FLUX by FAT - Intel NUC Competition

[F.A.T.]

 

Hi!

 

This is the project I've been working on lately, thats why there is no progress on '7L' 

I made this design for the Bit-tech Intel NUC competition. This design has been chosen together with 4 other contestants by Intel and Bit-Tech to be made real !

The other 4 designs are also worth looking at, interesting to see what kind of techniques they use

You can find the article here

And of course you can vote till 30 June for you favorite design!

 

I will post the buildlog this upcoming week so you can check out the techniques I used to make FLUX .

First, to start off! Here are the renders of the design and the final result.

 

 

 

 

And this is the final result:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you like the result !

[Jaybird]

where is the io?

[minibois]

Read about it today on tweakers.net, looks really cool!

It does look a little flashy (with its transparent top cover), but it does add a nice effect (that fact that you can see the PCB)

[Me1z]

Is that liquid cooled? Also how do you connect to the rear IO?

[minibois]

where is the io?

Is that liquid cooled? Also how do you connect to the rear IO?

The side it seems, from one of the build logs.

 

[Kyuubixchidori]

if thats filled with oil to cool it passively, that would be bad ass.

 

 

either way, looks super nice

[Stefan1024]

I love it!

[F.A.T.]

 

Thanks for your comments! 

 

Indeed the I/O panel is on the back of the cage. Thanks for adding that picture Minibois!

Later in the buildlog I will show you more ! 

 

So here is the first update on the buildlog of FLUX

 

I thought it would be a nice idea to add a few videos to the buildlog along the way.

Hope you like it, and otherwise….there are enough pictures !

 

 

Here are a few pictures of the package I received! 

 

 

 

 

 

I have taken apart the NUC just to check what is under the hood !

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was surprised to see that the aluminium frame was made with a lot of care! The solid frame looks really good!

 

 

 

 

Just thought it was funny that they only covered a very small part in black paint!

 

 

 

 

 

So from now on I will start building up in stead of demolishing !

 

 

[Stefan1024]

- snip-

 

This is gonna be so awsome!

People like you makes this forum intersting. Once finished you build must be here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/360050-featured-build-logs-competition-003-submission-thread/

[The Great Sayain Man]

Woah. That build is crazy nice. Just looked at the log and damn that some mighty fine work. Ghetto watercooling ftw! Also looking at the contestants they don't stand a chance against your build.  I r8 8/8 m8.  :lol:

[Maki Role]

Woah. That build is crazy nice. Just looked at the log and damn that some mighty fine work. Ghetto watercooling ftw! Also looking at the contestants they don't stand a chance against your build. I r8 8/8 m8. :lol:

No we really don't and the voting results show that. Flux got my vote too.

[The Great Sayain Man]

No we really don't and the voting results show that. Flux got my vote too.

 Well she currently has over 70 % of the votes so it's pretty safe you assume that she will win. 

[Maki Role]

Well she currently has over 70 % of the votes so it's pretty safe you assume that she will win.

Yes that's what I was saying...

[The Great Sayain Man]

Yes that's what I was saying...

Oh. Are you a contestant? Because If that's the case I get it now if not I still don't get it. 

[F.A.T.]

This is gonna be so awsome!

People like you makes this forum intersting. Once finished you build must be here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/360050-featured-build-logs-competition-003-submission-thread/

 

Thanks ! Well I don't know about adding this one to the featured builds, there are some seriously beautiful builds there!! 

 

Woah. That build is crazy nice. Just looked at the log and damn that some mighty fine work. Ghetto watercooling ftw! Also looking at the contestants they don't stand a chance against your build.  I r8 8/8 m8.  :lol:

 

Great that you like the log and the outcome ! Thanks! And Maki Role is indeed one of the other contestants !

 

No we really don't and the voting results show that. Flux got my vote too.

 

You are too kind !!! But we don't know what will happen yet, the voting is still on till the end of the month. So we will see

[KWelz]

I do believe I am in love...    Nice mod too.    

[F.A.T.]

 

Here you have the the mounting plate for the NUC inside the case.

The mounting plate will be build up out of several plates on top of each other. Otherwise the 3D printer will be busy for days ! 

Also, maybe I will have have to adjust some component inside the case, so that I can make some changes in the plates later on .

 

This 3D Printer is called ‘The Builder’ . The fillament is a funky green PLA which will be painted afterwards. 

Here you can see the drawing which was made in Solidworks and then imported in the builders software, ‘Cura’.

You can see it takes quite some time to build up the plate!

 

 

 

 

 

Also I’ve been working on the mould for the aluminium casing. The wood has been cut in circles and glued together. In the middle you can see a hole which has been centered and 

Inside there you can see there is a thread 1’’ x 8 

 

 

 

This way it will be easy to give shape to the mould on a lathe. Later on will shape the mould and make the first aluminium casing. 

I've made a nice video whit that part so that you can see the technique 'live' !

 

So this is the result of 'the builder' adventure. This is the plate straight from the machine so it looks still pretty unfinished (use a bit of imagination )! The colour is really funky, but it will change into something more "subtle".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next in line, an other piece of the puzzle... Lasercutter

 

 

So I've made a cover plate to go with the mounting plate inside the case. 

The plate of clear blue plexiglass is cut and engraved with the laser.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next update will be the spinning of the metal case !

 

[F.A.T.]

 

So in this video below you can see the progress of the case as it is forged into shape.

 

 

I also added some pictures of the different stages of the case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To forge the case into its form I use a steel tool to press the plate against the mould. 

To keep the material smooth and nice to work with on the lathe I use some soap. It makes the steel tool glide over the aluminium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After shaping the case I used some sandpaper to get a finer matt finish. 

Also I got rid of the extra material by using a trimming tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below some more pictures of the aluminium casing (with Pixel the blue bird )

 

 

 

 

This is the cooler that I will be using, well....just a small part of it..

Here is the victim

 

 

 

 

To make the cooling parts for the Intel NUC I'm using the laser again. I've made a design in illustrator and engraved the plexiglas plate at CityLab Rotterdam.

 

 

 

 

 

So now I have a lot of loose elements that will have to come together! 

Time to start this puzzle !

[F.A.T.]

 

So, this is almost the most important part of FLUX. Making the top cover plate look very awesome .

It was quite tricky because I had already bended some plexiglas with heat but never a shape like this. To make it a bit more nerve wrecking was that this was the only piece left of the plexiglas plate big enough for this shape. You don't want to burn the plexiglas because than you will get all these bubbles. 

 

I made a nice construction ( n a steel IKEA Bowl) and put it into the oven.

I used a low heat and kept on turning it up after I tried to bend the material. At first I was a bit to careful pushing the material by hand but in the end I took drastic measures and .... SAT (thats right..in like a chair: sat) on the construction

That worked really well haha!

Below you see the results !

 

I made a short video of cutting the top plate in aluminium:

 

 

 

I had to fixate the plexiglas to the aluminium to keep it in the right place. Afterwards I will take the extra material away. 

 

 

The plexiglas I use is Fluor edge so sometimes you have these amazing colours and sometimes it looks a bit dull.

 

 

Here you see the first and second attempt.

 

 

 

After that the drastic measures.... haha :hehe::worried:

 

 

But(t) it worked really well ! 

 

 

 

 

You can see there is a pattern on the Plexiglas, this is due to the towel I used to press the plexiglas into shape. It looks quite nice actually but I will polish it away!

 

 

 

 

So I've got the shape that I wanted now and will need to refine everything!

[F.A.T.]

 

So this time everything is almost done, all the parts are there. They just need te be finished and fit together. 

The fitting together is the most tedious part....

 

I refined the top aluminium frame, gave it a texture and spray painted it afterwards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water-cooling assembly plate.

 

 

 

 

The copper cooling block is made using a de-soldered part from the original cooler added with new copper fins. Everything is soldered with REAL silver solder, not the terribly conducting tin solder that all mass produced coolers use. Only Silver conducts more heat then copper so this should help a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The copper cooling block is mounted in a black plexiglass cases with a transparent top plate! The tubes are permanently fixed on the sides so it doesn't make the case higher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The casing, cut out a nice big part for the cables (this will be covered up nicely don't worry )

 

 

 

The cable extenders need to be stripped so they fit snugly in the casing

 

 

 

So thats it, all the parts are there!

now I just need to assemble everything !

 

on to the final result!!!

[F.A.T.]

 

Andddd.... the last update before the final pictures...!

 

 

 

Tiny bird, Tiny computer

 

 

 

I made some copper letters and goldplated them so they give a nice finishing touch to the pie, like icing on a cake !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The small screws are now also gold-plated and mounted to the top of the alumimium cover (like a cherry on the icing of the pie ?! :hehe: )

[F.A.T.]

 

So this is the final Update on this small build called FLUX !

I'm really pleased with the outcome, it has been a very experimental project with a lot of new techniques.

Hope you liked to read (or just check pictures) it!

The build is still featured in Bit-Tech's Intel NUC competition and voting is possible until the 30th of june (still 5 days left!! exciting!!)

Check out the competition in this link below, there is some pretty awesome stuff there !

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2015/06/08/intel-nuc-case-design-competition-finished/1

 

So just to compare the renders of the design with the "real deal" 

 

 

 

 

And the final pictures of the build!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again !

[KWelz]

That is absolutely amazing... 

[Stefan1024]

It looks wondeful!

 

I hope you will win the contest. Thx for sharing the project with the forum.

 

When will Intel start the mass production and we can buy it?

[F.A.T.]

That is absolutely amazing... 

 

 

Thank you very much!

 

It looks wondeful!

 

I hope you will win the contest. Thx for sharing the project with the forum.

 

When will Intel start the mass production and we can buy it?

 

 

I'm really glad you like the build !!

I've send FLUX to Intel UK so they can showcase the 5 designs that were made for the contest (and they will return them to us afterwards).

So maybe the have already started a production line haha!

 

When I start massproducing I will let you know !