Well this is my first project log, since i now have a digital camera i might as well post the pics and keep a log. here it goes. This is pretty much the stock case and my 2 120 mm mechatronics fans. It will soon be completely transformed into my creation. It was the cheapest full tower case that I could find. Not bad for 45$ shipped. You can really tell how cheap it is once you start messing around with it, the steel is thin and can flex pretty good with little pressure. The case will be reinforced as needed. If I could do over again, I would buy a better case to start with, but being my first water cooled pc, I didn’t want to break the bank. Real men don’t use band-aids, they use black tape. You have to watch out for the sides of this case, they are pretty sharp! I found that out the hard way. This is the heater core, fedco 2-199. I purchased it for 18.88$ that is a lot cheaper than a “pc radiator”. This is a dual pass heater core, which means the piping is U shaped. That means extra cooling, which is what I am going for. The first problem I faced was how to mount this beast. After many cardboard cutouts and designs, I came up with this. I used parts from an old Steel Tec set that I had from when I was a kid. This provided me with many different sized pieces to choose from for my mounting. With my mounts all made up, I used some metal silicon that I had lying around to glue the bracing to the heater core. I just laded the mounts on the heater core and filled all the gaps with this stuff. Here is another shot of the silicon. This isn’t the nicest job, but will not be seen with the shroud in place. Here is a shot of the front mounts that I made. Since the heater core will be filled with water I will let gravity do its job and hold it tight against the bracing. Here I a testing my mounting job to make sure it all fits in the case, the heater core will be mounted inside to the top of the case. Looks like I will not be using the top couple slots of my 5 ½” drives. O-well that will be an excellent place to mount my LCD screen! Being a cheap case and all, all the panels were pop riveted together. But I showed that case who its daddy was, nothing a drill can’t handle. To take rivets out all you do is find a bit the size of the hole in the rivet and drill though it, then smooch the back end together and out it comes. Icky that support for the power supply is nasty, same with that back panel. Nothing a grinder and a cutoff disc can’t handle. Now I have a blank plate to work with and customize anyway I wish. I also cut off the power supply supports but I don’t have a picture of that. I made the back plate at my dads shop; he has a lot of need things there, being a welder and all. Like this nice burn table! Draw anything in AutoCAD and you can cut it out with great precision. That is my dad there, loading up the sketches into the machine for burning.
Page 2 Wow that was quick, a lot faster than I can cut with my dremel and the line are actually straight! I cut the back plate and my radiator shroud (more on that later) out with this, it is really a useful tool for modding, and is a real bargain at 30,000$ While I am at the shop I might as well solder up my parts that I need. Here is my heater core getting ready to solder, you need to clean up all the copper and scratch it up with some sand paper to make sure the solder sticks. You don’t want any leaks in side of your case now do you! I am also soldering up my reservoir/air trap, this is the T joint that I will be using. With input being on the side and exit being on the bottom, the threaded end will be going into my PVC end cap for the PVC pipe. Here is end result for the T fitting and encamp. I used Teflon thread sealer on the threads in the end cap. Since I didn’t have and taps for pipe thread, all I did was drill out the PVC to just a little smaller than the size of the copper threads. Then heat up the copper and screw it in, melting the plastic just a bit to make threads. There is the final version of my reservoir/air trap. I think I did a pretty good job there, and it only cost me about 5$ with all the fitting and PVC pipe. I had to buy a 6-foot section of 1.5-inch pipe, so I have some left over. Here I am lining up where I want my pump, the pump is a Via Aqua 2600. I drilled out a hole for the power line that will be routed out of the way so you don’t see it. A nice case is a tidy case. With drilling holes for the mounts on the heater core I mounted it to the top of the case. Man that thing is big, takes up almost the length of the case, cool. Here is a picture of the shroud that I made. This will be going around the heater core to direct airflow though the heater core instead of around the heater core. When mounting the heater core I left about 1inch gap from the case to the heater core. Test have shown that a fan is very effective when placed 1inch from the radiator. With that gap there though, that leaves room for air not passing though the heater core to be sucked though the fans. So this shroud prevent that from happening by closing the gap and making the fans only pull air though the radiator. Here is another shot, I can’t really get a good shot of this being so thin and all. I hope you understand how this works. Here is the heater core and shroud in place. It is almost a perfect fit! Another product of the burn table, thanks dad for great gadgets for me to use!
Page 3 Here is a shot of the fan mounts being measured up. The holes for the mounts have already been drilled and one circle as been drawn for cutting. FYI 120mm fans are the same size as a cd. I masked off the top of the case to prevent my unsteady hand from messing up to much when dremeling. Here one fan hole has been cut out already. I found it easiest to drill holes all the way around the outside then cut the little parts out. This saves a lot of time for me and my dremel. I really would have liked to use the plasma cutter but I didn’t feel like driving to the shop to only do this. So it took me about 2 hours to cut and file down the holes. I know I am really slow at cutting, but I wanted to do the job right. Here are the fans all cut and mounted, yay I am so happy. This is actually starting to look like a computer. The fans look off center but they really are not, I think the tapeline just make it look that way. Here is another shot of the fans, but from a different angle! Those are some monster fans, 126 cfm apiece, that will get some air moving! The whole top mounted. The fans, shroud, radiator all mounted. This is turning into my best project yet and I am only getting stared! Trying to be as silent as possible, I cut up some gaskets for my pump mount and fans. This stuff is foam sheets that I got at Wal-Mart for 33 cents a sheet ooo the savings, I love it. Can you guess what color the case is going to be? To take a break from modding, I decided to lap my water block. This is a shot of before I lapped it, looks pretty bad doesn’t it. You can barely see the reflection of the candy in it. That is soon to change! Here is the water block after some elbow grease and a couple pieces of sandpaper. I went down to 2000 grit on it. I am going to be digging up some rubbing compound and get a great shine to it. You will not really notice the difference but it’s just for bragging rights. Thats it for now, will post more as I do more.
Lockhaven PA? Dang I drive right past there every day on my way to work, I live in bellefonte, PA. That's like 15 minutes from you! Can I come over and use your toys? (providing beer, of course, if its legal ;D) Nice work so far, and definitly good stuff for your first WC box!
actually i go to school in lock haven, i am home now in Saint Marys. I am 22 so it is legal. You should come to one of our lans that we have in Lock Haven, I was voted in Vice President for the up coming semester. I will also be setting up the next lan, sometime in January. here is the link to our site, lanparty
Boys, where did he get those toys? Don't just stand there. Go ask him! The color? me thinks sickly off white masking tapeish??? Nice work so far! I can't wait to see where this wee beastie goes!
Nice job on the w/c so far, i'll keep an eyeon this one. don't quote me on this but i'm pretty sure the rubbing compound will degrade the heat transfer, so make sure you clean the block w/ isopropyl alchohol before you mount it, but that is a good lap job. Keep up the good work -glenn
I always like hardcore mod jobs. And, considering how your dad's got an industrial shop.... I'm so subscribed.
That lap job is great. what waterblock is it? A good lap like that can make a hell of a difference, especially on AMD XP's where the block touches the core. It can greatly improve stability and shave quite a few degrees off the temp.
This is my slim psu that I have assembled. This is a 200W power supply that I have modded into an old cd-rom casing that I had lying around collecting dust. I used the old mounts that I tore out of the metal psu casing and pushed them in to the cd case. I also used the circuitry from the cd-rom to power the psu. This enables me to connect power to the psu just like you would a regular cd-rom. Completely stealthed from adoring onlookers. This is how the psu looks with its cover on. The black line is where I will be trimming it down so it is not as long. This is the psu trimmed down with a 10 minute mounted fan on it. I also added on the original capacitor since it seemed like it would be a good idea. The fan hole will be redo to ensure proper flow. Here it with the put back together again. The only fans that will not be regulated by my non-existence PWM fan controller will be the psu fans. Since these need to run at full power to ensure proper cooling for the psu’s. To go along with my stock looking connectors I replaced the pump standard 3-prong wall plug to a Molex connector. This will enable me to power the pump inside the case and will look sleek. All connectors have been checked and do work. Warning AC is a more powerful than DC, be careful when messing around with it, I take no responsibly for damaged hardware or personal injury. Here is my homemade res/airtrap. I had to mount it on the outside of the case because of the size that I wanted and for easy access for filling. This also prevents water from being spilled onto other hardware in the case. This is a fill cap that I used. It is actually a PVC drain plug, but it can serve a dual purpose. I originally had a different res built but it had no fill cap (doh!) so, went back to the hardware store and made a new and improved one. This was a leak test that I did and good thing. The outlet on the pump leaked so I had to silicone it up, it looks better than the picture says. That white stuff was I trying to seal it up with water in the system, that’s a no go. So I took it apart and used some clear silicone.
ummm did you use thicker wiring on that molex connector than whats stndard in a PSU? otherwse wouldnt you be flirting wth disaster via electrical fire?
I can't say that that is the most beutiful or practical Case I seen, perhaps you could.. ehum, do it a bit more estetic?
