Bitza

[Asouter]

New Project time,

My step son has started to take an interest in PC's, He spends a lot of time on his consoles and saw me playing BF4 on Mini Moto Mayhem. He couldn't believe how much better the graphics and audio are.
I'd been thinking about doing him a PC and after a chat with my Partner we decided that as Mini Moto Mayhem was in constant use playing BF4, D33P THOUGHT was pretty much redundant. With a lot of componants not in use, just seems like a lot of money sat doing nothing. So D33P THOUGHT will be torn down to supply parts for his PC. (No whining please)

After a clear out of the attic I has three cases that will be giving up their bits to make one, Hence the name BITZA (bits and pieces)

Here's the donors : A ThermalTake Armor A30, An old ThermalTake Kandalf, the Corsair Carbide 300R probably won't be used.

After some playing about I settled on orientation and some of the bits I'll be using ...The layout will be something like this :

I just need to knit it all together, but this layout will give me plenty of room for the PSU, Cooling stuff and hidden areas to hide all the fugly. The colour will change and hopefully bring it all together looking pretty sweet.

Here's that front radiator from the Kandalf

It should clean up pretty well, it's going to need some cleaning though. After taking it to bits there's quite a fair bit of dust build up.

The other side looks pretty ... I like this view so will swap over the brackets and have this side in view

With the rad looking this good, I will be removing the mesh but had to remove the ThermalTake logo first.

With the logo removed the mesh just slides out

The brackets have been swapped over and the surround still fits as it was designed to do, the oval shape frames the grills quite nicely

and final a few more shots of what I have in mind.

Revised plan

Getting all that to tie together would be a bit of a nightmare, so I've decided to use the Corsair Carbide 300 to house everything. It will save lots of fabrication and I can concentrate my efforts on the inside.

So here's the case

Not much of a looker is it ... but one thing it does have going for it is that it's very plain and simple and once all the internal drive bay slots were removed, there is plenty of usable space.

I've decided to put in an angled mid-plate, this will extend across the entire case, Graphics cards and the reservoir will be mounted onto the mid-plate.
The mid-plate goes right up to the mother board and will hide all the pcie slots, the atx connector will be boxed in as will the I/O section. The idea is to hide all the cables.

I've mocked it up with cardboard to give me some idea of what it will look like, the cardboard will be used for templates

 

[Asouter]

ooooo looking forward to this, going to be epic!

Thanks Beasty, I'm looking forward to it too

What GPU is that? I really like the idea of the PCI-E power connectors being side mounted like that.

The GPU is an old radeon 5 series, Interesting thought tho' it seems the don't do the side mounted connectors anymore ...weird

What parts you using, havn't seen your deep thought project

X58?

Fair point, I've only recently joined and so you guys won't know about previous builds, The M'bo is an old Rampage 2 gene, 1st gen i7 cpu and the Gpu's are old series 6 (kids first PC so I can gauge how well he'll look after it)

Here's a few pics of D33P THOUGHT

and a quick vid of the project...

 

[Asouter]

Thanks guys ... much appreciated.

@cypto ... There will be some mods to the outside ... a window from an old case and I'll drag out the airbrush and do a paint job inside and out ... it will be along the lines of DOTA2

 

[Asouter]

UPDATE 07/03/14 SHEET METAL WORK

I've made my own sheet metal bender (brake) Nothing too fancy ... a few bits of angle iron, a couple of hinges and something to clamp the job with .... simples

here it is doing it's thang ..

and here's a bit of bent metal .. amazing ehh (yawn)

So with all my bit's of metal cut out and bent a bit here's how it's looking

It is looking really tidy and will do what I set out to do and hide all the cables and connections ... but it has left me will a dilemma. Do I go the whole hog and hide the graphics cards under the mid plate ? I'm very tempted as it will make it look super clean and save me a whole bunch of work.

 

[Asouter]

You know that once you are bending sheet metal this is proper modding!

That D33P Thought build is bonkers and I love it!

Cheers Walder, the sheet metal has lifted the build, I need to work out how I'm going to do the IO panel, those expansion slots need to be moved ... more bending me thinks

You make some very imaginative cases, keep it up

Thanks Giraffe .. this one should be no different and hope you like the end result when complete.

God I wish I had the skill or the patience to build my own case epic as usual!

Cheers Charlie ... modding your existing case is a great place to start .. once you start you'll be amazed how easily ideas and different options appear

 

[Asouter]

Have you capped the edge of the metal sheets in rubber or something insulating to stop it from possibly shorting something on the motherboard?

Just curious as it looks like they are touching the board and/or other components.

It's one of my biggest concerns, it will definitely short out the board, I'm thinking of using some liquid insulator on the edges, I'm not going to take any chances.

 

[Asouter]

Rubber edge trim would also be cheap and very easy to apply:



get it on the bay mega cheap

Yeah it something to consider, and as it's so cheap I'll see if it will fit into the gaps in the mobo. Cheers WalderX

Rubber edge is a good idea and a good spraying of liquid electrical tape would do it. Costs about £7-9 a can and is quite useful.

That sounds like the best option, and fairly easy to apply, I imagine it can be used the same way as spray paint and I'll be able to mask nice straight lines

Great bit of progress there, and nice little bending rig, sure beats how I ended up doing it. clamping it into a vice and using a block of wood and a hammer.

Got some nice results from it but a bending jig would have helped.

From the looks of it your planning to mount the graphics card on that 33 degree angle with a PCI-e extender? or am I barking up the wrong tree here.

Thanks Cypto, That's how I was going smaller stuff, but for the longer panel using the old rubber mallet and clamp method would have been messy, a cheap break (or homemade one) is the way to go.

Yes I will be mounting the graphics card on that plate but ... on the inside. The exposed side will have a res mounted horizontally accross it, a nice aurora fluid swirling around and in view ... I plan on doing a DOTA2 theme inside and out and the fluid should give a nice feel to match the game

 

[Asouter]

The D33P thought build is amazing, superb. Do you have a build log??

Thanks Nick,

The build log is here : D33P THOUGHT

It's on Bit-Tech, hopefully the admins won't mind me posting the link, Overclockers do advertise there

 

[Asouter]

S'ry for the late reply (been busy) The trim is a good idea ... but I might not need it, I'm thinking of re-doing the mid plate so that it sits further away from the mobo

UPDATE 4/4/14

I've been working out some issues with the design, and I've replaced the rad. This one is nice and square, has standard fittings and is much easier to work with. I've gone down to a 240mm rad to make room for the PSU, no matter which way orientated, the PSU would interfere with a 360.

Corsair have been very cool and sent through some fans and another item (which I'll share later) this was for the article in Custom PC (Mini Moto Mayhem)

I have removed the two flange fittings as I found a better use for them on something else ... but here's the rad and fans ...

The power supply is also from Corsair ... again from a magazine article (Custom PC) It all seems to be turning into a bit of a Corsair fest (not a bad thing)
The PSU is fitted in it's standard position, so no mods needed there and I can make use of the air filter fitted under the case. The GPU is fitted and I have a PCIE riser ready to connect it up to the Mobo.

I have also fitted an old CPU water block and had a quick play with some tubing and fittings that I had left over from the last build. (The look fits in with the minimalist feel to the build).

I ordered up one of those new compression reservoirs from PrimoChill, I chose this one because after rotating one of the ends 90 degrees, the inlet/outlet ports can be routed through the mid-plate and I can hide the fittings out of sight. Here it is ..

I drilled through a few holes in the mid-plate, to match up with res ...

and using the flanges that were originally fitted to the rad, fixed them onto the midplate, clamping the res in place ... nice simple solution. The SSD is placed there temporarily with blue tak but gives me an idea of the how it will look.

And a final "where it's at pic" I still need to do a few more panels, and I have been over ridden by my step son on the paint scheme ... so that's still up in the air ... ohh well

 

[Asouter]

Looks interesting, subbed!

Looks very nice so far

Looking very unique! Nice 1

looking interesting!

look forward to seeing this one progress

Looking good and yes very unique, once I have all my parts I will be looking at producing a build log.

will be keeping my eyes on this project looks great

Thanks guys, hopefully I'll have a new update for you in the next few days

 

[Asouter]

UPDATE 18/04/14

I ordered up a grill form E22, nipper chose it as it's a nice design and will fit in with the build really well, I was pretty impressed with the material used and it has a nice solid feel to it. Cheers Nate

So i marked off the screw holes and where I wanted to cut, I drilled out the holes before cutting (makes it much easier to drill)

Used the Dremel to cut out the shape, and filled off the jagged edges.

I salvaged some of the pop fasteners from the Thermaltake case windows, I like these as they're easy to use and have a nice clean look to them when fitted.

Here's the grill fitted.

.... and a closer look at those fasteners, I prefer the look of these as opposed to looking at crew heads.

Here's a photo of me pretending to drill through the top of the case, this is for a fill port. A nice simple job.

and finally the fill port fitted ... like I said simple job

Next on the list is to fit the Rad in place and fit the front window which will be salvaged from the Thermal take case, it's a nice moulded one and will fit better than slapping a bit of acrylic behind a square hole.

 

[Asouter]

looks quality

Cheers Andy, it's all pretty simple jobs so it's easier to get right

 

[Asouter]

UPDATE 22/04/14

I'm going to use one of the windows from the old Thermaltake case, I separated the acrylic window from the side panel (saving the fasteners) The widow sections are moulded and will sit flush with the new panel.

I cut out the bit I wanted with a dremel and sanded the edges.

I used the old panel as a template for the shape and used the end of a needle file to score onto the new panel.

That was also cut out with a dremel, the edges are sanded and the holes drilled.

The old fasteners were re-used and the new window ties in with the grill that was fitted earlier

 

[Asouter]

Creative use of old cases

Looking forward to see where else you go with this one!
Your last project was quite something

Thanks MonsterMoshi, Not much left to sort with this build, just need to bolt it together and work out the paint

Nice to see people recycling bit and pieces and making it still look good

Cheers Colin, there is something quite satisfying about bringing something back to life, helps with the wallet too

Really like these resourceful builds. Always great to see some one off solutions. Cracking Dremel work too!

Thanks Pgreenwo, The Dremel cuts were a big worry, especially the curved bit, very easy to get wrong

Really awesome dude, a brilliant DIY project
Looking forward to more updates!!!

Thanks man, I'm enjoying putting it together. Hopefully it'll turn out OK, I'm still undecided on the colour

 

[Asouter]

UPDATE 01/05/14

I ran into a bit of a problem, the connectors on the graphics card were facing into the Rad, leaving me no room to plug in the power supply. The solution ? ... make the connector blocks face a different direction.

I chopped through the pins that secure the blocks to the graphics card, I then slid off the blocks.

I then bent the wires straight with a pair of long nose pliers, you'll notice that I have snipped the longer connection so that they're all the same length.

With all the wires straight, trimmed to length and a lead filed on the ends, The blocks then slide back on (read tapped on with a hammer )

Final pic of the card with the blocks facing the way I want them to, problem solved

 

[Asouter]

Great idea. I had an old build where I wish I would have thought of this with the GPU.

Thanks Pgreenwo, That idea took a lil to think of, it's a case of the simplest solution being so difficult to see.

 

[Asouter]

great idea, i hate the way the GPU wires have to go in the front
understand that it done to save some space needed in some smaller cases though

Yeah me too, seems to be the standard nowadays, oh well

This is going to be good.... subbed!

Looking nice so far

Thanks guys, I've been busy the last few days ... with a few changes

 

[Asouter]

UPDATE 15/05/14

I spent a lil while looking at the case, and thought it'd be a good idea to remove the logo from the front of the case a bit.

That left it slightly wobbly so I purchased some aluminium edging from the local builders merchant (the kind used for plastering) cost just over £7 for 2 meters. This was used to build up the edges and make it all a bit more ridged.

It means the side panel that I'd just done is U/S now but hey ho. I've added a small monitor to the front as it fits pretty well and saves me having to make a panel to shutter of the gap.

The res has been fitted, and the fan grill needs to be secured (blu-tac gets a bit melty in the sun)

The gap at the top will be filled with some nice smoked acrylic that I have and will be hinged so that it opens up at the front (I'll have to figure out some kinda latch)

I'm really liking the aluminium edging and will probably stay with that look, the angled panel has a nice copper effect and that will stay, so that just leaves the bits of the case that's left. That'll be painted a burnt yellow or whatever Halfords have in stock.

I have the back edging to finish and knock up some side panels and then it's ready to break down and paint ... so should be done pretty soon, I don't have much time left to finish as it's nipper's birthday in a few weeks.

 

[Asouter]

It's certainly unique! Nice work!

Looking really good

this is looking awsome

Cheers Guys, your comments are well appreciated

 

[Asouter]

The aluminium edging is a pro touch, will keep that one in the bank

Just watched the Vid of your other build - omfg - great editing, even better build! Great vision and execution o7

Thanks man, the edging worked really well and is very rigid. I was going to paint the edging but I think that after it's sanded down and finished, the edging won't need painting.

Which other build ? there are a few