Custom Wood Case IV- Antique Zenith Radio Build

[voigts]

Magnificient work.
You can see the love that went into this and that says it all.
I used to do custom casework and people said I was too picky and would never make money at it but when you send out a piece a little bit of yourself goes with it and you want it perfect.
You attained that.

Thanks. You are right about the TLC that went into this. It is both a blessing and a curse to be a perfectionist. While everyone else sees the nice stuff, you see the flaws. But all in all this case turned out very well.

I wouldn't mind building stuff for people, but it wouldn't be a money making venture to be sure given the time and money involved to make something like this. I've easily got $350 if not more in just materials. I spent about $120 just on the eschutcheon, dial, dial glass, knobs, and grille fabric. It would be the well-to-do person indeed who would be willing to pay what you would have to charge to make something like this. This kind of thing to me is just something i enjoy doing. It sure is cheaper however than old cars, boats, jet skis, gun collections, etc., none of which I have.

Looks amazing voigts, very impressed.

Have you found the Aquastream XT pump to be quiet enough for your liking?

This pump really is more to my liking. My wife and daughter even noticed the difference right away. Sound wise, it is definitely even quieter than one MCP350. I like the sound quality better in that the pitch is gives out is not nearly as high pitched as the MCP350. As far as flow goes, I would say judging from the flow in the res that there isn't quite as much flow as one MCP350, but I don't have a flow meter to give exact numbers, and on this loop I was previously using dual MCP350s undervolted on a rheostat.

I also did a before and after to see if the Aquastream effects my temps or not. I took ambient room temps with an infrared thermometer. The ambient temps before and after the XT were about .4c from each other (22.8c and 22.4c). With both MCP350 pumps undervolted a bit, at idle I got 36c, and with Intel Test Burn running on high running 4.25ghz @ 1.3625v (500fsb) on an E8500, load temps didn't go past 56c. With the XT, I am getting the exact same temps both at idle and under load with the same OC. So even though I am sure the XT has less flow than the 2 MCP350 pumps, and probably less flow than one MCP350 would, the net result on my setup is no measurable effect on temps and no effect on OC. This is with the XT running itself at 74.4hz.

I also ordered some Petras gel stuff to put under the pump since I think it will do an even better job at isolating vibrations than the somewhat thin foam that I currently have under it. But all in all I am very pleased with it and think I will be sticking with this pump. I would have had a hard time paying the $170 or so for the Ultra with adapters, soggy sandwich thing, and shipping new, but since I got it all for $105 new shipped, I'm very pleased. If I hadn't of found that deal, i wouldn't have worried about getting the Ultra as the standard would be good enough for me since I don't really care about the internal temp sensor and the fan control.