So, one of the biggest problems holding me up with Project Waterbox (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=297080) was a very very small leak in the reservoir. It was small enough that I couldn't track it down. Being that the watercooling components were housed separately of the computer made it nice because it would still function fine, with no worries of water getting on my components. However it made a mess over time and required refilling, cleaning, and such.
After quite some time, I think I finally tracked down where the leak was coming from--a vertical seam between the reservoir wall and a side. Finally I had a chance to fix it. So, I took down the computer, and set it up on my bed, because the conforming surface was better for sitting it at a slight angle. I wanted it to sit with the bezel facing straight up, and the back of the computer on the bed. (In doing so, the reservoir/pump was nice enough to dump a little extra water that was left in the lines onto my bed.
)
Anyway, this allowed me a decent enough angle to apply a line of goop to the seam to reseal it. The slight angle meant it would stay in the corner where it belonged instead of running. The goop takes 24 hours to set completely, but after a couple the outside should be hardened enough to move. This was the plan. Obviously, things did not go according to plan.
I had kept a good eye on the computer sitting there because I didn't completely trust it. But it held steady. Somewhere about 1.5 hours or so into it (I wasn't really keeping track), I walked out of the room. When I got back, I tossed a magazine on the bed. Bad idea, apparently. Evidently my damn computer was sitting so precariously on that bed that either the draft of air from the magazine flying through the air, or the massive shockwaves from 8 ounces of paper hitting the other side of the bed changed things.
Nothing happened for a couple minutes. I went and sat back at my desk, oblivious to my impending doom. My back was to the computer at this point. And then...CRASH! "Oh ****."
Yes, as I'm sure you've already figured out, the computer tipped over, crashing down onto the floor a couple feet below. What happened is that I had the side door open from when I was disconnecting/draining things. The door I think hit the floor first, and it torqued it. The hinges held, surprisingly. But that just send the force elsewhere. It ripped the entire side panel off, and because part of the side (the part not hinged for access) was attached to the top and front, it also ripped a chunk out of the top and part of the front bezel. Plus it cracked the front up pretty good. In addition, it jarred everything enough so that the video card got knocked loose, and because it was screwed in with a sheetmetal screw, it cracked that mounting piece. The waterbox held in fairly well, except two of the seams where the bottom meets the side walls gave out. Just in the front, though. I think my massive amounts of goop, and the obscenely stringent mounting techniques (especially the pump being screwed onto the base as it is) kept it together.
All in all, things are not well with the waterbox--my computer in general. There's no point in having the acrylic box if I don't have an acrylic case. I'm currently throwing around ideas with my friend Tom about where I should go with things next--I'm leaning away from acrylic altogether. It can be a real pain in the *** to work with, keep clean, hide wires. But I also don't want something I see all the time--it needs to be unique. That was what the current box was all about.
So, yeah, this post was incredibly long--if you've read this far, thanks. I'm quite aware that was really, really stupid of me. Lesson learned, I hope. Currently, I have all my necessary components out of the plexi case and into a spare case I had around. They still seem to work, at least. It's nothing fancy, but it might become the basis for my next project. If anyone knows where to get aluminum diamondplate (probably 1/16", but I'm not positive) for a good price, let me know. Actual stores would probably be best, as shipping on something like that would suck.
And now I'll throw in the wreckage pictures.
After quite some time, I think I finally tracked down where the leak was coming from--a vertical seam between the reservoir wall and a side. Finally I had a chance to fix it. So, I took down the computer, and set it up on my bed, because the conforming surface was better for sitting it at a slight angle. I wanted it to sit with the bezel facing straight up, and the back of the computer on the bed. (In doing so, the reservoir/pump was nice enough to dump a little extra water that was left in the lines onto my bed.
) Anyway, this allowed me a decent enough angle to apply a line of goop to the seam to reseal it. The slight angle meant it would stay in the corner where it belonged instead of running. The goop takes 24 hours to set completely, but after a couple the outside should be hardened enough to move. This was the plan. Obviously, things did not go according to plan.
I had kept a good eye on the computer sitting there because I didn't completely trust it. But it held steady. Somewhere about 1.5 hours or so into it (I wasn't really keeping track), I walked out of the room. When I got back, I tossed a magazine on the bed. Bad idea, apparently. Evidently my damn computer was sitting so precariously on that bed that either the draft of air from the magazine flying through the air, or the massive shockwaves from 8 ounces of paper hitting the other side of the bed changed things.
Nothing happened for a couple minutes. I went and sat back at my desk, oblivious to my impending doom. My back was to the computer at this point. And then...CRASH! "Oh ****."
Yes, as I'm sure you've already figured out, the computer tipped over, crashing down onto the floor a couple feet below. What happened is that I had the side door open from when I was disconnecting/draining things. The door I think hit the floor first, and it torqued it. The hinges held, surprisingly. But that just send the force elsewhere. It ripped the entire side panel off, and because part of the side (the part not hinged for access) was attached to the top and front, it also ripped a chunk out of the top and part of the front bezel. Plus it cracked the front up pretty good. In addition, it jarred everything enough so that the video card got knocked loose, and because it was screwed in with a sheetmetal screw, it cracked that mounting piece. The waterbox held in fairly well, except two of the seams where the bottom meets the side walls gave out. Just in the front, though. I think my massive amounts of goop, and the obscenely stringent mounting techniques (especially the pump being screwed onto the base as it is) kept it together.
All in all, things are not well with the waterbox--my computer in general. There's no point in having the acrylic box if I don't have an acrylic case. I'm currently throwing around ideas with my friend Tom about where I should go with things next--I'm leaning away from acrylic altogether. It can be a real pain in the *** to work with, keep clean, hide wires. But I also don't want something I see all the time--it needs to be unique. That was what the current box was all about.
So, yeah, this post was incredibly long--if you've read this far, thanks. I'm quite aware that was really, really stupid of me. Lesson learned, I hope.
Currently, I have all my necessary components out of the plexi case and into a spare case I had around. They still seem to work, at least. It's nothing fancy, but it might become the basis for my next project. If anyone knows where to get aluminum diamondplate (probably 1/16", but I'm not positive) for a good price, let me know. Actual stores would probably be best, as shipping on something like that would suck. And now I'll throw in the wreckage pictures.
