Project Rubik's (It's a cube geddit ?)

[Grinch]

Utter pron !




Chris

Holy $hit nice toys!

You are going to have one helluva setup....

$hitload of $$$$$$$$$$pent

[IanY]

phcjpp,

Hey Chris, get three Samsung 305Ts!! Those will put your triple head to good use

http://www.behardware.com/articles/6...d-samsung.html

And serialk11r,

Stop spreading rumours about me

[Okda]

i'm gonna cry

really very nice collection u got there

[phcjpp]

Almost there, almost there ..... still missing 2 Swiftech storm vga coolers and the power supply for the pumps. Fairly important bits unfortunatley. I guess I could start by building it without watercooling to get an idea of the layout and add the cooling when it all arrives. Only small issue is the QX6800 comes solo - that is no cooler.

Other options are to start doing the drive stealthing.

Chris

[IanY]

Buy the swiftech stealth ! Use the stock vga coolers for now.

[phcjpp]

Yeh - I might be able to get a cheap cpu cooler from maplin on the way home. At least I could get it to boot then

Chris

[Okda]

Almost there, almost there ..... still missing 2 Swiftech storm vga coolers and the power supply for the pumps. Fairly important bits unfortunatley. I guess I could start by building it without watercooling to get an idea of the layout and add the cooling when it all arrives. Only small issue is the QX6800 comes solo - that is no cooler.

never heard about those before

maybe u mean the normal mcw-30 ? or u meant cpu coolers ?

[phcjpp]

Nope - they are out this week - seriously cool looking too.



Chris

[IanY]

Chris,

Just a suggestion. Keep a Zalman 9500 or 9700 handy at home. It adapts extremely easily to all sockets. Always good to have a heatsink at home. If your are so inclined, the Zalman VF video coolers are exactly the same. Just screw on and go. I can revert to air cooling very easily.

[septim]

nice stuff you got there.
will look for more pics of this.

iany good advice on that, i also have reserve tuniqT lying around somewhere...

[phcjpp]

So tonight was spent with a DVD rewriter (Actually 2 of them). The idea behind this work is that the DVD is gonna be stealthed behind a HDD cover (more on that later with the trusty dremmel!). The only issue with stealthing is how you then open the drive and also the drive activity light is usually hidden by stealthing. So .....................

I found the Bulgin LED switch is the perfect way to solve these problems. Here it is at Kustom PC's but they are available all over the place - roughly 20$ each.



So in this mod I will be soldering 4 wires directly to the DVD circuit board and then bring them out to attach to the Bulgin LED and switch. I will be doing this on 2 drives but on ly one tonight!

So to start with the basic drive



Here we see the fronts off (just slip off the side tabs). Remember you have to use a paper clip to open the drive draw before the front will come off.



Here we see the LED circuit board with wires attached but the LED not yet removed - just solder it off as you cannot power 2 LED's - one has to go.



Board back in with no LED.

http://www.chrispurves.com/gallery/m...&g2_itemId=193

Finally the switch wires attached (you don't need to remove the original switch) and attached to the new switch for testing - don't get the LED pins round the wrong way - use a multimeter to test when led on if its not marked on the DVD circuit board.



Tidying up those wires with a little Chris 'signature' heat shrink and sleeving never hurts. I also used a hot glue gun to fix the wires in place where they exit the DVD for strength (I actually drilled a hole in the DVD plastic casing to allow the wires to exit).



The competed DVD being tested - LED OFF



And the LED ON



So thats it for tonight. I have one more to finish tomorrow but it will be a lot easier now I know what I am doing.

One final point - the wire is purposly short - gonna add a 4 way connector in between the switch and the DVD to allow easy assembly and removal of the DVD as the switch will be attached to the case permanently.

Have a good one.

Chris

[SkylinGTR26]

Man this is some nioce modding man, your rig looks like tons of fun =]

[Okda]

ya that is a very nice idea for sure

[GeoffP]

Superb idea - well done phcjpp

Where r u going to mount the LED?

Also, how r u going to mount the stealth cover to the cd tray?

extra piccies a must on this mod

[phcjpp]

The led will either go slightly above the drive cages on either side or in the center of one of the drive blanking plates .... can't quite decide yet - more pics will of course follow!

Chris

[septim]

hmm should post 1 pic showing that drive tray opening via pushing the Blgin switch, that is a cool mod you did there.

[phcjpp]

Afternoon everyone. Well a few more pics for the last couple of days activity. Most of this centered around completing the HDD+DVD areas.

This one shows the rebuilt dvd with rubber washers ready to attach the cover plate.



And a few of the dremmeling process.










The I set about building the hard drives in. Here we see a 1TB Hitachi hard drive mounted using x-swing noise mounts.




and one of the Raptors X's - I know I know you can't see the windows !




And three of the finished article. Each bay has 1 DVD + 2 hard drives.










Oh and a quick one of the connecter for the DVD - its a 4 pole audio connecter from Maplins int he UK.




I had a little time spare so I build this power connecter into the MM perspex second power supply cover. Its gonna power the pumps.




and here is the pump power supply made by Traco - 300w.




Thats about it for now. I am busily trying the hardware in the case to work out where all the water cooling will go.

Chris

[ranker]

Afternoon everyone. Well a few more pics for the last couple of days activity. Most of this centered around completing the HDD+DVD areas.

This one shows the rebuilt dvd with rubber washers ready to attach the cover plate.



And a few of the dremmeling process.









The I set about building the hard drives in. Here we see a 1TB Hitachi hard drive mounted using x-swing noise mounts.



and one of the Raptors X's - I know I know you can't see the windows !



And three of the finished article. Each bay has 1 DVD + 2 hard drives.







Oh and a quick one of the connecter for the DVD - its a 4 pole audio connecter from Maplins int he UK.



I had a little time spare so I build this power connecter into the MM perspex second power supply cover. Its gonna power the pumps.



and here is the pump power supply made by Traco - 300w.



Thats about it for now. I am busily trying the hardware in the case to work out where all the water cooling will go.

Chris

What did you use to cut into that acrylic piece. I'm thinking of doing the same for my meanwell but I'm unsure of what tool to use and the process.

[phcjpp]

Just a standard drill bit, the flat ones with a sharp tip designed for cutting large holes in wood - 25mm wide if I remember corectly (about 1.5mm thick).

Hope that helps - they come in most drill bit sets you get. Just drill it real slow with minimum pressure on the plastic. Also drill from both sides to leave a clean hole.

Once my drill bit was mostly through I actually finished it off with a dremmel.

There is a huge danger when drilling plastic that you shatter it - take a lot of care and go s-l-o-w.

Chris

[Grinch]

anymore pics?

[Cyprio]

Can't believe i have missed this thread! Subscribed!

Thats a brilliant idea about the drive, very ingenious indeed. You have solved my problem as well - how to get a DVD drive to open on the Apple G5 case i am working on atm.

I have PM'd you about that actually.

Keep up the great work!

[Jedda]

A spade bit?

[phcjpp]

Thats the fellow - just take a lot of time and don't pressure it and it will work fine - nice and gentle. more pics will follow ... have been mostly thinking about cooling layout.

Have decided I have to remove that support for the motherboard tray - its gotta go. Here it is from the side




and a different view




Have ordered some acrylic rods and a tap/die kit and will build replacement supports that still allow the motherboard tray to be removed but returns all the wasted space back to me for cooling. I want the dual reservoirs side by side.

I cannot believe thats the best support solution MM could come up with. Pics of my solution will of course follow in a few days when the bits have arrived. Also waiting on the swiftech stealth launch this week for the final cooling bits. Have decided to run a blue and a pink loop!

Chris

[Eightballrj]

Ahh, you must work on this faster, haha. I am in between a Duality and a Horizon. Oh, were you saying that the rear 2x120 holes are not inline with a pa120.3? GREAT WORK!! Thanks!

[septim]

yes i think they are not inline for pa rads. but you could attach 1 120mm fan and still support the rad weight...