Case Mod - In Progress StackArt

That is a great idea to guide the tubes through the hd cage.
Nice clean way to keep them neat and managed.........beautiful


Alan

 

That HDD cage looks great. Two thoughts/questions though:
1. Would it look even better in two colors, say yellow + aluminum / orange / green / blue (go sweden! )?
2. That hose looks seriously large.. are you going to run the water through that, or will you have a thinner hose inside? I don't know a lot about water cooling but it seems to me that the pump will have to work awfully hard to get decent flow through such a large hose. I read something about this a long time ago, perhaps pumps are stronger now.. please let me know it I got this backwards! =)

Keep up the great work!

 

I like the HDDs a lot.. Usually they are a boring part in any case, but that cage makes them a nice detail

 

Thanks a lot for the nice comments. I like you like it.

The tube you see is what i will use for the watercooling. It has a 1/2" diameter, although its big its a standard size for watercooling hoses. I chose the reinforced type because i need to make a few scharp bends like at the back of the case. Other hoses this thick like mastercleer or tygoon wont make it that sharp and fold. As I understood it a Laing DDC-1RT should be sufficent in power.

The colour or the lack in diversity bothered me as well. There will be some alu for the mounting of the cage to the floor. Beside that i think ill use some green and/or blue plexi as well.

 

Update 06. Well it’s more of a continuation of the previous update.

There I ended with a hd cage that is wrapped in tape and a bend hose.
Besides this I was thinking about adding something extra to the cage, so this could nicely be done together. From green plexi a made a few pieces.


First I made four, two at each half.


But when I put three pieces on one half it was even nicer so I made two extra. The pieces are around the alu rod so their exact place can be determined later on.


Because it was shaped like the the rest of the cage I changed it in this. Positive about this shape is that it comes ‘lose’ from the ground which makes it possible to make an air vent for well fresh air

With the new green pieces the cage was complete (for now at least) and I could start the finish of the edges of all the plexi pieces. These where filed in the right shape but I like them to be translucent like the plexi on the vent in the top of the case. The first step was dry sanding with grid 100 followed by wet sanding grid 600. The last action was polishing to make the edges truly transparent. For this I purchased a polishing set for my drill press to make the process a little more easy. For the small gaps and holes I used a dremel and little polishing wheel.
Enough blabla, picture time.



















Personally I am really pleased with it. It was nice to take of the masking tape and do the final finishing touches and bolt it together. What is left is attaching it to the floor. I am thinking of a green plexi corner on both sides. Bending plexi will be a new technique for me so practice is needed.

 

Oh man. That creative design and incredible looks just earned you some stars.(for the hdd cage)

I have to say I am really impressed with mounting of your hard drives. The only thing that worries me is dimensions. Good thing the industry has standards!

 

Ok, all bases covered, goodie! (tubes) ^_^
Hmm.. I might need some reinforced ones or at least steel spirals for the tubes in my planned build. Where did you get your tubes, and what make (+model) are they?

Yeah!! Now we're talking! =D
Hehe, I don't know why, but this makes me think of my Lego building days *daydreams*... those transparent pieces in yellow, green, etc... ya know ^_^

 

I love it. Are you going to make a locking clip to keep the drives from flopping around?

 

Awesome mate keep up the good work!

 

This is a nice twist on the ol' Stacker. You've got my attention

 

Looking good for sure
But are the green acrylic parts still movable?

Btw; where did you get those acrylic rods?
I looked for them in over 4 shops, all negative

 

Very nice

 

The tubing used is OC-press and this is a dutch shop where I orderd it. The link to the review doesn't work anymore but it should like to here, also dutch but the pics speak for them self. I chose them for their looks and bendebility (plobably not a word )

The green pieces can be moved but little force is needed so they wont move when the case is shaken. With one tube in place it is a lot harder to move so let alone with four tubes. The constuction was a little easyer this way compared to the yellow pieces that heve a threaded rod thrue them what ensures their exact position needed for the hd mounting.
What acrilic rod do you mean? I unly used aluminium rods, five between each segment of the cage. I bought these at a local store where they sell building materials like wood, briks, scewdrivers, etcetra (hardware store?)

I might ad some pieces at the top, not for a locking purpouse as the disks keep themselves at place by wheight and the case will be at one spot, but for astettics.

I'm really happy with standards although you shouldnt take a standard for granted, but a harddisk is a save bet in dimensions and mounting holes.

 

Ha-HA!! Awesome! I love it dude, I certainly will keep an eye on this one!

 

Of course I mean alu rods (why the **** did I wrote acrylic :/ )

 

it looks very retro, dare i say blake 7....

 

Wow, great work with the plexi, looking forward to updates!

 

Update 07

After a small break a new update.

The last that was done was the hdd cage. This cage was done and only needs to be attached to the bottom and it was in need for some light. Also ventilation was needed in the bottom.

The bottom plate was at size, it only needed the holes.


The big holes are for ventilation, intake to be precise. The three smaller gaps are there to let light thru.

The next step was fixing the hdd cage to the bottom. For this I made two corner pieces out of plexi. First I tried a hairdryer but that was insufficient. A paint burner did the job.


First I made a mould to get a good angle. To bend I first heated the plexi and then used a pensile to push it in the corner.


Hdd cage fixed. With the two bolts also the bottom plate will be fixed to the chassis.


Just like the upper vent the bottom plate is brushed. The result is slightly different, it’s a bit lighter, although the both come from the same piece alu.

The vents couldn’t stay just holes. Also here some plexi and mesh.


Plexi and mesh on the inside this time.


Try fit.


Three white ccfl’s. The definitive mounting still has to be made.


The rest build up..

Then came the best part, turning on the light.









I want to try to reduce the light spreading thru the mesh or at least see how that looks.


That was it again. Next up the rear with the io panel and others.

 

Whowawuwa. Damn, that looks just nice!

 

Nice, very colorfull indeed