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Living Weapon
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2007
- Messages
- 448
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What started as a simple rad installation became a project, so I figured I'd start a work log. If you guys have some comments/suggestions, feel free.
Here's where things started to get complicated: I wanted to leave room for a standard optical drive, because I expect this case to outlive the BD-ROM, the motherboard, etc. In other words, I want the freedom to upgrade components without having to put in too much effort in the future, something my old C2D Shuttle doesn't allow with a 120x38mm Delta on a Xig taking up most of the height inside the chassis. So, where to put an FSC Monsta? With stacked fans and a reasonable air gap to avoid dead spots, it is way to thick too go in the top of the case ...but with an optical drive in front, it has to drop below the case bottom:
The blue tape is just to avoid scratches on parts of the rad that will show after test fitting. the top of the case is on the table, so as you can see the rad pokes out past the bottom of the case by about the height of an optical drive ...it would have just fit if I were willing to give up that amenity. so, that's where this went from a simple "installation" into a full-on mod
Since the Monsta holds 1.7L of water, this will be a heavy beast - so, I had to make some beefy brackets to transfer the weight into the vertical sheet aluminum components. CM makes a great case given the intended purpose, but the 3000 series aluminum would buckle otherwise. I'm far to lazy to make new sheet components out of 6061 if I can avoid it. So, off to the drill press to do some milling:
As you can see from the photos at the top, I'm using aircraft rivnuts to secure the brackets to the sheet aluminum. What may not show is the bead of Tam Tech Adhesive, which bonds at about 1175 PSI aluminum to aluminum - the overlap area between each bracket and sheet is .75" x 18.5", so that should hold well enough that I can take the case to a Lan without the radiator coming loose during the car ride. I also cut some clearance notches in the brackets for hardware:
...and retained enough of the original sheet on the window side to support the door latch:
Obviously the door latch will need a bit more support, but I'll catch that when I tie in the fan shroud. I ended up having to roll that edge and file a bit on test fitting
Next: some adjustments to the motherboard tray for better wire management, CPU back-plate hole, etc. Also, I need to fabricate some carriers for the 2.5" SSD and 3.5" spinning disks, and a "stealthed" flash card reader while I'm at it.
What started as a simple rad installation became a project, so I figured I'd start a work log. If you guys have some comments/suggestions, feel free.
Here's where things started to get complicated: I wanted to leave room for a standard optical drive, because I expect this case to outlive the BD-ROM, the motherboard, etc. In other words, I want the freedom to upgrade components without having to put in too much effort in the future, something my old C2D Shuttle doesn't allow with a 120x38mm Delta on a Xig taking up most of the height inside the chassis. So, where to put an FSC Monsta? With stacked fans and a reasonable air gap to avoid dead spots, it is way to thick too go in the top of the case ...but with an optical drive in front, it has to drop below the case bottom:
The blue tape is just to avoid scratches on parts of the rad that will show after test fitting. the top of the case is on the table, so as you can see the rad pokes out past the bottom of the case by about the height of an optical drive ...it would have just fit if I were willing to give up that amenity. so, that's where this went from a simple "installation" into a full-on mod
Since the Monsta holds 1.7L of water, this will be a heavy beast - so, I had to make some beefy brackets to transfer the weight into the vertical sheet aluminum components. CM makes a great case given the intended purpose, but the 3000 series aluminum would buckle otherwise. I'm far to lazy to make new sheet components out of 6061 if I can avoid it. So, off to the drill press to do some milling:
As you can see from the photos at the top, I'm using aircraft rivnuts to secure the brackets to the sheet aluminum. What may not show is the bead of Tam Tech Adhesive, which bonds at about 1175 PSI aluminum to aluminum - the overlap area between each bracket and sheet is .75" x 18.5", so that should hold well enough that I can take the case to a Lan without the radiator coming loose during the car ride. I also cut some clearance notches in the brackets for hardware:
...and retained enough of the original sheet on the window side to support the door latch:
Obviously the door latch will need a bit more support, but I'll catch that when I tie in the fan shroud. I ended up having to roll that edge and file a bit on test fitting
Next: some adjustments to the motherboard tray for better wire management, CPU back-plate hole, etc. Also, I need to fabricate some carriers for the 2.5" SSD and 3.5" spinning disks, and a "stealthed" flash card reader while I'm at it.