Project: Rad-gt

[radodrill]

Petra's Tech Shop Sponsorship

 

I've also received support from Petra's Tech Shop

 

Here's what they sent me: Acrylic LED case feet, 3x 120mm chrome fan grills, and water additives (Biocide & Blue, Green, and Red dyes)

 

The LED feet and wiring harnesses

 

Case feet in action

 

One drawback to the controller for the LEDs is that it defaults to a flashing mode when it's turned on; but I'll be eliminating the controller and connecting them directly to a switched 12V line, so that won't be an issue for me.

 

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Update (27-AUG-2007): Outer Panels & Drive Bays

 

Some progress pics are missing since one of my memory cards died

 

Polished the edges of the outer panels

 

 

 

 

Also installed the PCI mounting bracket

 

 

Cut out/polished the CD slot cover

 

Placed in the slot on the front panel

 

Made some side pieces for the 5 1/4" bay

 

Glued them into place

 

With a drive in place

 

This evening I'll mount the drive bays; so stay tuned for another update

 

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Update (28-Aug-2007): Drive bays & Case

 

Another update; The case itself is finished so next I'll have to make the base and do the wiring

 

Cut acrylic pieces for mounting the drive bays

 

Polished the mounting pieces

 

Glued the mounting pieces to the drive bays

 

Gluing the drive bays together

 

Finished Drive Bays

 

Lining up the drive bays on the top panel

 

Drilled screwholes at the front of the drive bays

 

Drilled out holes in top panel

 

Tapped holes in the drive bays

 

Screwed them together

 

Drilled holes at the back of the drive bays

 

Drilled out the holes in the top panel

 

Several shots of the assembled case

 

 

 

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Update (02-Sept-2007): Fan & Lighting Controller

 

I finished making my PWM fan and lighting controller. It has 8 fan channels and 4 lighting channels (1 dedicated to the fan lighting). The fan LEDs are connected to separate headers from the fan itself.

 

First: the circuit I used

 

Installed 1 fan control channel to work out the layout

 

Here in the US I wasn't able to find anyplace that had the MIC502 fan control IC available in a DIP package; so I had to make due with the SMD version

 

Soldering on leads

 

1 DIPicized IC

 

All eight channels integrated on the PCB

 

Added power supply as well as headers for the fan LEDs and fan LED switch

 

Also installed headers for the case lighting control

 

And a pass-through MOLEX connector

 

The underside of the controller

 

The wiring for the power connectors will also be sleeved later on in the project.

 

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Update (02-Sept-2007): Cabling

 

Sleeved the wiring on the fan contoller

 

I also wired up and sleeved the switches for the case lighting as well as the power cables for the CCFL inverters

 

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Update (03-Sept-2007): Cabling & Base

 

Sleeved the cabling for the front panel IO

 

Changing gears for a while; I cut out the MDF baseboard and rounded the edges

 

First coat of Lacquer paint

 

Back to the cabling; Wired up and sleeved the HDD LED, Reset Switch, and Power Switch w/ Power LED

 

Back to the baseboard again; Second coat of paint

 

Sanded smooth

 

I'm hoping to be able to get a piano-quality high-gloss finish; thus the use of the lacquer.

 

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Update (10-Sept-2007): Case Feet

 

Now for installing the case feet;

 

Marked the location of the 8 holes

 

Drilled the holes

 

Inserted the feet; nice snug fit so no glue necessary

 

Started the wiring for the LED illumination of the feet

 

Finished wiring the LEDs

 

Mounted the fan controller

 

Now a gallery of the (almost) finished case

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have to install the CCFLs and H2O items as well as do the custom length wiring (and sleeving) of the fans. Once I get all the hardware into the case I'll do some tidying of the cabling. The one front panel that currently isn't hooked up will be used as eject/activity indicator for the CD drive.

 

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Update (13-Sept-2007): Sponsorship from DangerDen

 

W00T I received a sponsorship package from DangerDen Today.

 

Here are the goodies:

 

2x Black Ice X-Flow Xtreme III radiators with 1/2" barbs

 

2x 8800 GTX/ULTRA waterblocks with stubby SLI barb and single-slot bracket

 

2x Brass Fill-ports, 24x Plastic snap hose clamps, and 20' 1/2" ID Tygon tubing

 

LGA775 TDX CPU block, i875 Maze4 chipset block, Maze4 Chipset block, Lucite 680i top for Maze4 blocks (not exactly sure which top is best for the southbridge of the DFI 680i; so DD was nice enough to send both tops so I can use what fits best)

 

Finally the variable speed D5 pump

 

I'll have more progress updates soon; Just wanted to share pics of the new gear.

 

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Update (15-Sept-2007): Watercooling

 

Installed the Radiators

 

 

 

Soon to be custom pump mounting bracket

 

Bent to shape

 

Added pump mounting holes

 

Finished bracket

 

Bracket attached to the pump

 

Pump and 1 fan installed in the case (also sleeved the wiring for them)

 

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Update (16-Sept-2007): Watercooling

 

Mounted and sleeved the fans for the front RAD

 

Installed some of the tubing

 

Re-installed the drive bays; decided to go with frosted sides on the drive bays

 

Shot from the front to better show the run of tubing

 

Also tidied up the cabling for the front panel switches

 

2 shots to give an idea how some of the lighting will look

 

 

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Update (23-Sept-2007): Fan installation

 

After testing the PWM fan controller with the Blackfire fans I realized that at low speeds the fans were "growling." By means of trial & error I discovered that if I replace the 0.1uF timing capacitor with a 100pF capacitor (raising the PWM frequency from 30Hz to 30KHz) the symptoms are resolved.

 

Here's the Baseboard after a few more coats of paint, sanding, and steel wool treatment.

 

Finished installing the rest of the fans

 

Here are some gallery shots of the case; not that I've also installed a fill-port reservoir

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Update (30-Sept-2007): CCFL Lighting

 

Started installing the CCFL Lighting

 

What will become mounting plates for the CCFL inverters

 

Drilled Screwholes

 

Rounded the ends

 

Polished them up

 

Drilled & tapped screwholes in the MB Panel

 

Secured the inverters

 

Mounted the 4 CCFLs on the right side

 

Secured the right-hand panel

 

Lighting on; dim ambient lighting

 

An assortment of shots in the dark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm planning on having the case and hardware wrapped up by the end of the upcoming weekend; finishing up the baseboard may take a little longer though.

 

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Update (03-Oct-2007): Hardware Part1

 

Today I received the hardware I ordered from Newegg

 

OCZ Reaper 2x1Gb PC2-9200

 

Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer

 

 

BFG 8800 GTX OC (2nd coming tomorrow from ZipZoomFly)

 

 

Silverstone ST1000 iKW PSU

 

 

 

 

DFI LanParty UT NF680i SLI LT T2R/G Motherboard

 

 

 

 

 

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