Project Stealthlow

[Judgeneo]

Subbed a while ago. Great stuff here mate, seriously tempted to splash out on some kind of case project when I next build a machine

 

[waynio]

How long you think it will be now, starting to look better than it did when it looked awesome, so i dont exactly know where that leaves it

Had any ideas for another project while working on this one ?

Hmmm really don't know when it'll be complete, depends on how the pci piece & mobo mountings go, I'd say that is the most important part to get spot on so I'm taking my time on it, pretty much just focusing on 1 bit at a time, I'll get a jig made up today & then leave fixing it together until tomorrow, my right hand has grown from all the filing lol so a day off should help .

Ideas for a new project, not really but since this one is a rematch with my first scratch build with added ideas & challenge & me having my rematch of the cube case both out of the way I'll be doing something very different that isn't based on anything out there but you can bet the pci/io & mobo mount holes will be the same as any other , but I really want to do a retail case mod for a change as I've never done a forum displayed case mod & with my newly developed skills & knowledge I think I could do something pretty sweet & to be honest it could work out a lot cheaper to do, big old case off ebay or something could be the way I go for that or a cheap case elsewhere, preferably aluminium though .

Subbed a while ago. Great stuff here mate, seriously tempted to splash out on some kind of case project when I next build a machine

Thanks Judgeneo, I didn't jump in at the deep end on scratch building, started off with basics like cooling mods & windows etc but went straight from that to scratch builds, was rough for my first 2 but after that it started getting easier, I could recomend some starter tools if you want .

About the current delay.
Forgot to login to say it's on hold until I get the 15mm bolts for holding the pci pieces together, ordered them yeasterday & been told I could expect them to arrive on friday .

 

[waynio]

Rolling on again .

Today I thought why not just make the pci/io jig for while I drill 2.5mm holes for fixing the plates together & used some 2.5mm nuts & bolts while I file them so they blend together better, inside work is done on the 4 plates while the slotted plate needs finishing & the exterior needs the same inside treatment to look good, but yeah I'm liking how they are turning out & the 2.5mm holes are ready to be tapped for m3 bolts .

Think it took about 2 to 3 hours this.

Also while I was getting busy doing this & came back over to see if the bolts had come they have so I have the 15mm m3 countersunk bolts & the m6 countersunk bolts for the case feet (wanted to replace the standard bolts for countersunk ones) but thinking about it I might go with the easy option of using the stock bolts, undecided on that .

 

[Diggsy]

Great work as always mate.

Now maybe I'm being a little thick here, but is that definately the right way up?

Looks to me that the piece with the slots should be at the other side if you see what I mean?

Edit: looking at your last image in post 256 above, to me that is the correct layout?

 

[MouthBoy]

Great work as always mate.

Now maybe I'm being a little thick here, but is that definately the right way up?

Looks to me that the piece with the slots should be at the other side if you see what I mean?

Edit: looking at your last image in post 256 above, to me that is the correct layout?

I noticed that too and I am glad you said it before it as I thought I was going mad. I actually spend the last 1minute looking at my rig and the image to see if there was an obvious reason.

 

[waynio]

Great work as always mate.

Now maybe I'm being a little thick here, but is that definately the right way up?

Looks to me that the piece with the slots should be at the other side if you see what I mean?

Edit: looking at your last image in post 256 above, to me that is the correct layout?

LOL correct you are, when you mentioned that I looked at the pics again & then went over to check it out & yep, put the slotted 1 on the wrong side, just glad I can LOL about it as I just took it off the wrong end & put it on the correct end & all is good , I had them dismantled while I was filing the inside edges of the none slotted ones & must have put it back on the wrong side, d'oh thanks for pointing that out though mate before I took it for granted that it was right , but LOL .

I noticed that too and I am glad you said it before it as I thought I was going mad. I actually spend the last 1minute looking at my rig and the image to see if there was an obvious reason.

LOL it's sorted now but those pictures will probably get similar responses so I better update that alls ok .

 

[ch3333z]

Is it just me or does the pci/io panel look like a big "thumbs up"?
Great work btw, you have put an amazing amount of effort into this.

 

[Diggsy]

LOL correct you are, when you mentioned that I looked at the pics again & then went over to check it out & yep, put the slotted 1 on the wrong side, just glad I can LOL about it as I just took it off the wrong end & put it on the correct end & all is good , I had them dismantled while I was filing the inside edges of the none slotted ones & must have put it back on the wrong side, d'oh thanks for pointing that out though mate before I took it for granted that it was right , but LOL .

I'm just glad you hadn't glued it all together - that would've been a nightmare

 

[waynio]

Is it just me or does the pci/io panel look like a big "thumbs up"?
Great work btw, you have put an amazing amount of effort into this.

A thumb with 7 fingers lol .
Thanks ch3333z still want to get it all anodised but I'll have to paint some parts matt black the rest I should be able to get the helicoils out for while it gets anodised, I figure that is the best solution .

I'm just glad you hadn't glued it all together - that would've been a nightmare

Would be a good solution to use adhesive to put them together but I want to get it anodised so that's out of the question really, to be honest all the prep work to have things ready for anodising seems a lot of bother & interferes with the build quite a lot especially with things like helicoils or inserts so maybe a clear primer, then a candy paint & then a clear lacquer is what I should be aiming for with all this.

Also been looking around for a low profile 2x4GB good performance RAM kit same type of performance as the OCZ RAM currently used @ 1600 7,8,7,24 as I've had to resort to using CleanMem & so far since my last reboot yesterday morning it's stayed fine keeping the mem usage nice & low even after a couple of gaming sessions, much browsing, media, lil bit of design so maybe I'll be fine just sticking with that for a while as right now it's at 33% usage out of 4GB, the RAM with high profile heatsinks must be meant for watercooling.

 

[waynio]

I tried, I failed at making my own wish it were billet pci/io piece lol bleep happens, 1 of the bolts snapped in half & is stuck in the piece & the hole is countersunk so can't hide that & can't accept such a big imperfection so I drilled a spare pci/io piece off an old case & I'll go with that now, 2 things I'm gutted about: 1 the amount of time ultimately wasted on making this part. 2: it was starting to turn out awesome.

Also the 15mm bolts I ordered were 13mm this is why I had to countersink deeper so they'd stretch the full length.

I know I could fix it by filling all the holes & using adhesive to stick them together but that's not a standard I'd be truly happy with so I'm gonna try to forget about it & use the standard piece.

 

[Judgeneo]

I tried, I failed at making my own wish it were billet pci/io piece lol bleep happens, 1 of the bolts snapped in half & is stuck in the piece & the hole is countersunk so can't hide that & can't accept such a big imperfection so I drilled a spare pci/io piece off an old case & I'll go with that now, 2 things I'm gutted about: 1 the amount of time ultimately wasted on making this part. 2: it was starting to turn out awesome.

Surely you can remove the bolt by buying some very strong glue, and glueing the broken end of the bolt onto another smaller bolt. Then unscrew it out? Araldite should do the trick, or am I missing something?

 

[waynio]

Surely you can remove the bolt by buying some very strong glue, and glueing the broken end of the bolt onto another smaller bolt. Then unscrew it out? Araldite should do the trick, or am I missing something?

Hehe I've tried that on past projects & is nowhere near up to the job, luckily after food & sleep & thinking about an alternative solution I've done it .

I was premature about calling it a failure .

So here's what I done.

I did the rest of the bolts to hold the plates together & the failed 1 I ignored & did a new bolt very close to it, had to grind the bolt down so it was correct length, then started on the mounting holes for attaching the piece to the mobo tray & back panel, used wd-40 on all the drilling, tapping & then put helicoils in all the mounting holes, I left the expansion card holes alone as I'm thinking of making a clamp piece that holds all cards in place.

So I'm going to use body filler to cover all the countersunk bolt heads & to hide the failed hole & for getting the mounting holes aligned to the mobo panel & back panel I'll use my tried & tested cotton bud stick with a blob of paint on method lol it works perfectly so why not .

 

[Diggsy]

Looking great, just needs a few bumps smoothed out. Little suggestion, although not sure if it would work - what about filling the holes with solder? You could use flux on them first to give the solder something to adhere to, and then sand it smooth again.

Might be worth trying on a sample piece.

 

[waynio]

Looking great, just needs a few bumps smoothed out. Little suggestion, although not sure if it would work - what about filling the holes with solder? You could use flux on them first to give the solder something to adhere to, and then sand it smooth again.

Might be worth trying on a sample piece.

Yeah I know, just focusing on getting it mounted to the mobo panel & back panel first then I'll consider things that could be done, the idea about the solder doesn't sound bad to be honest but I have no flux .

Ugh it's 1 of those days where I'm trying to do something but getting nowhere & just over thinking & was even considering going with a regular pci piece again so came back into the warmth to get my scatterbrain together lol .

My good old method of using cotton bud tips wasn't possible (cotton bud sticks were too thick for the holes), that method was only good for rivets or fan holes so instead I put bolts in the mounting holes, filled the sockets up with paint & then pressed it against the mobo tray so it was perfectly to the edge & it worked perfect, but I found I'll need to do that for the back panel first as there is a tiny gap so yeah that means I have 3 unwanted holes but luckily they are hidden behind an angle bar .

So time to rest, then go at it again tomorrow .

 

[Drunkenmassacre]

Great project to watch develope! Now that you have the pci/io plate in place in your last photo, you can really see the scale of the project! ITS HUGE!!!

Much kudos

 

[Monkey Puzzle]

Looking great, just needs a few bumps smoothed out. Little suggestion, although not sure if it would work - what about filling the holes with solder? You could use flux on them first to give the solder something to adhere to, and then sand it smooth again.

Might be worth trying on a sample piece.

I don't think you can solder to aluminium - it's too reactive and forms an oxide barrier too easily. And welding aluminium is tricky as the temperature difference between hot enough to just about weld, and a molten pool of aluminium, is quite small iirc.

Wayne - if all else fails would it be possible to blowtorch the aluminium to heat and expand the thread around the bolt and try and unscrew it with some pliers - looks like if you took the top piece off you could get a bit of bolt to grip onto?

Or just remove and remake the top sheet of aluminium, could even dremel the bolt down to as near as level with the second aluminium sheet as possible and place the top bit on with a little divet cut on the underside if needed so it sits flush...

The PCI bracket looks awesome btw - are you planning to paint it afterwards?

 

[King Damager]

Great project to watch develope! Now that you have the pci/io plate in place in your last photo, you can really see the scale of the project! ITS HUGE!!!

Much kudos

Pretty much this!

I mean it looked big before, but jesus!

Also, liking the shot of the wd-40 for scale.... the one thing every man should own!

kd

 

[waynio]

Great project to watch develope! Now that you have the pci/io plate in place in your last photo, you can really see the scale of the project! ITS HUGE!!!

Much kudos

Yeah that last picture makes it look gigantic lol .

I don't think you can solder to aluminium - it's too reactive and forms an oxide barrier too easily. And welding aluminium is tricky as the temperature difference between hot enough to just about weld, and a molten pool of aluminium, is quite small iirc.

Wayne - if all else fails would it be possible to blowtorch the aluminium to heat and expand the thread around the bolt and try and unscrew it with some pliers - looks like if you took the top piece off you could get a bit of bolt to grip onto?

Or just remove and remake the top sheet of aluminium, could even dremel the bolt down to as near as level with the second aluminium sheet as possible and place the top bit on with a little divet cut on the underside if needed so it sits flush...

The PCI bracket looks awesome btw - are you planning to paint it afterwards?

I decided to leve the broken bolt in there I'll just use some body filler to cover all the bolt heads & the failed hole & then paint matt black but getting it mounted to the case is the current priority, then getting the outer edges nice & then paint .

Pretty much this!

I mean it looked big before, but jesus!

Also, liking the shot of the wd-40 for scale.... the one thing every man should own!

kd

The last picture looks crazy for the scale of things but it'll look very different once the mobo is in & the psu & the fans, should look fairly cozy once the hardware enters or at least I'm hoping so .

Today I'll be getting the pci piece mounted properly starting with the back panel mounts first .

 

[waynio]

All but 3 of the holes lined up, the off 3 were only off by a smidge so I used my 3mm mill bit to expand the hole to where it was needed & it's nicely done .

My countersink bit is past it's best though & started making a bad job of countersinking so it's time to throw it away but I just ordered a new one so hopefully it will be here soon .

Also with it being so well fixed to the back panel I believe I can get away with not attaching it to the mobo panel, it's all solid so no real need .

 

[qbazdz]

From my own experience WD40 is rubbish for drilling and taping, go and get yourself a tin of special grease (usualy about 10quid for a massive tin which will last for aaages ).
Tin is white with bright orange stripe somewhere. Can check it tomorrow if you want.