[Sleepy_Steve]

Project: Jet Black – a Full Tower

For some time now, I have felt my mid tower was too cramped, and have been longing to work on a full tower ever since I tossed my last full tower case that originally held a gateway 2000 386@ 32mhz… There will be faster hardware in this one.

So i went to the internet and got me one of these. (yes i know most have already had, modded, and moved on from this case - but fun can still be had)

Project Goals:

1) Stealthing the optical drive. -- Out, not needed, and impractical with the toolless mounting setup.
2) Painting the interior (but not components) flat black -- DONE
3) Moving the drive cages in the lower front back a bit to let in two 120mm intake fans. -- OUT as EC informed me the HDD cages can’t be pushed back without hitting in on space for the video card.
4) 92mm blowhole in the top-- DONE
5) Cutting up the side panel and giving it a plexi window.-- DONE
6) Backlighting the front grill with cathodes or fans... whichever fits easier.-- DONE
7) Making my own Molex cables so wiring looks clean for once-- DONE
8) Home made intake filter for intake fans
9) A couple more cathodes inside the case to show off the shiny parts-- DONE
10) Dual PSU’s... The bracket was made, and is working great in the case. Tried 2 of my spare PSU's briefly, but just holding one atm.-- DONE
They will not be linked… rather there will be an old AT for cooling, lighting, and the floppy and optical drive(s) and the second PSU for everything else.

** I want to give a big thanks to EC for the bracket print… that was most helpful. **
** I also want to give an equaly big thanks to Capt Slug who helped me out by making the dual PSU bracket. **
** Thanks guys!!! **

The last idea – for now – but I think this is still a maybe.
11) Tint the window for the same effect as the recent rig done by navi. (CPU cover)… -- DONE Looks awsome, glad i didnt let the reservations below effect my doing it.
but i was hesitant because:
A) I don’t want to feel like I’m totally stripping someone else’s idea and
B) I have no idea what level or percentage of tint to apply to the window as I have never worked with it before.

Too bad i dont have the budget for watter cooling One of many edits: Scratch that, I figured i was going all out on the case, I should try my hand at watter cooling for the first time. We'll see if i can come up with anytihng good.
12) Water Cooling -- Built and tweaking!!!

**On to the project itself**

When the case came in, it had been dropped a bit too hard by UPS
A shot of the damaged lower front bezel (replaced for free by newegg - still in transit though)


There was also a dent in the bottom of the case where one of the feet are. Fortunatley I was able to fix the dent in the bottom of the case to my satisfaction with a bit more work than I expected, but it was still fun.

The dent in the bottom was fixed when I removed the bottom half of the case by drilling out all ten rivets, and clamping the bent section in a vice between some steel plated I grabbed from the metal lathe’s bench. Yes, its ghetto, prolly not as strong as it should be, and I scratched the paint. However it’s too heavy anyway to ever leave my house and ill be painting over anyway, so no harm no foul.

**The Window**

Ok, so my dad deleted the before pics, the pics of masking, and the pics of the cutting as it progressed when he used the camera over mothers day weekend. However - I begin with what i have to work with.

The side pannel all cut out on the work bench. I think at the very least - it needs to be cleaned. (please let me know if the edges seem jaged)




A test fit to give me an idea of what ill be looking at inside.

(I striped most internal parts... then piled em back in so they wont clutter the rest of the work area)


Ok, enjoy! - I should be making a bit more rapid headway on this now, and updating frequently as it progresses.

[scott d]

was thinking about buying this same case a few minutes ago....subscribed!

[Sleepy_Steve]

So I thought about this a bit over dinner. I’m waiting to know how / if I’m tinting the plexi before I finish off the window. Because the plexi is on hold, I might as well get to work on the top blowhole first and then the PSU bracket afterwards.

I will be doing the blowhole in the same manner as I repaired the bottom panel of the case - drilling out rivets, and re-doing them when I’m done. I'll do a sketch of where the hole will be while it’s still on the case using a stand in PSU to check for clearance.

The fan and grill themselves come from an old AT box I modded a while back whose original components have long since fried. But this time I'm using heat shrink over masking tape for running power to the thing.

* I also edited the first post with a pic of the damage to the front bezel. *

[traldan]

Nice.

[Sleepy_Steve]

**The Blowhole**

There were 8 rivets in all that needed removal. 3 front, 3 back, and one on each side of the upper most part of the drive cages. Then i started to sketch out some lines and stuff for getting a well centered placement. Shortly after drawing some lines i realised it was after 1am and thought it was a good time to call it for the night. - Oh. But i did take some pics.

Case - pre drilling out rivets.


Case - after rivet removal.


Top - free from case


Ugly reunion with geometry - either i forgot something or ill have to re-do it.


Fan on top to give an idea of what im goin for.


*NOTE* i really hope that these are sizing down propperly for people and dont take up waaay too much desktop realistate as i have definetly not been scaling em down when uploading.

[WheaT]

Always fun to watch others build stuff!! Subscribed!

[traldan]

Post more pics slacker. I know you've done more on this.

[Flip-Mode]

I'm keeping my eye on this....

[Slayer2003]

*Subscribed*

Looks like you will be going all out on this case, should make for a good project.

[SolidxSnake]

subscription time

i wanna see this when finished

[Sleepy_Steve]

Originally Posted by traldan

Post more pics slacker. I know you've done more on this.

OMG you damned n00b!!! Ive been working 13 hours shifts every day this week. Besides like im gona let the guy who sealed his blowhole with duct tape crack the whip on me. (granted it was my advice but still ) - i know Trally IRL so dont nock me making fun of him... Besides i'm just jealous he's got the x1900xt

Yeah i hope i can get some more done on this durring my days off. But between aking a job sooner than i thought, and some other delays... progress seems to have slowed quite a bit. The replacement front bezils were finaly here when i got home tonight. So i 'think' that allows me to do some more. But i havnt had time to make it to a comp show for some fans due to work - so i guess ill have to do it online at some point. Oh, and call around about the tinted window thing as well.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Ok, so i kind of have been doing a poor job updating this log. My bad.

Its not that i havnt been doing any work on it - although for a couple weeks thats what happened - its that i have not gotten a working camera for some new pics.

Work done since i last checked in:

Window has been tinted, and is ready to be droped in.
Case wires were made for most components. (video card, and all drive bays)
- but i still need to whip something up for the flopy and fan controler.
Case painting has begun / is almost finished, but i ran out of paint
Oh and the blowhole is finished, but currently disassembled for painting.

Things i have left to do:

Order fans and get them wired up
Make and paint my dual PSU bracet
Intake Filters
LIGHTING!!!
Power on switches to work with an old AT PSU, and the ATX PSU that will also be in the rig.
Make myself a bios reset switch
Stealth the optical drive - gona be done after the thing is all built and with hardware inside.

[Sleepy_Steve]

I FOUND THE PICS!!!!!

UPDATES TOMORROW WHEN I INSTALL THE CAMERA ON MY DORM PC!!!!!

Sorry for the long wait, this should clear up a bit of what has been done to the PC since the inital couple posts. I didnt really abbandon it permanently. I I'll let the pictures speak for themselves tomorrow.


The case itself should be done by the end of my thanksgiving break.
I have decided to water cool it, and i should have all the parts for that before going back on turkey break.
Now i just need to make a hole for the second PSU's power switch, and a couple more holes for the WC inlet and oulet lines.

[SolidxSnake]

Waiting...

[Sleepy_Steve]

PICS!!

The finished 92mm blow hole in the top... The fan is not in for that pic because shortly after that i repainted the whole case, inside and out in flat black.


A pic of the window before being tinted... thank god for the band saw off camera to the right. It made that bit a whole lot easier.


Me realising how hard its gona be to tint such an irregular shape.


Me after attempt No. 3 at tinting, going for No. 4.

A few minutes after the pic was taken i drove to the tint shop down the road and had them do it for $15 because i wasnt getting anywhere with my techniques in tinting.


And to make people who like pics happy -- I think I wil take pictures of my WC components as i get them in. I promise more frequent updates in November.

[soulfly1448]

Looks good, can't wait to see more!

[Seven]

Tinting, interesting.

Are you going for the "only lights up when lit from inside" effect?

It'll be interesting to see how this turns up.

7

[Sleepy_Steve]

Originally Posted by Seven

Tinting, interesting.

Are you going for the "only lights up when lit from inside" effect?

Yeap! I have that part done at this point, just need to snap some on / off pics the next time I'm home.

For now the best i can do is take some Pics of the WC parts as they begin to accumulate at the dorm.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Post reserved for pics of WC components.
Link to my thread in the WC section.


Also a checklist, so i can start abandoning the Wc thread and being to consolidate into just one thread for this project.

Case: Check
Optical drive: Check
Fan controler: Check
Temp sensor: Check
Case Fans: Check

Radiators: Check
Hosing, Fittings, Clamps, etc: Check
Pump: Check
Rad Fans: Check
Resevour: [Check
CPU Block: Check
GPU Block: Not Available. (to my knowledge)

Primary PSU: Need
Secondary PSU's: Check

150GB Raptor: Need
Sound Card: Need
Memory: Need
P5B Dlx: Need
E6600: Need
DX10 Card: Needs to come out!

[AC3421]

Originally Posted by Sleepy_Steve

Post reserved for pics of WC components.
Link to my thread in the WC section.


Also a checklist, so i can start abandoning the Wc thread and being to consolidate into just one thread for this project.

Case: Check
Optical drive: Check
Fan controler: Check
Temp sensor: Check
Case Fans: Check

Radiators: Check
Hosing, Fittings, Clamps, etc: Check
Pump: In Mail
Resevour: On Back Order
CPU Block: Waiting to be sent out with the Res
GPU Block: Not Available. (to my knowledge)

Primary PSU: Need
Secondary PSU: Check

150GB Raptor: Need
Sound Card: Need
Memory: Need
P5B Dlx: Need
E6600: Need
DX10 Card: Needs to come out!

Around next week the DX10's should be available from newegg. EDIT: Sorry, I meant the nVidia ones, the ATi/AMD (w/e) ones should be out around late december early january. they got delayed. But the nVidia 8800 GTX and GTS will be out around next week some time for a hard release. The third party selleres have had theres for a while now, so it should be out pretty quick.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Leaning towards an R600... but for me, its going to depend who has the waterblocks out for a card with decently stable drivers -- I predict a fair share of bugs for the first wave of DX10 cards.

[Suma]

looking good steve!
I'll soon be joining you, modding a lian-li PC60, all BLACK

[Sleepy_Steve]

Actualy the blower idea died today on my way to lunch.

I realised that if i was having this much trouble justifying that blower, i should proly just get 2 or 3 normal 120mm fans with decent flow.

I'm still being creative with how the fans and Heatercores are mounted, Just now blower at this time.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Originally Posted by Suma

looking good steve!
I'll soon be joining you, modding a lian-li PC60, all BLACK

Yep, that project is comming along nicely.

I am going to get 3 of the 120mm 80ish CFM panflows for the rads i think. The WC enclosure should end up having some sor of baffling, along with some sound dampening material to make things a bit more quiet.

I got the pump in today... that thing is a lot heavier than i expected for 350gph, I shudder to think what the 700gph model is like.
I'll try and get out tomorrow and find propper fittings for the pump and then snap some pics of the parts i have on hand here.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Time for a pic! Enjoy!

The parts i have here with me at campus before i go home, the pump is a lot bigger than i thought.


In the pic: Pump (massive), two 77 w/ ac bonnivile heater cores, 5 cheapo, but reasonably quiet LED fans for the case.

[Suma]

Steve, don't you think your'e a little bit over doing?
2 double 120mm hc sounds like overkill to me. (and noisy as hell )
What are you planning on cooling with that?

Suma.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Eventualy, an E6600 and a DX10 GPU. For now though, its only the CPU because I want to see what the R600 cards can do.

As for noise... I settled on three of these to cool the heatercores. They should be reasonably quiet, and considerably quieter than the 450CFM blower i had origionaly planned on. And because they are going in an external enclosure, i can be generous with sound dampening material and build in some baffleing as well to keep noise down as much as possible.

As for the 5 case fans... well, i have a fan controler for a reason.


EDIT: Looks like im making an unexpected trip home this weekend. I think i will bring the parts i have with me now rather than next week. I might be able to get working on the external enclosure. As it stands though, i may only get some rough plans drawn up for it.

[speed bump]

Any pictures of that blower? I have been hunting for the right size blower for a case mod project for awhile this sounds like it might be close to what i'm looking for.

[Suma]

Originally Posted by Sleepy_Steve

Eventualy, an E6600 and a DX10 GPU. For now though, its only the CPU because I want to see what the R600 cards can do.

As for noise... I settled on three of these to cool the heatercores. They should be reasonably quiet, and considerably quieter than the 450CFM blower i had origionaly planned on. And because they are going in an external enclosure, i can be generous with sound dampening material and build in some baffleing as well to keep noise down as much as possible.

As for the 5 case fans... well, i have a fan controler for a reason.


EDIT: Looks like im making an unexpected trip home this weekend. I think i will bring the parts i have with me now rather than next week. I might be able to get working on the external enclosure. As it stands though, i may
only get some rough plans drawn up for it.

Outisde enclosure is good.
anyway keep up posted and gl man.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Originally Posted by speed bump

Any pictures of that blower? I have been hunting for the right size blower for a case mod project for awhile this sounds like it might be close to what i'm looking for.

Do not have pics... the closest i saw was a dimensions diagram in the catalouge of an HVAC store down at school. Here is the most detailed info i have: It uses 120v AC, pulles air in from both sides, needs a little bit of back pressure to avoid over spinning and burning out the motor, and dimensions wise... 11'' long, 8'' wide, and 10'' tall.

Originally Posted by Sleepy_Steve

As for the blower i have in mind... I found a suitable blower that dumps out 450ish CFM (more than enough for both rads, and prolly enough to keep the pump cool as well) -- However the only local retailer i found that can get me one (HVAC supplier) wants $95 for one. More shopping is needed to find that at a better price. In case your curious, its a FASCO B45267.

In the end, there was no better price, and i would rather keep the hight of the external enclosure under control... So the decision was made to go for 3x 120mm fans. Should save me 5-6'' in the end. Besides... $95 or more for basicaly a noisy version of what i can get for 30-40 or so when going with conventional fans.