Scratch Build water cooled. Front distributor plate.

[Andyl]

Here is my scratch build.

 

Also check out this 3D design tool I made for laying out custom scratch builds.  PC Design Foundry   

You can select all sorts of components and move them around.  You can plan out hard line water cooling and can download files as X3D. 

 

 

 

I wanted a medium tower size with good air flow bottom to top. I also wanted to have a distributor plate on the front so there are no vent openings to keep it quiet.

I moved the power supply to the front of the enclosure and used an SFX form factor to get a good fit with the pump.  Then I was able to fit two 360 rads along the whole length of the enclosure.

I used a Micro ATX motherboard because I was not going to need 7 PCI slots.

 

Looking back on the build I wish I had got a motherboard with built in RGB LED headers as I ended up having to get separate cables with built in controllers for the LED's in the Fans.

I also should  change the connection from the pump to the front distributor plate to be a soft line tube at some point to minimise the bump vibration noise.

 

 

• CPU. Intel i7 9700k
• GPU Palit RTX 2080Ti
• Samsung 970 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2
• Kingston HyperX Predator RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz
• Asus ROG Strix Z370-G Gaming (Wi-Fi AC) Micro-ATX
• 800W Silverstone Strider SFX Power Supply
• 2 x 360 Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Radiators
• 6x EK Vardar 120 mm fans.
• EK Water Blocks EK-XRES 140 DDC 3.2 PWM Pump
• Bitspower Matte Black Fittings
• Custom sleved internal cabling

 

Machined corner extrusions form 1" square stock Aluminum 6082 on my   Stoney CNC JBEC 1259012 router

 

Installed Tappex M4 inserts so that the other enclosure parts can be assembled.   I tried M3 inserts but the installation toosl kept breaking. 

 

Machined the sheet metal parts form 2 mm 6082 T6 Aluminium  Stoney CNC JBEC 1259012 router  The bed size is 1.25 m by 0.9 m with a vacuum table installed.

 

 

Folded using  Baileigh Industrial, Magnetic Box and Pan Folder   I have to machine a recess at the bend points to get really curate bends and avoid cracking. 

 

 

Press in PEM inserts using Baileigh Industrial, BENCH PRESS (BP-3)  These are the main motherboard mounting standoffs.

 

 

Start assembly test.

 

 

Machine first part of front distributor plate from 10 mm Cast Acrylic

 

 

Tap holes for G1/4 fittings

 

Test assembly fit check.

 

 

Some components

 

Fit check.  I really wanted to have both the radiators and pump mount directly to the distributor plate with adjustable fittings instead of any additional hard line tubing. 

 

Make some custom O rings.

The top fans are exhaust fans so I  had to make a trim part to cover the rear labels.

Powder coated.   I used an outside supplier for this.

Hand sand a brushed aluminum finish on the corner extrusions. I tried using a sander but it gouged the metal too much.

 

 

 

 

 Bottom fans are intake. A bit of a shame as you cant see the logos.

 

Build some custom cables. Since the power supply is up front I needed some really short ones.  

 

 

 

Also sleved the pump cables.

Making some custom PCI power cables.

 

 

 

Make some hard line tubing. PET 16 mm

Machine a carbon fiber side panel and top fan trim. Machined in a water bath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First boot.

 

 

 

 

 

[Giganthrax]

That is absolutely impressive.  

[CiBi]

Did you accidentaly mirror the blueprint or was it meant like this?

[Andyl]

5 hours ago, CiBi said:

Did you accidentaly mirror the blueprint or was it meant like this?

 

Good catch.  It was meant to be the other way round but as it is machined upside it got flipped. When I was looking a the CAD and the CNC program I forgot that and so it looked fine. 

 

I stick it down with strong double sided tape on the release liner on the cosmetic side of the carbon fibre.  I do like the resultant pattern though it looks a lot like a gas burner. If I make it again I think I will just add the extra arms.

[SammyJones]

This looks absolutely amazing!

[MrWittel]

Beautiful build. Looks like a fun project

[Andyl]

Here is my other custom build from scratch enclosure project. I started this project in June 2017.  I wanted an air cooled case that could take a full size ATX motherboard, power supply and full size graphics cards. However with no 3.5" drives, optical drives or water cooling to keep it light weight and quiet. 

• CPU: Intel Core i7 8700K
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E
• Cooler: be quiet Dark Rock Pro 3
• Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, PC4-19200 (2400)
• M.2 SSD: Samsung 250GB 960 Evo PCIe NVMe
• GPU: ASUS STRIX GTX980 4G DirCU2 OC
• PSU: Seasonic PRIME Ultra 850W 80+ Platinum Power Supply
• Rear Fan: Corsair 120mm ML Series ML120
• Front fans 2x Corsair 140mm ML Series ML140 White LED
• Carbon Fiber Side Panels
• Graphite Powder Coat