Project Aqua

[bigchieftaco]

http://directron.com/

Shortcuts:
[post=1037679000]Update 1[/post] - Received the first shipment of hardware
[post=1037705152]Update 2[/post] - Received my acrylic
[post=1037726629]Update 3[/post] - More items and assembled case
[post=1037771553]Update 4[/post] - Started making rad brackets
[post=1037777762]Update 5[/post] - Finished rad brackets
[post=1037796581]Update 6[/post] - Mounted the brackets
[post=1037817660]Update 7[/post] - Cut up the lid
[post=1037818918]Update 8[/post] - Leek test part 1
[post=1037843017]Update 9[/post] - PSU mounted
[post=1037862471]Update 10[/post] - Leek test part 2


Hello everyone, this is going to be the start of my first custom case build from scratch, so bear with me on this one.

I am going to build an aquarium to house my computer and fish, if it all works out
I plan to use 1/4" thick acrylic. The tank is going to be 14"x14"x12". I am going to separate the fish half from the computer half. The computer half is going to be submerged in mineral oil and the fish half in water, of course

I got lucky and Directron decided to generously sponsor me on this build They put a new Intel DH67GD motherboard in the mail today! My RAM should be coming this week too. Tomorrow I am going to the local vet and picking up 5 gallons of mineral oil. I have a ton to buy yet but I know this build will take some time to complete.

Here is a quick model of what I hope to get out of it. Not the finished product.

I need to order a motherboard tray, radiator, pump, tubing, fittings, CPU, PSU, GPU, lights, and probably a bunch more I can't think of yet.

Do you guys think 1/4" acrylic will work for this idea or will I need thicker?

 

[jackofalltrades]

I would use tempered glass to hold the water side because if it bows it will leak. my 2 cents worth.

 

[BioInclined]

I would use tempered glass to hold the water side because if it bows it will leak. my 2 cents worth.

This. No matter what you don't want any leaks. It will look better over time too and not get foggy.

 

[Joe S]

Seems like a pretty cool idea and I'll definitely be watching to see how it progresses. Best of luck.

 

[mannyman]

Good luck.

 

[bigchieftaco]

Seems like a pretty cool idea and I'll definitely be watching to see how it progresses. Best of luck.

Good luck.

Thanks guys. I got my acrylic ordered. Went with 3/8" thick instead of 1/4". Also waiting on my RAM, lights, fans, fittings, tubing, and motherboard tray to come in the mail.

Here is an updated model of what I want this to look like.

A big thanks to my sponsors Directron and Superbiiz.

And hopefully SVC soon.

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #1

Still waiting for my acrylic to ship from estreetplastics Ordered the 19th

I have been receiving a lot of packages in the mail lately.
But I can't do much without that acrylic.

Here are some of the items.

Mobo from Directron

Some cheap 8gb DDR3 1333

Mineral oil from the local vet

Mobo tray and 1/2" UV blue tubing

Fans and lights from Superbiiz

 

[bigchieftaco]

okay, i will resize

 

[RickyL]

okay, i will resize

LOL
Good luck will check on your progess!

 

[iYoYo]

Im in the market for some cathodes. let me know how well those are!

 

[pcguy24]

you should put piranhas in there

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #2

Hello again. My acrylic came yesterday!

I made some progress tonight! I got my acrylic yesterday and have successfully dado cut 2 of the sides and the bottom to fit the divider.

Here I marked lines and then taped one side, 5" from the front

My original plan was to use a straight router bit, but a dado cut seemed to work really well.

I eagerly assembled the pieces using some tape, I needed to see if it was the perfect fit!

Looks like I need to do a little sanding in the channeled area. The divider is a hair too long and pushes the sides outward.

Dogs thought they had to get their pictures taken too...

At this point, I am waiting for the weld-on to arrive in the mail. I will post updates when I can.

 

[pcguy24]

nice !

 

[ModestMoo]

Where do you get the mobo tray?? :O
I would use it for next my project...

 

[PcJunkie209]

Nice can't wait to see the fish!!

 

[pcguy24]

lian li makes replacement removable trays for 30 bucks.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3387

 

[bigchieftaco]

Where do you get the mobo tray?? :O
I would use it for next my project...

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=130_210_750_753

This is where I orderd mine from. I got the mini version. Comes out to like 45ish after shipping for me. So if you need other stuff buy it to save on shipping

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #3

Good Evening! I have made a good amount of progress since my last update.
As of tonight, I have welded the entire case. The welding process took some time and a few extra hands to help with clamping.

First off, I got some goodies again!

The center divider was a hair too long, so I figured I could sand enough out of the dado cuts.

About an hour into it, I finally realized I needed to do this a different way.

So my brother lent me his sander.

And then I began to sand the edges of the divider.

After a half hour it fit in place perfect.

Before I could weld anything together, I needed to get holes drilled and tapped for my fittings.

Lined up and ready to pilot drill. The end holes needed to be 7/16"

Time to tap these holes for my barbs!

One done

Both one

Time to test the welding cement.

I was shocked at how fast this stuff dried and became strong

Able to hold its weight within 45 seconds.

Now I was ready for the real deal.

My first 2 pieces.

Third piece added. I let this sit overnight.

The next day I began working on this after I got off from work. But I had a problem with my car on the way back from the hardware store, I had no brakes
After taking my tire and brake drum off, my brother noticed the brake cylinder was leaking.

Luckily he fixed me up in no time But it still put a hinder on the project for a day.

After all that, I finally was able to get the ball rolling again. I started by welding 2 more pieces to the case yesterday.

I let this sit overnight again.

Today, I got the divider in place and welded in. I plan to let that sit overnight as well.

 

[pcguy24]

looking good

 

[xDezor]

can't wait

 

[bigchieftaco]

can't wait

Me either, starting to get exciting

looking good

Thanks

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #4

Good afternoon everyone. I have been pretty busy lately so didn't get much time to work on this project, but my brother and I made some progress last night and hope to finish part of this up tonight.

We got the Skilsaw out.

Time to make the brackets that will hold the 2 radiators, but allow them to be easily removed from the tank.
We marked the 3/16" acrylic at 1"

We cut 4 2"x1" brackets and 8 1"x1" brackets.

Cutting the notches out with a dremel.

And here is where we quit for the night.

You can expect an update tonight or tomorrow, which should clear some confusion up as how these will work.

Thanks for looking!

 

[munkle]

Nice work! keep the pics coming!

 

[jojo69]

fish?

 

[bigchieftaco]

Nice work! keep the pics coming!

Thanks man. Will update tonight.

fish?

Yeah, fish. Every time I see a mineral oil PC, I want to see fish. So that's what I'm doing. Don't worry though, I will put the fish in it's own tank, separated from the mineral oil side. No fish will be harmed.

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #5

After we cut out all the little brackets, it was time to assemble them.

Here is 2 sets of them being clamped.

After all were made, we needed to sand them down to make them as even as possible.

This is the finished product. They don't need to be too pretty because they wont really be seen.

Now, you may be asking, "But how are those going to work?"
Take a look at the radiator mounts.

Now look at the brackets with the mounting hardware.

Now you may be asking, "But what about the bottom brackets, they look different?"
Well, we had to make special brackets for those.

Thanks for looking!

 

[pcguy24]

keep up the good work

 

[Fuganater]

Looks good. I'm working on an acrylic case too.

 

[sortableturnip]

I see what you did there

 

[bigchieftaco]

keep up the good work

Thanks, will do.

Looks good. I'm working on an acrylic case too.

Awesome, you going to make a work log?

I see what you did there

Update #6

Evening all! Got some work done today! But first, I got a package in the mail!

Hmm, whats inside?

3 items? What could they be?

Oh, nice. A sleeving kit, 2x120 black ice pro 2 radiator, and some 120mm fans.

A big thanks to SVC for all this. Thanks Richard

After all the excitement it was time to make some progress. First we had to trim the nuts that were going to hold the radiators to the case. They were a hair too thick.

For some reason, the black ice pro didn't come with the correct sized holes for the fan screws I bought. So I had to go buy a tap and tap the holes to the correct size. Here is after I tapped the holes.

After that little speed bump, my brother and I were ready to get some more progress made. Here is a mock up of how and where I wanted the radiators mounted.

After we marked where I wanted the mounts to go, it was down-hill from there. The welding didn't take long at all.

I am going to wait a day or two before I put the full weight of the radiators on the mounts, hope they hold up

I also got the inside of the fish side caulked with fish-safe silicon.

Also a big thanks to Directron and SuperBiiz

 

[pcguy24]

nice

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #7

So, I left off last having completed mounting the radiators to the rear of the tank. The last big step is to get the lid fitted for the PSU and motherboard tray.

Trip to the local hardware store to pick up a tap, jig-saw blade, and some bolts to mount the lid to the tank.

The top of the tank needed to get sanded down. The divider and a couple other pieces weren't exact size, so their edges were sticking out.

Then we marked out where I wanted the tray to be, in proportion to the lid.

I wanted the lid to mount over the end of the tray, so that's why there is an extra line

We then set up a ghetto fence for the jig-saw. Wanted the line to be straight but the fence failed me

More sanding, woo hoo. :doh:

After I got that cut out, we marked where the PSU plugin and rocker-switch will be. I had to drill a couple holes in the corner of the square to fit the jig-saw blade in.

I couldn't get a picture of the hole being cut out because I was doing the cutting, but here it is after.

Got a very nice shot of the hole being trimmed up by my brother.

And that's all she wrote!

Oh, and if you didn't notice, I got a brand new camera! Canon EOS Rebel XS. Now I can give my mom her point and shoot back :thumbsups

 

[pcguy24]

sweet

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #8

Leek test! Time to perform a leek test, but only on the fish side.

Hope it holds up

 

[mannyman]

Nice, Its going to be awesome when you get it done, Its unique.

 

[bigchieftaco]

Nice, Its going to be awesome when you get it done, Its unique.

Thanks, it means a lot when one's work is noticed
My main goal about this project was to be unique. I've seen a handful of mineral oil pcs already, so I wanted to incorporate fish.

 

[linuxfueled]

looking good. Where did you buy your lexan?

thanks

 

[bigchieftaco]

looking good. Where did you buy your lexan?

thanks

I got it from estreetplastics.com. They cut everything very nice and had awesome prices. Only complaint was how long it took. I had to wait about a month. Even called them twice. I ordered the lid from popdisplays off ebay. That was a LOT better. Very fast and great cuts.

 

[bigchieftaco]

Leek test part 1 = FAIL

I took the silicon off the fish side so I can apply some more weld-on. I hope that will fix it. Could get ugly pretty quick.

I also applied more weld-on to the computer side.

This will set me back a little because after I apply the silicon again, I have to wait 2 days before I put water in.
Guess I better get to work!

 

[bigchieftaco]

Update #9

I left off with the failed leek test, I have gone through and re-glued all the edges. I started the new leek test on Sunday night. It has been leek free for 3 days so far. If nothing shows up by Friday, I will begin the leek test on the mineral oil side.

As far as progress goes, I finally got the PSU mounted to the lid. Oh, and don't mind the nuts being used as washers. I will eventually replace those with grommets or nice looking washers.