Project: Feeding Frenzy

Top Nurse said:

Aluminum would be fine as there is no real need for strength. I'm still trying to get the thread spec from Koolance. They don't seem to helpful on this subject. Do you have a knurling tool? How about I just give you one of the Koolance coolers and the Koolance/AC tubing to work with?

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i do have a knurling tool, but i have never used it so i don't know how it would come out ( i got it to try and put knurling on Titanium parts i made and it would not come out right. but in Alu it should be MUCH easyer )
If koolance won't give you the info, sure. just let me know and i can make the adaptes.

Will do. Do you happen to know the size of the Aquatube bolts that come with it?

revlimit said:

Will do. Do you happen to know the size of the Aquatube bolts that come with it?

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Which ones as there are three sets of bolts?

The one that you attach the Aquatube to the AC plate.

I'll be getting these instead of the button head for the hard drive rail.
Part Number: 92125A126

Top Nurse, here's your size pic and info. The head of the driver measures just a hair under 3/4" (between that and 11/16") wide, and 1 1/16" tall. The throat of the driver is 3/8" deep. The bit I have pictured measures at 1 3/16", bringing the overall height with an average bit (not a shortie) to 1 13/16". If you use the right bit, I'm sure you could reduce the overall height with bit to just a hair over 1 1/2". With handle, this measures 4 1/2" in length.



Let me know if there is anything else that might be helpful.

revlimit said:

The one that you attach the Aquatube to the AC plate.

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The four that attach the Aquatube mounting plate to the case and the five that hold the Aquatube to the mounting plate are all M4 x 8mm low profile socket head cap screws (LPSHCS). The five that attach the plexi lid to the Aquatube are M4 x 12mm LPSHCS.

Thanks again TN. Is the special tool for hard to reach places when installing the bolts?

revlimit said:

Thanks again TN. Is the special tool for hard to reach places when installing the bolts?

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I think it would be too long from the back of the wrench to the screwdriver point. I think I have seen 90 degree nylon screwdrivers at electronic shops before and if they don't have them I suppose I can get someone to make one for me or mod an existing setup. It probably will only have to work once to tweak the rails to my exact specifications as the PCP&C PSU is the best regulated supply in the business.

I'm deeply honored and can't believe that I would get one of the newly created Not-So-Random Prizes in the A.C. Ryan Worklog contest. Especially for such an off the wall remark about something I was musing about in the ER while waiting to get sewed up of all things.

Congrats for winning!

i just thought of something that may have made adjustment easier... bevel gears.

it amkes sense to me lol... but you already did the work

and get better soon... and dont let that guy get off with what happened!

looking beautiful, as always i swear, i will have that case at some point in time 0_0 i love that case...

0mega said:

i just thought of something that may have made adjustment easier... bevel gears.
it amkes sense to me lol... but you already did the work
and get better soon... and dont let that guy get off with what happened!
looking beautiful, as always i swear, i will have that case at some point in time 0_0 i love that case...

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Bevel gears would work, but I think it wouldn't be too practical because I probably will only have to adjust the power rails one or two times. But thank you for the suggestion.

revlimit said:

Congrats for winning!

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Always need something to win...probably could win the lottery, but I would have to enter to win and I don't like the odds. Better odds on the crap table. lol I think I will be set for the next couple of computers as I will probably get the black femal molex housings as they are difficult to come by here in California for some strange reason.

Had a chance to drop by the city tow yards today to say good-bye to my car as it appears to be totalled. With all the frame damage I really don't want it back. Saw the scene of the crime today and there really was 186 feet of skid marks before I got hit.

Anybody got any modding ideas for these pics?

Omg
I hope you didn't get injured?!

knaSen said:

Omg
I hope you didn't get injured?!

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Yeah I did, but it actually happened on October 28th and I blogged it in to my worklog a few pages back. Just had a chance to go to see the car and snapped some pics. Got the stitches out today and going for a CT of the brain tomorrow due to some headaches I have been having. Promised I would post a pic or two so that was why I posted them.

Back on the modding scene I have decided tomorrow will finally be a power tool day so I can clean up that PSU plate. Also put in the HD circuit Aquastream controller where the USB and Firewire ports were in the front bottom of the case. Will post pics tomorrow.

Didn't get to look at whole thing so I'll look this afternoon and post better comment.

Top Nurse said:

Yeah I did, but it actually happened on October 28th

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well, if you already know when and where it's going to happen, just don't be there at that time, and this'll all work out


good luck with the power tools.

the black knight always triumphs!

rogue_jedi said:

well, if you already know when and where it's going to happen, just don't be there at that time, and this'll all work out

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hahah thats funny, i read that and didnt even notice she was PRE COGging it hahah

Top Nurse said:

Yeah I did, but it actually happened on October 28th and I blogged it in to my worklog a few pages back. Got the stitches out today and going for a CT of the brain tomorrow due to some headaches I have been having.

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yeah id say you definately need a CT
j/k j/k


that joker must have been going pretty fast to lay down 186ft. of skid marks and still do all that damage to your truck

Question: Can those sata drives be mounted 'backwards' it would hide all of the cables and the tubes...all you'd see is the ends of the drives and coolers...?

Top Nurse said:

Well here is the SATA cable I made the other day trial fitted to my case.

Bottoms Up

Here you see the cable coming into the top of the case.

This is pretty much all you will see when the radiator is installed. However you won't see where the cable comes in as the radiator covers up that part of the cable. In fact the only thing you will see is that black cable coming down to the SATA connector. Nice and clean is the way I like it.

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Why would you want to spin them around after all the work making the awesome wires look so good?

To completely hide them..(it's more of an informative question than a suggestion...)

skudmunky said:

Why would you want to spin them around after all the work making the awesome wires look so good?

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pstang said:

yeah id say you definately need a CT
j/k j/k that joker must have been going pretty fast to lay down 186ft. of skid marks and still do all that damage to your truck

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Yeah I figured he must have been doing 80-90 MPH when he hit the brakes. Criminals ain't to bright. Did I mention he just got out of the state prison a few days before he hit me? I figure when his parole officer hears about this he will be making a "quick trip" back to prison and I hope he enjoys the ride.

SiathLinux said:

Question: Can those sata drives be mounted 'backwards' it would hide all of the cables and the tubes...all you'd see is the ends of the drives and coolers...?

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Not really, but I did give it a lot of thought a while back. It is possible, but you would have to move the HD racks and where you need to locate them there is a gigantic oblong hole that Lian-Li felt people needed to put some wires through.

I see the hole (looked back till found pic showing)...

Top Nurse said:

Not really, but I did give it a lot of thought a while back. It is possible, but you would have to move the HD racks and where you need to locate them there is a gigantic oblong hole that Lian-Li felt people needed to put some wires through.

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Well I have been muddling about where to locate the Aquastream controller for the HD circuit. Thought about mounting it in the middle compartment floor, but thought wiring might be a little tricky from a visual point of view. Decided to kill two birds with one stone as I really have no use for USB and Firewire ports on the front of the case. Why they put them on the bottom of a server case is beyond me. In fact why they even put them anywhere on a server case is a mysterious question. The stock cable barely even reaches most MB headers and if you go for a circumspect cable routing it is about 6-8" too short. Wasn't looking forward to adding length to a ton of small wires....so get rid of the dang thing.

Decided that a perfect place for my Aquastream controller would be where the USB/Firewire ports were.






Also decided that since the stainless polishes up nicely a little lapping at 1200 grit would even add a little bling to the party to give some contrast to the black case. Those pesky buttonhead screws just can't stay away from my case.











Here's a side shot that shows the controller between the front radiator mount and the front case wall.







Some more shots showing the controller mounted.











If you think you might want to do this mod I have a few quick suggestions. Put your faceplate on the front of the case and locate it accurately. I used a dial caliper and mine is centered within .001". Then tape it down securely with some 3M blue masking tape. Select a drill bit that fits in the faceplate holes and simply drill away. You might want to open up the area where the LEDS stick through the case so you have a little manuvering room unless you are really good with a drill.

Tomorrow I will be using my Dremel Tool to mill out the area above the oblong hole so that the power wires and Aquastream pump can be hooked up to the controller.

0mega said:

looking beautiful, as always i swear, i will have that case at some point in time 0_0 i love that case...

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My case? Or just any old V2000 case?

When can we expect water in those loops?

But please do keep up the great work!

Not at all bad. Very functional use of dead space. I plan on mounting a case name plate in that very location.

R1ckCa1n said:

When can we expect water in those loops?

But please do keep up the great work!

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Water? I have a phobia about putting water in a computer. Today is time to pull remaining HD rack assembly out and replace with screws, vinyl dyeing the grey HD racks, annd Dremeling the case some more. One fix leads to another fix. Was going to pull the front fan housing out, but that would lead to a complete disassembly of the case as two of the rivets are hidden.

grumblemarc said:

Not at all bad. Very functional use of dead space. I plan on mounting a case name plate in that very location.

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That sounds like another good idea for Geared Up. Thought of something similar when I was being circumspect about my modding. Now the name plate is part of the case side window.

not to hijack your thread i completely disasmble mine. Here's the link if you want to see. http://revlimit.62m.net/ I"'ll start my own log when i'm done.

revlimit said:

not to hijack your thread i completely disasmble mine. Here's the link if you want to see. http://revlimit.62m.net/ I"'ll start my own log when i'm done.

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Thanks for the pics as that clarifies what I was considering. Not doing that. Found the right tool to do the job so I don't have to take that plate out.

Small update for now. Had time to work on my PSU resting plate again. I have found that the right tool can make life a lot easier (if you can figure out what it is). So today we start out with a new tool. I already have a Klein Tools metal nibbler which is one of the best, but it has limitations in getting up close to a shoulder. So I got the cheapie tool and it goes really close, but it is a PITA to use. You pays your money and you takes your chances.







As you recall a ways back I nibbled the plate and left it in a rather sorry state of affairs due to being concerned about taking pain pills and operating power tools. Was going to do the Dremel routine but as it turns out the above tool and a set of Swiss needle files saved the day.







So here we have the basic nibbling done and ready for a little sanding.








Sanded top and sides with 1200 grit wet and dry sandpaper (wet) to give it a slightly polished satin finish. Finished detail work on the slot with Swiss needle files.







Since I probably sanded through the anodizing I thought it might be a good idea to do some polishing and protecting with a metal cleaner and protector.







And after everything was polished and protected I added on the rubber molding to the front of the plate. As I mentioned a while back it is part bling and part functional as it isolates the PSU from actually touching the PSU plate. Hopefully it will cut out any vibration or fan acoustics from resonating through the case. And of course a little X-Acto knife action to restore my circles where the molding crossed the plate circles.







And here we go back into the case.



















By the way notice the screws that are holding the wheels on? The stock screws stuck out enough that they were catching the sleeving on some of my PSU cables. I replaced them with some buttonhead 3mm x 5mm screws and now they fit pretty much flush. See that off white spot on the right side of the pic two holes up from the bottom? I put the molding on with super glue and was fortunate enough to decided to wear gloves. That spot is where the glove stuck to the rubber.

Looking very nice! Where did you get the rubber molding?

DarkenReaper57 said:

Looking very nice! Where did you get the rubber molding?

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Thanks for saying so. I got it from McMaster Carr on page 3482. IIRC it was made out of neopreme so it looks as well as feels good. Was originally planning on doing something else with it as well so I bought like 10 feet.

PSU rack looks great, that molding was the kicker tho....makes all the more pro looking.

SiathLinux said:

PSU rack looks great, that molding was the kicker tho....makes all the more pro looking.

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Thanks for the nice words

The Aquastream controller mounted to the front of the case had some minor issues after I had installed it a few days ago. So it was off to the hardware store to get some new tools. Found a nice little carbide cutting tool for my 35,000 RPM Dremel that looked like it might work out well as the new nibbler was a PITA to use. Basically I needed to open up the case a bit so that I could get the Aquastream pump connector and a molex power connector on.






So here is after a little Dremel tool action.







And here is the controller board back in the case.







Here is a top down look on the installed controller.







Unfortunately I failed to take into account the little raised surface on the Molex female connector housing. So out came the controller and time for a quick little buzz job.







In this pic you can see the molex connector and the raised surface I was talking about while it is being used for a trial fit. Decided to buzz out a little room for the pump connector as well.







While I was doing all this work I decided to see how the black Aquastream faceplate would look. I think I like it better than the polished stainless look so for now it stays on.







Well with everything out of the case I decided that a little vinyl dyeing was in order for those grey HD rails. Grey just seems out of place on FF so I went to Pep Boys and got some Dupli-Color flat black (part number HVP106 in case you are interested) vinyl spray paint. Picked flat black as the grey rails were a little shiny already and wanted something that would compliment the black case anodizing and black HD's. Here is the removed HD rail assemblies with one painted and the other showing the stock condition.







Here is the rail assemblies re-installed in the case with some more buttonhead screws.







Here is the look forward with the Aquastream controller visible. The switch up in the middle of the case is being replaced with a Bulgin Anti-Vandal with a LED ring and you can see the rear of it. Hmmm....I think that shocking pink has to go.







Here is a view of the forward Aquatube (HD circuit), three watercooled Raptor's, and the BI 120mm Pro rad in. The Aquastream pump for the HD circuit will sit inbetween the rad and the HD rack. Waiting for some more goodies from McMaster-Carr so I can mount the pump. Also having some special compression nuts made so that I can use 6mm x 8mm tubing with the Koolance HD coolers that were designed for the 6mm x 9mm Koolance tubing. Should have the nuts done in a few weeks







Here is a wide angle view of the bottom compartments.







Another view of the installed HD racks and the Aquatubes back in the case.






Well that is it for now. Now that the major case work is done (I hope) I can get back to installing the PSU and running the wiring looms.

Nice, very nice! The controller mounting is an original idea. I like it.