My Pc Desk Build (Pic Heavy)

FaNaTiiCz

FaNaTiiCz

FaNaTiiCz

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Joined
31 Jul 2014
Posts
46
Location
Loughborough
Now Named! Project VORTEX!

[Edit]

Thought id add a rough list of things left to do!

Radiator side of desk

Fill and sand ready for paint
Paint
Route fan cable neatly to rear center compartment
Route Uv cold cathode cables to rear center section
Install sound proofing
Install gasket for door
Install gasket for top
Install Uv cold cathodes
Install white led directional lights
Install hinges for top
Install Actuator for top(unconfirmed)

Power/Filter side of desk

Design and build a filter panel
Install ducting for intake
Make a tray to house all the control gear for the fan and various electronics
Make Hdd tray
Wiring
Wiring
Wiring lol
Finnish making the door
Fill and sand
Paint
Gasket for top
Install actuator for top(unconfirmed)
Install hinge for top

Pump/Resi Section

Route and the cabling through
Mount the pumps
Cut appatures for PSU
Install PSU
Finnish plumbing up pumps and resi's
Install leak detection
Soundproof(based on db levels)
Gasket for top

Component section

Decide on components
Work out cable routing holes
Cut said holes
Make GPU mounting bracket
Make SSD mounting brackets
Resleeve miles of cables
Install Uv lighting
Install back lighting
Finnish plumbing
Decide on finnish for aluminium panels
Finnish backlit logo
Gasket for top
Paint

Desk top

Cut Oak top to size
Cut window appature for component section
Cut appature for instrument panel
Cut window appature for radiator(unconfirmed)
Sand with like 10000grit sand paper to get super smooth :)
Finnish in protective coating

So first off let me say a little about me, im 28 from leicestershire, im an electrician by trade but ive been tinkering with computers since i was young.

Ive been using OcUk for my last maybe 4 builds so approx 10 years but only really thought recently to share this project with the forum!

I feel i need to give you a bit of background on how my pc building/modding has progressed over the years to get me to this point so here goes....

Leading up to me starting work at 16 we just had your run of the mill family pc's like many out there, and after starting work and having money coming in i decided i wanted a pc of my own that would be better at running the games i was playing at the time.

My first custom built pc was around 2004 it was pretty basic, ordered all the parts from OcUk and even back then their customer services were impecable! :p The parts came a day or two later and away i went putting it together, from memory it had a core2duo, 8gig ram, a maximus formula board and 2x 8800gtx's all ran in a nice black case(which i cant remember the make) on air cooling.

The next build i got a bit more adventurous, this was around 2007 from memory, i decided to try watercooling! i picked a nice case and modified the top to take a 360 rad, painted the inside matt black and the outside in a cool chamo scheme. This build had i think a q6600 cpu, cant remember the board or ram but i sandwiched a 4870x2 in there(huge card for the case id chosen!) I enjoyed this pc for a few years but the construction and modding were a bit amateur lol

The next build and my current one i went the next step, i decided on twin cooling loops and a hell of a lot more modding! This one ive actually got a few pics :) I wont explain much about this build as the threads designed for the next build ;) but ill let the pics speak for themselves!



I started with a huge Lian-li A70FB case and went to town!















































The specs...

I7 2600k
Asus p8Z68 v Pro mobo
16gb kingston Hyper X grey ram
2x His 6970 IceQ Turbos

So now coming up to the new build! My current pc is getting a bit tired and ive recently bought my first house so i was in need to two things!

1. A new Pc desk as unfortunately i cant take the one i was using to the new place

2. Pc upgrade! :cool:

So that got me to thinking, why not combine the two and make the whole desk the pc!

Great! so i had the idea and me being me if i redo ANYTHING the next version has to be bigger and better than the old one! ;) I needed to work a few things out, so i got to scribbling a few ideas down and worked a few dimension issues out and i had some basic ideas,No google sketchups here just random scribbles on what ever's at hand!

I wanted the desk to look like a nice piece of furniture as well as a kick ass pc so convieniently it helps my brother builds high end kitchens at work! So after securing some nice beech plywood i started knocking something together!

Also at this point id like to point out i dont have access to any woodworking or engineering equipment so all the work has mainly carried out with basic power tools and by hand, oh and lots of fettling (buzz word for this build lol)

So some pics so far...



Making the sides to the side cabinets







One done! I then made a duplicate for the other side and realised the sides looked rather plain, to i grabbed a trimmer thingy off my brother with a tapered cutter and cut some grooves to make the sides look like tounge and groove paneling!











I think that came out quite nice :) I then made the centre section that will house the components!



Chair in there to check i fit under the thing! lol





Thanks for viewing! :)

FaNaTiiCz
 
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So back from dinner heres some more!

I made some standoffs for the component tray and back panel (all a bit rough at the mo, ready for tweaking later!)









And filled a few screw holes ready for sanding



Thanks for viewing! :)

FaNaTiiCz
 
Bit more :)







5mm Aluminium tray in the bottom for the components and 2mm Aluminium for the sides, i did kinda cheat here and get the local metal merchants to cut them to the rough sizes just because i didnt have and tools that would do it easilly!



Trying out a logo design on the back panel



And a move artistic view :)



Thanks for viewing! :)

FaNaTiiCz
 
Now for some juicy bits, now that ive got all the space i could need i though i better get some serious cooling potential! What better than the Mo-Ra 360 LT! One of the biggest radiators on the market!

First off i had to make a hole for all the air to pass through





Then out of 5mm Acrylic i fasioned a mounting bracket/plate



Sealed both parts with 3mm sticky back glazing tape











Now any plasterers or boarders out there may realise ive made this standoff bracket out of a length of steel partition frame! Another freebie :)









Now with a radiator this size handling this much water i needed to move a lot of air, and with it being mounted so far from the psu (approx 1.4m!) wiring in 9x 120mm fans just wasnt going to cut it, so i opted for something different!



Thats a 12" 80w dc car radiator fan! should do the trick! :)



I then made another mounting plate to fit the fan to, another stand off frame to give the fan a 'head' of air to move, and used some 4" ducting bits from work, all parts sealed air tight with glazing tape



I then had to source a transformer capable of a 80w dc load and also dimmable (so i can regulate fan speed)





And i then plugged her in and tried it out! my god it moves some air! good job its dimmable and i can adjust the rpm later!
 
Now with something like this i like to go the extra mile and ive been dying to have an excuse to use some hardline tube for a build so i did! Props to Monsoon there hardline fittings are a work of art!



A tip to anyone using 16mm OD acrylic tube, 15mm copper plumbing pipe clips fit lovely! and used some off cuts as spacers!









Now when i ran up the fan for the first time i realised the top spacer bracket was too shallow and was choking the fan, so back to the drawing board on that one, out with the old and in with the new!







All painted and fitted!



I had a little carbon wrap left over from the last build so i thought this would look cool!





I then added these SEXY iso valves for draining down in the future!



As this section is going to be air tight i thought i best make a door!











And back from painting and fitted, the colour is called 'putty' which is middle class for cream! lol



Bit more hardline (the two pieces butted up will be replace buy one single length, justy need to find some longer than 600mm)





Oh also 3mm acrylic bonded into door appature



Then a bit of figuring out where things fit and what order i need to plumb the cooling







Worked the side panel to allow for the duct opening and the tubing pass through



same on the back





Then the job i love/hate the most! love the end result, but hate getting there! (too tight for laser cutting!)



And there we are, up to date-ish!

Hope you all enjoyed it so far!

FaNaTiiCz
 
Hey guys thanks for all the support! I managed to sneak off to the garage for a bit today so i decided id start making the instrument panel which will be recessed into the top of the desk at the back

So i started of with two solid aluminium Aqua Computer Aquatubes and a sheet of brushed stainless 2mm thick, i then started cutting it to size with the grinder






I worked out the the diameter on the acrylic window was 62mm so i was after a holesaw that was 60mm(the hole always ends up being a couple of mm larger when using holesaws!) but unfortunately i could only get my hand on a 57mm one. By the time i had cut both holes i needed to file them out 2mm all round by hand but once i did they fit perfectly!

(top tip when drilling stainless, do it on a very slow speed and use plenty of cutting grease :)















Then i did the same for the second resi, and also marked it up roughly to where id like my switches and accessories to go




The solid oak worktop it roughly 40mm thick so i made some packers to illustrate the height these will sit at eventually





Hopefully a lot more to post during the week :)

Cheers

FaNaTiiCz
 
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colinmcr said:
This thing is Ridiculous !

Ridiculously awesome that is ! How loud is that fan tho mate?

I've had to sub this out of the sheer appreciation for what you've done so far, look forward to your next update.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the support!, its a long ways off yet but its coming together!

Funny you should mention how loud the fan is as i took a decibel reading of it today to full speed without sound deadening or top of desk installed, its currently at 70db but im sure when i dial in the fan speed, install the soundproofing and fit the top it should be near silent :)
 
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Thanks guys! Well seeing as ive finally decided a name for the build i couldnt very well not do anything in celebration of it!

So i decided against the old logo and went ahead with the new one! Hope you all approve!

Lovely bit of metal filler :)



And then plenty of filing later!





More to come soon!

FaNaTiiCz
 
Ok so attempt #2!

So i got the air/water handling side of the desk back from paint on sunday! Im really pleased with the finnished, i gave it a good blitz over with wood filler and 600 grit pads on the orbital so it was super smooth for painting :)





I also fitted the louverd vent on the outlet, its brushed stainless but somehow looks polished in this pic!



Then i also managed to glue in some acoustic foam to help with fan noise!







I think the pipe spacers/clips worked out great!





So tonight ill finnish off the sound deadening, and hopefully reassemble that side of the desk, also theres the lighting to wire!

All in all im pleased with the progress!

Cheers for looking!

FaNaTiiCz
 
Hey guys thanks for the nice comments!

Managed a bit more tonight, i decided i didnt like the shade of green the acrylic layers were as it didnt tie in with anything so i gave them a tap of the carbon stick!







Still not tackled foaming the back yet, thats tomorrows job aswell as replumbing and wiring up some lighting!
 
Right a little update!

Ive been thinking these last few days about how to utilise the space in the filtration side of the desk because all that was going to be in there were a few transformers for lighting and the air filter itself!

So then i thought about where i would be having this desk, and hopefully its going in the lounge so i thought i could incorperate a few things into it

1. An audio reciver wired to ceiling mounted speakers throughout the downstairs of my house, that way when were entertaining or doing a bbq or something i can leave itunes full screen and let the guests put on what they like, bit like a juke box

And

2. Having the pc intergrated to my tv system i needed a way to stream music and acess my content through the tv, so i thought id build a small media server into the desk aswell! :)

The plot thickens!!

FaNaTiiCz
 
Im not sure yet ill probably look more into the reciever and speakers when we get the keys in the next couple of weeks, ive got to rewire the place to so ill wire the speakers at the same time!
 
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