Case Mod - In Progress Project Slumber Parties UPDATED 12-16-10 Leak testing

Powder coated parts 10-9-10

10-9-10 Some powder coated parts

Been a while since the last update. I was forced to file a claim with my bank over the miss-hap at Per PC's. Funny enough they were willing to do the correct thing (they should have done this weeks ago) once Mastercard dropped them a nice phone call.

So I've since reordered another RX480 from Jab-Tech this time around. John was very helpful in understanding the situation I went through and was more then happy to physically check the radiators they had in stock to insure they did in fact carry matte black.

That I would think should arrive today and I can start putting a few things together once it does.

As for powder coating. I received a call from Michael at Specialized Performance Coatings about the dual paint on the top and bottom panels. Needless to say there was really no way to avoid bleed through once the powder was heated up. Therefore the top and bottom panels will not be red internally due to all the angles and holes for the grills. Not too big of a deal I suppose it will offset the mass of red anyway. So I picked up all the red pieces and the rest should be finished Mon-Tues next week. Today while looking everything over good I do need to take 3 pieces back for a 2nd coat due to there not being enough coverage. Not too big of an issue.

Now on the other hand the hold down plate and the insert for the Apogee XT got plenty of coating. So much where I had to take a razor knife and scrape it mainly off where it seats against and inside the waterblock. I didn't even think this would have been a problem due to they were already coated from Manufacturer from copper. So I spent a good time last night scraping off powdercoating around the edges of both pieces. Unfortunally you can somewhat see it on the edges of the block insert. Fortunatly though you cannot tell on the block hold down. So its a toss up I guess.

I really like the look of it as is. Since the original plan was to not have anything silver or chrome I didn't want the insert or the hold down their original colors. Unfortunatly the GPU block is Nickel. I guess I can have one thing stick out like a sore thumb. LOL

I would have gotten a shot of the block complete, but to be honest I have about 5 parts boxes waiting for assembly of this build and I have no clue where the rest of the block is at this time. LOL Once I get everything I just know it will take a month to assemble.

So without further delay and ramblings I give you some of Specialized Performance Coatings of Arlington, TX work.......
















Had to pull out the Dremel and put some wire disks on to bur off the powder on the shaft because these puppies weren't going on without it.


I'm hoping the pooling that is at the corners of the front and back piece's won't effect the fitament into the top and bottom panels of the case since they are slotted.

Now for some comparison shots of the work of Ideal Coatings vs Specialized Performance Coatings






I also ordered this guy a few weeks ago and have it up and running in a dual boot with win xp on a spinning drive to utilize my Act Labs Force RS setup since Act Labs dropped driver support after XP. That's a $600 investment I really enjoy being able to still utilize. I think I would be forced to save up for that $1500 job out there otherwise. Nothing comes close to a great performing racing setup when your as much into racing as I am.

Also I'll update this post instead of turning around and making another one. I started typing this in the wee hours this morning and just got around to uploading the photos and such and since that package I figured would arrive today arrived. So It has some issues also. Some messed up fins (not bad enough for an RMA) but it also has two crimped coils that I'm worried about. So I've been in contact with John at Jab-Tech this evening about it and took some shots to send to him. Still awaiting his thoughts.

It consisted of the typical box damage I've seen with three of these radiators now. Where it looks as if they are stacked too high in shipment from the manufacturer. So the top gets smooshed. My RX360 and the original RX480 from PerPCs both had the screw package on top of the rad which there was not a single bent or tweaked fin on the RX360 but there was on the first RX480 as well as the new one from Jab-Tech. Although the one from Jab-Tech had the screw package tucked away on the side of the radiator instead of on top. Yet there was still some minor fin damage located on both sides. Its as if they are being handled roughly while packaging or something. Still doesn't really explain the damage to the coils though in two separate locations.





One of the coils looks much worse off then the other and actually appears as if it could leak with pressure. Although I haven't pulled out a magnifying glass and looked it at though.

So Still awaiting word on what John at Jab-Tech thinks. Michael at SP Coatings told me on Friday that the other 4 panels should be done Mon-Tuesday. Although I have two small grills to take back for a second coat and the motherboard tray for a second coat. As well the fittings need to be ceramic coated yet. Hopefully it will all be done Tuesday at the latest. I'm looking at placing another order for MDPC-X sleeving. not sure if I will jump on a group buy at EVGA or just order from nil's myself as the shipping in the group currently is a bit too high unless some more jump in and cause the cost to lower some.

I'm looking at some more small sleeve for Cathods as well some cable hold downs and sata sleeving.
I havent' heard back from FrozenQ about sending me a replacement Cathod for a helix res so i guess I will be looking at replacing the defective light on my own dime. So I need to search out 8" Black light ccfl's and get a few for future use. Also may need some ccfl extension wires considering I'm looking at 4 12" tubes and the black light ones for the helix reservoirs. I'm looking at tucking the inverter away and believe that the cables won't be long enough on at least two of the 12" tubes.

I did find the hold down's for the XT block and I've been working on repainting those the hammered steel since they were well chipped up and used. Couldn't have the sexy block being held down by sub par looking retainers.


Anyway that's all for now I suppose.

 

That's a very pretty waterblock you've got there.

The new powder coating look much, much better than the previous one. Too bad you couldn't get in done in red/black like you wanted.

Are you going to be using the castor wheels or those other normal feet that you did in red/white?

 

Yeah I thought so if I can look past the sliver you can see of the chip marks in the insert of the water block. I know for future reference now to have it painted or possibly ceramic coated as I believe that is thinner.

You know I was going to use the casters due to there will be things to admire on both sides of the case. Now that you mention it though.......

It would resemble the other feet (for the radiator stand) very well. Hmmmmm.......

If I could make a rotissery that the case and stand fit on that will actually support the weight.......

 

That's a nice strong red. That water block looks lovely.

 

10-17-10 Just a little update and some pics

10-17-10 Just a little update and some pics.

After many emails back and forth with John at Jab-Tech over the RX480 I hooked it up to a pump and pressure tested the creases in the two coils. No leaks so I'm going to use the one he sent me. If no one has ever taken a look into Jab-Tech I highly recommend them. Hands on and personal something you don't see anymore in companies. Why, because its a small few man operation so they haven't been overrun by the business monopoly so many business's have as of late. I even got a response from John while at home watching a toddler on a Sunday. I even requested it not be answered until Monday when he is at work so he can have some family away from work time. Although he didn't heed to my wishes. LOL

So I took it out to the light box and did a few shots with the RX360. There is a bit of matte black difference, but its for sure not a gloss black like the previous one from PerPCs that caused such a big ordeal. I'm happy and John's happy I'm sure now that he has one less out of his inventory.






Since I was keeping the RX480 I pulled out the fans I ordered and the rad stand from the UK on Friday morning. I went to mount everything up to find that the already powder coated rad stand to find that the slots for the fittings on a radiator were not correctly cnced for the RX480. to have the holes line up for the bottom fan I would have to have the rad at an angle and not straight up and down due to the welded on nuts of the rad comming in contact with the rad stand. So I had to pull out the trusty dremmel and hack away. This was the day I should have been picking up the rest of the case.

So I called Michael at Specialized Performance Coating and told him about the dilema and that I needed one other piece coated. He told me to bring it by because he was about to do the other pieces. Later in the day Friday I received a call that the case parts weren't taking the 2nd coat well and were not consistent. He said that the panels would have to be burned so they could get the powder off in the spray booth to start over on them. So I should be getting the case done this week sometime.

In the meantime I heard from Hugo in New Orleans from Cangogh and my art work is done, but he is awaiting one of them to dry more before shipping. He said he will try to get them out tomorrow priority mail. So things appear to be finally coming together. Although I have several odd ball things to still order.

I finally found the hold downs for my cpu block and thought they needed an improvement. Due to:
1. The paint being jacked up on the screws
2. The paint being gloss black

So I pulled out the hammered steel and shot all 8 pieces. When done I set it all together and noticed there was no white and there was too much black in one spot. So I ended up with the following sexiness!!!!





Man I can't get enough of that block. I almost don't even notice the scuffs on the block insert where I had to scrape down the coating to get it to fit into the block. LOL I still of course know its there and wish I could do something about it. :-(

Oh yea and I've been in contact with Alex at FrozenQ for a while about my old style Helix reservoirs that have been sitting in a box wrapped up for most of this build. Well about the last 9 months or so. Where one black light bulb is defective and I can't get all the gloss black caps off to paint them a different color. (Since I'm not doing anything in gloss black) Well the conclusion of all those pms should be heading out in the mail on Monday. That of which I'm highly surprised about. I really only mentioned the fact of having them so long and this build being a up and down battle from day one (When FedEx delivered the case to the wrong house and I had to go find it) to everything else I have encountered that my luck one or both of the reservoirs would leak by the time I got to use them. Alex is reassuring that I wont have to worry about that issue and I wont need to bother with trying to get the caps off my reservoirs and paint them either. So I'm stoked with the fix for these problems he has approached me with.


On top of what I've worked on this past few days. I've been burning brush for 12 hours+ a day clearing out all the old branches that were cleared off the lot next door and everything here at the house from the last year for 8 days straight. Some of those branches went to use on the deck for Halloween decorations which took a day in its own right to setup. I had my kiddos this weekend also so I've been very busy lately. Its a good thing I didn't get the rest of the case on Friday. It would have just sat around. or gotten damaged Saturday night while my girls and a neighborhood girl were camping out in a tent in the back yard saturday night. Its just been busy busy lately.

So more when I get it or is it get time or both.........

 

Damned nice cooler coloring.

 

very nice.... water block is simple wow

 

10-22-10 Art Update

10-22-10 Art update

Well got an email from Hugo in New Orleans. My art is on its way to TX. Also got somewhat bad news also, but for good reason. Hugo has been doing spray paint art for 27 years and is nearing 50 years of age so he will be throwing in the towel soon. From what I gathered sometime in the next 6 months. His great art will be missed dearly. Its a shame I didn't meet him sooner then April of 2010.

For anyone interested you can see some of his bio here

He has been featured in many news articles and runs a restaurant, club, art gallery, and is head of the Jazz fest in New Orleans. He used to perform in front of Arbys on Canal street Friday and Saturday nights around dark until 12-1am in the morning. I'm not sure where he is performing still or when but if anyone is interested that lives in the area or would like to take a trip and see what he does let me know and I will find out. Keep in mind its not going to be for much longer as life is just plain catching up with him and he would like to move on and pursue other ventures while he still has time.

So hopefully I will receive some artwork early next week and possibly my case will be finished tomorrow. Yesterday I called and he was done with the wrinkle black on the four panels. He just had to ceramic coat the fittings and powder the mobo tray again and the two outer grills on the HAF face. Then it will be done. I'm hoping he will have it finished well I guess its today since its after midnight so that means I called on Wednesday not yesterday. LOL Oh well. anyway until then.......

 

Needless to say... that waterblock=win!

 

Should have some eye candy this afternoon. WOOT!!!!!

 

Final powder coated and ceramic coated parts 10-23-10

Final powder and ceramic coated parts 10-23-10

Well picked up the last of the parts today from Michael at Specialized Performance Coatings.

Everything looks great, but one part which is the bottom of the case. This is the second time he has coated it from scratch and it seems to keep having this pooling effect in the powder where it seems to fold up and collect on an end. So bad to where two spots on the side appeared to resemble actual wrinkles like in bed sheets. My solution for that was to scratch off the wrinkle and I will attempt to match the sheen of the powder color with some paint and see what happens.

Also on the edge there is some ungodly looking mess with the same effect. Thankfully this will be covered by the plastic front panel pieces. Hopefully everything goes together smoothly and the build up on corners wont effect the fitament of the case panels. Only time will tell.

On the other end of the material coating with the ceramic matte black on all the coolant fittings. Some look spot on awsome others show signs of where he had to hang them. Others have minor nicks already in the ceramic (which he warned me about prior to me saying I wanted them ceramic coated since there are o-rings inside the 45s) along with some scuff marks. I received the fittings all wrapped up in newspaper and opened them this way.

Its just something that goes along with the territory of trying to save a buck and get cheaper fittings and paying 50 bucks to have them coated. Next time around I will just order BP matte black and call it a day. They will be coated from the factory and much more durable.

Now I had a serious problem with the no spill fittings. Considering that its such a close clearance with the closure on the inside of the fittings we decided to coat them while connected. This unfortunatly caused them to somewhat fuse together from the ceramic. I had a fun time getting them to unlock then twist loose. After some work they now lock and unlock as well seperate just fine. Sadly quite a bit of fine sanding dust got its way inside and they were stuck open. I shot some high pressure 120psi air through them to blow most of it out then worked with them to get the closure inside to actually close once the male and female were separated.

I'm going to hook up a spare pump and tubing to them and try to flush anymore of the sand particles out as well using more air to try and clean them out. The near $40 fittings may not end up being anything else other then paper weights for my desk. Time will tell. They will have to actually clean out and function properly otherwise they will pose useless. Not to mention dangerous to hardware and furniture.

So enough babbling time to post up some pics:

The motherboard tray I had him redo


Outer front panel grills


The top and bottom panels. The last couple you can see what I was talking about with the pooling and the scratch marks where I removed the wrinkled line.







As you can tell its not very pretty. The more I sit here and think about it the more I want to take it back and have him burn it so he can remove the powder and have him redo it. The problem is the side panel meets right up with that outside edge and I think the non consistency in the finish is going to stick out like a sore thumb. My big problem in that is when I drop it off it could take another week or more to finish the one panel. I will have to see what it looks like while mocked up.

Next up the Radiator stand:


I purchase this from a member on XS forums in the UK which I had to modify for the G 1/4 nuts that are welded to the rad to clear. I've contacted him about this matter to make the adjustment in his cnc file so to allow for XSPC rads to be mounted in the future.

Finally the ceramic coated fittings:



Most look great unless you get up close and personal with some. Which I'm sure will show in the final photos on a couple. For this fact I may end up ordering BP fittings down the road. There are just so many factors that go into coating processes that you never know the outcome. Not to mention these guys aren't used to doing things like this. Most do car parts and wheels. Nothing really small like I took in and as complex as I took in.

So I'm contemplating putting what I can together of the case itself leaving the lower panel loose to see if I want to have it redone or not. I'm leaning more towards yes, but the damn wait to get it done is just killing the thought of dropping it back off.

 

Wow I'm stoked!

I just sorted the Project Logs section on this forum and PSP is 50th in page views.
Over on XS Forums the log is 12th.

That's just amazing! I never though my little hacked up case would bring in so much interest. Although not many comments are left people are at least viewing it.

Side note:

I went out to the garage even though I was going to hit the sack and I set the bottom panel (the one that has the pooling issue) flat on top of my tool box and held the side panel up to it. There isn't a terrible difference, but there is a difference. I also noticed there is some pooling on the very edge of a section of the side panel I held up.

So I think its just a counterpart of what the wrinkle black powder does and how it reacts to certain surfaces of metal. Since he kept having these problems in various places the first time around. Which he tryed to just coat again to blend into the pooled areas. That just made pooling problems in other areas I was told although it corrected the original problems. So it seems that I will just have to live with it and there really isn't anything I can do about it. So tomorrow morning I will work on assembling the case.

I've still been contemplating on if I want to sand the edges of the acrylic I cut or leave it somewhat rough to complement the man side of the case since it's representing a female business. lol

 

10-24-10 Case assembly

10-24010 Case Assembly

Well I started the assembly venture this morning around 8am. It started out rough after I installed the wheels to the bottom panel installed the rear I/O to the rear panel, and installed the drive rails to the bottom panel.





The pooling I was afraid of causing problems caused problems alright. I wasn't able to install the front and back panel without removing most of the powder from the corners. Thankfully these parts are hidden once installed. After I messed around with the dremel getting the front and back pieces to fit I had to get my fiancee up then feed the animals.

Well her $40k service dog (whom had pancreatitis (sp) in april this year) started showing the same signs again. So we took him to Banfield at Pets Mart to have him checked out. While there he got sick again for the third time right in front of the vet tech. So they did blood tests and tested his pancrea's (sp) which he was right in the middle of ok at 707 in a range of 500-1500. All his blood seemed fine so they said he probably just has an upset stomach.

So we brought him home for him to rest and did a bunch of running around and didn't get back home until this evening. I needed to pick up Halloween costumes for my two girls and some rivets anyway since I ran out.

So I finally got back to messing with the case sometime around 9:30 pm and have now gotten it all put together minus the acrylic and front drive covers.

Man did I run into more problems with things fitting due to the powder coating thickness. I had to grind down the 3.5 drive slides because they wouldn't slide into the drive rail due to the coating thickness. What a PITA!! Grind clean retest rinse and repeat. I must have spent 3 hours on this alone and I still have two more to grind on. :shakes: It never dawned on me that this could have been a problem.

Oh yea while out shopping around I picked up my intake fan at Frys since I had to drill new holes in the front panel to mount it and that was keeping me from continuing with the case assembly.


Then installed the PSU support


Put everything else together (That of which I can only take pictures of certain things. If anyone remembers I have a nice little reveal to shed light on soon enough so those other shots will just have to wait until a later date.

Here are a few of the shots I can show:

I promise they are the same color. Its how the light was hitting the angled side grills that makes the center one look darker. Not to mention there are the plastic pieces all through the center that shadowed the center grill.


Those are the only two I can really show that are of some significance in the case assembly without showing too much.

I installed the top I/O panel also today right before i cleaned up a bit to post an update. Its really late actually 3:40am late so I really need to go to bed.

I did notice one big problem that I don't know how to fix it or work with it. The original side panel I had cnced well the opening of the big window is actually partially over the rear panels sid upright. Therefor the clearance is only about 1/8" between the back of the side panel and the side of the rear upright panel. This poses a problem that I have no idea how to fix. I've thought of just cutting away the part, but that is going to open a whole different can of worms. I've also thought of mounting acrylic on the outside, but thats not going to look very appealing. So I will have to crack open a Shiner early tomorrow morning and sit and ponder it.

Well its now 3:44am so I'm going to get to bed. Until tomorrow...........

 

You really wanna make a diamond out of a little lump of coal huh?

This looks incredible, I especially like the ceramic coated fittings, they look frikkin awesome!

The guy who sold you the case should have something torn off... I can only imagine how you felt when you got it...

Keep it up, this is gonna be a piece of WIN!

 

Even with all the setbacks, it still rocks. Looks awesome.

 

Looking awesome scgt1 .
The colour coordination on this is simply perfect .

 

Thanks guys. I've ran into yet another setback. This one could have been avoided had I actually paid attention to the photos online of the BP rad grill I purchased for the external rad. or had I really paid attention to it when I took the grills out to have powder coated. To think I was about to purchase one for the internal rad too. Until I test fit it to find out what screws I need.

The dang thing is for if you cut a hole in the top of your case. So there would be an overhang on all sides of the rad and fans. This I do not like. :-( So now I'm trying to find decent looking fan grills for 120mm fans that has mesh that is removeable so I can at least paint the mesh to match the front of the case if not have it powdered also.

So I spent yesterday trying to find the right length screws and it was probably all for a waste. :-(

I've seen BP 140mm fan grills in black, but can't find 120mm if anyone finds them somewhere please let me know.

 

11-5-10 Update time

11-5-10 Update time

Well I left off with the rad grill issue. I'm going to go ahead and use the 480 rad grill I have because it complements the rad stand well and fills in the void on the sides of the rad to the stand uprights. Now for the inside I picked up some round mesh grills that are red. Although they looked much better in the photos then they arrived. They are of a much darker color red then the photos lead to believe. Along with the order of the grills I picked up some locking window mold strip. Unfortunatly Directron cut the said to be continuous length into two pieces.

These guys are hell to get ahold of to fix a problem, but other then that a great company. Turns out they are out of it and crediting me. So I took the longest section I had and went to town trying to install it. Unfortunatly the cnc work was done to remove the raised parts of the panels and wasn't adjusted for clearance of molding so the curves are too tight for the locking molding strips. I wasn't going to use this because I already had ordered some of the c channel stuff from FrozenCPU.

Unfortunatly I had a clearance issue with the original window panel to the back of the case and the molding as it was touched the rear upright inside the case. Therefore no way would a piece of 1/8 acrylic going to also clear. So.......

Modding time!


Finished work 4 full disks and a half later....


Now I kept talking about artwork from Cangogh in New Orleans done by Hugo Montero the last of the original spray paint artists.

Below is some of his work that I ordered which I received about a week and a half ago.




Now those last two are incorporated into the build which is something I was going to withhold from everyone until the build is finished, but I'm still looking at a bit until that happens do to other matters I'll explain after the first of the two big reveals in this project. I was wanting to hold off on the following one due to revealing what I feel is a very HUGE reveal but I think I was successful in hiding any hint of that one. So below is Hugo Montero's work on a piece of acrylic which is why I had to do the mod above due to clearance issues. Now to dig out the model paints again and touch up the cuts. There is no way I will drill the rivets to have the rear panel re coated. I would risk hot shavings sticking to the coating elsewhere in the case or getting mixed up in things that are already installed.



I will try to get a shot of a night effect with this piece of art on the side panel if I get some lights in the case. Its rather late and I have to get up early tomorrow and have a busy day ahead.


Now onto some time constraint parts of the build. Not that I've had anything set me back before or anything. The ceramic fittings have caused a real serious problem. All but two of the fittings were ceramic coated while the locking nut was tightened all the way down. How is that a problem you ask?

They would not come loose. I had to use a pair of channel locks and socks to break them loose. In turn some of the fittings coating and grip teeth were damaged. Honestly I'm not worried about the teeth. I am worried about the coating though. So they were dropped back off at SP Coatings sometime last week. I also had a fun time with the 45s having small fragments of blasting sand inside the joint. Lots of wiggling and blowing with the air nozzle. Then I ran each fitting through the spare mpc-355 pump I have to clean out any extra. They all swivel just fine and none of them leak. Which is what I was worried about after the sand got inside the joint.

I also had a serious problem with the Koolance quick disconnects. We decided to have them coated while connected due to keeping ceramic out of the shaft to allow them to work properly. Can you guess what the problem was I had with these expensive s.o.b's? You guessed it. They were stuck together also. Finally I got them loose and then noticed one was stuck open on both sides. The other wouldn't come loose once unlocked.

Finally I got it to seperate to find that it too was stuck open. after about a half hour of jamming on them with a key to open and close them they finally let loose and started functioning again. With the help of some air. This all was prior to noticing about the other compression fittings. So I ended up flushing the koolance fittings out also just for good measure. Of course they were full of sand also. they function and don't leak anything so all is good with the large investment in fittings. Next time though its BP matte black. Too much trouble jacking around with the ceramic.

Monday the 8th is my big 29th and I should have a delivery from FrozenQ. Just a little thing him and I worked on through pms over the last few months. So I'll be getting a nice little b-day prezzy.

You know the crazy thing this morning I sent an email to my fiancee with links and cost to thinks I want for my b-day. Which includes like $13 bucks in button head screws so I can put the RX480 together and the RX360, The Samsung F3 1tb drive which is on sale at newegg with free shipping.
Total of less then $100 bucks right?

I told her tonight I understand with shipping and short notice, but if by chance she ordered the screws that if she would tell me by Wed (my next pay day) that she didn't order them for my b-day so I could order them myself. What does she tell me? I won't be ordering you screws for your b-day. Wow!

I mean cheap its what I want. I've gone through hell hunting down the 6/32 button head black finish screws I need. Took like two days scouring the internet and wow. she said I wont be getting you screws for your b-day. WOW. See if she gets what she wants for xmas then.

So Mudgey on XS Forums credited me back for the re coating I had to do on the rad stand due to a design calculation flaw so that money is sitting in paypal. I guess I'll order my own screws in the morning. That way I can make some progress somewhere anyway. LOL Although tonight took quite a while to finish.

Until next time.......

 

The work by Montero is incredible, it almost made me forget there's a case around it!

Very impressive build so far, getting your fittings powdercoated... wow.

I'm not really surprised that your lady refuses to buy screws for your birthday, there are preciously few girls out there that would. Also, she would probably manage to buy m5 when you want m4 or vice versa, and then there'll be hell to pay when you decide to throw her present out of your build. Top tip: just ask her to take you to a ballgame or a swingers party or whatever it is you enjoy doing together, and buy the stuff you need for the build yourself

 

Getting GF's to buy specific parts for birthdays/anniversaries/christmas, is all in pointing out the extreme importance of the said specifics...

I, myself, take the time making the wishlist that more detailed, e.g:

Make Model Others
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canon EF-objective 50-500mm With USM-drive (ask shop clerk)

Makes it quite impossible to mess up..
(not that girls persay is dumb.. i just don't want to point it out to them when they are wrong)


OT/
VERY!!!! nice case!!!