Project :: Moondust :: Update 16/09/05

They are pop rivets - you drill them out with a 3+mm drill bit. It's a good idea to get hold of some 3mm pop rivets and a pop rivet tool (for lack of better term) for fixing the case back together again.

 

Yup, azazel is spot on, I just used a small drill bit and drilled right through the middle of them. If the rivets are 3mm as he says you can fix the case back together with 3mm screws if you would find that easier

 

i'm itching for another update.

 

yeah leeum, gimme a goddam update!

i want to see this all together and getting jiggy with it!

 

Sorry for the delay. I've got about two updates worth of posts but the image hosting is down for a few more days

 

Host 'em somewhere else?

 

www.photobucket.com??? thats how i host.

 

www.imageshack.us

 

I arrived home from school on the last day to find these beauties waiting for me in my room I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.







The two side panels in detail.



A shot from the other side.



Reflection of the rest of my room



I took the panels outside to see if I could get any better pictures but due to the light, I managed to snap up this one though

I’m off to a local stocker of Perspex on Monday to hopefully pick up some smoked grey/ silver stuff for the panels and then I can get the cooling setup.

 

Those panels have a nice finish? Did you get it done by some company or did you do it yourself?

Very nice and shiny too Keep it up

 

My hunt for Perspex took me to an industrial estate next to the Tyne Tunnel, Bay Plastics to be accurate



This is what I came back with. I couldn’t find any smoked stuff in grey/ silver, what I did find was some 3mm thick nice subtle blue stuff.



I then drilled the holes for the bolts and cut a square in the centre to allow the Aquatube to into case. The cut was made with a coping saw and the edges were sanded and polished.



The protective layer was then peeled off.



I then fitted the Perspex and Aquatube mounting plate to the top of the case.

After trying to fit the top panel back in place I realised that the top of the 5 ¼” bays was stopping it, this was because the Perspex added 3mm more thickness to the panel.



My only option was to trim just enough off the drive bays, too much would mean I could no longer fit a drive into the top bay. The cuts were made with a hacksaw and then lined with blowhole trim.



The top panel and Aquatube were then fitted to the case, here’s a (poor) shot from the top.



A shot from the side.

Majorly sorry for the slow progress, things are now back on track thanks to reliable hosting

 

whooo, the colour with the pelexi looks realy good, nice work.

 

Thanks keir What I like the most is when it's held up to the window it looks clear and when the lighting changes it goes a nice blue.

 

Red X's....

// edit : Nevermind, suddenly worked.
Looks nice dude.

 

We want more updates!

I know you have you loop installed

 

Loop, what loop?

 

Extremely nice looking res mount
Good job.

 

Shouldn't be doing that, let me know if it happens again Cheers again for the comments.

 

I had now progressed far enough in the project to finally get the water cooling set up.

First task was to remove everything from the temporary case along with the air cooling ready for some water block action. All the blocks were installed using AS5.



Here’s the hardware mounted into the case.



I then installed the rest of the water cooling before blowing all the dust off it (I’ve had the stuff for over a year)



I then got the tubes all cut to size and clamped to the barbs. The setup goes: Pump > Radiator > CPU > GPU > NB > Reservoir > Pump.



It was then time to fill it up with de-ionised water and hope everything was watertight, everything looked ok…apart from the water.

Shortly after the picture I had some problems with pump, every time I switched the pump off and then back on the impeller would jam, it seems this is a common problem with some L30’s. Hydor's quality control isn't up to scratch so the shafts are manufactured slightly too thick, as the pump gets hotter the tolerance gets tighter to the point where the magnet seizes.

I attempted to fix it myself by rubbing the shaft down with wet and dry sandpaper but I snapped the plastic part of the impeller in the process. Hydor UK kindly had a look in their warehouse for a replacement impeller to no avail, they instead kindly sent me a replacement L30! It was then a case of swapping the impellers over and getting the loop filled again.

However, I still had the frothing water problem. It seems the reservoir was not functioning as an air-trap and was pulling the bubbles back into the loop. Out of desperation, I stuck a sponge that came with pump in the reservoir and to my surprise, it did the trick!



I took this picture shortly after putting the sponge in the reservoir. It was then just a case of bleeding the bubbles out the loop.

Now the loop was leak tested and ready to go, I then fitted the rest of the hardware. As the case no longer has HDD cages, my next task was to find a different method of mounting it.



I then took a pair of HDD mounts, gave them a sand with wet and dry and a polish up to remove the rust.



Screw a hard drive and a pair of Chieftec mounting rails and we’re getting somewhere.



Once installed, nobody is none the wiser

Now that everything was installed and ready to go, I plugged everything in to make sure it was going to run. Another case of press the power button and hope…



It’s alive

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the worlds-first Milk-Cooled computer!"

Very nice work though - that paint job is outstanding + well worth whatever you paid!

Windows look great + the angled mount of the res is a nice touch.