Project Quintessence

[voigts]

Putting in Parts, Lighting, Watercooling, etc. Part 1

Time for a little bit of a tease. I've gotten all of the metal parts primed and painted, and have all of the wooden parts stained and lacquered. I put about 7 coats of lacquer on this case for a nice heavy finish.

I drained out the Zenith radio, and have started swapping out parts into Quintessence. I have to still buff out the lacquer finish, but I can do that after I get it up and running since the front and top are removable. The MB is installed. Both rads are cleaned out and dried, and the CPU and GPU blocks are cleaned out. They were only tarnished, but I took them apart anyway and soaked them in some Tarnx. I worked today on getting the LED lighting installed. I've got a little more of that to go tomorrow, and have power lines to run. This little detailed stuff is so time consuming! Stay tuned...





Thanks for stopping by.

[theseeker]

Outstanding as usual!

[voigts]

Putting in Parts, Lighting, Watercooling, etc. Part 2

I've been chipping away at this just about every day since the last update, mainly working on wiring and the like. I spent 4 hours a couple of nights ago just sanding scrollwork by hand. I had to use small folded up pieces of 500 grit to sand all of the scrollwork as bits and pieces of material fibers were stuck in the lacquer all throughout the scrollwork.

I made a set of fan mounts to hold the fans onto the side panel. They are held to the side panel by #2 x 1/4” screws.





I managed to get all of the wiring hidden in the area in front of the PSU and underneath the case. This really took some doing trying to figure out how to route everything and get it all to fit in that tight space. Being able to tie wiring up underneath made all of the difference.



I had to come up with a way to mount a 4 port USB panel to the case. There isn't enough clearance behind the top rad and the PCI backpanel to mount it, and I like having the extra internal USB ports for the printer/scanner, etc as some items don't like USB hubs. I decided to mount it to the rear of the case. I marked the holes off using the PCI bracket that comes with the 4 ports. I drilled holes, used a carbide Dremel bit to ream out as much as possible, and then filed the rest. I had my shop vac on the entire time so that I wouldn't shoot bits of metal all over the case interior.





Here is a shot of the interior of the MB side of the case. I have bits of paper towel stuffed into the water blocks and rads to keep stuff out of them. I haven't mounted the fan controller yet as I need to get the watercooling in place first as it will be easier without the controller being in the way.



I'm at the point that I'm ready to start running tubing for the watercooling. I'm planning on going with copper tubing, with the exception of in and out of the pump. I think I'm going to use a bit of clear vinyl tubing here to help prevent pump vibrations from being transferred by hard tubing to the case.

Stay tuned...

Thanks for stopping by.

[theseeker]

Outstanding, you are one ingenious carpenter, H20 cooler and Jack of all trades! I love your updates.

[voigts]

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the comment. I feel sometimes though like the jack of all trades-master of none! Just think of everything you are supposed to be good at for modding: computer tech, 3d designer, metalworker, woodworker (in my unusual case), photographer, plumber, videographer, artist, etc.

I just ran into a major problem. I was planning on hard lining the tubing with 1/2" OD copper tubing, which is all I can get here in that size. I was going to do like another modder is doing in a thread on Bit-tech using Bitspower BP-MBWP-C47 fittings with 12mm OD copper, which fits perfectly. The fittings are exactly 12mm ID, so the hard lined copper is a no go for me as my tubing won't go into the fittings as 1/2" OD is 12.4mm (by my calipers). The copper in countries that use the metric system must be 12mm OD as he is using.

Oh well, back to tubing.

[voigts]

Putting in Parts, Lighting, Watercooling, etc. Part 3

Forming Tubing

I've been steadily working the last few weeks getting everything installed and running. This includes a number adjustments to fix minor issues. I had a CPU block problem that I had to fix. Once I got tubing installed, I found after pumping up the loop with air pressure as I usually do that the CPU block was leaking. I got a new o-ring, but because I overtightened one of the screws in the process, I ended up having to tap out the one screw from #6-32 to #8-32. With just a bit of Dremel work to make the larger screw head fit, it works fine and is barely noticeable. Yay!

Because of the problem of US 1/2” OD tubing not fitting the Bitspower fittings, I abandoned the idea of using copper tubing and have opted for using rubber Norprene tubing instead. With this tubing, being able to form it has been a big help in this case given its compact size. The nice thing about forming tubing is that once it is formed, it holds its shape and doesn't push back.

I bought a 3/8” spring to use with the 3/8”ID 5/8”OD Norprene tubing. I have to say that this is the best tubing I've ever used, and I've tried just about everything from XSPC, Primochill, Tygon, Clearflex, Masterkleer, and a few others. The bend radius is incredible. Using the spring, I boiled and then chilled the tubing several times, using rubber bands to hold the spring and tubing in the bend radius I was after.





The result.



If I didn't form this tube going from the pump to the bottom radiator, the tube would push back against the pump and push it out of position. This way the tubing and pump stay where I want them. I used this technique several times to get tubing routed the way I want. It works great and also prevents having to use unnecessary fittings.

Flushing/Filling

Being concerned about debris possibly being in the loop, I bought some fittings from the local hardware store and connected the loop to the kitchen faucet to force flush it out. I only opened up the faucet partially, as I don't really need full household pressure in the loop since the drain hole is small.









I used an Enzotech extension piece srewed into the fillport to make it easier to fill the case. I did a couple of fill/flush/drains with distilled water after the tap flush. I use an old external PSU to hook up the pump to.



I bought this little G1/4” threaded Primochill funnel not long ago, and although I think it is a bit overpriced at $8, it is really, really handy. It has an o-ring so that it seals against the fillport to prevent any leaks when filling. It makes filling so much easier. I should have bought this a long time ago.



Everything is in and installed. One issue I have yet to resolve is that for some reason my MCP35X pump (hooked up to the Sunbeam Rheostat 3) and the Rheostat are not getting any PWM signal, and the pump's RPMs are not registering with the MB. I've had to turn the Rheostat on manual for the fans, and since the pump isn't getting any signal, it is running at the default 12v. I've got to take the PWM cable out and see if somehow I got a wire crossed when I soldered in an extension.

Final pics should be coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

[theseeker]

You are one creative person, period!

However, after viewing your pictures, I feel the need to drain something..

Excellent work as usual.