Bärsärkar-gång: SFF Low Power Water Cooled

Mach said:
@ekuest: Updates away!
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YUSSSSSSSS. haha. i was just worried since you hadnt updated in over a week. :eek: you made it worth the wait though. those knurled nuts looks great, and im super impressed by your water block. i hope it works! this things really starting to come together.

so how are your mobo soldering skills progressing? :D
 
Thanks formula409 and ekuest!

ekuest said:
so how are your mobo soldering skills progressing? :D
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Heh, not as good as they need to be for me to try again. :) I'm starting to itch to remove the ATX connector tho. :rolleyes:
 
little tip for removeing parts.
cover the parts you dont wont damaged with tin foil.
cover the terminals of the part you wont to remove with flux.
moveing back and forth with a heat gun other the area of the terminals you wont to remove when solder melts pull the part.
 
I asked this on Bit-Tech already as well, but how is that PCIe extension working out for you? I have heard of lots of issues with those extenders due to the increased signal length. Maybe it's only higher-end cards which are affected?
 
Thanks jackofalltrades and thanks for the tip Dasimpson! I've got some old motherboards that I'm practicing on so I'll keep that in mind.

Elledan said:
...how is that PCIe extension working out for you? I have heard of lots of issues with those extenders due to the increased signal length. Maybe it's only higher-end cards which are affected?
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Could be the higher end cards are more difficult but Casey at adexelec was pretty confident that if I kept it under 12" then I wouldn't have a problem with cross talk. My bench test didn't see any problems. I'll note any that I see along the way tho.
 
I need some help please. Which deco design do you think works best for the graphics card waterblock?

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Thanks for the feedback! :) Modder consensus seems to be 3 is too busy. The split is landing between 1 & 2 probably closer to 2.

A few folks suggested a mix of the two patterns. How about this? Are the waves too much? Keep in mind the brass piece is 2.5 x 5 inches.

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It's all lines and curves to me :p

I kind of liked 2 more because it was the most basic design, this new hybrid design would work too. It's hard to visualize what it'd look like as a final product, though.
 
the new one you did but with out the waves just have it so it is steped that would give the bioshock little girls portel but is also more art deco from what i have seen that is the style of the hole build
 
HA! I was just going to suggest a hybrid. I would ditch the waves of the hybrid design and make the vertical lines on the bottom fan out a little bit more like they did in the original #2. Also, lower the middle circle a bit so it is more centered on the card.
 
Wow thanks a bunch everyone...this really helped! Still liking #4 but here's some others that folks suggested.

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7, although 4's waves are starting to grow on me. Any one of these, by the way, is going to look sick.

4 would look cleaner if the lines coming down from the circle hit the crevices of the waves like the same lines do in 6
 
Thanks! I'm going to run with these two:

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They seem to have the best mix of all the attributes folks liked.
 
Thanks folks! I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks Dasimpson! I've been trying to work your stair step idea in but I've not found the right place for it...yet.;)

Next update on deck....
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From well intentioned beginnings, Operation Paperclip quickly devolved into unethical and morally questionable sub-projects. Conspiracy theorists suggest that the turning point was the recruitment of Kurt Blome, an expert in bacteriological warfare. Likely, the USA's recruitment saved Blome from the gallows as he had freely admitted to conducting human experiments prior to the Doctor's Trials in Nuremburg. His recruitment also signaled the end of any limits imposed by Truman on Operation Paperclip. Additional scientists engaged in human experimentation were actively recruited including Hermann Becker-Freysing (later convicted and sentenced to 20 years for, among other things, force feeding prisoners seawater), Brigid Tenenbaum (camp prisoner turned "das wunderkind" scientist), and Siegfriend Ruff (acquitted of killing 80 prisoners in experiments in an isobaric chamber set to simulate high altitude flight).

Emboldened by their success recruiting these new researchers, the CIA broadened their recruiting to other countries including Japan, the former USSR, and China.

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I've been busy with a little research regarding block graphics. Let's start from here and work backwards.
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Part of the reason that I wanted to build a set of layered block for this project was so I could etch the blocks or rather, sandblast them. I haven't seen too many people use this technique but have seen glass carvers do amazing things. Here's the top piece of brass polished for blasting.
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By the way if you are trying to tap a waterblock and have a drill press, a 1/2" hole in a 2x4 makes a good guide. I tapped the holes now instead of later so the thread is to bottom.
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It took asking 4 sign shops to find one that could cut vinyl as small as the design. They did an awesome job. Some of these lines are tiny.
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Let's talk sandblasting equipment. This is the gun that I bought from a discount hardware store called Harbor Freight. Its pretty bad but serviceable if you're optimizing on costs vs time.
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Here's my $20 blasting cabinet. One clear storage container and a couple of rubber downspout couplers.
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A pair of old rubber gloves glued in place with a hole for a vacuum line and compressor line. Its not completely sealed but is at negative pressure with the vacuum so no worries.
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5 lbs of aluminum oxide. With the cabinet, I was able to recycle most of this to shoot it multiple times.
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Great compressor for airbrushing not so much for sand blasting. Too small.
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Shop vac to keep the dust down and negative pressure in the cabinet.
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Blasting a couple of test pieces.
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Shooting until the compressor kicked on and then waiting till it stopped, I was able to etch some relief but it took a long time and multiple goes.
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The vinyl sticker worked very well as a resist. After about the 4 or 5th pass, it did cut out the holes but it patched ok with some painters tape.
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The detail is impressive; both with the vinyl and the etching. You could etch PCBs using this technique.
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All in all a successful experiment. It worked reasonably well but I'm going to find someone with a serious setup before I try the big block. My compressor and the gun hopper setup is too small. Off to see if I can rent a pressure pot and a real compressor. :)
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Oh yeah it works very well on acrylic too.
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Next time, how do you braze a layer block? More experimentation underway.
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Thanks for looking and many thanks to my sponsors!

Bitspower
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Galaxy
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HardwareLabs
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This REAL modding. It's great to see something like this, as opposed to a lot of the "let's paint and cut a stock case and make a big deal about it" projects. Rock on!
 
Thanks monk3y and Catsonar! Glad you like the mod. :)

Thanks for the compliment, OKANG! I understand where you are coming from but some of the traditional case mods that I've seen lately are pretty amazing in their own right (Bill Owen's District 9 for instance).

Its one of the most exciting things about modding these days. The quality is so phenomenal that the modding bar keeps moving higher and higher. Traditional case mods, scratch builds, and found object mods; folks are cranking out some amazing mods. :D
 
Very nice craftsmanship, most people couldn't figure out why you'd do this in the first place, but props to you for trying a crazy project. Hope you finish it well.
 
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