Project Stealthlow

Haven't posted here for a while now but have been following religiously. Keep up the great work! :D
:) Thanks Judgeneo will do ;).

waynio, when are you finally going to put some hardware in it! :D
LOL I'm just glad the GTX 580 is still a nice performer :D got hooked on that Alice madness returns the past few days & it trashed my sleep pattern :D but back together again now :) & made a little more quality progress earlier but no pictures yet so I'll have a proper update later & to properly answer your question it should be done within a week & thats givng me a lot of slack to do it by ;).

Pure Skill! I love it dude, youve got talent!

One question, how much does it weigh? lol
:D Thanks mate, I'll have to weigh it but it sure isn't a light case :D so will be pretty heavy when it's fully loaded, hdd's add a lot of weight to a case but I'll weigh it as empty & loaded, I'll even throw in the cost of the materials used, not the material that didn't get used :p because if I was to make another there would be no faulty pieces, it's how it is once I've made something I just know how to do it all correctly so goes infinitely smoother :).

Hmmmm a bit of gaming when close to the end of a mod isn't a very good idea :D anyway I'm straight again :) so I'll try hard to get something or a lot done this weekend, already made the polished floor panel for the 2nd level & wasn't so bad to cut the stainless steel with the scroll saw but it was only 0.5mm lol, got everything I need to complete this now, but I need more satinising mops to give everything a final brushing but everything else I should be able to complete this weekend woo hoo, I originally bought a couple of each grit & like the coarse grit best as it leaves a nice deep brush finish so I ordered 4 more of those earlier :).

But yeah if I dedicate properly I could have it all done this weekend & then when the mops come I just disassemble it all & give a nice fresh brushing, clean the acrylic pieces & put it all together again & finally put the sandy bridge rig inside it woo hoo :cool:.
 
Ok some pictures of where it's at with added stainless steel mirror polished 2nd floor installed & everything fits perfect incuding the ssd mount & made sure the psu is still mountable & is :).
ProjectStealthlow0853.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0854.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0855.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0856.jpg


I had a go at doing the optical tray cover but the blades I have aren't adequate to do what I wanted to do, they are great for sheet materials but I tried going through 12mm diameter copper rod & it just takes ages, did cut all the way through it though but also wanted to split the rod down the middle to use a half circle on the tray but yeah it would have overworked the scroll saw for such a small part so need different blades for that really, it's doable but would take hours & hours & don't fancy risking burning out the new saw :) it is possible to use bandsaw blades cut up for this scroll saw though so I'll do that for pieces like this & it should breeze through it & much thicker material :D.

So I think up next I'll make the 4 fan mount stumps as they'll require a hefty amount of filing work :D.
 
:eek:

I say again, :eek:
And I say :D cheers Shayper :).

Took a few pictures with some nice daylight & with the side panel off :).
ProjectStealthlow0863.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0864.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0865.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0866.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0867.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0868.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0869.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0870.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0871.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0872.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0873.jpg


Also the curved acrylic piece looks good on most shots & to the eye but some shots I took it shows how messed up the surface of the acrylic is so a question for you all, how do I get it restored to perfection? :).

And ordered a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS standard lens so I can take certain shots that I just can't with this macro lens, the macro lens really is awesome but also really need a normal lens so I don't have to be so far away from what I'm shooting & can't afford the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG I really wanted so went for the nice & cheap 1 but it's meant to be good image quality anyway just low build quality.

Also I said I had all I need to complete the case but that isn't true since I decided to do the fan wire work properly so I'm gonna have to wait for soldering gear & supplies to arrive but hopefully they won't take long to arrive (not ordered yet but it's the weekend so have chance to decide before buying), I could wire twist & heatshrink like I used to do which is probably as good as soldering but I dunno, what you guys think, get the soldering gear or twist & shrink? :D.
 
Did a test run of the installed fans running & woo hoo no vibrations at all, 1 of the fans has a faint wobble but isn't causing any vibrations with them being solidly secured but it's all genuinely silent, I had to stick my head inside the case to be able to hear them running lol so it will definitely live up to it's stealth part of the name & the air flow goes as expected :), just hope it can cope with the overclock I have on it, it's only just above a faint breeze going through the case so should be ok just about, people think those Fractal Design Define R3 cases are quiet, I've built a rig for my bro with 1 & they aren't so quiet but this is silent as if it's a passively cooled rig so if anything is going to make any noise on this it will be the gtx 580 :) really can't believe how silent it is, if there were no spinning fans or lights you couldn't tell it was on :eek::cool:.

Also done a little smoke test so I could see the flow working correct & it does although the bottom front fan is cutting it fine, ideally it needs pulling 10mm further into the case so it flows that little bit better, either that or add a seperator piece between the 2 front fans.
 
So. Much. Win.
:D Cheers mate :).

So I found the acrylic cover prevented the lower fan from catching air properly, so I added extra ventage :D this introduced a bit more fine scratches but I found a solution for it & already ordered it so all the scratches will be removed & the acrylic will be restored back to perfect :).

ProjectStealthlow0874.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0875.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0876.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0877.jpg


These last 2 shots I took in sniper position without tripod :D.
ProjectStealthlow0878.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0879.jpg


And in case anyones wondering why the alu strips aren't perfectly in the middle they can move a little side to side so not a problem :D.
 
And it was always going to be me wasn't it! ;)

Seriously though this build is truly inspiring!!

If you weren't going for such a unique design you could probably have a more conventional case design built within a couple of days couldn't you :)

You should come up with a saleable design for ultimate water cooling with room inside for some MAHOOSIVE rads and plenty of cable management etc... We can all see your skills and the built quality you produce - I think you'd make a mint doing that mate!
(if you had time of course!)
 
And it was always going to be me wasn't it! ;)

Seriously though this build is truly inspiring!!

If you weren't going for such a unique design you could probably have a more conventional case design built within a couple of days couldn't you :)

You should come up with a saleable design for ultimate water cooling with room inside for some MAHOOSIVE rads and plenty of cable management etc... We can all see your skills and the built quality you produce - I think you'd make a mint doing that mate!
(if you had time of course!)
:) Thanks mate but I'd rather leave talking about making cases for sale until after I'm done making this so I stay focused to get it done ASAP :D I'll be happy to return to talking about it after though :).

LOL A good old winge about the corsair cables being crap & it forced me to do something with the 3mm copper rods :D but not entirely sure I'll stick with this although it immediately tidied the wires up nicely but the dark tint makes it hide almost completely so either I'm on to something ok with the copper spiral rods that needs more work or I should just go with the MDPCX cable clips :D.

The black wire I bought was useless & snaps easy when tightened so couldn't do what I intended with the copper wire supports so did spirals instead :).

Also I wouldn't mind making a right angle ATX power connector to keep the wires out of the way from the front fan (I seen such a technique done by Chiller :) so it's possible).

Before the copper.
ProjectStealthlow0880.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0881.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0882.jpg


Copper installed to tidy up.
ProjectStealthlow0883.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0884.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0885.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0886.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0887.jpg


ProjectStealthlow0888.jpg


Thoughts? possibly on to an ok thing with the copper rod or not :D.
 
Nicely done, been a few pages since I reiterated what everything else has been saying and thinking. :D

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!
 
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'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?
 
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.
 
Back
Top Bottom