Project: Fatman and Little Boy

[Moto7451]

A while ago I found myself becoming cramped inside of the midtower case I had been using for about six months. My watercooling loop took up too much room inside the little case to be expanded. GPU cooling was out of the question. I decided to embark on a two case project to fix this problem. Its been 9 months since I started the project and I'm only starting the log now because until last month, there really wasn't much to see except for an aluminum box. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Initial structure, made of 1/16th" Aluminum L channel, 1/8" Aluminum channel, and 22ga mild carbon steel sheet metal. Its held together with bolts and nuts.

The case turned and next to a ruler for a sense of proportion.

I have only cut out one mount for the dual PSU setup so far. I may remake the bracket as I'm not happy with the rigidity of the steel.

Here are the parts used in my TEC chiller. The pump and radiator came from PC Watercooling Shop in canada. The pump is the "$25 12v pump" that was discovered back around March.


As compared to the Thermaltake Armor case:

I'll post more in a little bit.

 

[Moto7451]

Update 10/6/06:

Here is an example of the beast in action. Apparently I've lost a lot of the in progress pics.

Update 10/29/06:

Heres a teaser pic from a lan party I hauled the beast to. It gives an idea of what it looks like compared to a 15" travel LCD. On the front you'll notice that a lot has been added to it. The RadGrill is used to mount the radiator (Bonneville w/ AC) which fits perfectly. I used threaded rod and some end caps to hold the radiator on. The drive bays are from Performance PCs and support 10 bays if I recall correctly. I have 6 usable drive bays in total.

I'm planning on adding the second PSU this week so long as I have time. I'll post pics of that after I finish making the bracket and mount it. Also this weekend I plan on starting on Little Boy.

 

[Moto7451]

reserved for Little Boy

 

[Moto7451]

reserved again

 

[Octofister]

lookin good

 

[Sleepy_Steve]

I like how the PSU's are set up.
I'm not even going to make fun of someone not using 120mm fans... Mainly because i couldnt figure out how to fit any in my case =P

 

[Moto7451]

I used fairly quiet 80mm fans. They're only cooling 60W of heat at most. If I use a higher end TEC I'll be sure to put a new 120mm or better radiator in there. I like the PSU setup too. My original idea (when planning the case for my S754 board) was to use the fans on the PSU to channel air over the FETs. On my AM2 board the memory is directly under that path... even better! . "Free" (as in no extra noise) memory cooling to go along with dual PSUs, how can you go wrong?

More pics tonight .

Edit: Bah make it tomorrow.

 

[Moto7451]

Life can suck sometimes and take up your time, will post new pics tomorrow, promise .

 

[Evilsizer]

any chance you have more info on the rad/heater core?

 

[Moto7451]

Yes, you can find it here

 

[Flip-Mode]

Nice, subscribed.

 

[Moto7451]

Updates tomorrow for sure, this I do promise and will keep to .

 

[Moto7451]

Bump for an update

 

[Evilsizer]

looking nice! no shot of the rad mounted be any chance?

 

[Seven]

Not bad at all, keep up the good work.

Are you going to cover up the sides of that case?

7

 

[Moto7451]

Sorry, I kind of ignored this for a little while. Calculus decided to take over my life.

I'll take pics of the rad mount later tonight.

I plan on leaving it open or using some chicken-wire (or something similar) to keep random objects (like my foot) from entering the case. I like the open look a lot .

 

[Moto7451]

I apologize on being tardy with new pictures. Life's kind of run away from me. I will snap some pics tonight though.

Edit: Took the pictures, will upload after I get done at Karate tonight.

 

[Sleepy_Steve]

Waiting

 

[Enven]

Good to see this is from LA...GO LA! WOO.

Badass rig; wish I could lan with that...heh