Scratch Build Case

[zimma2]

Any updates yet?

No sorry guys.

 

I won't be able to do any updates for about another 2 weeks as I'm working offshore ATM.   but i will crack on when i get back.

[zimma2]

Hi guys,

 

I'm back from work and have continued with the build  :lol:. Today i started spray painting the panels. 

 

So this is my spray painting setup.

 

 

Some of my panels freshly painted and still wet

 

 

 

 

A few shots of the case partly assembled 

 

 

 

You may notice that i have not spray painted the screws. i planned to leave them unpainted because the case would look too plain and boring if they were painted.

I am REALLY HAPPY with how they turned out. They are really making the case pop now by breaking up the large blackness of the case. I'm not sure if these photos i took give justice to how good it looks. i hope they do.

 

Ciao until next update.

[Karumu]

HEY WHAT'S WRONG WITH PLAIN BLACK CASES also i think you should be employed by caselabs, lol

 

also are you going to countersink the screws?

[terrytek]

HEY WHAT'S WRONG WITH PLAIN BLACK CASES also i think you should be employed by caselabs, lol

 

also are you going to countersink the screws?

I'm pretty sure he did a few updates ago.

[Prof7]

Very nice. Could not do it better myself :-)

[Almercenary]

very detailed, clean and nicely set out build log!!! great job

[zimma2]

HEY WHAT'S WRONG WITH PLAIN BLACK CASES also i think you should be employed by caselabs, lol

 

also are you going to countersink the screws?

 

haha nothings wrong with black cases , all of my cases have been black, its just that my panels are very plain and large and needed a bit of soomething

 

im not gunna counter sink the screws that hold the panels to the framework. I'm planning on leaving them as they are.

[zimma2]

Very nice. Could not do it better myself :-)

 Thanks man.

[zimma2]

very detailed, clean and nicely set out build log!!! great job

Thank you very much.

[Karumu]

I'm pretty sure he did a few updates ago.

i meant the ones on the bottom lol

[zimma2]

Hi guys.

 

So after looking at the paint job i did, i wasn't happy with it so i decided to do another coat and hope fully make it better.

 

TIP: The first time i spray painted the case i think i held the can too close to the case when painting. The second time i held it further away and i think it was a lot better. And I'm happy with the results.

 

So here are some photos of the case with a second coat of paint and partly assembled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and after a second coat and... OMG IT LOOKS LIKE I HAVE MADE MYSELF A CASELABS CASE. HAHA.

[vinylphobia]

[zimma2]

Ok up date time again...

 

So the case has been painted, and now its time to assemble that parts Its time to get excited

 

MOBO installed

 

 

 

top and bottom rads

 

 

two man lift ... its quite heavy now and its not even full with fluid yet.

 

I've pritty much installed everything now except for the SSD and the tubing.

 

 

My apologies for the quality of the photos but I'm not much of a photographer.

Looks good

 

 

 

So the next thing to do is the tubing. I'm most nervous about this as i have never used rigid tubing before and i think i may stuff it up now. AND it will test out the build. if i haven't made and assembled the case correctly and aligned the rads with the blocks it may leak or look 5H1T . I'm still not sure exactly how you connect rigid tubing, cause with flexible tube it obviously bends and you can bend it and fit it to the fittings, but with rigid tubing i guess i will have to do if differently to how I'm used too. There is all so a 90 degree bend in the loop, and i haven't bent rigid tubing either and potential for more stuff ups. Any-who that is for future me to workout. There must be some guides/tutorials somewhere i can find. 

 

Until next update, Ciao

[zimma2]

Update time again.

 

Today i managed to start some of the tubing and here are some photos.

 

First two tube sections in

 

 

 

 

 

The next section 

 

 

Another section

 

and another

 

 

 

 

Still need to complete the remaining sections of tubing

[Anthony10]

can't wait for more D: so beautiful! Have you considered painting the silver screws black? I personally prefer if they blend in but it's your build

[zimma2]

can't wait for more D: so beautiful! Have you considered painting the silver screws black? I personally prefer if they blend in but it's your build

Hi 

 

Yes quite a few people think the same way as you. i might try it and see thanks. in my build i wanted to have quite a bit of metal/silver/gray colour, hence the silver fittings and sleeving and some grey on the MOBO, and i thought that i would try and blend/match it in the case. i will paint the screws black and see. Thanks.

[zimma2]

All rightie then Update time.

 

So i thought i might show a few pics of how i cut some tube and a few tools i use.

 

 

So i put the silicon insert bending tube into the fitting and measure with my thumb. (where my thumb is isn't where i measure from. its just an image to show that i insert the silicon tube into the fitting)

 

 

 

Next i measure the length onto the tube

 

 

without moving my thumb

 

 

Then make a mark onto the tube (i moved my thumb back from the mark in this photo so you guys can see it)

 

 

I use a hack saw to cut the tube.

TIP. in the link below i cut the tube in the opposite direction to what the side view says (this is what i learnt to be the best and quickest way for me). the reason being is that its quite "grabby" when you try and use it the proper way, which may cause it it jump up and out of the cut and scratch the nice new tube, and also may cause it to shatter/crank/brake. the tube is soft enough for you to get a good neat cut using it in the reverse direction. the teeth of the hack saw blade face a certain direction to cut. i.e. cut in one direction and not in the other..... clear as mud??? :\

http://www.technologystudent.com/equip_flsh/hacksw2.html

 

 

 

so this is a piece of tube that i have just cut

 

 

see how jagged and burred the ends are

 

 

I use this to clean up the ends

 

 

 

see not bad

 

 

 

 

and.... 

MY CRACK PIPE!!!!   :lol:   :lol:   :lol:

 

 

 

and now for the bend section. i marked on the silicon bending tube where i wanted the start, middle, and end of the bend to be so know where the bend should be.

 

 

and the result

 

 

and voila

Not too bad

 

 

 

So next, i still have to;

• fill the loop and hope it doesn't leak  :wacko:  
• make my window so i can see all the goodness inside
• re-lace/sew my cables
• and possibly add some lights to the system.

 

until next update...

Ciao.

[BenD]

looking better and better

[Karumu]

thanks for the insight on how you cut and bend tubes, i will be looking to watercool my rig at some point in the future, just need the funds, since in costs a bomb. looking great!

[sixcherries]

Wiiiiiickeeeeed!!

 

Love it.

 

.. but I missed one bit. On the 6^th April you were bending the rigid tube.. it went from 3 marked points where you wanted the bend to start, the middle and then the finish –  to voila.

Voila !!?? I feel like I missed something.. the whole ‘how this works’ stage  = P  Haha

 

…ok so I looked up silicon bending tube and it looks like you insert that bending tube into your rigid tube and heat her up hey?     Sweet.

 

Did you have a 90^o mould or did you go free hand?

 

It does look fantastic so far. I definitely like the rigid tube better then the flexible stuff. And I'm with keeping the screws as they are. All black kinda removes the appeal. Plus, the paint will come off them when you unscrew them all the time.. cause you know you're gonna     if you buy black screws or paint them it'll still happen

 

Great job. You must be close to the next phase by now?

Edited May 8, 2014 by alpenwasser
Changed font colour to automatic because dark blue is hard to read on night theme. Also, welcome to the forums! :)

[terrytek]

Hey, soo freaking amazing at this stage! Just hopes it makes BoTW when it is done! NEED TO SEE MOAR!! *angry growl*

[zimma2]

Wiiiiiickeeeeed!!

 

Love it.

 

.. but I missed one bit. On the 6^th April you were bending the rigid tube.. it went from 3 marked points where you wanted the bend to start, the middle and then the finish –  to voila.

Voila !!?? I feel like I missed something.. the whole ‘how this works’ stage  = P  Haha

 

…ok so I looked up silicon bending tube and it looks like you insert that bending tube into your rigid tube and heat her up hey?     Sweet.

 

Did you have a 90^o mould or did you go free hand?

 

It does look fantastic so far. I definitely like the rigid tube better then the flexible stuff. And I'm with keeping the screws as they are. All black kinda removes the appeal. Plus, the paint will come off them when you unscrew them all the time.. cause you know you're gonna     if you buy black screws or paint them it'll still happen

 

Great job. You must be close to the next phase by now?

 

Hi 

 

Yes i used a heat gun to heat the tube up to allow me to bend it. I found it kinda busy and full on you have to heat it up and not burn it and keep rotating it so it doesn't heat up one side more that the other, which didn't allow me to free up any hands to take photos or anything. i also thought i would have stuffed up the first few attempts and be able to show you with a video or photos and wasn't set up to capture it on the first go thinking that i wold have to do it a couple of times. BUT it worked first time so i was chuffed with that.

 

i did use a 90 degree mould from monsoon to help.

 

 

and yes that is a good idea about the screws and i think im gunna keep them as they are.

[zimma2]

Ok guys.

 

im really sorry for those who were following this build, about the lack of updates. Life definitely got in the way, and i have loads of excuses but you don't want to hear any of them.

 

At the last update there were still a few things that i wanted to do but couldn't make up my mind on how or what to do. i was wanting to cover the hard drive somehow because i thought it looked ugly with all the stickers on it, but couldn't think of anything that would look nice. i copuld have make it black but  thought that would be quite boring.  i wanted to make it a bit personnel by adding my name or signature to it or something along those lines and didn't know what or how to do it. i also got some fluid for the loop and wasn't all that happy with the look and changed it. i wanted to get a decent camera to take some nice photos of it. so i have to learn how to use it

 

i  didnt want to not give too many photos away of the finished build so it would add a wow factor when you saw the finished build.

 

 

 

 

Anyway one day it hit me, a bit of a eureka moment, as how i could fix all the problems, and so made time to do them and i have now completed the build!!!! YAAAAAAYYYYY.

[zimma2]

So that eureka moment was i decided to remove the hard drive with a broken one, remove the insides, put lights in the hard drive and have my battlefield name on top. so that solved my hard drive issue, and made it personnel to me.

 

 

I hollowed out the insides of a hard drive to put lights inside. i cut out bits to feed cables in

 

 

 

 

Then i made my name and stuck some red film behind it

[zimma2]

Ok now for the final completed pictures ))))))

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made a short video of my PC being built from the start to the completion. Enjoy!!