightly lower than inlet - exactly as it supposed to be for easy draining.

Then tubing is going straight to the top to the fill port! Idea is the same as with drain port, but upside down

But here is a small problem - tubing won't go easily under the stiffening bar due to the 5/8" outer diameter, also it bends under then back to the bottom splitter - that doesn't look cool

Now it's fixed with the dremel snaky rotary passing tubing to the rad
for now front piece is just hanging freely, but I'll fix it with stand-off later - don't have proper size right now

View from the top

Basically this is it for draining and filling, but I have one more interesting thing for ya, take a look, do you see anything behind the bar? just a tubing with angled barbs?

But there is a flowmeter actually it was supposed to be a part of the tubing going behind the 5.25 bay, but when I'd heard about the issues with vertical placement of this flowmeter, I changed my mind

And again view from the top

Supposedly this week I'll take apart my open stand to finally start putting hardware into the case, but still there are some work to do such as painting, sleeving finishes and lots of tiny tweaks and details.