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

Thanks Craig mate, perseverance is the key to making the final touches be good, can't go too slack just yet as I thought I could .

Thanks Rich . I quite like the fact the main system area is blanked out because of no lights, will make it all the better when the lighting is in kinda like an unveiling .

Yeah the UV just looks out of place really, it looks quite nice through the front grill but on the other 2 fan holders where it's clearly visible it doesn't look as good as I hoped for, I will persist in making it look right though & cheers Razer .

Thanks Gary, should have the extra lights on Wednesday, there are a few more details that have come to mind for hiding any of the mounting holes basically just decorations really but I'll only go ahead with them if they look good .

I took apart the RGB control box to see if I could make a more compact one for going underneath the hdd cages & I will be able to so it'll be RGB lighting all around this case system side, cable side & storage side so the 3 white & 3 uv led strips will go in the mod bits box for another time so now I have to design & make the new slim boxes. Already had 1 30cm RGB strip so just had to order 2 more & another control box (it lets you run 3 strips through it) so if I push myself I should be able to call this complete by the end of the week.

 

This is a work of art Very nice seeing it (almost) completed

 

Thanks mate I'll have a picture update later today .

Wowzers I'm tired was up all night modding making the RGB box into a slim version that can fit under the hdd cages & made a bigger sata cable hider, then went to Blackpool & just got back , had some nice hot fresh donuts & was very tempted to have a go on that gigantic swing on the pier, looked a lot of fun flying through the air went there to throw the rest of the ashes off the end of the pier, was weird going there without fun times on the mind but after hearing people screaming from intense fun makes me want to go back there for a blast soon , been kinda forgetting what fun is I think .

 

Another hefty all night session of modding a trip to Blackpool & then back to modding I redesigned the sata hiding piece with a little reinforcement & extra length for a complete cover & 3mm extra space for depth & did my best to make sure all of the pieces are the same as each other but that sheet metal bender is difficult enough to line up 1 piece ready for bending so had to do 1 at a time which is why they lack perfection, anyway now I'll be able to have the cables fully extended & fold up excess length inside the piece & finished designing & making the new slightly slimmer RGB control box so up next is sleeving the visible parts of the sata cables then put these parts back to use again .













I seem to be able to design in 2d quite ok now, wasn't too sure if I'd manage making a slimmer RGB control box but have & it's an awesome fit & just about the right size for the 19mm space underneath the hdd cages as the new box is just short of 19mm , the only reason the original box was too big is beause of them cramping the cable work so could have been a good bit slimmer but because of the bad cable work inside these things I had to make it longer but at least I can cram it under there now & have RGB lights in the storage section also I also placed a cut to size piece of 1mm foam board for under the pcb so it doesn't get any contact with the alu.

 

Nice one, always thinking of something

 

You are awsome.. that little box turned out nice. And the rest of the build is just

 

Ashes?

Oh, and not sure if you could pull this off, but maybe you could have shortened some of the wires inside the RGB box, to free up some space? Sounds like they put too long wires in there....

 

Cheers mate this is sooooo close to complete now, I figured all I need to do now is half sleeve the sata cables & get this new longer deeper cable hider installed & then when all the RGB stuff comes tomorrow I should be able to add the final touch & then get some goooood photos done with it all switched off, on during day & on with lighting when it starts getting darker, I'll have to make do with a weak lazy susan if I do the photoshoots tomorrow though .

Thank you Gnu mate, since I've been printing my designs instead of manually marking, everything has been going so much smoother with no time wasting marking & it's far more accurate to follow drill holes cut lines etc so everything just seems to end up working a lot easier than how I was doing everything before I started printing the designs .

Yeah the final load of ash of my mum, she wanted some going to Blackpool over the north pier, so now she is fully put to rest, cancer is a mofo the 2 light shades on the yin yang I put in this reminds me of her even her rarely pissed off side was nice so 2 light shades instead of the very opposite shades is perfect . But going to a fun place like that reminded me I've a ton of raw fun to catch up on the whole atmosphere of everyone having a great time makes me want to go back there & have a really overdue good blast .

Ah why bother when I have a nicely made & ready box , phobya did put too long wires in though & the box could have easily been 6mm shorter.

 

Sorry to hear about that.
Nice testimony to her, that yin/yang.

 

Ah she'll never be forgotten, I've seen someone use a bit of their loved ones ashes mixed into ink for tattoos before & it really crossed my mind, I'm not a tat guy but it did cross my mind but thought nah, no need as long as my mind stays alive I'll always remember them all .

Back to the log .
I decided to not sleeve the sata cables, would have been too bulky so even harder to manage but I installed the new bigger cable hider & wow if I made it even 1mm deeper the side panel wouldn't have gone on so the cables are tucked up so it all looks neat now, I even made an end cap that I'll stick on the top, just need to brush it, lacquer it & then stick it on top.

Now I'm just waiting for the extra RGB stuff to come so I can complete this, should be here from 4pm to 5pm so should be able to complete it today & get the final photos up tomorrow evening providing there are no more problems .

 

I've missed a week of this log and you've done quite a bit, love that conduit and the neat cable management . You could get some copper cable braiding like the one here: http://www.mkcopperwire.com/bare-copper-braid.htm

 

*Waiting impatiently for next ste of cool pics*

 

Thanks Graham but I couldn't bare the thought of taking the wires apart to re do them, they are all black also which would make it nice & difficult to put them all back together nicely again but I have been shown how many different types of awesome braiding there is which I have noted for future projects , it's just getting the lighting right that's got me scratching my head a good bit was thinking installing these flipping strips would be nice & straight forward .

I'll take some of how it is tomorrow in nice daylight but the RGB strips aren't going to happen, things are a good bit tidier though on the cable side .

The phobya RGB strips are garbage I found out why 1 of the 60cm strips were working temperamentally & it had broke around the solder points, the other worked ok but on the cable side, 2 of the 30cm ones inside the fan holders worked but the 3rd didn't & couldn't figure out why so I've had enough of these garbage RGB strips from phobya & have ripped them out & thrown them aside never to be used or sold as they aren't good enough to sell IMO, can't believe how much time I've wasted with them, I only originally wanted subtle lighting anyway so I must have lost the plot a bit going fully & brightly lit up .

I have another idea that I should have done in the first place for lighting the stick bars on the fan holders, heaps cheaper & not a pile of clutter & awkward sized boxes to stash. Opal frosted acrylic, it lights up really well with a good single bright LED plugged into it so with the now empty 5mm gaps on each end of the fan holders I will place some of that inside & bung a normal LED inside each one & do some experimenting with some of my own lighting ideas (back to true modding yay ), just wish I went this way originally, would have saved time & money.

So yeah completed photos not just yet sadly or is it sadly, means there is some good modding to come .

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Got an order in for frosted opal acrylic & chrome vinyl for experimenting & possible sweet solution to my lighting problem .

 

I'm currently using these: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-white-sleeved-led-kit-with-pci-light-sensivity-card-200cm-(80)
They're absolutely fantastic! Well sleeved and a lot of control over them, you'll have no problems with quality.

 

Link doesn't work but I know the type you on about, got 1 of those when I got the fans & is quite nice build quality but just not custom enough the LED's are too far spaced out for doing specific stuff.

To be honest I might end up just calling it complete, it is all really neat on the cable side now & during the day or night the storage section is lit up just right & the main section during the day you can see the hardware inside & at night you can't & with it being right next to me it's kinda growing on me but I have some ideas I want to try out with opal frosted acrylic & chrome vinyl & bright individual LED's, if the idea in my head actually works it would allow some very nice lighting & it would be subtle, also got copper tape coming for the hdd's but I'll put the model numbers on the copper so I know which hdd is which might even apply some of the copper tape to the blue accents on the mobo.

 

I don't see you calling it done until you get the last little detail worked out.

 

Yep, seems you know me by now still waiting for the opal frosted acrylic though so I'm basically just slacking off now but I'll make a template for when the material comes so I don't have to mess much with the case. All I have to do is take a side panel off & trace around the exact curve.

The bottom section fan holders with them now having 5mm gaps at the sides of the fans a little light is making it's way to the stick bars so they are no longer just dark bars not lit up intensely like before but just catch enough light & with the fans being plasic chrome it has a nice effect so all I need to do for the bottom section now is cover the hdd labels with the copper tape I just got, I'll do this today I will see if the acrylic helps light them up a tiny bit more though.

It still says processing on the site I ordered the acrylic from, I don't know anywhere else that sells frosted opal acrylic, it's very slightly translucent & white so it lights up awesome when an LED is plugged into it & I plan on adding the chrome side of the vinyl (or even some of this copper sheet to the surface so it carries the light by reflecting all along the curve, might have to put it on the side also but if I wrapped it all around it & cut some holes it should turn it into a very nice light strip powered by 1 LED just wish I thought of this earlier & saved heaps on lighting but I suppose I have a load of LED strips for future use possibly, if this idea works out nice then led strips & other daft strips could be obsolete .

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End of weekend quiet update without pictures .

Not been a wasted weekend really, covered the hard drive labels with copper foil tape, took the blue msi logos off the mobo, took the brand names & labels off the gpu & soundcard & scraped the green uv paint off the edge of the soundcard & then run a black marker over it .

So everything is done & waiting for me to get a lighting solution sorted now & then I believe I can call it completed I did start taking some pictures of the bottom section but the battery ran out so couldn't finish & get them on the pc, probably for best anyway, would be nice to make the next update the final photo shoots .

 

A few night photos & these were taken before I tried the new lighting I just finished doing the wire work on them, it's not for definite but I wired 4 led's to loosely sit on both sides of the holders which should provide a nice little boost of light for the stick bars so depends on if I like them or not if they stay final or not, for the main section I decided to just use 1 of the 30cm white led strips which I might lay some tinting film over if it's too bright so should have completed photos up real soon as it's just a matter of getting a mini flood of great finished photos which might take a couple of days to capture it as best as I can .

I found after taking the led strips & diffusing paper from the holders the 5mm gaps on both sides allowed a tiny bit of light from the fans & the plastic chrome looked nice but is hard to photograph perfect, taking good pictures of lighting is difficult to capture it as good as how the eye sees it but wow I think I've got far better at night shots .

I applied copper foil tape to where the hdd labels were, bought a big 300mm x 1000mm sheet, they look a lot better than what they did .





















Now I'll get onto installing all these freshly wired lights & then get onto doing the final photos .

 

HDD's look loads better now bud.

 

Looking nice - the copper sheet do the HDDs justice very fine.