700D carbon fibre build: Blackbox II

[3t3P]

Just starting a thread for my first water cooled build.
Progress will be gradual as work and fatigue interfere!

As for the name Blackbox II, my Dad always used to call my PC 'the blackbox' so this build is an evolution on that theme.

The theme is carbon fibre, silver metal and white illumination highlights, including motherboard backlighting. I am going for a clean look that also performs well, something that Dad would be proud of!

So forgive me build addicts, as I take my time with this one

700D

Sans grommets:

Standoffs came off with some needle nose pliers:

All off:

What do we have here?! A tube...:

3m Carbon Di-Noc vinyl emerges:

More:

Stock 140mm fans removed:

PCI slot covers plates removed:

Ready for cutting with a scalpel:

The exposed and cut to shape film:

In situ:

Too big as planned:

Picture of the back:

Spot the motherboard! This case is BIG but getting used to it..:

Some access points cut out, I stopped myself there as I realised I didn't necessarily have to cut them ALL out and could have created a cleaner look potentially, oh well no deal, too late now, hopefully i'll need to use them all:

Box of toys:

Test fitting the bottom piece:

That's all for now, I have more pics but will do another uploading session tomorrow. Night

 

[3t3P]

FINALY got some of these, 25mm fan shrouds are JUST too big to clear mobo heatsink up top:

Cutting rear stock grill off with heavy duty snips:

off with initial smoothing:

cutting top grill off:

one off:

two..:

three..:

eventually got myself reinforced cut off discs, these are BRILLIANT as I found out later:

money shot:

first efforts:

getting there:

happy considering first working with steel:

everyone likes DUST:

allow me now to change direction, to the backlighting:

soldered together:

testing:

Also flushed the rad today:

XSPC RX360, didn't realise it had a plenum chamber both sides, my first rad but it looks decent:

A cuppa solves everything, it got HOT fast!:

First flush, clear water with copper oxide pieces:

Second flush with warm water, less junk:

Did hot water two more times then three or so of deonized and have left it at that.
And yeh, correct as to where solder is from

All this being monitored is good for keeping me working on it

 

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who knows what this is?:

gulp, time to take apart the GTX, first screw came out ok, so they'll all be like this right?:

WRONG! I knew they would be thread locked, was painstaking, eventually a bigger but more acutely tapered (sharper?!) screwdriver I had was perfect as I could apply much more needed pressure. I also used a soldering iron on some but don't know if it did anything:

prising cooler open:

no going back now:

forgot this final little tab, then it all came off:

taking the heatsink off:

the paste, the paste:

presoak in nail polish remover:

Hello:

shiny shiny:

flushed with deionised:

core clean and ready for MX-3:

I just followed EK's paste application advice, thermal pads on too, not very sticky:

mounting bracket on with washer:

was worried about mounting these lads on for fear of em slipping around:

In the end the prolimatech paste I had was fairly sticky and did the job fine. standoffs would be nice however EK!:

Backplate time:

more:

block on card:

final one, magpie win:

 

[3t3P]

Cheers,
Yeh specs as per sig, I have wanted to try watercooling for six years and went this way instead of going i5/upgrading etc.

However I will see what sandybridge brings to the table next year...

 

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Thanks for the encouraging words so far.

I'm waiting for some dremel reinforced cutting discs and a mandrel to arrive this week to tidy up the rad grill area (i've cut out the stock mesh) and to make a starter cut for my jigsaw for a custom window Which will be faint smoked perspex i'm thinking.

The film is easy to apply, its scored with fine channels underneath, on entire flat sections not even one air bubble formed, even if it did you would easily be able to push it out. You can do compound curves with a heatgun too (I bought one for the mod) to soften up the film or return it to normal if you crease it wrong!

I have experimented on the corners of the case and found I can even make a seamless effect over the right angle! Great stuff, I got it from undergroundgraphics.com, best prices and sensible sizes in the UK I think...

Gonna take friday off work to make needed inroads

 

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Alright i'm off work now till monday whoo-hoo, but my housemate is recovering from nights now Didn't plan this so well...
Just gonna fire up the petrol angle grinder anyway...

No the film is removable but it needs a decent sustained tug to get it off, leaving no residue I might add. So the small puny heat from the mobo won't lift it I feel...compared to the heat gun which again does not cause lifting but increased maleability

From a few feet this stuff looks about 85-90% like real CF, the mess, cost and hassle of the real deal are astronomical and not for me. The new NZXT case would like pretty good and be easy to apply the vinyl to... specially as white CF vinyl is in the UK now...hmmm there's an idea

So today I may be blocking up the GTX 470, flushing the rad and blocks etc and anything else that doesn't involved grinding noises!

First gonna go pick up my cut off dremel discs from post office depot...exciting times

 

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Looking good.
Was the cutting out of the grills an after thought or planned from the beginning?
I think I would have put the CF in after all the cutting and grinding had been done.

Yep I really didn't think it through, I was going to leave the stock grills in but if they made any noise or impacted performance I wouldn't be happy, so took them out as an after thought despite months of mental planning, after applying the vinyl.
Cleaning all the steel dust out is going to be interesting...

The LED tape is 3M stuff, surface mounted etc as normal, don't know what else to say. The actual area of light produced on the LED is small but they are very bright!

 

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gonna upload a bonus pic for ye all who are still browsing this time of day/night
hang on...

ok look back up the page hope you all like it,

next to CF

 

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yeh it is Gundog, aluminium, 3/8 or 1/4'' thick I don't remember. It is quality I can't wait to install it

 

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exposing the bottom intake grill again:

looks alright, let's get rid of that mesh for puritys' sake:

gone:

after much cutting and grinding to hide the metal from the grill:

the fan is gonna thank me and I love the look now:

 

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gundog they do 120mm! i've got two 140's and a 360 for up top.
ohhh yes getting these cost loads, especially after customs got through with it.

was it worth it? yes for me as nothing else would work for my idea, heck its cheaper than some designer clothes with far more engineering!

just been rounding off the rear intake with discs and file and applying more internal carbon now...pics later this evening

 

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£30, not as bad as the time I had to release an R/C plane from Japan, £70

 

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I had forgotten to sort out the rear intake! Measuring it up...:

Marked with pencil:

Marked with disc:

Cutting:

Out:

Smoothed a bit:

Fan is happy, I am happy:

More internal carbon:

May as well face my fear and do the rear section:

It came out ok:

Finally time to do the top:

After some heat-gun treatment:

Cutting it all out, looks convincing in person that its composite:

Happy with the corners, some aren't perfect where the vinyl 'pinched' but overall they are better for being seamless I feel:

mmm:

so far:

had to file down the GT's to get the bleeding rad screw through, so 12 times in all, but did it in under 15 mins:

Installing backlighting:

All for now, I've since cut out the PCI slots so that they are not totally covered in vinyl, in essence the case should now be ready for components and watercooling.
Long day tomorrow so no progress i'm afraid

 

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Been at work 12.5 hrs but I love you guys so here is the backlighting tested with mobo in situ. pretty pleased with it Hard to get a decent photo as my camera is no good in low light (TZ7!)
I'm now thinking of hooking it up to my unused custom RGB controller PCB to slowly fade the white from low to high intensity, sorta like a 'machine spirit' for 40k fans hehe, it will be like the heart of an otherwise static system. We'll see...

Glad people are liking my project and following it!
Vinyl is purely aesthetic.

looks blue but its pure white:

PS: Not sure why my photos are coming out bigger, I am resizing them to the exact same dimensions as before... strange maybe it's the image host? using tinypic, it's a PITA but works at least...

PSS: I think I was just tired and forgot to resize them the other night, they should be ok on most people's monitors though this day and age, might resize them later

 

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I used to use photobucket but it went all weird requiring account activation etc. Tinypic is no better as have to enter security txt on EVERY single photo!

They don't load that slow for me...but I am on 50mb

you don't like the grills? Tough buddy

 

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Cheers Monkey, I thought this way once, but if you mentally prepare, watch videos and read around. Then have the right tools, lighting and patience you can surprise yourself with what new things you can do. I had to put it out my mind that the case costs what it does and just get on with it.

I am on photobucket now, FAR easier hehe

Was ill off work yesterday and wanted to crack on but kept falling asleep.
Still a bit off today but have been making some progress, pics later.

Nearly had a crisis where I thought I wouldn't be able to mount the reservoir brackets!
Some old thumb screws have provided a solution, a better than stock one at that

Spares jar 4tw

 

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Davyboy I posted the link on page one where I got the vinyl from

£20 for 60x60cm

so I've spent £60 to cover the case thus far, eventually I will need one more 60x60 piece to make a window panel as I didn't originally intend to cover the motherboard area.

Side panel will be done last though as I can then decide what I want to show etc

 

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CPU and MX-3:

Heatkiller base:

 

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I know it looks a lot, last time I applied less on my megahalems and when I took it off it hadn't spread that far...

I know people take off blocks to see how well they have mounted, I haven't done this yet maybe I should?

If it has spread out ok can I put the block back down or do you need to reapply to avoid air pockets?

 

[3t3P]

cheers

waiting to get a replacement xspc pump top as mine was threaded incorrectly