[Professional] Project: Blue Moon - Page 2

Well, we're getting to that point in the build where there's a whole lot of smaller things to do. One of these is lighting. I had a lot of thoughts for this, but no concrete plan, so the case lighting has been evolving as I go along. This post will sum up what I've got done so far.

First up, that acrylic sub-floor. I had always planned on some sort of lighting effect down there, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do, and how I was going to go about pulling it off. In the end, I decided to attempt to create a glowing effect under the various case elements in the vicinity of floor; namely the PSU, the pump tray, and the front radiator.

To this end, I fashioned these contraptions out of scraps of 2mm black brushed aluminum, Lian Li hard drive grommets, and white 5mm wide angle LED's:


I drilled out the blue and clear plexi of the false floor to accept these plates:


They're mounted with m4 button heads tapped directly into the acrylic:


Here's a broader shot with them powered up. The effect seems subtle in these day shots, but you're going to have to wait for a later photo shoot to see the final effect in the case. (It's pretty cool)


In addition to the blue lighting effects, I planned on separately switched white ambient lighting. To accomplish this, I used 3 12" Logysis "sunlight" sticks. The original tubes these come in are bulky and a little cheesy, so I promptly disassembled the lights and reconfigured them into this:


After getting them out of the tubes, I simply wrapped them in 3/8" heatshrink, making small slits for each LED to press through as I shrunk it down over the pcb:


In addition, I heat shrunk small bits of velcro to each end to facilitate mounting (use caution if you try this yourself, the fuzzy side of the velcro tends to melt with too much heat):


I don't have pictures of them in the case yet, but they will frame a smoked plexi window, allowing a clear view of the internals when switched on.

I also installed a variety of individual blue LED's in the EK blocks and other strategic places, but again, pictures of that will follow in the final photo spread.

(Note: As it turned out, I didn't end up using these modded sunlight sticks in the build. The blue LED's and white LED lit blue acrylic elements (floor, moon) ended up being plenty of light. I still think it's a pretty cool way to stealth those sticks though, so I'm leaving them in the log).
Edited by Warfarin88 - 6/18/10 at 8:45am

This post covers some other small parts as the final build comes together:

First up, the hard drives, housed in your standard 3 Lian Li drive caddy:


Two disc RAID0 SSD array for her OS and games, and a 640GB storage drive:


And since a 40 dollar drive cage isn't enough, I fitted it with another 20 dollar fan that nobody will ever see just to make sure it matches the rest of the build:


On a slightly more interesting note, I also finished the final assembly of the rear exhaust fan plate:


Simple black wireframe grills are secured with 35mm M4 black button heads, through isolation grommets:


I secured them on the inside with spare M4 pem nuts for a more polished look:


I also mounted two 22mm latching bulgin switches on a stacked aluminum and acrylic plate for a little extra clearance. (The top one toggles the white "ambient" light, the bottom one is for the blue "bling" light):


In the back, a single connector plugs into the psu, and then splits to independently power both switches. The blue rings are illuminated with a branch of the primary power indicator lead from the mobo, so they are always lit when the computer is on:

(Note: I ended up swapping the main power connection for a conventional 4 pin molex, and reworking the outputs several times, but the principles of the hookup remained the same).


I also carried the look of these rear switches to the front of the case, where I traded in the factory power and reset switches for a single bulgin momentary:


And finally, I added some acrylic inserts to block the side vents of the front door, and force all intake through the filtered front vents:


About all that's left now is the window panel. The rig is actually in full operation now as my wife's gaming rig (I even have 95% of the wire management completed), but I'm going to reserve final shots for when it's totally complete.

Edited by Warfarin88 - 6/18/10 at 8:30pm

Well, the case is complete now. I just finished shoe-horning a third SSD behind the fan controller for a little more elbow room on the C: drive. I'm posting now while I re-download and install her games.

I had the good fortune to borrow a better camera for the "night shots" (thank you sister in-law), but I 'm afraid my photography knowledge still fell a bit short. What we have here is my best effort, I hope it doesn't disappoint.

In addition to standard socketed LED's in various bits of the watercooling gear, I've also added extra LED's to the shrouds, the blue acrylic ring around the moon on the drive bay cover, the GPU, and of course the floor.

Here's some broader shots with all the lights on:


As I noted earlier, I decided to ditch the white light all together. I have the floor switched separately so you can give a subtle light effect, or hit the other switch for the full on light show. The ring around the moon is hard wired, so it lights up whenever the box is powered up regardless. (It's a tribute to both the theme of the rig, and to Lian Li's signature blue ring on several of their case models).

Here's some other random angles that turned out halfway viewable:


I added 3 LED's each to the back of the fan shrouds, which had the added benefit of giving the fans themselves a subtle glow as well:


The biggest mod was to the EK back plate for the graphics card. I shimmed it up with some 1.5mm rubber washers and used some slightly longer screws to allow room for some LED's underneath it. Two point outward, and two illuminate the EK cut out over the processor:


Sorry I couldn't do any better with the photography here folks. The floor especially has me bummed. It has a really nice diffuse glowing effect that I really can't seem to capture at all.

Here's a picture with partial room light that gives a better approximation of the effect:


Edited by Warfarin88 - 6/21/10 at 8:25am

Well, after 100's, possibly 1000's of pictures taken in all sorts of settings, I finally ended up finding myself back in the shop for the final shoot. Somehow, it just seemed appropriate.

First, a quick walk around the fully assembled case:


A random montage from the exterior, displaying the exterior cut work:


Pic of the back lighting switches that I thought came out nicely:


And, a close up of the stealth work done on the optical drive and the lamptron fan control:


Broad shot of the "ugly side" of the case with the side panel off:


I used a couple hammond boxes to help clean up the wiring junctions from the lighting and the front fans:


Sleeved everything in either 1/8" or 1/4" techflex clean cut sleeving:


and, relocated the capacitors on the GPU power leads from the Silverstone to a less conspicuous location:


And finally, the fun side with the side panel off:


I'll wrap up the log with this collection of shots from the finished interior:


That's all she wrote ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed the read.

Thank you for taking the time to view this log, and good luck to everyone in the competition!
Edited by Warfarin88 - 6/30/10 at 1:47pm

Thanks for the comments fellas.

My wife is loving it. Everyone that comes over to the house, the first thing she does is take them into the office to show them her new computer. Pretty funny stuff.