Case Mod - In Progress Project: Gearbox 2.0 - mini P180 Back to Basics

What he suggests is that you add that extra piece of wire to make the total wire stiffer, i.e. Viagra for wires.

It's not connected to anything at the ends though. Note: Use thick copper wire and use it as your Ground (-) wire, that way you can push it into the molex/XLR/PCI-E connector too.

 

this may help for the key question, you should be able to find whatever you need, I have ordered from them before quick service

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Cat=1114205;keywords=key switch

 

Now we have to mount the pump to the pump mount, here is my idea:
Take a strip of aluminum bend it at the ends and then bend the whole thing around the reservoir

Oh yea, I got a new reservoir, the Alphacool one was a disaster because idiots that engineered the thing thought it was a good idea to combine an acrylic cap with an aluminum ring (cooling and heating cracks the cap which has already started to happen)



anyways, we get something like this


then I drill a bunch of holes, and then glue some aluminum angle bars to the ends

finished product

Well, until next time!

 

Wow is there some kind of work limit on posts now?? Now my post is going to be all screwed up and out of order, anyways, here is the part proceeding the last one:

TEN THOUSAND YEARS AND IM FREE!
Ok it hasnt been that long but it sure seemed like it. I just graduated high school and now I have more time for modding so without further ado, i present to you updates.

I did some modding here and there for a few months:
First item on the agenda, pump mounting. Due to the lack of space in the Matx case, I have to suspend the pump and to do that I had to design a bracket that could hold it against the radiator yet allow air to flow through, here is what i came up with:


Mocked up design with some paper thin aluminum sheets

mock up with the pump attached

also had to cut a notch in the rubber mounts that came with the pump so the wire could fit nice and snug

see, nice and tidy

Next item on the agenda, reservoir mount:
hrm.. I didnt get any progress pictures after all... weird, anyways here is the finished product:




Ok now on to some stuff I did today:

Started cutting out the pump mounting bracket (refined design on the fly)

Scored the thick sheet aluminum to use as guide lines

Cut out and sanded, looks pretty good

 

It's good to see you back. -and we didn't have to poke you this time.
I like the hinged reservoir mount. What's this about cracking plastic caps on an aluminum reservoir? Is that something I can look forward too?

 

@Cheapskate: Well no, nothing to look forward to because it already started to happen haha. I dont think I was verry clear the first time so let me explain again. Previously I had an Alphacool reservoir that had an acrylic cap that was screwed into a aluminum rim. The problem was that the aluminum had a different rate of expansion/contraction based on temperature change (which there was a lot on as the reservoir is inside the case) so when the aluminum contracts, it squeezes the cap and it cracks. I'll try to get a picture of it Asap.

 

Looking good

 

Good to see you back man. and with an update! its been like 4 months or something! nice reservoir mount it looks good in design.

 

Man I have been having a complete crap week. School sucks (as always), I have been given all my main assignments at once and I can't get anything right. Reading that this mod is now rolling again has made my day...no, it has make my whole week my friend. Thanks for the kick to get me through the rest of the week, it was just what I needed.

 

dude i like. i cant wait to see this done. i am currently working on liquid cooling a 300 my self, im looking forward to seeing yours.

 

It's OK. I understood completely. I'm just worried because I just built a Plexi/alum res!
Thanks for the warning, though. I'm going to see if I can ease the fit a bit.

 

@The_Beast
Thanks
@ Oreon_237
Thanks and yea its been way to long, hopefully I get this thing wraped up before I have to move to Berkeley,CA at the end of August.

BTW Anyone in the Bay Area going to NVision 08?
@The boy 4rm oz:
Haha glad I could help, sorry its been a while since my last update, I keep having trouble getting things rolling,
@Ceapskate:
Ouch, I hope that works out for you.
_________
Happy 4th if you are living in the US, not so happy if you're living in the UK i guess (?) )

Lets start with some old pictures that I never got around to posting:
Here is the res mount finished with a little demo video

mount and res put together



How its mounted (lots of 8 - 32 screws). Its a little bent in the last picture, but I fixed that.

Everything put together in the down position.

Everything put together in the up position.

Here is the video to clarify.

Anyways, package came yesterday with a nice large sheet of aluminum. If you remember the mounting frame for the pump/radiator from my last post, then you will recognize this as the 2nd part of my innovative pump mounting system :


Top view

Check out that gap, looks nice a breezy

Questions/comments welcome.

Until next time!

 

looks good glad to see you taking it up again :up:

 

Sweet! Kick-ass job, man! Glad ta see ya back too.

 

So I have exactly 1 month (from yesterday) to complete this mod before I leave for school, so I've done alot of thinking. I MIGHT have to finish everything I can to make it functional and running, then get the final pieces custom machined while im at college, but that's a surprise for another day.

So, now we enter the phase where the boring stuff fades away and all the flash and eye candy comes into play, starting with the lighting.
Gearbox will have 2 sets of 13 LED arrangements, on set on the Mobo tray, and the other on the interior and feet:

1st set

First set hooked up to J.Le in for repairs

Overview



Close ups

I know the LEDs aren't spaced evenly, but that's because they arent hot glued down, which I did yesterday, but didnt photograph.. oh wait, nevermind I did:

Oh and one more thing, if you look closely at the picture ^ you can see that the acrylic bordering has a grove that runs along the side that dosnt appear in the other pictures, that's because I had to cut it so that teh sliding mechanism inside the case would let it in, a picture for yall that are still curious:


2nd set
We got the 2nd set on the floor of the case

Dont mind the bare wires, tehy wont be visible with all the hardware in.

this is how they are going to light up the feet, which is coming next :]

OK on to the most exciting part of the mod so far, the GEARS. It's the first set of gears that I have actually CUT for this case, minus the one that I cut for demo purposes:

It all start with a little idea in photoshop

that gets printed, pasted, cut, and drilled (1 hole for foot spike, 2 large holes for decoratoin, 2 smaller holes for LEDs, and 2 smallest holes for alignment)

Then I draw up some spaces for teh gears

Cut and drilled


attached to the drill via screw and nut and put to the disk sander

everything stacked

finished assembly looks someting



sand and polished gears


all of them installed

closeup front

closeup back

notice there is no spacer on the back feet, and this why i'm dumb. FIrst of all I only measured the hole for the back feet and designed and made the gears based on those measurements, that was mistake #1. Now the gears on the front are protruding a little, which looks kinda weird. Mistake #2, I carpeted the case before Installing the feet, this means I totally forgot that the front of gearbox has an extra lump near the feet because of the original contruction of the case, therefore the threads on the metal spikes is not long enough to acomodate the spacers.

Now, gearbox is lopsided, the back is higher than the front :[ I could remove the spacers in the back, but they complete the look... any ideas?

Well that's it for now, until next time

 

i think it would be cool if you took the rez mounting bracket and drilled little 1/3" holes in it machine gun barrel style

 

That looks really clean. Fantstic work.

 

nickhelton:
man.. that's a really good idea, too bad i already bent it and drilling nice looking acurate holes will be too difficult :[ man.. where were you when I was building that piece lol. Maybe ill redo it some time if I dont like how the painting turns out.

the boy 4rm oz:
thanks

 

Yeah i figured that much. Get a flat one, hit the drill press, and send me pics

 

I almost forgot about this mod


Still looking good I really hope you finish