Another TJ07 build - sorry

[Zuma]

Prologue:
So finally decided to put my project log on ocuk. I have actually mostly finished this build (about 75% done) but decided it was still worth putting in the project log forum, cos it's still a work in progress.

I originally started this project due to having 2x7970's in crossfire and being annoyed at the excessive noise from the reference coolers. so i thought i'd watercool them. but my antec one case was way undersized for that, so i went on the lookout for a new case.
i had the idea that i might mod the case a little bit but i wanted a mostly understated and clean looking outside to the case. i saw the tj07 and liked the look of it, but was put off by the price and that it was a little out of date, and didn't want to pay so much for an old case.
my ambition for the project grew after i started it, and what was initially gonna be a case of watercooling what i already had, it ended up being a full build with only the 7970s being retained from my old system.
finally, i will try and keep this log in chronological order and make posts as if i was doing this in real time. feel free to make suggestions, if it turns out i already did what you suggested, then great minds think alike

So i start my build with the case. i got lucky with a new unused TJ07 on ebay. Only cost £75, can you guess why?

 

[Zuma]

So first thing to know is i have a paintshop, so painting the case is not gonna be a problem. but i want to get it done quickly. Not least because i don't want anyone to see that i bought a pink computer case.
first stage strip it down.

I decided to paint all the inside surfaces in candy apple red. i thought it would contrast well with my understated plans for the outside. also most people tend to go for black inside and i like to be different.

And this is what it looked like put back together. I swear this is blood red and not pink like it looks in the pictures, damn my rubbish camera

 

[Zuma]

With the insides painted i masked it all out and painted all the outside surfaces matt black. My plan is to have no 5 1/4 bays at all so no need to paint any of that rubbish, yet.
I also filled the front led holes, so there is only a power switch on the front, no leds or reset switch. i wanted the outside to be as clean as possible. I almost glued the front io panel shut and filled it, but in the end i decided it would be useful and i could still make it look neat with it in place.
Because all matt black would be a little too boring i decided to highlight the 2 strips that round around the middle of the case. for this i used a special copper paint, that is mostly made of copper, and when it is polished, it has most of the same lustre as natural copper.
here is the case masked out for the copper paint

With the copper paint applied, before polishing. it looks totally flat and brown at this stage

And after polishing it looks like this.

 

[Zuma]

my brother has a dslr, so i will take some nice pics with that when i get the chance.

And it's not PINK!

 

[Zuma]

So after getting the case mostly completed, i set about getting together the parts to put in it. this was the time i decided to upgrade to a full new build with all new components.

starting with the mobo. asus rampage iv formula. i didn't go for the extreme cos i didn't think it offered anything extra that needed.

in addition i also bought (not all at once)
intel 3930k
aqua computer aquagratix waterblocks
aqua computer kryos cpu block
EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (480)
alphacool 240mm slim rad
Aqua Computer Aquatube Delrin Reservoir - white
Aqua Computer D5 pump motor with USB and aquabus interface
aquaero 5 LT USB fan controller
6 coolermaster sickleflow fans with red led
corsair ax1200i psu

various other bits and pieces

this is what it looks like with a few items temporarily installed

 

[Zuma]

In the pictures the red doesn't work for me, but I'm sure it looks very different in real life.

Interested in that copper paint though. Is it base & clear or just throw it on and polish it? Link to a supplier if you can please

yeah it's a shame the pics don't show the colour right, wait till the end of the build log for better pics.

the copper paint is a homebrew recipe, i could tell you, but then i'd have to kill you

 

[Zuma]

time for an update

i decided to get the backplates for the aquagratix waterblocks. they come in a boring matte black so i decided to paint them in the same red as the inside of the case. again as i said before, this really is quite a dark red, but anyway

 

[Zuma]

this is a pic of the res on display in the front of the case where the drive bays used to be.

and here is an early attempt at cable management around the back of the case. i still have some more cable sleaving to do and a few more routing issues to sort out.

You can also see that i have mounted the ssd and mechanical drive on this side. the hdd only just fits on the side of the drive bays but it all works.

 

[Zuma]

some pics of the semicompleted case, albeit with quite a few more mods to go.

at this point i should point out that the front panel that covers the removed drive bay is a piece of 3mm smoked acrylic. the outside is painted with matt lacquer and the effect i was going for is that with the computer off and no lights on inside it looks like a solid matte black panel. I did the same to the side panel. the front panel is held on by magnets for easy access to the inside

arghh! apologies for the extra rubbish pics. i swear i will take some better ones soon.

 

[Zuma]

this is a side view with the pc running and a few lights on inside. i plan to do more extensive lighting and maybe some uv tubes also but my uv led lights haven't arrived yet

and another from the front

the res has and RGB led in it that is linked to an aquaro controller and changes from blue to green to red as the water heats up. looks really nice when i turn it on and it starts off blue.

you may be wondering what those digits are above it. they are from a nixie clock that i built into the top of the case. you can see a closer pic of it here

 

[Zuma]

Very nice build, loving the front of the case with the 3mm smoked acrylic. Love how you can see the glowing red from inside

thanks,
that's a key element of the aesthetic i am going for. hopefully i will get some nicer pics to show it off better in the near future.

also more updates before the end of the week with pics

 

[Zuma]

Update time.

So after a few weeks i decided that the sickleflow fans were not really up to the job.
reviews were patchy at best any most reviews that seemed to be done properly had them rated low.
I like the way they look though so agonized for ages about whether to get some gentle typhoons.
You can hardly find a bad word against them but they really don't look good in a red and black themed case.

i tried to find some highly rated fans that had red led's or at lest a red colour theme and couldn't.

If they GT's were all black i would probably have lived with it, but they blades were a can't be 'bothered' grey.

Nothing for it then, out with the spray gun.

I decided to paint just the fan blades because they are the offending part (may regret that later)
for an experiment and because it was no real extra effort i painted them Ferrari Nero Daytona (metallic black) and went over that with a red candy clearcoat.
Really pleased with the look of the colour although ironically most of the effect of it is lost when the fan is spinning. again the colour doesn't realy show up in the pics.

I also painted a small piece of vinyl at the same time to stick over the back where i had to remove the sticker. you can actually get a better idea of the colour from this vinyl. it looks black in some light and metallic burgandy in other light.

and here is a pic of the fan in pieces.

more updates soon

 

[Zuma]

One thing that was bugging me about the side panel of my case was how the window was just bolted to the ouside of it. It actually looks better than i had predicted when i started the build, but still there was room for improvement.

i had already done the smoked and matte finish window panel. it looks like matte black when there is no light inside the case and you get a translucent blobby glow when there is light inside the case. hopefully you will be able to see the water tubes when i get some UV light shining on them.

It really just needs to be a flush fit, preferably with no bold holes showing. Here it is as things currently stand

So i cut an identical panel from some 4mm clear plastic. actually polystyrene sheet, which was a mistake i should have used acrylic. but my local shop didn't have acrylic. polystyrene tends to crack and craze up in reaction to solvents. i will never use it again!

After cutting out the sheet i had to rebate it so it would fit in the panel from behind. this took ages, because unlike the acrylic sheet that i tested my method on, this sheet i used would start melting every time i started grinding it with my sanding disc. very annoying.

But anyway i managed it, Here is how it looked fitted to the side panel.

so now i need to smoke it to make it darker. i used some clearcoat tinted black and sprayed on the inside of the window.

After that dried i glued the window onto the inside of the panel.

next stage is to fill the screw holes and repaint the side panel then matt lacquer everything so it looks uniform

 

[Zuma]

i ground out the holes a little bit and filled them with epoxy

then i stuck the window into the panel from the inside. i toyed with the idea of making it removable, but given it was already a bit cracked, and making it removable would be harder and possible risk it cracking even more i decided to stick it in with polyurethane adhesive.

then i masked it up and repainted the outside of the panel in black basecoat.

then i used matte clearcoat over the whole panel including the window.

And now i'm afraid i have run out of photos. So no money shot of the finished panel lol. It looks shiny in the above pics cos the clearcoat was still wet. didn't even take a pic after it had dried.

will try and get some more better quality pics this weekend if i have time.