Scratch Build – In Progress Project Stealthlow - Completed - preview of project next

Thanks mate, don't worry though I doubt it will be long before I start another since I got the scroll saw, could let a nice new tool sit idle for long but it will probably be for someone else as I'll be happy with this case for some time I think .

Cheers KidMod it's mostly been a blast making this, just a couple of the learning curves were a bit tortuous but have a massively better understanding of it now, I really underestimated the difficulty of the acrylic curve .

Nice panel eh , yeah now the fans are on board I should fire them up to see if there are any probs but if there is like you & Alex said some nice washers should fix it .
Thanks Shael .

Thank you Ed appreciated mate .

Yeah I remember someone pointing out when I did my first aluminium polishing how stainless polishes to an excellent mirror finish but I didn't polish this I bought a ready mirror polished sheet & cut it to size & cut out all the bits.
Thanks Graham appreciated mate .

Took a few pictures with some nice daylight & with the side panel off .






















Really looks weird awesome when stood over it & have got to get pictures of how it looks & don't forget this will all be getting a final brushing as you can see many parts with blemishes from handling.

Also the curved acrylic piece looks good on most shots & to the eye but some shots I took it shows how messed up the surface of the acrylic is so a question for you all, how do I get it restored to perfection? .

And ordered a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS standard lens so I can take certain shots that I just can't with this macro lens, the macro lens really is awesome but also really need a normal lens so I don't have to be so far away from what I'm shooting & can't afford the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG I really wanted so went for the nice & cheap 1 but it's meant to be good image quality anyway just low build quality.

Also I said I had all I need to complete the case but that isn't true since I decided to do the fan wire work properly so I'm gonna have to wait for soldering gear & supplies to arrive but hopefully they won't take long to arrive (not ordered yet but it's the weekend so have chance to decide before buying), I could wire twist & heatshrink like I used to do which is probably as good as soldering but I dunno, what you guys think, get the soldering gear or twist & shrink? .

 

Looking at those pics Wayne, you really are creating a master piece mate. The head on shots from the from look absolutely superb. This is giong to be so good when it's finished, I'm starting to think MOTY top 3 at least. It'll get my vote thats for sure.

 

Thank you a million Jeff the mirror floor makes it I can't find the word for it but with the transparrent roof & front it looks so weird & amazing looking into it lol, shame much of that will be lost when it's full of pc gear possibly but it may look great still, won't be long until we find out .

But I think I really must some how get a video of the look of it, pictures only show so much, something I really noticed when Bill did the ModMen show pc pity I didn't go for the canon 550d as that has decent HD video .

Top 3 seriously I dunno, to make MOTY is an awesome feat, to make top 10 is outstanding because they get a final mentioning but top 3 wow that will be flipping hard with the amount of outstanding mods done, being done & ones not even started yet , just looking around at many of the beauties already makes me know it will be mind bendingly difficult to vote for 2011 .

 

One picture condense all the words i can say:



Congratulations for the wonderfull work!

I repeat what I said a few posts ago ... This project is a unique work of art, is a masterpiece!

 

It's beautiful mate. My only little niggle is the two fan grilles. Just one is better and thats the one at the back.

 

Thank you Marcos appreciated mate .

Thank you Attila mate & good to see you posting again , do you think the bottom front copper mesh was too much copper or did it look good, I'm a little unsure I could make a 3mm version of the good grill if just sticking with the new grill or just use another with pre made hole & optical bits, the copper sheets I got I'll possibly save for another project.

Did a test run of the installed fans running & woo hoo no vibrations at all, 1 of the fans has a faint wobble but isn't causing any vibrations with them being solidly secured but it's all genuinely silent, I had to stick my head inside the case to be able to hear them running so it will definitely live up to it's stealth part of the name & the air flow goes as expected , just hope it can cope with the overclock I have on it, it's only just above a faint breeze going through the case so should be ok just about, people think those Fractal Design Define R3 cases are quiet, I've built a rig for my bro with 1 & they aren't so quiet but this is silent as if it's a passively cooled rig so if anything is going to make any noise on this it will be the gtx 580 really can't believe how silent it is, if there were no spinning fans or lights you couldn't tell it was on .

Also done a little smoke test so I could see the flow working correct & it does although the bottom front fan is cutting it fine, ideally it needs pulling 10mm further into the case so it flows that little bit better, either that or add a seperator piece between the 2 front fans.

Oh & to answer my earlier questions about restoring acrylic & soldering I have solution now & I'll be soldering .

 

When it comes to patching/slicing wires,there is no way I will do anything but to solder the wires and then heatshrink. That is the only way to make sure that once you cram wires and route them, you have reliable connections.

The case is looking fantastic. I definitely see you being among the top of the MOTY LIST. You still have the inside of the case to pretty up though before you can call it done.

 

Really inspiring stuff! This project ROCKS!

 

I twist and shrink. I find that you don't need to solder, kinda wastes time

 

Photography and modding to the top!!! The only think I am worried its the input fan's ventilation. Out of my experience I believe you need a kind of bigger ventilation but if looks are more important then its ok I believe! I personally have the functionality virus in my blood and it makes my life more difficult lol, either way thats a masterpiece my friend and you know why? Because you saw the mistakes, you ve listened to modders and you did every piece again and again till it was perfect! Mod on my friend !

 

Seeing how much love and labor you've invested by hand, this would get my vote for MOTY. I also doubt most casual onlookers off list will believe it was scratch built when you show it off.

I can't wait to see it running!

 

Awesome

 

you dont need any sexy girlfriend or any thing you have evry thing you need

//Stark.Jr

 

SHEESH do NOT quote the whole damn wall of photos, no matter how delicious they are

And great work throughout, unique design, great build quality and when the first version didn't seem quite right, enough nerves to do it the other way. 5/5.

 

You should fog or put some tint behind your front plexi then put black mesh on the gaps

 

Sorry m8 didnt think about that hehe

 

It's a funny one really with soldering or twisting but only because I've done a good bit of twisting, some stuff requires soldering but wire splicing I've had no problems if your twist is tight enough & then fold it over to the wire & then either wrap a little cello tape around it tight or & heat shrink it, it can make a good solid connection that requires quite a forceful tug to break them apart in fact I'd say it requires more of a tug than a spot of solder, not arguing just saying I've had no problems with twist & tighten when I've done this for fan wire extensions or shortening for years & it sure is easier, quicker & cheaper if you don't have an ok soldering set .

I was over the moon about getting featured in Custom PC & then an offer to go to campus party europe in Madrid which I opted out of with being uber shy & then amongst the MOTY 2010 nominees with air cube so I'll be the same again if more good comes from making this but mostly I'm looking forward to calling this complete & then getting a couple of beers & some good food to celebrate completing it I remember saying air cube was too good for my room so I'll need to decorate & make a nice table for it to fit in which will be a secondary project of this I never knew where to get nice wood from but spent a bit of time looking up suppliers & found a good local 1 so when I get around to it & got a couple of extra needed tools I'll make another log for that .
Thank you voigts .

Never thought the day would come where I could inspire others in modding thanks Evenge appreciated mate .

Yeah I have to agree although sometimes soldering is a must but not really with fan wire splicing as long as you do it well .

Thanks Alex, your right to worry about the vents, all are working fine except the bottom front one of the main section so I took the front top window out & fired up the fans again just to make sure it was the window & lack of vent & it was so I just lay down some masking tap & drew a circle where the blade diameter is & planned what best vent I could add to the bottom fan in ms paint & then hand drawn it on the case, took it to the garage & drilled a starter hole in each cut out for the scroll saw & sawed it out & sanded from 240 grit to 2000 grit then cleaned with water & a cloth, dried & installed it back on & the air flow is nice & sorted now, no need to add extra vents for the 1 above it with it having a good sized gap because of the curve .

I started off with the functionality bug but even got that quite wrong because of how limited my design/planning skill was in the begining & totally neglected the looks part but probably because I lacked the tools/knowledge when I started it can be difficult getting looks, functionality & strength good .

I just can't believe the fact that it's silent when running I was genuinely shocked, was only aiming for a really quiet rig but wow it's actually silent with a just about good enough breeze flowing through but still yet to find out if it can handle the overclock but I do know I could tweak the cpu volts down a bit just I haven't dedicated any time to finding what is stable & just used bit-techs 4.5ghz guide , sure hope it can keep it at ok temps but yeah I had to add more vent for the bottom fan, someone pointed out a potential problem with the air flow on TBCS & he was correct on 1 of the fans that being the bottom one so I'll have to give a mention to the guy that pointed that out so early in the progress I thought he was just being mad but no he was spot on about 1 of them , could barely feel any air coming from it whereas the one above it having some good distance from the acrylic the flow works good, anyway air flow completely fixed about an hour ago .

Thank you Bill appreciated mate it's true many who have seen it in the flesh think yeah right made with normal tools they just don't believe it .
I'm really looking forward to getting it in action too which might be a little sooner with me deciding to wire twist & tighten the fan wires but I need to put the copper rod wire support pieces in so I can guage precisely how long the wires need to be .

Thank you skullen .

Thanks Stark .

Thank you Jipa appreciated still can't believe I stuck with it with 12 failed curved windows definitely a new record for me on persistance the price of getting 1 thermo formed was good motivation to keep trying & now I should be able to make them 1st time every time now I know what it takes to do it right but that's not to say it isn't a fair PITA to do a piece like that .

The front/top plexi is light tinted I did make some vent meshes out of copper but decided they'd have been even more restrictive for air flow & after I made the strip clamps they just didn't fit the look anymore with the strips looking so good, they kinda fit in when it was the little design clashing clamp tabs so the vents will be left open, no kids so no curious fingers poking into it just some random bugs might fly through it & out the other side .

I wouldn't fancy putting mod mesh in there as I'd have to make some other bits for it to hold on to & can't visualise it as being good really.

No worries .

Thanks for commenting everyone .

Should have a picture update later of the added vent that was needed for good air flow .

 

So I found the acrylic cover prevented the lower fan from catching air properly, so I added extra ventage this introduced a bit more fine scratches but I found a solution for it & already ordered it so all the scratches will be removed & the acrylic will be restored back to perfect .









These last 2 shots I took in sniper position without tripod .




And in case anyones wondering why the alu strips aren't perfectly in the middle they can move a little side to side so not a problem .

 

Thats my man! Way much better now, more intake air to flow inside, less heat and I wouldnt worry about the noise as much as i would for my components life! What the next modification man? The fans maybe and hardware? I patiently await for the next awesomeness!!!!

 

Cheers Alex it didn't make an impact on noise & from a slight distance you can barely see there is added vents, was quite arkward getting the piece to swing under the scroll saw arm though with it being curved but just about managed, you have to put your ear right up to the front of the case to hear it as soon as my bro heared how silent it was he said get me some of those fans but they probably won't be powerful enough to keep temps down in a standard case where the air passes through hdd's before getting to system parts but yeah the main thing that will make noise now is the GPU, the hdd cages are perfectly solid when hdd's are installed to them & glad I grinded the mounting slots down a touch as they go in & out better now, they were too tight before so were difficult to slide in & out so should hopefully be no vibes going on there neither but I think I'll run a quick test with a bunch of hdd's to make sure before I call it complete.

So now that fundamental bit is fixed now I'll get on with shaping those 3mm copper rods which should be a quick job & the satinising mops came just now but they'll be reserved for one of the last things to do .

To be honest the copper rod idea would be best with specifically placed holes rather than just using the vacant fan mount ones so I'll have to think up something to do with the spare holes .