Project: UFO

[Mr.Monkey]

Hello guys and gals.

I'm sure a lot of you, like myself, love the UFO cases, but just have not gotten around to buying one, or its too expensive. I found myself with this predicament as well. So I decided to build one !

I made my first case over the summer, shown here:

While its not great, it opened me up to the world of modding.

I'm planning on replacing my current loop, minus my gpu block. Here's a list of the hardware I'm going to pick up.

1x Aluminum Sheet 18 x 18x 0.125
14x Aluminum L-profiles 18 x 18 x 0.125
1x Lian Li Replacement Removable Motherboard Tray
1x A.C. Ryan Constructx™ BayColumn510 UV Green
4x A.C. Ryan AcrylPanel™ 3mm Black
2x Startech 2.54mm Standard Jumper Caps
1x Digital Thermometer with Blue LED Back Light
1x Lian Li Dual PSU Bracket
4x Startech 2mm SCSI Drive Jumper Caps

Water Cooling - Petra'sTech
1x Gell Stuff
1x PT Nuke
10x Masterkleer 7/16
1x Pentosin
1x Swiftech MCR-320
1x D-Tek Fusion
4x Ek Barbs
1x Computer Screw Kit

I have not ordered the wc stuff yet, paypal transfer will clear the 15th, so I'll order that night. So if you have any suggestions, they're more than welcome.

I started construction today, so here are some pics so far.

.125=3.175mm- thick

Same with the alu sheet

looks good!

Temporary screws to hold everything in place before I get shorter ones. Wing nuts don't hold everything together tight enough, so I'll those will just some regular nuts. The new bolts will also be countersunk, with the nuts on the inside, for a more cosmetically pleasing look.

Here's some accessory pics:

Here's just a basic overview of what the inside will look like, minus the outside plexi, radiator, fan grills, psu... etc. Just an idea.

Here's an idea of what the black plexi will look like:

I can't seem to find a place for the pump, but I was thinking something like this.

I would move it over to the right side far enough to give to tubing some slack not to kink as well. I just thinking about putting it on the back wall because that should dampen most vibrations, 3.175mm thick alu + ptech gel stuff.

Any suggestions?

Hooked up the mobo tray. Over the weekend Ill get out the dremel and chop me a psu hole.

Most likely where the psu bracket will go.

And look, room for a fan!

Well, I decided to post a few pictures before I go off to work for the day. Enjoy!

So tiny!

Inside courtesy of petrastechshop.com

15ft.

And an idea of what the cd drive holder looks like.

Negative.

Update: I hit a few bumps. The dremel discs I had were the skinny fiber ones, that broke off in a few minutes. It took 7 to do a line a few inches long.
So it took me some time to get to home depot, but I finally got there today and got some work done. I picked up these cutting discs for metal, and they things work great, I haven't even used half of one up yet.
Thing is, I forgot the attachment for them, so I've been using the attachment for regular cutting discs, so there must not be enough leverage, because my dremel starts smoking after a while.. Back to home depot I guess..

My rad finally came from performance-pcs today, swiftech mcr-320, and it's damn sexy. It is in every way possible better than the BIPIII.

Here are some pics:

Me trying to use the little fiber discs.

New discs

Not done yet, as you can see, but you get the idea of what I'm doing.

 

[Black-Tom]

What are the specs of the system going to be?

Looks good as far as I can tell!

 

[CrazyBeaner]

koo

/subscribed

 

[NukeULater]

What PSU bracket is that? BTW the mod looks great.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Thanks for the support.

The psu bracket is a replacement lian-li bracket that can be found on performance-pcs.com for around 14.95

I do not have them in my sig, but the sys specs are as follows:

C2D 6600 @ 3.6
Intel BadAxe2
1g OCZ Plat
Sapphire x1950pro
SB Xfi-Fatal1ty

Watercooling:

Dtek Fuzion
Swiftech MCR-320
Laing D5
Maze 4 Acetal
Masterkleer 7/16

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Update: I finished dremeling out the psu bracket, it came out pretty good, and more than adequately holds up two psu's.

Now I need to cut the plexi, mount the cd drive holder, and transfer all my parts over.

I'll post pics tomorrow, as my camera is out of batteries.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Man its been a while since I've posted. Sorry for the delay guys.

Unfortunately my dremel broke last night, so ill replace that within the next few days, I just won't be able to finish cutting out the stencil for my mobo tray, or the acrylic.. Things seem to break when I need them most... story of my life.

Anyway, here are some pics of the progress.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Once again its been a while since I've posted... baseball is now capitalizing my time, leaving me little, if any, time to myself.

I did get some work done yesterday !! This dremel was like a job and a half though... took me forever.

Got some more stuff done today!

Cut the front plexi sheet to the appropriate size, made a template for my rad out of paper... which suprisingly worked... and drilled the holes for my rad, which will hold 6 fans.

Sidenote: that cardboard looking sheet you see my fan grills screwed to is the semi-transparent black plexi. It just has a think covering over it that can be used to draw on, etc to prep for cutting.

My case is starting to take shape !

 

[markkleb]

Nice looking mod. Look into getting pop-rivets to build the frame with instead of screws. (they are a lot easier to work with)

 

[piako]

Looks like you got a ez-lock for your metal cutters. Nice 5.25 glow on that green.

 

[Ockie]

Personally I would redo those holes for the PSU, it doesn't look very good.

Here is a suggestion. Cut out a large portion of that area, use the PSU bracket to mount & cover that opening, then mount the PSU's to that plate... then you'd have a clean finish.

 

[Draax]

Is that solidworks? FTW

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Yes that is solidworks, =) . Great program.

As for the psu holes, they look decent to me, and they work properly, so I'm just going to leave them. It's not like I'm entering this case for any beauty pageant. But I'm going to look into it for next time, thanks for the heads up.

 

[dotHectate]

I don't know if you're cutting an unusual thickness of metal, but the regular "reinforced" cutting disks have always worked for me. As someone noted, you bought the "e-z lock" ones, but the regular ones go into the standard bit piece.
And I have the B&D "Dremel" too (I guess you still do too, lol), so I'm pretty sure they should work for you too.

Nice idea too, btw.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

I tried the reinforced ones, but they broke too easily. These metal ones are god-like, I've only used up one for both those holes.

It's .125in thick aluminum, so its pretty heavy duty stuff.

 

[omegatotal]

dremel's dont like to have their vents covered, when you hold them with 2 hands, you have to be careful not to cover the vents or it will die quickly.. also the paper thin disks are not ment to cut anything more than smaller screws or to put slots into screws/bolts to help get them out.. the fiber reinforced ones that are larger than a quarter and have a crosshatch pattern on them are made for cutting most metals... but i wouldn't ever cut plastic with them!

the biggest thing is not to rush the cutting process, to cut the correct direction with a minimal ammount of force ... and they can last quite a while!

theres some articles around the inet with some indepth instruction, i dont remember where they are tho :/

 

[dotHectate]

I think it's at Bit-tech.
I remember reading it after browsing the case modding FAQ here. There's a link inside. Lots of neat stuff about engraving too, IIRC. I've got some scrap metal saved up to practice that... I just need a few engraving bits.
I'd like to try the wood routing too... That'd be fun.

edit: Yes, the "crosshatched"/grid (makes me think of ripstop fabric) disks were what I was referring to. I've never had a problem. It's all about your level of patience and a steady hand.


^ My first cut.

 

[Logan321]

Honestly, dremels are fun for the first few hours, but then they get really tedious. I still use one for starting cuts, but that's about it... my advice is get a jigsaw. You'll literally save hours of work, and you can get straighter lines with less chance of "skip and burn" where the dremel blade hops out of the hole and dances across your work.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

I hope you use C lining for those holes you cut....

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Well, found some time last night to get some stuff done.

P.S. I did the fan holes by hand using a dremel. It wasn't as hard as I expected, but would I do it again? H**L NO! Takes forever!

Anyway, enjoy the pics.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Leak testing now

My temp setup:

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Added a nice blue hue from some pentosin.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Got more done today! I'm on a roll!

Before I show the pics, I just want to say that this gel stuff from petras tech works amazingly well, my pump vibrates no more, and its a D5!

Installed the fillport

Another shot

Here are the holes I cut by hand with my dremel

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Stayed up all night.. finished transferring all the components into my case, besides cable management and adding come cathodes, putting some flooring, and cleaning up the cd drive cut-out, the inside is done!

And it booted up!

Initial test show temps dropped 10c @ idle to idle at 18-19c, load temp dropped 15-23c to load at 37c!

P.S. The temp readout on the front of the case is reading inside case temp.

Will post more pics tonight, for now, I need sleep!

 

[cipher_nemo]

Very nice temps, and I love seeing custom made cases that resemble the UFO design. Good job so far!

As another has mentioned, I'd spend time on that PSU hole to give more cooling room for your PSU fan. Did you stop cutting it all the way because your Dremel (or RTX?) died, or for another reason? It doesn't look complete back there. It would also be sweet to cut out that PSU's housing-grill for the PSU fan and put a regular fan grill on it. The obstruction looks like it will add noise via turbulence and reduce cooling.

Are you going to make 5 of its sides all acrylic-paneled? That will look sweet. Again, nice job on the temps.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

*Yes, all five are acrylic.

Placed my paypal withdraw request today, should have the money in my account for my wheels on monday, will have them by thursday if all goes well.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

At last, I can finally say good-bye to the worst block I have ever bought, the Swiftech Storm v2.

The block leaked on me, almost ruining my entire computer... and as I throw it in the garbage I hope I can finally... let go.

 

[Skott]

Is that calcium buildup around those hoses? Good lord! Thats terrible.

 

[Black-Tom]

That block looks seriously f-ed up... lol good riddance.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

That's actually the sealant I used to plug the block up.