Casebuild in Progress: Cube²

[AlexanderB]

A short introduction to my casemod(casebuild, really):
I started somewhere end 2007, planning, then building my ultimate PC case (that would last well into the future)
now its time for major modifications, and the rename to Cube²

CUBE²
Demands made that resulted in this design:

- Not just any ATC case. I wanted something different from the standard atx (PSU over processor) layout, even different from the reverse atx + psu on the gpu side layout.

- Lots of room for drives, my previous main rig had place for *ONE* 3.5" drive.

- Space for watercooling
Previous main rig didn't have space for a radiator. (hanging it off the back is not space for a radiator)

-Sturdy and easily transportable, I go to a lot of lanparties, and so does my computer ;) so a compact case would be nice.

- Unique, we've all seen the window+ccfl cases too often...

Design V1
After some brainstorming I came up with this design, and I used the measurements to buy the materials
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/case.jpg

Then I bought the materials, plates were cut with hydraulic scissors (got to have me one of those) and the angles were cut with a dremel (bleh, lots of work)
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/parts.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/verstek.jpg

One battery drill, one cobalt drill bit, and 3 boxes of rivets...
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/hakblok1.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/hakblok2.jpg
(drilling and aligning, not exactly the most comfortable workspace, but hey, at least it doesn't rain indoors

After some time it starts to take shape:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/1e-popnagels.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/progress1.jpg

Holes for PSU and backplane:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/zijkant.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/achterkant.jpg

[AlexanderB]

Paint v1:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/02-07-08_1207.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/02-07-08_1206.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/03-07-08_0959.jpg

At Campzone'08:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/case_closed.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/case_open.jpg

Case took 4th place out of 7, being passed by 2 window+lights mods :bang head

Mods for V2[/]
Some things in my case arent the way i wanted them to, sloppy work, small design mistakes and sometimes improper tools caused all this.

[b]- paintjob. The paint is of poor quality, and therefore looks really bad up close. (caused by cheap paint and doing a sloppy paintjob 2 days before a lanparty in a dark shed..
The bad paint was cause for a lot of comment, and bad memories tend to stick, so im changing the 'nuke' theme to something else, so people wont think its still the same crappy paint and case.


- Watercooling The case is designed around it, so it will have to be put in now :)

- Handles and locks V1 has glass handles, while looking very cool, they can barely handle the weight of the case. also the locks are not too sturdy, and imho, just plain ugly. thats why im replacing those things with flightcase stuff.


- sheet metal
I'm not happy with the way the holes for the radiators are cut. therefore, new panels will be installed.

- Hdd mounting
fatal design flaw: how do I actually mount the drives there?
in v1 this was solved by epoxying an old drive cage in place, but its difficult to get the disks in and out, it resonates and it came down because the glue didnt take to the steel well.

solution: make new drive cages and use velcro surfaces to put them in the case. easy installation, shock and vibrationproofing and perhaps stackable if used on more then 1 side of the cage. :D

- Cables
Its a cablemess, this will have to be fixed somehow..

[b]Design V2[/]
I redid the sketchup drawings (lost the original files), and made the dimensions 100% correct:

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/kist1.png

[AlexanderB]

watercooling stuff:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02180.jpg
2x 240 xspc rads, liang ddc-1 with OCLabs plexi top, 2 meter hose, hosebarbs, clamps,

took the case apart a bit
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02179.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02178.jpg

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02211.jpg
Put in new panels

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02212.jpg
and a new graphics card :)

watercooling: EK Supreme LT, XSPC chipset block, MCW60-4870 gpu block, custom res, etc..
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02263.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02264.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02266.jpg
cpu and nb block

[AlexanderB]

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02267.jpg
Pump top matches the blue water colour.
closeups of the reservoir:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02283.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02287.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/dsc02288.jpg

Unfortunately, the acrylic pump top cracked and fried my pump and new videocard :( (acrylic is really the worst material for anything ever.)
in the meantime, I bought a new mainboard and psu, thinking those might be the problem, (turned out to be the GPU that crashed)

some modifying to my mainboard:
http://xtreview.com/images/gigabyte%20GA%20-X48-Dq6%2002.jpg
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/miscmods/22-10-09_2255.jpg
Took off the heatpipe to the mosfets and put on the waterblock, the NB is the part that gives off most heat, and the SB might have some profit of the additional cooling too :)

my case now looks like the worlds most worn out dinky toy:
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/AlexB/casemods/CaseBuild/28-10-09_1901.jpg
and I'm getting ready to paint it now, with gunmetal black and gunmetal blue, but first primer..

[ricflairw000]

sweet job on teh water cooling

[Bobnova]

Those are both really, really cool. I'm very impressed!
Inspirational.

[AlexanderB]

Thanks :D

nothing more boring then waiting for paint to dry :) tho I really do want to sand and clean and stuff between each layer, I want good paint this time :)
(and it takes 6 hours to dry, or so it says)

[Douken]

Wow, looks very nice, you sure are devoted to that. I like how it kinda resembles a suit case.

[Dapman02]

You should try to ring it on a plain

...or maybe not :P

[SuperDave1685]

I love it :) Too bad about your GPU though. What liquid were you using?

[benbaked]

Good work on the case mods, the old nuke theme reminds me of the plutonium case from Back to the Future. :D

[Jolly-Swagman]

Great Build there AlexanderB

[Zap]

Case took 4th place out of 7, being passed by 2 window+lights mods :bang head

Don't you hate it when that happens? I once entered a case mod contest where the judges just glanced at my rig as they walked by (SFF case 13.5"x14.5"x5.5", some custom aluminum work, some rivots, custom window, 6" cold cathode, extra fan holes). The winner used a completely stock case with ZERO mods (I think it was a Thermaltake Xaser or something with stock side window) and just had swapped out all the stock fans with red LED fans, red cold cathodes, red rounded IDE cables.

The next LAN party I went to that had a case mod contest, I talked to the organizers beforehand and discussed what constitutes modding. My rig won, almost by default. :beer:

Props on your case build! I like the little details such as the little chains that keep the lid from opening too far, and the dremeled ends of the aluminum angle. I've done that before and it is a LOT of work (plus I "eyed" it and didn't have a guide so they didn't line up too well). I'm expecting delivery this Wednesday of a bench top cut-off saw with built in 45º guides from Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42307).

[AlexanderB]

a benchsaw is nice :) I used a special angleblock, don't know what its called in english.
got any pictures of your sff mod?

----
was using distilled water, with about 1/10 car coolant, and some blue uv dye, will probably be using 100% distilled this time, got to figure out if I can get blue hose or something :)

---
it does resemble a suitcase, because, well, it basically is. its just "fatter" then the average suitcase, and heavier, and as such, the handles are positioned differently, so it resembles a crate (or hi-tech treasure chest, for the pirate oriented people ;))

---
thanks for all the positive comments :) If I didn't like modding so much, I would have given up, and knowing what I know now, certainly would have bough a lian-li or equivelent expensive "good" case, because this one, by now, is at least as expensive too :) (while I used to say how can a 300$ case be that much more worth compared to a cheapo $50 one)

---
my new handles and locks came in :) now I have to figure out how to mount them, they are 'somewhat' oversized, so they'll probably get modified to fit too :)

[Zap]

got any pictures of your sff mod?


No, because I never finished - heck, never got past cutting the angle aluminum. I still have the cut pieces of angle aluminum but they didn't turn out too great because I just eyed them and cut them with a jigsaw.

I'm going to continue the project once I get my cut-off saw so that I can do better cuts.

[AlexanderB]

well, I'm gonna put my sff server in a new case too (its now housed on a shelf in a half built casemod case, with the drives stacked next to it) and probably gonna call it cube³ (just because :P)

its gonna be like 8.75"*8.75"*8.75", with a m-itx board, 4 drives, laptop cdrom (need to get a dvd sometime), 100w psu and cfcard for OS... more info on that soon :)