Soldato
I love rats they're awesome. I used to have a pet mouse when I was a kid. Adorable little thing it was (until it got out and chewed through my bean bag lol).
(In Win 901) Asteria II: Rearmoured
- Thread starter LePhuronn
- Start date
Rodents are chewy little buggers. My original 3 sisters were utter monsters for it, wholesale destruction. Of the next 3, only Daisy was a nibbler when she was a baby, and then again for her last month with a pituitary tumour, so I've been lucky.
And last night was actually traumatic - turns out I rescued 1 adult and 13 (!!) babies and they went utterly mental when they got moved into the 6 foot cube cage. Having been crammed into a small tank for so long with no space to move they went bonkers and it was like a scene from a horror movie. Literally every inside surface was swarming with rats of various sizes for hours and hours and hours.
I love rats but it was almost grotesque to see. But utterly adorable this morning when they'd all calmed down and sleeping together - the mother was so happy with big, boggling eyes and a cheesy grin.
Now the hard part begins in sexing them and getting the boys out, and then start taming them before we adopt (most) of them out.
And last night was actually traumatic - turns out I rescued 1 adult and 13 (!!) babies and they went utterly mental when they got moved into the 6 foot cube cage. Having been crammed into a small tank for so long with no space to move they went bonkers and it was like a scene from a horror movie. Literally every inside surface was swarming with rats of various sizes for hours and hours and hours.
I love rats but it was almost grotesque to see. But utterly adorable this morning when they'd all calmed down and sleeping together - the mother was so happy with big, boggling eyes and a cheesy grin.
Now the hard part begins in sexing them and getting the boys out, and then start taming them before we adopt (most) of them out.
Soldato
Now what you need is to put some acrylic in the cage. Carefully painted with jam so that once they've finished chewing, you've got a custom acrylic block milled 
13?! Good luck!!
13?! Good luck!!
Now what you need is to put some acrylic in the cage. Carefully painted with jam so that once they've finished chewing, you've got a custom acrylic block milled
Or they'd lick frosted acrylic clear - licky buggers too!
Cheers, I'm gonna need it!
Greetings to you all! I hope your Christmas was gluttonous and your New Year will be debauched and decadent; I think we all could use some cheer given 2016's death tally
Well, the ratty rescue situation is more or less under control so I have some time and space to work again. Unfortunately my sheet bender has proven to be largely useless, so the planned case work has to wait while I sort an alternative.
So I've done some GPU stuff instead and, since it's been so long, thought I'd share what I have.
GPU block
Originally I'd planned to use an EK block for the Titan since I like full PCB coverage and no fuss, even if it'll be facing down in the build. Unfortunately, the FC Terminal block pushed the total height about 3mm too much to fit inside the case and put the sides back on. Bit of reading around I found Watercool's Heatkiller GPU-X3 blocks would fit nicely and scored this B-Grade with a competitor.
Great condition, and that stainless steel plate is so very shiny. Double win is that this LT variant doesn't have any unnecessary cruft on it like the other X3 Titan editions, just a sleek, smooth appearance.
Shame about the copper though...oh wait
Let's strip it down then...
I'll be honest though, I know this is B-Grade, but I wouldn't expect B-Grade to be quite this filthy, and I have no idea how the INSIDE is quite that mucky. Looks like the previous owner used cherry aid for coolant too.
After lots of soaking in vinegar solution, rubbing, scrubbing and pickling of skin, we get one nice and shiny copper block.
Won't last long
Masked up and hit with primer
And now the black
Reassembled and cleaned up!
One Heatkiller GPU-X3 Titan LT Black Edition ready to rumble.
It *might* be changing to silver/nickel though, we'll see.
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GPU backplate
And on the other side (literally) we have our GPU backplate. I'm sticking with EK for this one, which opened up a fun little exercise in working out how to mate Watercool's block with EK's backplate, but it should all be good. Well, I've worked out the different screw sizes, but not actually screwed anything together so far
Anyway, the backplate. Everybody knows what an EK backplate looks like, so I shan't bore you. Plus my phone camera is having a few problems taking decent shots of shiny black things on black things.
However,
I did manage to score an "FC Titan" backplate from eBay, rather than the generic "Geforce GTX", so I'm quite happy about that.
Unfortunately, this left me with a bit of a quandary. The plan was always to have some visual symmetry between the external skin of the case and the internals, so I planned to strip to black anodised layer off the backplate, buff up and then replicate the brushed aluminium effect found on the 901's outer skin.
The backplate though was utterly pristine - as in it looked like it'd never been used - and I didn't have the heart to touch it; I couldn't find another FC Titan model if I messed this one up or changed my mind. But then there's a lot of black on the motherboard now and I was also concerned having a massive slab of black GPU would be too much, even with the eventual lighting.
So, fortune favours the bold and decided to bite the bullet. Maybe I shouldn't have been quite so bold however...
Caustic soda mix is NOT supposed to bubble and fizz quite that vigorously. Excuse the thumb in the shot because I hurriedly took a snap whilst ****ing myself. And yes, that black liquid on the bowl's rim is liquid anodised death.
Note for future reference, kids: don't have the water too hot! Given that it's a bit nippy outside I didn't want the caustic soda to run out of puff and get cold too quickly, so I compensated with slightly warmer water. Not a problem, however the bowl was too small for the backplate to fit in at the bottom, so I had to fill the bowl up some more.
I got distracted and pretty much near-boiling water went in with a little too much extra caustic soda. B Negative said when stripping his H Frame down for Lumo that it takes about 10-15 minutes to do its thing. Mine could be rubbed off by hand in 30 seconds. Fortunately I didn't damage the aluminium, but I got a surprise lungful of fumes and a bit of poo came out.
Stripped
Sanded up a bit
That grain is beautiful on the raw aluminium, and does a good chunk of my final effect for me. Backplate was wet sanded with 400, 600 then 800 grit over about 2 hours. Usually you're supposed to switch 90 degrees with every grit to buff out your previous marks, but I didn't bother this time given the effect I planning.
Once the sanding is finished and the backplate washed up, you go ahead and grab some red scotchbrite pads and totally undo all of your hard work!
Long, even strokes down the length of the backplate to get those scratches back in, replicating the brushed effect. Dead useful to have some kind of guide jig to help you stay straight when brushing. Switch up the part of the scotchbrite you use so you don't just repeat the same scratches.
Annoyingly it looks like I got something caught in the middle as there's a more pronounced line half way through, but I'm not too bothered and realistically would have to sand then entire thing back to smooth before going again. There is a similar streak from one of the screw holes which I may have to sort out.
Now for the comparison shot:
I think that's pretty damn epic. There's 2 different grades of aluminium used so I was never going to get the backplate to match, but it's close enough side-by-side and you'll never tell the difference once the hardware is installed and lit up.
Looks like I've gotten some dust on the 2nd layer of clear coat so I may have to 1000 grit that off tomorrow, then the EK badge can go back on.
The question is do I keep the EK badge silver or vinyl wrap it brushed black?
Thanks to all for looking, and have a great New Year if I don't catch you before.
And on the other side (literally) we have our GPU backplate. I'm sticking with EK for this one, which opened up a fun little exercise in working out how to mate Watercool's block with EK's backplate, but it should all be good. Well, I've worked out the different screw sizes, but not actually screwed anything together so far
Anyway, the backplate. Everybody knows what an EK backplate looks like, so I shan't bore you. Plus my phone camera is having a few problems taking decent shots of shiny black things on black things.
However,
I did manage to score an "FC Titan" backplate from eBay, rather than the generic "Geforce GTX", so I'm quite happy about that.
Unfortunately, this left me with a bit of a quandary. The plan was always to have some visual symmetry between the external skin of the case and the internals, so I planned to strip to black anodised layer off the backplate, buff up and then replicate the brushed aluminium effect found on the 901's outer skin.
The backplate though was utterly pristine - as in it looked like it'd never been used - and I didn't have the heart to touch it; I couldn't find another FC Titan model if I messed this one up or changed my mind. But then there's a lot of black on the motherboard now and I was also concerned having a massive slab of black GPU would be too much, even with the eventual lighting.
So, fortune favours the bold and decided to bite the bullet. Maybe I shouldn't have been quite so bold however...
Caustic soda mix is NOT supposed to bubble and fizz quite that vigorously. Excuse the thumb in the shot because I hurriedly took a snap whilst ****ing myself. And yes, that black liquid on the bowl's rim is liquid anodised death.
Note for future reference, kids: don't have the water too hot! Given that it's a bit nippy outside I didn't want the caustic soda to run out of puff and get cold too quickly, so I compensated with slightly warmer water. Not a problem, however the bowl was too small for the backplate to fit in at the bottom, so I had to fill the bowl up some more.
I got distracted and pretty much near-boiling water went in with a little too much extra caustic soda. B Negative said when stripping his H Frame down for Lumo that it takes about 10-15 minutes to do its thing. Mine could be rubbed off by hand in 30 seconds. Fortunately I didn't damage the aluminium, but I got a surprise lungful of fumes and a bit of poo came out.
Stripped
Sanded up a bit
That grain is beautiful on the raw aluminium, and does a good chunk of my final effect for me. Backplate was wet sanded with 400, 600 then 800 grit over about 2 hours. Usually you're supposed to switch 90 degrees with every grit to buff out your previous marks, but I didn't bother this time given the effect I planning.
Once the sanding is finished and the backplate washed up, you go ahead and grab some red scotchbrite pads and totally undo all of your hard work!
Long, even strokes down the length of the backplate to get those scratches back in, replicating the brushed effect. Dead useful to have some kind of guide jig to help you stay straight when brushing. Switch up the part of the scotchbrite you use so you don't just repeat the same scratches.
Annoyingly it looks like I got something caught in the middle as there's a more pronounced line half way through, but I'm not too bothered and realistically would have to sand then entire thing back to smooth before going again. There is a similar streak from one of the screw holes which I may have to sort out.
Now for the comparison shot:
I think that's pretty damn epic. There's 2 different grades of aluminium used so I was never going to get the backplate to match, but it's close enough side-by-side and you'll never tell the difference once the hardware is installed and lit up.
Looks like I've gotten some dust on the 2nd layer of clear coat so I may have to 1000 grit that off tomorrow, then the EK badge can go back on.
The question is do I keep the EK badge silver or vinyl wrap it brushed black?
Thanks to all for looking, and have a great New Year if I don't catch you before.
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Soldato
Hey man I think I have some spare deluxe EK badges if you want them?
ooh maybe. Send me a pic!
Soldato
My wife is sleeping atm so I can't dig for them. I think I have one or two left. They are chrome (shiny) and then bubbled. It doesn't sound so good but they look really nice and modern when you fit them.
I *think* I should have one, maybe two left. I think it would look great on that back plate (great work btw, always love seeing anodizing coming off !).
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-badge-silver-5-pcs-wc-942-ek.html
I *think* I should have one, maybe two left. I think it would look great on that back plate (great work btw, always love seeing anodizing coming off !).
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-badge-silver-5-pcs-wc-942-ek.html
Oh those ones! If you have 2 then I can replace the one on the Supremacy block as well.
Very generous of you, sir!
Very generous of you, sir!
Soldato
I will look for them this evening mate. 
Much obliged, thank you!
As a wee addition, I checked the clear coat this morning and, alas, I did get some dust on it. No matter, grab the 1000 grit wet paper and see if I can either buff it up or strip the clear coat and go again.
I made a boo boo
Turns out I didn't do as good a job cleaning the bare aluminium as I thought, and what little tarnish was left from the stripping anodising was loosened by the clear coat. Don't ask me why or how. So as I'm gently sanding I'm actually creating a shinier surface, but it's clearly making patches.
So I've essentially started from scratch (no pun) and given the sanding some real grunt this time. And I'm happy to say that the end result is a lot better so far. Plus those 2 blemishes were irking me so they've gone now as well.
Just letting everything dry out after the brushing, will give the room a good vacuum and clear coat later tonight - don't want to leave it too long or the raw aluminium will oxidise and go dull.
I made a boo boo
Turns out I didn't do as good a job cleaning the bare aluminium as I thought, and what little tarnish was left from the stripping anodising was loosened by the clear coat. Don't ask me why or how. So as I'm gently sanding I'm actually creating a shinier surface, but it's clearly making patches.
So I've essentially started from scratch (no pun) and given the sanding some real grunt this time. And I'm happy to say that the end result is a lot better so far. Plus those 2 blemishes were irking me so they've gone now as well.
Just letting everything dry out after the brushing, will give the room a good vacuum and clear coat later tonight - don't want to leave it too long or the raw aluminium will oxidise and go dull.
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Soldato
As a wee addition, I checked the clear coat this morning and, alas, I did get some dust on it. No matter, grab the 1000 grit wet paper and see if I can either buff it up or strip the clear coat and go again.
I made a boo boo
Turns out I didn't do as good a job cleaning the bare aluminium as I thought, and what little tarnish was left from the stripping anodising was loosened by the clear coat. Don't ask me why or how. So as I'm gently sanding I'm actually creating a shinier surface, but it's clearly making patches.
So I've essentially started from scratch (no pun) and given the sanding some real grunt this time. And I'm happy to say that the end result is a lot better so far. Plus those 2 blemishes were irking me so they've gone now as well.
Just letting everything dry out after the brushing, will give the room a good vacuum and clear coat later tonight - don't want to leave it too long or the raw aluminium will oxide and go dull.
Get some tack cloths and isoprop alcohol.
Should have a few bits somewhere, give things a final rub down.
Soldato
Found them. Though I waited for my lady to wake up and they weren't where I thought I had put them lol.
There are two, fire me your details over trust mate and I will get them out as soon as I can. That's as long as I can see where I am going because this morning was proper pea soup lol. The latest I will have them out is Tues, as we are visiting family then.
There are two, fire me your details over trust mate and I will get them out as soon as I can. That's as long as I can see where I am going because this morning was proper pea soup lol. The latest I will have them out is Tues, as we are visiting family then.
Magic dude, many thanks.
Think I still have your email addy from our vinyl plotter conversation - will shoot you details shortly.
Think I still have your email addy from our vinyl plotter conversation - will shoot you details shortly.
Quick little thing to share. The silver deluxe EK badges arrived yesterday thanks to the wonderfully generous ALXAndy.
Almost like glass, which is perfect for the aluminium and glass on the 901.
Added to the Supremacy EVO block too for consistency.
Looks mint, thanks very much dude!
Almost like glass, which is perfect for the aluminium and glass on the 901.
Added to the Supremacy EVO block too for consistency.
Looks mint, thanks very much dude!
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Soldato
*thumbs up*
They look frikkin sweet man !
You're very welcome dude, any time Just sorry it took so long. Not had a cold like that in years !
They look frikkin sweet man !
You're very welcome dude, any time
Just sorry it took so long. Not had a cold like that in years !