Project: "Remora" -=[Toddlers, No!]=- 2/25/07

Finished the intake duct this afternoon. Machined out of acrylic and polycarbonate, it encloses the drive cage allowing the fan to draw air directly from the front of the case.

And here are some night shots

Here's what it looks like from the front

More progress to come tomorrow

 

Well, I got Media portal installed and I figured out how to setup XMLtv (didn't think that was going to be so complicated).
The external TV tuner card I have just isn't going to cut it, so I ordered a Hauppauge WinTV-150 MCE LP from Amazon.

 

I just ordered a 250GB hard drive and all the wireless networking equipment. I didn't get anyting done today though because the weather change knocked me out and I've been pretty immobile as a result.
I have a few things left to straigthen out but most of the tweaking from here on involves software.

Left to do
+ Cut metal backing of side panel to allow light to "bleed" out vents
+ Add window/logo to side panel
+ Replace LEDs
+ Modify drive bay door by adding intake mesh
+ Add some LED lighting to front of case
+ Integrate RF remote receiver

 

How are you finding that 5.25 bay blower? does it shift enough air without being to noisy? its just ive got one on order and was wondering...

 

Here are my comparative bench-testing results for the Evercool PCAC installed without a case.

1 hour idle temp results with a Dynatron DC1207BM-X
Fan Speed: 3000rpm
Room temp: 25C
Chipset Idle temp: 37C

CPU Idle temp with PCAC: 34C

CPU Idle temp with 120mm fan: 32C
CPU Idle temp with 92mm fan: 36C
CPU Idle temp with 80mm fan: 39C
CPU Idle temp with 70mm fan: 44C

1 hour load temp results with a Dynatron DC1207BM-X
Chipset Load temp: 49C

CPU Load temp with PCAC @100% speed: 44C
CPU Load temp with PCAC @2400RPM 19dBa: 50C

CPU Load temp with 120mm fan: 42C
CPU Load temp with 92mm fan: 45C
CPU Load temp with 80mm fan: 48C
CPU Load temp with 70mm fan: 56C

The chipset temp is even more impressive because it's getting only half of the secondary airflow off of the heatsink (see this image). The idle temps I got with the loud 70mm fan were 6-10C higher with 15dba more than this fan at full speed.

I'm very happy with the results and this fan. Whether or not it's manufacturer ratings for CFM are accurate, it's doing a far better job than the 40CFM 35dBA fan it's replacing.

In this machin I'll be running it 50% power (2000RPM @15dba). The temperature range I get at that speed is 36c idle and 54C load.
It is EXTREMELY quiet at anything below 2800RPM and very effective when compared to fans in the same size range. Most of it's performance advantage seems to be from it's ability to concentrate airflow on the center of the heatsink at relatively high pressure.
If you install it directly onto a heatsink you need to add a buffer on it's underside so that it doesn't recirculate the air it's blowing into the heatsink.

 

On saturday night I integrated the RF remote receiver into the empty space in the front bezel. Also pictured is the remote. Using PC Remote Control I can assign any key functions I want to the various buttons on the remote to control whatever HTPC front-end software I decide upon using.

Today I slept in kind of late, and it was my nephew's birthday so all I managed to do was the front intake.


I mirrored the shape of the rest of the case as best I could. To cut the shape out I drilled two 7/8-inch holes with a spade bit, then cut inbetween with a jigsaw. I then elongated and changed the shape a bit with an X-acto knife (ABS plastic is pretty easy to carve) and then finished the edge with a miniature triangle file.

Tomorrow I plan to work on accent lighting on the front and top of the case. Then I'll work on cutting the steel backing plate of the side panel.
I'm undecided as to what effect I want to acheive with the top piece. I may just stick with my most subdued idea for that.

Left to do
+ Cut metal backing of side panel to allow light to "bleed" out vents
+ Add window/logo to side panel
+ Add some LED lighting
+ Machine baseplate for "naked" side of the case

 

Massive picture update!
I cut the excess steel off of the backing plate for the side panel. Cut out the circle where the logo is going to go. I cut away the inside of the grill on the top part of the case and added the clear plastic fiber-optic bars. Then I added some RED led lighting to the top and front of the case.



Standing up





Left to do
+ Add window/logo to side panel
+ Machine baseplate for "naked" side of the case

 

Nice nice nice

 

I just love the vaguely retro feel of this case. I'm slightly sad that I don't have time to go ape-nuts on this project like I have with previous ones, but I only have maybe a week in which to do all the machining before my life starts to get busy again.
Oh well.

 

Late night inspiration from seemingly nowhere! Made a power LED out of the Iris control from an old 8mm video camera I got for a $1 at a yard sale. The adjustable iris inside the lens allows me to change the intensity level of the UV LED that's shining through it. Plus it just looks freakishly cool. Makes the machine look like a backwardly designed video projector from the Jetsons.



More to come soon as I figure out what I'm doing with the side panel and baseplate.

 

This is what I was getting excited about last night. This is a strange unbranded mouse set that I bought on eBay last year that comes with a miniature mouse, and a normal sized wireless mouse. The mini mouse has a switch on the side that toggles it from a regular mouse, to a wireless receiver for the normal sized mouse. This works really well and the original intent was for me to use this when travelling or with any laptops I was forced to use while away from home. I really hate touchpads and trackpoints, so this was a perfect solution as a replacement since the full size mouse could be used most of the time and if the batteries on it died I could simply flip a switch and use the mini mouse. Both are old style ball mice which I prefer when doing graphical work.
BUT what I didn't know and what was discovered while taking the mini receiver mouse apart last night to clean it, was that there's an LED soldered onto the upper RF receiver PCB inside the mouse. This puzzled me at first so I plugged the mouse in and after a few minutes of fiddling about I discovered that the LED indicates when the receiver is getting a lear signal from the wireless mouse. I'm not exactly sure why this was hidden inside the mouse but it gives a really good indicator of the battery charge level of the wireless mouse. As the batteries weaken the signal intervals from the wireless mouse get shorter.


My original idea was to make an extension to allow me to move this LED to the front of the computer case where the old power LED used to be, but I decided I didn't want to prevent me from being able to use this mouse with another machine. So the simplest solution seemed best. I just drilled a hole in the shell of the mouse right above the LED then made a "lens" out of a small nub I cut off of some clear extruded acrylic rod and a Black nylon washer.

Now the mouse has an eye of its own and will give me a good indicator of whether or not I need to replace the batteries in the wireless mouse.

I'm working on the side logo and baseplates this afternoon. Then tomorrow I should get the rest of the parts for this machine in the mail so I can finish this project. Well, atleast the hardware side of things. I still haven't finalized what software I'll be using.

 

Oh good, nobody is paying any attention... oh well.

 

Captain Slug,

I wrote a tutorial you may have interest in (maybe not, thats fine too) for getting DVD ---> PPC quite easily. Anyway, its only good for DVD to PPC so its no good for your video files, but it is outstanding for DVDs and uses BetaPlayer! Yay! Anyway, linkaroo ---> http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=70567

Have fun and keep up the modding!
-Brad

 

nice going with the mice, simple and effective, plus the red light matches with your case...

 

This is not quite true.... I think many members like me don't post a lot of plain and useless "WOW!, coming very nice"-and-so-on posts just to spread the log over a lot of pages.
I tend to make my "congratulations" when the project is over, but I daily check all the threads...

Anyway, I like your modding, so I give you just a big

 

Spiffy, so far I've been using Dr. DivX to compress video files without any problems. Will Auto GordianKnot watch a directory and automatically squeeze new files? That's one feature of BeyondTV that I've been tempted by but if I can find a stand-alone program to do the same thing I can continue using Media Portal for everything.

 

Great job, captain! Looking very nice so far. I like the mouse "eye". Another possibility is the logitech mx duo, the mouse comes with a battery charger there, can be easily attached to the case.

 

Unfortunetly no. It needs an .IFO file written by DVD Decrypter to encode movies. Good Luck with the mod though!

-Brad

 

WOW. I really suck at electronics. I tried to make my own infrared receiver after sourcing the parts I needed and now I have $10 in bits and pieces soldered together that do absolutely nothing. I followed the schematics I could find to the letter and used the right software, but got nothing after several tries.
I give up. I guess I'll just have to wait to get one in the mail.

 

No real update at the moment. I spent all getting media portal setup to work with my capture card (which arrived). The only piece left to configure in software is the infrared programming and control output setup. I'm a little purturbed because I may opt to swap out the cross-flow fan for a 120mm fan on a custom mount. The cross-flow fan keeps the CPU nice and cool, but it's output is so concentrated that the RAM and power supply don't get any secondary airflow.

Yay, one more thing to machine tomorrow. One a positive note the tests with the 120mm fan were a huge success. It may make the inside of the case neater and the UV cold cathode effect will be more widespread.