Scratch Build – In Progress Tribal HTPC - UPDATE 12: SPONSORS!! Koolance and DangerDen

Man!! Guys you are talking some monster screens 30" and 37". Hey I borrowed a 21" CRT from my dad once, and that was massive. He claimed it back and sold it, giving me a 14" in return.

Hey my main rig is an old Pentium3 and my mouse and keyboard are about 15yrs old. (all old gear)

Saving up to build a decent setup.

Looks great! Loved the one piece design, bummer you had to chop it up though.

Keep up the good work and mod on.

 

It's all good it fits better now anyways

 

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been struggling with shipping companies about my new car because it's 1" off the ground and nobody has a truck that can transport it lol. That's what I get for buying a show car I guess lol. But here she is if anyone wants to comment
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...STRK:MEWN:IT&viewitem=&item=150165622464&rd=1

as for the mod, some serious work has been done. I'll go take some pictures right now and write you guys an update. See you in an hour.

 

ehh dont think the ride hide is 1" if it was you couldnt drive it, looks more like around 2.5, as from the picks looks like it has a similar ride height as my ride but heres a tip for transporting the car, okay you will have to load it ass-end first but what you will need to is a couple of floor jacks, your going to raise the front end one jack under each strut location or close to it, start loading the car, now when the base gets to the jacks you cant really push the jacks onto the flat bedd unless you have a decent jacks but what you can do is get some long boards to then put on the flatbed truck and will go under the wheels to extend the transfer angle so that its not as sharp and then finish loading the vehicle, repeat the process for taking it off the vehicle, a pain but it can be done ^_^

edit: sorry for lack of commas, grammar or spelling lol its late and Im tired =p

 

It may be 2.5" but the truck driver measured it and said 1". This is a show car and I don't think it was ever meant to be a daily driver. I actually HOPE it's 2.5" because then I might be able to leave it the way it is. If it really is 1" I'll probably switch it back to stock springs.

 

Alright. Here is the LOOOOONG overdue update. As I mentioned in my post above I have been dealing with some car issues so I haven't had time to post a log. With that, I have also been working my but off so I can get this thing semi-ready for PDX Lan in Portland nov 2-4. I say semi because I really just want to get the main case built so it can house a watercooling setup. It's pretty much there I just need to finish up the side panels, mount the reservoir and pump, and maybe do a half decent polishing job (final case will have wooden veneer and possibly powder coating). So anyways here are some pics of the radiator housing and the HDD cage assembly.


The first thing I had to do was mount the HDD's. I made the bottom one first as it is not seen, so any mistakes (like the extra set of HDD holes) won't be noticed. This will most likely have to be remade as it is a little tall and it could be made much more solid.

As you can see it looks pretty good but could be better.

Here is where it will sit and those little tabs were bent upwards using a crescent wrench. The were given some thread cert treatment and are the mounting points for the HDD cover.

Here's the reverse angle on the cage, where all of the wires will be run directly to the PSU.


Here is an image that shows you a few things. The first is my new HDD. It's a 500GB WD...I believe. It might be a seagate. I'll be buying at least one more to give me a total of 5 HDD's and possibly two more to fill up the rack. I might even buy 3 more so I have 4x500 (2 terabytes of unformatted space baybaaa) and 2x74 but that's just being nit picky, seeing as I haven't even filled up the 320gb that I'm using for storage right now. The other thing it shows is how I mapped out where to drill the holes.

This picture shows the hunk of aluminum I'll be using to make the HDD blocks. It's 3/4" thick (the distance between the HDDs) and 6" long by 4.5" wide. I'll be cutting it up into 4 - 1"x3/4"x5.5" pieces that will surround the two center HDD's (74gb raptors) and cool one side of the other 4 HDD's. I thought about adding another block to the outside HDD's but those will have their own vents, be wrapped in aluminum, and are already partially watercooled. Not to mention, they don't get as hot as the 10,00 RPM raptors, so they probably don't even need it.

I liked this overhead shot so I thought I might add it.

Here is a picture of both Racks completed and mounted. Originally I was going to screw them together but the top and sides of the case hold them in pretty well through compression alone. Once the waterblocks are in there will be little reason to screw the HDDs in as well.

Now to the exciting stuff

Here's the internal radiator housing completed. I decided on a simpler design because I liked the back of the case so much that I wanted to keep using it. It's a little much, but I think that once it's black it will look a lot better. Right now the radiator is just sitting there. The mounting holes are off just a smidgen so I need to bore them out and use some washers. Not the ideal solution as I wish they were countersunk but it will look pretty nice with some SS washers and button head screws.

Another angle to show you how the aluminum catches the light. Looks really cool. I'm actually diggin the industrial look this thing is giving off. But alas I've already set my mind on a different route. Maybe when I re-make my v1200 I'll do a more industrial theme.


This is the HDD cover. I'm having some issues with this piece. The first being, what to do with it? I like the flat look that makes it sort of hidden, but the original plan was to have it be more of a grill and to use LED's rigged up to the activity switch that pulsed from the inside. What do you think?

That's it for now. I've still got some kinks to work out but she's coming together. Let me know what you think about the case. Good, bad, and ugly. I want this to be a show worthy piece so i'm gonna need some help from my friends in the forums. SHOUT OUT : ).

peace.

p.s. this case needs a new name. I've drifted from the original conception and it doesn't feel very tribal to me. Give me some suggestions.

 

Oh and I know about the Bow in the HDD cage. One of the screws is misaligned and is pulling the top together. Easy fix but I didn't catch it until after I shot the pic.

 

Im loving your Aluminum work here Fozzy, very cleanly done. well done mate

 

Thanks man. This stuff is so much fun that it makes it easy to take my time and do a good job.

 

If you're diggin the industrial theme, why not just go with that? or have you progressed too far in your mind to go in that direction. But that rad cover looks mint.

 

What I mean is that I like the scratched up aluminum and rivets and all of that. I have too much time invested in this to go that route and I think it really deserves a Hot Rod finish ya know. So I'm going to progress that way. I definitely have some Ideas for the next mod though

 

Looking good. It's hard to see what you're planning because you built the guts before the outsides. It's very different from what usually happens here: 'container' first, then insides.

Names? Again, hard to tell at this point in the build:
"Fozzymatic," "Aluminatti," "Bob," "Talky Toaster" ?
-I got nothing.

 

Lol I like Fozzymatic and Aluminatti

Anyone else have a name for me?

 

Something like a WWII bomber, I saw one, "Jokers Wild" or "Midnight Runner" like some moonshine runners blacked out car. Lookin forward to that next case by the way

 

Ooooh I like those names

So on the list:
Jokers Wild
Midnight Runner
Fozzymatic
Aluminatti

keep em coming guys

 

I like "Aluminatti" best ........ and then "Fozzymatic" ........
the rad grill ( internal radiator housing ) just looks fantastic ......... I just hope it
doesn't restrict the airflow to much ...........


Alan

 

Nah the grill isn't as restrictive as the front.

 

How about Foz-HTPC? Follower of the Fozbox

 

'DeathMetal machine'
I'd say 'heavyMetal', but it's aluminum...
You could always paint it yellow and go for 'KillDozer'. (I'm going to get someone to do killdozer eventually, if i keep pressing for it.)
'Meatgrinder'...nah, that sounds kinda gay.
'Fozz-o-Tronic'

 

Thanks Cheapskate I like the names you keep coming up with.

Now on to the good stuff. I know that according to the "Project Log guide" that you shouldn't post huge updates but in this case I'm going to have to make an exception.

Before I get into this massive update, I'd like to say a little something. To start, I am truly blessed. For the past 5 years I have devoted most of my spare time to modding. It has been fun and I have learned a lot. Not only have the project forums been a home to me, the people here have given me loads and loads of encouragement as time has gone by. So cheers to you, bit-tech readers, it is because of you that I do what I do. And today I am happy to say that I have crossed the bridge from hobbiest to professional. I have just received my first two sponsors and some big names they are. I am proud to say I am now part of both the Danger Den and the Koolance team. Yes I did have a tentative sponsorship from Acoustic PC, but times were rough with them and I never received any items. Partially due to my own busy schedule and partially due to a rough summer in terms of sales. But now I have finally received some watercooling parts from two very well known companies and I couldn't be happier. It took me a lot of hard work to get where I am today and for that I am proud. So a big thank you goes out to both DD and Koolance. You guys are tremendous. And a big thank you goes out to all of you guys for giving me the support I needed to keep on going. So without further ado I give you my most massive update yet in the order that things have happened.



These guys are great. They hooked me up with some great stuff and I have the pictures to prove it. So here goes my Danger Den Sponsorship.

A few days ago I received a package from Danger den. I have misplaced the pictures of the packaging but I can assure you it was all well packed and everything was safe. Here is a picture of everything they sent.

In this picture they have included:
- A brand new TDX waterblock with their new channel design. I believe I am the first one to have one.
- A MCP355 12-volt water pump (I love these things)
- 2 Bottles of PCICE UV Green
- Some assorted tubing with 1 piece of Tygon
- Black Ice Xtreme III with 3 32mm PAPST Fans
- Black Ice GTX 240, the new double layer GTS


This is the pump MCP355

Black Ice GTX (note the thickness)

BIX III with PAPST Fans

Closeup on Fans

Tubing

PCICE