Project : Purple Rain

Brizzles · 21 Oct 2009 at 21:24

Thanks for the comments

Made a start on the re-tubing.

Out went the white tubing and in came the braided tubing ;

Looks far better imo.

A bit different from standard tubing

More to come.........

Brizzles · 25 Oct 2009 at 19:46

Cheers for the replies.

The tubing will be a Marmite thing, i guess.

The white tubing was fine, but i wanted something different - So only when its finished will i see whether it was a good or bad move

Anyway, bit of an update.

A few more bits done.

To cutdown on cabling, i made a small SATA power cable for the 2 HDDs and the DVD drive.

Cut the wires to length;

Strip the sleeving at the required points;

Heatshrink the wiring that will show;

Add the braiding;

Then just slot the bare wires in the correct slots on the connector.

Brizzles · 25 Oct 2009 at 19:48

More tubing has been braided, here's some random shots;

My camera doesn't like purple and turns it into blue for some reason

Cheers for looking

Brizzles · 7 Nov 2009 at 15:31

Another small update before i disappear for a couple of weeks holiday

Am going to use the 2 120mm roof fans for some internal lighting.

3mm white LEDs with metal bezels;

Enlarge the fan screw hole by a couple of mm , then simply fasten the nut to the back of the bezel;

Even though it will be on the roof, and out of sight, more braiding.....

Brizzles · 7 Nov 2009 at 15:33

More braiding of tubing, have moved on to 2nd loop for the OCZ Flex memory ;

Had some fan grills cut.

The inner ones here are backed with standard/small hole MeshX, so the back of the radiator is not visible;

All the other fans will be grilled, but will be backed with white Hex, or honeycombed, mesh to allow airlow and not to obscure the fans.

A couple of semi-darks;

Nice tidy work area

Thanks for looking, back soon :thumb:

Brizzles · 7 Nov 2009 at 21:31

GJS1 said:
hey, just a ad confused about the leds, how have you powered them up (like connected them to what?) thanks

Straight to molex, they have a resistor inline for 12v.

I was going to splice them onto the fan power cable, but that would mean that they would dim if i lowered the fan voltage too much via the controller.

Cheers.

Brizzles · 7 Nov 2009 at 22:06

GJS1 said:
and are they just setup in series after that?

Yes

Brizzles · 3 Dec 2009 at 14:01

Update time

Back from my break, and after looking at the current state of the build, i didn't like what i saw.

It was getting far too dark inside, with all the matching braid, and lighting didn't do enough to convince me to keep the braided tubing.

Another reason was getting the ends tidy, using heatshrink still left small gaps at the compression fitting ends.

I haven't given up on the idea of braided tubing, and from what i've learnt here, i'll know exactly the size tube and fittings to use to get a perfect fit next time ( always a next build ! ).

So, as i'd kept the original white tubing pieces, it was back to the original plan

Some of the smaller internal lighting;

The CPU block:

The LED ' tree' for the 2 bay reservoirs ( 3x5mm LEDs for the Dual bay and 2x5mm LEDs for the single bay):

Brizzles · 3 Dec 2009 at 14:02

Will be using smoked acrylic to replace the clear windows on the original case.

Had it supplied cut to size as it was the same price as a sheet, and saved me some work.

All i had to do was use the originals as templates and drill the mounting holes;

Then wrapped up to try and keep the dust off ( near impossible to do with acrylic ! )

A rough idea of the effect ;

Brizzles · 3 Dec 2009 at 14:03

I will be using braid for the RAM loop however.

I've deliberately used smaller braid so that it stretches when over the tubing. This will hopefully show the purple water through the braid to create somthing abit different.

These are the fan grills i will be using throughout the case, they will all be backed with mesh that has been sprayed white.

This is the internal radiator shroud ( the main airflow fans will have a slightly different mesh ).

All things being well, should have it up and running next week ( Thats usually the kiss of death ! )

Cheers for looking in

Mark

Brizzles · 3 Dec 2009 at 20:21

Thanks for the positive comments above, keeps me keen to finish it

Monkey Puzzle said:
Not so sure about those white mesh backings behind the fan grills though - looks very restrictive.

The mesh in the picture is for the internal shroud only ( more to hide the radiator behind than for performance ).

The mesh for the intake fans is a different size, to allow better airflow, it has roughly 2.5mm holes and better spacing.

This stuff, but will be sprayed white :

Cheers.

Brizzles · 4 Dec 2009 at 19:16

shadowscotland said:
I like the looks of the fitting you have on the EK 3a's - are they adaptors with a compression added or a complete unit?

They are standard comp. fittings with 45 degree rotary fittings attached.

Makes the routing a lot easier.

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:37

More work completed

The mesh for the fan grills arrived on Friday, so i had most of the weekend to crack on with buliding.

Last time i tried to drill mesh i managed to snag it on the drill bit, so instead of drilling the mounting holes i cut the corners off the mesh squares.

De burred and ready for spraying ( 5 down, 4 to go ).

Into the high tech spraying workshop ( Well, bathroom and 3 tins of Mushy Peas and a tin of Baked Beans !)

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:38

Front fan grills completed and mounted.

Mounting the pump for the RAM loop, hidden behind the radiator shroud.

Both finished;

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:40

Onto some internal lighting.

Didn't want to use cathodes as they are hard to hide and they have nasty inverters with them.

Welcome to these babies, SMD LED tape.

Self adhesive, low profile (so can be hidden), can be cut to just the right size and brighter than cathodes.

Here's some test shots of the UV lighting;

Should be leak testing tommorrow, all being well.

Cheers for now

Mark

Brizzles · 8 Dec 2009 at 12:03

Cheers guys

The LED strip was supplied by my new sponsor for my lighting and LED supplies ;

http://www.phenoptix.com

I have used them for some time, and highly recommend them for their service and quality.

They have kindly agreed to supply me with the lighting to finish this product, so big thanks to Ben at Phenoptix.com.

As these were only testing photos of the strips, i'll post in a bit more detail when i've finalised the position of the internal lighting.

Monkey Puzzle said:
How do you power them - just solder a molex connector to the connections of one end of them?

Its that simple, Yes.

They are supplied in a continous strip,pre resistored for 12volt, you just cut the strip to size. I'll post in more detail about them soon.

Thanks for all the comments

Mark

Brizzles · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:03

Back again with a small update

Finally completed the wiring

With windows on all sides and no motherboard panel, or bottom chamber, to hide the wiring i had to make small molex leads and other lighting wiring.

Before :

After ;

(Certainly not perfect, but tidy anyway.)

And fitted the internal fan covers and mesh ;

Brizzles · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:04

As it was a rare day in December that wasn't grey, i put on 2 of the panels just for some semi-finished pics.

( Not powered up, so no case lighting )

To do;

1) Fit the Reservoir fronts, that kinda match the fans grills ( Delayed by Christmas post ).

2) A good polish

3) Finished photos, when i borrow my dads camera.

Thanks for looking, and have a good xmas all.

Cheers,

Mark

Brizzles · 1 Jan 2010 at 18:22

Well the big bloke in red with the white beard brought me a failing mobo, or faulty PSU, or both !

To semi quote Gene Kranz :

I've never given up on a build, i'm sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch!

Failure is not an option.

Out will come the trusty Asus Maximus Formula SE which has served me well.

EDIT 4/1/10 ( Turns out it was just the CMOS battery causing the issues, but im upgrading anyway

)

In will go the rather tasty looking Asus Maximus II GENE iP45.

mATX will give me a nice option for smaller builds in the future, something i've often looked at.

So nothing really to add to this thread, other than it will get finished

On with replacing the watercooling and redoing all the wiring and rebraiding the next PSU.

Back soon.

Cheers.

Mark

Brizzles · 1 Jan 2010 at 19:15

Couple of things i can add

The leds strips, i said i'd post abit more about them.

They are supplied in 'strips' - 1 strip = 3 leds

Multiple strips are supplied in a continous length, then you just cut to suit.

The are pre-resistored to take a 12v current, so just solder + and - to a molex.

DISCLAIMER - SOLDERING IRONS ARE HOT, I'VE GOT THE SCARS TO PROVE IT !!

OK, wood might not be the best heat resistant material, but it allows the iron to cool down without torching your house.

Last up, my reservoir fronts/fascias.

1 for the double, 1 for the single bay res.

Have added ' dummy' bolt heads for effect in the corners

I'll fit them when i've sorted the new watercooling .

Cheers and Happy New Year