Final powder coated and ceramic coated parts 10-23-10
Final powder and ceramic coated parts 10-23-10
Well picked up the last of the parts today from Michael at Specialized Performance Coatings.
Everything looks great, but one part which is the bottom of the case. This is the second time he has coated it from scratch and it seems to keep having this pooling effect in the powder where it seems to fold up and collect on an end. So bad to where two spots on the side appeared to resemble actual wrinkles like in bed sheets. My solution for that was to scratch off the wrinkle and I will attempt to match the sheen of the powder color with some paint and see what happens.
Also on the edge there is some ungodly looking mess with the same effect. Thankfully this will be covered by the plastic front panel pieces. Hopefully everything goes together smoothly and the build up on corners wont effect the fitament of the case panels. Only time will tell.
On the other end of the material coating with the ceramic matte black on all the coolant fittings. Some look spot on awsome others show signs of where he had to hang them. Others have minor nicks already in the ceramic (which he warned me about prior to me saying I wanted them ceramic coated since there are o-rings inside the 45s) along with some scuff marks. I received the fittings all wrapped up in newspaper and opened them this way.
Its just something that goes along with the territory of trying to save a buck and get cheaper fittings and paying 50 bucks to have them coated. Next time around I will just order BP matte black and call it a day. They will be coated from the factory and much more durable.
Now I had a serious problem with the no spill fittings. Considering that its such a close clearance with the closure on the inside of the fittings we decided to coat them while connected. This unfortunatly caused them to somewhat fuse together from the ceramic. I had a fun time getting them to unlock then twist loose. After some work they now lock and unlock as well seperate just fine. Sadly quite a bit of fine sanding dust got its way inside and they were stuck open. I shot some high pressure 120psi air through them to blow most of it out then worked with them to get the closure inside to actually close once the male and female were separated.
I'm going to hook up a spare pump and tubing to them and try to flush anymore of the sand particles out as well using more air to try and clean them out. The near $40 fittings may not end up being anything else other then paper weights for my desk. Time will tell. They will have to actually clean out and function properly otherwise they will pose useless. Not to mention dangerous to hardware and furniture.
So enough babbling time to post up some pics:
The motherboard tray I had him redo
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3312-1.jpg
Outer front panel grills
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3327.jpg
The top and bottom panels. The last couple you can see what I was talking about with the pooling and the scratch marks where I removed the wrinkled line.
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3318-1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3319-1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3321.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3320.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3322-1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3325.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3324.jpg
As you can tell its not very pretty. The more I sit here and think about it the more I want to take it back and have him burn it so he can remove the powder and have him redo it. The problem is the side panel meets right up with that outside edge and I think the non consistency in the finish is going to stick out like a sore thumb. My big problem in that is when I drop it off it could take another week or more to finish the one panel. I will have to see what it looks like while mocked up.
Next up the Radiator stand:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3313-1.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...IMG_3316-1.jpg
I purchase this from a member on XS forums in the UK which I had to modify for the G 1/4 nuts that are welded to the rad to clear. I've contacted him about this matter to make the adjustment in his cnc file so to allow for XSPC rads to be mounted in the future.
Finally the ceramic coated fittings:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3331.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3328.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/IMG_3329.jpg
Most look great unless you get up close and personal with some. Which I'm sure will show in the final photos on a couple. For this fact I may end up ordering BP fittings down the road. There are just so many factors that go into coating processes that you never know the outcome. Not to mention these guys aren't used to doing things like this. Most do car parts and wheels. Nothing really small like I took in and as complex as I took in.
So I'm contemplating putting what I can together of the case itself leaving the lower panel loose to see if I want to have it redone or not. I'm leaning more towards yes, but the damn wait to get it done is just killing the thought of dropping it back off.
11-10-10 Picked up more supplies and parts
11-10-10 Picked up more supplies and parts
Well yesterday I picked up the extra bits of fittings that needed to be redone at SP Coatings. Attempted to pick up the other two 12" white ccfl bulbs I needed at Frys. They had the large diameter ones so no dice I'm about to order those, a lamptron controller, some extension cables. I picked up 4 gallons of distilled water yesterday at Walmart for $.83 ea and just placed an order for 12 6/32 x 1/4" and 48 6/32 x 1 1/4" button head black machine screws for the radiators. Total shipped was under $25 I actually only need 44 of the 1 1/4" but they come in packs of 12.
So I'm contemplating pulling the boxes out of the garage for my internal hardware. Well the rest of the boxes anyway considering half of them are laying around the house and never made it to the garage. LOL Then taking apart the temp setup so I can install it in the case and get all my tubing lengths. Then remove the blocks from the hardware to run the loops for a few days to check for leaks.
I'm really thinking I wont be able to clear the board when I go to pull it out if everything is hooked up. I really don't know about running the pumps with the other hardware installed either. I guess if nothing is hooked up to power it shouldn't matter as long as it sits for a good several days before use?
Can anyone verify the above statement since its my first attempt at water cooling?
At this point and time in the game if something has a nuclear meltdown I will be forced to scrap the project until around April of next year. Due to everything that is coming up in the next several months; concert this month, x-mas, new years concert, my oldest daughters b-day (turning 10), my fiancee's b-day in feb, valentines day, convention in New Orleans for my fiancee's work in march, and my youngest daughters b-day (turning 9). As you can see my plate is pretty full financially from here on so buying parts that cost $100+ is next to not happening. Which is what anything that would fry while sizing up tubing and testing the loops would be. :wallbash:
Another issue I'm being faced with is which rad to dedicate to what. I originally thought of the RX360 being for the NB on my Rage and the i7 920 then the RX480 being for GPU dedication. Due to the fact it would be larger to incorporate x-fired HD5870's or a HD5970 or for future upgrade paths. I've also toyed around with cooling the 9800gt that is for Physx dedication so that would be added into that gpu loop also. Although I haven't found a block strictly for it. Only the GTX cards. I can get a block that is for many things, but not an interesting specific model from EK or the like.
I'm really itching to start putting this thing together and contemplating the tear down process of the hardware in the temp setup. :eyebrow: