AtilaEKWB

This isn't about the project itself, but some might find this useful... Moving to another country recently means not many tools could come along... but one of 
the main issues for me was painting. 

Indoors painting is an issue, especially for your wife. You also don't want to kill your pets...
So... here is what I came up with.
  Figured I make my own DIY paint chamber with an exhaust.
    All it took was a 140mm fan, cardboard box and a piece of plastic to strap the fan on to.


Ready for painting!



And I must admit it works very well!
 

Sorry for the vertical video!

This isn't about the project itself, but some might find this useful... Moving to another country recently means not many tools could come along... but one of 
the main issues for me was painting. 

Indoors painting is an issue, especially for your wife. You also don't want to kill your pets...
So... here is what I came up with.
  Figured I make my own DIY paint chamber with an exhaust.
    All it took was a 140mm fan, cardboard box and a piece of plastic to strap the fan on to.


Ready for painting!



And I must admit it works very well!
 

Sorry for the vertical video!

I got a recommendation to try satin clear coat instead of the glossy one. I will get some and test spray some parts.

As for the rest... it is always nice if you have access to some goodies to play around with.
 

 
The EK terminal covers will get some nice illumination, but I cannot wait for that so I whooped out my little rotary tool.
 

 
After "running" some of the terminal covers.....
 

 

 
...it was time to ruin some of my wife's stuff as well...
 

 
After making a nice even opening that can still hold the original cover, it was time to test my theory.
 

 
The glow came out pretty even. Of course, the camera is struggling a bit with the bright blue light.
 

 
For now, this is a general idea. To have three illuminated terminals form the side by two 3mm LEDs.
 

 
I will still try to make the glow a bit more even across the whole cover and see what will I come up with.
 

 
Of course, nothing would have been done without my supervisor being present during my work.

I got a recommendation to try satin clear coat instead of the glossy one. I will get some and test spray some parts.

As for the rest... it is always nice if you have access to some goodies to play around with.
 

 
The EK terminal covers will get some nice illumination, but I cannot wait for that so I whooped out my little rotary tool.
 

 
After "running" some of the terminal covers.....
 

 

 
...it was time to ruin some of my wife's stuff as well...
 

 
After making a nice even opening that can still hold the original cover, it was time to test my theory.
 

 
The glow came out pretty even. Of course, the camera is struggling a bit with the bright blue light.
 

 
For now, this is a general idea. To have three illuminated terminals form the side by two 3mm LEDs.
 

 
I will still try to make the glow a bit more even across the whole cover and see what will I come up with.
 

 
Of course, nothing would have been done without my supervisor being present during my work.

After literally two days of scrubbing and brushing the aluminum, here is the result.
 
Day 1

 
Day 2

 

 
The question now is... should I do a clear coat or not... it looks shinier 
when its bare aluminum.... but with every touch, I am risking to have oxidized
fingerprints appearing after a while.
 
My friend who owns the renders station actually hangs out in their own studio Primate
where they do audio and video production as well. I have seen two dead hard drives
there hanged on the wall saying "Died in the service of Primate". 
Since I was always overdoing cooling, and I have always actively or passively cooled
my own hard drives ... this came to my mind.
 

 
So why not?
 

After literally two days of scrubbing and brushing the aluminum, here is the result.
 
Day 1

 
Day 2

 

 
The question now is... should I do a clear coat or not... it looks shinier 
when its bare aluminum.... but with every touch, I am risking to have oxidized
fingerprints appearing after a while.
 
My friend who owns the renders station actually hangs out in their own studio Primate
where they do audio and video production as well. I have seen two dead hard drives
there hanged on the wall saying "Died in the service of Primate". 
Since I was always overdoing cooling, and I have always actively or passively cooled
my own hard drives ... this came to my mind.
 

 
So why not?
 

Since data security on a render station is very important and sometimes large files are handled, I wanted to use an HDD cooler enclosure right from the start. The HDD enclosure was a bit dusty, so I wanted to play smart and to wash the heatsink in the dishwasher. Sadly, I discovered that anodization does not like the salts and other chemicals that are going on inside the dishwasher.      So there was only one thing to do. Strip the entire anodization to make it look nice again! The cure is dipping the heatsink in potassium hydroxide.... and I do suggest you do this in a well-ventilated room, or outdoors... not like I did!      Depending on the aluminum, you are sometimes left with some stains. The chemical
the process of anodization remove might have to be perfected with some hand scrubbing.



I will post some photos of the finished product in my next post!

 

Maybe you can convince them to do so after this build is finished.

About the cat... Thanks, I know... wait until you see the dog as well.

The case comes with a really nice power switch, but a bit poorly sleeved, but that's is not an issue. Just a
reason to use the sleeving kit!

While i was waiting for the cables from Cablemod to arrive, this was the best i could do with the stock PSU cables.

Maybe you can convince them to do so after this build is finished.

About the cat... Thanks, I know... wait until you see the dog as well.

The case comes with a really nice power switch, but a bit poorly sleeved, but that's is not an issue. Just a
reason to use the sleeving kit!

While i was waiting for the cables from Cablemod to arrive, this was the best i could do with the stock PSU cables.

Since data security on a render station is very important and sometimes large files are handled, I wanted to use an HDD cooler enclosure right from the start. The HDD enclosure was a bit dusty, so I wanted to play smart and to wash the heatsink in the dishwasher. Sadly, I discovered that anodization does not like the salts and other chemicals that are going on inside the dishwasher.      So there was only one thing to do. Strip the entire anodization to make it look nice again! The cure is dipping the heatsink in potassium hydroxide.... and I do suggest you do this in a well-ventilated room, or outdoors... not like I did!      Depending on the aluminum, you are sometimes left with some stains. The chemical
the process of anodization remove might have to be perfected with some hand scrubbing.



I will post some photos of the finished product in my next post!

 

Maybe you can convince them to do so after this build is finished.

About the cat... Thanks, I know... wait until you see the dog as well.

The case comes with a really nice power switch, but a bit poorly sleeved, but that's is not an issue. Just a
reason to use the sleeving kit!

While i was waiting for the cables from Cablemod to arrive, this was the best i could do with the stock PSU cables.

Maybe you can convince them to do so after this build is finished.

About the cat... Thanks, I know... wait until you see the dog as well.

The case comes with a really nice power switch, but a bit poorly sleeved, but that's is not an issue. Just a
reason to use the sleeving kit!

While i was waiting for the cables from Cablemod to arrive, this was the best i could do with the stock PSU cables.

Hi, I just want to kick-off a modding/build project worklog here, which will kind of be more than just a worklog. My colleague is a 3D artist, he spends a lot of time working with Blender. The time came when he could invest money in a serious work station with 3x 1080 Ti`s and I will be the person helping him carry out this project. The main point of the project is to compare performance results of 3x 1080 Ti Founders Edition cards sandwiched to each other in a hot summer day, versus a fully liquid cooled solution. It's no secret that he boost frequency of the 1080 depends on the effectiveness of the stock blower, and liquid cooling them would even grant some overclocking headroom. Besides having some fun and building a liquid cooled PC, I hope that this thread will reach people who are new to building render stations, among which I belong as well.   This project is supported by: Hex Gear Cablemod G.Skill EKWB and the owner's personal wallet ofc.   List of parts that are being used is: Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6850K Motherboard: SUPERMICRO C7X99-OCE Graphics Card: 3x Gainward GTX 1080 Ti FE RAM: G.SKILL® TridentZ F4-3200C16Q-32GTZSW PC Case: Hex Gear R80 Power Supply: Silverstone® ST1500-GS     I personally feel like the choice of hardware was not the best, referring mostly to the motherboard choice and the PSU as well... but guess that's how it goes when you are doing something new, mistakes occur.   I would like if we could debate on the subject of motherboard and CPU choice before i start posting some actual modding work being done.