Blanc - TJ07 Black White and Blue

Got this worklog on some other forums and I've not been too active on OCN for a while so thought I'd share it here too. I'll put all the main updates into these first posts

Some key changes since the start though:

1. I blew my system when I plugged my aquaero in using the wrong connector and so my system is now a gigabyte UD7 with dominator ram and soon I'm getting my new CPU which will be an i7 930 probably. Got a new PSU too (exactly the same as my old one)

2. I'm using barbs not compressions now.

3. Having no fans in the back any more (getting a new back plate)


Right here's what the log looks like so far...


UPDATE 1

I've decided to give my components a new home in the form of a TJ07.

My PC currently resides inside an Antec 900 which, over the years, has had many a rushed mod done to it and basically I'm fed up with all this compromise so I'm starting again with something new that I will give much more love :blush:

As for colours I'm pretty set on matt black inside and gloss white outside. This will be a powdercoat.

For design and lighting details I think I'll be getting a design laser cut into the front plate and the midplate then a sheet of acrylic will be placed behind those and lit with white LEDs. Still thinking about designs for that.

All actual PC components will be carried over from my current build.



My current PC:



Pics of what new goodies I have so far:






I will be replacing the PSU and back plate with new ones that have no squares.




I put some fractal fans in. These will hopefully be enough to get the heat my chipset produces out of the case. Will probably make some plain black stickers for them too.




I'm almost definitely putting a window in place of this mesh.




AGHR! I really don't like the new motherboard tray! Anyone know where I can get hold of the old blank one?




I'll be putting in a new midplate which will have 2 pass through fittings in.




I'll be making covers for the side of the drive bays and the one on this side will probably have a cutout for my SSD to kind of display it a bit.




A window will be cut in the side panel.




I also found these for half their usual price on eBay so I bought all three that the seller had. They are 1/2" ID 3/4" OD and should go nicely with the white tubing I'm planning on getting.





Seeing as I'm on the topic of watercooling. My loop will take the pump, res and blocks from my current build and will include new fittings and a new 480 rad.

I planned out my loop and started looking around the worklogs on here for more inspiration and came across the Paradyse build by Cyril and it was almost the same as the loop I'd planned myself lol. There's a few differences but in general my loop will follow the same sort of layout.


That's all I've got for now. Will be ordering some 2mm alu sheet soon and also some pre-cut panels some time this week.

I'll be getting new stuff out of what I can spare from my wages each month


UPDATE 2

Just ordered a few more bits. Some pre cut panels, a pump vibration killing foam thing and a hammond box to cover the green PCB in this shot of the front panel sleeving I've just finished:




UPDATE 3

After a bit of a lie in this morning I sleeved the fractal fans These will be plugged directly into my motherboard rather than onto the fan controller as they are dead silent anyway.

I also just ordered a 1000mm x 500mm x 2mm sheet of aluminium. It's probably more than I need but I'm sure to make mistakes lol.

Anyway, to the pics! ...

UPDATE 4

Ok peeps, some more stuff arrived today and I took some pics. A TJ07 side panel makes a rather nice background I've found

There's some grime on some of the parts but I didn't have time to clean them before taking pics. Busy busy

To the pics!!


New back panel:






New midplate, ready for a bit of cutting action:




New PSU plate, nice and unsquarified:




A little hammond box for covering the nasty green front panel PCB:




PUMP FOAM!! It's about 12cm x 12cm x 3cm i think, maybe bigger. Enough for several pumps lol:




Still waiting on my aluminium sheet. If that arrives before the weekend when I have free time then hopefully I should be able to put up some pics of actual work being done


UPDATE 5


I put the new panels in to see what it will look like:




I like the midplate a lot It just sits on top of the existing one at the moment but the two pass-through fittings I'm putting in should secure it.




UPDATE 6

My aluminium arrived




And so did the stickers i bought for the fans:




My lighting switch also arrived but silly me bought a momentary rocker switch Ah well, I've ordered an on/off one now

UPDATE 7

About to start my first bit of fabrication. It will be my front cover to replace the bezels:



I got around halfway through with the stanley knife but it was taking ages and my wrist hurts So I figured i could use the deep score I've got now to guide a hacksaw perfectly and complete the cuts.

Here's what I've got so far:




I'll update with the finished pics later


UPDATE 8

Right, I had some time today to work on the front on my case.

So I had my scoring from the other day...




...but I had two perpendicular score lines so in order to bend and snap the longer edge I had to cut the smaller one with a hacksaw




Then I could bend and snap along the long score line...




...and the front was free




Then after lots of filing...




...it fits








Then I had to make the brackets.

I cut and filed 4 strips...




...drilled and scored them...




...and bent them by 90 degrees.




This is how I left it this evening ... just before the camera battery died.




Since that pic I used duct tape to stick the brackets and panel temporarily into the case and everything lines up very nicely indeed.

I'll take photos of that tomorrow


UPDATE 9

Here's the pics of my brackets' temporary high tech mounting system:








Pics aren't great as I was in a rush to get started on my bay covers which I shall do now

UPDATE 10

Right, onto today's efforts:

Firstly I needed a coffee to start me off and I so happen to have this awesome Smartcafe mug that is also a coffee press. The baddie in avatar (the one with the scars on his face) has one in the film

Let it brew...




..and ta da! Press coffee in a mug!




In other news, I drilled some rivets.




Motherboard tray now disassembled:




I also made my drive bay covers, for some reason I forgot to take pics during fabrication. Must have got too wrapped up in my filing

Anyway, here's the result.








I then went on to do the second one for the other side which turned out good too. I'll take nicer pics of the case with both of them in tomorrow when the light is back. I haven't yet made a mounting system for them but it will probably involve some spacers that stick onto the cover and maybe screw into drive bay screw holes. I'll work something out. I would ideally want it to be removable from the inside via screws.


p.s. Aluminium dust makes your hands look old




UPDATE 11

Some better pics of what I did yesterday.








Things that need tidying:

This rather deep scratch/dent here:




Lots of little scratches like these need moar sanding




There is a gap like this one with the other cover too so the folds on both of them need beating flat.




UPDATE 12

Postman brought me something from ebay today:












I've never owned a DDC before so could someone tell me what the blue wire is for, RPM sensor or something? I'm guessing the 3pin is power like my current pump. It also came with what look like O rings attached to the blue wire, any ideas what they are for?




Also I bought this pump mainly coz it's an 18W DDC for cheaps but it also came with an alphacool plexi top which I was intending to replace with an acetal EK top so it matches my blocks. But with it sitting here in front of me now the plexi is really nice so I kind of want to keep it. Opinions on this would be greatly appreciated


EDIT:

Little addition - pic with fittings

UPDATE 13

Well I've tested the pump just now to see if it works and it runs great with just the 3pin so the blue cable must be some form of sensor. Still unsure what the O rings are for though.

Anyway here's a pic from testing...




UPDATE 14

Spent a bit of time tonight perfecting my drive bay covers.

First off, I needed a bottle of polish lager.




Then I set up my vice and clamps




Here you can see the curve I'm going to beat out




Basically I placed a small piece of MDF over the exposed aluminium and hit that with a mallet, causing the metal to conform to the straight edge of the wood without the mallet damaging the metal's surface. I also sanded out the deeper marks that were there in my last pics.

Here's the result:
















UPDATE 15

Spent some time sorting out my pump's power cable that had been ruined by the last owner.

I cut off the corroded pins and soldered on new ones as I don't have a crimper.

Then I put the rpm sensor wire that previously had it's own connector into the 3rd hole in the power 3pin plug. It was a lot longer than the power cables though so I had to cut and resolder to the right length.

Seeing as the blue rpm wire was originally separate from the power wires I thought I'd keep it that way and sleeved the power wires in black and the rpm wire in grand bleu then wrapped the blue wire around the black one.

Here's the result:

UPDATE 16

I tried out some lighting of the pump seeing as it has a 5mm LED hole pre drilled.

What do people think?








Oh and this is how I'm powering them for the photos. My really handy wall plug to molex adapter




UPDATE 17

Fitted my hammond box to cover the green PCB in the front of the case.






UPDATE 18

Firstly I tidied up the front panel sleeve so less heatshrink was exposed outside of the hammond box. This was the best I could get without making new lengths of sleeve that were 2-3mm longer as I've ran out of black sleeve :cry: Still a bit of heatshrink exposed but much better than before. When I do my next order from Nils I'll maybe redo them.




Then I started on making the hole in the back panel for my lighting switch.

I measured the switch at 20mm plus a bit extra for 'lip' around the edge and drew up my guides such that the very edges of the switch would line up with the mobo I/O shield plate hole and the top edge of the top fan hole. Like so:




I then punched a small dent to guide my drill




Then I went to try this new step drill set I got off ebay for cheaps






The aluminium of the back panel however must be some really strong aluminium as my step drill failed to cut through :facepalm:

After slowly enlarging the hole with several ordinary drill bits (which also struggled to get through) I used a jigsaw to get the right sized hole




And after a lot of filing, my switch fits !

UPDATE 19

A teeny tiny update.

Been thinking of designs for the front and decided I wanted it really clean so went with the idea of build name.




Chose 'blanc' as obviously it means white and my exterior will be powdercoated white but also because if pronounced 'blank' it describes all the clean blank panels in my build like the drive bay covers etc.

And I chose a typeface that can be cut out without the middle of the letters needing to be supported e.g the middle of an 'a' or a 'b'.

The word 'blanc' will be backlit by an acrylic panel lit with LEDs, mostly likely white ones.

What do people think?

The slot at the top is for my slot drive .. that I'm yet to buy lol.


UPDATE 20

Not much of an update but I bought a right angle rotary fitting off ebay for cheapss and thought I'd share some pics






Bigger updates will come once I have more moneys


UPDATE 21

Today many things arrived.

An aquaero 4 LT that I got off ebay for a very good price of £25








Some 3mm and 5mm super bright white LEDs (20 of each)






25m of black 24awg wire for the LEDs and also for possibly extending fan wires if needed.




And some 2pin plugs and crimps for the LEDs and rear panel lighting switch. These will plug onto an LED control board.




Aluminium oxide cutting discs (for a Dremel I'm yet to buy. So far I've been borrowing a friends)




And finally a rivet gun for reassembling my motherboard tray

UPDATE 22 (Shortly after I blew my system)

my new strider arrived.




A little game: Guess which one is the new one




Something very weird though. My old strider works in another PC but not in mine yet my new one works in both. And neither work when I use one particular sata power cable. Anyway I definately needed the new one as obviously I want it to work with MY pc. Not sure what to do with my old one though as it's obviously semi functional, hmmm..

Also the guy I bought the ram from is having trouble with his laptop so can't send me the ram from his pc yet as he needs to use the pc. What an idiot! If you want to sell something then make sure you don't still need it!

He obviously doesn't realise how much stress he is putting me through lol, I must know if I need a new CPU and/or GPU soon or I will go insane!!


UPDATE 23

Thanks

Getting the 930 from the guy who sold me the aquaero haha. So the same guy will have sold me the thing that broke me system (albeit through my own misuse of it) and the thing that will fix my system

Did some work on the perspex. Cut it to size and drilled holes for the LEDs, there will be 7 on each side.

It will be like a sandwich of metal then a gap for wires then the perspex, all will hopefully become a bit clearer later when I've done more work on it. So far just done the one side of holes.


Excuse the not so good pics, taken with my phone as my camera is out of juice








The LEDs are 3mm and the perspex is 6mm. LEDs have that little lip around the bottom of the bulb bit so to get the LEDs to sit all the way inside the holes I needed to widen the 3mm holes to 4mm for the first 2mm of the hole.

To allow the legs to bend around and underneath I made little channels for them.


UPDATE 24

For now though I thought people might want to see what state the guts of my PC are in at the moment...

UPDATE 25

My LED base station/control board finally arrived!! You can see in some of the pics that the pins for the 2pin headers are not all aligned. Hopefully once they are all populated with headers you won't be able to tell.










and my fav pic...




UPDATE 26

Some slightly better pics of the stand and luminous panel.

Right now I have everything I need to start wiring it up and testing how it looks.

..will look crap though as I haven't frosted the surface of the perspex yet. Haven't even taken off the protective layer!

Anyways, to the pics!...






And underneath:




This is the gap where wires from the LEDs will come from. I will make a hole in the flat bit on top for the wires to come out from underneath the LED board mounted there and loop over and into their sockets Will probably make a lovely heart shape as they loop over, awwwwwww...lol



In that pic you can also see the akasa 2.5" drive mount. I'll get rid of the logo on that with some acetone.


Last pic of the stand that I quite like:




On to pics of the luminous panel perspex...

Gap in the supports for wires




The holes for LEDs




Some close ups of both side of one of those holes






some bits I had to chop to make it fit round some bits of the case that stuck out




Hopefully I'll have some pics of my wiring by the end of the week


UPDATE 27

Wired up a couple of LEDs to see how my luminous panel looks. The light is more localised to the area around each LED than I'd like really but saying that I still have the protective cover on the perspex. I intend to experiment with frosting spray and sanding to achieve a more frosted look. And also that's only 2 out of the 13 LEDs that will go into it and it's not in the darkness of the case interior.











The light is actually a bit more spread out in real life. Still not very consistent across the panel though :/ Hopefully once all the LEDs are in and I've perfected the surface coating it will look better

UPDATE 28

All LEDs are in. Just need to mount the circuit board properly so I can route the wires properly and also sleeve the wires. Not got enough black sleeve left though so that will have to wait until my next mdpc-x order




UPDATE 29

Dremel cometh








UPDATE 30

New rad arrived