Project: Plasma Cannon

[Samaus]

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Got some good stuff to show you guys today this project is starting to slowly turn into a computer but first beer anyone? Still makes me smile and works really well too . Im drinking this while I type this log cheers

So you seen in the last post I showed you where I plan to have the motherboard this time I need to make a motherboard tray. I searched high and low for a tray that I liked but unfortunately didn’t manage to find one so came up with a plan to make one . the technical parts of a tray can be very difficult its not just a bunch of holes in a sheet of material there’s IO ports to worry about and expansion bays that have to be exactly the right size or it won’t fit. So first step cut a piece of material and mark the stand-off points this time I’m using a sheet of 3mm clear frosted Perspex. The corner chuck is taken off to allow room for the lower fan.

If you have had any dealing with pc cases or motherboard you will have so many of these you’re in danger of becoming a hoarder!... so I got a handful of theses and picked out a suitable amount all at the same height.

I ran a few test runs on this material to find a suitable drill size and method of fixing without cracking the plastic. Decided to use a 2.5mm bit but also heat the stand-off with a blow torch (sorry lost the photo) not too hot so it instantly melts the plastic but just enough so when screwed in the heat vastly reduces the chance of cracking or splitting.

All in place (may add the extra middle one if needed) originally i was going to have a mATX board but now I'm planning to go for a full AXT Board but its very tight for room!

Next stage was to make the IO port bay and the expansion slot area so I found this old case I had and decided to use the back plate on it.

Time to drill out those Rivets.

Now you’re all expecting me to take a dermal to this... nope now i have freed the back panel from the case I can easily fit it on my scroll saw.

Its a dream to cut it flys through this really thin aluminium and a very clean cut. Far better then I would have been able to achieve with a mini rotary tool!

I was worried about losing a lot of the strength with this part but it was surprisingly strong

Next stage was to cut a slot in the tray to allow for the slot in expansion cards. Simple 5mm end mill use with plenty of room but fins in the back plate will give the support and this slot is a bit of extra room so no pressure is put on the motherboard tray.

A Test Fit... (This is an old motherboard but is the same size as the one I intend to buy)

Now as I’m using an ATX motherboard I’m going to have to modify the case to allow for the extra gap between graphics cards that most motherboards at the time of this build have.

So a little trim down on the back Panel to allow for the Space you can see the gap I have let for the first graphics card (double space) then a blank the another single with is going the be a double card so may have to modify the back plate on the card also! With such a big case its going to be tight for room inside.

As graphics card are so big and this extra gap I have to take a chuck out of the side panel. Marked out and cut out to allow for up to 12 inch 2nd card

I also had to take a chunk out of the side panel to allow for extra power cables and water cooling pipes

So back to the motherboard cut 3 spacers out so for the bolts holding the tray in place so the tray doesn’t flex.

Now in place and bolted down

Added the test motherboard, a old graphics card and a audio card to represent the position of the 2nd graphics card.

As you may see the board is at a slight angle this is intentional so that the 2nd graphics card has a little extra room

A few little extras in this log removed the lower res as finally the hole saw size that I needed (120mm) arrived and was able to cut this out

Old fan fitted and then back on with the aqua computer aquatube Res. Now you can see the reason for the spaces to allow the hot airflow to escape the case from the lower fan

You may recall the card reader and usb bay from a very early post now its back again! The rear card reader and UBS ports bay need to be done so I removed the rear support beam trimmed the top off as this was a bit over the top and span riveted the bay casing onto the support.

On the back I hammered the back of the snap rivets to give as soon as possible area so I wouldn’t have to fill down one of the lower panels.

Brass Plate fitted and looking not too bad

One final thing for this build to get the blue ray play fitted. A lot of builds these days don’t bother with cd/dvd/bluray dives, I have to admit I rarely use mine myself but I have the room in the case and may as well use it ;D

So first step was to cut out some spaces to raise the drive so the bay is flush with the opening.

Next fitted the 4 bolts holding the drive in place it’s nice to find a way that has fixing holes underneath the drive so I don’t have to drill another bunch of holes in the side of the case. Not every drive has theses lucky me

I think I should replace that blue ray cover to a brass plate. its a little out of place even though its nice what do you guys think?

Hope you enjoyed it guys’ cya next time

 

[Samaus]

Thanks Guys

Yeah, brass plate for sure!

The brass plate sounds cool.

that's settled then I will replace it with a engraved brass plate

By the time this is finished, the hernia cannon may be a more suitable name! It already looks really heavy.

haha it is get really heavy now. I actually got a nice wooden desk/side cabinet for it to stand on but I'm going to have to strengthen it to prevent it from warping over time due to the weight .

I really want to tell you guys what I'm planning to do with the weight of this project but I have to have to wait till the end before I can

i came in thinking it might be a PC with overkill on lighting.

You haven't seen the lighting system I am using yet. I'm really looking forward to it and hope it will blow some minds just hole on 3-4 more build posts and should be easily into that stage.

First of all, Samaus, I would like to thank you very much.
You have inspired me to set up a proper workshop myself.
I will be getting a workbench and some proper tools next week

Excellent! If I was to recommend anything it would be a scroll saw and a pillar drill far more accurate then a hand drill.

spend a little extra on good drill bits and saw blades I went for cheep blades at first and now I would never go back.

 

[Samaus]

Build Post 18

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After struggling to find a suitable vent for the side panels I have given up and decided to stick with my original plan of having just a black mesh coving them. So got a offcut of aluminium tube 60mm diameter with 5mm walls.

Marked up and ready to cut

Once the cuts were made I milled them down to a smooth finish on the milling machine.

First 3 test pieces theses are 16mm high 6mm will be covered by the side panel thickness leaving 10mm sticking out.

Fitted some black mesh that I had leftover from a previous pc case.

Rings fitted... What do you guys think do those stick out too much? Maybe I should mill a bit more down.

Next the first lot of brass milled plates has been done! (Cheers Paul and Simon at work!)

The first one is the surround for the peilter controller and lighting switches. So marked out and cut/drilled the aluminium behind it.

And the back side still got clearance to get the pipes to the water block but not much!

Now the side plates first by cutting down a backing for them.

Sanded down to be flush with the brass.

Then I did something called Flame polishing. Using the fine flame head (should really be smaller than this but was ok) pass the flame over the plastic at first its tricky to get the speed correct. Too slow and you will just melt it, too fast and it won’t have much of a effect, and multiple passed may damage the edges. Here you can see a before and after shots.

I bolted the plastic backing onto the side of the case then once ready I’m going to use some adhesive to attach the plate.

Just got some smaller parts arrive! so on with theses.

Fitted the Pump to the motherboard tray (still has the protective covering)

Fitted the res a bit small for this type of system but any bigger and it would have locked out of place.

Fitted some stand-offs for the radiator and will probably get some rubber to make a gasket for it.

Also tested fitting this little gem it’s a light sequencer and will control the barrel lights.

unfortunately this one had a dry solder joint on one of the pins so this had to be repaired (cheers Lee for your macro lens!)

Test fitted theses and the real fans on the barrel end (also got the hard drive bay in view too!)

And with the cover back on

That’s all fitting well so now onto the interesting part! Linking the light sequencer with the fans (I’m by far not the first one to do this, you should check out 'Tealcs' tutorial at http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18172810 )

So made a little guide that helped getting the correct position for the 12 LEDS I needed to fit theses fans are perfect for this kind of job. The fan simply pops off and all the sides are easily accessible due to the removable corners.

Into the mill to drill the holes required with a 3mm bit

All drilled

Some simple tools to get started (going to use the blowtorch for the heat shrink)

The first one 24 to go for this part over 100 I think in total for this project!

Heat shrunk fitted this didn’t take very long to do but did burn myself once or twice ;p

Now fitting them to the fans, I used hot melt to hold them in place little messy but all of this will be hidden from view afterwards

Fitted the controller to the frame and a handy connected so will help with later fitting and if I ever need to remove it.

Some time latter all fitted and tested!

And a little treat of a video sorry about the poor quality, my camera had difficulty with the lights! The controller is set on random mode at standard speed. It can be set on any mode and any speed

List of Blinking/Fading Sequences (32 modes)
1. LOOP ALL MODES
2. COMET
3. COMET BACK AND FORTH
4. TRAIN
5. TRAIN BACK AND FORTH
6. BOUNCE
7. COLLISION
8. SEPARATION
9. CENTER BUILD UP FROM LEFT AND RIGHT
10. CENTER BUILD UP FROM LEFT AND RIGHT (RANDOM OFF)
11. DOOR CLOSING
12. SPRING
13. CRISS-CROSS (RANDOM OFF)
14. CRISS-CROSS (SLOW OFF)
15. CENTER BUILD UP FROM LEFT, THEN RIGHT
16. CENTER BUILD UP FROM LEFT, THEN RIGHT (RANDOM OFF)
17. PENDULUM
18. 1 DOT WATER FLOW
19. 1 DOT WATCH FLOW BACK AND FORTH
20. 2 DOTS WATER FLOW
21. 2 DOTS WATER FLOW BACK AND FORTH
22. 3 DOTS WATER FLOW
23. 3 DOTS WATER FLOW BACK AND FORTH
24. 4 DOTS WATER FLOW
25. 4 DOTS WATER FLOW BACK AND FORTH
26. FADE IN, FADE OUT
27. FLASHING (STROBE)
28. FLASHING (STROBE) LEFT AND RIGHT
29. FLASHING (STROBE) POLICE LIGHT
30. ALTERNATE FADE IN AND OUT
31. RANDOM ON, RANDOM OFF
32. DISCO LIGHTS

Here is the manufactures demo as well to show the modes a little clearer. In the above order

And my video

Thats all for now guys hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Samaus]

hehe its heavy! that's all I'm saying for now

 

[Samaus]

Thanks Guys!

After a few votes I think you deserve a better view for the 42secs in effect So here it is!

I like how the light is reflecting off the inside of the barrel to give it a sparky feel

By the way this isn't the finished effect on the barrel more to come! but need a few more parts to arrive and wiring up of the trigger before i can show you.

stay tuned

oh and this little circuit stores its setting if power is removed so no constantly finding the desired setting each time you turn the pc on

 

[Samaus]

Thanks for all the support guys. It keeps this project going strong. I should have another post for you soon been some ups and downs with the project stay tuned.

Those brass plates are STUNNING!

What sort of aproximate cost are they for something similar if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks dude Its hard to say really the company I work for has all the equipment and software needed also I can programme them but they don't do one-off jobs like this they do big production runs.If your really interested PM me and I can see what I can do. that's about all I can say without breaking the no selling rules.

 

[Samaus]

Sponsored by

Hi Guys Sorry for the long delay been having some bad luck recently but also some good luck . My main pc is out of action due to some kind of motherboard issue but on the other side I’m moving home to a place that has a nice big garage so this project will really start to move quickly.

This one is going to be a short post as I don’t think I haven’t taken a good amount of shots for some of the stages I have done for this post so I am going to leave them for the next but don’t worry it will be one of the first things I do when I’m unpacked even got another you tube video ready for you (haven’t uploaded it yet though so don’t bother trying to find it )

The Stand

Ok so I started work on the stand made from yet more aluminium. Originally was going to be Perspex rod but I think the weight of the pc is going to crack a Perspex stand so aluminium was the only way to go.
Got myself 2x 22mm aluminium tube with 1.5mm wall a Pipe Bender and a 22mm solid rod.

First bend went well but it’s tough stuff to bend.

Going well so far got the first piece into a basic shape as a guide for the second.

Second pipe and first first 2 bends went smoothly but then my luck runs out CRACK! The dam 22mm wheel snaps in two Typical! Just 2 bends left and it breaks! AHHHH!

I tried to see if I could get it welded back together but unfortunately as its cast Steel it cannot be welded. I tried using araldite but with no luck even a small amount of pressure and the tool gave way.

So until I get a new pipe bender I can’t finish the stand So I started to do a few extra electronics and prepare some areas for electronics, yet again got some more LEDS but this time they are 5mm “straw hat” LEDS theses are a lot shorter than your standard LED so will be ideal for the side panels of the plasma chamber as I didn’t want them to protrude into the plastic blue sides.

On the right a standard 5mm LED and on the left a “straw hat” LED

Sometime later wired up some LEDs

And test Fitted I have countersunk theses holes on the side panel to allow the LED holder to fit flush.

I wish I had more photos for you but I didn’t want to miss out important chunks so I’m going to try and distract you with some of the planning work. Here is the Water-cooling chain I would be interested in your thoughts on this remember as it’s such a unusual case I have had to work out a plan that will suit the component layout.

And all the water-cooling connectors and cost all from overclockers uk (cost may have changed since posting this)

Now some more electronics lists. this is most of the main connectors and controllers and where they are going.

Hopefully have another post for you next week when I’m done unpacking.

 

[Samaus]

Sponsored by

Hi Guys, Thanks again for all the positive responses

Finally moved in so I can continue the plasma cannon project, the end of year target is getting very close so I better get some stuff done.

Blue ray drive
Ok so some of you remember that the grip hat a hat switch on it this is going to be replace with a simple momentary switch and that is going to be wired into the Blue ray eject switch.

I removed the base plate of the drive to revel the switch and led circuit and located the pins I needed to solder . and also drilled a small hole to feed the wires through.

A simple positive and negative wire with a 2 pin plug on the end.

Next was to wire up the switch in the grip but first I need to tidy up the grip itself. A Repay to get rid of the button text and to freshen it up.

Next was to re-spray all the Buttons and caps With Brass Paint. Originally i was going to replace theses with brass plates but due to the ones in the grip being a very unusual shape i changed my mind.

The Trigger I wanted to bulk up a big so i cut 2 tiny insets and fitted them as well as soldering in the trigger switch

The 4 way directional hat switch has been replace with a single momentary switch for the blue ray eject .

next Task was to Glue in the side buttons as these are just aesthetic (no need to have theses as functional buttons)

Time to put it back together

Looking smart and stable with its metal support frame inside

Now to Bring the two parts together i put a single 2 pin socket between them just encase I needed to separate them later and makes it a lot easier to assemble later.

Was about time I tested out some of the lighting for the side panels So I drilled several 5mm holes into the frosted red panels just touching the aluminum the other side. and wired up a single LED with a inline resistor.

With a simple 9v batter it's a quick test. The results were OK I may have to increase the amount of LED's to get a even flow of light. and find some way of blocking some of the white light that's escaping from the LED.

Also did a quick board with connectors to allow the side panel to be easily removed

Next was to get the case ready for painting/protective coat So first was the barrel Strip down and sanded down to as smooth as i could get it. I am still a little unsure if I should just put a protective coat directly onto the aluminum or paint it first...

Next was the side panels and all the other Pieces that required cleaning

This may surprise some I think I'm going to try the sides and belly of the case being polished aluminum. Though may plan is still to create a battle warn effect so this polish isn't going to be perfect not by a long shot.

So first ran a angle grinder over with a quick white block polish (I stopped near the end so you could see the difference) and also a shot of my new workshop

Then I went over it again in a blue compound polish but as you can see not a perfect finish. I Hope this is a good choice!

Paint

Been dreading this part as I have little Painting experience but here goes. My choice of color is candy deep red from Kustom Cans (paints)

After covering my work bench with a old cloth I found a scrap piece of metal and gave the colour a try.

Not too bad, please forgive the scratches and dust I didn't bother preparing this metal it was straight out of the scrap bin.

Cleaning down All the Parts with a 99% alcohol cleaner

Ok so after my Dexter style temporary spray booth to try and prevent any dust partials setting into the panels while there drying was made I applied the base coat.

After a few main coats I got the colour I wanted Though i fear i may of messed up on one part and may have to redo it. As this was only sprayed today I am not going to dare move them as there still wet so theses shots will have to do for now.

Much more still to come!

 

[Samaus]

Sorry for the delay guys I will try any put another post up as soon as I can, I have had some issues with painting and its been a busy time here with the holidays.

Im not saying the weight till its all finished may even have some kind of guess the weight competition haha. No guesses will be taken till the compitition starts and I have laid out some rules... and prizes .

 

[Samaus]

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Hi all got some progress after a busy Christmas. So as my previous post the painting didn’t go completely to plan so decided to send it off to be professionally painted.

Here are the photos I sent off for some quotes as you can see is not the best results even some of the items and the fully coloured parts are too dull. The beer can was just for a size compair

So before I sent the parts off, I made a few adjustments to the frame so that it could be sprayed as one piece without the need to mask off the plastic insides

There was also some various masking off on parts like this Aquacomputer res. Please excuse the water on the lenses.

So all boxed up and ready to go.

And Fingers cross the results are going to be really good! (EDIT! Stuff is painted and collecting it tomorrow!)

During the holidays Santa arrived aka DPD with an overclockers parcel. That contained some goodies! But some still to follow once I raise the funds needed!

The Cable Tidy

This part got a few tweaks from the original for example the spacing in-between the rings have a increased gap and after a suggestion from you guys to improve the method that the pipes join the rest of the cable tidy.

So this is you guessed it made of aluminium and brass. I got myself a small bolt cutter to make this a little easier.

With the 50mm diameter aluminium pipe with 2mm wall I cut it down the lots of 25mm section then cleaned them up on the milling machine.

Next add a few holes so I can fix them together.

Then after a bit of cleaning up they look really good.

Ok to sort the chain I cut it up into 5 links each and then used pliers to fit them back together.

So here is how the first section turned out.

Now just a quick test out the pipes and cables fit, all is good even the chunky DVI threads through with a little space all round.

Later on...

The larger ring is designed to hold the main pipe intake hopefully with some boiling water I can get theses pipes to sit nicely and retain their shape. If not I can use a elbow join connector.

Far later on... The remaining links I will add once the main case is assembled so I can better judge the amount of links needed.

While the panels are away being pained time to do a little electronics this is the controller for the Blue LEDS contained within the side panels the larger board is made for the fixed panel. And then the smaller one will be on the other side with connectors so it can be easily disconnected if needed.

Much more to come follow stay tuned.

 

[Samaus]

Sponsored by

Hi guys Got the parts back this morning and want to share some photos Hopefully get it assembled soon

so what do you think?

 

[Samaus]

I think I speak for a lot of people here - many projects have an idea.... never get started/ get started and binned and yet here you are pretty close to completion. Dedication and the skills involved are unreal.

Looks absolutely perfect, just the right shade. Not too glossy either, at least as far as the photos go?

Thanks Guys! I Really want to get it assembled but I really should wait a few days for the paint to really harden. It is a little bit glossy but im fine with that.

Whats up with that soda can?

Well thats one of my first scrach build pcs you can just make out the CD drive and some of the ports ontop (I hope to make another sometime). Its fully working last time I turned it on a few years ago. The sofa well thats just a sofa... At the moment....

 

[Samaus]

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Hi guys I have started to reassemble the case and its looking really good. First of all the cooling towers, originally I would have liked theses gold plated but the cost of doing that for such a big items was massive! So I gave it a really light spray of brass spray paint. Hopefully this won’t disrupt the cooling too much.

To get the fan power and rpm single line to the case I had to feed the cables down one of the screw holes but I had to widen it just a little to give me a better change of not getting the delicate contacts.

Took a little time but managed to feed through the cables.

Simple bolt together and towers are almost finished. Just a few finishing touches like these bolts I don’t want them sticking out so I have ground them down flush.

There we go looks much better now.

Now to attach the water block (with a PET Chiller between) and the mounting plate.

Same again for the other cooling tower

Now to start assembly of the rest of the case... So many bolts!

Really pleased with the paint i think the color is just right.

I turned the case upside-down to assemble the lower res and attach the lower cooling tower. Theses Koolance quick connects are really well engineered items. There just the perfect items for the aqua computer res.

Next was the hard drive bay this was tricky to attach mainly to the weight of it and I still didn’t have it fully loaded with drives I used some wire to hold it in place so I could attach it without sheering any bolt threads. I was so worried about the weight I even added an extra brace at the bottom just in case it slips out of the rubber bolts.

Quickly attached the front fans for a quick check. There is even room for another 2 120mm fans if I need them.

As I haven’t finished the stand yet this box will have to do for now.

Lower extractor fan attached and ready to also attach the second PET chiller.

Really tricky to attach as there are 4 bolts that are on the outside and I can only turn them a little bit at a time due to the limited space. And now for a quick test of the chillers top one ok! But the lower one isn’t cooling as much as the top chiller wonder if its faulty. I will check it out tomorrow as it will take me ages to remove it but luckily i have a spare.

That’s all for today I will get some more photos for you sometime next week.

 

[Samaus]

Post 23

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Hi All

Thanks for all the positive responces

This post may not have the variety of my other build posts but hopefully it will still entertain. So I have been wiring up and assembling the side panels this week. I also linked up an almost dead 9v battery to test it out but when it’s up at working this will be linked into the 12v rail of the PSU.

The Lighting system looks really good this is the same controller as the barrel lights but will be independently controlled with the same amount of flexibility with speed, power and sequence. The demo video shows it on random but I may if I have time get a stationary shot showing all the sequences.

A bit later on got the other partly assembled but still need to get all the electronics inside.

Below a quick test video, sorry about the poor video quality. and the little untidy garage

I think its about time I got that stand sorted, the cannon looks ridiculous on thatplastic box! (you can just aout see the 2 side bars to the stand on some of the images above)

anyway back to work! Cya next time.

 

[Samaus]

Thanks Guys for all your suport.

I have been lacking behind on the updates sorry guys! I have 100+ photos to upload but got a few stages that are half way done and I want to get them finished before I upload.

Im sure it wont be long

 

[Samaus]

Build Post 24

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Hi all

This post is going to be a bit of a jumble of progress reports unfortunately not all are finished. Ok then let's start at on the removable side panel. Shortly after I had finished the first panel and upload the images a friend of mine noticed that the colour of the LEDs on the side panel were different to the barrel, despite being from the same set the colour is noticeably different. So all they work on the side panel needed to be replaced with the exact same LEDs. This was even more of a pain as they were different sized LEDs 5mm - 3mm.

[image of difrent colour leds] ** Image wasent that good will get a new one tomorow**

As you can see from this shot the 3mm bezels protrude above the panel so all 24 had to be milled down flush.

Sometime later all LEDs fitted

Then I replaced the LEDs in the other panel.

A cable to link the two sides together

Then a quick test of both panels.

Next job was connecting up the wires in the upper panel so from these switches the barrel and side panel LEDs can be controlled, 2 sets of 2 for mode and speed.

After that I need a cable linking the switches to the LED controllers.

After that even more cables to do this in this case the hard drive sata power cables. The case can hold 8 drives but have left 2 spaces empty to allow better airflow.

Step by step got each power connector in place. I hope having all 6 drives on the same connector isn't going to be too much current I can always split them into 2 sets.

Here is the power fitted and also the internal Top LEDs in a strip just simple white LEDS.

This is just going to be a simple connection directly into the aqua computer multiswitch.

Onto some more cabling this one is the power lead for the blue ray drive, card reader and an extra External power socket. Only the front part of this is braded as that is the only visible area.

This small area below the PSU has got a huge amount of items going into it.

USB3 Data cable
USB Card Reader cable
2x Sata Data cable
Power for Blue ray
Power for Card Reader
External Power
2x PC power Switches with LED Power indicator
2x Reset Switches
2x HDD access LEDS
Blue ray Eject cable
Trigger Switch cable
2x Water cooling Temp Sensor cables (in/out)

And...

4x Water cooling bulkheads
2x water-cooling temp sensor housing
2x right angle connects
4x Barb Fittings
2x tubing (apx 100mm long each)

PHEW!

This is part of the cables for the power switches and reset switches

And the other reset switch this one is a pain as I have lost one of the. Screws for holding the cables in place so it had to be soldered.

This is a extra fitting for external power just incase I do any future upgrades

And some cables need to have black electrical tape to prevent the original colour shining through the braiding.

Time to get in the first of the water cooling fittings. I wanted to get theses big chunky items in before I ran out of room.

Using boiling water to soften the pipe to make it easier to fit onto the barbs. You can just about see the pipe.

Checking the connections as you can see here the jubilee clip is shorting out the reset switch. That was soon fixed.

Next was the mark up all the contacts as it's tricky to keep track of them. Next time these are used they should be put in the asus motherboard.

That's it all the stuff is in there with not much room to spare.

And all you see from the outside is theses 6 cables. When I get a chance I will test theses water cooling parts before I seal up this area by fixing the PSU in place. because its such a pain to get too if they spring a leek. Hopefully that will never happen as they all have new seals and have PETF thread tape.

The PSU isn't going to be bolted in place it's going to have a friction fit by fitting the sides with a thin rubber. This should also reduce any vibrating cause by the PSU.

I wanted to check out the spacing for the cables now there in place so back on with the mother board tray but first I needed to replace the brass spacers with something more substantial due to all extra weight add due to the waterblocks.

Much better feels a lot more stable.

It's really starting to come together now Still lots of fiddly work to do though.

The RAM Water block

After all that work on the cables I needed a break so decided to do some other work to the computer internals. In this part it was the RAM water block. Started off with an EK water block but the design doesn't really fit this case. Looking back I should have just made one from scratch. But anyway here we go.

Started off by removing the top

Looking forward to taking those horrible circles off with the mill.

After a few seconds all the circles are gone Yay!

Under all that swarf a nice smooth top but still has some visible machine marks

Needs a bit more work those machine marks are far too visible.

A quick clean up to get rid of the marks with some 2000 grit aluminium oxide paper.

Looking good but not there yet.

Also took the time to polish up the copper base as well.

Using some peek polishing compound I buffed up the plastic as much as I could.

What do you think guys? nice and clear (well apart from a few drops of water )

I tried replacing the black Bolts but I don't think this is a advantages especially with the black gasket visible. the silver bolt tops are slightly bigger and protrude over the plastic. was worth seeing how they looked but will I will stick with the black bolts.

The next stage is to find someone who will brass plate the base block. so it fits in with the cases colour scheme. I have sent off for a few quotes but have yet to receive a reply.

The GPU Backplate

Hope you enjoy this guys I really did. A slight addition to the design as there is little custom parts on the motherboard.

So started off with 2 XSPC Back plates I picked theses as there nice and flat , have all the holes I need and on the other side they have the exact spacing needed to cool the chips on the back of the graphics card.

A small scratch on a non visible areas just to confirm what its bade of and yep it's a high grade aluminium.

Now to remove the coating. at first this was looking promising but after I removed the soft outer It became really hard to remove. So time to take out the power tools. (unfortunately theses plates are too big to go into my milling machine.

Slowly managed to get all the coating off

[images of sanded plate] ** Image wasent that good will get a new one tomorow**

Next thing is to get the back plates CNC Milled (thanks Paul and Simon from work for getting them milled).

A few drill holes to bolt the plate to the GPU the rest will be under the plastic cover.

The inside of the barrel has now got a narrow hole mesh attached . Cut from a 500mm square sheet.

One Last teaser for this post thats all i will say. I'm going to save the stand till next post as it still needs more work.

Hope you enjoyed this post. The next one won't be too far away.

 

[Samaus]

Hi all just recived good news Monsoon is now sponsoring this project YAY!

 

[Samaus]

Cheers Guys for all your support

I've got a question, When using that Peek Polishing Compound did you just use a cloth and polish it by hand or use a machine? I ask as the finish you've got is superb and I've after removing some fine scratches on the inside of my case window, so any help would be brilliant.

It was just done by hand with a cloth only took a few seconds. But using the peek compound is a final stage if you have visible scratches I would highly recommend using some 1500 or 2000 grit aluminium oxide paper first then use the peek after. If you put peek on before the material is ready the compound will just go into the scratch and become more visible not less visible.

I'm not sure if peek do a plastic Polish the one I used is really for metal but in the end they are all very similar

[edit] Even I didn't go straight to peek I had to sand mine down first. If it's a deep scratch I would say use 600 grit then 1500 or 2000 and finally use peek.

 

[Samaus]

Thanks guys for all your suport got another post on the way hopefully be done by the end of the day. Just doing a quick post to answer the questions I have missed

Absolutely superb work mate, simply amazing. Do you have any idea when your aiming to get this finished, as where abouts are you going to put it once it's fully complete?

Im long overdue my target time of Christmas but im close now!

that is so awsome! how much has it set you back?

Lets just say far too much! the case cost far outweighs the parts I can afford to put in it. Im still hoping my last sponsor will pull through for me.

Absolutely amazing build, gobsmacked. This is the best I could manage

Cool nice clean case Funny that you mention a raspberry Pi at one point I was tempted to have all the lighting controlled via a Pi. I may even change this at a much later date shouldn't be too bad to write a simple programme/Script to control the sequence in the order I want (similar to what I do as a job) also would be able to link it into the trigger controls. But that's for another day sorry guys!

Keep tuned guys another post on its way soon. apx 60 images

 

[Samaus]

What's the name of the pins/header used in the picture linked above? I've needed something like that a few times but I don't know what to search for.

That's a 13pin PCB header but I also had trouble finding connectors that are suitable and the one I used really isn't the best, I ran into issues amount like they were either far too big or too many pins. Try searching for ##pin electrical connector/header (replacing ## with the quantity of pins you require). Hope that helps