**** PHINIX NANO TOWER **** Smallest and most powerful mITX rig !!!

[miahallen]

Love your work so far Mike. Looking at the projected goals....20x20x40cm....is that still the plan? Seems a bit big for a "nano tower" Good work mate

[MadHacker]

make sure you double check the QDC to make sure they mate fine,
out of the 4 pairs i have, i have 1 pair that doesn't connect...
and if i try using the pair i have that doesn't connect properly and use them interchangeably with ones that do work fine, it leaks.

[miahallen]

MadHacker, have you tried replacing the O-rings? I had a set that went bad and new O-rings got them wotking again
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...p?cPath=30_121

[MadHacker]

MadHacker, have you tried replacing the O-rings? I had a set that went bad and new O-rings got them wotking again
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...p?cPath=30_121

don't think that will help...
mine are brand new...
and it won't event push in all teh way to twist and lock.
metal not cut to spec mabe? duno

[UrbanSmooth]

Looking forward to more updates on the project.

[Bli]

Awesome build so far! Eagerly awaiting the next update.

[phinix_mike]

Thank you guys for your kind words! It's great to see that so many people likes my build

miahallen: Yep, 20x20x40 is still the case, that is the main frame and only things that will stick out from this dimension will be panels with acrylic elements and feet

About those qucik fittings - I hope there won't be any issues, but I also received some spare o-rings from Aquatunning, so if anything happens I'm just gonna change those.

[Vinas]

The QDC's look pretty big. How will you fit them in the tiny case once everything is stuffed in there?

[phinix_mike]

The QDC's look pretty big. How will you fit them in the tiny case once everything is stuffed in there?

That is the plan - use them because there is no much space in there
I know it may sound crazy but it will work. You will see, just be patient

[UrbanSmooth]

Been a little while since I've been on here. I think we can all guess what happens next...

[phinix_mike]

Hello! I know, it has been a while...

I've been pretty busy in last couple of weeks, that is why I didn't come up with new update.
However, I wanted to show you few bits I worked on lately.

I noticed a small "glitch" with power chamber top panel acrylic piece - I used two small screws to keep it together, but one of the ends was sticking out a bit. This end was to thin to drill a hole in it, so I had to re-do this acrylic bit that goes under top panel of power chamber.
Without any more words, here is a new revision of this piece




It will come under the panel in this position.





Also I received some bits from ChilledPC, like these long 5mm strips of black tinted acrylic.
I cut them up to small 10mm pieces and will use them as separators in those side acrylic "combs".
Second photo shows those long strips next to those pieces.








I haven't glue them up yet, but here is one "mockup" comb, I built it to show you how they going to look like. Mind there is still white cover foil on them, which I wanted to keep till I actually glue them all together.










Second thing I made from black tinted acrylic are 4 corners. Sounds strange, but here's what it is: each corner of rear panel will have black cover which will be screwed to the panel and will also be a base for six L-shape yellow acrylic elements. Those elements will create those corner "combs", as you could see previousy on some of my sketchups. Acrylic corners are screwed with one M4 screw that keeps the rear panel to the frame and two smaller M3 screws that hold those corners mounted to the panel.
Here are few shots showing them, first - whole panel, second and third - bottom and top corner...








...and here is rear panel with that black corner, standing sticked to the "mock-up" comb
It looks great in reality, better than on photo, believe me I can imagine it will look even better when the panel will be coated and that comb glued ... But to see that I wil have to work a lot more




So this is it for now, if I find some more time and do some work, I will share it with you guys in no time:thumb:

Till next time - MOD ON!!!

[manu_D]

I did not imagine so many subtleties in a so small case. Your work make him big

[aka_GK]

I love the GLOW looks awesome
looking forward to see next piece

[phinix_mike]

I did not imagine so many subtleties in a so small case. Your work make him big

I love the GLOW looks awesome
looking forward to see next piece

Cheers guys!
Just to heads up - I've been waiting for last few pieces from ChilledPC and will continue working on it, hopefully this weekend.
I did few small things but I wanted to wiat with all the stuff to come in and then make a huge update. So, its Wednesday, few more days...

[CptDreadFlint]

Absolutely love what you've been doing here, Mike! Great acrylic work.
The level of detail and creativity make this a joy to follow.

Mod on!

[phinix_mike]

Absolutely love what you've been doing here, Mike! Great acrylic work.
The level of detail and creativity make this a joy to follow.

Mod on!

Thank you! Glad you like it!

[phinix_mike]

Well, I got two news, bad and good. Let me start from the bad one...
Unfortunately, also this weekend I haven't received anything from ChilledPC, Tom was busy as hell, but he promised he will cut those elements for me this weekend. So hopefully I shall get them tuesday and then will show you some really good stuff!
Good news is, I did few things again, so I promised you an update and here it is.. just a bit more modest than I wanted

So here it is...
I had to measure and install standoffs for my little mobo, so this weekend I pulled out all psu cables from the mobo at "tried it on" my mobo tray...





















You can see it fits nicely, not too tight or anything

To make points for standoffs I used a match and hand cream




Also, here you can see how the pci-e slot goes along the line of power chamber.
Graphics card will be about 2mm from the panel - I'm not sure if I'm gonna need some kind of isulation, what do you guys think? Should I add something just for precaution?






I think it should be ok...
Oh my! But what we have here?!
Isn't that a latest issue of CustomPC???




Well yes it is! And What is on that page there? Hmmm.... YEP! That is Nano Tower! YAY!!!





Hehe... Sorry, I just bought a copy today and was so happy to see it inside:blush:

Here is a fantastic prize I got! Quality of this stuff is incredible :jawdrop:
Well done Bill!



Again, huge thanks goes to Bit-tech/CustomPC guys and all of you who liked my project and voted for me - THANK YOU ALL

Now, let's get back to update

I had to "trim" two of all four columns in main frame. Why? I noticed a bit difference between them and when I installed acrylic 10mm thick bottom panel I noticed this sucker started to shake a bit. I don't know how I haven't noticed that before, but looks like 0,8mm difference between two columns made a huge impact on stability of the whole Tower.
10 minutes with file and sand paper put it all down and Tower become stable as a rock:thumb:
Now even all panels lined up better than before. So it looks really good, almost perfect

I love to put on all panels and look on corners, they look so cool








Now, I showed you that before - those black acrylic corner shapes for those yellow "combs" I'm going to glue later.
This one here, rear left has to be modified cause this is the corner where I'm going to cut out long hole for peripherals cables, like graphics card cable, usb, etc.
That is why I had to use one more screw on the top of it, cuase lower one will be cut off...




You can see there a big M5 countersink screw. Why M5? Well... how to say it...
At the beginning it was small M3 hole..
Then...
You see...
I bought myself a nice kit of cone drill bits...:dremel:




I started to play with it...
Well... some holes became bigger...
...and I had to thread this one again for M5 screw:blush:
I will paint it black and will be fine!:eyebrow:

Anyway....

This is the corner where you can see I drew the hole that will be cut out.






I actually cut it out few hours ago, fixed that acrylic corner too, but battery in my camera went to sleep so didn't get last photos of it. Will do it on Tuesday.

At the end.. just a few photos of all 4 panels installed on "naked" frame...













..last phoot.. I love that "dramatic" filter in my camera... Tower coming out from the darkness....





Stay tuned!!! I should have all new stuff in the mid of the week! Cheers for watching and MOD ON!!!:thumb:

[defect9]

this is sexy

[matt220]

Amazing work

I wish I had the patience to do complete scratch case builds

[callen_1]

The panels look incredible dude!! Correct me if i'm wrong but it's all done by hand too, right? That's what makes it all that much more impressive!

I can definitely see why this was published in a magazine , great work, mate!

[aka_GK]

oh, can't wait to see it done, so impressive!

honestly I am not sure GPU can really be shortened on the top surface, but I'd put some thin plastic insulation anyway

[phinix_mike]

this is sexy

Amazing work

I wish I had the patience to do complete scratch case builds

The panels look incredible dude!! Correct me if i'm wrong but it's all done by hand too, right? That's what makes it all that much more impressive!

I can definitely see why this was published in a magazine , great work, mate!

Thanks guys!

oh, can't wait to see it done, so impressive!

honestly I am not sure GPU can really be shortened on the top surface, but I'd put some thin plastic insulation anyway

Thank you my friend! !
Yeah, I think I'm gonna put some acrylic cover there... I will use my fantastic etching dremel and get some nice texture...

[phinix_mike]

Guys, teaser time !!!

Here's a small teaser I got from Tom - CNC action on front panel!

[Alexandr0s]

Amazing shot ! There are some awesome colors in that picture .

[UrbanSmooth]

Gratz on the magazine article! Looking great!