- Joined
- Dec 25, 2004
The bane of most of my systems has been too much heat building up. Even in my watercooled system, the heat coming off of several video cards folding for me has presented problems.
I've been experimenting with open bench testing cases, and I'm finally ready to move my main system into one. I've gone with a blue color scheme for the case, and it is an EVGA Classified motherboard that will do a LOT of folding, so may I present the Classified Blue Folder:
I started off with 20"x20"x1/2" plywood stained blue and aluminum U-channel for edging. Though it was apparent that I shouldn't have used clear gorilla glue. Evening cleaning it up as the extra oozed out, it left some evidence of its passing. Epoxy would have been the way to go.
For the uprights, I used L-brackets and 3/4" square aluminum tubing. Connected with a mix of blind pop-rivets and 6-32 screws.
Since it will be watercooled and I wanted plenty of space for mounting radiators, I gave it a couple of extra inches between top and bottom layers.
The EVGA 4-way SLI Classified motherboard is an oversize motherboard, but as you can see, it will easily fit on top, with room to spare.
Also, since I'm tired of never quite getting the motherboard mounting screws quite exactly square to the case, I've changed the method I use to drill the holes. Rather than using a scratch-awl to transfer the points of drilling through the motherboard itself, I drew out a CAD drawing of where the holes are supposed to go, then printed it out. After verifying that the scale was correct to the board, I can tape it down and make sure it is square. I still have to use the scratch-awl to dent the wood for the drill, but I don't have to worry anymore about bumping the board and moving it out of alignment.
And to make sure the board it mounted far enough to the back edge that I have room to tap holes to mount the video card, a quick check for spacing.
The template will run right up to the edge of the aluminum edging. It may be just a milimeter too far, but if it is, I can use a washer to space the angle aluminum that much further out.
More later, as I do the work.
Thanks for watching!
I've been experimenting with open bench testing cases, and I'm finally ready to move my main system into one. I've gone with a blue color scheme for the case, and it is an EVGA Classified motherboard that will do a LOT of folding, so may I present the Classified Blue Folder:
I started off with 20"x20"x1/2" plywood stained blue and aluminum U-channel for edging. Though it was apparent that I shouldn't have used clear gorilla glue. Evening cleaning it up as the extra oozed out, it left some evidence of its passing. Epoxy would have been the way to go.
For the uprights, I used L-brackets and 3/4" square aluminum tubing. Connected with a mix of blind pop-rivets and 6-32 screws.
Since it will be watercooled and I wanted plenty of space for mounting radiators, I gave it a couple of extra inches between top and bottom layers.
The EVGA 4-way SLI Classified motherboard is an oversize motherboard, but as you can see, it will easily fit on top, with room to spare.
Also, since I'm tired of never quite getting the motherboard mounting screws quite exactly square to the case, I've changed the method I use to drill the holes. Rather than using a scratch-awl to transfer the points of drilling through the motherboard itself, I drew out a CAD drawing of where the holes are supposed to go, then printed it out. After verifying that the scale was correct to the board, I can tape it down and make sure it is square. I still have to use the scratch-awl to dent the wood for the drill, but I don't have to worry anymore about bumping the board and moving it out of alignment.
And to make sure the board it mounted far enough to the back edge that I have room to tap holes to mount the video card, a quick check for spacing.
The template will run right up to the edge of the aluminum edging. It may be just a milimeter too far, but if it is, I can use a washer to space the angle aluminum that much further out.
More later, as I do the work.
Thanks for watching!