Silen Flux

[Egami]

Hello everybody and thanks for checking out my very first project log!

Despite having been described as looking like the 70’s idea of today’s pc, I just couldn’t help falling in love with the NZXT’s Phantom the moment I saw it, err, two years ago. Call me a slow lover but I finally went and bought the case the start of this month. That also marked the end of look but don’t touch policy :blushsmil

The ever evolving plans and renders scribbled unintelligibly on random bits of paper, the colour scheme of the planned eye candy will be white, white and more white, laced with black, red and chrome. I’m also planning on reproducing some of the Phantom’s edgy designs on the cover plates in order to make the build more interesting and keep it from turning into a miniature hospital operating theatre (though I do find myself somehow strangely fascinated by the Umbrella corp-like you’re-all-going-to-die-down-here laboratory freakiness...)

The Intro updated & expanded

There have been some questions so I figured that there should be some answers.

The name Flux got chosen for two reasons; firstly because my plans kept changing no matter how many times I tried to set them in stone, and secondly because I wanted to create a case that was a keeper in the world of nearly yearly changing hardware. I did tell you drooled after the Phantom for two years before actually buying it, right?
Well, mobos and colour schemes come and go - what many modded cases don’t do, is change (easily) with the hardware. I therefore wanted Flux to be something that you could to toss in a new mobo, change the sleeving a bit and flush the loop with a different coolant - and be as fresh as ever. Or should I say, that’s what I want Flux to be. For now I think I’ll just worry about the journey there.

So what will happen then?

The plan is to produce cover plates for the psu, radiator and the motherboard tray, but with a twist: Behind the white cover plates I’m planning on crafting separate acrylic, led lighted “light stripes” that will echo the Phantom and the motherboard’s design. Furthermore the light stripes will not be limited to white but will have a selection of colours to choose from, adding to the case’s versatility of theming. All three (psu/rad/mobo) plates will have independently controllable lights, so that should one wish, one stripe could be set red, another white and the third missing entirely. The idea behind this is the ever playful “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t”.

In the mean while ambient lighting will be provided by two white led lit fans. Assuming I find ones that fit. (Finding a pair should be interesting in a world of non-standard 200mm fan designs)

The radiator will be mounted on the front using a specifically crafted mounting plate. I’m still working on dealing with the warm exhaust air dumping issues that this will be resulting in.

Tubing? Mandatory, they say. We’ll be using acrylic routed sneakily through the lighting stripes on the cover plates.

The cables will also get played with but I’m not only meaning sleeving them silly colours now. I actually want to do something a little different with their routing. The anal army two rowed 24 / 8 / 3+4 are nice but... boring. The lighting stripes will feature heavily here as well.

Externally only little will change: The power indicator and fan control leds will be changed, most likely to white (or possibly red). Also the mesh covered areas, mainly the top and bottom front will see some black added to the case structure to stop the now white parts from glowing like beacons through the mesh. I’m also thinking about adding some semi-hidden surprises to these areas but we’ll keep the details a secret for now.
The side panels will see some tidying up but that’s all.

So nothing more megalomaniac than that. The hardware will be what I have running now, while the tools will be limited to my hands, the old trusty dremel, an ancient power drill, some files and an iron saw that’s probably twice my age.
Ok, the sandpaper can come too.

Hardware

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Gene
CPU: Intel 2500K
GPU: ASUS GTX 570 DirectCU II
RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz

Cooling

CPU: _
GPU: EK-FC580 DCII - Acetal+EN (Nickel)
Pump: Swiftech MCP35X
Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 360
Reservoir: Alphacool HF 38 Cape Cyclone 150 v.2

As a fledgling modder still finding my way around the tools and materials, any and all comments, questions and thoughts are warmly welcomed. Hope you’ll enjoy the ride!

 

[Egami]

As I’m going to be using a single 360 rad instead of two 240s, the first thing I had to do was to modify the case into accepting one. Most people seem to have opted for the top fan slots placement but I didn’t like the way this compromised the radiator’s fan setup and affected the aesthetics so I decided to go for an alternative solution by opening up the space originally occupied by the HDD slots and 5.25" drive bays and making a support plate for the radiator.

And here it is; the gorgeous Phantom pulled apart and everything refusing to pay rent tossed out.

Time for some quick 3D renders good old 60’s style!

The third fan exists but it wasn’t needed for the measurements exercise and hence got left in the box.

The truth is that I can’t use 3D rendering programs to save my life.
...also the cardboard models are turning out perfect for weeding out initial design bads.

Time to cross the point of no return.

Front fan brackets gone.

Filing time. None of that will actually show from underneath the radiator support plate but that’s no excuse for shoddy work.

Rad support plate first cuts.

Not for eating.

Far from laser cut go(o)dness but the plate won’t be visible once the build is complete.

The filing queue grows.

53cm is a long way for a small dremel disk to go. Didn’t even notice how small the poor thing had shrunk until taking it off (and breaking it)

Note for the next update: Invest in a larger file!

Thanks for watching! Any comments, questions and thoughts are warmly welcomed!

 

[Bad Fenny]

Interested in seeing which direction you go . . . subbed.

Know what you mean about the small file, had to go out and get larger ones for my build.

Cheers

Fen

 

[Stevennoland]

I use autocad for all my planning and design. But sometimes, good old fashioned cardboard works in a pinch. Good luck with the build!

 

[Egami]

Interested in seeing which direction you go . . . subbed.

Know what you mean about the small file, had to go out and get larger ones for my build.

Cheers

Fen

Thanks Fenny! Direction is deeper. Everything from the fan controller leds is going to change so the journey might well be a long one.

I use autocad for all my planning and design. But sometimes, good old fashioned cardboard works in a pinch. Good luck with the build!

Thanks Stevennoland I did try and learn SketchUp but it was just a nightmare. In the end I figured that in the time I’d used to fight with the program I could have easily measured and cut the cardboard model three times over so... yeah. I’m fascinated by autocad though and should I ever become able to afford the services of a friendly cnc or a laser god I’ll be sure to learn the program.
That said, the reason why I’m obstinately refusing to order everything perfectly cut and polished from an unknown commercial third party is because I want to feel like I’m doing the modding rather than just gluing together a readymade aluminium puzzle – if that makes any sense.


A little update.

I had a go at sleeving today as it seemed like an easy enough thing to try. Armed with Kamaster and Vestito's guides and the Sunbeam pin removal tools, success seemed inevitable. Except that the pins would not come off. They just would not, no matter what I did. The quick 15 minutes had turned into three hours and all I had to show were deep cuts on both my thumb and index finger as even the eight pin connector seemed to have turned on me. It was only when I was just about ready to scream like a girl and give up that one of the pins popped out!
I’ve never felt that victorious.

Victory!

Now just need to start getting friendly with the hopefully less aggressive white acrylic I have waiting in the corner.

Thanks for watching!

 

[CMadki4]

Great work so far!

A lot of people complain about the short life span of the reinforced dremel cutoff wheels or how long it takes the dremel to make such long cuts. Truth it, it's not the ideal tool for such a job. It's meant for small/shorter cuts. It's hard work to cut through steel over those lengths. And aluminum can be too gummy for a lot of cutter wheels at those high speeds.

I swear by my angle grinder. Get you a cheap one and have a wire wheel, cutoff wheels and sanding/grinding disks handy. That'll do 80% of your cutting on most case mods. Then fine tune it with a file or dremel if need be. I've hacked up a lot of cases. I know

 

[Egami]

Great work so far!

A lot of people complain about the short life span of the reinforced dremel cutoff wheels or how long it takes the dremel to make such long cuts. Truth it, it's not the ideal tool for such a job. It's meant for small/shorter cuts. It's hard work to cut through steel over those lengths. And aluminum can be too gummy for a lot of cutter wheels at those high speeds.

I swear by my angle grinder. Get you a cheap one and have a wire wheel, cutoff wheels and sanding/grinding disks handy. That'll do 80% of your cutting on most case mods. Then fine tune it with a file or dremel if need be. I've hacked up a lot of cases. I know

Thanks CMadki4! Angle grinder is on the long list of wanted stuff as the dremel, like you said, sure does struggle with longer cuts. Right now I’d be willing to give my left leg for a pillar drilling machine though... And a bandsaw and...

Update time!

The acrylic turned out much more placid than the sharp, pointy sleeving business and as the weekend passed I got to run some initial drilling and painting experiments.

Cable management plans taking shape. Don’t mind the four wobbly holes; that’s just a spare piece to test things on.

Paint testing. First layer’s looking promising.

The second however... Not.
The worst thing is that I have no idea what or why it happened. Any thoughts or suggestions you have would be mighty appreciated.

While the paint dried the rad plate got its share of new, larger file powered love.

After filing it was time to jut down some helpful lines (which soon turned into a serious information overdose).

Thankfully there's always the freehand dremel option to cut out the unnecessary information!

Looking neat.

Or what do you think?

Finally a sneak peek of the future plans. In short you’re looking at a rather thorough revamp of the famous MurderMod luminous panel. Times three and with multiple lighting options.

Thanks for watching! If you have any thoughts or question, just shoot - any and all input is mighty welcome!

 

[Egami]

Starting the project just before having to disappear to the country for three weeks probably wasn’t one my brightest brain childs but at least there’s been plenty of time to test and experiment.

Good news is that the striped lumipanel works in reality rather than just on the paper. Well, sort of: The actual light panel works like a dream, but the thing I was totally not counting on was the top white acrylic bouncing the light inside itself creating a halo. Thankfully it looks like the halo can be dealt with by reducing the opaque acrylic’s thickness. 2mm sheet has already been inquired after and with little luck should be available next week.
Oh, and the lumistripe lights the case up like a Christmas tree. Great when viewed in full daylight as you get good clear, colour intense stripe but holy mother of a cow once the world goes dark. And there’s supposed to be three of them. An elegant solution is under intestimigation.

All in all there’s currently a bit of a work order queue as I’m having to wait for the white fan-to-be-leds to arrive. Before the fans there cannot be mobo panel and before mobo panel there really can’t be any of the other panels either.

At least I’ve managed to cook up some candy cane spaghetti.

8-pin route testing. It’s going to be tight up there once the fans are in place.

Thanks for watching!

 

[Egami]

I can’t really describe this update as anything other than a mixed bag. A lot of things have come together: The lumipanel works and the 2mm acrylic has adequately addressed the halo issue. This has subsequently brought the panel’s total height down to 5mm which is great as it now fits under the mobo no problemo. The Christmas tree lights issue is also getting resolved but I need to pull off some rewiring and socialise a fan controller from a friend before declaring victory.
On the hardware side the cable management plan is starting to take form, as is the plumbing - what if I had to completely rewrite the piping diagram over the weekend. I also found some bits in the case I have no idea what they’re for, but I think I should let the pictures do the talking.

While waiting for the thinner acrylic to materialise I decided to spend some time with the freshly cooked candy cane spaghetti and see if I could find an interesting way to arrange the cables.

The experiment may have gotten slightly out of hand as I soon found myself thinking what if I redid the colours a little?

Well, the colours and the routing. I think I need help.

Sunday passed watching Futurama and learning how to bend over some hard tubing.

Monday arrived with the news that the acrylic had arrived. Probably the fastest pickup in the store’s history followed. Gimme!
At this point I decided that fans or no top fans, I was going to attack the shiny new 2mm acrylic and make the mobo tray cover into flesh. It’ll get cropped down to size once the fans are available. However when taking measurements I discovered some strange bits for which I couldn’t identify any use for. So I cut them out.

The weird bits out of the way it was time to show the acrylic the saw.
Did I by the way mention the condition of the “shiny” when I went to pick it up from the local plastics shop?

Yeah... Enough said there was a hefty discount involved.
But the mobo tray cover is alive!!!

...man those half torn acrylic scratch cover plastics sure make for one ugly sight.
By the way, those calling cardboard a cheap and inconvenient design material - I dare you to do this casually with your real mobo!

Ahem. The rad plate has also received some paint. It’s not quite prrfect though (nature attacked mid painting) so I’ll be sanding that and doing a fresh coat once I get the chance.

Had to try it on regardless.

Hmm. Now just need to decide which cable arrangement to run with.

There is a picture of the test lit lumipanel but it’s all distorted by the scratch cover plastics and held in place by a clamp but, but... do you want to see it regardless?

Thanks for watching - let me know what cabling arrangement / colour setup you think I should go for!

 

[Penance]

Nice job on the sleeving, really like where you drilled out holes and ran through makes for a nice clean look. Now if I can just convince myself to sleeve my cables.

 

[Egami]

Nice job on the sleeving, really like where you drilled out holes and ran through makes for a nice clean look. Now if I can just convince myself to sleeve my cables.

You know you want to! It's going to put your fingers through hell but once you're done you'll never go back

 

[Egami]

It’s been a while but with the mobo tray cover finally finished we’ve officially reached the first milestone. For once I can say that everything went roughly as planned and with the light channel done and the rad support plate painted, I feel happy. That said, a lot of work remains to be done and so far I’ve been advancing much slower than I initially hoped I would.
The next big thing will be lighting. I got my soldering station today and will be starting work tomorrow on provided that I can get my back sorted out. I can currently barely turn my head and even just being still hurts. But I have coke and a bottle of Mt. Gay rum so... we’ll see.

But enough waffling! Pictures is what we’re all here for!

The rad all tuxedoed up.

So far the case has needed very little cutting up and modding on itself. I’m seriously starting to wonder if I got this modding thing all wrong – or if NZXT did a really good job with their Phantom.
One thing I did have to get my dremel out for was for the re-routing of the 8-pin power.

It indeed took a while, but what started as an eye sore...

...slowly turned into a practical plan...

...that made it to field testing.

Preparing for the first outing.

24-pin set.

8-pin.

Add the sata cables...

...and zoom out.

Finally, striking the pose: Love me like a loaded gun!

With that, I’m off to fix myself a drink with some rum from Mt. Gay. Enjoy, please comment; all and any input is highly appreciated!

 

[Egami]

I’m afraid it’s back to technical stuff with this update. It was a beautiful day outside so I decided to have a go at tidying up the Phantom’s side panel.

Naturally I forgot to grab a photo pre-op so a picture from the Hardware Heaven’s review will have to do.
Not really what you’d expect after ogling at the marketing photos.

Some of you probably already know the exercise but before any cutting the mesh had to come off. Gently.

A gratuitous amount of masking tape, measuring and marking later it was the time to start cutting.

The operation yesterday must have left me with some sort of queer brain damage as, instead of changing the disk when it started shrinking, I decided to see just how small / far I could get.

Thankfully I ran out of guts before breaking the disk or causing something equally catastrophic to happen. What the fcuk was I thinking?

The patient post operation.

The dark reality of modding: Fine file and a pot of touch-up paint. Love it or hate it, you ain’t going anywhere without it.

It helps if you love it. I’m yet to get that far. Thankfully the results make it feel less... like torture.

Zooming in.

Finally, add the previously removed mesh and voilà, we have a nice clean side panel!

Thanks for watching! Comments and proposals (of almost) any kind are always much appreciated!

 

[cyberjihad]

that last pic looks better than the mockup did, gj

 

[neumein]

Lookin' good.

 

[Egami]

that last pic looks better than the mockup did, gj

Thanks! The way they make their marketing material, you could easily think that that's the way it should look from the start but no. Ah well, it's an easy mod so fixing it is only an afternoon away.

Lookin' good.

Thanks! One tries

 

[Kingofl337]

Question: Why would you spend so much time on the inside of the case and then seal it closed with the side panels that you can't see though? What about replacing the large cut outs with some slightly tinted acrylic or polycarbonate?

It's looking go though...

 

[999]

Great attention to detail! The color balance so far looks good.

 

[runudownquick]

White builds always drive me nuts, this looks stunning but as stated above...imo of course...gotta let people see whats inside! Side window is a must here. Just my 2c though!
Either way I'm better off for having seen this. Great job.