Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Seawolf, July 20. #40 Getting ready for Assembly Summer 2010!

Hell, it's fantastic!!!

 

Thank you for all the support! You can expect an update next weekend.

Besides that, I am planning what components I'm going to be putting in. So far I've decided to use Asus M4A79-T Deluxe. I was checking the layout for wire management, when I realized I'm going to have a problem. The graphics card is going to be a tighter fit than I originally imagined. I'm going to be scrapping the OEM cooler in favor of a waterblock, but the size of the naked card is still an issue.

I was going to go with a GTX 275 or 285. Both of them are so wide that my motherboard cage would be at its limits. Remember the triangle cutout in my motherboard plates? It was made to accomodate the power connectors and wires at the end of Nvidia cards. Unfortunately, 275 and 285 are both so long that the connectors would not fit inside the triangle. That would mean hacking pieces off one of the motherboard plates!

Of course, I can choose to use a Radeon card. An HD4970X2 would indeed be juicy, but again it's too wide and too long. The connectors are facing downwards, though!

So far the only card that could fit is a HD4890. Somewhere I dug up its dimensions: 260x100x33mm. The thickness is not an issue. The length matches the motherboard cage and the width fits nicely along with the PCI/PCI-E - bracket.

Now the question is, do I have other options than to go with the HD4890?

 

HD4870X2 maybe? Nice to see some progress once again.

 

4870, indeed!

 

#19 Standing firm!

I was planning on posting an update later, but couldn't resist putting this up.



The bottom plate required some reinforcing elements. I cut short sections out of 10x10mm rectangular aluminium tubing.
I drilled mounting holes through the bottom plate, marked the position on the sections and drilled matching holes.



Although my drill bit migrated a couple of millimeters here and there, I managed to correct for it nicely.
I pop-riveted the sections in place. This shows how nicely the edge follows the edge of the bottom plate.



I left a couple of 20mm gaps between the sections, so I can mount vertical 20x20mm tubes there.



Now for the real reason why I wanted to post this update early! I finally got some time and access to our car so I went shopping. I came home with a lot of stuff. Most importantly, 4 cylindrical 30x17mm vibration dampeners with M8 thread and about 1m of 35mm aluminium pipe. I was planning on getting 45mm round rod, but this was as close I could get.



I sawed the pipe into suitable pieces and flinged one of them into the lathe chuck.
First, I faced the end and surfaced the pipe to 34mm.
Then I bored the inner diameter from 29mm to 30mm along a length of 14mm.
This shows the inner surface after boring by hand.



Finally, I turned three 0.75mm deep grooves 3mm apart from eachother. The last job was to part the piece to about 20mm length.



Parting leaves a thin ring of metal at the end of the piece. It is actually pushed a little bit past the inner diameter of the piece.



Luckily, the ring can be easily broken off with pliers. Little bit of file loving on the edge and the piece is done.



Then we just jam the vibration dampener inside the aluminium shell.



Voila! Here we have a prototype for MNPCTech-style case feet that answer nicely to M8 bolts! ( Sorry, Bill! )
This is a little smaller than the ones sold by MNPCTech. Their feet are approximately 44x22mm.
Mine are 34x23mm without the threaded rod. If I want, I could shorten the height by at most 5mm.
A 50kg case with 4 feet should compress the rubber by about 1mm.
One dampener costs 2.10€ and the aluminium was about 0.05€ per piece.

What do you think? Should I paint it black or anodize it?

 

i dont know what exactly is wrong with your lathe, but you can get better surface finnishes than this, try to increase your turning speed, lower the feed rate or get new turning steel

 

Excellent job on the feet, I wish I could make something like that lol.

 

Don't worry, the camera exaggerates the grooves.



This picture comes closest to what the surface looks in real life. You're correct that there is a lot of room for improvement.
The easiest way for me to get a better surface finish would be to get a tool with a larger radius. The problem there, is that the rigidity of this lathe is not enough for a big radius. Increasing the radius would easily lead to chatter marks.
I could also increase the rpm. Unfortunately, if I use a too large surface velocity, the formed chips start to weld themselves into the workpiece. This can be overcome by using flood cooling, but as of now I don't have the equipment.

 

@jase lol yeah same..

looks good mate

 

A good work, and the mnpctech-style is a touch of genius!
Anyway, this feet cost you near nothing, good!

 

Subscribed!

 

Have you tried to use little drops alcohol? Sinoli is good for alumine.

Nice looking feets and clever idea to use those vibration dampeners.

 

A friend of mine recommended pirtu. At the moment I'm using drops of paraffine oil for aluminium.
This is a small alcohol bottle with a cut cotton swab acting as a straw. It works fine for drops, but if I need more I'm in trouble.
I really need a small plastic wash bottle. All of the ones I can find are either too big or are sold in sets of 5 or 10. I only need one small bottle!

 

Try Sinoli its cheaper than pirtu, same liquid but Sinoli is denatured and 10 x cheaper.

 

True... We just have plain old industrial alcohol at work The denaturation really won't hurt anything here. ETAX to be more precise.

 

#20 Midsummertime

The saga continues.



I went for it and bought ten of those wash bottles online. One of them now holds water,
one has paraffin oil and one has sinoli. Seven of them are still waiting use in a carton box.



I bought a black aluminum car grill from Biltema. The grill will be mounted into the psu so I took
the toaster-shell and marked some lines on the plastic that covers the grill.



A bit of cutting with tin snips and some bending and the grill fits inside the scoop.



I left some margin on the inside so I can mount the mesh.



I tested different pop rivets on scrap piece. Only these 5mm UK-made poppers were large enough
to hold the mesh loops in place. One rivet alone is quite flimsy but several of them tighten the grill nicely.



I had to make some improvisation to get anything done due to the holidays.
This is the insides of a shed at my father-in-law's summer cottage. Luckily, the drill press works.



A sheet metal bit with a slow belt drive sinks really nicely into the stainless toaster. I drilled 20 or so holes in a breeze.



Then I moved on to squeezing, nudging and cursing. After a good hour of sweaty work I got the grill mounted properly with the rivets.



I left a generous amount of slack on the end of the grill to accomodate later actions.
The rivets are not symmetric. Because of hardware considerations, the right side has an extra rivet.



I hammered the mesh flat with the edge of the toaster and gave the center mesh a slight bulge.
Also, some of the loops near the rivets are pressed down so the rivets will bite better. I had to make holes to fit the 3M mounting tape.



Next, I decided the paw holes in the side of the toaster had to go.



I had some surplus brass sheet from the radiator so I glued it to the inside the toaster.



Then I applied a liberal dose of bondo and waited for it to dry. Then I applied a liberal dose of bondo and waited for it to dry. Then I applied a liberal dose of bondo and waited for it to dry. Then I applied a liberal dose of bondo and waited for it to dry. After four coats I started sanding the surface.



I used a 180-grade sanding sponge to give the whole toaster a rubdown. Then I wiped it clean with a acetone.



Because you can't really see or feel the imperfections, I gave the toaster a light coat of filling primer.



True enough, some rough spots turned up. I'll have to go over these spots when I'll begin the final painting.
At the moment I won't bother, because I'm sure I will manage to scratch and dent the surface before I'm done.

That's it for this update. Thanks for reading!

 

Just keep going later you can modify this litte scratch or this last photo problems jus near the bit, nice work man.

 

very nice!
this is gonna be great!
BTW, my EVGA 275 GTX has power plugs up top. (don't know if that helps with the vid card choices.)

 

ModMinded, I was referring that as the side of the card. They would be smack in the middle of aluminum. I'll go with HD4890.

 

Those feet look great.