Project: UFO

[Vice]

Just a little update:

Got my hole saw last week, but it wasn't the right size- I got the 5in one, which is 127mm, while I wanted to get the 4.5in one, which is 114mm, so it took me a few days to get back to home depot to exchange it, but I now have the correct one and should start to make the holes soon. I have also sketched out a template for my rad on AutoCad- want to make sure all the holes line up, etc.
Should start cutting soon, been pretty busy with work, but I'll find time to get this done one way or another.

~Vice

[Vice]

Cut the rad holes today!

4.5in(114mm) hole saw- what a beast!









I used a blue rag to cover the cd drives so I would not get saw dust in them.









The remnants of my template:




Sorry the pictures came out a little blurry :cry

[Vice]

Made the bottom to my case today- primed it as well, and will paint probably tomorrow.










Bottom is made out of pretty thick wood:








Blurry pics again! Agh!

[Vice]

Started painting the black today- need to go to home depot tomorrow for some screws and more paint.

Some better pictures:

[=[PULSAR]=]

Thats an excellent build Vice...I'm a bit more on the lazier side and plan on buying the UFO, but love your creativity.

[Vice]

Today I sprayed the enamel coating onto the case to make it scratch resistant, etc. Will post pics tomorrow when it has had more time to dry.

Most likely will not be able to get to home depot till saturday. Need the screws for my radiator, and also for my hd mount. I am still trying to decide whether to cut a fan hole, in the front, for my hd's. Not sure if they really need it..

Tested my wire mod out today as well- happy to say, it works well. I extended the fan 3 pin fan cable of one of my test fans, snipped off the molex for a cleaner, less messy look, and plugged the 3pin into one, of the eight channels, in my fan controller, -each channel can provide 8watts. Worked great, and seeing as how I have over 80ft of wire, I will be able to hide the cables quite nicely.

I also ordered a Swiftech MCW30 through a guy @ another forum- should be a nice addition to my system. And this means I get to redo my loop as well... oh goodie!

~Vice

[Vice]

Some more pics- cut two new holes over the weekend, one for the fan to hd mount, the other for a fan out the back. Also got my mcw30 and new delrin fillport in the mail today. A little paint touch up is in order, but all that is left to do is make the hd mount, in reinstall everything!

[Vice]

Started to put everything back into my case again. Put all waterblocks except for nb on to get an idea of the tubing setup.













HD-Rack










And some gfx card pr0n







And here's where my day goes down hill.... I went into the garage with my case, hd-rack, and pump to do some adjustment, and as I was drilling the bracket of my hd-rack, this bee lands right on me (I'm deadly allergic) , so I jump up, and the hd-rack falls of the work bench! I was about this close *holds fingers close together* from killing something.. and crying. Here are some pics of the damage.










So I'm just going to order a hd-rack, probably from mountain-mods.

H*ll, my room didn't survive the day either:



Or my desk:




So I had to switch back to.. dare I say it, air cooling!












It feels very noobish to go from water back to air, and I hope I don't have to keep it that way for long.

I need to come up with a way to mount my radiator to the frame of my case, the whole screw through front panel, fans, and radiator, is not going so well.

I think I'll pick up a 6-32 tap.. see where that takes me.

[DarthBeavis]

Nice work thus far . . .a true modder never gives up . . .just keep on improvising

[Vice]

Few things came in the mail today:

Old screws:


New screws:






Then I started to mod my fan cables. I spent around 4hrs soldering and sleeving 2 fans, being this was my first time doing it, it was a learn-as-you-go process. But it came out pretty good, here's a few pics before I reattached the 3pin connector:





I put some heatshrink on the joint for added support. This was on fan 1. On fan 2, I have the joints all even, and used one piece of heatshrink on all three of them- looked much better. Like I said, learn-as-you-go.




Now here, once again, is where my day goes downhill. After finished fan #2, I hooked 'em up to my fan controller, and to my dismay, they did not work. So I furiously tried to figure out what the problem was, and narrowed it down to the wire. As it turns out, the wire I ordered online does not work, and when I reattached the fans with spare wire, they worked. So now I have to go and redo both fans... VERY frustrating.

It's as if the big guy upstairs doesn't want this project getting done...

Other various things came today- project should be wrapping up soon!

Metal barbs for my MCR-320:






Filter I will use before the final wc loop hookup:






And my new hd-rack and thumbscrews:

[Vice]

Ok, figured out what the problem was. The place where I soldered the original fan wire to the extension wire, what I call a "joint", was making contact with all the other joints, thus causing the electricity to get mixed up between the wires, thus causing the fans not work.
The situation didn't get better when I tried some bare copper wire (this was before I knew what the problem was).
So I went to Lowes, got some insulated wire, soldered everything back together, and to prevent the joints from making contact with each other, I put a piece of tape around each one of them. While this may sound ghetto, it worked

Got a two fans done, will work on the rest tonight.

Also picked up a tap set.. you'll see why in the coming days.


Joints


Heatshrinked joints to add stability


Did this to all six of them




The bare copper wire I was talking about


New, insulated wire


Taped joint

[Vice]

Got some pics!

All the fans are working - I stood back and laughed at how long I made my first fan - it's at least 3ft! LOL !!!

Anyway, here you guys go, took me about 8hrs.

I forgot to add heatshrink on a few of the wires - realized after I had everything soldered but hey.. it was my first time

[Vice]

Got some more pics for you guys- in the middle of setting up my WC. And to top it off, my pump died, so I will have to suffer thorough air cooling 'till early next week.













New HD rack from mountain-mods.com - Pretty sexi imo. Came with brushed aluminum, so I am in the middle of painting it.

[Vice]

Few more pics of what I've been up to tonight:













Forgive the long screws holding in the hd rack - they are all I have right now.

My 6-32 tap actually broke tonight, I was a little surprised, but then again, tapping a hole in .125" thick aluminum isn't a walk in the park either. Thankfully, it has a lifetime warranty.

[bizkit35461]

I love the build. Great job! Keep it up.

[Solarfall]

about those acrylic panels... you should sand those rough edges, would be a nice little detail, that would make your case really stand out..

btw i really love the hdd rack, great job there mate

[tylerdustin2008]

Well it seems your hard drive rack did not work that well. Mine does the job and is very sturdy, but then again you have more drives in yours.









Tyler

[DarthBeavis]

Well it seems your hard drive rack did not work that well. Mine does the job and is very sturdy, but then again you have more drives in yours.









Tyler

It is good to have friends with laser cutters

[Okda]

the only thing i dislike is the blue pcb of the vga, wish it was black like the mobo and the x-fi

[Vice]

the only thing i dislike is the blue pcb of the vga, wish it was black like the mobo and the x-fi

That's sapphire for ya

[Vice]

I'm currently waiting on my new pump, so in the mean time, I created (got the idea from AndyM) a new fan controller - I convinced myself that tucking 8 fan wires under my mobo tray wouldn't look so great, so I plan on mounting this on the back of the mobo tray, making it hidden from view from the right side.

Soldering everything together




Connected



Has enough connectors for 8 fans



Test setup



Is it a work of art? No
Does it work for the function in which it was produced? Chyeah baby !

I'm working on placing the UV cathodes in my case - trying to stealth them, while providing optimum light.

More to come.

[Vice]

Some custom length screws I made - TT backplate ready

[Vice]

Ahh, I have just had a revelation - I realized how to make my fan setup look much better - stay tuned for updates, should have it done over July 4th break.

[YukonTrooper]

Very nice. I bet its the first thing everyone notices when they walk in the room. Almost looks like a rave in your bedroom haha.

[Vice]

I feel I must voice my aggravations here.

As with some mods I have done, I am not content some parts of them, and with this one, that would be the front panel of my case. I believe it will make my whole case look better if I get some sheet metal for the front - Lowes probably has some @ a reasonable price.

I'm also thinking on a color change... only time will tell if I will go through with it or not though.

~Vice