Project: The Chrome Goat... total system mod

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Looking Good Vonkaar

 

[vonkaar]

Mini update... teaser pics.

I've had a few people ask me about Nixies and what they do. My thermometer is still in the 'programming' stages so I can't show any real examples of *that*... but I can at least fire a few tubes up so ya'll can see how bright they are. There is a reason why so many people are infatuated with these little tubes.

That's a little test light... hopefully that won't be the temperature I'm running at =p. Also, I did obtain a scientific nixie AND a cool +/- nixie, so I should be able to display negative temps as well. Cool, no?

This is a shot from distance... so you can see how bright they get. This is from about 6' away.

Second teaser...

This is my curse... and will probably be the reason why I take so long with this project. I should be focusing on the chiller, but my parts are still in transit. So, I start a bit on the thermometer... but then I get bored. Sooo... then I start bending some acrylic for the many many panels that need it. Then I look over and see that my heater cores are still in 'stock' stage... with their 6" pipes and such. Sooo... I hack them off. Then I start soldering on some barbs and I look back at my plexi bending table and go back to that.

Soooooooooooooooo...

I swear I have ADD. My mom even thinks I do.

Hey look, pizza...

Oh...

Anyway... Teaser pic. SO I have half-*** heatercore and a half-*** shroud. The heatercores will of course be finished in... take a guess... and the shroud will also lose it's 'half-***' status. I started out with 1/8" acrylic for the shroud but it didn't look like it could hold the weight of the fan up top (chimney shroud ^_^) so I switched to 1/4". It carried the light a *lot* better and appears like it will have no problem with a few pounds of blower atop it.

The fingerprints are visible, as are the minute nicks and scratches that I need to buff out. That's all fine and dandy... I mean, the curves look nice and all, but it's not until you switch the lights on that the real show begins:

Now, that is a lot cooler looking. The problem I'm having with it is the apparent 'need' for the night. That sucks. Hopefully when it's finished and shiny and such, it won't look so lame in the light. I really envy those that can design their cases to look just as good in the day as in the night. That's why I've never been a huge fan of UV (with exceptions, of course). I don't want my case to look kinda plain... get "that's neato" reactions and have to resort to "wait, let me turn off the lights" to get a strong reaction. I mean, turning off the lights with Barry White playing in the background isn't supposed to be for showing your COMPUTER off. Maybe I'm just being paranoid with the pictures. The curves look better in person =p.

Anyway... the top has to be evened out, scratches buffed out... second panel attached (I found some really cool Acryllic piano hinges for the joint)... and LEDs hidden better. Then the top blower-shroud will be joined with the top of the HC shroud and I will reach nirvana.

I probably should just stop taking pictures unless there is something 'chrome' in the pic... a spoon even.

 

[UberBlue]

Please tell me you're not going the ghetto route in regards to bonding the acrylic. IPS Weld-On 3 or 4 is the stuff to use.

As far a scratches...

Novus 2 and 3 are your friends. I love the stuff.

 

[TheNewGuy143]

Definitely gona look good!!! Keep up the good work. Serves dual purpose of subscribing to thread
TheNewGuy

 

[Vulcan]

daym.... how much is this costing?

 

[DayUSeX]

wow that is looking very cool i cant wait to see the finsihed product!!!

 

[Posidon42]

Please tell me you're not going the ghetto route in regards to bonding the acrylic. IPS Weld-On 3 or 4 is the stuff to use.

As far a scratches...

Novus 2 and 3 are your friends. I love the stuff.

I am getting ready to do some plexi work myself. Where can I get these products? I don't have anything for the scratches right now but I was planning on using plastic weld for joining my panels.

 

[UberBlue]

I am getting ready to do some plexi work myself. Where can I get these products? I don't have anything for the scratches right now but I was planning on using plastic weld for joining my panels.

Mr. Plexi

Keep in mind they're not really set up to be an E-commerce site. $50 minimum order, less than that they charge something like $5 for bugging them. If you get 3 of the big bottles (recomended) of Novus polishes, a couple of applicator bottles, and a thing of Weld-on, it'll be right around $50.

Also, they seem to think that if you pay by CC/debit, it's ok just to E-mail them your CC number. Thankfully they take PayPal.

If anybody knows a better place to get the Novus, pipe up. The stuffs a bear to find.

If you live in a major metropolitan area, you'd have better luck calling around to local glass shops. If they carry plexi, they at least probbably have the Weld-on or equivelent. I bet vonkaar could get all of it localy.

Those applicator bottles ROCK!

 

[vonkaar]

haw... Xoxide used to have it but they are always out of stock now days.

I have novus 2... never seen the 3 in person. They sell the stuff at my chrome shop ^_^.

Otherwise...
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=novus

Thanks for the suggestion UberBlue. I have a good acrylic bonder but I'm going to try out the IPS stuff. I read a couple reviews on it and it seems like it may be better than what I have.

Good place for it:
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=131
Hell... while we are at TAP, they stock Novus 1, 2 & 3 =p.

 

[UberBlue]

haw... Xoxide used to have it but they are always out of stock now days.

I have novus 2... never seen the 3 in person. They sell the stuff at my chrome shop ^_^.

Otherwise...
http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=novus

Thanks for the suggestion UberBlue. I have a good acrylic bonder but I'm going to try out the IPS stuff. I read a couple reviews on it and it seems like it may be better than what I have.

Good place for it:
http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=131
Hell... while we are at TAP, they stock Novus 1, 2 & 3 =p.

Just be warned... The IPS is super thin. I spilled a drop on a smooth counter and was like "where did it go?". It just disappeared.

Novus 3 Gives you the crystal clear shine. Well worth it.

 

[Posidon42]

That TAP plastics place seems pretty cool. I wonder if they do custom work?

 

[skahtul]

THIS is the stuff I used to "glue" a plexi-glass reservoir together with. Like it says in the description, it is Ultra Clear, you can't even see the glue between the seems. And it is VERY strong.

Also, just a question vonkaar, are you going to mount your heater cores stacked like in the picture?

GREAT job on that bending of the plexi. I hope I get it down that good when I have to do it in a few weeks.

 

[Posidon42]

THIS is the stuff I used to "glue" a plexi-glass reservoir together with. Like it says in the description, it is Ultra Clear, you can't even see the glue between the seems. And it is VERY strong.

Also, just a question vonkaar, are you going to mount your heater cores stacked like in the picture?

GREAT job on that bending of the plexi. I hope I get it down that good when I have to do it in a few weeks.

Got any leftover you don't need anymore? I am just going to be building a small box and I really don't need a whole tube of stuff. LMK

 

[rhino56]

what an awesome project!!

 

[rabidchicken]

do you use a heat table to bend? or is there another way i had to sell everything out of my shop when i got deployed and was wondering if theres another way to bend the plexi....

 

[Posidon42]

I was planning on doing this a bit easier (maybe?). I have a simple box I am making that is 6x5x4". What I was going to do was to use my dremel with my router attachment and the cone shaped cutting bit to make a 45 degree groove on either side of the joint. I am not going to cut it all the way through though. This way I don't have to heat the plastic up very much in order to get it to bend and there will also be a very nice surface for the acrylic to bond to.

Hopefully I will have some time to mess with it over the upcoming three day weekend and can give you some results when I am done.

 

[vonkaar]

Well... I have two different methods. I have a wire-strip heater that works BRILLIANTLY on the 1/8" pieces. I mean... PERFECT bends, every time. It's kinda sloppy on the 1/4". I'm pretty well going to stick with 1/4" on every piece on the project (it glows SO much better ). I use a heat-gun with a 'narrow' attachment to focus the heat better. It takes about 60-90 seconds of heat before it's soft enough to bend. I bend it around a rounded table edge with a flat piece of wood.

skahtul: Yes, I am going to mount the pair of heatercores in a series like that. The blower pushes through them like they weren't even there ^_^.

 

[UberBlue]

skahtul: Yes, I am going to mount the pair of heatercores in a series like that. The blower pushes through them like they weren't even there ^_^.

Are you sure you want to do that? It's not the best option performance wise.

 

[vonkaar]

Compared to 2 seperate fans over 2 seperate heatercores in series or parallel, it clearly wouldn't be. However... most setups that run that way are using 2 fans for 'maybe' 200cfm on each radiator... the radiators are usually smaller and they take up a hell of a lot more room than I am. I'm pushing a lot more air through the same amount of surface area (in comparison with a dual caprice setup) with *much* less space taken up.

I would imagine that the difference between 200cfm(x2) through a 'properly' installed dual-heatercore setup would only be slightly more effective than 700cfm through a pair mounted in series. I'm losing little and gaining a lot of space. The other option was to mount 2 chevette cores in the same space, but run them next to each other, instead of on top of each other. I'm only 'guessing' that I'll see better performance out of 2 'large' radiators in series (on top of each other) than 2 smaller radiators sitting next to each other.

Also... I am well aware of the fact that my numbers aren't exactly 'hard facts'... meaning, 700cfm will obviously 'not' be 700cfm after going through the pair of radiators, but then... a pair of 100cfm fans through 1 radiator won't be 200cfm on the far side either. The top blower isn't the primary source of case airflow, it's only an added bonus.

Cliff Notes: I know that I'd be better off with a pair of radiators sitting in seperate shrouds, I'm simply sticking with the best option I can in the space I designed.

 

[SniperXX]

Looks great! I cant wait to see this mod progress and the chome is awesome!