HELIOS - ASSEMBLED 2015-SEP-06 - (Caselabs SMH10 | Black/Copper | EVGA SR-2 )

[ALXAndy]

Looking good mate. Nice to see some more work done

[alpenwasser]

zeiferlance, on 19 Jul 2013 - 8:21 PM, said:

yey! thanks for the tutorial.

i find it quiet easier now.

might give it a shot on my next build since I'll be doing another sleeving on it. just sold my Stryker.

gotta change my build to blue/yellow from yellow/white.

looking forward to seeing more pics of your build.

Happy to help.

I like the idea of blue/yellow. Nice combo, and not seen too often.

ALXAndy, on 19 Jul 2013 - 11:19 PM, said:

Looking good mate. Nice to see some more work done

Thanks mate!

I had a look at that display you emailed me (sorry, completely forgot to reply, bad me :( ).

It does look very intriguing, but sadly only runs on Windows. But I like the idea and I think

I might do something similar, maybe with a Ras Pi or something in the long run (maybe control

my W/C and fans with a Ras Pi?).

[onevoicewild]

I appreciate the teacher in you. All these little tricks we pass around to each other just makes it better for all of us. Man I thought 1500 grit was fine! but I'm joining the reeducation program. I use Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish a lot and it works miracles! That's an incredible polish job, Any finer than that and it becomes scientific level, Like the space mirror. Thanks for the response!

[alpenwasser]

I appreciate the teacher in you. All these little tricks we pass around to each other just makes it better for all of us.

Very true. I could never be doing what I do now without all the helpful advice and inspiration

I got from the interwebz (as mentioned in the opening post of this thread PrometheusCU was the

main inspiration for this build's general concept). Aside from the fact that I think some reciprocity

is simply good manners, I also think it would be a bit of a shame if I spent all this time figuring

things out and then just kept them to myself.

Plus I like teaching things to other people; that was actually one of the parts about the military

I very much enjoyed. I was an infantry platoon leader, so there was lots of stuff I had to teach

my recruits, which was quite a bit of fun for the most part. I wouldn't want to be a teacher (my

mum is, and I have actually subbed for her) because of all the ridiculous bureaucratic crap you have

to deal with in that field, but teaching itself I do quite enjoy.

Man I thought 1500 grit was fine! but I'm joining the reeducation program.

So did I! I originally started with 2500 grit as the finest paper, but there were still loads

of fine scratches, which were very noticeable in the light (wrong) light.

So I bought some 5000 grit, still the same result.

Finally two weeks ago I decided to go all out and simply buy the finest polishing compound

I could find. I still have not yet perfected the process, but I'm not far off at this point.

What astonished me the most about the polishing compound and the random orbital sander is how

little time it actually takes. Before that I had spent quite a few hours wet sanding one of the

blocks and got nowhere near where I wanted to be.

Now it's just a few minutes with each sanding paper, then finish it off with the polishing

compound, and done.

What I yet need to do is probably spray it with a clear coat to prevent oxidation/tarnishing.

The very fine surface tarnishes extremely easily I have found.

That's an incredible polish job, Any finer than that and it becomes scientific level, Like the space mirror.

Haha, yeah it looks even more amazing in person than on the picture, I'm really very happy

with it.

[Nicktrance]

I've been away for a week, I need more updates!!! :lol:.

[crunzaty]

It still looks awesome! I'd pay you to fix my PSU cables man! :D Such a good job on/with them!

[alpenwasser]

I've been away for a week, I need more updates!!! :lol:.

 

I'm working on it... :D

 

It still looks awesome! I'd pay you to fix my PSU cables man! :D Such a good job on/with them!

Thank you!

[alpenwasser]

A Copper Face Plate for the Lamptron FC5V2

While I really like the brushed alu look on the FC5V2, it doesn't really fit all that

well into the rough powder coat on the Caselabs case. So instead of having two

black things which are not the same sort of black I thought I'd turn the fan controller

into an element of contrast and make a polished copper face plate for it.

Taking Things Apart

First I took the fan controller apart to see how everything fits together and get

access to its existing face plate so that I could fit the new one to it.

(click image for full res)

Sketching Things Out

The new plate will be made from a 1~1.2 mm (not sure anymore) piece of copper

sheet I had laying around. First: Use the old plate as a stencil and sketch the outlines

of the new plate onto the sheet of copper.

(click image for full res)

Raw Cut

After some Dremel work it looked like this:

(click image for full res)

Current Status

After lots and lots of filing, sanding and polishing (~5 hours), it currently looks like

this. It is not yet completely flawless, but I'll save the rest of the work for when the

build is in its closing stages. Since the surface is very finicky I don't want to spend

lots of time making it absolutely perfect now only to possibly damage it in a mishap

during the build and then have to redo the whole thing.

(click image for full res)

The new plate is simply taped to the stock plate. It's a lot easier (and cleaner) than

having to drill holes for the screws into the new plate.

(click image for full res)

(click image for full res)

That's it for today. As always, thanks for stopping by.

[crunzaty]

That was stunning, perfect job! :D

[Raboo]

Nice

[Nicktrance]

That looks beautiful, just make sure you wear cotton gloves every time you use it :D.

[alpenwasser]

That was stunning, perfect job! :D

 

 

Nice

 

Thanks fellas!

 

That looks beautiful, just make sure you wear cotton gloves every time you use it :D.

Yeah once I'm really done with the finish I will most likely give it a protective clear

coat. It tarnishes ridiculously easily when it's so finely polished.

[onevoicewild]

Man was that a worth while mod! You upped the classy level about 10X. We are brothers in Copper. I have been letting my Copper tarnish some and actually like some of the colors. I might start over and set it with clear coat when I like the color. I have to admit I'm a little afraid of any color changes from the clear coat, so I guess I need to start experimenting on some sacrificial pieces, that I can remove the clear coat on if it's funky. Let me know if you learn anything on this.

[NinjaStyle013]

Damn that polishing is excellent man how do you do it?

[Sgt]

Hope you'll polish your tubing as well.

[Nicktrance]

Yeah once I'm really done with the finish I will most likely give it a protective clear

coat. It tarnishes ridiculously easily when it's so finely polished.

 

Yeah, copper gets stained quickly when it's roughly finished let alone near mirror finish. It does look sexy though .

[blindsighted26]

Hay Ace build look very tidy cant wait for the watercooling runs just to see how you run your tubes or are you going to you pipes for straight runs ?

[alpenwasser]

Man was that a worth while mod! You upped the classy level about 10X. We are brothers in Copper. I have been letting my Copper tarnish some and actually like some of the colors. I might start over and set it with clear coat when I like the color. I have to admit I'm a little afraid of any color changes from the clear coat, so I guess I need to start experimenting on some sacrificial pieces, that I can remove the clear coat on if it's funky. Let me know if you learn anything on this.

Yeah I'm really happy how it's turned out. I think for your build tarnished copper might

actually look rather fitting, but that's for you to decide of course.

If I decide to clear coat it I'll definitely post back results and how I got them.

 

Damn that polishing is excellent man how do you do it?

 

Sanding with the following grits, a few minutes each, only in one direction:

600 - 800 - 1200 - 2000 - 2500 - 5000

Then polish with a random orbital sander, a felt pad and some 10 000 grit

polishing compound for about 10 minutes.

 

You can still see some very fine scratches because I was slightly impatient

at a few points, but you can get practically perfect results with this if

you are a bit more patient than I was.

Hope you'll polish your tubing as well.

 

Of course!

 

Yeah, copper gets stained quickly when it's roughly finished let alone near mirror finish. It does look sexy though .

 

Definitely!

 

Hay Ace build look very tidy cant wait for the watercooling runs just to see how you run your tubes or are you going to you pipes for straight runs ?

Since the 15 mm tubing is very tricky to bend I will probably mostly do straight runs with

angles. Maybe I can make a few bends where I can tolerate a very large bend radius, but for

the most part the bend radius I can achieve with the pipe is too large to fit my needs, so

I need to use angles.

Thanks for the support everyone!

[MWildd]

So glad your using hard tubing! Will make this build even better

[Homicidium]

Not sure about the copper plate tbh, but I have confidence in you "young man" 

Are you going to use copper tubing?

[alpenwasser]

So glad your using hard tubing! Will make this build even better

I sure hope so! :D

 

 

Not sure about the copper plate tbh, but I have confidence in you "young man" 

Are you going to use copper tubing?

No worries, it is a matter of taste, naturally. Not everyone has to like everything (would

make for a rather boring world I'd say). Plus, I still need to iron out a few small flaws

in it, but as mentioned I will save that until the build is almost done.

And yes, I will be using copper tubing.

[Homicidium]

And yes, I will be using copper tubing.

 

That's all I needed to know. I wasn't saying that I don't like the looks of it, but rather that it wouldn't fit the theme. But since you're using copper tubing it's all good :D

[alpenwasser]

That's all I needed to know. I wasn't saying that I don't like the looks of it, but rather that it wouldn't fit the theme. But since you're using copper tubing it's all good :D

Ah, ok. Yeah the theme is black/copper, so I think it should work. It is a bit on the

flashy side for the case's exterior (I'm usually more of an understatement kind of

guy), but I can allow one piece of bling on my case's outside. :D

[MG2R]

Ah, ok. Yeah the theme is black/copper, so I think it should work. It is a bit on the

flashy side for the case's exterior (I'm usually more of an understatement kind of

guy), but I can allow one piece of bling on my case's outside. :D

Yeah, I'm more of a minimalist myself... Have you thought about going for the brushed copper look? Might be something that'd fit your style more...

[alpenwasser]

Yeah, I'm more of a minimalist myself... Have you thought about going for the brushed copper look? Might be something that'd fit your style more...

Hm, damn you for putting ideas in my head! :lol:

Brushed might indeed look very nice, but I have heard/read/seen from people who've tried

it that it's very tricky to get all the lines perfectly parallel, and it looks very wrong

if they're off even by the slightest amount (the human visual apparatus is very adept at

perceiving bends in otherwise straight lines and at spotting two lines which are not perfectly

parallel).

I think I'll do a test piece and see how I like the result, but I do have to admit that

I also really like the nice reflections I get from the polished copper, especially those

Raystorm blocks. Plus, the mirror polished copper and the matte black from the case do

actually make for a very nice contrast.

Or maybe I'll simply have to do another build with the brushed look, decisions, decision... :D