- Joined
- May 20, 2003
- Location
- Colleyville, TX
Project: The Chrome Goat... total system mod (1-14-04 update)
Hi everyone! I've been wanting to post this for at least 2 months, but I had to wait on my camera's USB cable to return from Mongolia. It's back and I can finally start posting pictures and my little stories.
The Chrome Goat! (AKA The Goat of Paradise)
Goals: Fully encased plexi full-tower with chrome skeleton interior.
---1---> Lots of folded acrylic for rounded corners.
-------------> I'm going for an I-Pod look. Glossy white paint underneath soft edged plexi. Clear line-breaks for chic lighting.
-------------> Enough visibility underneath the plexi to see the beautiful chrome work.
---2---> Thermo-Electric water-chiller.
-------------> Separate, selectable water-loop with Iwaki MD10 pump.
-------------> Powered by a pair of Lambda LRS-55-12 15vdc power supplies.
-------------> Chromed valves for integration into standard CPU loop.
---3---> Completely integrated water-cooling setup.
-------------> Iwaki MD20RZT, D-Tek NB cooler, 3-prong Cascade-SS, Innovatek GPU block converted to 1/2", Tygon tubing.
-------------> Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some sort of shroud for the pump and have it chromed. Iwaki Green SO doesn't match my Martha Stewart meets Mad Max blue on chrome motif.
---4---> Painted and chromed blower over dual heater-core assembly with plexi shroud.
-------------> EBM model D1G133. Powered by a chromed Power-One 48vdc PSU.
---5---> Lots of lights, but tastefully arranged.
-------------> No visible CCFLs or LEDs. The goal is to provide ample lighting but keep the sources hidden.
-------------> All of the lighting should be controlled by the famous Macroman CCFL throbber circuit©. I'm not going for any of the fancy lightsabre effects. A simple fade on, fade off 'breathing' effect will look great.
---6---> LCD Winamp display.
---7---> Nixie tube CPU / Case thermometer.
---8---> Fun HDD activity meter.
-------------> Same effect I used in my red EL-wire HDD mod, this time with blue EL-wire and more accurate HDD activity.
---9---> This spot reserved for whatever else my kooky brain comes up with ^_^.
Part 1: Planning.
I made my shopping list, and acquired the following parts:
2x 88 Chevy Caprice heatercores.
Iwaki MD20RZT pump (I had a 30rzt but it actually raised my water temperatures by about 1.7° in a closed loop, no-heatsource system)
Iwaki MD10RT pump
Bender Chiller (Overclockers.com TEC-Chiller guru)
EBM D1G133 blower. ($10 on Ebay) 700CFM 48vdc blower from hell. 700cfm is a lot... enough that you would think that it would be noisy as can be... it's not. If I run it at 40vdc, it's almost silent. It's rated down to 30v... I may 'pot' it to control noise. However, even at 48v it's quieter than most of the 120mm axial fans I've used.
Dtek northbridge block
Innovatek GPU block
Little River Waterblocks - Cascade SS (special silver edition) with 2 outlets instead of the normal one.
A bunch of Burroughs 8422(B-5991) nixies. (Pictures will be up tonight)
A bunch of misc electronics parts like the nixie controller chip, a couple basic stamps and a programmer.
Oh... and all the components in the 'CCFL Throbber' shopping list.
Part 2: What have I been up to since I started this project?
The first thing I did was experiment with a few ideas. I knew I wanted 'bended' acrylic instead of a 'joined' pair for my corners. I had to figure out if I had the knowledge and tools to accomplish this. There were enough online resources on bending acrylic that this wasn't hard to test out. I simply broke off a small piece of plexi, clamped it down against a straight-edge table and started heating the 'bend' portion. Eventually it started to 'fall' on its own, so I grabbed a flat block and bent it over. It got fairly warped because of the clamp and the uneven surface of the 'flat block', but the experiment was a success. After it dried, it retained the optical clarity and was just as strong as before. This was a 1/4" chunk of acrylic... I couldn't break the bend with my hands; that was good enough for me.
The next 'idea' to test was the chroming process. How well would a chromed piece look? I am lucky enough to work with the president of a local low-rider club. They are one of the premier Impala low-rider clubs in the country and his car is basically 'perfect'. -link- He hooked me up with the chrome shop and I had my first test piece plated. You can see the original anodized-aluminum shroud above... after the plating, it looked like this:
Happy day!
I then spent the next few months ordering all of the remaining pieces of the 'plan' in preparation for... this day ^_^. I can finally begin the modding. I'm sitting here at work typing this up and I'll finish the remaining posts with better pictures as soon as I get home. The reason I couldn't wait is... well...
continued...
Hi everyone! I've been wanting to post this for at least 2 months, but I had to wait on my camera's USB cable to return from Mongolia. It's back and I can finally start posting pictures and my little stories.
The Chrome Goat! (AKA The Goat of Paradise)
Goals: Fully encased plexi full-tower with chrome skeleton interior.
---1---> Lots of folded acrylic for rounded corners.
-------------> I'm going for an I-Pod look. Glossy white paint underneath soft edged plexi. Clear line-breaks for chic lighting.
-------------> Enough visibility underneath the plexi to see the beautiful chrome work.
---2---> Thermo-Electric water-chiller.
-------------> Separate, selectable water-loop with Iwaki MD10 pump.
-------------> Powered by a pair of Lambda LRS-55-12 15vdc power supplies.
-------------> Chromed valves for integration into standard CPU loop.
---3---> Completely integrated water-cooling setup.
-------------> Iwaki MD20RZT, D-Tek NB cooler, 3-prong Cascade-SS, Innovatek GPU block converted to 1/2", Tygon tubing.
-------------> Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some sort of shroud for the pump and have it chromed. Iwaki Green SO doesn't match my Martha Stewart meets Mad Max blue on chrome motif.
---4---> Painted and chromed blower over dual heater-core assembly with plexi shroud.
-------------> EBM model D1G133. Powered by a chromed Power-One 48vdc PSU.
---5---> Lots of lights, but tastefully arranged.
-------------> No visible CCFLs or LEDs. The goal is to provide ample lighting but keep the sources hidden.
-------------> All of the lighting should be controlled by the famous Macroman CCFL throbber circuit©. I'm not going for any of the fancy lightsabre effects. A simple fade on, fade off 'breathing' effect will look great.
---6---> LCD Winamp display.
---7---> Nixie tube CPU / Case thermometer.
---8---> Fun HDD activity meter.
-------------> Same effect I used in my red EL-wire HDD mod, this time with blue EL-wire and more accurate HDD activity.
---9---> This spot reserved for whatever else my kooky brain comes up with ^_^.
Part 1: Planning.
I made my shopping list, and acquired the following parts:
2x 88 Chevy Caprice heatercores.
Iwaki MD20RZT pump (I had a 30rzt but it actually raised my water temperatures by about 1.7° in a closed loop, no-heatsource system)
Iwaki MD10RT pump
Bender Chiller (Overclockers.com TEC-Chiller guru)
EBM D1G133 blower. ($10 on Ebay) 700CFM 48vdc blower from hell. 700cfm is a lot... enough that you would think that it would be noisy as can be... it's not. If I run it at 40vdc, it's almost silent. It's rated down to 30v... I may 'pot' it to control noise. However, even at 48v it's quieter than most of the 120mm axial fans I've used.
Dtek northbridge block
Innovatek GPU block
Little River Waterblocks - Cascade SS (special silver edition) with 2 outlets instead of the normal one.
A bunch of Burroughs 8422(B-5991) nixies. (Pictures will be up tonight)
A bunch of misc electronics parts like the nixie controller chip, a couple basic stamps and a programmer.
Oh... and all the components in the 'CCFL Throbber' shopping list.
Part 2: What have I been up to since I started this project?
The first thing I did was experiment with a few ideas. I knew I wanted 'bended' acrylic instead of a 'joined' pair for my corners. I had to figure out if I had the knowledge and tools to accomplish this. There were enough online resources on bending acrylic that this wasn't hard to test out. I simply broke off a small piece of plexi, clamped it down against a straight-edge table and started heating the 'bend' portion. Eventually it started to 'fall' on its own, so I grabbed a flat block and bent it over. It got fairly warped because of the clamp and the uneven surface of the 'flat block', but the experiment was a success. After it dried, it retained the optical clarity and was just as strong as before. This was a 1/4" chunk of acrylic... I couldn't break the bend with my hands; that was good enough for me.
The next 'idea' to test was the chroming process. How well would a chromed piece look? I am lucky enough to work with the president of a local low-rider club. They are one of the premier Impala low-rider clubs in the country and his car is basically 'perfect'. -link- He hooked me up with the chrome shop and I had my first test piece plated. You can see the original anodized-aluminum shroud above... after the plating, it looked like this:
Happy day!
I then spent the next few months ordering all of the remaining pieces of the 'plan' in preparation for... this day ^_^. I can finally begin the modding. I'm sitting here at work typing this up and I'll finish the remaining posts with better pictures as soon as I get home. The reason I couldn't wait is... well...
continued...
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