Project: LavaStone (UPDATED 19-08-06) - LOOP COMPLETE AND FILLED

Hi!

Well Ive been into my PC's for ages now, and Ive completed lots and lots of builds, but within the last year Ive become more involved with modding the cases that I own, my first project was to install watercooling into my lovely SilverStone TJ-03 case:









It worked excellently, temps were suprisingly low, and I managed to overclock my Opteron 144 from 1.80ghz to 3.15ghz, which I was quite pleased with - for my first go at watercooling

But now Im hungry for more! And after taking a lot of inspiration from projects Ive read on these very forums, Ive now decided to elaborate and embelish the rig that I already have.

The main mod is to build a radbox that will enclose a Thermochill HE120.3 rad and an ehiem 1250 pump that will dedicatedly cool both my CPU and GPU, this will be a 1/2" loop, based on 15mm copper pipe rather than tubing. As I already have a PA120.2 installed in the top of the case, I will leave this installed and eventuallly (in the future when funds allow) use this in a second, small-bore, loop to hopefully cool my Chipset, RAM, MOSFETs and HDDs.

 

04-08-06 - Work starts...

So I ordered the parts on Sunday last week and they all arrived on the Tuesday, at one point there were 3 different corriers literally queing at the door to give me my stuff! nice.

Parts I got were:

Sunbeam 4 Fan Controller
2 x Red LEDs
120.3 AquaCompter Black Rad Grill
120.2 AquaComputer Black Rad Grill
Sheet of A C Ryan UV Red plexi
FSP Epsilon 700w PSU (to power this new monster, as my old 400w SilverStone just wont cut it)
M3 Hex Head bolts + M3 nuts (45mm)

And so, this tonight, after having a damn good tidy up of my workbench I decided to get cracking with it! Lets GO!!!!!!!!!

First some shots of my bench (spoiler a bit because I took these post modding work, duh!)





Im a Carpenter by trade, but 90% of my tools are at the workshop, but I managed to remmeber to bring the necessaries back for this project . I like to have a nice fresh workbench, the top is actually a fire door that I bought for £25 - bargain, anyway enough of that, and on with the modding...!

First Job was to cut some of the UV Red acryllic to the exact same size as the rad grills:



dont worry about that glowing mark on the back of the larger piece - its not a scratch its just the glue that was left from the masking tape that I put on - didnt clean it off yet thats all

Rad Grills themselves:



For this I used my Tenon saw to carefully cut the acryllic, I actually left 1mm on the waste side of the cut line, I then filed the edges smooth, and created the curves on the corners of the piece. Then I used some 800g wet and dry to remove the file marks, and finally some 1200g with water to smooth the edges right down - not polishing at the moment that will be done towards the end

When put togther this is the result:



When they are mounted, there will be a black spacer inbetween the bottom of the acryllic and the top of the case, so hopefully creating the illusion that the grills are floating on a glowing red base

 

The Second Job of the evening was to solder the two new red LEDs onto the Case plate, to replace to old Blue ones, here is the completed job:




just for reference (and the fact I forgot to post it earlier here is the empty chassis that I am working with



Work will continue tomorrow, I've got to felt part of my flat roof tomorrow, so will only be a half-days work unfortunately, but I hope to be able to show you some more detailed drawings of the radbox I plan to build

thanks for looking, all comments are welcome!....

 

Looks tasty! Nice OC BTW

 

yeah thanks, Im an Overclocker getting into modding, not the other way round

 

Hehe, hapens with the most of us. Modding always gives better airflow!

 

05-08-06 Risers Cut

Decided not to do the roof today, so I decided I would crack on and get the risers for the rad grills cut, here they are cut and test fitted, they will of course be painted black in the end; but this is the idea Im working on, hopefully it will provide enough airflow for the rad, as well as giving a great effect



sorry for the bad photo had to take it quickly as my camera battery is just about dead

/me puts camera on charge

 

Excellent work on the radiator grill and love the plexi aswell!!!

 

06-08-06 main work on building of Radbox complete

Well I didnt get a lot done yesterday, but I did go and get all the materials for the radbox that I plan to build, they were:

18mm x 18mm prepared pine
6mm thick MDF
3.5 x 35mm screws
Wood Glue
Wood Filler

so this morning I crashed straight into getting on with building the radbox, its exactly the same dimensions on length and width as the case, and it stands at 200mm high.

Basic frame was assembled with the 18mm x 18mm battens, all the joints held with one screw, but glue applied to give extra strength (I tell you its suprisingly strong this structure). All was cut by hand with a tenon saw and using a bench hook, no chopsaw at home unfortunately

I then clad the frame with the 6mm thick MDF, pilot drilled and countersunk all the screw holes and then filled them with the wood filler and gave it a jolly good sanding - the far side panel and the bottom panel are removeable, so it will be easy to install the rad and pump when I get them (hopefully tomorrow).

pics:







the front of the box pretrudes a bit at the moment, but dont worry one the front bezel is back on it will be flush with the front of the case. I will secure the case to the radbox via 4 bolts in the positions that the case feet were.

I had a little bit of extra time, and things had gone well so I decided to make a few discs from the UV plexi to sit above the nice hi-fi-style chromed silverstone case feet. these will, in the end be on the bottom of the radbox, Ive already drilled for these and test fitted them



Last job of the day is to soak the old PA120.2 rad and blocks in a soultion of boiled water and some vinegar; they will be left overnight and flushed out tomorrow.



Next thing on the agenda is to get my hand on that HE120.3 and the Ehiem pump that I really hope arrive tomorrow, so I can drill and mount all that, and cut out the side of the radbox for the rad - then its a case of painting the thing black - I did think about using some of that fablon as a quick way to get it black, but even though it looks good and is quick to apply it doesnt have the right finish against the sprayed panels of the TJ-03. I will have to go and splash out on a few cans of black spray and a clear and just graft on with it and spray maybe 4-5 coats on the thing, it will be a pain to do but hopefully worth the effort in the end.

comments of course welcome

 

This is looking good already! I guess it certainly helps that you work with materials for a living, I wish I could cut that straight

 

Thanks for the kind words, its much appreciated

Yeah Im used to building things like this as I work for a boat building company

I hope to, after this project, start to get some good metalworking skills, Ive a friend whos in the motor industry and another whos an precision engineer, so I have access to metalworking tools. The eventual aim is to build my own PC case from scratch

 

are there going to be holes in that red plexi behind the rad grills?

 

no, thats where the risers come in...

 

Would it not be better to make the holes for the air and make the acrylic and the metal thingy flush with the case without risers?

Anyway, great work! Looking forward to more.

 

I think that even with the risers, the airflow will be very restricted. Nice looking projekt though.

 

Well there is some progress to report today...

Thankfully at 9am this morning my HE120.3 rad and Eheim pump arrived, nicely packaged and it good condition (thanks Gurdas from OcUK Forums).

First job of the day was to mark out where to cut the opening for the rad in the nearside panel...



not the neatest markout ever, looks like multiple choice from the photo - which it was, but I knew which lines to follow! It was trickier than expected to mark it out without a template (printer broken )

There was a hole drilled in each corner for the jigsaw and then the opening was cut.



I also cut a larger hole on the offside to allow for airflow, and inspection of the equipment, this panel is removeable (holes wont be filled).



The cut is straight on either side, just my poor camera skills lets it down tbh

Next I test-fitted the pump and rad, there is enough room for the fans to be attached on the back of the rad.





Then I quickly marked and drilled for the pump mounting holes, easy job, it'll be secured with hex-head bolts and nuts...



I also glued the plexi to the back of the aquacomputer rad grills...



Finally a shot of tonights poison



Just to add; I really dont think the way I mount the grills will affect performance that much, not with nearly 20mm of gap there, the fans should easily draw enough air through to cool the radiator adequately

 

well, having said I was quite happy with the grill I decided perhaps you who thought it might not provide enough airflow were right, so I was racking my brain, and suddenly it dawned on me - the simplest way to give good airflow would be to reverse the intended flow of air!!

if the fans pull air from the offside where I will now cut away more of the panel so it is about 90% open and then exhaust to the rad grill side that should be more than sufficient to cool the water lol

 

Ahhhhhh..... the benefit of hindsight

It looks like you'll have plenty of room in there for all the cooling stuff - I dont know what else is going in there, but it's refreshing to see a bit of space in a mod!

 

yeah I now have to fine tune my loop planning, the biggest prblem Im facing now is the res, I have ordered a 5.25" bay res, but I think that might use too much of the internal space, I have maybe though of mounting one of the ThermoChill ThermoTubes on the rear of the case and running the tubing in via a 80mm blanking plate and out near the bottom left corner of the rear by the expansion slots

today I have ordered:

8ft Tygon 1/2"
PowerPlant II Pump Relay
5.25" Danger Den Bay Res

edit: on what going in the radbox front - apart from the Rad and the pump that you can see, obviousley there are the fans to be mounted on the rad, and also a modified Sunbeam Rheobus will be mounted at the rear so I can control the speed of the fans mounted to the rad. Other than that its just the tubing to fit in there, although I have considered adding some lighting - probably red cathodes

 

OK, so some quite decent progress to report this afternoon...

Late last night I stripped down a Sunbeam Rheobus that I bought, I plan to use it to control the speed of the fans on that radiator:



I marked and drilled 4 holes for the dials to show through, this is at the back of the radbox, as I dont really want to make a feature of it, I only want it there in a practical sense, and I dont think that it will add anything to the looks of the radbox

I bit the bullet and gave the radbox its first coat of black spray, it looks rough, which it is, and you can see spots - thats just where the paint has taken longer to dry, where I filled the screw-head holes, its gone back now, but hadnt when I took the photo this coat is really to just "seal" the MDF and Pine that Ive used, it will be sanded back quite hard tomorrow, and then I will carry on with the normal painting process using finer scratch, tack cloths and of course, thinner coats




^^ there you can see the drill-out for the rheobus - looks a bit off, but it isnt, I used a little spirit level on it! oh and the other little hole to the right is so I can get a screwdriver in to bleed the rad

My second little project of the (now) evening was the cut a window out of a spare bezel in order to show off the front of my silentmaxx hdd enclosure - heres the result:





I cut the main area out with the Dremel, then hand filed it neat, it was given a coat of black spray (its now been taken apart and another coat given - it will have 3 coats and 1 clear in the end) then trimmed the edge with some blowhole trim, and cut a piece of the red plexi the same size as the back of the bezel to fit

as the blowhole trim laps over the backside of the bezel, I had to cut these 4 little packers for the plexi to stick to in order for it to remain flush with the blowhole trim



thats it for tonight, tomorrow will just be more sanding and painting, hope to get another 2 coats on the radbox, and maybe polish off a few other bits - I need to tidy up the mounting for the PA120.2 rad in the top of the tower, and work out a way to mount the rad grill there.

COMMENTS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!!