Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Honeycomb - Completed - CustomPC Featured Mod Nov 2012

maybe too mucg lightning :/, but it still looks good

 

Its like a disco in there with all that lighting

 

Everyone has their own opinion. Thanks.

Yep. I'm putting in 3-4 switches on each side to control all the lighting. I just need to find some switches I like.

 

Its voting time! This is the last round of points that goes to the total, its not a "like" contest. You have to register but I know you all will to help out!

Please go here: http://showdown.newmodcity.com/final-round/#comment-59 and vote for my mod in the Scratch Build category.

Thanks!

 

Honeycomb Cheesecake

 

Shameless bump. I'm working on my midplate now and i finally got the Gigabyte OC motherboard! I will have an update this weekend.

 

Big Update

My goodness where has the time gone??? Where to start??

Lets start with some goodies!!

Got a new soldering station. I like it but I need to buy some different tips for different jobs.




A spot temp sensor that I got for Christmas. The best tool for identifying dead spots/hot spots in your case.


4" UV Cold Cathodes + extensions




An awesome threaded funnel with air tube


Rocker switches for turning on and off all the lights.


A bunch of terminals for the rocker switches


MDPC ATX pin remover


Gigabyte GA-X58A-OC mobo!!!!


Internal USB plugs


On to the modding!!

I contracted Will from TBCS to make me an LCD temp sensor setup for this mod. Its 2 pieces, the LCD and control board. It can display up to 12 different temps! I'm very very happy with it.





Here is the front all taped up and sketched out. Time to drill and cut!


And here is how it looks installed.




Thanks Will for all your help!

Now for the GPU. I got a single PCI bracket for it since its WC'd.


I'm a huge fan now of making backplates for all my GPUs. Measured.


Here it is mounted to the card and installed in the case.


It didn't come out very good because Bitspower uses different sized screws than DD does so my longer screws didn't fit. I may remake it later without drilling any holes in it.

Everyone noticed how my GPU was sagging because of the Bitspower WB. Here is my fix. A 1/4" x 1/4" piece of orange acrylic cut to height. (the paper was still on when I took these)




After awhile I just HAD to put water in this to see how it ran.









No load. No OS. Just running.


I noticed an air bubble in my CPU block.... I need to figure out how to get rid of that.


Since I got that awesome OC board I had to get that slapped in ASAP! So out with the old.


And in with the new.






The ATX connector is in a different spot so it looks a bit off.


I wanted to make a midplate to hide all the wires. A PSU shroud just won't be possible any more. I started with cardboard.






Have to make sure the res support bracket can still fit.








It only goes back so far because that's the biggest I could go unless I buy another sheet of acrylic. I'm debating it but then that means I would have to flip my PSU and drill another hole... decisions decisions...

Well I cut and installed the midplate. Here is how it looks.




Since it goes under the GPU I had to shorten the brace. This works out great because it puts pressure on the corner that needs held down and I don't need to screw or glue the midplate into place.







Since I never used rocker switches I had to experiment to get them to work.
This was great because I was able to cut and rewire my cold cathodes to use one new rocker switch that will be mounted in the back of the case. That will be in my next update.

And lastly I installed the 4x 4" UV cold cathodes to see how it all looked.










I love how the mobo has some lighting in it already. Fits in PERFECTLY!!





That's it for today. I'm sorry this update is so big. December has been crazy for us. I'll do my best to keep updates smaller and more frequent.

Cheers till next time.

 

Every time I see something else on this mod, I love it more, lol. nice job bro, keep it up!

 

Thanks man! More coming soon.

 

Switches, More Lighting and More Cable Management

Forgot to say in my last update that I got some Silver Kill Coils for the loops.


Since I had never used rocker switches before I had to do some testing.




Now how to mount them? I made a sketch so I knew the measurements.


Put on some tape.


Marked




Cut and installed!


It works!


Inside view.

These 3 will control the Mobo door LED, All UV Cold Cathodes on both sides of the case, and the res LEDs.

I put another switch on the HDD side of the case for the HDD door LEDs.


Inside view.


Because I had the CPU block sideways for the AMD chip I had to redo my LEDs.


Next I pulled the top of the case off so it would be easier to work on the next few parts.


I decided I didn't like how the cables looked. They needed to be tied up and hidden better. So I started the process of putting cable ties on.








Looks much much better

Next I reran the CPU and RAM LEDs behind the mobo. After I flipped them both because I am a noob and mounted the EK sideways on the CPU block and backwards on the RAM block.




I then installed the 12" Lamptron UV Cold Cathodes in the HDD side of the case using some Velcro.





As you can see I mounted them to the Rads because it was the easiest place to put them. They light up the wires and tubing behind the HDDs very nicely.

Lastly I installed my Lamptron FC5V2. This will control the 3 fans on the mobo side of the case and the 200mm exhaust fan on the HDD side of the case.


I'll have to clean up the wires later.


Thanks all for today. My MDPC order was lost in the mail so I am waiting to get that so I can finish sleeving the system.

Cheers till next time!

 

The mobo looks like it was made for this build and the cables look much nicer tidied up now, good stuff

 

Midplate Madness

The project is nearing the end. Here is what I'm waiting for to arrive to finish it. Hopefully it should all arrive this week.

- i7 950
- Sleeving
- Heatshrink
- Plexi for midplate
- More Bitspower fittings (mainly T, L and Q fittings)



I worked on a new midplate design.

This piece is notched to fit in just perfectly.




I had a scrap piece of 1/4" black plexi glass so I put my template on it and cut.


After I cut it, I bent it.




And it was too big




Taped off and marked. I had to cut 1/2" off.


Then it fit just right. You can also see I started the top design already with paper. I ordered 1/8" black plexi for that part.






After I get the plexi I will cut it and ship it off to have a honeycomb pattern laser cut into it for the PSU exhaust. Should look pretty boss.

Cheers till next time.

 

Amazing work and color scheme can't wait to see more!

 

very nice fella just a quick question how did you mount the GPU back plate onto the GPU

 

Thanks!

Thanks. I had planned to just screw it on like I did the back plates on my GTX 560 Ti's but the Bitspower block uses different screws than the Danger Den blocks do so they didn't fit. Right now I'm just using some 3m tape but once I get the proper screws I'll take that out.

 

I didn't take many pictures but here is the midplate. Took me 2 tries. Good thing I bought extra acrylic.

I'm going to send it out to have a honeycomb grill cut into it where the PSU exhaust is.


I sleeved the rest of the tubes.


Finished the 2nd 8pin CPU power cable.


Came out OK.


Got my 950


And installed it.


Got more fittings. You can't see where they go but I was able to use some Q fittings to make a drain port at the bottom of each rad. I also was able to replace some silver fittings with black ones.


Got a RAID card! It works great but sadly, WHS can only recognize 2TB partitions. So I had huge issues at first but for now it just gives me the ability to have 8 more HDDs. It also helps with cable management.







Now for some pretty pictures. (best I can do atm)





















So the system is filled up and running now. I got WHS v1 installed and things are going smoothly right now. I just have to finish up the midplate and install the rest of the temp sensors and then I can call this mod complete!

Hope you enjoy the photos. Cheers till next time!

 

Great midplate and superb sleeving Shane

 

Thanks! I got the sleeved tubing idea from you.

Also because there are no good Orange UV coolants on the market

 

I had the same problem with the yellow for the TJ11
Maybe this is the color you're looking for:
http://www.mayhems.co.uk/shop/mayhem-s-pastel/38-mayhem-s-pastel-gigabyte-orange.html

It looks like your orange

 

very nice work. No such thing as too much lighting! Are you keeping those switches white? It looks very much like the phinix tower's big brother, which is a very good thing!