Repo and the wonder of Syrillian's Silentium (yes you read that right)

I've been trying to make this thread since last week. I still don't really know how to say it. As most, if not all, of you know, Syrillian passed away recently. I know it hit us hard, myself included. Syrillian was a good friend to me (and a lot of you too I know). Well, a few of our staffers and members went to Syr's memorial service. Smasherbasher, Tator Tot, and IEATFISH went with Syr's family and helped clean out his computer stuff, as you probably know from the RIP thread and Smasher's freebie thread. Well, Smasher contacted me to offer me Silentium (original thread here) as I had worked on the hinges for the build and had talked to Syrillian during the log. I very graciously said I would be honored to give this wonderful case a home.

Well, neither of us trusted ye' olde shipping men to carry this thing: Smasher lives in California, I live in Alabama. So, a journey was spawned! Smasher was driving to Ohio for family and I had been tossing around the idea of visiting a friend in Houston this year. So, we planned our journeys around each other. My wife, Underdog1425, and myself drove to Houston; Smasher drove to northern Texas (Oklahoma City?). Then Smasher, Underdog, and I all trekked to Fort Worth where, at a Starbucks, the case was passed along. It was a very poignant moment. I was happy to meet a fellow staffer and see such a beautiful case. However, I wish we could have met for happier circumstances.

Suffice to say the case made it home safe and sound (even after a 30minute talk with a Texas state trooper, who after pulling over an out of state car, couldn't believe that 3 people from Alabama would come to Fort Worth for a PC case ). Below you'll find the pictures of the case. Some of its pieces had been broken loose from when it was originally moved from Syrillian's house. I had to repair a few pieces. I also plan on bondo'ing these hinges the way Syrillian wanted them. If anyone remembers, I smoothed a set of hinges for him but they ended up being the wrong size and Syr wanted to go ahead and complete the case. I'm glad I now have the opportunity to finally have these the way he wanted them. I'll also be getting some equipment for my own PC so I can house it in Silentium (mainly 480 rads or some kind of 480 rad grills to cover the gaping holes in the front). This won't be a fast log or anything, but I wanted to share this case with everyone and let you all have a chance to just talk and have some camaraderie. Thanks everyone.

~Repo, or, as Syr would say "_/\\_"



List of updates:

October 29th - Repairing the HDD and PSU tray
October 29th - Some pictures of the case in the sun
October 29th - Removing the door hinges for bondo prep
November 4th - Finally getting some bondo on the hinges
November 7th - Second and third coats of filler on the hinges (almost there)






Edited by repo_man - 11/7/11 at 5:27pm

As I said, some of the parts were broken: the HDD rack, the PSU mount, one of the motherboard CCFL light ends, and the bottom piece of the optical bay piece. I glued the misc parts back where the should be and set out to reassemble the HDD cage. This thing is masterful. I had to go back over and over Syrillian's images to see how he had it put together, lol.




This was how it arrived to me (ignore my kitty mousepad, it's a long story from a LAN party ).










Here is it starting to come together. Syr used acorn nuts but until I order some, I went to Lowes and bought some generic nuts. I'll end up ordering a few things as there are various bolts missing here and there. I'll also require the use of some of you to help me identify the specific types as I've only used regular motherboard screws on most of my things, lol. Anyway, here it is.





And this is it assembled and glued back onto the base. (I need to purchase some threaded rod because as you'll notice there were only four included/left with the case and this rack is built for six.)















There was also the PSU tray. Below is the picture of it broken. I simply glued it back together. I don't have an after pic, sorry!



*Complete pic post coming right after this one*

Below are the pictures of the case as it stands (no pun intended ). Sorry for the OK quality, these are from my DroidX. The digi cam is at work with my wife, lol.




This thing is HEAVY. I hate to think what it weighed with two 480 rads worth of water in it.





And I see now about the trouble of taking pics of this case! The acrylic is highly reflective.










The top panel. :drooling:





The interior. As you can see there are wires askew and stuff. Two of the CCFL power inverters were missing and I had to get some spares Underdog had.





The motherboard half with HDD rack and pump stand.





The PSU side with PSU rack and pump stand.





The beautiful carbon fiber motherboard tray.





How the tray slides in. This is such a work of art. If I had ever built a mounting system like this AND the back panel for it, they'd never (ever) line up as well as this does. The man was a true craftsman.





The mobo light.





The vandal switch, fan controllers, and 230mm ceiling fan as I call it.





The back panel.





Here are the two trays half way out. They're so elegant and simple.





And here they are taken out.





The trap door for the res (which I need to buy, the original one is missing). Does anyone know what brand/size Syrillian used?





That's all for the complete shots. Next I'll begin the updates on the hinges. After I'm done with the hinges, I can start buying tubing to retrofit my rig into it and getting the misc things I need.
Edited by repo_man - 10/29/11 at 12:35pm

Not much to show on the hinges right now. Pretty much I just took them off today and will buy some bondo for them. Here they are taken off.





And the front door without them.





I'm so tickled at Syr's attention to detail. If you look back at the first pic, you'll see some of the bolts are cut short. That's because on the top of the case only two of the bolts would go through because there's a support bar where the third bolt is. So Syr cut one bolt short and glued it in place. I NEVER noticed in his log! They look completely functional! Lol, old nooblet is still surprising me...





That's all I have to show right now. If you'd like a picture of something, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'll keep you all posted!

~Repo
Edited by repo_man - 10/29/11 at 12:39pm

You're welcome Jobo! I'm glad I can!

Yea, Smasher and Fish picked it up amongst other things. I'm really glad his gear went out to members and people who will appreciate them. I was afraid his family would just see them as "computer things" and donate them to the goodwill or something, haha.

Agreed, I know he really wanted these hinges smooth. We were crushed when he got the ones I made and found out he had order the wrong size, lol. I went back through that entire log the week before I went to Texas and had so many laughs at our antics. Fun times!