11-5-10 Update time

Well I left off with the rad grill issue. I'm going to go ahead and use the 480 rad grill I have because it complements the rad stand well and fills in the void on the sides of the rad to the stand uprights. Now for the inside I picked up some round mesh grills that are red. Although they looked much better in the photos then they arrived. They are of a much darker color red then the photos lead to believe. Along with the order of the grills I picked up some locking window mold strip. Unfortunatly Directron cut the said to be continuous length into two pieces.

These guys are hell to get ahold of to fix a problem, but other then that a great company. Turns out they are out of it and crediting me. So I took the longest section I had and went to town trying to install it. Unfortunatly the cnc work was done to remove the raised parts of the panels and wasn't adjusted for clearance of molding so the curves are too tight for the locking molding strips. I wasn't going to use this because I already had ordered some of the c channel stuff from FrozenCPU.

Unfortunatly I had a clearance issue with the original window panel to the back of the case and the molding as it was touched the rear upright inside the case. Therefore no way would a piece of 1/8 acrylic going to also clear. So.......

Modding time!


Finished work 4 full disks and a half later....


Now I kept talking about artwork from Cangogh in New Orleans done by Hugo Montero the last of the original spray paint artists.

Below is some of his work that I ordered which I received about a week and a half ago.




Now those last two are incorporated into the build which is something I was going to withhold from everyone until the build is finished, but I'm still looking at a bit until that happens do to other matters I'll explain after the first of the two big reveals in this project. I was wanting to hold off on the following one due to revealing what I feel is a very HUGE reveal but I think I was successful in hiding any hint of that one. So below is Hugo Montero's work on a piece of acrylic which is why I had to do the mod above due to clearance issues. Now to dig out the model paints again and touch up the cuts. There is no way I will drill the rivets to have the rear panel re coated. I would risk hot shavings sticking to the coating elsewhere in the case or getting mixed up in things that are already installed.



I will try to get a shot of a night effect with this piece of art on the side panel if I get some lights in the case. Its rather late and I have to get up early tomorrow and have a busy day ahead.


Now onto some time constraint parts of the build. Not that I've had anything set me back before or anything. The ceramic fittings have caused a real serious problem. All but two of the fittings were ceramic coated while the locking nut was tightened all the way down. How is that a problem you ask?

They would not come loose. I had to use a pair of channel locks and socks to break them loose. In turn some of the fittings coating and grip teeth were damaged. Honestly I'm not worried about the teeth. I am worried about the coating though. So they were dropped back off at SP Coatings sometime last week. I also had a fun time with the 45s having small fragments of blasting sand inside the joint. Lots of wiggling and blowing with the air nozzle. Then I ran each fitting through the spare mpc-355 pump I have to clean out any extra. They all swivel just fine and none of them leak. Which is what I was worried about after the sand got inside the joint.

I also had a serious problem with the Koolance quick disconnects. We decided to have them coated while connected due to keeping ceramic out of the shaft to allow them to work properly. Can you guess what the problem was I had with these expensive s.o.b's? You guessed it. They were stuck together also. Finally I got them loose and then noticed one was stuck open on both sides. The other wouldn't come loose once unlocked.

Finally I got it to seperate to find that it too was stuck open. after about a half hour of jamming on them with a key to open and close them they finally let loose and started functioning again. With the help of some air. This all was prior to noticing about the other compression fittings. So I ended up flushing the koolance fittings out also just for good measure. Of course they were full of sand also. they function and don't leak anything so all is good with the large investment in fittings. Next time though its BP matte black. Too much trouble jacking around with the ceramic.

Monday the 8th is my big 29th and I should have a delivery from FrozenQ. Just a little thing him and I worked on through pms over the last few months. So I'll be getting a nice little b-day prezzy.

You know the crazy thing this morning I sent an email to my fiancee with links and cost to thinks I want for my b-day. Which includes like $13 bucks in button head screws so I can put the RX480 together and the RX360, The Samsung F3 1tb drive which is on sale at newegg with free shipping.
Total of less then $100 bucks right?

I told her tonight I understand with shipping and short notice, but if by chance she ordered the screws that if she would tell me by Wed (my next pay day) that she didn't order them for my b-day so I could order them myself. What does she tell me? I won't be ordering you screws for your b-day. Wow!:eyebrow:

I mean cheap its what I want. I've gone through hell hunting down the 6/32 button head black finish screws I need. Took like two days scouring the internet and wow. :waah: she said I wont be getting you screws for your b-day. WOW. See if she gets what she wants for xmas then. :rock:

So Mudgey on XS Forums credited me back for the re coating I had to do on the rad stand due to a design calculation flaw so that money is sitting in paypal. I guess I'll order my own screws in the morning. That way I can make some progress somewhere anyway. LOL Although tonight took quite a while to finish.

Until next time.......