Scratch Build – In Progress * r e f l e X i o n *

lol. Using a D40 and CS4 eh? What lenses are you using?

 

What's up guys.

Thanks for the picture, beast.

Thanks, Mugen!

Sure thing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=foxconn_flamingblade-_-13-186-171-_-Product

If interested, please send me a PM. I accept Paypal and have 100% feedback on ebay.

Yeah, the Mother's polish works great; I've used it for a few years now, and it always polishes metal to near perfection.

If interested in the mobo, send me a PM and we can work out the details.

Hi, Shadow. It's a 35mm 1.8 Nikkor lens.

Does anyone know if the Enzotech "evga X58 SLI" full cover chipset block will fit the evga X58 SLI LE version?

 

Nikkor makes a good lens. My wife uses a D50 with a Tamron 18 - 200 mm lens. I have yet to make anything worth taking pics with it yet. ( bar the kids of course)

 

This looks reaaally good. Subbed.

 

Quote:
Does anyone know if the Enzotech "evga X58 SLI" full cover chipset block will fit the evga X58 SLI LE version?

Sorry I don't know if it will fit but it's sexy as Angelina Jolie...
The "chrome look" perfectly fits with your build and Enzo's quality is superior.

 

Yeah, I love this lens.

Thanks, Multiplectic! Welcome to refleXion.

It is a sexy block. Looked as if it didn't fit the LE layout though, and so I decided to go with the EK, instead. Should be here later this week.

It's teaser time.

 

So, I'm guessing those are black and white photos and NOT photos of the new EVGA motherboard?

 

Loving the theme of this mod. Looking into doing the first one myself soon and ideas like this keep sending my mind in different directions!

Like the photos as well. Use a D200 myself

 

Best way to get rid of the red for now.

The motherboard should arrive by end of the week, I'm hoping.

Thanks, Dark! Yep, the D200 is a fine camera.


Still waiting on the next round of parts to arrive. This is what I'll be receiving:

- eVGA X58 SLI LE motherboard
- EK X58 SLI LE black acetal mosfet/NB/SB chipset block
- 2x Cross-SLI GPU fittings for parallel flow
- New thermal pads for Koolance ram blocks
- 6-32 Black oxide set screws for SSD holes

And, most importantly, I FINALLY, after four months into this project, have a workspace! Today I reserved a 10x20ft. storage unit with electrical for all the fab work that's left to do on refleXion. This will help speed the project along (much needed, right!?) so that it should be completed soon.

 

Wee, congrats on the workspace. 10 by 20 ft. seems like a freakin' hangar compared to what I got:

http://www.nutman.dk/worklog/workshop1.jpg
http://www.nutman.dk/worklog/workshop2.jpg

 

Nutman, how do you get anything done in that broom closet?


Shots from the studio. The new motherboard and EK full chipset block have arrived--





An added, unexpected benefit from this new board is that not only does it match my color scheme a lot better because of the mostly black connectors, but the few connectors on the board that are a grayish silver match these DangerDen nickel-plated blocks almost perfectly.




You may notice that I've removed the stickers from the SSDs to give them a cleaner look. I also have some 6-32 set screws on the way to fill those holes on the sides (thanks again for the suggestion, KG.)

In addition, the Zero Gravity Chamber center panel window that they're mounted to has been framed in black to dress up the piece by hiding the rough edges of the perspex.

The EK full cover chipset block for the eVGA X58 SLI LE in nickel/acetal. This thing is beautiful.









Very fine craftsmanship, Eddy. :up:

The block's not installed yet because I first need to test this eVGA board and make sure it's not DOA.

More to come into the weekend.

 

Yum-eeh!

 

Wow you're right that motherboard goes much better with the theme. Stunning!

I'm guessing the caps on the new motherboard are going to be getting hit with the dremel polishing wheel soon Are you going to do the caps on the graphics cards as well by the way?

 

Dude, did you get my PM about your board?

 

Thanks, TWeak!

I'd love to do the GPUs, but they're too expensive to void the warranty on.

What PM? I don't have anything from you. Was it on another forum?

 

Nope, this forum. Anyway, sending again.

 

I have the same mobo, so very much looking forward to seeing what that block looks like. I had been eyeing up a combo of Heatkiller acetal cpu block and MIPS acetal for the board.

 

Made a lot of progress on the build today.

So today was my first day in my new workshop! Yeah, yeah.. it's nothing really that special. Concrete walls, a single light bulb with a string attached hanging from the ceiling (that's why I bought that new double-head 1000w Halogen monster that you see in the above picture there.) Probably rats scurrying somewhere about behind the concrete walls.

But hey, it's 10x20 ft, gives me plenty of room, and I have a heavy metal garage band just a few doors down from me so I never have to wear headphones.

But seriously, today was great. For the first time since I began refleXion--which is now about 4 months ago--I had both the space and privacy I need to really push this thing ahead and into the home stretch. I've fallen so behind on my fab work, and now it's time to bring all that up to speed so refleXion can go off to paint and start looking a little sexier than the scratched up aluminum it's wearing now.

So, we begin by taking a look at the motherboard tray. As you can see here below, in its current state it looks quite ugly. It has a bent side and is overlaying part of the pump windows on the Zero Gravity Chamber. Two big no-nos for this build. I want that back side looking clean even though it won't be seen a lot of the time.



Yuck, right? It gets even worse. You can see here that not only is it covering part of the pump windows, but it's angled in and pushing the Zero-G Chamber lop-sided.



So, this thing is getting hacked today. If you look at where my fingers are resting, this is where we'll cut--right along that bend.


If you look just to the right of my fingers in that above picture, you'll see a threaded screwhole. Not the ones for standoffs but to the left of them. There are three of these running vertical along the Zero-G Chamber. Perfect. After we cut this piece, we'll drill matching holes into the Zero Gravity Chamber to mount it to. This will both look clean and provide more stability for that motherboard tray.

This isn't a flat piece, so finding the right tool to cut on it was tricky. A jig won't work, because the edge guide has nothing flat to sit on. Neither will a circular saw.

Well, I've been waiting to put this dremel of mine to good use (other than polishing nickel as before) so it looks as if it's time for it to sweat a little.

Here you'll see that I'm lining it up along that bend. We'll cut this piece lengthwise along that bend to give us a smooth, flush fit against the Zero G Chamber.



To cut, I'm using the heavy duty quick fit metal grinding wheel. Such a big name for something so small (actually, I just made that up.. I think. I don't remember what it's called, exactly.)

Here we go.



It's doing a great job so far. This began kicking up some metal dust, so I strapped on my 3M multi-purpose respirator. Don't wanna be breathing this stuff. Sorry, I don't have a pic of it, and you're probably better off not seeing it on me. My face is scary enough without a bio mask.



Still doing a great job but that grinding wheel is vanishing right before my eyes. I have a feeling that most of the dust I'm seeing around me is this thing practically vaporizing before my very eyes.

And here, off we go.



This actually worked better than I thought it would. It was the perfect tool for the job since this was thin aluminum that I was working with.

To get this nice and smooth, though, we'll hit it with a file.



And.. after about 15 minutes of filing this is how it looks afterward. A nice even cut.



Running my fingers along it, it still felt a little rough and sharp--even after 15 minutes of filing. So I broke out my new toy, a Black and Decker multi-purpose sander.



This thing is slick. It has 4 quick attachments for different uses. An orbital, a mouse, a flat belt and... well, the other escapes me at the moment. Trust me though, it's cool.



I slapped the orbital attachment on it, and this really got the edges nice and smooth.

So, let's fit her and see how she looks.







I'm liking that a lot. Looks much better.


(To be continued.)

 

Framework - Part II

Next item on the agenda was to tackle those corner supports.

To provide some history, the drive cages were removed from the Cosmos so as to make room for the Zero Gravity Chamber. However, when doing so, the corner supports for the frame were lost in the process.

So then I was faced with the task of either making some from scratch or modifying the drive cage. And.. you guessed it. I've never passed up the chance to rip up some metal.

Here in this pic you'll see the right side of the drive cage that was removed. You can see how there's no room for it in the frame, and I wouldn't want it in there, anyway. I removed it because I hated how it looked in there to begin with. But it served an important job which was to provide support for the corners of the frame.



So.. don't panic when you see this below, but one night when I was bored and sitting in my small apartment and stewing about not having any workspace, I took a pair of aluminum sheers to one side of the drive cage--more out of frustration than anything else.



So.. yeah.. now it's obviously time to clean this piece up...

And we're back to Date with a Dremel, the sequel.



And my poor metal wheel grinder has just about had it.

She's going...



Going...



And then gone (see, you don't even see it. I think it went up in a cloud of dust around me.)

Good thing I'm restocked.



Now we've finished cutting that corner off the drive cage that'll be used for the corner support on one side.



And here I am fitting it on the frame, to illustrate.



Another thing these pieces do is hold part of the front case facing in place. You can see all the notches/clips that fit together.



So, it was important to save this piece. It would've been a pain to build it from scratch again.

Now the other side. This side had yet to be demolished by the aluminum shears.



And, we'll go ahead and prepare for the inevitable...



And, off she goes.



Here's a nice shot of the piece that we're keeping for the corner support.



And here are both corner supports fitted back onto the frame.





More to come in the next few days. :wave:

 

Amazing and clean work there man! Nice! Cutting steel with dremel or even aluminum is a PITA indeed. I have to change like 5 disks to cut a 30cm straight line on a thick piece of aluminum! Once I found some reinforced cutting disks that they were waaaaaaaay better but... I dont remember the brand or the name......!
If you could send me some info in those files please pass by my worklog, I really love that extra fittings!
Thanks!