Scratch Build – In Progress Project Quintessence - 29Jun-She's Live- CPU Magazine!

It is very touchy. I have to admire these guys that make acrylic cases. With reservoirs though, you really have to get good, solid joints to make sure you have no leaks.

Thanks. Its actually got lots of little flaws. I haven't decided how much time I'm willing to spend on the little stuff on it. It could probably at least use a good buffing, which I will probably do after I get it leaktested again.

I had to take the barbs back out as they leaked air a bit. I didn't have them good and tight, and didn't really put a good band of silicone on them. I'm letting the silicone dry 'til tomorrow and then I'll leaktest it again.

 

Res Cleaned up and Polished

I rounded off the front and side facing edges, pulled out the buffing wheel, and polished the res. I also cleaned and dried out the inside with a blow dryer. It has its share of flaws to be sure as anything hand made does, but overall I'm pretty pleased with the result. Here are a few impromptu pics taken on my front porch on a pillowcase.













Thanks for stopping by.

 

You rock! +rep

 

Res look sick!

Nice update!

 

That looks great! Nice job.

 

Nice job on the res voigts, only seems like the other day you showed the concept & now the actual piece, awesome . +rep

 

Thanks a lot. I'm not sure about the me rocking part though. I couldn't dance my way out of a cave if my life depended on it...

Thanks

Thanks a lot. Its not perfect by any means. but at least it is solid. BTW, I have my eye on that new case cover of yours.

Thanks Wanye. On that note, it seems like only "the other day" your case was just a concept, and now it is coming along nicely. It is gratifying to me though to see something crawl off of the paper and come to life so to speak.

 

Cool res Voigts!

 

That's a great-looking res!

 

What he said!

 

Thanks Attila. I wish I could have had the parts laser cut as it would turn out a lot better. Its very hard to get no bubbles at all when you saw cut the edges. For a res made my hand, it really all in all has come out very well. I of course (like you demonstratively do) strive for that perfection mark that is very hard if not impossible to attain.

Thanks both of you for your encouraging words. It is the feedback that keeps you

 

Bottom Rad Fans and Grill

I haven't gotten as much done as I would like since the last update, but I've managed to get a few things done. For whatever reason, the more I looked at the square fans on the bottom of the case for the bottom rad, the more something just didn't look right. I decided I wanted something rounded instead of just squaring off the fans. I got inspired by an idea that Alex used in his Sors salutis mod where he cut a fan out of its chassis. Looking for something round that was about the same internal diameter as a case fan housing, I found that 4” PVC pipe couplers have a diameter almost exactly the same as a fan. I bought two couplers, and started working.

First, using a Dremel, I cut the fans out of their frames.



Using the table saw, I cut down the couplers to the same 1” height of a regular fan. I left the thicker middle area of the coupler there to give me something to glue the fans to. To get them to fit over the holes I had already drilled in the bottom of the case for the bottom rad, I sanded off an area of them both in the middle, and then glued them together with PVC pipe glue.





The assembly is screwed underneath to the bottom case plate.



I masked off where the fans contact the frame and painted them hammered black.



Using some 2 part epoxy, I glued the fans to the frame.



I used the scrollsaw and cut out a fancy grille for the bottom fan assembly. I will of course cover up the fans tags and sleeve the wires.



Rear Fan Hole Grille

I decided that I didn't want to leave the rear fan hole plain, so I designed and cut a fancy fan grille out of 1/8” acrylic, and painted it to match the bottom fans grille in a metallic black hammered paint.





Front Panel Trim Piece

I got the front trim piece cut out. I used a piece of wood that is already slightly cupped to help with curving it to match the curve of the front panel. I cut the piece out once, but it didn't turn out right, so I recut it and got it right the second time.



Top Rad Mounted

I got the holes drilled and countersunk to mount the top radiator. To give it enough room to vent out of the top of the case, I have it spaced 3/8” from the top with nylon spacers.



Some New Goodies

I got in a bunch of new parts and goodies. I was very lucky in that I caught the new MB at Directron in stock. It was the only one they had in stock, and I got it! Since it will take me a while to finish this build, I went ahead and put the new MB and CPU in my Zenith case. I also switched out the Corsair RAM for 8gb of Gskill Ripjaws.









Thanks for stopping by.

 

Really it looks like a fantastic bit of progress to me mate .

Awesome update voigts love the custom fan frames & grills & the happy face of water cooling barbs says it all & woo hoo for you waiting for the B3 rev . +rep

The internals are starting to really match the externals in really nice looks .

 

How the h**l I missed these updates!@!$!#@%
You know that I love art and mods that look "different" and artistic.
This is one of these mods. Please go back and mod buddy I need my fix asap!!!!!

 

Looks really nice Voigts - only niggling thing is it looks like the round fan housing has a cusp that's less than 12cm and will cause a bit of turbulence... Other than that looks like awesome work! Are those bitspower fatboys making the smiley face?

 

Side Panels Scrollwork Cutout

So what do you get when you spend 11 hours leaning over a scrollsaw? You get two side panels cut out. This is the one major item left that I need to complete for this build which I've kind of been dreading after making the front and top panels. I stuck my back to the grind this weekend and got these panels cut out. My sore back is reminding me about it too! I think it could be a good alternative punishment method to make someone spend hours hovering over a scrollsaw. I spent about 2 hrs. Friday, 6 hours Saturday, and 3 more today (Monday).



It will probably take me several hours more of filing to get things finished up with the scrollwork on these. Then I have to figure out how I am going to mount them.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Very nice work voigts .

voigts do you use pinned blades or pinless blades on your scrollsaw, I have pinless but can't use them with it & they have 50 or more TPI so give super clean cuts compared to the 25 TPI on the pinned blades, I really thought I'd get a ton of usage out of mine but simply been put off using it with having to use pinned blades as they need a bigger hole for starting internal cuts, the pinless blades would only need a 2mm starting hole the pinned blades would need at least a 5mm hole, I was having mad ideas of being able to out do close to laser type cuts but with the bigger needed holes that just isn't gonna happen but yeah I haven't even tried using it yet .

 

I've found that the pinned blades are more for straight cuts as they are thicker than pin-less blades. The blades I've been using for this are pin-less and are very small. There is no way to do these cuts with pinned blades. The blades I'm using are only .029"deep (about .74mm). You can get thinner blades, but these are about as thin as I can go and still be able to cut a smooth line or curve.

That doesn't sound right about your scrollsaw. I don't think I've ever seen one that will only take one kind of blade or another.

I spent about 4 hours last night with small files going at the scrollwork, and was able to get it all filed. Yeah!

 

That is a huge amount of patience, and this thing looks fantastic. Love the intricate design work, very impressive. Will definitely keep an eye on this one.

 

11 hours?!@!#$$
Holy maoly brother, those 11 hours payed out at the maximum!!!
This has to be one of the best mods ever bro I LOVE it!!!!
Now moar pls!!!!!