Project: Plasma Cannon

[Samaus]

Sponsored by





Hi all I have been a long time fan of overclockers but have yet to make and real lengthy posts so I thought it was about time I did and what better way than a project log. My last 3 pcs have been custom builds but never done a log for them this one is different first ever scratch build and more water cooling in it then I have ever attempted before I welcome you to Project Plasma Cannon.

This is going to be a 50/50 project with some parts being laser cut mostly the parts that are too large for me to do myself as I only have a small work area basically one 2meter long bench. But the other half is manual cutting, hacking and drilling to give the pc a bit of soul.






This sketch-up drawing has a few pieces from the “3D warehouse” big thanks to the guys out there who make items like motherboards, graphics cards and all the bits and pieces that make sketch-up such a massive advantage when planning a pc build. So a bit about this project I wanted to build something out of this world and I was a little tired of the generic box feel of cases also wanted it to look good from all sides even the IO panel AS I was playing the pc game “Warhammer Space Marine” it just came to me that weapon is really cool and so many glowing parts Bingo there my new PC case as far as I know it isn’t the year 40,000 and there not currently in the shops so only way to proceed is to build one.





Its big current design measures it at 1200mm long, 700mm high but a reasonable 250mm wide. It’s going to be 95% aluminum build with highlights of brass that I will probably gold plate and all the visible aluminum will be brushed with the main panels anodised Red. Some parts are plastic like the grip (that’s going to be an old light gun from an X-Box more photos later). And the main vent along the top and sides that’s going to have a light frosting with plenty of LEDs the dark gray panels at the front trying to give the impression of Heat sinks I’m going to try and come up with a way of making them glow giving the impression there red hot! And I may have an external chillier with this hence the quick disconnects at the base. This is a long team project but I will try to keep you guys updated as soon and as often as I can. Please enjoy some eye candy feel free to post any questions and suggestions you may have I’m always open to new ideas and suggestions. Before you ask “how is it going to stand up?” I’m going to have a bi-pod or a cradle for it to sit in I haven’t made up my made yet.



Internal Hardware is sketchy at this stage as by the time I build it most likely something new will be out. So I have designed it to just about fit a full ATX motherboard in but due to the shape of the side panels I will probably be limited to using 2 graphics cards tops so may step down to micro ATX. Plenty of space for a large PSU and plenty of hard drives. Currently designed for 2x 120mm rads but may change this to a single 240, you may think this is hardly any cooling but the 2 Rotary Heat sinks on top and the base are not just for show they have PET Coolers attached with water blocks to give the cooling a bit of a boost this is a bit experiential but worth a shot and if all else fails I will also have either a large external radiator or a chillier attached. A lot of the extras are aqua cooling like the aquaero, multiswitch and pump.

Stay tuned will be posting the next stage very soon...

Design Update


Hi guys finally got round to updating my designs as there were a lot of unanswered questions on the above screenshots.
Some basic full design shots




Internals have been updated a little with a readjustment of the pump not to the right of the motherboard instead of above the PSU! Also replace the koolance HDD water block with a pair of aqua cool blocks though I may not use all the hard drive slot it will still allow me to expand in the future if I wanted to.



This previous post explains theses next screenshots

Just a thought - what are you planning to do about the cables? I see the 3 you have in the stock going down, but wouldn't it spoil the line to have them dangling free? Have you thought about some sort of a mount/dock/pedestal for the gun - that way you can hide all the connections in the dock and the gun looks clean?

Yer one of the ideas on the first post was to have a sort of cradle for it to sit in or a bi-pod but this was just to allow it to sit on a desk correctly. I might be able to add something on to that to cover the cables will look into it cheers cavemanoc

The 3D Sketches doesn't show it that well but there is a slight overhang for the cable ports and the Dvi-D ports are deep inside the side panel without the cables connected it would be hard to see them. Its a shame i didn't have room to fit them on the main IO panel But totally agree that the cables are visible that's why I was planning to make the cables a bit more interesting by getting some of those really nice high quality gold and silver platted normally I would never dream of getting them due to the high cost and there no better then some of the cheep ones.

Then having them all tied together by a polished aluminum round links sort of like a cable tidy but smarter and held together by 2 polished chains this may also include pipes to a external chiller and may be able to hide some LED's in the Links to give a soft glow. Sorry i have got an image to show you (yet!)

With some slight adjustments this Port bay now is removable so I can thread cables inside the case to the back of the motherboard. This upgrade will now allow me to have all the cables coming from this area instead of just the important ones. And also the monitor ports that were attached to the stock just under to port bay have been removed (seen in above shots).





The stand will have a aluminum tube base with 4 clear perspex arms that will hold the cannon it place hopeful giving the impression its floating and a clear view from all sides.Now for some arty screenshots









And one of my favorites




Thanks for your support guys next update coming soon



Please note this isn’t a real gun it doesn’t fire any kind of projectile at all nor am I trying to start a intergalactic war... hope I have made that clear don’t want to wake up one day because of a police weapons team is breaking down my front door!

 

[bsoltan]

Very ambitious, but awesome looking! Good luck.

 

[dannywaugh1]

Wow! Looking forward to this log.

 

[wobbledog]

Mother of god :O haha
Looking forward to this, hope it goes well

 

[PhysicsMan94]

Well, this is different. I am very much looking forward to seeing this build in process - you've got a lot of blood, sweat and tears ahead of you mate!

 

[eagle2508]

WoW! this will be an interesting build log to follow, hugely ambitious! Can't wait to see the finished article!

 

[PhysicsMan94]

You should add a 'firing' function to it though, so that you can "vent" the case when it gets too hot.

Or perhaps by pressing the trigger you open the end of the barrel allowing you to drain the water-cooling system for maintenance.

 

[VIPER258]

Good luck to you bro, looks great so far.

 

[Samaus]

wow thanks guys was not expecting so much response in such a short time. I totally agree with you all its very ambitious by far the biggest project I have undertaken. But that's not going to stop me, its going to be finished one day

Well, this is different. I am very much looking forward to seeing this build in process - you've got a lot of blood, sweat and tears ahead of you mate!

I will make sure to check off Blood, sweat and tears when i come to those stages ;p

You should add a 'firing' function to it though, so that you can "vent" the case when it gets too hot.

Or perhaps by pressing the trigger you open the end of the barrel allowing you to drain the water-cooling system for maintenance.

haha I will see what i can do ;p

Thanks for all the support guys

 

[Samaus]

Sponsored by



My Tiny workshop

Please excuse some of the poor images in my posts some were taken with a camera phone.

As I mentioned if the first post I haven’t got a great deal of room to work with *dreams of a garage*. I have plenty of hand tools but for something like this project I needed a bit more power so I kind of splashed out one piece of kit to help me at first was planning to get a basic Pillar drill but due to lack of space I need to get as much flexibility into a small space as I could sooooo... I got a milling machine haha and here it is a Sieg X2 made by Clarke.



I got a small 2 meter bench with all my tools underneath wish I have draws for them all. This is my battlefield where as ‘PhysicsMan94’ put it my blood, sweat and tears will fall.



So it begins

I have got my laser cut 3mm aluminum on order from a brilliant company called “all 4 one engineering” based in Bromsgrove south of Birmingham if you want something cut ask for ‘Shane’ he will get you a good deal. Lucky its right next to my parent’s house so didn’t have to pay for delivery (this image has been updated since I ordered it)



Just some tips if you want to order laser cut items ask not to bother cleaning up the material as this is easy to do yourself and will reduce the cost but if you are collecting it make sure you use gloves as the edges can be razor sharp. 2nd tip is make sure the file you send is perfect no gaps double likes or anything that will need questioning as this may require a extra charge if there operators need to clean up the data file. I work in this area so I know how frustrating bad data files can be.

Ordered a few parts just to get some sizes a standard blue ray drive and a IO bay I don’t think they could have got any more ports on this thing its jam packed! I plan to replace the cover with a brass plate time to start to make that and the support frame





An off cut piece of brass you can find theses on a well know online auction side for pennies ideal for projects like this but my first real attempt at my milling machine not too bad if I do say ;p but the 2 areas marked in black were too small only 1.5mm high and the smallest tool I had at the time was a 3mm bit as you can see I tried to hack at it with a dremel but didn’t have the correct bit for this so ordered one and will do it when it arrives.





These 2 Tiny things are the LED lenses with some careful drilling and slight countersinking got them in snugly may fix them in with a tiny bit of glue just encase.







Search your scrap pile

Got this old piece of unknown grade of 8mm aluminum from a project years ago that I never used perfect just a few modifications to my design as I planned for 10mm but it won’t make any difference. Hack saw out to cut up into manageable pieces







Milling down the top and base to get a very smooth top and base and this is the first notch cut for this project



Few more drills and cuts still loving how smooth the face cuts are with the milling machine covers up my sawing skills



Drilled and tapped with in the background a notch for cables (will make this bigger if needed but should be ok. Notice how nice the brass polishes up even with just a tiny amount of elbow grease.







Started off using this generic countersink bit but it was so useless with this aluminium I needed something better so splashed out on a hardened metalwork bit.





As some on you keep eyed people out there will have seen I have missed out some holes this is on purpose as I want to check out other parts on this project before I drill just encase I need to make a modification or two. Once you drill it’s very hard to undo.
And here is a taste for the next big post... The sheet aluminum has arrived! See you soon guys

 

[Buckeyed]

I love multi-functional items.. a pc and something to scare burglars off.. awesome!

 

[gary996]

This is going to be epic

 

[Scooby_WR1]

This is going to be epic

+1

 

[hakank68]

wow, this page has just gone into my favourites

 

[hakank68]

what software have you used to design it ?

 

[Samaus]

what software have you used to design it ?

Google Sketch-up its really good for this kind of stuff just wish the graphics were a bit better but for free software I wont complain, a lot of people use it on this forum and there's a massive amount of tutorials out there. But one thing that sets it out is the 3D warehouse where there is a massive collection of generic PC parts you can just pickup and drop into your design

 

[hakank68]

Google Sketch-up its really good for this kind of stuff just wish the graphics were a bit better but for free software I wont complain, a lot of people use it on this forum and there's a massive amount of tutorials out there. But one thing that sets it out is the 3D warehouse where there is a massive collection of generic PC parts you can just pickup and drop into your design

thanks ill download it now and try some designs

 

[Samaus]

Sponsored by



The Framework

Late one pitch black night taking a load of material from the boot of a car wrapped in an old sheet just as the neighbors was arriving... I dread to think what they thought I was doing but anyway it was the laser cut 3mm aluminum and here it is in all its glory very nicely cut holes even the tiny ones



http://imgur.com/GOREUMc

But as you look closely as requested they didn’t bother cleaning up the material to cut down on cost. All it takes is a quick file on all the edges to get it to a smooth finish











This is Just a quick assembly to get an idea of the structure even though none of it is held together at this stage.





Ok can bolt together some of the base frame to test the fit and put some of the other bolts in to make it a bit more stable also a clamp at the end just so it holds together for the photos





A lot of countersinking but will that new bit hardly takes any time at all.





Mostly M4 countersunk hex bolts but the main place has some chunky M6 Bolts too (may see if i can find some plain headed bolts without the text on)







The Barrel air Intake

There where just two old fans I had lying around to test the fit but will be using some more impressive fans later on probably them vortex fans I read so much about that try to direct the air in a straight line rather then in all directions like a standard fan it will hopeful give the edge as It’s a long way for the air to travel through this case.



Test layout with an old PSU the one going in this is much bigger but good to get an impression of where this is heading also shown the blue ray drive sitting on the base support.



Cutting and milling down more supports this one being the central lower part that also one of 3 parts that holds the grip in place. You can see the difference in a hacksaw cut and then smoothed down will a 10mm end mill







Almost there... little too big



There we go



First tears fall

Hit my first snag this is one of the support bars I was drilling and the dam drill bit snapped off and is stuck deep inside so I have tried to mill down the side to get it out but this was unsuccessful bit of a pain but I don’t think there’s a need to restart this bar as the underside will be completely hidden from view, I still can get a tiny bit of thread and the other hold is fine, little snag but not too bad.





luckily holds together well



From now on keeping my drill bits as sharp as I can with this little grinder



Next post is going to be about the grip
Cheers guys

 

[Tattysnuc]

Very ambitious and ORIGINAL implementation. Subbed and looking forward to seeing how this pans out!!!!

Also - love the disclaimer

"Please note this isn’t a real gun it doesn’t fire anything at all nor am I trying to start a intergalactic war... hope I have made that clear don’t want to wake up one day because of a police weapons team is breaking down my front door"

 

[Ripjaw]

Cant wait to see this! Im presuming your going to enter a comp or two? And most likely win them! Good luck!