Project: Rogue (NZXT SFF)

From here on out, it's my goal to have an update almost every day. I'm under a deadline I'm probably not going to meet, but I need to have a running rig in less than two weeks just the same! The pressure!

Work continued last night on the hard drive tray assembly. Here you can see the tray sitting in it's approximate position. I need to get some holes cut in it for ventilation and hose routing, and that will be finished tonight.

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So, that's all well and good you say... but how am I going to mount the hard drives? Well, I'm actually going to modify the Rogue's original mounts. Here I've got one taped out, and ready to cut.

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After the cuts and filing...

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Here is where the drives will sit in the tray.

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I've started to mark out some holes for ventilation, and that's where I'll pick up tonight...

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More to come!
 
I've got a small update here. Family obligations kept me from getting any more done, but I'll settle for any forward progress at all. Work is still continuing on the hard drive tray, and that's where I'm picking up tonight.

In the last update I had some ventilation holes marked out. Here I've got the holes cut, and filed.

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I'm not done with the holes yet... I've marked out where the water tubing will need to access the CPU block.

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Once again, all cut!

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Now finally, here is the tray sitting in the case. Everything seems to line up well. Now I need to get the tray mounting figured out, as well as finding a home for the Via system.

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Now I'm off to bed... work will continue tomorrow!
 
Wow this is amazing work craig! I was wondering how you were gonna put the hard drives, but dam thats hella sick! Great work man!
 
I am astonished, this is turning into more work than I expected to see.


Keep it up Craig!

I can't wait to see this thing finished.

-Net
 
sorry if you already mentioned it, but where did you get the brushed aluminum
 
I've been a slacker tonight, I'll admit it. I haven't done any modding. My CPU came in, and so I decided to fire up the system. It's a very crude setup right now, as you'll see. It's not in the case yet, but I wanted to get Windows installed on it, and all my programs in place. I'm still under a deadline here, and anything I can get done before hand, is going to save me trouble in the end. If I know the system is running when I drop it in the case, then that's going to save me a whole lot of time. Also, if there's problems, I have a little time to figure them out.

So, here are a few pics. I'll apologize in advance for the poor quality.

4 GB of Mushkin sweetness!

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My high dollar testbed (my counter) :D

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Now, of course it would have been a little hard to run the TEC without the case, and since I didn't have a socket 775 CPU cooler, I had to improvise. Here you'll see an old OEM socket 939 cooler. Being the modder that I am, I attached it with zip ties. Believe it or not, it's keeping the CPU right around 29 degrees (at idle)...

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ric0chet06 said:
You should definetly put some of that u-channel rubber stuff from mnpctech.com around those holes where the cpu block tubes come out to protect them from scraping and potential cutting and leaks. Have you ever seen these?:http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/pciexpressx16rightanglerisercardbsideconnectorheight185-p-742.html

Could help with clearance and potentially stuffing more stuff in that case. Was considering them for a briefcase build that I probably will never do.
Click to expand...

I do have some U-channel molding sitting in a box that I ordered a few weeks ago. I'll definitely be using it. An ounce of prevention...

I've got a flexible PCIe extender that I was using on LOSIAS. It worked very well, but I shouldn't need it in this case. All motherboard slots are accessible, with the exception of the bottom one, and I'm okay with that. I'd prefer to keep that slot open to allow airflow through the radiator.
 
I've got so many little things to work on, so it's always a challenge to prioritize what I'm going to work on next. However, I've been working on the hard drive tray, and that's where I decided to picked up last night. Earlier you saw the modified original hard drive mounts. Those mounts will hold 4 drives, but I needed room for one more. I think I do a decent job of using my limited space wisely, but some things just take up a certain amount of space no matter what. A hard drive is a good example of that. There were a lot of places that a fifth hard drive simply wouldn't fit. I did manage to find a spot though.

Here you see where I've got room to mount a drive. Clearance is less than 1 cm on the top and bottom. That's still plenty of room!

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Well, now that I've got the placement figured out, I need to mount it somehow. Time to pull out the jigsaw and Dremel!

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Two quick bends in the brake...

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Here you can see where the bracket will sit.

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Although I've got to drill holes in the bracket yet, you can see approximately how the drive will be mounted.

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One thing I need to take care of, is to cut the hard drive tray for length. Here I've got it marked out and ready for cutting.

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I couldn't ask for a better fit.

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Now I need to figure out a way to hold the rear of the tray in place. It's time to make a small bracket!

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I need to cut the bolts for length, but it otherwise fits well.

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One thing I began to realize as I built the hard drive tray, is the fact that 5 hard drives weigh a lot! Although the 2mm aluminum is pretty rigid, I decided to take a precautionary measure. I'm going to add an angled support for added strength.

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With one bend done, here's where we run in to a potential problem. There simply isn't anyway to fit the support in the brake. The part that is already bent, makes that impossible.

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So, what do you do? You improvise! Here I've clamped the support between a square and aluminum bar.

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Then with a steady, even pressure, you simply bend by hand.

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With the piece bent, I wanted to make one more addition. Airflow is key in this case, and the support bracket will sit awfully close the the circu-pipe on the MSI motherboard. So, I decided to add a few holes to the support. These shouldn't affect strength in any way, but still allow a little more flow where it's needed.

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Now finally, you can see the mount and support bolted to the hard drive tray.

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And once again, sitting in the case...

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One last minor thing while I'm at it... Due to the way the PCI slots sit in the case, the power supply mount doesn't allow screws to be used very easily. This was an easy fix though. Just mark and drill!

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Work will continue tonight. Until then!
 
i have a question and this may seem silly... but what is the benefit of taping then cutting through the tape? is it purely for marking purposes?
 
It lets you mark where you want to cut and helps you avoid scratching what you are cutting.
 
soulliea said:
i have a question and this may seem silly... but what is the benefit of taping then cutting through the tape? is it purely for marking purposes?
Click to expand...

rogue_jedi said:
It lets you mark where you want to cut and helps you avoid scratching what you are cutting.
Click to expand...

Exactly! It's a whole lot easier to follow a line on tape, than it is on dark aluminum. It also has the benefit of preventing scratches while cutting. R_J nailed it. :D
 
It's difficult to tell in the pictures but it looks like the black covering of the tray broke when you bent it? Are you planning on repainting the tray?
 
Shadowspawn said:
It's difficult to tell in the pictures but it looks like the black covering of the tray broke when you bent it? Are you planning on repainting the tray?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you could say that it 'broke'. It's one of the side effects of bending aluminum that has any type of finish on it. The outer edge stretches, and thins out the finish. There is no way to prevent it, and the effect is worse on thicker metals. I'm going to try and blend a little paint in there to hide it. If I can't, then I'll just paint the whole tray. Of course it won't be brushed any longer at that point...
 
I thought I'd make a comment or two regarding the software side of things. Although the case is still under construction, I've had the Epia system running for about 2 weeks, and the Rogue hardware has been running since Thursday night. The Epia is running XP, while the Rogue has a fresh copy of Vista 64. I've got to say, even though I ran Vista 32 on my previous system without issues, Vista 64 is even better. I understand some people have issues with it, but it's been beyond flawless for me. That being said, one of the most important features of the PC in a PC design hinged upon the ability to use the program Synergy. I spoke of it earlier, but basically, it is designed to control 2 PC's with a single keyboard and mouse. It's really no different than using a multi-monitor setup. You drag your mouse off the edge of the screen, and it appears on the second PC's screen. You then retain control until you move it back. Well, last night I finally got around to installing it. Let me say this... Wow. It works perfectly, and beautifully. I would never have known I'm switching to a completely different PC. My concerns about using a 2 year old program on Vista 64 were completely unwarranted. Sweetness!
 
Are the finishes of the 1mm pieces ripping as well? I might need to adjust the design on my own case.
 
craigbru said:
I thought I'd make a comment or two regarding the software side of things. Although the case is still under construction, I've had the Epia system running for about 2 weeks, and the Rogue hardware has been running since Thursday night. The Epia is running XP, while the Rogue has a fresh copy of Vista 64. I've got to say, even though I ran Vista 32 on my previous system without issues, Vista 64 is even better. I understand some people have issues with it, but it's been beyond flawless for me. That being said, one of the most important features of the PC in a PC design hinged upon the ability to use the program Synergy. I spoke of it earlier, but basically, it is designed to control 2 PC's with a single keyboard and mouse. It's really no different than using a multi-monitor setup. You drag your mouse off the edge of the screen, and it appears on the second PC's screen. You then retain control until you move it back. Well, last night I finally got around to installing it. Let me say this... Wow. It works perfectly, and beautifully. I would never have known I'm switching to a completely different PC. My concerns about using a 2 year old program on Vista 64 were completely unwarranted. Sweetness!
Click to expand...

whow... i didnt realize thats what was going on... im gonna have to do some research or something on this... sounds really cool...
 
soulliea said:
whow... i didnt realize thats what was going on... im gonna have to do some research or something on this... sounds really cool...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Stardock also has Multiplicity, which does the same thing. However, Synergy is free, and also is supposed to work with Linux.
 
Dude nice job so far! been following the thread mostly :)

And props for gettin on bit-techs mod of the month poll :D
 
Well, I've got another update here. Unfortunately, it's not very exciting this time. That's okay though, I've got a bunch of small details to wrap up, and they've got to be done sooner or later. Last night just happened to be sooner. :)

The first thing that had to be done, was to mark and drill the holes for mounting the Meanwell power supply.

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Two quick holes later, and one job is done...

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Next up, I'll take these little pieces of metal...

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And turn them in to this. What I've got here, is simply a metal tab that will slide under a lip on the front of the case. It is attached to the channel for the fan wiring. This piece will be responsible for holding the front of the fan assembly in place.

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Now, I've got to make a home for this. It's part of a wireless antenna assembly. Both the Rogue, and the Epia will be wireless capable.

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There will be an antenna on each side of the case. Here the holes are marked and ready for drilling.

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Next job... Here I've cut a small piece of metal to fill up part of this hole. Once it was cut to size, it was JB Welded in to place.

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Last up for the night... Since the case will have two power supplies, I need to find a home for the Meanwell power connection... Um, where am I going to put this?

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Well, there really weren't many options, but I found a home just the same. The bottom two slots on the motherboard are inaccessible because of the radiator placement, so I decided to make a modification to the I/O panel. I'll make a panel to fill the hole, and the connection will be placed in it. That's something I'll have to finish tonight.

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With a few things that I finished up tonight, it means I'm only a day away from painting a few things. The main part of the case will be ready for paint, as well as the top panel and fan assembly. I can't wait to get the hardware dropped in there!
 
cesium666 said:
Dude nice job so far! been following the thread mostly :)

And props for gettin on bit-techs mod of the month poll :D
Click to expand...

Thanks man!

Yeah, I'm really happy about the nomination. Win or lose, Da Dego (Brett) contacted me and wants to do a front page log on the Rogue. I'm pretty excited about that! :D
 
I've got a non-update update for you all. Not much that's really picture worthy yet... but it will be. Tonight I prepped and painted the main part of the case. It's actually baking in an oven right now. So, expect to see a few pics of that tomorrow. Also, I got a shipment notification email... my fan grills shipped today! I'm guessing I should have them the first part of next week. Man, I can't wait!
 
WOW!! :eek::eek:

Amazing work. Your idea of lighting up your radiators like that actually makes me want to light up the front of my case like that (Centurion 541). I thank you for that to. :cool:
 
Well, tonight I finished painting the main part of the case. As I mentioned earlier, the flat black I originally painted the case, was a little too flat. However, I am keeping that color on the inside of the case. That means I had to mask off the interior before I could repaint the exterior. In my eagerness, I didn't get many pics of that process, but maybe it wasn't that exciting anyway. However, I do have a pic of the case primed...

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Now I'll jump right to a few pics of the case already painted. For the exterior, I picked up a black metal flake paint. As I took these pics, I realized how hard it is to photograph a metallic paint. The camera simply can't do it justice. I'm hoping that the effect is more visible on the sides and the front, where there happens to be more surface area.

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The case will be ready for hardware this weekend. In the meantime, I've got some more painting to do!
 
So, let's get on with a little more painting. I've got the top piece of the case all prepped and ready for paint. I used 4" bolts to allow me to paint both sides easily.

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I painted both sides flat black, then once the paint was dry, I masked off the bottom.

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Here is the piece after painting and baking... Ooh, shiny...

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Now I've got a few miscellaneous things to take care of. Feet, this thing needs feet... I just happen to have 4 of them about to find a home on the case.

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I wanted to get the front panel mounted. In order to do that, I need to mount a few components first. I'll start with the Matrix Orbital display.

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Next up is the fan controller...

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I thought I'd test fit the front panel before I went any further... It fits!

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Now, let's get those gauges in place...

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More coming soon!
 
craigbru said:
As I took these pics, I realized how hard it is to photograph a metallic paint. The camera simply can't do it justice. I'm hoping that the effect is more visible on the sides and the front, where there happens to be more surface area.
Click to expand...

Sunlight is how to do it...I struggled for a long time trying to figure it out (LOL, your picts are 1000X better than mine)

Very nice so far.
 
i don't often go into the case modding forum but this thread is absolutely amazing. really inspiring stuff...makes me want to learn more. definitely going to subscribe to this thread and find op's other threads.
 
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