Project Stealthlow

[waynio]

Nicely done, been a few pages since I reiterated what everything else has been saying and thinking.

If you don't win something for this in a compo on one of the component sites, or at the very least on here then I will lose all faith in the Internet. I'll refuse to believe that 1's and 0's exist, I'll do it. I swear!

LOL 1's & 0's thanks randal I've not entered any comps, was nominated for mod of the month back in January on bit-tech though but placed 3rd as it was still in early progress & I guess most people must have believed I wouldn't be able to get it this far I don't mind who I came 3rd to though they are awesome scratch builds, the winner made his own passive cooled mini ITX case in the form of an 8-bit mushroom all aluminium really nicely milled which is still in progress, 2nd place was part cnc made but mostly really nice DIY art & AnG3L who made that 1 the end result was awesome looked like something out of crysis & he hasn't been taking breaks between mods lol super mad keen to mod on all the time, awesome guy all of the mods in Januarys mod of the month though was awesome so did well coming in 3rd really but mod of the month doesn't reflect what might happen on mod of the year because mods in that are finished mods & it's soooooo crazy how many jaw dropping mods will be in that for 2011, I managed to get in 2010 with air cube but didn't come in the top 10 which simply told me I gotta try a little harder & now we have this , but inevitebly there will be vote scammers just like the coolermaster comp or just people with loads of willing friends/family to vote, or even some favouritism from judges kinda rocked my faith in these internet vote systems, I like to just leave it up in the air to see who is voted as best, it makes it a genuine win you can be absolutely happy with then .

you so should buy a right angle 20 pin atx plug for your PS...
have you tried black cable ties on the cables? maybe it could look better than copper wire.

Otherwise, superb - as always

I don't think you can buy them, really should be able to though but I only ever seen 1 person do this & goes by the name of Chiller, he did it on an SR-2 mobo inside a highly modified thermaltake level 10 case with tec cooling, he's quite the technophile & gotten through soooo much hardware over the years, proper techno beast lol he even relocated where the gpu power sockets go to the back of the case lol .
I won't be using any cable ties though but I bought a load of the MDPCX cable clips in all the sizes but don't really want to use them so I'll try to refine these copper spirals & make some clones of the clips but out of copper AnG3L said to try doing that sounds a good idea .
Thanks for the feedback mate .

Noooo lol - I think the whole point is that copper wire lends to the overall theme. It looks unique and brilliant .

Yes thank you joxang .

I've not been on the forum for a while (due to moving) and I am amazed at the progress you've made in that time.

I love the new strips. They give a much cleaner look.
I love the grille at the bottom - very art deco.
I love the whole case, but....

would it be rude to say that all that computer equipment inside it really spoils it?

Thanks John Don't worry thats my old system skt775 ddr2 back when gigabyte had a funny (or even clown inspired) choice of colours hehe & the gpu is a spare 9800gtx with 3rd party cooler on it because I damaged the stock casing & fan from early modding days lol .
I have sandy bridge & prolimatech megahalems in shiny black with a 2500k @ 4.5ghz with 4gb 1600 7,8,7,20 but want to upgrade to 8gb asap 4gb has it's limits & a gtx 580 currently being used in air cube until stealthlow is done .
So the only way that could have been rude is if I didn't raise the cash for the new gear by selling lots of my stuff & was stuck with that older crap lol I figure I'd get peanuts for my older skt 775 gear so might make a new case for it, not sure yet.

I think the added ventilation is a good move aesthetically as well. I wasn't too keen on them but now you've turned some semi-circular holes into a continuation of the art deco thing it looks a lot nicer.

Thanks mate I would do the 1 above it but with it having more of a curve on it I think I'd be asking for it to crack if I attempted doing it but at least that one gets good air flow which is the main thing .

Thanks for the feedback guys appreciated .

 

[waynio]

The acrylic scratch removal bits came today, it's novus 3 heavy scratch remover which I shouldn't need to use, 2 fine scratch remover which I'll use, 1 plastic clean & shine & a couple of 5 packs of 100% cotton fine polishing cloths.

Also the standard 18-55mm canon IS lens came today & give it a few shots to do, here they are .

Not bad, not nearly as good as the sigma lens & feels like a toy but not bad picture quality, much better than my dads older lenses so I'll be happy with that & it's not an expensive lens so I'll be happy to use this in the workshop also so much better being able to be much closer to what I'm shooting was quite a mistake not getting a zoom macro lens as my main lens (I'll still take care of it as if it was an expensive one though) .

 

[waynio]

Just google ATX Power Supply Connector Right Angle and you will get the stuff I was talking about

Oh freaking life saver I'll look into that right away mate thank you .

Just found a place but it's in America so could be in for a wait but it'll be worth it thanks again bud .

 

[waynio]

Will be a nightmare to find it in black though... (I guess)

Should be able to colour it without damaging it though whats extra nice about that though is I might not need to mod the cables, just plonk a mobo plastic adaptor over the pins & plug in .

What would we do without google?

I checked up a while ago but only thing I could find was Chillers log same with left angle sata cables but now they are produced .

Just ordered 5 of them but no idea how long they could take to come from America, some times it's quick some times can take a long time or even never arrive.

 

[waynio]

Just got all upper level fans installed & it's still silent but also with the push/pull fans the flow is rather good so the overclock should be perfectly fine so now I have all the fans ready to properly start on needed cable lengths & get the wire work done on them.

I also ordered 5 ATX right angle pieces from America (they are white though so I'll have to colour them) & thought I could double 2 of them up so it points to the other side of the mobo tray so will keep the airflow completely clear .

 

[waynio]

This is still continuing to inspire me, amazing work!

Thanks mate .

 

[waynio]

Now help me fix my rig! its powerful but it's cables are dead ugly|!
XD

Lol

Easiest & quickest thing to do with a cable mess is make a cover for it & use pre-made extensions .

 

[waynio]

This is epic mate, proof that pc's can be a work of art. You should definitely enter it in mod of the year!

Thanks Nick but you don't enter it, you just post your log on bit-tech & if it's liked enough it get's put through as long as it's complete in time, it seems liked enough so far & should have it done anything from a week away to cutting it fine coming to December if I decide to take things much further there are an insane amount of incredible quality scratch builds & case mods made, being made & yet to be seen 2011 mod of the year is going to be the best I've seen yet I think which is why I'd consider making the top 10 to be a really good feat in modding, modders who don't make top 10 don't know what place they came which can either be disheartening or motivating to try harder, I didn't make top 10 in 2010 so this is a little part of why I'm trying harder this time .

Attila on bit-tech threw me an idea on how to make this case a good few notches higher in the appearence part but I just can't do it because of the way I designed it to be, these pictures are to show why, it boils down to there not being enough space between the tower heatsink & side panel & the mesh on the back, but I could add internal covering for below the heatsink but it might not look right so I think I'll pass & save something like that for another case.

Took a few shots to show why it would be a nightmare to make internal casing without causing a problem for air flow, the case width is designed perfectly for large tower heatsink & generous space on the other side for wires so there is only about 5mm gap between cooler & side panel.

And here is the result of some elbow polish & the scratch remover stuff, this is on a I think 10 to 15mm piece of acrylic & dark tint so it shows the scratches really well, I roughed it up a bit with 240 grit & had to use all 3 solutions of the novus system, #2 just didn't cut it so used #3 then #2 then #1 & believe it will be much easier to apply on bigger pieces, you do need to apply a fair bit of pressure when doing it but it can bring it back to it's original condition so it rocks .

---------------

Ugh just got email saying it could be 2-3 weeks for delivery of the ATX plugs. $10 for 5 plugs $15 for shipping.

 

[waynio]

Just to show how bad the scratches got on the main window, I'll update later when I can get a good photo of it restored (thought I got it fully done but was still some scratches there so had to get back onto it lol went over the whole piece on both sides just to be sure from 240 grit wet sanding to 2000 & then a few hours hand polishing until it's as close as possible to perfect condition) & in the meantime I'll do the fan wires & I've said that I don't know how many times now, it's just so much fun wire work lol .

 

[waynio]

Ok so I didn't get it quite right & all because I skipped a grit, d'oh I did 240 grit then skipped 600 because it wasn't around & went straight to 1200 & then 2000, it all seemed ok so went on to the scratch removal liquids, it seemed perfect until I seen it in broad daylight which helped it show many many many ultra fine scratches especially when I took some macro shots so next I'll wet sand starting at 600 grit & work back to 2000 & then get the polishing done right this time, should be doing the fan wires now but got to get this piece sorted before I move on .

Random shot

Before

After

Sorry about the continued mass of photos but I did take a few nice ones & showing how it looks in different light, without daylight reflecting direct onto the bad areas you can't tell theres anything wrong so I could cheat it if I wanted but I'm gonna get it back to it's original condition, next bunch will be of the main window sorted & fans extended & sleeved or I won't post any more updates until they are done .

 

[waynio]

Your new camera is doing a great job of highlighting all the scratches. Great for the posting, and to encourage you to address them, but perhaps annoying in the normal run of things.

Anyway the case is really looking great and with all the TLC you are lavishing on it, it can only improve.

Yeah the lens is super sharp so can't get away with any slack work unless I blurred things a smidge , spent quite a lot of time on working out all the fine scratches now, could get it to pristine condition but I'll settle for how it is now, it's far better than it was with the original scratches & better than it was yesterday so I'll settle for that, takes a ton of elbow polish to get it to perfection .
Thanks John .

Yeah I always check out the mods on bit-tech and there are some seriously impressive ones on there, not that there weren't last year either. Good to have Attila's help, his mods are amazing and always seem to be in the running for mod of the year, so if he likes this it's a good sign. I'll make sure I vote for this if it does get to the mod of the year top 10

Yeah it's good every year, so much talent but I can see this one coming up is going to be huge if people get them finished in time, quite a lot use CNC these days so makes it hard to contend with on ultimate precision & some things that would only be possible if you spent years on it but I enjoy what I do & like seeing what stuff people make when they get to use advanced machines, difficult to call it a hobby when people go that far though IMO I see it almost like letting retail case manufacturers be in mod of the month/year if it's ok for average joe to with highly above average machines to gets a bit too industrial & professional I think but really all those advanced methods only make me try harder than I would if they weren't doing that so it's not a bad thing really & good can come from it as long as you don't get envious about it I did when I first went on bit-tech but I've totally chilled out about it & just enjoy the show & anyway besides I'd be a hypocrite if I still had anything against CNC as the case feet from Bill Owen are made on a CNC lathe lol .

Attila has just become a master of saying who needs CNC without having to actually say it very cool although he admits if he had the space & money to buy that type of gear he probably would but seeing what he can do with normal tools & self belief & seeing further than what an average person would see as doable he just doesn't need it really, I'd be tempted to go for it but you have to be really well off to buy those type of machines, if I won the lottery I'd definitely go for it & set up an incredible workshop & you'd soon see some sweet retail cases from me but he has given the average joe something to believe in when it comes to very high quality DIY metal work so yeah I have a load of respect for him .

As usual, great work

Those copper cable tidies are a really nice addition

Thanks Judge .

I said I won't update until I get the fan extending & sleeving done as well as the window polishing so I'll make a start on the fans now so I can hopefully get an update rolled out today I also decided I'll make a cover for the PSU to hide the branding & I'll make my own metal strips to replace the ones in the enermax fans, they didn't sponsor me so I aint giving them a free ride of advertising there are like 6 areas where it says enermax inside there very clearly so I'll fix that ASAP by replacing them with copper strips .

Very well done, so much time and effort been put into this, wish i had workbench with all the tools and materials, masterpiece

Thanks mate I started off with very few tools but as I got more into doing this they started building up the more I went on, can get more addictive than gaming .

 

[waynio]

Heres the freshly fully wet sanded window & new RAM I put in my rig to replace the ocz 4GB 1600mhz 7,8,7,20 I was expecting a drop in performance with going for kingston hyper x 8GB 1600mhz 9,9,9,27 but did before & after memory benches & they are just as good took these 2 without a tripod also but they are part of the progress so got to leave them in.

OK I'm in the middle of doing the fan wires right now & having a little break from it so thought I'd up the photos of the window I took earlier in the day, all these photos are showing it in the worst possible lighting which would highlight any scratches so when daylight isn't on it like this it looks pristine & to be honest not far from it in this raw daylight but to get it in truly pristine form it would take I'd guess at least 14 solid hours of arm killing fun so I'll settle for this .

Also put the warped copper panel back in, it needs some work to get it 100% flat which I'll have a go at tomorrow, it's also 2mm too short for the spot it's in & I do have an extra 2mm copper sheet which I could make a new one if I need to & I don't have to do a hole mesh I could do a complimenting pattern for the front alu piece in the same style as the clamp strips.

 

[waynio]

Finally got the very boring bit done extending the fan wires & sleeving them.

Glad that's done with .

 

[waynio]

Fan mod time if I don't like these enough once I get them done right I have designed my own frames for if I feel like doing them .

These need bending better, I measured the enermax pieces & made a template, cut them all out on the scroll saw, took them to the disc sander, then brush finished them, then looked around for an ideal sized round hard object to bend it around.

I'll need to make a mould to get it perfect & have plenty of spare scrap wood to do this .

 

[waynio]

Woo hoo I found the perfect bending aid for getting these replacement pieces done, my masking tape with a perfect fitting tin of paint placed inside just wrap around it & squeeze & then a tiny bit of hand bending & got it to 99% perfect, I thought I made them 1mm too long but no they are just very fiddly to put inside the clips so now I know I can make it work I'll take these out & get all the other copper pieces bent properly & then if needed give them another brushing & then brush some metal lacquer on them to stop them from tarnishing .

The strips go in in 2 pieces just like the enermax ones, it's a modular fan .

 

[waynio]

Love the enermax mod, got me thinking for my mod. As you know a real copper based theme.

Cheers Dubs I'm looking forward to see how your new mod turns out, the fan painting is already looking mighty sweet mate .

Just re-brushed the copper fan strips & did the fan mount stumps also, had to bend the copper strips straight though so I could give them a new brushing, I went with the coarse satinising mop for a nice detailed brushing, then cleaned any crap off them, handling them with surgical gloves & keeping them wrapped in cotton cloth , then bent them back to needed form, if you touch nice raw copper it speeds up the tarnish like over night I found so I wiped them clean after brushing & then put the metal lacquer on with a nice brush, stupidly I never thought on about doing them while they are on their sides, could have got both sides done at once but no I'm doing 1 side at a time, I'm just hoping the metal lacquer doesn't leave a gloss finish on them as it would wreck the look a bit.

 

[waynio]

Got the fan copper pieces & the fan mount stumps brushed with the coarse mop & then brushed metal lacquer on them so they can be handled now without easily adding finger prints & got them all installed.

 

[waynio]

Those fans look amazing!!

The only thing letting that down visually is the typically multi-coloured motherboard and the blue gpu cooler lol

Thanks mate, don't worry the mobo, cooler, gpu are spare parts I have , sandy bridge msi p67-gd65, prolimatech megahalems shiny black & gtx 580 are the system parts going in this .

Looking great Waynio. As above, motherboard isn't helping the overall look - how about a custom made dark acrylic cover for it, something like the ASUS Sabertooth? Once complete this would even allow you to add some copper detailing too if you wanted.

I'm sure with that new saw and that imagination of yours you could conjure up something

Oh and either paint all of the GPU cooler, or paint part of it and glue some mopped copper on part of it

Oh, and how about some copper pieces over the RAM heatspreaders? Might be interesting.

All that said though, one of the newer all dark Gigabyte boards would fit in there beautifully - why not drop them an email and try to blag some sponsorship?

Cheers Diggsy I could make a cover for the mobo easily but I'd be concerned about areas overheating with the lack of air flow, any extras I put in from here are last second ideas .

I originally wanted to put a gigabyte p67-ud7 in this, just looks awesome but then found out the price & I was instantly turned off from it, was hoping for it to be £200 or less but man it was close to £300 I was fairly tempted to go ask around for sponsors but never bothered, shame as I could have put the money I spent on parts towards more quality tools for more possibilities.

If only you could change the colour of the mobo and gpu cooler this would be the best mod ive ever seen tbh just because of the effort that has been put into it!

No worries, currently using sandy bridge setup in air cube which will be cleaned & transferred to the new case cheers mate .

Also I just got an email saying about an invite to the International German Casemod Championship DCMM which sounds rather awesome indeed , but I'm not exactly a keen traveller, people shy I just clam up lol, I'd have to pack the case amazingly well to avoid any breakage & already know that if I passed on the opportunity I'd regret it like I did the campus party Europe thing in Madrid last year I've got until the 3rd of August to make my mind up & the event is 20-21 August, wish I weren't restricted by my own silly mind .

 

[waynio]

Well done on getting the invite, though I can't say that I am surprised. Will they be paying for your expenses, especially related to shipping your case over?

Whatever you decide regarding attending, it is great to be invited and you deserve it.

I look forward to seeing the proper components in place.

Thanks John it says they pay I think 1 euro for every 10km travelled & no mention of case shipping, think I'd have to book a hotel also as I wouldn't fancy staying overnight, my bro said he'd be up for driving there lol that'll be a fair road trip but I'd prefer that to airports & flying, but man on the off chance I ended up on a podium in front of shed loads of people I think I'd have a panick attack lol .

I'm looking forward to getting this up & running too mate .

This is what turned out to be perfect for getting the curves done on the copper rims, a fresh roll of cello tape with a tin of paint stuffed in the middle & just wrap the copper around it & then manually bend the ends a tiny bit, then flip over & spread it out a tiny bit & then they fit nicely .

Took it all apart ready for brushing, there are quite a few parts that need a fresh brushing & some parts that still have markings on & parts that haven't been brushed yet so it's time to get every little bit brushed & lacquered although the curve bars & motherboard tray will have to wait a little longer as I still need to make & add copper cable clips & a power button I had to opt for a 16mm one, just wasn't quite enough space for a 19mm one where I wanted it because of the strip clamps, I have thought about grinding part of the switch bevel away so it fits but undecided on that & the motherboard tray needs the psu wire pass through hole making a little bigger so more wires can cram through .

The nice thing about the metal lacquer is it doesn't leve a gloss finish if only using 1 coat but adds a nice protective layer, on a sample piece I did 1 coat & less than 3 hours later I handled it & left no finger prints or smudge marks, well none that were visible anyway & it really takes some hard rubbing to get it off so it's really good stuff .

But whatever the case I'll still need to wait for the right angle ATX plugs before I can finish this, the dylon general purpose black dye came today so I'm all set to get this complete once the ATX plugs come.

Oh can't forget about the front bottom copper panel, waiting for the range of scroll saw blades so I can cut the 2mm copper more easy on a bevel, the jewelers blades struggle cutting anything above 1.5mm so cutting 2mm copper on an angle just isn't a good idea it would take forever & would waste quite a few blades, the bandsaw blade came today though so should be able to see how well it copes with a range of thicker materials, I'm expecting it to be as good as a hacksaw but with more ease of precision so I'm a bit excited to find out how well it does .

Oh BTW I found I can buy a decent milling cross table at a good price & a rotating table, so I'm gonna be saving up so I can buy both & a good pillar drill, then I'd be able to make quite a few awesome things .

 

[waynio]

This is Damn epic! Glad to see it's still going along! Been a while since I checked in here! Surprised it's not finished yet

kd

Cheers mate, heres what I've got to do before it's complete.

PSU cover with mirror polished copper .
Front bottom copper grill.
Optical tray cover & eject button made from copper.
Copper cable management P clips.
HDD cage clamp bars.
Wait for right angle ATX adaptors & when I get them dye them black.
Brush & lacquer those final bits & install all the hardware .

Everything else is complete I think & just added a power button hole for a 16mm vandal switch silver with white LED ring on the right curve bar & made the psu cable hole slightly bigger & rounded all the cable pass through holes on the motherboard tray & also rounded the HDD cable pass through holes, then brush finished every single piece & put a coat of metal lacquer on it all so it stays in nice condition.

I'll up photos later .