[Work Log] Project: Arete (ACU Camo & Military Themed) - Page 2

After my XC meet today, I got down to work tearing everything down. Better pictures are on the way, but I wanted to get everything up and running first. I've installed my new FC6990 backplate on the GPU, and set up my rig on my desk so I can still use it. It's not pretty, but it works!

Acutally got to work on the case today. Ran out of time since I had some morning things going on, but here's what I've got so far. Today I took down the case to the bare frame and did the annoying work of getting the sound dampening foam out from the inside.

Here's where I started:


First step was to gather the materials. It's fairly simple on the tool end since it's a fairly vigorous and destructive process. A can of Goof-Off to start and a putty knife. You want to start with something a little more powerful in order to melt the upper layers of foam. Also used my trusty ventilator. I've unfortunately had more than one urgent care visit for fume inhalation, and I don't work without this thing anymore. I love it, and if you plan on doing a lot of painting, get one. Definitely worth the money.


Pretty self explanatory, cover the foam in Goof-Off and scrape away!


This is where I got after using just the Goof-Off. Getting to this point took a pretty decent 15 minutes of scraping. It's not in any way a pretty process, and it takes multiple coatings to even remotely get this stuff off. This is definitely the last time I use that stuff.


I ran out of Goof-Off, but I found that once the foam portion has been scraped off and you're left with the black adhesive, something a little lighter such as Brake Cleaner or Carburetor cleaner works just as well. At this point, I literally had to soak the motherboard tray with this stuff. I went through about a can and a half. Luckily brake cleaner is cheap...



As you can see, just scraping has gone pretty far. The biggest issue I ran into were the depressions that Cooler Master made in the motherboard tray. To combat that, I hosed the case down initially, but then had to bring out the big guns and powerwash the sucker




Finally, I can see the whole case! If you look closely, you'll see that only some clear adhesive still remains. As I said before, I ran out of Goof-Off, and this stuff is so strong, that's pretty much the only thing that'll do the trick. I'll pick up some sometime this week to finish the case off.


I'm finishing up some hardware and parts lists so I can make some orders tonight so they'll be at my house my next weekend. I'll post some screenshots in tomorrows update. Thanks for reading! =)

Thanks!

Alright well here's another parts update. Haven't been able to do much trying to balance Cross Country and work, so I've got to save my modding for the weekend. But a package arrived today!

In it, I got a bunch of fittings, the rest of my Noctua fans (total of 10), and two Bitspower HD-5350 hard drive coolers. While watercooling hard drives isn't necessary, I plan to paint the chrome faceplates OD Green and add some camo stenciling to have them fit in the build. Even if watercooling hard drives is pretty stupid, I've got to admit these are some sexy blocks. In another little package I got a mini DC pump in a trade from one of my friends.

Pictures (obviously )










The mini pump I got will be used for the hard drives. Nothing too special, if you haven't already seen from the pictures, it's 1/4 ID x 3/8OD. My order from McMaster-Carr arrives tomorrow with lots of fun hardware, but I can't start actually modding until my Online Metals order arrives too
Edited by WebsterXC - 9/25/12 at 5:45pm

Much appreciated, thanks!

PACKAGES!

I got a total of three packages today, with one yesterday. The first one is from Online Metals.com, for the raw materials for the case. Second one is from eBay. I picked up some authentic ammo cases for my modding pleasure (you'll see where they go in a bit!). The third package was my most anticipated, the one from MDPC. Lastly, the package I got yesterday was from McMaster-Carr, with some hardware that I ordered. Nothing too special there. I also got some modding done to the drive bays yesterday. I didn't really get anywhere since it was getting late, but I figured I may as well explain it here. I had a little fun with the camera, so bear with me if you have slow internetz



Inside I recieved a lot of spare 16ga and 22ga metal to work with. The big item in this package is my 6" by 48" cold roll steel sheet. This will form the top and front pieces of my rig. Now I just have to figure out a way to bend the strip into an arc. Any ideas?

In the USPS Flat Rate box were two ammo cans. These will definately add to the look of the build, and I have a secret use for them later down the line of pictures! Not too much to say about them, I mean they're ammo cans. Yeah woo!



The most anticipated package of them all, the one from MDPC. This sat in New York customs for 11 days, and I'm not happy about it. Regardless, I'm happy some @#$*& didn't puncture or lose the package. I ordered 40 meters of sleeving, and I'll have to do some experimenting with it. I'll most likely have to order more, but at the same time I'm not doing the WHOLE power supply, just the cables I'm using. This is my very first experience with MDPC sleeving and I was blown away. I've always read about how this stuff is the king of sleeving, and I wish I would have purchased some sooner. Nils was also kind enough to include a sample of his heatshrink and a small cut of Shade 19 for me.









Here are some other items I picked up that I thought I should add to the log. The Phobya 240 grill is just to replace the plastic thing I was using on the bottom 240 radiator. If you look at some previous case pictures, rather than cut 120mm holes for the fans, I cut out a box for a grill or mount.(When I tried using a hole saw, it was getting caught on the flimsy pieces of the case, such as the mesh, so the box was a lot easier). Next to it, I've got some slot protectors that look a little better than the stock Cooler Master ones, three SATA cables, and some Tygon Norprene (in the 1/4ID x 3/8OD flavor for the hard drives).

Went ahead and sleeved the three SATA cables I had. God I love the sleeving, and the color. I took some pictures with the sleeved cables on some Norprene ,and my obnoxiously large hot-swap backplane, to see how the cables looked acutally plugged in.







Here's a sneak peek on what I plan on doing with an ammo container



Like I said previously, I did a quick mod to the hard drive cage in my case. I don't need the whole hard drive cage, and I'd like to make some room to show off the watercooled hard drive. Most people cut off a huge bottom section and have a small cage up top, but I thought it'd look pretty cool to do the opposite. I'll keep a couple bays down below (above the 240 radiator), for my res and DVD drive, and have the hard drives sit up top. The SSD will be located in the back with cable management, I'm not too concerned with showing that off. So I took my trusty dremel out, made a line, and made the cut! I may cut the hard drive cage down some more, but it'll have to wait until this weekend when I actually have time to sit down and think about the mods I'm doing. This is where some of my spare steel will come in! Stay tuned!

Had an all day Cross Country meet today so I didn't feel like going to the store and getting mod stuff. I'm extremely sore and tired, so I decided to sit down and start sleeving with lovely MDPC sleeving. I'm not doing the whole PSU, only the cables that are going to be shown. I did the shrinkless method as I think it looks the cleanest and I hate trying to line up heatshrink. Power supply is a Corsair AX1200, just in case you forgot.


Suprise inside the ammo container! What could it be?

Oh hey look cables!





ATX-24 Pin



Sleevers everywhere hate you for this, Corsair...



PCI-e 6+2 Pins



This is the only downside to going shrinkless: double crimped wires. This is the PSU side of the cable, so it won't be seen anyways. Regardless I tried to make it look as nice as I could.

Shrinkless SATA cable anyone? I only sleeved one as I haven't decided how many hard drives to use (1 or 2). If I choose do use the second hard drive I'll sleeve another one.



And I sleeved my little pump too


Alright well that's it for today, let me know what you think! I'm really liking the Commando Green and MDPC everything. My photography skills aren't that great, so thanks for bearing with me. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get some case modding done to fit the hard drives and a new tube reservoir.

Alright well Sunday is always my big modding day. Unfortunately, I had some senior pictures scheduled that cut into that time, but I got a lot done. It was cold and rainy here in upstate New York as well, so I couldn't do any painting. What I focused on was getting the ammo can to fit as the new PSU cover.

The biggest decision I made was no 5.25" bays. While they're useful, for this build they're just going to get in the way. I'll be encorporating everything into the case for this build, so the front piece of the bays had to be cut out. The other side of the bays is actually part of the case, so I can't cut it off due to structural reasons. I will be cutting off all the hanging edges and covering it with some of the 22ga metal I got from OnlineMetals.com.


Well if anyone has been reading, the ammo containers I recieved are going to be used to house the power supply and possibly a pump. The problem is that they don't natively fit inside of the case, so I had to start cutting! As you can see here, the hinge on the back of the container was causing it to not go flush with the back of the case.

The ammo container was also too tall to fit properly in the case, and spilled out the side. Chop, chop, chop

Addressing the height issue was easy, I just took a dremel to the top of the container and chopped off the handle and hinge pieces.


The next problem was a little more time consuming. Not only did I have to chop off the hinge on the container, but I had to cut through the whole box to allow room for the bottom GTX240 radiator. After drawing some lines, I started the cut with a dremel, and finished it with a jigsaw.


Huzaah! It fits!



I also needed a way for the cables to come out of the container. There was an indented piece of the motherboard tray that was perfect for this. I cut out the area I wanted on the motherboard tray, traced the area on the ammo box, and cut the same piece out of the lid of the ammo box.





Mounting the ammo box won't be too big of an issue. I plan on putting a couple screw holes through the back of the motherboard tray into the ammo box. Easy removal is necessary just in case something goes wrong with the power supply. I haven't test fit the power supply, but chances are I'll have to void the warranty and take the PSU case apart and mount it inside the ammo box. Unfortunately that's the extent of the modding I got done today. I'm very eager to break into my order of sheet metal, but this peripheral stuff has to be done first.
Edited by WebsterXC - 9/30/12 at 6:17pm