[Build Log] Project Dark Knightmare

[bmawn]

 
Alright, hello again.
I've managed to get some time to get set up and edit here in the "workshop". So this update I'll show you a bit of what I've been up to these last few days, I'll talk about the next steps after I explain what I did.
As mentioned earlier I've disassembled the rig, tried out the custom cables I recieved from Icemodz (they worked ). Efter doing this I was able to get started on the various "case mods" that I had planned.
Test mounting the radiators I found out the 'murica screws used with Hardwarelabs radiators didn't fit the brackets in the R40 so I had to do some filing but it fits fine now.
Originally I had not planned to repaint the radiators, but inspecting them I made the decision the original paint finish just wouldn't fit the build. So tonight/tomorrow I will repaint them using a new technique I think will look unique and awesome, more on this when I have some results.
I've also drilled the holes for the pump bracket which can be seen among these pictures. The hex gear R40 comes with an aluminum piece/plate which is intented for these kinds of "mods". It was very easy to work with, although I am very far from an expert working with metal I think I managed to get it done pretty well. The mounting plate will be repainted so it fits with the radiators.
Anyways, enough talking. I need to get to work testing the pump and painting radiators and plate.
Here are some pics:


NSFW below :3


Obligatory GPU close-up.




The bitspower summit EF CPU block.



I used a M3 tap to tap the holes for the pump bracket. Screws fit like a glove!

I'm going to repaint most screws as well. (I know anodizing would be better, but I can't afford it right now.)



Just felt the need to snap a pic of my dads awesome trackball explorer mouse. It's very comfortable for things like editing and browsing, although the sensitivity of the ball is a bit dull.

I'm spending my night here, where did you spend yours?
Hope to see you tomorrow!
 

EDIT: by demand I've resized my photos, if you want to see them uncompressed I'll upload them and post a link here later.

[Massivedonk]

Grym progress! Fortsätt så!

[bmawn]

 
Hello again!
Feels good being able to finally be able to keep my word regarding more frequent updates.
Tools have been going hot down in the cellar and I've managed to progress a lot the last couple of days.
I stayed up til half past four in the night yesterday (friday to saturday) to finish up the paint on the radiators and pump mounting plate. One thing I did not tell you yesterday is that when I went to the hardware store to shop paint cans something caught my eye. That something was Hagmans granit, a granite texturizing (is that a word?) spray paint which I thought could look awesome if I combined it with matte black paint. And yeah, needless to say the results were spectacular in my opinion. I'd love to hear yours as well! I will definately abuse this in future projects lol.
In between coats (paint coats, that is) I tested the pump and after confirming that it worked I went on with re-doing the cables for the pump.
The process went like this: removed lid revealing the wiring and the electronics in the pump. Soldered off the cables to be able to cut and sleeve. Cut cables and soldered them onto shortened atx cables (I didn't have a crimping tool or wire), sleeved the cables with black sleeving acquired from icemodz, soldered the cables back into the pump, drilled the hole for the cables on the lid to fit the larger sleeved cables, put on lid and mounted the pump in my bitspower modkit. And god damn I love the all black look of this build. My sleeving work isn't the best, but I managed to shorten the cable and change the connector from molex to 6-pin atx to enable direct connection to the PSU. 
I also spray painted some of the screws, a small detail that at least I think does magical things. 
After this I mounted everything back into the case to be able to plan the tube routing. I am planning on finishing up tubing runs for the build tomorrow (sunday) and hopefully I'll be able to perform a leak test on the full loop as well. Anyways, I apologize if there was too much text to read, but I feel it is a crucial part of any build log to explain the process. It's also nice to be able to recap what I did to be able learn and become better at what I do.
Enjoy the pics:

Tested the pump with an external power supply. First time using one of these, pretty interesting.

As always I appreciate every little bit of critisism, be it photography tips or tips on how to write project logs correctly, I am all ears.
If you think this project log is exactly how it should be, please let me know.
If you want to lurk this thread without saying anything at all, well, you are more than welcome to do so.
Until next time!

[bmawn]

So... It turns out glass tubing is a real and true pain to handle. At least for me. I broke pretty much 70% of the pipes I tried to cut and when I did succeed in cutting them they were one or two millimetres too short or long. So, I've ordered for some more tubing and then I'll probably measure the tubing then ask my local glazier for help to get more exact cuts. Corrections and cutting smaller pieces is apparently easier if you have a diamond disc dremel bit but I don't have one and I can't afford one either right now. So I'll have to do with the tile cutter I bought today

I also tried out the cables and set them as they most likely will sit when I'm finished and I really love the look of them. Mundi at Icemodz did an amazing job making custom cables for me.
So yeah, today wasn't as productive as the other days. But thats just a regular sunday for you I guess.
Oh, and I've applied to the Dreamhack Casemod Championship which I am really hoping to be able to participate in.
Here are some pics:

I hope you had an amazing weekend

[bmawn]

Hi people.

I haven't been able to progress very much on the build since I ran out of glass tubing pretty quickly. But more is one the way from Mayhems along with some more cable combs and some LED strips from Icemodz.

What I did do though is that I went to the store and bought some matte black vinyl, which I wrapped the profiles with. I was thinking that the vinyl wrap would just be an extra little detail but I think it did a lot of difference. See it for yourself and tell me what you think:

Not sure when I will update next, we will see when I have time to work on the build and when the new tubes arrive.

Until then I wish you a pleasant week

[Moondrelor]

I want to see more

[bmawn]

I want to see more

Ask and you shall recieve kind sir!

While waiting for a care package from Mayhems with more glass tubing I decided to prepare basically most of the stuff I had planned.

I "repainted" the transistors on the motherboard with a sharpie pen because they were mostly light grey+red and that just doesn't fit with the theme. So all of them are black now, some were very hard to reach so I only coloured the top. I also put vinyl on a couple places where I thought it was needed. This stuff probably won't be able to be seen when everything is mounted in the case but small details like these are important to make the build great as a whole in my opinion. What do you think?

I sleeved the start button almost melting the cabling straight off with my lighter while putting on heatshrink... Hopefully it still works lol.

I also eradicated my warranty for the HX850i by opening it up and repainting the fan blades. They had a grey, very dull colour with and ugly corsair sticker so the PSU got the black treatment as with everything else... I asked corsair and it did not come in black

I will probably either create another fan grill or just skip the current grill completely because as it is now I don't like it.

I also went to buy copper tubing to get the tubing lengths right for when I get the glass tubing. Almost makes me want to switch to copper tubes because they are beautiful and very easy to work with. But no sir, this built is meant to have glass tubing and nothing else!

I drilled two out of what will be three holes in total. The two holes I drilled are for the return line to the reservoir and the other hole is for a fill port, for this I will need to get a passthrough fitting most likely.

What do you think so far? Please tell me! I appreciate every little bit of feedback you've got.

Here are some pics:

I'll be back tomorrow with more hopefully

[Necrodead]

Too bad, I really dig the chrome tubing in this build.

[Massivedonk]

oh so sexi! 

[bmawn]

Too bad, I really dig the chrome tubing in this build.

Well me too but this way I'll be able to see what looks best! 

 

oh so sexi!

Thx haha

So today I finished up the tube routing, only to find out I was two fittings short... But I've ordered them so they should arrive along with the glass tubing. As some people have told me, yes, chrome tubing looks awesome in this build. But I've got my mind set on the glass tubing and it will look even more amazing with some black dye combined with aurora.

So a lot of pressure is lifted at the moment, since I've made the most difficult runs already I just have to cut the glass tubing to size when it arrives. I was really worried about the three holes at the top but I think it turned out pretty OK.

In the pictures below you'll notice I didn't finish the rad->GPU and GPU->CPU. Those two are the ones I need fittings for, so I'll be able to finish those when fittings arrive. Was really hoping to be able to perform a test of the loop today but oh well, I'll just have to have patience.

Enjoy the pics, not so many and not very good today though:

In the picture above you can see the three holes I made, from the far left: CPU->radiator, radiator->res and lastly the one that I will use as a fillport. I probably wont use this passthrough fitting seen but I used it to test how it worked and I think it looks fine. Filling the loop will be very easy as well.

Here's the "hidden" res->cpu constellation I managed to pull off. Really happy with this one as the fluid will "magically" flow to the pump when looking into the case from a front view.

I probably wont update tomorrow since I wont be able to progress without the fittings but we'll see if I figure something out.

[bmawn]

Hello everyone. Things have been standing still here, I know and for that I apologize.

I've really wanted to be able to update and build but parts were missing hindering me to continue and believe me, I hate having to wait cause of something I cannot alter. But now I've recieved some fittings that I needed so I completed the loop today, leading to me performing a leak test although with the copper tubing instead of glass (still waiting for that though...)

Everything worked out fine, there was some air getting caught in a lot places I believe so it took a while for the pump to bleed out the air. The feeling of success was also present as this was the first time I tried out the pump after resoldering and redoing the cables. It turns out my molex to 6 pin "mod" worked!

I also have an announcement to make so stay tuned

Until next update enjoy this high res pic:

Please tell me if a single high res pic is too painful to load and I'll change it.

But I feel that things are really shaping up for this build and I am really glad. Looking forward to getting this build finished early next week.

[gipsy danger01]

I am on my phone (lg g3) using wifi, and i had no trouble loading the image.

Looks amazing!

[HellaflushMcSwaggins]

I am on my phone (lg g3) using wifi, and i had no trouble loading the image.

Looks amazing!

Hi there, g3 brother. 16 or 32?

[Abel225]

Ohh my god! That is one of the coolest pc-s I have ever seen!! LOVE THE WHOLE THING AS IT IS!

[gipsy danger01]

Hi there, g3 brother. 16 or 32?

32 of course, has more ram as well

[Tearass]

I'm in love with the stone texture on the radiator and pump/res bracket you've created.

[bmawn]

Ohh my god! That is one of the coolest pc-s I have ever seen!! LOVE THE WHOLE THING AS IT IS!

Thank you man! I will probably post some pics of the "finished" build tonight. So stay tuned

 

I am on my phone (lg g3) using wifi, and i had no trouble loading the image.

Looks amazing!

Cool thx for telling me!

And thank you

 

I'm in love with the stone texture on the radiator and pump/res bracket you've created.

Yeah me too, turned out way better than expected!

[bmawn]

Hello everyone!

Things have been turbulent to say the least, to finish the project up for Dreamhack Winter 2015 which started today thursday 26/11.

I haven't announced it before I think, but I've qualified into the championship class of the Dreamhack Casemod Championship and will be exhibiting my project alongside eleven other skilled modders. For me it is a huge opportunity to be able to make a name for myself but also meet up with like minded people to chat with.

If anyone is here at Dreamhack you are welcome to come take a look at the build or just to chat in the D hall seat number D46:14.

Next update will probably be a gallery post with a lot of "end of project" pictures, which I have not yet taken but I do feel that this build deserves a better setting than the one you'll see in the picture I'll add to this update. (Taken with lights off in my apartment...)

Until next time!