Project Oracle



Small problem eh? Looks like the motherboard tray support was off line and is tugging the case. The side panels correct that little issue, so life is grand once again.




One side panel mounted. I haven't cut anything out yet, but this panel is going to remain largely intact as I want to shield the sound of the two pumps as much as possible.




I decided to go with a solid piece of angle instead of tabs like I did with the rest of the cube to provide the top with a little more rigidity. I haven't cleaned these pieces up, so I'll round the edges and do a couple more things next time I'm in the shop.

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Notes

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I've decided to paint the case instead of powdercoat it for a couple reasons. 1. I've decided to go with a multi tone color scheme. I'm thinking black on the outer shell, grey mesh, and something insane for the interior (Red? Yellow? Green?). 2. I wanted to cover up some of the mistakes/ gashes on the metal. According to my powdercoating place you cant really do that with their process.

I need to decide if I want to include the 120mm brackets to move air over the motherboard, as well as throw a couple 92mm fans to the bottom level to add some airflow over the pumps and hard drives. Thoughts? Add the fans or not? What colors should I paint the thing?

I haven't built the fanbus or any of the lighting elements, those may have to wait until after I've gotten the majority of the case done, painted, and assembled.
 
Nice work, my words wold be have Red o the inside as it goes with black and grey, im sure there must be a linign coat you can put on before powder coating to give a better finish.
 
Nice job on making sure the cube is square

As far as fans go... if I was in your position I would have a low rpm fan blowing over the drives. Maybe make another hole on the bottom and duct the air from there. I kind of like the idea of keeping the side panels free of fan holes and just having air sucked in from the bottom... would be quieter too.
Not too sure about the motherboard tho. I mean you have the important parts watercooled but you may still want some kind of air flow.

As far as paint color: I have no clue, I am horrible at picking out colors... Cant wait to see it painted tho :D whatever it is

Keep it up
 
Got the side panels on:




Really a very basic design, a little angle aluminum, some screws, and a couple rivets.





I added the tabs to counteract a little bit of squatting the case has been exhibiting, they basically pull in the front and back panels, squaring the whole thing up. I've also been noticing that things haven't been fitting together as well as they were initially, so I'm probably going to have to remake some brackets to compensate.

Long story short, I decided to tear the case down so I could begin cleaning up pen marks, sanding out some scratches, and getting the whole thing ready to paint.





Things to note: 92mm blowhole in the back panel, 92mm blowhole in the motherboard tray, and mesh covered intake in the right side panel by the hard drive rack and pumps.





So lets review: I tore the entire case down to each seperate piece. The whole thing was all laid out, all nice and pretty. All in all took me about an hour to drill all the rivets and unscrewing all the bolts. I dont know if I've mentioned this, but this is a school project, its required for me to graduate high school. I'm in the closing stages, where I have to get final approval from my "advisory panel" so that I can present my project. One of my panel members contacted me the morning after I had torn down Oracle and asked me to bring it in. Apperantly he didn't read the part about it being torn down. He's a nice guy though, very easy to get along with, so I wont hold it against him.

Basically I had to put the whole thing together again, took me a good hour, maybe a little more. Used a little double sided tape to attach the mesh, and you've got a pretty good representation of the final product, minus the paint and lighting. As one of my best friends said "Damn, that som' bitc' looks like a mean motherf :D ;) :eek: er" He's an odd one, a redneck who's pretty damn good with computers.







 
sanj101 said:
Nice work, my words wold be have Red o the inside as it goes with black and grey, im sure there must be a linign coat you can put on before powder coating to give a better finish.
Click to expand...

Apperantly there's a compound called "Lab-Metal" that acts as a sort of bondo for powdercoating (by the by, bondo does NOT work with powerder coating apperantly).

As for color, I really cant decide. I've been thinking black-grey-yellow (think eye popping canary yellow), or black-grey-red. I've had friends suggest black-grey-white, red, dark blue/ green. The exterior seems to be a lock, with the majority being black, and the mesh being dark grey. Seems to be two schools of thought on the interior, either go with a loud, bright color, and very little lighting, or use a darker, more muted color, and hit it with lots of light.

Geo Fry said:
Nice job on making sure the cube is square

As far as fans go... if I was in your position I would have a low rpm fan blowing over the drives. Maybe make another hole on the bottom and duct the air from there. I kind of like the idea of keeping the side panels free of fan holes and just having air sucked in from the bottom... would be quieter too.
Not too sure about the motherboard tho. I mean you have the important parts watercooled but you may still want some kind of air flow.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to add airflow to the motherboard, just to keep things from overheating. Its probably more peace of mind than anything. I'll probably do some burn in testing to see if they're really needed, so we'll see.

I tried to figure out a way to duct in air from the bottom, but just didn't have the space, so I'll pull air out the back and in from the side. I would've liked to keep the panel hole free, but I think I pulled it off well enough to not interupt the design terribly.

Its always nice to build a cube that's actually, you know, a cube! :p
 
WOW...looks so great!! I think what makes this project so neat (to me anyways) is that it is pretty much built from scratch (minus the tray and other random stuff) and that it's design is so clean and perfect... I absolutely love how much effort your putting in to keeping it all square and even. Keep it up.

Thats some school project :p ... Will look awesome painted. Not sure if this was mentioned already but where did you get your aluminum panels from... not the L peices but the actual sheets?

Keep it up!!

Side thought: shoulda got the optional 92mm mobo tray hole for my lian li tray :rolleyes:
 
Geo Fry said:
WOW...looks so great!! I think what makes this project so neat (to me anyways) is that it is pretty much built from scratch (minus the tray and other random stuff) and that it's design is so clean and perfect... I absolutely love how much effort your putting in to keeping it all square and even. Keep it up.

Thats some school project :p ... Will look awesome painted. Not sure if this was mentioned already but where did you get your aluminum panels from... not the L peices but the actual sheets?

Keep it up!!

Side thought: shoulda got the optional 92mm mobo tray hole for my lian li tray :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

In British Columbia now, we high school students now have to complete this piece of s :eek: t thing called a portfolio, where we have to do a bunch of crap mandated by the criteria, in order to graduate. I took a look at the stupid thing again, and I might be able to do a custom case too... hey endscape, do you live in British Columbia?
 
Geo Fry said:
WOW...looks so great!! I think what makes this project so neat (to me anyways) is that it is pretty much built from scratch (minus the tray and other random stuff) and that it's design is so clean and perfect... I absolutely love how much effort your putting in to keeping it all square and even. Keep it up.
Click to expand...

Part of the original idea was to keep it neat, very quiet and elegant, until you kick it on. By the time I'm done lighting this thing it'll glow like a friggin' christmas tree :eek:

Geo Fry said:
Thats some school project ... Will look awesome painted. Not sure if this was mentioned already but where did you get your aluminum panels from... not the L peices but the actual sheets?
Click to expand...

Carlson Steel in Bellingham did the cutting for me. Really a good group of guys, my dad uses them when he needs something fixed or fabricated that he cant do, they've got talent to spare.

Geo Fry said:
Side thought: shoulda got the optional 92mm mobo tray hole for my lian li tray :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's why somebody invented hole saws ;)

n00btard said:
In British Columbia now, we high school students now have to complete this piece of s :: t thing called a portfolio, where we have to do a bunch of crap mandated by the criteria, in order to graduate. I took a look at the stupid thing again, and I might be able to do a custom case too... hey endscape, do you live in British Columbia?
Click to expand...

We have to do some portfolio thing, supposed to keep all our work and whatnot in it. Haven't really touched mine since I got graded on it freshman year, so lets hope they dont notice that.

I'm just south of you in Bellingham, Washington.


E
 
So painting has been put off for a bit, since I've got a few more things to do before I get there.

Things to do:

- Custom PSU (details later)
- Internal Lighting
- External Lighting (Powerswitch plate & Feet)
- Paint (Colors still undecided)

Work Updates:

Built a power switch plate.









Some pictures of the tank in action. Pictures really dont convey how nice it looks. I took a couple quick videos with my digital camera, so the quality isn't the best. Both videos are around 9 megs and can be found HERE.





 
That is very cool endscape! You should definitely send the pics and videos to Mektu Mods to show them your stuff :)

Although I do have 2 questions... is the air pump the only thing running or do you have the pump running water through the res aswell... also are you worried at all about bubbles getting in your loop?

Agian keep it up man
 
Geo Fry said:
That is very cool endscape! You should definitely send the pics and videos to Mektu Mods to show them your stuff :)

Although I do have 2 questions... is the air pump the only thing running or do you have the pump running water through the res aswell... also are you worried at all about bubbles getting in your loop?

Agian keep it up man
Click to expand...

The tank is a functional res. I thought about the bubble issue, but it really isn't a problem. The outtake to the pump is out the side of the res in parallel to the bubble inlet, and is far enough away that it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Its certainly something I'll keep an eye on though.


E
 
So I've been thinking color schemes, what about a pearl/ white on the outside? I'd rebuild the tank so the black wouldn't stand out, paint the new tank the same color as the case. Probably do the mesh the same color, dont know about the interior.

Thoughts?
 
one thing that's been bothering me for a long time, if the bubbler-thingamabobber is drawing air from the outside (which I'm assuming) and it's ejecting air inside a sealed res, then where the hell is the air going? pressure buildup possibility in res? ?????
 
n00btard said:
one thing that's been bothering me for a long time, if the bubbler-thingamabobber is drawing air from the outside (which I'm assuming) and it's ejecting air inside a sealed res, then where the hell is the air going? pressure buildup possibility in res? ?????
Click to expand...

good question but i think its just drawing air from an outlet at the top of the res... could be wrong tho. I guess i should let E answer that lol
:p
 
n00btard said:
one thing that's been bothering me for a long time, if the bubbler-thingamabobber is drawing air from the outside (which I'm assuming) and it's ejecting air inside a sealed res, then where the hell is the air going? pressure buildup possibility in res? ?????
Click to expand...

The res isn't sealed, it has a hole at the top. The air pump draws air from the back of the case and pumps it up into the res, where it escapes out the hole in the top. I'll snap a couple shots tomorrow.

Make sense?
 
Geo Fry said:
good question but i think its just drawing air from an outlet at the top of the res... could be wrong tho. I guess i should let E answer that lol
:p
Click to expand...

I've been looking for one that will do this, but cant seem to find it. I'd love to keep it a closed loop, so I may have to mod my air pump more than I'm already planning to accept a hose fitting for the intake.

E
 
yes pleaze post a pic of the air pump... a closed loop would be soo much more convenient. Maybe I could help ya brainstorm some ideas :p
 
endscape said:
The res isn't sealed, it has a hole at the top. The air pump draws air from the back of the case and pumps it up into the res, where it escapes out the hole in the top. I'll snap a couple shots tomorrow.

Make sense?
Click to expand...
yeah.
 
Hey folks-

Oracle isn't dead, its just been on a bit of a hiatus. I got shot several times, so I couldn't do much until I got my shoulder rehabbed and whatnot.

I'm currently reworking Oracle, I've had a lot of time to think about the design. I'll be posting an updated mockup tomorrow, but here's a couple ideas to get your juices flowing: 3 x 120mm radiator, BMW gray, pinstriping, and plexi, lots of plexi.

The central design tenants remain the same. I plan on keeping it as quiet as possible, and the overall design is very subdued until you turn it on.


Anywho, thanks for all the feedback!


E
 
endscape said:
Hey folks-

Oracle isn't dead, its just been on a bit of a hiatus. I got shot several times, so I couldn't do much until I got my shoulder rehabbed and whatnot.
Click to expand...
..... What?! :eek:
 
CrimandEvil said:
..... What?! :eek:
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah. Ex girlfriend's (at the time) ex boyfriend was stalking her so I said I'd sleep on her couch and be all protective and whatnot, since that's the type of guy I am. He showed up with a colt .45 and all I had was my Gerber. Needless to say I didn't stand much of a chance, but I kept her safe until the cops got there, so that's all that matters right? Lost some blood, got the love of my life back, I'd say its a fair trade.

Anyway, I'm good now, so Oracle is getting back on track and I've got two other projects in the pipeline. However, I told myself that I cant start them until I finish up Oracle, so that's what this month is for. I'm hoping to finish up the new chassis mods this week, do the lighting next week, and then have two weeks to paint the bugger. Lots of pics, I promise!


E
 
endscape said:
Haha, yeah. Ex girlfriend's (at the time) ex boyfriend was stalking her so I said I'd sleep on her couch and be all protective and whatnot, since that's the type of guy I am. He showed up with a colt .45 and all I had was my Gerber. Needless to say I didn't stand much of a chance, but I kept her safe until the cops got there, so that's all that matters right? Lost some blood, got the love of my life back, I'd say its a fair trade.

Anyway, I'm good now, so Oracle is getting back on track and I've got two other projects in the pipeline. However, I told myself that I cant start them until I finish up Oracle, so that's what this month is for. I'm hoping to finish up the new chassis mods this week, do the lighting next week, and then have two weeks to paint the bugger. Lots of pics, I promise!


E
Click to expand...


Holy crap!!?! Wow well yea I kinda figured you just stopped working on it.... not out getting shot at :eek: That's a messed up story man. I hope that guy's in jail.

Oh yea.... looking forward to the final product :)
 
Geo Fry said:
Holy crap!!?! Wow well yea I kinda figured you just stopped working on it.... not out getting shot at :eek: That's a messed up story man. I hope that guy's in jail.

Oh yea.... looking forward to the final product :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, considering the $500+ and 500+ hours I've put into Oracle, I'm not just going to drop it haha.

He is very much in jail, turns out he was a grade A scumbag who was wanted in several states, so he's not getting out, ever. :D Makes me happy.

Anywho, I think I'll go get a couple new panels tomorrow since I'm going to have to redo the bottom and the back.


Cheers!

E
 
damn, that must've hurt...

good thing the guy didn't aim at your head or chest

edit: By the way, Me, myself and I decided that your PSU mounting solution was awesome, and that me, myself and I are going to make a clone of that PSU mounting solution when I secure enough 2mm-thick aluminum sheets to get my own case started...

assuming I have your permission to copy it.

Plan is to have the mobo mounted in such a way that the I/O is on the top, since I hotplug like crazy =P

also trying to cram the shiz into as small a form factor as possible

2nd edit: what's a Gerber?
 
n00btard said:
damn, that must've hurt...

good thing the guy didn't aim at your head or chest

edit: By the way, Me, myself and I decided that your PSU mounting solution was awesome, and that me, myself and I are going to make a clone of that PSU mounting solution when I secure enough 2mm-thick aluminum sheets to get my own case started...

assuming I have your permission to copy it.

Plan is to have the mobo mounted in such a way that the I/O is on the top, since I hotplug like crazy =P

also trying to cram the shiz into as small a form factor as possible

2nd edit: what's a Gerber?
Click to expand...

If my solution works for you then go for it!

Gerber is a knife brand, I carried a 4 inch folder for a long time.


E
 



Okay folks, this is just a real rough sketch of what I'm thinking. The water pump is positioned in between the tank and the rad, and the hard drive rack will be next to the air pump and behind the tank. I'm not going to be using velcro this time to hold the tank in, so I've added an extra piece that will allow me to use bolts to hold the tank in place. The fans are inside the shroud. The final build will probably involve the fans between the mount and the rad, but I haven't decided on whether I want to do a push or a pull configuration. The PSU's intake is from the bottom of the case, I forgot to label it.

I'm also planning on adding lots of plexi accents, I'll post more details about that later.

Thoughts?

EDIT: One more thing, I'm switching from the AC loop to a Dangerden based high flow setup.
 
you got shot a couple times with a 45 and your arm is still attached? jeez that sucks man. Nice work on the cube.
 
damn man, i cant believe you got shot. Why didnt you/her get a restraining order on him. Not that it would have stopped him but it would have gotten him one more crime on his setance.

seriously I am glade you are alive. Nice though taking it for your girlfriend. I am sure it earned you some serious points :)

hope you get better soon.

oh and the cube looks great.


also with the bubbler, if you had the intake at the top of the res, only fill it 3/4 full, and have the out on the bottom. turn it on with the loop open and then close it, it should have the right amount of air to not suck in water and also not preasurize the res.

just a thought
 









So more sketchup fun! Yeah! You would not believe how long it took to make that stuipd air pump, and the 50Z wasn't fun either.

Anyway, the only things that this sketch is missing are feet, the PSU mount, and the absurd amounts of mesh that will be involved here. There are also some plexi pieces that I haven't drawn up yet, so its not entirely complete. However, 90% of the structure is there.

I've got more explanations and comments, but I'm tired so they'll have to wait for later.
 
you sir, are a Sketchup god. I'd be lucky if I even managed to successfully made a cube in that ^%@& software :mad:
 
n00btard said:
you sir, are a Sketchup god. I'd be lucky if I even managed to successfully made a cube in that ^%@& software :mad:
Click to expand...

I agree!! But why are you spending so much time on the sketchup drawing? :confused: ...just good documentation or planning? I'm slightly confused
 
Geo Fry said:
I agree!! But why are you spending so much time on the sketchup drawing? :confused: ...just good documentation or planning? I'm slightly confused
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Because good planning leads to a good finished product? And the fact that I wont be able to pick up the metal until Thursday, so there's isn't much I can do until then.

Also I'm really not happy the way Oracle was fitting together, I found a lot of issues with the way I designed it originally, so I'm taking this oppurtunity to change it.


E
 
Nice mod and equally nice Sketchup model!

IMO Sketchup helps you and others visualise your ideas. That way you don't go through lots of material and mistakes, especially for 'from scratch' builds. If I were doing a mod to a standard prebuilt case I probably wouldn't bother and just get in to it, unless a model for that case existed of course!

Good luck in the rest of the build, with the planning done you won't need it!
 
Mysterae said:
Nice mod and equally nice Sketchup model!

IMO Sketchup helps you and others visualise your ideas. That way you don't go through lots of material and mistakes, especially for 'from scratch' builds. If I were doing a mod to a standard prebuilt case I probably wouldn't bother and just get in to it, unless a model for that case existed of course!

Good luck in the rest of the build, with the planning done you won't need it!
Click to expand...

That's certainly the idea. The last revison of Oracle was pretty poorly planned, so most of it was just eyeballed, hence the bad build. I'm trying to fix that with this new model. Everything that is pictured in the sketchs is buildable, I'm actually working on adding each rivet and bolt at the moment.


E

EDIT: And if anyone wants the sketchup file for the case I'd be happy to upload it.
 
I know I know, more sketchup and no real work. I'm sorry, really I am!

Anyway, on with the updated sketches:








Notice the placement of the PSU, the inclusion of fans on the radiator, the orientation of the hard drive rack, the PSU mount, the feet, and the change in the air pump placement.

The element I'm still wrestling with is how to get some airflow over the hard drive rack. I've got a couple ideas, but I have no idea how I'm going to shoe horn it in.

Any thoughts?
 










Worked on the hard drive airflow situation, think I got it figured out. I use Coolermaster 120mm white LED fans, they're absurdly quiet and move enough air to be effective in this situation.

There are only two things that I dont like about this design. The first is I have to remove the motherboard try to remove the harddrive rack, and the second is going to be my need for rather long SATA cables unless the ports are really close to the edge of the motherboard. Its also a pretty tight fit, so I'll have to be absurdly accurate to make it all fit right.

Thoughts?
 
I love this design endscape!! I love the fact that all the hot air gets exhausted out the back (I especially like the radiator exhaust idea). Recently I've become obsessed with the idea of properly and efficiently getting rid of all the hot air PCs now-a-days make. It's interesting to see that you went from the top of the case as the primary way to exhaust the heat, to finding a way to get it out the back... I like :)!

As far as not being able to get to the hard drives without moving the mobo tray... I don't think it's that big of deal, since it is after all a removable motherboard tray ;). Innovative design my friend... now get to the part where you make it! :D
 
really great idea with the air flow.. on a note about the hdd's why not have the rack oriented so that it slides towards the psu, and the drives go in with the power/data connections at the top? this way you can still have the air flow crossing the drives in a somewhat correct way.. only thing that might be an issue is space

but that could be solved by modifying the psu airflow situation, and leaving the psu where it sits.. just have to slide it out toget the hdd rack out (maybe depending on how you could adjust things for room)

also a note on the motherboard cooling. are you cooling the north/south bridges with water? if so, u could cover the motherboard with a modified sheet of lexan/acrilic and pass air between that shit and the motherboard to the edge to give everything some form of cooling while maintaining the quiet'ness of the system
 








And the hard drive airflow situation is solved! Air is pulled through the radiator and out the back, and takes a little detour through the PSU's intake, with the PSU also exhausting out the back. Make any sense?

The Rad/ PSU shroud is going to be a bitch to make, but I think I can manage.

Metal is presently in the shop, half way through being cut, so I should have an actual picture update sometime this evening.
 
endscape said:
And the hard drive airflow situation is solved! Air is pulled through the radiator and out the back, and takes a little detour through the PSU's intake, with the PSU also exhausting out the back. Make any sense?

The Rad/ PSU shroud is going to be a bitch to make, but I think I can manage.
Click to expand...

I love that idea... nice one
 
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