Project: Small but Tall

J

jman1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
243
Decided to build my own case to fit my desk area with the size, shape and configuration I wanted and needed for my water cooled machine

Design goals:
Smaller footprint approximately1 foot square but with greater vertical height
Light weight aluminum construction
Neat straight lines (no Bug eyes)
Separated areas for water cooling components and motherboard
Room for lots of drives and future expansion room
Removable panels for future upgrades
Lots of windows
Lights and Bling
Good airflow minimal dust in case
Somewhat moveable
Enough room in water area for a triple 120 radiator, Pump, and reservoir.
Easy to move about. (wheels)

The basic skeleton was constructed with Cool-cases-usa.com Erect-A-Case the larger kit Link this gave me very close to 1 square foot of floor space usage. The kit assembles with just a rubber mallet very quick it is nice and square and solid it’s a bit tall but I hate bending over to insert disks, push buttons and so on
frame.JPG

The plan is to mount the motherboard in the top area horizontally with the radiator, pump, Reservoir and drives in the bottom. With the mother board at the top and the case only one foot deep I am thinking it will be easy to attach things to the back.

There is enough room for two power supplies so I am going to use two one for the lighting effects, Pumps, Fans the other for motherboard, drives.

The sides will be a mix of Plexiglas and polished Aluminum Diamond plate.
plate.JPG

I gutted and cut up an old cheap case for the motherboard tray and back plane. I know the dremmel is the main tool of the modder but for this I used my rotozip with the optional cut off wheel attachment. This thing is great for cutting steel and Aluminum the wheel is 3.5 inches and is easy to control with two hands. After chopping up the steel case the wheel was still like new. Lots of really cool sparks Too. Also made quick work of obliterating rivets.
rotozip.JPG
parts.JPG

This is some of the diamond plate I will be using got it from http://stores.ebay.com/Cutsmetal-Diamond-Plate-Store_W0QQssPageNameZl2QQtZkm
Good price fast shipping. It is .063 thick very strong and shiny comes with a plastic protective film so you don’t scratch it.
The Diamond plate will be used for the front, some trim and maybe the top although I thought a window in the top would be nice.
More pics to follow as the work progresses.
Any suggestions or ideas are welcome.
 
jman1 said:
Decided to build my own case to fit my desk area with the size, shape and configuration I wanted and needed for my water cooled machine
Click to expand...

Sounds similar to one of the design goals of ON3 UP, being tall and small footprint. The frame you chose should make it far, far easier to construct though! Make sure you have clearance to pass all your cabling around the horizontal mobo. Some larger mobos can take up 12" square or very close to it. Should look killer with the mobo in the top section for all to see :)
 
Today I cut some of the diamond plate and Plexiglas for the front sides and bottom. For the drive cutout I used the rotozip for all but the last mm or so of the corners and finished it off with the dremmel. Off to auto store to get some mirror tint for the side windows so they are sort of stealth when the machine is off. At least this is the plan.
More to follow.
front.JPG
layout.JPG

The cat approves.
cat.JPG
 
Haven't read all the worklog yet but can I suggest you put the motherboard at the bottom and the water stuff at the top, as heat rises and cold air sinks, which in theory would cool it aswell?????
 
DlStreamnet said:
Haven't read all the worklog yet but can I suggest you put the motherboard at the bottom and the water stuff at the top, as heat rises and cold air sinks, which in theory would cool it aswell?????
Click to expand...
Wouldn't you in that case, be using hotter air to cool the water? ;P
 
This is the radiator I will be putting in the lower compartment
chillguard.jpg

It is 16.5"X51/8" I plan to mount it in the rear blowing filtered air into the case (bottom section) there will be venting in the bottom for exhaust. I am thinking with 3 120mm fans I should get a good flow.
 
Very nice start. I always like the way diamond plate looks. So clean-cut.

I would also put the watercooling components in the bottom, not so much for heat as for removing the chance of something leaking down onto your precious components. In the bottom, there's nothing but the floor to leak onto. :)
 
Nice! :)

I'm about to do a construction very near like you.

For the border i buyed this:


As you can see, i built the case with middle densed wood panel:


I'm gonna follow your project because it's very interesting.

Wish you a very nice day :)
 
looks good so far, i was looking at the small case i think? 8x8x20....

looks like it would make a nice little container for watercooling stuff
 
diredesire said:
Wouldn't you in that case, be using hotter air to cool the water? ;P
Click to expand...

Not if the rad is in a seperate enclosure (ie partitioned off below the main components of the case).

I'd have my PC in the top half so the components are easier to get at, and the watercooling gubbins in the bottom, so a leak is less expensive. A sealed partition between the two (maybe put the hard disk down there too).
 
Two Thoughts:

1) More Power Tools and pictures of things sparking
2) Hey, thats my cat too ?

Or on a productive not, I like the design. Post lots of updates !
 
Afew small updates:
Iam using foam tape on the frame flanges to seat all the panels and windows for air tightnes and vibration/noise control
foam.jpg

Also got some security tint film to try out on the windows. They say you should not use film on plexi because under heat it can gas out and cause bubbles in the film. We will see if that holds true. This is a test window to see how it drills with the film in place (holes hor knurled screws)
This is with no light on inside
glass.jpg

This is with some light inside
glass1.jpg

More to follow.
Also...My cat can LICK all of your cats.
maxi.jpg
(pun..pun)
 
jman1 said:
Afew small updates:
Also...My cat can LICK all of your cats.
maxi.jpg
(pun..pun)
Click to expand...


Hmm... you gonna overclock that thing? I bet you can get a few more licks out of it yet!
 
just wondering...

why is it that every thread i see with a cat in the original worklog turns into a cat pic thread instead of the mod.......? :confused:
 
That_Sound_Guy said:
just wondering...

why is it that every thread i see with a cat in the original worklog turns into a cat pic thread instead of the mod.......? :confused:
Click to expand...
Because a cat in your thread automatically adds 50mhz to your system.
 
Ok some updates. I have had discussions with the cats and they agree to stay out of the picture till it is done.
I was thinking about something for buttons so I looked through some of my junk and came up with these lighted game buttons for start and reset. Not sure if I will use them yet. If I do Iwill replace the bulbs with blue leds.
button.jpg

Drilled and tapped holes for front and side panels. I will be using a mix of black and alumunum knurled screws so all panels will be tooless.
tap.jpg
screws.jpg

Painted the motherboard tray and drive cages (salvaged fom an old case) with aluminum paint.
tray.jpg

Next is a shot of the floor of the case. The vent is in the front of the floor it is adjusable as far as flow goes this will be the exhausted air and when I get to all the lighting effects I am thinking it will give cool ground effects.
vent.jpg

Front view so far.
sofar.jpg

Started to install the drive cages so everything lines up perfect.
cages.jpg

Thats all for now... Starting to think about lighting.
 
jman1 said:
Ok some updates. I have had discussions with the cats and they agree to stay out of the picture till it is done.
I was thinking about something for buttons so I looked through some of my junk and came up with these lighted game buttons for start and reset. Not sure if I will use them yet. If I do Iwill replace the bulbs with blue leds.
button.jpg
Click to expand...

I think the rectangle buttons would look nice mounted verticly the match the case. much bettter than round ones.
 
SpangeMonkee said:
I think the rectangle buttons would look nice mounted verticly the match the case. much bettter than round ones.
Click to expand...
I also approve of the rectangle buttons.....
 
Small planned update:
I plan on water cooling the harddrives with these.
Image(30).jpg

I used these in a former water system and they proved to work well the aluminum plate is 3/4 thick with 3/8 tube. They effectively pull heat away from the drives.
 
hey where did you get those hdd coolers? they look pretty snazy
 
A couple little things today. Drilled and counter sunk some holes hor attaching plates to hard drives
plates1.jpg
plates2.jpg

Also put some blue elwire in crack around top panel and am planning placement of holes for 2 80mm intake fans on top.
elwire.jpg
 
Todays update.
Getting closer to finish. Drilled some holes for the top fans with 3 1/8" hole saw in drill press.
holes.jpg

Decided to go with the vertical rectangle buttons and a round one for the reset. One will just be for disk activity for now. Thinking about adding some other led indicator rocker switches to controll some of the lighting effects.
sofar610.jpg

Drilled and tapped holes for the screws of the side windows/panels.
sofar6101.jpg

This is a shot of the back so far without the primary powersupply and rad (they are in this system)
back.jpg

More to follow.
 
I noticed that you said you're putting intake fans on the top of the case...

IMHO you should make them exausts, since hot air rises blah blah, i think it would be a little more efficient and give you better temps, not to mention the dust problem...

I see you have fan filters but even still you will need to clean them out alll the time, even if the duist isnt getting inside the case...
 
True. I have been unsure of actual air flow I gues I will have to do some testing. The plan is to create a sort of positive pressure within the case sort of like a properly vented building where when you open a door air would rush out keeping bugs,dust so on out.
I need to look at actual cfm in and out.
The plan is total 5 80 mm fans pulling air in to case. Out will be 3- 120s on the rad and the two power supplys out.
With all the shiney metal and plexi I need to keep it as dust free as I can. I am planning on fan controllers to help balance the flow will prob. slow down the 120s a bit.
 
That frame looks really nice for that case! I was wondering what metals you are using? Shape and size? Most importantly how you are holding the corners together? The case is looking super!
 
The Frame is a Cool-cases-usa.com Erect-a-case it is mereley tapped togethter with a rubber mallet the nylon corners grip and stat it is very very sturdy.
 
Borgschulze said:
Because a cat in your thread automatically adds 50mhz to your system.
Click to expand...


I hate cats and say that they subtract Mhz and add heat to the system.
 
Update time!
Well I have been a little busy the past week but found some time today to start wrapping this up (as if it will ever be complete.)
I put my system in the new case added some lights and here it is as of today. Still have to do some work on the wires and a few finishing touches.
Here is whats in it:
DFI Lanparty UT
AMD 64 3200
512 ram (more to come)
2 120 gig seagates in striped raid
1 200 gig drive
CD r/w
Nvidia Geforce 4 ti4200
5 80mm UV fans
3 120mm blueled fans
2 450 watt powersupplies 1 modded with acrylic UV cover and UV fan
tripple 120 chillguard radiator
Cool-Cases CF! cpu block
all 3/8 hose
Cool-Cases-USA UV Coolant
Swiftech pump
Cool-Cases-USA reservoir
20 in 1 Controller
Abunch of UV cathodes
Lots of time... Special thanks to Cool-Cases-USA.com for the donated stuff.
Here are some Pics. As I finish it up I will update.

topdark.jpg
sidedark.jpg
topfinish.jpg
sidefinish.jpg
topsidefinish.jpg
frontfinish.jpg
desk.jpg
 
looks great but I have a few questions....

How did you attach the plexi and diamond plate to the edges of the case? Also, how easy is it to cut the rails to different sizes?
 
All the panels are attached with thumb screws . The frame can be ordered in custom sizes I suppose if you had the right saws you could cut the stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top