Project: Watery

[Mankz_91]

This project is going to be based around acrylic, and lots of it.

The basic plan is too have the PC parts (inc. water-cooling stuff) in a solid case measuring 320 x 320 x 400 (mm) and then around that box I intend to have a resevior covering both side panels and the front panel. This will be made using 10mm acrylic cut to 45* then cemented together.. The Motherboard will be mounted flat on the top (like a MM Horizon or something). More details >here<

Anyway, I decided to make a start today.. The Radiator will be mounted on the bottom so its gonna need some air flow, so I set about making some legs today. The front of the case will have a 'skirt' so these needed to be quite long. They are made from offcuts of 1" Aluminium...

I started with a pilot hole...



Then drilled out with a 4.3mm hole so it can be tapped to M5. I'm using paraffin as my cutting compound because I was told to..




Then tapped to an M5 thread



All four tapped up...



My machine of choice...





(they were orignally going to be 'ribbed' but the machine wasn't being helpful, so I went for 'smooth!')
And, the finished articles....




(they still need to be fully polished...)

I also can't believe it took me 2 or 3 hours just to do them...

1st Side Panel (Right w. rad Grill)

Here are some pics of the first side panel.



It will eventually be sand-blasted but I can't ATM due to my arm. Its made of 3mm Acrylic and measures 290mm x 290mm x 3mm and was cut on a Laser-Cutter.






I'm hoping to do the base panel, top panel, mobo panel and some other stuff tommorow aswell

AJ¬

[Mankz_91]

Update!

I spent a good 4-5 hours designing and then cutting these panels out..

They are the Top, Front (still needs etches), Bottom and rear panels. The notches in the front and rear panels are for the motherboard panel, and I havn't made a hole at the back for the I/O ports yet because I don't have an mATX I/O shield to hand at the mo!

They all fit together using a series of male a female teeth as it were... Here are some of them flat together...




A close up of how the teeth fit together.. They are 10mm long and 5mm deep (i'm using 5mm acrylic for these)




The rear panel. I still need to mill the hole for a DVD drive, but I'm still deciding between brands and sizes. The rear PSU port should take basically any PSU (fingers crossed! :dremel



And how it basically looks now..




I did do some more work, but unfortunately I also ran out of battery in my camera :sigh:
More progress tommorrow! :thumb:

Update!

Right, I told you all that I ran out of batteries yeserday, so I went down to do some work this afternoon, and took some pics..
Here's how it was as of last night...



So anyway, I pulled out my now defunct Hiper Type-R PSU and took it with me to test fit in the PSU port this afternoon



Fits like a glove :thumb: (I'm relieved becuase I was basing the hole distances on an internet diagram :worried






Space is quite tight, but I've quadrouple measured everything and there is enough room for sure in there.. (i'll also be using a slightly bigger PSU)





with the motherboard tray in.. It attaches to the front and rear panels with 8 20mm tabs (4 on each side)



and finally, showing the dimensions..






And last, but not least in the slightest, I need to thank some sponsors!

Firstly, Willie from HWLabs and Specialtech For hooking meup with a special edition Black Ice GT-Stealth 240 radiator! Thanks alot! :thumb::thumb::thumb:

And Mario from Feser 1 for organising a package full of green water-cooling goodness! Thanks indeed! :rock::thumb:

[Mankz_91]

I got a lovely package from www.specialtech.co.uk and inside was.....












A HWLabs Black Ice GT-Stealth 240 radiator in Chrome :jawdrop::jawdrop:

Thats how it came, factory polished...

SOoo, after gazing into the chromey-ness for a while, I test fitted it to Watery...










It fits exactly, bar the side panel holes being a few mm to far to one end..

[Solarfall]

looks like damn interesting project Mankz looking forward of seeing where you are going to take this idea..

[Origin_Unknown]

wow, reminds me of the DD torture rack.

can wait to see some more progress

[nibble]

Looks fantastic so far, saw it over on bit-tech too. The panels are perfect, wouldn't mind having a laser cutter lying around myself.

[Mankz_91]

Yep!

I wanted to build this because...

a) those DD racks are soooo expensive for what they are..
b) its quite alot smaller, and will undoubtablybe cooler..

[The_Beast]

good to see Watery hit XS

[Mankz_91]

Thanks Beasty...

You sure do get around!

[BNDMOD]

Suscribed :d very nice build!! :d congractSSSS i wait more photos.

[RubberDuck]

I have to Suscribed to this. That looks great can't wait to see the finished product

[Movieman]

Always amazes me to see some of the talents that reside here at XS.
Nice work and look forward to following this project.

[warbux]

wow thats going to be a real piece of art there. Ive always wanted to build my own case. This kinda inspires me to do so. After I get finished with my current project that is.

[SiGfever]

Keep the pics coming, nice work.

[The_Beast]

Thanks Beasty...

You sure do get around!

Are you calling me a forum whore???


nice rads

[Nate P.]

Looks amazing so far... I'll be keeping a close eye on this one!

[ColonelCain]

I definatly have to second everyone here... this is quite amazing. What hardware do you intend to run in it?

[Mankz_91]

Nothing too special...

I'm going to be using this as a school system, so along the lines of 775 mATX with an e2160 or so...

[Mankz_91]

Thanks Guys... Really means alot...

So,I now need to decide on my final colour scheme... I've allready decided on having a silver/chrome DVD and PSU to go with the Radiator,and the coolant and tubing are akllready set on being UV Acid Green, so I need to decide what colour Sleeving and fans I want..

Here are a couple of shots of what I think would look good...







I'm planning on using ACRyan slleving stuff, aswell as Kameleon Fans...

So, does anyone have any better ideasforcolour schemes or fans I can use ect?

[Nate P.]

I personally like black and red...

[septim]

looking good there. keep the pics coming...

chrome colored fans to match the radiator...
or blue led fans to light em up...

[TheJollyFellow]

I'd love to see a black/white theme in that case--using black tubing with white accent lights \would be prettay darn spiffy, one of my color-scheme petpeeves is when lighted fans take away from the watercooling

[FallenCow]

Looks good! Keep us updated!

[Mankz_91]

One finished resevior.

Took far too long, and the glue I used had a lovely lable saying 'limited evidence of carcnogenic effects' which is really reasuring....



Built using 8mm acrylic that was laser cut. The inside is 20mm across, and the entire thing holds < 1.5L .








Here it it full up with Acid Green Feser One and using Feser Hose.






(during the filling of the res using one of the G1/4" holes as the top, and doing it with the top screwed off and not using a funnel, I managed to spill some over my phone and keyboard. Both still work perfectally. :thumb:

[Talonman]

This thig is really going to be sweet!

Fine job so far.