Project: HAL9000-A 2U Modding Odyssey

[gulp35]

HAL 9000 Mod - A 2U Modding Odyssey ---Part 1: The Dawn of HAL

I recently (4 months ago) saw 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time. Immediatly, I thought that having a computer that looks like the HAL 9000 would be AWESOME. So I looked around the internet because there HAD to be lots of people with this type of mod... I found Very few. Well, then there should be alot of movie buffs that have recreated or own the original HAL... again there are very few people, even fewer have recreated HAL correctly.

So that is my project. To try to recreate HAL as close to the way it (he?) was shown in 1968.

So first I turned to eBay to find a suitable fisheye lens to act as his eye. I eventually found a steal of a deal on a Bicar x0.15 Fisheye Lens (26$USD shipped), which I later found on a french site selling for 90Euros :agape:

Initial plans were to make a custom case that would mimic HAL in his(?) brain-room with the clear memory modules next to it (him... which I will continue calling HAL from now on because i want to). But, I was going to (*yoda* there is no try*/yoda*)finish the case before College (Carnegie-Mellon U.) began I decided to try and find a case that would work.

Classic Towers... No (at the time I wanted to make the HAL panel 2' tall (which I later found to be way off) there are no desktops that would be able to have HAL and the Mem. Mod.s on the side.

Cubes... Too $$$

Desktops... None would fit the hardware I wanted and have the right dimentions.

Rackmount? By the time I had got to this point almost a quarter of the summer had gone by and I was desperate to get a design laid out so that I could start working. So I decided that HAL would be the main focus of the computer while the memory modules could be incorperated into a wall mount for HAL (I was inspired by ZeusEnergy's Framed PC when I was wanting to Custom build a case)

OK so I had chosen to go Rackmount... What case would I choose? I looked around and quickly found the All-aluminum 2U Skyhawk AL-2025-IPC. It would fit my current hardware (i.e. use ATX PSU, fit ATX mobo, fit Videocard, etc.)
and was very light to boot (12lbs. or about 5.45kg.)

Then I started thinking about cooling (don't worry I'll get back to the case soon). Air-cooling was pretty much my only option (strapped for cash, b/c I need to upgrade my main computer *i.e. what is going into HAL* and maybe get a laptop for college), but since I wanted to keep my current OC it needed to be good. The big problem however is that 2U rackmounts are only 90mm tall. Which after subtracting height for the mobo standoffs, cpu socket, and fan breathing room leaves about 60mm to work with (that is height including a fan). I though about cutting a hole above the processor to let it duct in air from outside but that was X'd out because the case has one good side and one side that is full of holes (for HDD mounts to screw into. Another plus of the case, everything is unscrewable, no Rivets!!!).

I was trying to decide between some old Socket A Dynatron Coolers, the ThermalTake Pipe101, and the Zalman 7000B. The Dyantrons would clear the height requirement but would not cool well. The Zalman would cool OK but there were possible clearance issues with my Mobo and I didn't want to waste anything. So I was limited to the Pipe101 which was too tall, but could cool really well if I could get some air to it. The only problem with that is the Pipe101 has 67 or so fins, making normal (quiet) fans not push enough air through the heatsink.

 

[gulp35]

Remarkably, All-Electronics started selling these which I ordered 2 sets of... Yes they run at 12500RPM, yes they are loud, but I am told you can run them at 5-7 Volts and make them quiet down nicely... the best part about these fans is the pressure that they push. 1.44 INCHES of H20!!!!! (36.5mm H20 for those metric people), when I point this fan at people across the room they can feel the air!!!.

I found out that I could probably run 4 of these little "buzzbombs", as someone on ocforums.com called them, near the heatsink and make a duct out of composites (my dad is building a composite airplane so i have materials and someone with skills to help me) to guide the air to the heatsink. Even better, there is a unused hard drive rack there so I can mount fans to that and then cut a hole in the side of the case and have room for some filtering material. *note: in the final contruction the 4 fans above the HS will be level with the top of the case.*

After some research about HAL, I found that he measures 12" tall and 4" wide
and after taking a picture of HAL from the movie and scaling to to the size of my lens, I found that my HAL should be about 10" by 3.33". I printed out a picture *on my printer that is low on blue ink but can somehow make the blue part of HAL* and positioned it to where i wanted it to be.

I think that is it for now... I'll maybe get some time to start cutting the case, but I'm a little gun-shy of doing so because I haven't made the faceplate yet... but I have to go to Washington DC in 3 days *not sure when i'll be back* and then to Canada Alaska on the 16-27... I hope this mod goes well, it will really be crunched for time

If you have any experience using Aluminium Framing or Trim please post a responce here or email me. "the.lipster" -at- gmail (d0t) com

Things to do to finish the Mod:
1)Cooling
a)Make Videocard cool better using shown 1U Socket A cooler
b)Cut hole in the side of the case to allow air to enter CPU cooling fans
c) Build duct to fit between CPU HS and Fans
2) Contruct the HAL Faceplate
a) The plate itself (metal or wood?)
b) get Lens ring Machined (probably aluminum)
c) get mesh to cover HAL's Speaker area
d) Find out how to lay out Aluminium Trim
e) Contruct the lighting box to give HAL his infamous Red Eye
3) OS Mods
a) try to make windows look as HAL like as possible (should it be themed as it
is HAL's desktop or as a tribute to HAL?)
b)Make Windows Loading Screen
c) Make Login Screen
4) Make the Brain Room
a) What should it be made out of?

Auxillerary things to do:
1) Get a camera with better macro/focus

 

[tbones1337]

hal, open the bay doors....


im sorry dave i cant do that..

hal..



open the bay doors..

I cant wait to see the results. and how are you gonna do his glowing "eye"? Have the bottom of the lens taken out and then LEDs?

get back from vacation so we can see more...

more.

 

[gulp35]

For the Glowing eye I was going to get a rubber sleeve-like pipe connector put one end over the end of the lens and the other over a PVC cap that has been silver painted on the inside and have LED's placed around the outside of that cap.

I'm not on vacation yet... I just can't start any of the projects because of preperations for Vacation and Independace Day celebrations.

 

[Son1990]

Lovin the eye idea.

 

[gulp35]

I was commenting on a comment made over on Bit-tech and decided to give an update o what is happening. so here it is

I have been working on this project it is just coming very slowly because I have to go on vacation to Alaska just after getting back from Washington DC (I know, some guys just have to suffer through it all ) I also have to find a different way to make the ring that goes around HAL because the guy that was going to machine it for me hasn't been replying to my Emails.

I have been working on installing the 1U cooler to my 9800 Pro that will be in HAL, All I have to do is drill the mounting holes and make sure the HSF has good contact with the GPU. I should have pics tomorrow.

The HAL faceplate has been moving even slower... For those Not living in the South East United States, there has been alot of rain because of Hurricane Dennis which has stopped me from painting a few demo faceplates (I was going to test how thin Plywood would look).

Since this is really my second case mod (first being the Wood Dualie case) any tips or advice would help me greatly.

 

[gulp35]

HAL9000: A 2U Modding Odyssey *Cooling Waltz*

OK, So I finished up the GPU Cooling today. And all I've got to show for it are these two lousy pictures.

For those that want to do a similar mod I have three bits of advice:
1) cut the first mounting hole, then line up the second hole
2) Don't use a drill to cut out the fins
3) check if your GPU clears the shim by covering it and the shim with TIM then place and remove the HSF. If the core does not make a good mark, draw around that area w/ a marker, wipe off the TIM and dremel off the interferance. Luckily it seems that the 9800 Series' GPU DOES clear the Shim so no gorging of the HSF is needed.

 

[Brundle Fly]

Bonus project you got going on here, awesome idea

If you're hunting down some sound bites for when you're done, this theme is awesome

http://themedoctor.com/reviews/s/spaceody.shtml

 

[gulp35]

Update: From Guernsey to the HAL9000 **8-11-2005**

OK I've been on vacation for a long time. I had fun, I slept in (even more than typical summer fair), I ate.
Now it is time to get myself back in gear and finish this project before college starts...

I started taking apart the Thouroghbred rig in my sig to put in the case, but after getting it 90% into the case I realised I didn't want to mess around with moving data from 2 HDDs onto one AND reinstall windows... so I got permission to take one of the folding farm computers to college... It was out first "farming cow" and we had affectionately named it Guernsey (a brown cow), and was running a HDD install of Overclockix, and since it had been doing nothing but folding protiens, I had no reason to save anything on the HDD so installed a new install of Windows over the linux (please no flaming) and installed a temporary fan to get it running...

Now to turn this cow into HAL

I was planning on making the HAL panel centered on the x an y axises, but if I install it that way the HAL lens would intersect the case's middle crossbrace... causing an unwanted flimsyness to the case. So my dad has proposed that I move HAL up a little bit so I don't have to cut as much out of the crossbrace...

What is your opinion on this change?

Second, I need to make a duct to get some cool air to the CPU... making it won't be as big as a problem as finding a place to get air... Right now my two plans are:

1) cut a hole in the side of the case so that the fans can get air from outside

2) Find a way to mount the fans flowing in the air and have the HS Fans take air from the fan blowing into the case near there.

Same question... Different change... which is it?

next update should have either the HAL panel done or the duct done or both

 

[gulp35]

OK, I started to make my fan duct and realized it called for too much work that my time schedule allows for (I have to leave for college in 6 days and I haven't even begun packing + I have alot of yard to mow)... So while talking about Cpt. Slug's Duct Idea mentioned on bit-tech to my dad, I realized that I could have a comprimise between the two designs....

in place of the 80mm case fan near the CPU, use the 4 super fans I have been planning on using, and then duct them up and onto the HS (like my old design).

We have made a paper mock-up of the duct and plan to make an aluminium one tonight... here are some pics of our progress.

I've tried to find fans or centrifugal blowers that would allow me to go with a smaller duct but I couldn't find a good (reasonably priced or having similar performace) alternative.

 

[gulp35]

OK We have made an aluminum version of our duct design... and It works OK...
Temps with the normal orange fan were 48-51C load, temps with the 4 40mm fans and the duct were 53-55C load... (with my old heatsink, a zalman knockoff, with the orange fan I was getting temps up to 60C sometimes).

Here are some pics (we did a bit more work on it before testing temps *i.e. taping up holes etc.*

But I think I have found my problem... the air is going towards the back of the heatsink and is not spreading over the whole... similar to the problem that Cpt. Slug predicted *you win *... Our solution to the problem is this:

Ski Jumps...

Typically used in airplanes (specifially the Rutan Long Ez) to spread out incoming airflow.

``````````````````\    <----the top of the duct
      \      \      \        <---Skijumps ***
-----                  ---- <---flanges to mount the duct to the HS

***= actually attached to the top of the duct and staggered to allow for more dispersed flow.

 

[gulp35]

made up a ski-jump for testing (and to *try* to show what the hell I'm trying to portray in that ASCII diagram).

 

[gulp35]

The duct as of right now is a little of a disapointment to me... I decided to switch from the VERY noisy 40mm fans to a 80mm Tt SmartFan II... It can range from loud to inaudible... but doesn't put out as much air as the 40mm fans could (but within 5 min of having those 40mm fans on at 7v I was feeling a little crazy from the screeching * both from the fans and from the rest of my family).....

The new fan even with a modified version of the ski jumps shown above (they step back and forth not shaped like a triange) could not cool the processor adequately (12x200Mhz @ 1.75v *and that is without the fan at its max 5100rpm*)... So right now I have underclocked my overclock to 12.5x180Mhz @ 1.6v and the cpu is running about 53C load (I always fold proteins for F@H)....

Enough about that... here is a pic of my desktop as of now...

I played around alittle bit with Samurize *still having abit of trouble as it always quits Sam. when I try to use any of my links that I make on it* and got it to look a similar to something I had envisioned....

I also played around with Y'z Dock alittle bit to get rid of some of the Quicklauch buttons in my Start menu but I felt it was nothing more than something for me to get distracted by and waste hours on end sliding back and forth across the dock (yet another reason I wouldn't have as high productivity if I used a Mac).

I should have the HAL camera lens ring in soon and I also have another suprise that you'll just have to wait and see.

Give me some feedback.

 

[flamerail]

Id put the orenge fan back ontop the pipe101 and put the duct over that.........
no room to do that is there?
Yeah Im changing the panaflo i have on my pipe101 to a tri blade high speed delta to see how much diffrence it makes. The pipe101 is a good cooler.. thermaltake hit the mark on this one

 

[gulp35]

Update: An Important Discovery : TMA-02

here's a little update and a reveling of my little secret...

In order to get HAL in a more practical position, a stand was made... the sides and feet are made of 1"x1" 1/16" L aluminum channel and the crossbars are 3/4"x3/4" 1/8" L Aluminum channel.... It may be mounted to a countertop surface for greater stability (though it is pretty stable already). and I got a good double ended shiv in the process (those crossbars when just cut look pretty wicked) .

I should get the HAL eye ring from the machinist tomorrow and make up the rest of the faceplate tonight.... I still need to make the eye lighting and mounting setup but that should be pretty easy... Then for the final reveal of HAL (pictures may be delayed because of packing and/or birthday celebrations *i'm getting z-5300e's *)

 

[gulp35]

Meh.... The lens ring did not come today and I leave tomorrow morning for college.

For a week or so this can just be the monolith computer mod... then it will turn back to HAL... ( I gotta make friends with the machine shop and the robotics club).

 

[Cap'n Pedro]

I've seen 2001:' atleast 20 times and I still don't know what the hell it's about..

But anyway, that looks really good - I definately want to see how this turns out .

 

[gulp35]

OK, I've been thinking about some stuff that I could do to make HAL a bit more robotic and less of "just another pretty case"... So in leu of the Helmholtz resinator... I am planning on trying to design a way for HAL to control his clockspeed and fanspeed. Because of the *rather* narrow band of muffling that a Helmholtz can do, a muffler that could modify itself to make HAL as quiet as possible at all times would be nessicary also...

I was initially thinking that I could have a separate microcontroller board that could control all of this. But I think that I could possibly be done (all except the adjusting clockspeed part) with an OpAmp circuit.

The Muffler wouldn't be like the one designed here but instead it would be one tube with a floating baffle in it *that the computer controls* to change the resonate frequency of the tube.

Does anyone have any comments/critiques on this idea/mod?

 

[Cap'n Pedro]

Do you happen to be an engineer, by the way?

 

[gulp35]

My dad is a chemical engineer and I am in college studying to become a Electrical and Computer Engineer or Mechanical Engineer *leaning toward ECE if you can't tell *