Test bench mod by Ace_finland

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by Ace_finland, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    yeah, i have, ordered this color today, gonna paint the mesh and see what it looks like in real life :)

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Hey guys,

    got a lot done the last week so thought i would post a few pictures

    First of all I'll show you something great when working with metal sheets. I have not seen many use these and i don't know why. They are quite handy when you don't want to weld and will help a lot in hard to reach places, when you don't have to use a regular nut. It's rivet nuts

    Works like a normal rivet.
    [​IMG]

    Modified a normal rivet gun buy cutting the head of a M4 bolt and jamming it in the rivet gun. Added a few washers to prevent the rivet from entering the gun
    [​IMG]

    Screw the nut on the thread
    [​IMG]

    All done
    [​IMG]

    In the end I just got a rivet gun made for the rivet nuts which made it a lot easier.
    [​IMG]

    Back to the case.

    Made some acrylic for the case. Had to countersink the acrylic in order to get it flush against the case
    [​IMG]

    Mounted. It's clear acrylic but it has a green protective sheet on it.
    [​IMG]

    Spot welded some ends on the radiator holders and mounted it all together
    [​IMG]

    Removed the green protective plastic. Still needs to be sanded to get a matte finish so the red leds will spread the light better.
    [​IMG]

    Drilled the front acrylic plate. Still need to remove a lot of acrylic in the middle
    [​IMG]

    Drilled holes in the aluminum after i knew the acrylic would fit.
    [​IMG]

    Test fit
    [​IMG]

    During the test fit i marked around the edges with a knife so i could get a rough template.
    [​IMG]

    As you can see its a bit rough :) Will still do some more welding on the case and when that is all done i will grind down the front and back plate and sand it smooth. But you can see its starting to look as the rendering
    [​IMG]

    more updates coming soon!
     
  3. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Big update coming tomorrow if i get time to take pictures of all the stuff :)

    Sneak preview
    [​IMG]

    stay tuned
     
  4. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    back as promised

    Almost forgot to update, have another project that I've been working on for the last 5 months. Can anyone guess what it is? Just got the "table back from a workshop that leveled it for me. So now i just need to get it assembled and it should be good to go if I just can figure out how to use it
    [​IMG]

    Back on topic

    Started sanding the edges, tried a lot of different machines and files before getting the result i wanted. Still need to straighten up the edges but wanted to mill the fan controllers first in case i make a mistake and need to redo it. [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Milled away a bit of material to get the psu as close as possible to the back of the case to make as much room as possible inside the case
    [​IMG]

    Started disassembling the new lamptron's
    [​IMG]

    Very easy to take apart
    [​IMG]

    In the preview yday you saw the milling so no need to post more pics of that, the controller fitted!
    [​IMG]

    Had to power it up
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    After looking for leds for the acrylic and realizing buying "computer leds" are way too expensive i started looking for other options. Found this through a company in Finland. I don't know the price but it should be less than 50€ for 5m of leds. These are 15,6W/m so should be plenty of lumens
    [​IMG]

    The Leds can be cut every three leds and cables can be soldered on straight on the copper tabs, 8mm wide and 2,5mm high. The best thing with them is if you have a 2cm led strip or a 5m led strip all you need is 12V.
    [​IMG]

    Also have milled the front acrylic, milled a 3mm gap to place the leds in, a nice tight fit.
    [​IMG]

    From the top
    [​IMG]

    Full 12V, probably need to run them on 8V, otherwise with 2m's of leds it will look like a nuclear power plant
    [​IMG]

    As low as it goes.
    [​IMG]

    Still need to sand the acrylic edges to make it more smooth and spread the light even better, but it's a good start.

    Does anyone have a suggestion how to get good photos when photoing the acrylic? They are super red but turns kinda orange in the pictures

    Think that's it for now
     

  5. Nirvana91

    Nirvana91 Guest

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    Damn!

    Good luck! I´m enjoying what i´m seeing!
     
  6. cowie

    cowie Ancient Guru

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    looks great
     
  7. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    Yeah ... keep the photo's rolin' in my man .... :)
     
  8. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    Amazing work, can't imagine how much thought and hours are needed to complete something like this

    Looking forward to another update
     
  9. Preachergeek

    Preachergeek Guest

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    Really impressive work. Would love to have such practical hands on skills.
     
  10. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Thanks!

    Thanks!

    Should have an update this weekend!

    There have been a few hrs in it :) Have taken quite a few days off work so i will have time to finish it in time :)

    Thanks! practice makes perfect, or better :D
     

  11. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Got some great news guys. After some discussions with EK Waterblocks they decided to sponsor me in this build!

    Since I started water cooling I have always liked the design of the water blocks that EK provide. So it is truly an honor to work with such a great company!

    [​IMG]

    The parts :)
    [​IMG]

    Unpacked
    [​IMG]

    This i won over at cooledpc.com but thought i would share it anyways
    [​IMG]

    Pump top to add some performance
    [​IMG]'

    EK-DDC X-TOP CSQ - Acetal, such a buty
    [​IMG]

    Waterblock for my Asus Gene-V, EK-MOSFET ASUS M5G
    [​IMG]

    EK-Cool****** RAD XT (240)
    [​IMG]

    A bunch of fittings, some i have bought and some sponsored
    [​IMG]

    EK-RES X3 150
    [​IMG]

    EK-FC5X0 GTX GW Backplate - Black
    [​IMG]

    New build update coming shortly.

    Special thanks to Gregor over at EK for helping me out!
     
  12. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Sneak preview of whats to come, will update tonight if i got enough time
    [​IMG]
     
  13. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Been quite busy the last few days having time off work in order to be able to finish the mod for the competition.

    Started with some motherboard raisers, was gonna machine them in aluminum but then i found this nice red Ø20mm plastic bar. Not the right red but they won't be seen after its installed and it's so easy to machine in plastic.

    First i machined them to the right diameter
    [​IMG]

    Drill and tap
    [​IMG]

    All done!
    [​IMG]

    Test fitted the pumps and the rads to check for clearance issues
    [​IMG]

    This looks a bit weird, but its in the middle of the case. Had to cut some space for the cables from the psu, this should be enough.
    [​IMG]

    All sanded and ready to get glass blasted
    [​IMG]

    Glass blasted and ready to be powdercoated
    [​IMG]

    It looks a bit uneven but its smudges from me fingering it, i didn't see it but it shows up in the photos, will clean it off before the final shots!
    [​IMG]

    Radiator box, or whatever you would call it
    [​IMG]

    Rear side of the same part
    [​IMG]

    Almost assembled
    [​IMG]

    And some final shots of the case itself, I really like the way it looks and glass blasting the acrylic made a really matte finish which hopefully will hide the single leds and give an even light throughout the acrylic.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Still need to cut slots in some of the acrylic to be able to install all the leds.
    Also need to make something to hold the GPU's in place, i know what i want now so I just have to fabricate it.

    Stay tuned for more updates
     
  14. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    So where again are you going to put the Guru3D.com logo ? :nerd:
     
  15. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    hehe, maybe I can find a spot for it :p
     

  16. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Back with a new update!

    Finally decided to go with circular mesh, the hex mesh i got was only 1mm thick aluminum and was not stable enough. This is the color i went with, gun metal gray. Will make a slight contrast to the black powder coating.
    [​IMG]

    For quite a while I've been thinking about what to do for GPU supports, I've seen a few versions out there but nothing that would fit my mod. The biggest problem has been production time of something more complicated that i would have to mill or grind from aluminum. So when I finished another project of mine (homebuilt CNC router) I decided to put it into its first good use (haven't had time to use it since all my time has been spent on the case).

    This is what i wanted but wouldn't have had time to complete without the router.

    Test mount straight after milling all three parts.
    [​IMG]

    Glass blasted and painted. Also countersunk one side and threaded M5 threads into the rear of the aluminum.
    [​IMG]

    Close up of the support
    [​IMG]

    Now you are probably wondering how i will physically attach the gpu's to the support. Haven't had time to see if it works but there is no reason this shouldn't. You mount it from the rear of the support so the tab from the GPU go between the support and the "extra bit" Then you just turn the screws to pinch the tab from the GPU to the support.
    [​IMG]

    Also tried some engraving, my gf wasn't happy with the font, placement, size and basically everything, but I like it, It's about 0.5mm deep
    [​IMG]

    Also covers a extra hole in the case, although this won't be visible when the motherboard is installed but still a nice touch :) Still needs a bit of filing to make it fit perfect.
    [​IMG]

    More updates coming very soon seeing that the mod competition ends in about a weeks time.

    Sponsored by:
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2012
  17. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Had to assemble the case in order to figure out where to drill holes in the mesh, so figured i would try to take a photo of the leds going at the same time, took around a 100photos before my gf snapped these two. It still doesn't show off the real red but it is awesome in my eyes :D This is as low as it goes, if i crank it up all the way u won't see the case. Gonna check with some ppl if there is a solution to get this right for the final shots.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Let me know what you think!


    Sponsored by:
    [​IMG]
     
  18. DiceAir

    DiceAir Maha Guru

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    WOW dude looks mind blowing. Good job mate
     
  19. Ace_finland

    Ace_finland Guest

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    Thanks! I really like it too :)
     
  20. Mikedogg

    Mikedogg Guest

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    Where the hell do you people come from? and how do you get sponsors?
     

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