Holy thread resurrection After a while I removed the pictures. However every now and again I get a PM asking me to restore them so here you go. Some of the posts will be modified since not long after I removed my Photo-bucket album, I suffered a major hard disk crash. Unfortunately not all of the pictures were recovered...sorry! Project SR-71 was my first real attempt at modding. My first venture involved a Chieftec Dragon which I totally massacred. There were blow holes and poorly cut vents all over the shop. My tools were bad, my planning worse and my patience was dire...all in all it looked like a case with a severe hangover. I remember seeing a review for the Akasa Eclipse 62, it was cheapish and looked good. The praise for the case back in 2004 was outstanding so I decided to go ahead and buy it. The Akasa would be the case I used for my first venture into water cooling, and I wanted to do things right. From the get go I knew that there was no way I could mount a triple radiator in the case, so I was going to need to be creative and some how mount it externally. An external radiator box would form the major part of this build. So here it began
why did you repost it lol. shoulda waited until you could post the pics... unless you are going to...like now
Hi all, Okay for those who saw the first worklog thanks a lot for you enthusiasm. I have been making some serious headway and have a few new pictures for you. For those who have not seen this before I hope you like it. Please feel free to comment. The Case is your Standard Akasa Eclipse 62. I bought the standard window side panel and changed the bolts are they were horrible boring black plastic. The great thing about the case is the immense space in a relatively small size. This is my first water cooled case and silence is seriously important. The first thing I did was order PAXMATE and install it in every nook and cranny to reduce resonance. I ordered the biggest pack available but it's still not enough and I am waiting for more to be delivered. The foundation of my watercooling setup will be the BIX 3 radiator from HW Labs. It's the foundation because finding a way to house this will form the largest part of this project. I scoured through the internet and local suppliers in Denmark for an aluminium enclosure in which to mount the radiator (the sheer size i just too big for the case). I finally found one lying right under my nose at RS Components. The planning for this took quite a bit of time, and at the time of writing this piece its still undergoing some final work to get it just right. The size is pretty much perfect. The mounting system provided the biggest challenge as the BIX radiator mounting method sucks. After cutting out the top of the enclosure and mounting the fan guard I had to cut some aluminium profiles that the radiator could rest on when inserted into the bottom section. The hard work seems to have paid off. On the underside I have used hexagonal mesh to improve the look and protect the fins from wandering things! To mount the enclosure I decided to cut some acrylic rods. I am currently resizing these to half of the size you can see in the pictures. Inside these legs I have mounted red "superbright" led's which give off a great light effect in darkened rooms. I have also mounted four of the same led's on the underside of the radiator to increase the effect. Since I have chosen to mount the radiator externally I will have the hoses routed throught the top of the case. To do this I used a 25mm hole punch (great things go and buy a selection of sizes) and then mounted a rubber grommet in each hole to protect the hose and give a clean apperance. With a bit of red dye and the lights from the radiator housing this should create a nice effect. This case came with some standard castors which were good, although seriously cheap. I decided that they would have to be replaced by something a bit more serious. So I bought some 80mm wheels and painted them to match the case. On the internal structure I have not had to change mush except using PAXMATE and painting the motherboard cable manager. I am considering using a sheet of perforated aluminium to stealth the motherboard (stolen idea from another mod here at bit-tech) As much as I like the case it's got a very standard/boring fascia which I had to improve. I thought about going with a turbine intake effect but did not want to have to go down the boondo road (perhaps on another mod). So I settled with cutting out the front and mounting a fan grill. The fan grill was supposed to be the same "heatkiller" grill as used on the radiator but the supplier sent the wrong one. I decided to keep it to experiment and will change it closer to the end of the mod. The reservoir will be mounted in drive bay two (from the top) and I decided on an inspection window idea. This is very simple to do as I took the original bay cover, cut a hole & plexi glass to fit, drilled some holes and used hex bolts to mount it all. In the mounting process I scratched the plexi glass. Another is under construction. I am considering painting the reservoir and perhaps etching the plexiglass but I have not decided quite yet. The red lights from the case should give off a good effect even as it is, but given the other work it looks kind of boring so I will need to do something here. .............................To be continued
Nice front plate. Mmmm... you could paint some red lines and soft grey letters and it looks like a real SR-71. Some examples in: http://images.google.com/images?q=sr-71&hl=ja
Hi Kumo, Thanks for the suggestion. I have that link bookmarked, there is a lot of potential inspiration there. I'm not sure what to paint...I could paint the reservoir as in daylight its white...red at night with the lights on. Or I could paint the plexi Glass. One other possible design idea is to come up with a design using the SR-71 letters and then print it on transparent paper (like you use on overhead projectors). That way I can avoid painting the reservoir. It will also make it easier to come up with a lot of changable ideas. Thanks for your help.
The most problem with appliques is when you light them (behind or sides). Don't shine like etches and in darkness is hard to view all details. So i suggest 2 options: Print very clear shape, simple letters (like "SR-71" or "FUEL Level", "Coolant", etc... I.e) put them behind the res windowed front plate and test with some light, to see how well perform. If the test is positive keep the transparent paper. As you say, always yo can change it for another design. But if itsn´t perform to well as you want, definitely etch the letter in the plexy. You get more glow and details in darkness. PS: Ah! You could put some red marks in the fans with "Intake" or "Exahust" word, like in real planes.
Small Update Hi All, Thanks again. I have never tried etching but will experiment before the end of this log. In the meantime I will try the transparent paper idea to see how well it works. Until then I have a small update (I got a Matrix Orbital MX213 today whooopee) I have the drives coming tomorrow and this log should be finished byt the end of next week....at the earliest. As the theme for this case is basically red (except for the rear fan on the PSU) I decided to change the HDD activity Led's as well as the power led from the standard red and white to red (all of them): And here they are installed: I really have to do something about the reservoir These are the Led's that I am using to light the underside of the radiator. They give of a pretty good glow and I hope it turns out okay. Just waiting on the new wire so I can get them all connected. On the front of the case I had to paint the intake filter which now completes the lower front section. And overall: I have to make a slight modification to drive bay 1 because the Matrix Orbital does not fit properly and I guess that will be a job for tonight. Cheers
Amazing work, i love how clean you've made it so far Have you considered any backlighting on that plexi drivebay? Perhaps some white LED's either side?
Thanks Leeum, I have got 4 led's lined up. Exactly like those I am using to light the underside of the radiator. I tried them out and it looks pretty nice...here is a sneak preview. This picture actually surprised me beacause its taken in a very well lit office and the camera always maximises the available light which is a little annoying. I will have to brush up on my photography skills for the final shots. Both of these are in total darkness: I like the look but have been thinking that some kind of HUD display graphics would add to the effect or an SR-71 etch? I will be experimenting. Hope you like
I did seriously consider keeping the entire front stealthed but I thought that was "soo yesterday" (that's totally meant as a joke). I'm thinking about stealthing the DVD drives or trying to work in a theme similar to the reservoir window but with modders mesh instead of plexi. I kind of like a more industrial look. One thing I dont like though is the colour of the matrix orbital frame, its more grey than black. I would like to mod this as well but I will have to plan it a little so that it does not end up getting trashed like my last PC. Cheers
I´ll try a piece of red plexy in the Matrix screen and put it far (or at least below) of that pretty rez front plate. The plate, for the moment, seems to be the starring of your front. The red olor is really pretty in that bay rez. Question: you can put the rez in the top bay?
