Project Dianoga

[AlienALX]

Oh yes, forgot to add. Two new Orings for the res.

 

 

A valve remover/rethread tap/ valves to repair the flaky Dr Drop.

 

 

And lots of heatshrink in various sizes. All black, BTW.

 

[AlienALX]

Tap washers..

 

Last night due to the TV being crap I decided I was going to start the build. I decided I wanted to fit the radiator and the res, which meant that I needed to do the hoses for the rad as the rad is not accessible once the res goes in. This meant it was going to be tricky...

 

So I fitted the rad and fitted a small curved hose (so I could cut it once the res was in) and a pre straightened hose that I had heated with the heat gun earlier. So I fitted the rad in and went to mount up the res bay. Disaster !  Like a complete noob when I measured it all up and pre fitted it I did so without the fittings. And because the tolerances were so unbelievably tight the res bay and indeed res would not fit with the fittings in the rad. I panicked, reasoning "if this doesn't fit then absolutely nothing else will because it was all designed around this !". Thankfully in the end it wasn't so dramatic.

 

Around exactly a month ago before I started the build I was digging around in my spares bins for stuff to use on the build. I came across a padded envelope full of these.

 

 

I remember saying to myself "Eee, these may come in handy you never know !". What I was thinking god only knows, but they completely saved my life. I had to stack two together to drop the res bay by 6mm. Only dropping it (and not moving it horizontally) meant that the shroud panel I took two days to make would still fit, and because I had made it to go all the way to the roof of the case I had some breathing room left in. PHEW.

 

So I set to work. Here is how it looks right now, ignore the Dr Drop I am paranoid with it being my first ever water build so I am pressure testing at every stage.

 

 

And here is how it looks from the back.

 

 

Those were the two hardest, and the ones I needed to do at the beginning. Typical me

 

In other news I was digging around on the bay last night looking for something to use as feet. Long story short, I sprained my wrist on the very first day of the build cutting a hole in the res bay and ever since I have been in agony. I've been wearing a wrist strap for the most part, but absolutely cannot wear that when I am working. So I won't be cutting any feet. I wanted something billet, but billet = funds. So I found these.

 

 

They are billet. They are 1" hood spacers that go between your car's bonnet and the plate to offer cooling to the turbo etc. They come with everything you see in the pic, though I got mine in green.

 

 

There isn't a pic of green ones showing exactly what you get, hence the purple.

 

£8, and even include the M6 bolts (will need cutting down).

[AlienALX]

So today I fitted the fan hub. The switch is a little proud, so, from KBW's "The Builder" I will have to shave a nicky whisker off the door to close the see you next tuesday".

 

 

 

 

Then I took off the fitting (swear words in abundance) and fitted the anti kink coil that I had completely forgotten about last night. There will be quite a bit of weight pulling on this area of the hose and it sits on a 5mm piece of acrylic (on the top) so whilst it would not outright kink it was bending a little.

 

 

I then decided to fit all of the lighting. I started with the "under board" strips.

 

 

OK, so these LEDs are amazing for the money they cost. All in I spent about three pounds on 8 strips. The only thing that has always let them down is that the adhesive on them (3M my chocolate tea towel holder !) always seemed to fail a few weeks in. Especially at the point where the wire comes out (it tends to pull on them). So the solution was one I discovered when making my paint booth, duct tape.

 

 

So for all of the ghetto pedants out there, this one has duct tape in it. It's just like, completely clear duct tape that you will never see. I then used the same method for cable management.

 

 

Sadly my test PSU only has two Molex connectors and I can't seem to find the second splitter I made, so I was only able to light up the mobo strips, 3 LEDs in the res and the fans. There is another strip behind the radiator's left side.

 

 

I also ordered this. Bitfenix Alchemy USB extension cable.

 

[ManOfGold93]

That clear duct tape looks great! It wont be seen and especially after the LEDs are on you most likely wont be able to tell at all- does it dim the LED at all?

[AlienALX]

10 minutes ago, ManOfGold93 said:

That clear duct tape looks great! It wont be seen and especially after the LEDs are on you most likely wont be able to tell at all- does it dim the LED at all?

Hi. It doesn't dim them at all mate no. That's because it's almost crystal clear. It's expensive though at around £6 a roll.

 

I originally bought it to seal up a paint booth that I was making. However, whilst I was digging for scrap in the cupboard under my stairs I found three white LEDs, so decided to fit those to the paint booth.

 

 

Now note, in that pic the LEDs are completely taped down (like all the way along 'cause the adhesive had died) with two coats. I figured hey, if they mist up because of paint I can peel one off leaving me a new one

 

*goes to Ebay to check his purchase history*

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181450055946?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I'm not sure if they sell it in the USA though chap.

[AlienALX]

BTW dude you can also cut thin pieces of duct tape (even regular stuff) and stick it between the LEDs

 

Fitted the PSU.

 

 

 

Fitted the LED strip to the shroud.

 

 

Oh yeah, and rebuilt the ram cooler.

 

[AlienALX]

Morning, all

 

I have decided to take a couple of days out to let my hands heal. One thing I have found out is that cheap fittings absolutely tear your hands to pieces. This is what my left hand looks like today.

 

 

No, it's not the latest "in" American hand gesture that's me in stinging agony showing you how badly this stuff has wrecked my hands. And that is just my left hand, you should see the two and eight my rig one is in !

 

I'm also waiting on parts that I need before I can mount the mobo, so I may potter around doing small things if I can find any (I also need a roll of duct tape to hold down the wiring that is growing by the minute and has very limited space to live in).

 

I also need to order the coolant (tomorrow) and so on. Work will resume once I can actually bend my fingers without it feeling like some one has peeled them and dipped them in a tray of vinegar.

[AlienALX]

Yay

 

Because this has been so much work I really wanted to add another rad. I know that every one will think "What's the point the hardware is all Tom Tit" but that is beside the point. I could switch out the mobo and GPU in a heart beat, leaving me with a very nice case stuffed full of cooling gear.

 

So any way, a couple of days back I thought that it really wouldn't be that much aggro to add in a 120mm rad to the back. One of those Über thick ones that look really mean. I wasn't too fussy though, anything would have sufficed so long as it wasn't alu. I stuck up a couple of wanted ads and have been offered this for a tenner.

 

 

 

It will need some touching up, but given that if you even so much as breathe near an EK rad the paint falls off I am used to fondling them. A lot.

 

Two more fittings will run me about a tenner posted, really can't say no to that.

 

It will go here, BTW, with the fittings at the bottom because there is a metal piece toward the top that will stop it going in otherwise.

 

 

Another thing, I am going to have to fit it push pull also because it will not mount flat into the case. This means I am then short of an intake fan for the left side panel (for the GPU) but I am not sure I will need it tbh. I'm pretty sure I have some old fans kicking around somewhere. Could use the black EVGA one that came with my Hybrid. 

 

Tell you what, sitting around bored is an expensive passtime lol.

[AlienALX]

Well the penultimate order is in. I had ear marked some green coolant a while ago. I like the look of it. So I ordered that last night. I will pick up some distilled water from the car spares shop next week, might need a tiny bit to top up with.

 

 

Overclockers of course I also needed two fittings, because I am adding in another rad (that has been sent today by UPS and should be here Monday, and the USB cable extension should be here there too !) but the postage on certain other sites meant it would have cost me an extra tenner, even for fittings costing 99p. So in the end I found these on OCUK (one left of each) for £1.99 and added them to my order with free shipping

 

 

One in white, one in chrome (was all they had left at that price)

 

 

Now I have two options here. Either I can remove the fitting from the top and put them up there and then use the two chrome Thermochill fittings for the back rad, or I can paint the outer bars black on both. One will still be white inside, but I don't think you would see that any way.

 

Oh yeah, I have ordered some very small model painting brushes today, as there are a couple of small jobs left to do.

[AlienALX]

Good afternoon every one after a pretty hard day yesterday I have decided to take the weekend off. It wasn't really through choice, I am stuck waiting for some parts before I can continue (the last rad, fittings, liquid, duct tape etc).

 

Any way, this morning the feet (well, hood spacers) came.

 

 

They tend to look at lot bigger in the pics, but to give you guys an idea of scale here is one of my battered hands.

 

 

So they make absolutely perfect feet. You can also see I've ordered four green M6 nylon nuts to hold them on. Even though it's my day off I may go cut down the bolts in a little while

 

If not then I will see you all again on Monday, for some vinegar and pressure testing shenanigans

[AlienALX]

My days off are usually short, but I beat the record here. I lasted for exactly four minutes after posting. 

 

Before.

 

 

After. I cut the bolts down.

 

 

And up on its new shoes.

 

 

Win.

[AlienALX]

At last..

 

Last week I was poking around on the bay and found a temp gauge. I nearly ordered it, then realised it was useless to me - phew. In the end I realised I needed a G 1/4 thermometer and gauge. I tried to find a green one but they were upward of £18. I almost settled on a white one, then thought "I wonder if OCUK have them".

 

Sure enough they did.

 

 

£5.99. I was thrilled. I even managed to wangle free shipping somehow so an enormous thanks to OCUK.

 

OK, so I had nowhere to mount it. I knew as soon as I hit the order button that placement was going to be an issue. Had I known about it at the beginning I could have planned and cut it into the shroud somewhere (though real estate is tight back there). So for the past few days I've had a few ideas going backward and forward in my brain. In the end I settled for a octagon.

 

 

And top and bottom.

 

 

And two sides.

 

 

So I cut it and polished the edges and then made up the back box/cover part.

 

 

Then marked where it was going and covered the leftover surface with tape. I did this to stop the plastic weld peeing out everywhere and destroying it.

 

 

Weld.

 

 

Please note there are going to be smudges and dirty finger prints on it in the next few pics. They're not damage/scratches etc. I cut a graphic out of chrome.

 

Fit.

 

Peel.

 

 

Test it so that it goes up the right way.

 

 

Fit.

 

 

Test.

 

 

And all done.

 

 

I'm not quite sure where I am going to fit it yet, but the idea was to make it out of the same colours as the res. I'm pretty sure I can basically fit it wherever I like, now that it has a housing.

 

 

[AlienALX]

So I decided to fit it.

 

 

Sadly it's too dark to get a decent pic of it now but it's all connected up to the res etc

[AlienALX]

I took this pic late last night.

 

 

You can see I have the LED strip behind the l radiator firing now

 

Today the second rad, liquid and fittings are coming. Not sure what will come with the postie but hoping on the duct tape (I started managing cables last night but it ran out). Sadly my lady forgot to order the vinegar, but DPD aren't coming until later so I will probably nip down to the local mini mart place and see if they have any in.

Should hopefully have a nice update coming later

 

[AlienALX]

I've started the cable management. This includes sticking down all of the molex connectors with 3m foam tape and duct taping down the wires.

 

 

It was never going to look nice tbh. Sadly I ran out of tape, so had to stop about half way through. That should come tomorrow hopefully, then I can sort it all out. I managed to snap a molex pin though so that will need replacing.

[AlienALX]

The rad for the back came.

 

 

Sadly it does not work with any of my fittings, as it needs extensions. I decided to remove one from a fitting on the res and that was where the fun began. For three hours I was desperately trying to track down a leak. In the end I traced it to a bad Oring, replaced it and all was good in the world again but I managed to get absolutely nothing else done apart from a bit of a touch up on the rad. Maybe later tonight I will flush it.

 

I did buy this though.

 

[AlienALX]

Another £15 (rad and fittings). Four hours of pretty much stripping the entire loop down yesterday because I had to remove a extender I had used and had a leak. One hour of stinking like the fish and chip shop. One hour of asst painting (touching up etc). Then the fan hit the fittings so I had to mod that (another 30 mins).

 

Was it worth it?

 

 

/Cartman - Totally.

 

 

The duct tape arrived this morning. I will get onto the cable work later

[AlienALX]

 

 

 

[AlienALX]

Couple of scars as the paint wasn't quite set.

 

 

And.

 

And I should be able to get that into the rig tomorrow.

 

[AlienALX]

Ahh balls

 

 

I chipped the memory cooler but that should be cake once my brushes arrive. I am going to paint those ports at the bottom of the board too.

[AlienALX]

Well despite living in the sunniest town in the UK (statistically proven apparently, never knew until I put the name of it into Wikipedia !) it seems the sun does not want to play ball today so the pics are kinda dark. Last night I fitted (and leak/pressure tested) the CPU block though. The pump outlet feeds out into the block, then I had to turn 90' in order to make it into the rad. This means a slight rethink of the fitting situation but I will get there

 

 

I actually don't mind the chain guns being white and chrome at all really. At the end of the day for everything this rig cost around £200 to mod. And at some point I want that to be known, that I didn't spend that on nothing but fittings. Also once the green lights go on you will be hard pushed to realise, and the insert parts are chrome so it's only really the pole things.

 

And a shot of where I am at.

 

 

Now because I have added more wiring I need to flip it around and do some more cable management work. I won't be doing any more plumbing for a few days, because last night the skin on my left pointer finger decided it was going to detach from my finger leaving me with some huge blisters. I actually felt it separate too, strange feeling. I've tried using rags, but I just can't seem to get the same level of grip.

[AlienALX]

When I picked the name for the rig (I usually think long and hard so that they have multiple meanings)* I never knew it was going to look like the subject matter. This is a Dianoga in full.

 

 

Now every time you work on it from the nice side you create problems on the other. Every time you shove through a wire, plug, SATA cable etc you then need to go around to the other side and make sure it is as flat as it can be. When Alienware designed the Predator 2.0 and its more expensive brethren the 2.1 they only designed to carry a Firewire, front audio header cable, USB cable and some flat ribbon wiring for the LEDs. They never meant for any one to run anything else through that channel, and spare wires like extra 6 pin PCIE for example went through a small hole and were stored in the roof.

 

Look at this.

 

 

It actually looks like a Dianoga. It's been fiercely difficult managing the cables on this rig. In the past I have done it similarly but at the end I would lie the rig down on its left side and then literally kneel on the outer panel to make it fit. However, that was when the case was all alu and there was no acrylic to crack by using such force. So I have had to literally stick everything down so that it does not exceed the size of the gap. IIRC it's about 1cm, just enough to hold the cables for the 24 pin for example.

 

It's so tight that if you leave the catches on the 24 pin, 8 pin ETC they are too big and the side won't shut, it's that tight. So they've all come off. 

 

And....

 

 

Thankfully all I have left to do now is the 6 pin PCIE (that ironically is a ribbon flat cable, wish they'd done that to the 24 pin and 8 pin !) and three Molex (maybe four, or five..) but I have left room for those thank goodness.

 

* I usually like to have more than one meaning for a rig name. Rise of the Triad was called that because Alienware call it the triad, plus it was an old video game.

[AlienALX]

OK guys so here is what I've been up to today Firstly this.

 

 

As you can see, my brushes arrived

 

 

Onto the next job, the PCI plates. These came out of my 2014 Dellienware but they are silver and they have hex pattern, so they were ideal.

 

 

Problem is they were not quite silver enough.

 

 

I should have done them weeks ago but I remember thinking "I CBA painting them" so I just chucked them to one side. Then two days ago it dawned on me that I had completely forgotten where I had just chucked them so I spent about an hour searching earlier and finally found them in a padded envelope at the bottom of a box. I don't particularly like them flat, so when the paint hardens up in a day or two I will shoot some clear onto them

 

[AlienALX]

OK so the first thing I did today was clear coat the PCI plates. They are now drying. Then I decided to do some more plumbing.

 

I started out making a straight pipe for the GPU, which would bring it out and then turn it 90'.

 

 

Here are my straightening tools. I snapped carefully removed them from an old phone tripod.

 

 

Here you can see I have fitted the GPU and pre-fitted a piece of already straightened hose to it.

 

 

Here is how my straightening tools work. If it is a short length I simply insert one in the end.

 

 

I then heat it slowly and evenly (keep the heat gun about 4" back) until it straightens. I hold onto the inserted "tool" and when it's straight I place it down on a smooth surface (like metal) do not lay the pieces down on anything textured like a mouse mat or they will end up with a textured finish.

 

Et voila.

 

 

And plumbed.

 

 

Look closah.... CLOSAH !

 

 

Now just as I thought it was all going incredibly well I hit a snag... The fitting at the top of the case that was going to accept the return pipe was sticking out too much from the res. Basically had I ran a pipe down there it would have hit the back of the GPU. I started to fear I would have to strip the entire loop down (because I could not put a fitting on any further as the res was in the way) then hit on the idea of simply pulling the bugger through the fill port hole, putting the fitting on where I wanted it then feeding it back.

 

 

 

By this stage my hands were battered again. I also seemed to open up the blister I had on my fingers too, oucho. However, the finish line was now in plain view and I wasn't stopping for no one. Fit the ball valve and fitting.

 

 

And...

 

 

Oh hell yeah !!! Insert kill coil.

 

 

GPU back plate (don't worry about that scruffy 24 pin I will get to that later !)

 

 

 

And then insert Dr Drop, connect up the pump and sing "Pump up the jam" whilst adding pressure. (that actually happened).

 

And she's good. TBH I wasn't expecting any leaks since I did it the hard way and tested it EVERY TIME I added a new fitting.

 

Sadly in my excited rush to order the other day I forgot to order a funnel. So they are ordered and en route as we speak.

I also ordered this the other day (and have it)

 

 

I will be refinishing the face of the res, as it has some marks and some paint on from where I painted the face plate and fitted it back on before it was completely dry.

More fun and frolics coming to a forum near you soon.

 

Notes - God damn that last connection is hard ! I had to remove the GPU to cut the hose down.

 

Nearly forgot the kill coil about five times...

 

I love the way it looks. I love hard tubing but I also like the organic curves of hose. I feel I have captured both here. I'm also incredibly proud of myself, because it's my first ever loop and it doesn't look like excrement.
 

[AlienALX]

The funnels arrived  So did the chrome thumb nuts I ordered the other day.

 

 

It's quite odd how the silver darkened loads when I clear coated it. I don't mind it though, as it matches the exterior panels Network card in.

 

 

 

I then connected it up to Dr Drop for the very last time. I put in between 0.5 and 0.6 and then left it for twenty minutes. Nothing, zero, nada. I then figured it would be safe to do this

 

 

There's something alive in here !

 

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by AlienALX
Your mum made me do it...