Modular.

[AlienALX]

Another job off the list.

 

 

 

 

 

This got brass posts and proper fixings last night too.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 47 - Sing it with me. "About a week of work, my Iron Lung".

 

 

 

 

Some belmet stuck the decal on the wrong side. This is not a problem. Remember that backup sheet of 3mm?

 

 

I have something planned that will take the machine about 5 hours.

[AlienALX]

Late night PSU action part 2.

 

Found three small scraps of 3M. Had to cut each line separately after sticking the vinyl down to an A4 sheet of paper so the plotter could use it.

Got there in the end.

 

 

We now have it on the correct side lol.

[AlienALX]

Right just a quick update whilst I have 5 minutes.

 

I had a cold for a few days before I left. I then got to stand outside in the cold and wind for 30 minutes waiting for a taxi home. As such when I got home I felt pretty crap. The next day I hardly got out of bed, and the day after wasn't much better.

 

Started feeling better yesterday. 

 

I have one issue that will need fixing at the end, and that is plastic weld spillage. Due to how it works (it turns the plastic or acrylic into molten form, then welds it together as it dries) it often takes a crap on your piece. Those who have used it will know what I am talking about. And on a yellow panel this will be an issue a lot more than on a white one. I already have some work to do at the back where excess superglue got on the piece.

 

The only way to fix this is to basically do what you do when painting. Use abrasives to smooth it down then polish it with compounds. I have the correct compounds for both clear coat and plastics. Firstly T Cut Metallic which is much finer than regular T cut. I then use Meguiars Plast X which is the finest I have. Before that though we need abrasives, and mine I bought before mysteriously vanished.

 

 

I also need more wire. The only thing that needs power in there is the pump, and I am not running it off the board as I am not sure if the RPM tacho cable is shorted to one of the others due to that nasty solder job I had to do. IE, I am not risking frying that beautiful motherboard. I also want it running at 7v, so I am going to take apart one of the green and black molex runs and make a purpose based connector directly from the PSU to the pump.

 

 

Given the ease of access for the PSU (as it has a whole side to itself) this will be the best option. As poking around in the board/GPU area is not the most sensible thing to do. It is densely packed in there.

 

That ought to about do it. Will update when work resumes on Tuesday.

[AlienALX]

Update 48 - "I'm a poet and I don't know it, and weld&drill&tap".

 

 

 

 

 

Update 49 - "It is what it is".

 

Quite why I ever trusted the pieces of acrylic I bought to be straight is a mystery. What needed to happen right from the start was I needed to basically machine out every single piece and cut every single edge with the machine. As I didn't do that the case was out of whack. Meaning when I put the side panels in the front busted. This meant hours of scraping off super glue before welding.

 

There isn't much I can do about this now, and nor do I want to. When it is done it will be a proof of concept, and I will then move onto the mod I wanted to do but needed to learn first. I would have been gutted had I attempted what I dreamed of and it turned out peed, so yeah a lot has been learned.

 

Namely the pieces I machined are all excellent.

 

 

And yes I could cut out pieces to cover all the gaps but I really don't want to now at this stage. I want to take what I have learned and use the knowledge.

 

 

 

 

Update 50 - "Being a bit hard on myself".

 

 

 

TBH unless you sit and stare at the sides side on it's actually pretty good. I just don't like being dishonest. 

 

So yes. Going forward, don't trust sheets of acrylic to be straight or even. This won't matter squat going forward any way, and tbh? I should be grateful it even fits together after quite a few catastrophes. Also, another lesson is do not use Super glue, it's crap.

 

Another bright day. So whilst I sat being blinded by the sun I popped out into the garden for some freezing cold spray painting.

 

 

One more of those and the PSU can be put back together and be used.

 

Update 51 - "Drill, drill again, drill again, tap, drill again, countersink".

 

 

USBs now fitted also.

 

 

 

That will do for today.

 

[JoeyButterhands]

This is a seriously impressive build. I keep coming back every day to check your progress. Thanks!

[AlienALX]

Thanks dude.

 

I finally got another day where I could paint, so I have finished the PSU shroud.

 

 

Which means that when dry I can finally put the PSU back together after a very long time in pieces. So, that means that over the weekend I can finish building it and maybe, just maybe, start filling both with coolant.

 

One thing I will say is that I really can't wait to go back to water cooling here at my mother's place. Right now I am using this.

 

 

And I love the wee thing but dear lord it makes a racket. I have had to cut back on my use of closed back headphones because I kept getting Swimmer's Ear (which is very painful and throws you off balance) so all I can hear when gaming is this annoying whoosh.

[AlienALX]

And thanks to that fantastic invention, the hair dryer, we can accelerate the process.

 

 

[AlienALX]

Update 53 - "One more day of work to go".

 

 

 

 

Best of all IT STILL WORKS ! woo !

 

 

 

All I have left to do now is cut down 7 IIRC gold bolts and glue them into the holes on the top I made. I also have to put these to use.

 

 

And make a custom connector for the pump. Which I am also going to braid yellow.

[AlienALX]

Update 54 - "No I lied, still one more day".

 

So last night I finished up wiring and finally joined the two boxes together. At which point I filled and burped it. This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but god my hands were killing me from squeezing the fill bottle. Took about oo, 30 mins?

 

 

 

I then installed Windows.

 

 

And ran a few tests last night. GPU seems very happy now.

 

 

So this is where we are at today.

 

 

Nothing has been assembled yet.

 

 

And there is a good reason for that. After a lot of testing I can not get those 6 Bitspower fans to produce anything I consider to be livable noise levels WITHOUT the pump stopping. Which is a big issue. I built this thing because I was tired of the noise, not because I wanted more. So, thinking on my feet last night I bought these.

 

 

Which are quite expensive. So I did not want to buy 6 of them, so I got these with them.

 

 

X2. So I will use the noise reducers (two) into those, and then connect the fans to those. I should then be able to crank up the pump without worrying about the fans sending me crazy.

 

Must say the coolant looks really suss in the filling bottle.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 55 - "Everything In Its Right Place"

 

So today I finished the cooling box.

 

 

I then remembered I bought some RGB strips. Which turned into an absolute nightmare.

 

I figured the connector would either be ATX 24 pin side or like most boards, across the top. No no no. This is where it lives.

 

 

Um. Um. F*ck? um, f*ck f*ck and double f*ck?

 

It is close to impossible given this is your view.

 

 

And of course nothing can come out now because it is all conjoined with hoses.

 

After saying f*ck a few more times I decided to investigate. First I removed the GPU's PCIE connector cover and then removed said connector. At this point I could see it. Problem was it was about 20cm away and of course hands don't fit and as soon as you put your German Bands in there you block the view.

 

As such after saying f*ck yet a few more times I realised I would have to cable tie it to a screwdriver. I then pushed it home, and then after saying f*ck a few more times I got the cable ties off. By this time it was loose, so I gave it a firm shove.

 

From that point on it was all plain sailing.

 

 

After replacing the top I noticed it had this wicked glow across the right side.

 

 

Which was why I bought them. Top back on.

 

 

I could then fit the side panel back on.

 

 

Wicked.

 

 

After a lot of rewiring and reworking I had it connected once more. Sadly the audio cable and the power cable need replacing with longer ones, but that I can do.

 

 

My mic's tripod imploded about two days before I began the project. However, given it has the right look and right colour on it I am going to make a holder that is integrated into the front corner of the case.

 

I also sorted the power LED yesterday, as it was on backward and thus did not work.