WIP, my V-Twin

[Jedda]

After a few adjustments the mobo went back in.



I'm happy with access to the block fittings but increased the MCP holes a bit larger to 3/4" ID as EK use such big screw heads there.
I also made an allowance for how thick corsair's 24-pin lead is.



Really pleased with how clean of wiring the SATA drives will be, mounted like this. That loop of fan lead will go up to the BigNg and be out of sight. So no wiring will be visible in the lower chamber.



Playing around with alternatives for the internal usb headers. I can wire the BigNg and LCD screen direct or implace 4 internal usb ports and use two of them.
Have a small metal box and am cutting port holes in that for a neat internal mount. Will decide after I see how it turns out.
Cheers.

[ranker]

I love how the motherboard cut outs are trimmed. I'll have to remember that for my next build.

[Jedda]

Playing around with mounting those internal usb ports.
I could shape a bracket for up on the step.



Or in a case, further down past the pump area.



The cast case is quite soft metal, so I'm drilling starter holes for each port and finishing with a rat tail file.



It should look good and could be polished or painted eventually.
Still undecided what I do with the second I/O area. Additional blanking plates are one possibility. I'm blanking the second PSU opening.
One aim has been to mod so that they could always become separate cases again but that's OK. The original parts can always be screwed back in, even where I've drilled out rivets.
I'll have a 120mm fan mounted, of course but still waiting for inspiration...



Lastly a pic to show the relative M-cube parts' sizes. They'll be fan cooled and concealed when mounted. So I took this pic to let everyone see how small the Sensor Hub is.



Cheers

[Jedda]

One nice possibility with this case is to use the second side exhaust fan to cool behind the motherboard cpu, mosfet area, one of the hotter zones on a 680i board.

[septim]

well for the radiator compartment pci slots and i/o panel, just seal them up for now.

a few more rads in there could also be a future idea...

[Jedda]

It has two PA120.3 rads in there atm and, as you say, there's room for a single, still, internally. I've thought I might add that as a third loop for the chip-set if it gets another 8800GTX but I'm happy with the two loops.
Depends on whether I'm forced to sli or not.
But, yeah I'm making up some blanking plates and we'll see how they go. I'd just like to have a creative moment for the area and come up with a killer feature.

[disruptfam]

hey jedda

looking awesome

where did ya get that rubber moulding from??

cheers

[kinghong1970]

one of thems lil things you take for granted...till you start modding...
i called them the rubber-thingamajiggy-so-you-wont-bleed-thing...

Neoprene Rubber Edge Trim ("C-Strip" Molding) $0.99

and P-PC got a lot of choices...

[Jedda]

hey jedda

looking awesome

where did ya get that rubber moulding from??

cheers

Like Kinghong posted, I've sourced from Petra's and PPC but for us Ozians PC Case Gear has a good choice.
It works best with radiussed corners. I find my technique of drilling corners with a small hole-saw and joining them by straight jig-saw cuts works well with the trim.
If you need round holes with diameter less than 1" or so, grommets are best.

mcoffey
Thanks for your comments.
That others are interested really helps maintain my motivation to get the updates, pix etc posted.
I'm trying to show it in depth as the idea will work with quite a few cases and there's some real benefits that aren't obvious.
i.e. It provides a channel of room between lower drives and rad that contains and conceals the bulk of it's wiring.
I could see someone doing it with some of the cheaper cases, like Lian-Li's PC-7 or what ever.

[tiro_uspsss]

ur from OZ?! Awesome!! Which state m8?

[Jedda]

North coast NSW,

[tiro_uspsss]

North coast NSW,

doh! now i'll never get to c this in real life @ a LAN or something

[Waterlogged]

Jedda, I have to echo mcoffey's statements. This project has given me some ideas similar to what your doing only on a smaller scale (think mATX ). One of the better cases I found for my project is the Silverstone TJ08, but I'm still looking. GL and I'm looking forward to future updates.

[Jedda]

Jedda, I have to echo mcoffey's statements. This project has given me some ideas similar to what your doing only on a smaller scale (think mATX ). One of the better cases I found for my project is the Silverstone TJ08, but I'm still looking. GL and I'm looking forward to future updates.

Thanks mate.
I think it could work very well with smaller cases.
Particularly the squarer cornered ones.
Although I am pleased by how the lower chamber works out for me, you could do without that.

Finished internal usb ports idea #1 tonight.
The box worked out nicely.



Can't have those wires chaffing, of course, so grommets for their entry points.



I'll make up an open bracket too, (idea #2) and choose later. There's three or four possible places to put it.
That decision can come after all the WC loops are in and it's apparent where the best option is. It could even go up on one of the rear blanking plates.
Cheers

[disruptfam]

i bought some rubber trimming from pc case gear is was to thick...

Is this the thinner version?

[Jedda]

i bought some rubber trimming from pc case gear is was to thick...

Is this the thinner version?

Yeah, it's 3-4 mm thick and 5 mm wide. They call it their 'Fan hole' trim.
Their 'window trim' is much thicker, like a windscreen moulding almost.

In imperial measurements the fan trim is:

* Width: 7/64"
* Height: 5/32"
* Channel Depth: 1/8"
* Channels width: 3/64"

[disruptfam]

Yeah, it's 3-4 mm thick and 5 mm wide. They call it their 'Fan hole' trim.
Their 'window trim' is much thicker, like a windscreen moulding almost.

In imperial measurements the fan trim is:

* Width: 7/64"
* Height: 5/32"
* Channel Depth: 1/8"
* Channels width: 3/64"

cheers mate

looking forward to your rigs completion...

Looking sik so far

[Nate P.]

WOW, great work man! Can't wait to see how this turns out!

[Jedda]

Am so cheesed off I don't have a macro mode digital camera to show small detail.
With a pile of plugs and pins etc I've made up a few leads cut to exactly the right length and I would like to show how they and my custom usb leads were made. Unhappily, my camera won't do the job though.
One detail I can show is this pack of alphacool DDC pump head couplings. They're used to mount in 5 1/4 drive bays, four to a pump.
I'm using them to mount the pumps, two to each pump.



They're great for the job. Discovered they have M4 threads. The same size and thread as I tapped the rad mounting hole threads. So I've tapped threads for each pump's mounting points.
Also some more are on the way and when they arrive will be screwed in underneath the lower rad to provide a rubber stand off vibration insulating mount for the rad.

Had the motherboard back out to measure up MOSFET dimensions for Eddy and the delay was well worth it as EK has now released a block for 680i MOSFETs.





It's a tight fit indeed.
I'm tempted to put it with my chipset blocks on a third loop with another rad mounted in the unused rear wall.
Still I'm telling myself that just cause I can doesn't mean I should. Maybe later?

[disruptfam]

I'm tempted to put it with my chipset blocks on a third loop with another rad mounted in the unused rear wall.
Still I'm telling myself that just cause I can doesn't mean I should. Maybe later?

exactly what i'm doing...Just waiting on my block's lol I Got a ddc pump top combo @ petra's on the way...buying the pump and top over in the U.S is cheaper than buying just the pump in Aus..I wish i knew that beforehand...

Mcp 355= $135 aud
Radiical pump top= 50aud
total $185

Petra's ddc pump and top combo= $110 aud

doh!

[Jedda]

Yeah, I've mentioned that on Oz OC a few times but have to be careful not to tread on too many toes there. lol

[Solarfall]

looking good Jedda i really love the whole concept..

[Jedda]

Pic of the pump mounts.

[disruptfam]

starting to come together....

Gonna be awesome when finished,lian li's are soooooooooo sik!!!!

good work jedda!

My block's should ship at the end of the week...

I'm assuming mofset block will be aswell.

[Nate P.]

YAY! I love this project!