FEATURED Build Log: Water & Wood

awesome, awesome, awesome build

MIAHALLEN said:

How do I get that solder fixed like your talking about? Reflow in the oven? Or is there another way so I can target just that one connection?

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Use a soldering gun or station. Set the temperatures to around 650 degrees. Heat one side at a time and make sure you are touching the actual solder pad. Heat until it flows and looks smooth. It should take 1-2 seconds depending on what solder you are using. Do the same thing to both sides. Repeat if needed. It is hard to explain how to properly do SMD soldering.

Do not put the card in an oven to do this.

Sub'ed !!!
Holy crap dude. Those 3 cards are way too much for your needs. They are crappy cards too. You really should get the 590 ones instead. I'll take those 580's away from you and you can thank me later.

But seriously, I want to know if those cloth filters affect your airflow/temps. I'll be looking for a set up similar to that for my fans. I'll be building a cabinet for my two (maybe 3?) RX480 rads and I would like to find a way to prevent dust from getting into the rads and fans. Sure would look better then a bunch of fan grills too.

Coldzero Team has generously offered to supply me with some dust filters to solve my dust filter problems....they'll look like this
They're also sending me three backplates for my 580s Thanks a ton Coldzero Team

MIAHALLEN said:

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Hmmmmm.... coldzero.pt appears to be a Spanish or Portuguese site so I can't understand a damn thing. Do you have a name, maker, or part number for this grill above?

It's exactly what I want, I hope they have it in the 120.4 size.

AHHHHH, very nice. Starting to come together nicely.

PepeLapiu said:

Hmmmmm.... coldzero.pt appears to be a Spanish or Portuguese site so I can't understand a damn thing. Do you have a name, maker, or part number for this grill above?

It's exactly what I want, I hope they have it in the 120.4 size.

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They manufacture it themselves, and no...I don't have anymore info on the model. I'm under the impression they're working on an English website dues soon....I'll ask for you

And yes, they make a 120x4....that's what I'm getting

I've gotten a lot of work done since my last update. Here is the status.

I worked on the front panel a bit. I stated by mounting my power and reset buttons, the wood was a bit thick so I had to carve out the back side to mount the buttons. The extra hole was drilled for the PWM controller potentiometer.


In order to mount the potentiometer, I had to carve out the hole a bit on the front side.


But, the carved out area was a bit too large for the knob I planned to use, and it looked a bit funny.


So, I brainstormed a bit on how to improve the aesthetics. First I tried attaching a rubber piece to the knob, but it was too large to be effective.


I thought I'd look for something at the HW store to solve that issue, and moved onto something I could work on in the meantime.....wiring. First I mounted the PWM controller.




Then wired the reset switch.


Followed by the power switch.


And then sleeved the wiring.






Then I went back to my previous issue.


A quick trip to the HW store and I found some foam pads use for furniture feet. I like the new look.


I found the knob while digging through my friend's junk drawer....he's an audiophile and builds audio components and such. After a quick cleaning, it looked pretty nice.


I did not want the front panel permanently attached...in case I wanted to reconfigure stuff or if it was in the way of system maintenance. So I'm using velcro to attach it to a couple brackets which are permanently attached.






Last thing for now, I completed sleeving the PSU. My sleeving work is still pretty amateur, so I'll leave you with the long shots


And here with the front panel installed


I'm still waiting for someone to develop a front panel USB3.0 product that has motherboard headers instead of male connections for the back I/O panel....anyone know of anything?

Once that happens, I'll cut a hole for the FP USB3.0 device, and an optical drive.

Oh, I also have a part change to announce...I upgraded the OS drive from the X25M to a 120GB OCZ Vertex 3

With sleeving like that you should hack the bezel off your monitor and replace it with some beat to heck and back Aluminum (Just batter bash and run over the stuff then crack it into pieces half here and half there) and go for the full Matrix or Sci Fi look

Just noticed this is part of a desk. Are you sure you are not going to suck your leg into those fans, maybe you should put a big Stay Clear of Fans sign near there, just a thought

I hate this thread because it's so damn good...

I'm planning to work on the front door tomorrow. I'm planning to attach it with stealth hinges and it'll have a plexi window to provide a clear view of the internals. At first I was planning to do a boring rectangular shaped window, but something with more character would probably work better since I can't seem to cut a straight line to save my life....so I'm hoping you guys will have some suggestions for the shape of the window.

I have a small skillsaw and a jigsaw....but I don't have a proper workbench or straight-edge to ensure straight cuts, thats the problem. But, with the jigsaw I think I could do a nice window shape....nothing too complex, but more than a simple rectangle : LMK if you have any suggestions

Well, you're in Japan. I always liked the symbol used by ABC NBC's show Heroes.



Should be relatively simple to cut. If you do the symbol in wood, then cut out the eclipse around it, it could look cool.

Or perhaps I'm lame. It just popped into my head.

EDIT - Here it is in black.

Humm.....a very nice suggestion Jeremy. Maybe a Japanese characture would suit the build very well I'll have to explore the possibilities

Clamp down either a board or a piece angle and use it as a guide. Just measure from the blade to the outside of the base of the saw, on the side you wish to put against the side, and you will get the measurements for where to put your guide in relation to the hole you wish to cut.

Also since you have a router, you could allways use a plunge bit and a the the guide to cut your hole. It would come out extremely clean, only require a bit of sanding after wards to remove the burn marks (keep moving at a decent speed, and witha nice sharp bit and lubricated bit, and you probably wont have a problem with that even).

Lubricant wise for a router bit I usually use a spray on silicon lubricant works great.

For round or cleaner edges with a saw, Drill out the corners with a round bit ahead of time. Keeps you from getting that over shot cut look.

Thanks TJ....

What do you guys think of this:



it says "Water & Wood"

I like it! Would you cut the letters out and glue them onto the window?

I'm not sure yet....still brainstorming

What you said, or maybe etch the symbols into the plexi

MIAHALLEN said:

<snip>...or maybe etch the symbols into the plexi

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Now that's a cool idea.

Is there a better way to do that than freehand with my dremel?

...then I could edge light it too

+1. The lighting behind and etched piece of plexi would look sooo sexeh.