Well, I got the base polishing job done ... here are the results...

Front 3/4 view...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0232.jpg

Rear 3/4 view...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0234.jpg

Look... I can see my pliers in the reflection!!! :D :p :dome:

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0235.jpg

I'll finish up polishing after I leak test it tomorrow... Cheers!!!

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: I want that block :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
So sexy so fine looking, dame MMZ .
U know how to make Blocks :D

This is soooooo nicely done! :drool:

I have enjoyed every new update in this thread, the only sad thing is that it's almost at the end. :(

Don't you have any more blocks to do to keep us entretained? :D

MMZ_Timelord:

Would it be possible to get you to write this massive project up for the main site? Since I have the ability to post articles now I can actually get it up there for wider viewing. Great work!

pHaestus,

Sure, I suppose I could... hmm... I still have all the pictures in their original higher resolution too. :D

When the system is done I'll put something together and trim it down a hair. Just let me know where to send it... to you I presume? :shrug:

Great work there.
Blade has some serious competition now. ;)

Althou you're not planning to build a kickstand, can you give us (me) a resonable weight number, with water in the block? just curious.

yup to me. phaestus@procooling.com

Not much of an update today... no pictures. I found one pinhole leak on one of the screw holes on the front block. I will heat, flow a small amount of solder and re-finish that spot tomorrow.

The rest of the time today was spent wet sanding the faces of the front and back blocks. Some scratches and other "boo-boos" needed to be cleaned up.

Hopefully I will finish the polishing job tomorrow and get the clear coat shot on it.

I plan on polishing up the main block in the power supply too... and the Hard Drive cage. :D

I will try and get pictures of the case with the components test fitted tomorrow.

Cheers!

I'm not sure how I missed this thread before, but WOW. MMZ_Timelord, you da man. I wish i could take the time out and fly down there and pay you for a week of your time to educate me in the practices of milling!

starbuck3733t,

I'll let you in on a little secret... 90% of my work is designing it ahead of time.
(Even HOW I'm going to machine it) If I didn't lay it out first... I'd bugger it up for sure. :eek:

As to my milling practices... I've been working with power tools since I was 6 years old. (Nearly 29 years now) So, I've gotten a lot of this down by feel.

After a certain amount of experience, you begin to learn when the machine is taking too much material, or not enough. I am still learning on the mill... once in a while, even with proper application of oil, I get a bit that starts to "chatter" on me... and I have to back off.

If all you have is a hand tools and/or drill press, you can still do some amazing things. Plan it out, figure out what you can and can't do and work around it.

In theory I could have made the video block solution out of multiple sheets of copper clamped together in the oven (with metal C-clamps and steel plate pieces) and a simple drill press. It would have been more work, but could have been done.

End mills can be used in a drill press, just don't expect the same accuracy. And you have to use different techniques (Plunge Roughing instead of milling a channel normally for instance).

Never underestimate what you can do. If it seems impossible... ask here. There is a wealth of information at your fingertips and people willing to share their knowledge with you. AND ... there are always multiple ways to achive the same resulting design. (Just look at what BladeRunner did with hand tools for that hard drive cooler on his site :drool: :p )

Alrighty then!!! :D

I've gotten the Video Card solution and the Power Supply solution completed... aside from installation in the case. :p

Here is the assembly of the finished Video Card solution...

Mica shim for the back side of the GPU area...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0236.jpg

Then we apply a small blob of Arctic Silver II to the RAM (I don't have newer stuff... :cry: ) ...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0237.jpg

Then we set the card on the rear block half and apply small blobs of Arctic Silver II to the RAM and GPU...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0238.jpg

Then make sure our O-Ring is in place, set the front block half in place and snug down all the cap screws...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0239.jpg

That's it for tonight... I did complete one more leak test of all three Solutions together and the Hard Drive cage appears to have a small leak around one of the screw holes. I'll heat up that spot tomorrow and fix it. Then I'll polish the Hard Drive cage and it will be completed. YAY! :D

Cheers!

Well, not so much done today... Got most of the components in the box for test fitting and hose routing...

Laying out the hose... measureing and cutting a little long...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0241.jpg

Then we start trimming hose back... and putting it on each copper tube... (DAMN hard to do too!!! :eek: as each tube is 1/2" Outer Diameter and so is the vinyl tubing! )

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0242.jpg

Then it was off to the water lab ( Kitchen ) for some flow testing and triple check for leaks. (one REALLY slow pinhole in the drive cage... gotta torch that tomorrow)

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0243.jpg

The flow through the Power Supply/Video Card/Hard Drive Cage is just over a trickle as the CPU block is not very restrictive. I may put a small valve in the line to adjust the balance of the system... we will see.

Also need a LOT easier way to fill, drain and bleed the system. I'll think more on that tomorrow... I need sleep. G'night all... :p

First of all, excellent work there. It's of great interest to me as i'll be attempting some custom made blocks in the summer hopefully.

Couple of questions.

1) the mica shim you used on the back of the GPU - where did you get it? did it come as a larger sheet? i've never been able to find any myself.

2) you mentioned using an end mill drill piece for a pillar drill, while i obviously appreciate a pillar drill is not designed for side cutting, have you ever tried this method yourself, i.e. using a pillar drill with milling piece? i dont have access to any milling equipment so all my blocks wil have to be made by hand, dremel and pillar drill.

cheers.

Hey Bladerunner...... strong, running the force.... from within this one ...I sense :)

Fillip,

I have not tried side cutting lately... did a long time ago on a fairly stout "pillar drill" (Drill Press for those in the states :D ). I found that "Plunge Roughing" as I was told it was called works a lot better on a "pillar drill".

You may get "chatter" from an endmill if you are trying to plunge too far. Also, I've found that even on my mill if you are plunging an endmill, it's best to pre drill it most of the way so there is no stress on the endmill's center cutting area. (Not to mention that some endmills are non-center cutting and I have a few :cry: )

#Rotor,

Thanks mate!!! :p

I have to blame you for the high restriction in the video card block... :D

Anyhoo... I've taken the day off and the wife and I are going out soon... hopefully I will get more cable routing and that Drive Cage leak fixed today. (It's really small and slow, but I want it fixed just the same :D )

Cheers!

Edit: Fillip, I forgot to answer your question about the mica shim... I got it off a larger sheet. It was one of two shims that were 1.5 x 2 inches in size and were part of a Celeron, Slot 1 processor heat sink sandwich.

i.e. - Fans - Heat Sink - Shim - Slot 1 CPU - Shim - Heat Sink - Fans

This was one of my first attempts to cool a Celeron 300 that was overclocked to 450Mhz.

I spent most of the day with my sweetheart (wife :D ) and so didn't get a whole lot done...

I DID however get my data cables for the drives shortened and custom shaped...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0244.jpg

That's it for now... tomorrow I'm going to start shortening the power supply cables and put nice covers on them.

L8R! :p

Hi

How have you shortened the IDE cables? and can you tell us your going to shorten the PSU cables as well.

Also is that a 5 disk RAID array + why do you need 5 drives i thought i was pushing it with the 4 i have?

Buzz

buzzby,

I shortened the drive cables by CAREFULLY taking the connectors off and moving them closer to the motherboard side connector. I left the motherboard side connector in place. If you do this you will need a small vise or "grip type clamp" to compress the connector pieces over the data cable properly.

Only one of the cables have "holes" still in it from the original middle connector, and that is on the DVD-ROM and DVD+RW drives. If it does not work, I will go buy some 80 conductor data cable and remake it.

The RAID array is now in a 0+1 arrangement. Only four drives on the yellow cables on the green connectors of the motherboard. The fifth drive at the top is spare storage and is in the second regular EIDE channel (white connector port on the motherboard)

I will be measuring, shortening/customizing the power supply connectors as well. I have the ATX power supply that got blown and so I can use the wires from it and the wires from this one for drive cables. The motherboard main and 12V connector cables are WAY too long and will simply be shortened.

Another update...

Power Supply Cable customizing 101... :dome:

First... MEASURE... Second... MEASURE AGAIN! :D

On the power supply itself, I marked and desoldered all the power cable connections...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0247.jpg

I found that my new (new for me, purchased from a friend) video card has a floppy drive power hookup on it (Ati All-in-Wonder Radeon 9700 Pro). So I figure to give it the most stable output, I'm would make a dedicated cable just for that. So that was the first project on the agenda.

First I disassembled a regular molex connector and a floppy drive power connector...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0246.jpg

Next I snipped off the ends of each of the cables as I'm going to use the wires from the single long molex cable for the FDD connector...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0248.jpg

Here it is with the FDD pins soldered to the regular molex wires and assembled...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0249.jpg

Here is the "Expandable Sleeving" (I picked up at Fry's Electronics) added to the cable and melted closed at the tip...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0250.jpg

On the ATX power connector cable, which already had some "Expandable Sleeving" installed along with a band of heat shrink tubing to hold it...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0251.jpg

I cut off the heat shrink tubing...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0252.jpg

Then I used the tip of my soldering iron and some needle nose pliers to create a rounded end...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0253.jpg

Next I put "Expandable Sleeving" on the 12V cable...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0254.jpg

And here are all the cables including the cable for my DVD-ROM, DVD+RW and Floppy Drive...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0255.jpg

Hope to get the RAID drive and secondary storage hard drive power cables done tomorrow... then I can solder them to the circuit board. :p

Cheers! :D

Looks wonderful, but I *DON'T* like the technique you used for the floppy pins! IMNSHO as a test engineer (and almost NASA sattelite certified solder tech) that is a very problematic approach best defined as a 'failure waiting to happen...' I would never let something like that be done on a box that I owned.

The best technique would have been to get the right pins and crimp them on with the right tool, which probably wouldn't have been very practical. The next best thing. and what I would have done, is to cut the pins off with the wire and done a splice in the wire back away from the connector using solder & shrink tube. If you staggered the splices a bit, it would be about the same thickness as the original wire and would be nicely hidden under the braided sleeve. Remember the key dictate of solder connections, that a good mechanical connection is a prerequesite to a good electrical connection. Your approach doesn't give the good electrical connection.

Sorry to be so critical, but this looks like one of the few flaws in an otherwise wonderfully planned and executed project. Otherwise it's a really nice example of 'How to' that many here can benefit from.

Gooserider

Looks wonderful, but I *DON'T* like the technique you used for the floppy pins! IMNSHO as a test engineer (and almost NASA sattelite certified solder tech) that is a very problematic approach best defined as a 'failure waiting to happen...' I would never let something like that be done on a box that I owned.

The best technique would have been to get the right pins and crimp them on with the right tool, which probably wouldn't have been very practical. The next best thing. and what I would have done, is to cut the pins off with the wire and done a splice in the wire back away from the connector using solder & shrink tube. If you staggered the splices a bit, it would be about the same thickness as the original wire and would be nicely hidden under the braided sleeve. Remember the key dictate of solder connections, that a good mechanical connection is a prerequesite to a good electrical connection. Your approach doesn't give the good electrical connection.

Sorry to be so critical, but this looks like one of the few flaws in an otherwise wonderfully planned and executed project. Otherwise it's a really nice example of 'How to' that many here can benefit from.

Gooserider

Seeing as how you didn't see any pictures of the actual solder joint, that IS a very critical analysis. :eek:

I would let you know that the crimp on the insulation was opened and insulation removed and the original wire strands trimmed back as far as possible. THEN the new wires were crimped in place and soldered to the connector over the original crimp point. I NEVER leave cold solder joints in my work.

That is the reason some of the insulation is melted back from the connection point... connector got a little too hot for the insulation.

As for mechanical failure... I can appreciate the criticality of that in a space bound sattalite as it would take GREAT stresses getting to it's final orbit. On this system, which is now WAY too heavy to take to LAN parties... it will not be moving around and therefore under almost NO mechanical strain.

Being a dedicated power supply for the video card also is the reason for the larger wires ... most floppy drive connectors are on smaller guage wires coming from a standard molex connector. I simply removed the smaller guage wire from the equation as well as additional power loads back to the power supply along the same wires.

As to getting the correct connector pins and crimping them from a virgin form... I would have... IF I had them readily available. ( most of us don't just happen to have a local shop that sells just the naked connector pins... hence your correct statement of not being very practical... :dome: )

All your points would carry more validity... IF... this was an industrial system. :(

BTW... I'm also a test engineer... :p

sure you can bring to lans :) the weight of my system (nearly 50 pounds last time i checked) doesnt stop me :)

System

P.S. those solder joints look just fine to me, if you really want to get the virgin crimp connectors (i wouldnt bother if the current ones work for you) you can check out Fry's in Palo Alto they have some

P.S.S. Very nice work as usual keep it up!!! For the fill and bleed i would definaly use something like This!

MMZ, I agree that I couldn't see the connector solder joint (someone didn't post any pictures of it ;) ) and what you describe is better than what I feared, though I would still be reluctant to buy off on it. (OK, so I'm a purist - I also come from a high-rel background where failures aren't acceptable...) From what I could see in the initial pic, it looked like you were just butting the cut ends together and soldering, which I think you'd agree isn't a good idea.

My objection to the idea of getting the right pins wasn't so much access to the pins themselves (Tons of places to get them on the net) as it is that getting the right crimper for them is VERY expensive, and not practical for a seldom used tool.

I would also say that the rest of the work so far is exquisite, and a good example to all. I know it's probably a bit rude looking to just jump in with a critical comment, but I generally don't get on threads unless I have more to add than just 'kewl werk dood' type comments - I feel they don't add much value to the thread. It is just the unfortunate case this time that the first thing I saw that seemed worth commenting on was also the first item that I didn't think was really done well.

Gooserider

Gooserider,

No offense taken... I just love a good debate :D

I would have preferred to have fresh pins too... even without the proper crimping tool I could have made a "good enough" crimp (I can make a press out of scrap steel and some needle files) but it just wasn't worth the time.

I'm also shortening the distance between original chains of molex connectors so they will "just fit" the stack of hard drives.

Pictures later... :dome:

I'll admit, I have a somewhat proper molex crimper - a former employer had one that the ratchet was missing from, and was going to throw it away. I rescued it from the trash, and figure that while it's not certifiable, it does well enough for my needs.

I also purchased a low cost ratchet crimper for those insulated crimps, it makes a big difference, as I don't think it is possible to make a good connection with those cheap POS pliers that most people try to use.

It is easier to be fussy when you have the tools...

Gooserider

Well, I got the system assembled and fired up... one of the modified Hard Drive cables didn't work so I put on a spare... All better now. Even the modified RAID IDE cables work ... YIPPIE!! :D :p

Anyway... doing some overnight leak testing and rebuilding the RAID array. Pictures to follow tomorrow... I'm too tired to post them tonight. :cry:

Grrrr.... af...af.... Neeed pictures now.... grrrr

Nice work. This is real inspiring. I cant wait until my studies are done so that I can move to a place where I will have room for this kind of work.

Minor update... I'll get pictures up today of some things...

I had a hell of a time getting the RAID array to accept an install of XP. So I updated the motherboard BIOS (one version behind) and selected "Safe Default" settings in the BIOS.

Then all went well... I have a fresh install of XP running as we speak. I find two more VERY slow pinhole leaks in the drive cage, inside two of the screw recesses. :mad: :cry:

I'll get pictures up of that repair today after work as well as the previous pictures. I'm going to do some sample pictures of soldering those pins for you Gooserider. :D

More to follow later today...

Can't wait Bring on the pictures.