Scratch Build: Blu & Red Aluminium - Sponsored by Gelid

Sam__ · 8 May 2020 at 11:54

So I've been experimenting with the colours and painting affects the last few days. Here's what we'v got.

Practicing fading from red to blue on a scrap piece of MDF.

Test pattern on a scrap piece of MDF.

Prepping the pattern on the front radiator mount.

After spraying.

Mounted onto the frame. I'm pretty happy with it.

What do you guys think?

Nevakonaza · 8 May 2020 at 11:56

Looks brill,What you going to use (if anything) to protect the paintwork from scratches/dings a clearcoat of some sort?

Sam__ · 8 May 2020 at 11:58

Nevakonaza said:
Looks brill,What you going to use (if anything) to protect the paintwork from scratches/dings a clearcoat of some sort?

Very good question. I'm yet to look into this but it's on the agenda to research today. Initial thoughts are some kind of gloss clear coat like you said. Not sure what the other options might be, if any.

Nevakonaza · 8 May 2020 at 12:30

i suppose a very thin piece of acrylic plastic could be used to go ontop of it,and just use the existing holes that are already there in your work to hold it against it?

Sam__ · 8 May 2020 at 18:51

Nevakonaza said:
i suppose a very thin piece of acrylic plastic could be used to go ontop of it,and just use the existing holes that are already there in your work to hold it against it?

Interesting idea.

Here's an alternative design I put together this afternoon.

Not sure which I prefer yet.

Nevakonaza · 8 May 2020 at 20:59

Just something I thought up, because you never know how the clear coat is going to turn out do you, least with plexi don't have to put it on until its perfect, but is definitely additional work, I like both, probably would go with thr second design purely because the colours are sharper?

Sam__ · 9 May 2020 at 18:21

Custom SATA cable made up today. The drives are mounted so close together on the back of the motherboard tray it doesn't make sense to have a conventional cable to power them.

Decided to match the colour scheme of the build even though the cable should never be seen as both the PSU and SSDs are below the motherboard tray.

L-bracket mounting for SSDs.

First wire added to connector.

Checking the distance between the drives.

The metal locking parts had to be removed. It was too difficult to remove the connectors from the drives with them present. Also the push fit was more then enough to hold in place.

Fully wired.

Cover plates on.

Added a third for another drive.

Then crimp the molex connectors (by hand, no crimp tools here!).

All done.

tyler_jrb · 10 May 2020 at 18:13

Looks great very nice work so far. I’ve always wanted to do some kind of pc build like this where the case is completely built by myself.

I prefer the first design. Just maybe less red on the right side so you can see the red squares/triangles more? Both designs I think look great however.

Sam__ · 10 May 2020 at 22:04

tyler_jrb said:
Looks great very nice work so far. I’ve always wanted to do some kind of pc build like this where the case is completely built by myself.

I prefer the first design. Just maybe less red on the right side so you can see the red squares/triangles more? Both designs I think look great however.

I've been dreaming of making a case for the last 15 years and I thought why not just go for it!

I would also agree that more visible shapes on the red would look better. Planning to do it over again sometime so will do that.

Today's update: Some progress today making the PSU panel. It contains the PSU, a 140mm exhaust fan and four USB ports.
Marked up:

All cut out: (sorry for the wide and lens distortion and yellow lighting)

The USB ports on the left were particularly challenging as I only have limited hand tools. The majority of the cutting on those was with a knife and finished with sandpaper over a screwdriver.

Sam__ · 11 May 2020 at 09:51

Got some good news this morning. We have a friend involved!

Sam__ · 13 May 2020 at 13:19

Small update:
Put together the magnetic fan filters today. Filter + small neodymium = magnetic fan filter!

Countersunk, by hand, the screw holes so the filters would be flush with the panel.

Lovely fit.

Testing out on the panel. The best part is they are self positioning on the screw heads so you can almost slap them on and not worry!

Sam__ · 15 May 2020 at 12:53

RIP Antec P280 case. This is the transition point where all the hardware comes out of the old case and there is no going back!

Marking up the motherboard tray for cutting.

A mostly in-tact motherboard tray, minus a lot of rivets.

Trim one side.

Trim a second side.

Trim a third side.

The finished result. Perfectly sized for the new case.

Now for the IO and PCI bracket. Again with the rivets!

After removal.

Sam__ · 15 May 2020 at 12:53

Now onto fitting the motherboard tray mount... mount.

Made some corner pieces to hold the mounting sheet in what I'm starting to call the mezzanine motherboard area.

Cut perfectly to size by hand!

Figuring out where to mount the motherboard tray so the IO lines up with the edge of the case.

And finally with some hardware on it just to get a feel for what it will look like.

Sam__ · 17 May 2020 at 20:07

Got the screws in today for the power supply, them being imperial is a little irksome as everything else in the build is M3/4/5.

Got to manually counter sinking. Pretty happy with the job.

It's getting really awkward to remove and replace the panels as the nuts are quite hard to hold in place while undoing the bolt from the other side. To save any further frustration I decided to epoxy the nuts onto the l-brackets. Much better!

Also also managed to mock up the reservoir mounts. They will be mounted to the edge of the motherboard mezzanine. Will get it mounted up and a picture taken tomorrow after some of the panels have dried from spray painting.

The current plan is to have the tallest reservoirs I that will practically fit in the end of the case, potentially 300mm tall, leaving some room for tubing and fittings.

Sam__ · 18 May 2020 at 16:30

Got a mysterious delivery today.

What could possibly be inside?!?!

Fans... (7 x Gelid Silent 14 PWM)

Fans... (6 x Gelid Silent 12 PWM)

More Fans... (Gelid Radiant-D RGB 120mm)

Really excited to use the individually addressable Radiant D fans.

Especially with the COD16 ARGB Controller Kit, which uses an Arduino! Luckily I've got a fair bit of experience with Arduino so should be able to get into the code and have some fun.

Also a few other accessories like GC-Extreme thermal paste and GP-Ultimate thermal pads.

The total package contents:
7 x Gelid Silent 14 PWM Fans
6 x Gelid Silent 12 PWM Fans
4 x Gelid Radiant-D 120mm Individually Addressable RGB Fans
2 x GC-Extreme Thermal Paste 1g
1 x GP-Ultimate Thermal Pad 1mm
1 x GP-Ultimate Thermal Pad 0.5mm

Thanks again to Gelid for supplying the goodies!

Sam__ · 19 May 2020 at 19:11

So, what to do first with these fans. The only logical thing... replace the PSU fan! Spent about 20mins before this cleaning all of the dust out of the PSU, it was on the bottom of my previous case sucking everything out of the carpet. Disgusting.

Take the grill off.

Void the warranty, although I'm pretty sure than ran out a while ago.

Check to make sure the new fan is a good fit.

Of course the pin out of the fan is different to a normal PWM fan. AND the connector is different.

Had to get the oscilloscope on the pins to see which was which and luckily had some molex crimp pins the right size to transfer the fan wires to the PSU connector.

Plugged in and verified working.

All back together. Looks a lot smarter doesn't it! Also is a lot quieter.

Thanks again to Gelid for supplying the goodies!

pugheaven · 20 May 2020 at 23:24

Will follow this one, looks really interesting!

chippy08 · 22 May 2020 at 14:03

Sam could send me a message as i am wondering if you can help me with an issue i have with a broken cable.

Sam__ · 22 May 2020 at 14:57

chippy08 said:
Sam could send me a message as i am wondering if you can help me with an issue i have with a broken cable.

What's up with your cable?

chippy08 · 22 May 2020 at 15:45

let me do a seperate post, so not to jump all over yours and i will post the link then you can advise me if you can.