[Sponsored] Project Halcyon : Watercooling changed, downsizing but still will complete. - Page 9

I appreciate ya answering it here, was wanting to know a bit more about what your thoughts were.
So are you saying that for the 480, try to fit both the 1260 and 480 on the side and the rotary fittings would act more like hinges for the door itself? Never thought of that but it might be worth seeing if it's possible.

I'll check into that. Thanks for the lead.

Second order placed with Aquatuning.us for a radiator mount for the GX480, a bunch of cables for the fans (sleeved), and the fan control for the Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000's on the GX480.

Gutted the case last night to begin prepping it for some surgery (fillport install, Phobya 400 install, and a few other tricks up my sleeve), so now she is a skeleton.

Electrical issues have been resolved based on some creative design of fan control and cable splitting,

Pics to come of the Danger Den unboxing and the case work!

Well, time to get cracking on getting ready for the big build.
I still have a number of items waiting to arrive from Germany from Aquatuning including:

• Phobya 5.25" Bay Reservoir Black
• Phobya Xtreme 400mm
• quick release connector 13mm barbed fitting (1/2") coupling
• Quick release connector 13mm barbed connector (1/2") plug including bulkhead thread
• pwm style y splitter cable (x9 fan ends)
• pwm style y splitter cable (x4 fan ends)
• Phobya Radiator Stand - black - Quad - 4x120mm
• Sharkoon Cold light cathodes quad UV Quad UV - 30cm (Art.Nr.: 89034)

From Amazon I still have the Sunbeamtech PL-RS-PCI Rheosmart PCI Fan Controller coming in to begin preparing for the fan control mod on the back of the case.

Things I can do this weekend to begin preparing for the build include:

1. Sleeving the PSU - I'm waiting on the sleeving tool to come in from one of the members here on OCN that sells them on ebay. Once that is in I can begin sleeving an old PSU I have just to practice on then move on to the Silent Pro Hybrid sponsored by CoolerMaster for the build itself.
2. Installing the Fill port from Danger Den on the case - I'm still unsure if I want to put it in the front or back of the case. I could easily get by with putting it in the front of the case as the reservoir is located in the second bay area (first bay is being taken out due to the mass of the 400mm Phobya radiator (still yet to be received).
3. Painting the XSPC RX480 Quad 120mm Radiator - I received it after it had been sanded off from the original factory paint. The radiator is traditionally black which is the way it will go back in. I can also mount the Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000's on the back and at least add the cable to it as well.

Brain/Thought/Idea Dump:

• Side Mount Radiator - dwood had me measure the motherboard side of the case yesterday evening. The Radiator Cage is going to take up the main portion of the side panel. With this in mind, my original thought of mounting the RX480 on the side is gone. Mounting it on the top is not idea/not going to happen. I'm thinking I have two options: I can mount it next to the 1260 RAD off the cage and cracket it in with the Phobya mounting stand coming in, I can see if it would be possible to mount it underneath the 1260 between the upper and lower support portion of the arm (concern is room for the fans), or I can mount it to the back of the case. Still thinking this through.
• Side window - I'm not 100% sure I want to keep the side intake on the case and not mod it to showcase the entire inside of the system. One concern I have is the 200mm side intake but at 700rpm im wondering exactly if the amount of air it is supplying is beneficial or if it wouldn't be better to flip the top 4 200mm's that will be in push/pull to make up for that loss of pressure coming into the case.
• Casters or rubber stands - the wheels on the case are ideal if it's on the floor, but I'm not showing my case on the floor. Putting the wheels on a table is just asking for trouble. I'm thinking of putting rubber stands underneath the case for both added stability and isolated positioning. The weaker portion of the locked wheels will be that they are still circular on the very bottom, causing the opportunity for a case to tip at a higher level. Weight distributed rubber feet may be the way to go.

Thanks for taking the time to read. Your feedback and suggestions are always appreciated!

New items received in the mail including:

• Robertts25 Molex pin extractor
• Phobya 480 RAD mount
• Both phobya cables
• Rheostatic controller for 480 fans.

Over the weekend I began working with the practice sleeving on an older power supply. I tried the tape method and it's not going as great as I was hoping. There is a tool out there by Robertts25 at pccablesleeving.com called the Anti Kink Tool I will be ordering as it looks to really speed up/simplify the sleeving process. I'll be ordering that tomorrow and will be sure to do a review on it.

The 480 Radiator has been taped down on the inside and I will be going to the hardware store for black matte paint and sandpaper to give it a nice finish. I plan to work through the painting and begin taking a dremel to the case over the 3 day weekend.

I received the package I ordered from aquatuning.us with the rad mount and cables yesterday. I had to check in on my sponsor discounted order of the radiator, reservoir and some other fittings and Pascal informed me they haven't shipped it yet. So I'm probably looking at another week or two before getting it in.

For the side-mount rad cage, dwood has completed the framework and we are working on the cover/shroud now for it. One curve ball is that Phobya supplies a single fan plate for the 200/220mm fans. While this isn't ideal for those who want to do a push/pull configuration (which one would think, why not maximize the cooling potential even with low flow fans) we are working on a remedy to correct this and make it available. More to come!

I've got a need to design a solution for some backlighting of a cutout. Solutions include either an EL panel cut to shape, or an acrylic block highlighted with LED's similar to this. Still undecided as of yet.

Brain dump/ideas:
Power supply: Still need to mod power supply. Think Dremel and LED.
Case side: To dremel a big window and remove the fan or not.

Need some ideas.

Without leaving you guys in the dust wondering what I've been up to, it's been a very busy week at the halcyon-twin room of torture mods (the garage).

Needless to say, armed with my D300S camera, I have been documenting every step I'm taking like a National Geographic Expedition to a remote island for the first time.

Pictures will come soon after I get a chance to put the Dremel down, but story goes like this:

1. I decided not to torture my friends by having me tear up their own Dremel, so I bought one of my own. Now, instead of throwing $100's into a Dremel, I went to my trusty Harbor Freight and got an EXCELLENT one for 19.99 and I'm not complaining one bit. http://www.harborfreight.com/variable-speed-rotary-tool-kit-68696.html. With Dremel in hand, the poor HAF-X didn't stand a chance.
2. Painting the RX480 Radiator - I went old school flat black (matte) Rustoleum for metal and went to town on painting the sanded down RX480 that I bought. While it was very pretty with silver, there's not much silver on my case. Problem solved with a coat hanger (to hang from the garage door railing suspended from the ceiling), one can of Rustoleum paint, a number of light passes to ensure the paint didn't run, and a lot of drying time. Lesson learned: Wear shoes as if barefoot you will have black bottoms on your feet )
3. Case tear down - After getting the pretty group shot together of all of the components going into the build (a WHOLE LOTTA boxes), I arranged them really nicely and took a nuce family photo of them before the case carnage began. Pics will be posted shortly. Case was gutted, fans removed, anything that wasn't riveted was taken out, just so I can see the skeleton and what I have to work with.
4. Phobya 400 cutting, grinding, and sawing - In order to fit the Phobya 400 in the top of your case (pics will show) there is ABSOLUTELY no way you will fit it in the top without cutting out some of the support on the 5.25" cage as well as de-riveting some portions of the connectors. Strategically, you can leave a couple of the rivets in place (I'll show you in a bit). Lesson learned was that I had really weak cutting blades and blew through them very quickly. Got one side cut out of the top 5.25" bay but the other will require more, ahem....persuasion. I bought more today and will be working it out of the case as well as grinding down some of the rough area to make it more pretty.
5. Danger Den Fillport - It's going in the top front. I wanted to get the fillport and radiator in/out as close to the top bay of the HAF-X as possible as that is where the Phobya Reservoir is going. So, it's getting put (pursuasively) in there. Pics to come.
6. The side of the case - I've decided my Dremel is touching the door too. I will be taking out the side-intake (the case is watercooled) and will be making a larger window to show off the sexy Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300 as well as the Danger Den Blocks in all their glory. That's my biggest pet peeve so far about the case. I would have stuck with the HAF 932 side window but hey, it's not for everyone. While the HAF932 door will fit the HAF-X, I wanted a challenge, so the Dremel won.
7. Project Halcyon will have hinges on the doors, and they aren't tiny due to the radiator, but modding is life
8. I've been working the fan controller into the mix as well. I'll be using an FC3 controller in an otherwise unorthodox location

So, pics to come, but I have some cutting to do
Edited by halcyon-twin - 9/4/12 at 2:16pm

Finally got to uploading some pics of the Project Mods so far. Still have a little big more mods on the case to go, but here's what's new so far.

I decided to get some pics of all of the components together so far. Lugging around a huge amount of boxes is a pain, but at least I finally got all the components together:
All components neatly arranged on the work bench (feel like I'm posing them for QVC or something)

Next up is the Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300w with the ASUS Crosshair V motherboard. I've included the sleeving and Danger Den water block within the pic as well.

Case-side with Phobya XTreme 400, XSPC RX480, fans and bay res as well as some of the internal drives of the case.

CM SPH 1300w PSU with the sleeving and sleeving tool still yet to be sleeved.

Danger Den watercooling SLI Components with pumps, hose, GTX-480's and one water block

Painting the XSPC RX480 (purchased on OCN). I received it as it had been sanded down. While I do think sanding it down does give it a really nice brushed metal color, I'm not using brushed metal within my system and decided to paint it flat black. Glossy black looks great on these, but the CM HAF-X case isn't glossy black and the closest you can get to it is with Rustoleum Flat Black metal spray paint. Honestly, one can will do.
Begin by taping up all the components with blue painters tape (about $6.50 for a 1.5" roll of 100' at Home Depot). Taping off the fins is really easy and the painters tape is like paper when you need to rip it.




Next, grab a coat hanger and a pair of needle nose pliers and you can use one of the fan holes to suspend the radiator from. I worked out of my garage, so I used the garage door rails as a top hanging point and had it dangling about neck height. CAREFULLY create a loop in the dangling end of the coat hanger with your pliers and gently feed it through. If you're not careful, you'll easily bend one of the aluminum fins.

When you're painting the radiator it is advisable to get about 1.5' to 2' away from the radiator and lightly coat the radiator over multiple passes, give it a couple of minutes between each pass to dry. I did three light passes and it turned out great.




I know some people have a preference on sealing off the ports with rubber bungs, some people stuff them with plastic, and others shove newspaper in them. Personally it's not absolutely neccessary to unscrew the port caps when painting. If you're painting light enough there should not be any issue with unscrewing them when complete and they still come out great.

Again, light coats with a few minutes to dry between each. If you spray too close you'll have to get some 600grit sandpaper and smooth it down to make it even again. Better to do it light, than to have to sand between all the coats.

Happy modding!