[TJ07] Tempest

[Da_Obst]

Hey, 

I recently finished my TJ07 Mod and was asked if I could write an english "worklog" since I've only kept track of it in a german forum. 
So here it is, I hope you guys like it.

-------------------------

 

Intro: 

 

About three years ago I modded a TJ11 and after a while I found myself craving for something new and different. 
It was my first real mod, so I made a lot of mistakes which couldn't easily be fixed. Also I wanted a case which is a bit more compact. 
So I decided to go for the only logical option - a TJ07. I always wanted to have one but never had an opportunity, until now. 

 

 

Here's how my TJ11 turned out. I really liked it a lot, but the way I've built the whole thing made it really hard to maintain the loop. Also the 180mm ALC radiators were a bad choice because they simply are impossible to clean. 

 

 

Three years later I found an used TJ07 in a forum. It was an instant buy.  
Overall it's in a pretty good shape, apart from all the drill holes in the floor. But since I already had planned to do some invasive work I didn't want to eff up a "new" one. 

 

 

Here's a size comparison between both of them. I myself had real troubles to lift and move the TJ11, so the TJ07 is a welcome downgrade. 

 

 

The Plan: 

 

Since I always had to flush/clean the loop in the TJ11 every few months I really wanted a new system which is a lot easier to maintain. 
I already had bought a couple of Koolance QD2 QDC fittings which I used to remove/clean the CPU/GPU coolers without needing to drain the rest of the loop and wanted to keep this "feature". 
Also, since the TJ07 doesn't allow for as much internal radiator area as the TJ11 does, I planned to only put a 480 in there and bought a MoRa for the heavy lifting. 

 

 

After a lot of time in CAD this is what I ended up with. Pretty much every important part was completely laid out this way. 
The case is split into three compartments: The bottom for PSU/Pumps and the radiator. The main area where the hardware is housed and the front part where I installed the QDC backplane, Aquaero, etc. 
On the backside of the case is a new PSU mount plate which also holds the QDC fittings for the MoRa. 

 

 

Part 1: Collecting Hardware and Material

 

I already had begun with the CAD work before I bought the TJ07, and once I knew that I really wanted to go for this mod I started to buy everything I needed. 

 

 

Here are more or less the main components for the internals of this build.
At the time it somehow wasn't easy to get hold of the HWL 480 GTS and the QD2 Fittings. Since I had to import them from the US it took them over a month to arrive. 

 

 

Here on this table is everything else I needed to get started. I bought quite a lot of exactly cut aluminium profiles and plates, in the end I used all of it. 

Whilst I begun with the first parts I ordered the rest of the stuff which was needed.

Here's a list of all the HW I used: 
3900X + Heatkiller IV
5700XT + Heatkiller IV
4x8GB DDR4 + EK Monarch
Crosshair VI Hero
Samsung SSD 970 Evo 500GB
Samsung SSD 850 Evo 1TB
Seasonic Prime TX-650
Watercool Heatkiller Tube 200 
2x Aquastream Ultimate
Hardwarelabs GTS 480 + 4x Arctic P12 PWM

Watercool MoRa 3 Pro + 4x Silverstone AP183
8x Koolance QD2
AC Aquaero 6LT

AC Farbwerk
AC Highflow Flowmeter
AC Filter

 

 

Part 2: Getting started with the alu-work

 

 

The first piece was the new front panel. At first I wanted to weld it to the frame, but decided against that because I figured that it would be neat if I could still remove it later on. 

 

 

The next step was this cover for the bottom of the case. There are quite a lot of holes in there which I wanted to hide. Nothing special. 

 

 

The original midplate stays, but is reinforced because it bends a lot due to all the openings. I needed something solid to hold all the panels which I put in the case. 

 

 

It was a bit time consuming to get a snug fit with the cutouts.  

 

For the diagonal plate which divides the upper part of the case into two compartments I had to take off a bit of the 5,25" bay mount. 

 

 

Once I had the midplate ready I was able to make exact measurements and get all needed parts to fit pretty quickly.  

 

 

And that's how it looked like with all important parts, except the cover for the bottom of course. 

 

 

Part 3: The MB Tray

 

 

The midplate was modified and the case now was inverted, so I needed a new slide for the MB-Tray. 
Here I took the original rails and glued them to two pieces of a square alu profile. 

 

 

It was pretty difficult to measure the correct distance I needed so the MB Tray's back is in center of the case again. I had to cheat a bit with washers between the alu plate and the MB rails. (^^)

 

 

But everything else went pretty well. I left a bit of wiggle room so I can adjust everything afterwards. 

 

 

The original part of the tray was slightly bent, so it took a while to adjust it. Here on the picture it still was a bit at an angle. 

 

 

Up next the whole tray section was put in the case and I screwed everything together. 

 

 

"Done"

 

 

Part 4: The radiator mount

 

 

I worked on all parts simultaneously, so you already saw this part. Here I already put screws in to fix the radiator mount to the case. I used an L-angle alu profile to mount it to the midplate. 

 

 

Then I made a template for the correct position of the radiator screw holes and went to the drill press. 

 

 

 

And here's the finished cutout. That took me pretty long to make. 

 

 

In the meanwhile I also worked on the diagonal separation and the PSU-Panel/MB-IO Panel. It started to take shape which was pretty motivating to keep going.

 

 

Part 5: The QDC backplane

 

 

To be able to quickly remove/install my hardware I needed to put all of the QDC fittings in the case. Since I didn't want the QDC fittings to be visible, I had to make a mechanism which allows me to actuate them when they are mounted behind the diagonal separation. So the first step was to put the female pieces into a solid piece of alu U-profile. 

 

 

 

Then I made these actuators with which I can push the sleeve of the female piece back. 

 

 

Here I already put all the necessary holes in the plate. 

 

 

The actuators sit on the backside of it... 

 

 

...then the U-profile with the fittings is put over it and everything gets screwed together. 

 

 

"Done"  
I again had to make the holes/cutouts for the reservoir and filter simultaneously to avoid that anything collides afterwards. 

 

 

I was really happy when I made this picture. Drawing stuff in CAD is one thing, but getting it to work in real life is a different story. (^^)
 

 

Part 6: The NT Panel

 

 

I wanted to keep the option that I can operate the whole loop with the internal radiator alone. If, for whatever reason the MoRa isn't connected. 
So I had to put a valve between the QDC for the MoRa so I can bridge the ports. 

 

 

After a while I found a nicer handle for the valve and decided to put the flowmeter also on there so its hidden. 

 

 

Then I had to install the connectors for the external fans. The toggle switch lets me choose between running the internal and external fans. 

 

 

This picture was made a good while later. Here I already connected everything and also put a second switch in the panel for the lightbox(es). 

 

 

Part 7: The front-panel push button

 

 

I wanted a clean front, or at least a front which is as clean as it can be. So the hole for the power button had to be used for something. And since the actual powerbutton is placed in the IO-Panel I figured that I want a mechanism which lets me push out the front-panel. It's held by magnets, so this was a neat way to get it out again. Here are all the parts I needed to make for that. 

 

 

These "arms" will push against the panel. 

 

 

 

Here it's fully assembled. 

 

 

And that how it looks like on the inside of the case. 

 

 

 

Now I have a button which pushes the front panel out like this. 

 

 

Part 8: Installing the pumps

 

 

An overview of the parts I originally intended to use for mounting both aquastream pumps. In the beginning I wanted to put them on the bottom of the case but then decided to leave them hanging down from the midplate. 
So afterwards I ditched one of the alu-plates but was still able to use the other parts. 

 

 

 

The bottom alu-plate was then removed again and I put the rubber-spacers on the upper plate. 

 

 

Now they are installed this way, that allows me to be more flexible with the cables which I need to route from the PSU to the diagonal separation. 

 

 

Part 9: The cables

 

 

I put 24 Pin Molex sockets in the separation plate from which I then will connect my hardware. This way I can route all the cables a bit nicer. 

 

 

On the other side its a bit close to the tray. But everything fits and nothing collides, also the reservoir helps a bit to hide this part. 

 

 

 

Time to put the cables in. Afterwards I took out a good portion because this way its a bit too bulky and I can always add needed connections afterwards. 

 

 

I then made these cable-channels to keep everything together. 

 

 

Its a mess, took really long to deal with all of this. Also I had to start with the first bits and pieces of the hardtubing connections so I could get everything to the right length. 

 

 

Part 10: The lightbox(es) + Led stripe

 

 

This is the backside of the big lightbox I put on the midplate. I really like soldering, but with over 500 LEDs it got a bit exhausting. 

 

 

Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the step between. I filed off the heads of the leds and then glued an acrylic plate on top of them. 

 

 

The frame with the alu L-profiles helps a bit with keeping the light to disperse too much. 

 

 

Making the small one took pretty long too. 

 

 

Here I just put another acrylic piece on top with a 3mm spacer. The air gap really does a great job with dispersing the light further. 

 

 

One of the HK Tube mount rails has a recess for a led stripe. But its only 8mm wide while the standard RGB-stribes come with 10mm width. So I had to make my own stripe. 

 

 

I tested it but forgot to take a picture. At the moment I don't use it because it doesn't look as nice as I had hoped. Maybe with an opaque fluid the effect will be nicer, currently I'm relying on destilled water and G30 which doesn't come in handy for such a way of lighting the reservoir. 

 

 

Part 11: The top-cutout

 

 

I wanted the top cutout to follow the diagonal separation. So I had to cut out a good bit which stressed me out more than I want to admit. I really feared that I would mess up the round bits. 

 

 

But it went even better than I had hoped.

 

 

Then I put 140mm fans in so I have at least a tiny bit of airflow. 

 

 

The acrylic piece was just a try, I think I'll look out to get this lasercut. Drilling out this many holes is incredibly timeconsuming, also it's nearly impossible to get them lined up nicely. 

 

 

Part 12: The side-panels

 

 

For the sidepanels I found this perforated alu sheet of which I think that it looks pretty nice. 

 

 

In the beginning I wanted to fixate the acrylic windows with doublesided tape but then realised that they would collide with my soft/hard-tubes. So I then had to make another mount for them

 

 

On the backside I'm using the existing screwholes for fixating the sidepanels. If you look closely you can see that I messed up the cutouts in the PSU-panel, so I had to make another one... (^^)

 

 

Here you can see the alu-stripes I made for the windows. 

 

 

I'd rather have gone for a completely clean look without any visible screws, but the sides are made of 2mm alu and need a bit more stability. 

 

 

Here the new PSU-panel. Also the IO-panel already holds the reset- and power-button. And the big lightbox is installed.

 

 

I tried to put a chamfer on the acrylic windows so they sit flush in the sidepanels. With the straight edges that worked really well. 

 

 

But I didn't manage to get the round bits done. Always messed up this round corner, so I think that I'll treat myself with glass windows. Less work for me and they don't scratch that easily.  

 

 

Part 13: The Aquaero mount

 

 

Here's the mount for my AE, the FW and a Hubby7 which will be put in the front compartment of the case. 

 

 

On the backside I connected the cables with a luster terminal so I can take it apart more easily or tap into the 12V rail if I ever need to. 

 

 

"Done"  

 

 

Part 14: The radiator fan hub

 

 

In order to avoid a lot of tangled fan cables I made a hub. If you go for this, don't forget that you're supposed to only connect one fan with the RPM pin. Learned that the hard way. (^^) 

 

 

The L-profile screws into threads I cut into the other L-profile so I don't have any visible holes on the other side. 

 

 

Much better than before.  
The bottom compartment of the case is pretty crammed, so less cables make it easier to put everything together. 

 

 

I realised that the plug for the flowmeter colided with the PSU, so I had to connect it this way. 

 

 

Pretty close, but everything fits. 

 

 

Part 15: The SSD mount and IO Panel

 

 

The SSD needs to be easily removeable. Also I want to avoid SATA cables as good as I can since they always look horrible. So I made a mount which partially is hidden beneath the motherboard. 

 

 

The odd height of the spacers in the TJ07 finally comes to a good use.

 

 

I bought an external Debug-LED (Elmor's Port 80 Debug Module) which I'm also putting in the IO-Panel beneath the power-switches. Really helps with memory OC if you can easily follow along with the Q-codes.

 

 

Here it's already installed. The switches also got a cover because they don't look so nice with their blue endcap. 

 

 

I would have prefered an horizontal alignement, but then it would have look pretty odd on the inside. Sadly the module doesn't work properly, at least up until now I couldn't figure out how to get it working correctly. It always stops after mem-initialization. 

[Da_Obst]

Part 16: Powdercoating, Assembly and some last bits

 

 

With the Debug-Module installed I was ready to prepare all parts for powdercoating.

After I sanded everything and made sure that I didn't miss any holes which needed to be countersunk I dropped everything by a shop and finished some last parts. 

 

 

The sidepanels are also held in place by magnets. So I made these alu bits which have a M5 screw in them. The magnet moves through a hole I drilled in the frame, so the panel almost sits flush in the case. That was the easiest way I could think of getting them to stay in place there. 

 

 

Here's the cable Im using to connect all the sensors and switches of the PSU-panel with my AE. 

 

 

When I was on the lookout for a RAM-cooler the EK Monarch was the only one I really liked. But it was only available with an acrylic top which isn't my cup of tea. I prefer POM/Acetal so I made a new top for it. 

 

 

After a test piece it went pretty ok. Once you get the hang of the router the finish is ok and it only needs a bit of polish. 

 

 

Then I made round caps for the fan hubs. Arctic sure does make great fans, especially for the low price they are awesome. But the logo they put on there had to go away. (^^)

 

 

After almost two weeks of waiting I got all my parts back and had to start immediately with the assembly. 

 

 

Beforehand I consulted the powdercoating shop because I needed to know how much the paint adds in thickness. 
What they didn't tell me was that there's quite a heavy buildup of paint on the edges of the parts. So I had rework most of the pieces which left me pretty frustrated. But in the end I managed to put everything together without too harsh blemishes. 

 

 

The filter went in there without any need for filing off the powder coating. I'm really glad about that. (^^)

 

 

But the sidepanels tested my patience thoroughly. After the heat-treatment and the size-difference of the parts the whole frame squeezes together differently. So the panels wouldn't fit without a lot of filing. Maybe it's a sign that I need to remake them completely. 

 

 

From there it it was pretty smooth sailing.

 

 

After that it was time to get the cables in. 

 

 

I forgot to check the pictures when I made them, so please forgive me the bad quality. Under bad light conditions my phone needs a lot of luck for nice pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm just glad that I'm done with this. At this time I had a lot of other stuff to do, so it always got pretty late. (^^)

 

 

After the cables were done I made the hardtubes. I'm really not good with this so I'm pretty glad that they ended up useable and don't look too horrible.  

 

 

 

"Done"  

 

Part 17: Final pictures

 

 

 

 

 

~FIN~

 

 

 

So, I hope you like what you see. If you want, don't shy away to tell me what you think. I'm always interested in honest feedback as I try to constantly improve my "skills".
This was my second 'serious' mod and I'm already planning the next one. I think I'll take a break for now, but sooner or later I'm isolating myself in my garage again. (^^)

 

[Scream OG]

Wow nice work!  I’m so glad the TJ07 is still living on strong, I have my old one sitting in the garage unused for many years, but I can’t bring myself to either sell it or get rid, they are too beautiful of a thing

[Da_Obst]

12 hours ago, Scream OG said:

Wow nice work!  I’m so glad the TJ07 is still living on strong, I have my old one sitting in the garage unused for many years, but I can’t bring myself to either sell it or get rid, they are too beautiful of a thing

Thank you very much. 

 

I had to have a TJ07, wanted one ever since it was released but never got around to buy and mod one until now. It really is one of my absolute favourites, just can't get enough of it. So I also would love to see more builds making use of it.

 

But I think for that to happen, Silverstone would need to release an updated version of it or a worthy successor. A lot of people don't know that it even exists, I often get asked what case I'm using. (^^)

 

Any chance that you're going to dust yours off again?

[Scream OG]

On 6/29/2021 at 8:50 AM, Da_Obst said:

Thank you very much. 

 

I had to have a TJ07, wanted one ever since it was released but never got around to buy and mod one until now. It really is one of my absolute favourites, just can't get enough of it. So I also would love to see more builds making use of it.

 

But I think for that to happen, Silverstone would need to release an updated version of it or a worthy successor. A lot of people don't know that it even exists, I often get asked what case I'm using. (^^)

 

Any chance that you're going to dust yours off again?

Sorry I’ve taken so long to reply!

 

I don’t blame you for grabbing one, they won a place in my heart as soon as I laid eyes on them too but I had to wait a couple years

 

When I did finally get one, I had the inside powder coated black (as was the norm at the time) and installed a classy (by DIY standards!) window 

 

I’m about to emigrate to Vancouver so it will still be gathering dust for a few years yet…. But yes, that case definitely has its life in Canada ahead of it in coming years  

[GundogOfGilead]

Oh my goodness, you built my dream PC! I'm still rocking my TJ07 that I modded for airflow, but it is basically stock compared to this. I've spent days in CAD trying to design something half as good as this. I've always loved the concept of removable motherboard trays (remember 3DGameMan?) and have pondered about how I might be able to design a kind of quick disconnect system that allows power and cooling to be easily removed and refitted, it's exactly the way I'd love to be able to work on my machine.

 

I really want to build something similar, not identical, just similar. I have access to a laser cutter to cut the panels. Would you consider sharing the CAD files you developed? I am very happy to pay you in return for the files and the amazing work you put into them! If you're anything like me, they probably won't be all neatly organised, I'm happy to sort through it all, it would definitely be preferable to measuring and re-drawing.

 

Let's keep these TJ07s flying. They have to be one of the most iconic and developmentally important PC cases ever built!

[SammyG145]

+1 for another TJ07 build! Love to see someone else going wild with one

[Da_Obst]

On 7/6/2021 at 11:47 PM, Scream OG said:

Sorry I’ve taken so long to reply!

 

I don’t blame you for grabbing one, they won a place in my heart as soon as I laid eyes on them too but I had to wait a couple years

 

When I did finally get one, I had the inside powder coated black (as was the norm at the time) and installed a classy (by DIY standards!) window 

 

I’m about to emigrate to Vancouver so it will still be gathering dust for a few years yet…. But yes, that case definitely has its life in Canada ahead of it in coming years  

 

No problemo, I'm not around here very frequently... ^^
Ah, cool.
Well then I guess that I'll have to be a bit patient before I can see what you're going to do with the case. 

 

On 10/14/2021 at 9:44 PM, GundogOfGilead said:

Oh my goodness, you built my dream PC! I'm still rocking my TJ07 that I modded for airflow, but it is basically stock compared to this. I've spent days in CAD trying to design something half as good as this. I've always loved the concept of removable motherboard trays (remember 3DGameMan?) and have pondered about how I might be able to design a kind of quick disconnect system that allows power and cooling to be easily removed and refitted, it's exactly the way I'd love to be able to work on my machine.

 

I really want to build something similar, not identical, just similar. I have access to a laser cutter to cut the panels. Would you consider sharing the CAD files you developed? I am very happy to pay you in return for the files and the amazing work you put into them! If you're anything like me, they probably won't be all neatly organised, I'm happy to sort through it all, it would definitely be preferable to measuring and re-drawing.

 

Let's keep these TJ07s flying. They have to be one of the most iconic and developmentally important PC cases ever built!

Thanks a bunch! Cool that you like it.
I use CAD mainly to lay out the basic concepts and use it for reassurance to see that everything fits and nothing collides. 
In the end I always find myself tinkering out the details with pen&paper, so I don't know how helpful my files will turn out. 
But here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13hkzudPZGoBFhZG-HHWdtWTJ7RS7snk3/view?usp=sharing

Since Fusion360 turned its back on a free version for amateurs it ate some of my files (Can't export them). So this is one of the earlier versions, but in the end there wasn't much else added or changed. 

Also, never trust CAD. If possible you should always try to get your own measurements from the real thing. Especially with the TJ07 frame there's a lot of variation and play since they are bent from straight stock and therefore differ from each other ever so slightly.  

 

On 10/15/2021 at 11:13 PM, SammyG145 said:

+1 for another TJ07 build! Love to see someone else going wild with one

I just can't get enough of this case. But next up will be something smaller, I'm currently thinking of making a TJ07-Mini for a SFX build.