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.

Bummer! This does suggest to me though as to why there are advantages to the 'pipe on plate' method of building. It doesn't look as nice, but it does have the two advantages of being simple and very resistant to leakage. From a purely functional standpoint it is probably adequate for everything but CPU's and maybe GPU's. None of the other commonly cooled items (HDD's, NB's, etc) put out enough heat to need heavy duty intense cooling. Given that while a PSU puts out a fairly high heat, it's heat comes from a bunch of small point sources rather than one central point, I think pipe on plate would work there as well. (I would probably solder a tube to the edge of any plates used to replace the aluminum sinks)

Sounds good, I'll be waiting for them.

Gooserider

Maybe i am blind, but i can't seem to find where you state what raid controller you are using?
Could you please enlighten me?

Thanks

Althornin,

I didn't... but I will now... :D

I have a GA-8PE800 Ultra motherboard (Gigabyte) and it has the "GigaRAID" controller... not as fast as a Promise controller... but more than adequate for me as it was built into the motherboard along with all the other goodies... :p

Stop chatting and post those pictures!!! :drool:

Phooey... :mad: the day got eaten up on chores and such... :eek:

I do have these two pictures of the power supply...

Before soldering the wires back in place... and how much I cut off the main feed to the motherboard...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0258.jpg

And after I soldered all the connections ... not too shabby... :p

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0259.jpg

I'll try again tomorrow to get the other pictures up... still working on recovering files from the corrupted backup on my spare drive... mainly pictures that can't be replaced... :mad: :cry: :eek:

hope we can see some pics soon, also just seen in the pic above have you left the fan in or was it an early before pic?

Hope u can recover the data from your drive.

Buzz

buzzby,

The fan in the picture is only one of two that were in the power supply originally. I removed the second one only. I left this one to remove any heat from other devices not cooled by the water block system. It's actually a VERY quiet fan. (7 blades, curved design, under 2400 RPM) :D

As to the data recovery... I got about 80% of my personal pictures back. Probably less of a percentage of my MP3 collection (/me prepares to start ripping CDs again... yeesh :eek: )

More to follow this evening as I have corrected the leak with the drive cage and have everything closed up.

come on give us the pics I and i suspect WE want to see the finished result.

I have two new 120mm fans on order for the radiator... I'm suffering right now with three 80mm and four 60 mm fans in a really weird setup... I'll take a picture of that tonight.

I did recover 100% of my e-mail... :D

And, yes buzzby, I'll take a picture of the system running. Haven't messed with overclocking as of yet... but I did get a score of 4917 on 3DMark03 with default settings. :p

see what happens when you get people adicted to your work/pictures you have to keep fulfiling thier habbit on a regular basis, even if you dont have time to work on your system. Word of the wize next time keep a buffer zone of picutures :-).

To others who want pictures, what you guys are doing is VERY enoying if not to MMZ_TimeLord at least to other people. He said he will post pictures be patient.

MMZ--How hard is visio to learn?

a piece of cake, it is not a CAD program, rather a general purpose drawing/flowchart/schematic program

ozzy7750,

Yeah, it is a general purpose diagram/precision drawing program. It can be used for/in place of CAD to a certain extent... but it's limited.

I use it for that because I can visualize isometric drawings as 3D in my head. :p

As for the updates... I have some pictures of the system...

View slowly so as not to overdose! :D :eek:

Full system...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0260.jpg

Video Card solution ... from the "top 3/4" view...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0261.jpg

Hard Drive cage... wired up and humming quietly... (actually can't hear it with the side of the case on) :)

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0262.jpg

Reservior and pump... you can tell it's working because the water is higher at the pump end...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0263.jpg

Last... the Radiator and all those fans... YUCK :mad: Can't wait for the two 120mm fans to come in. :rolleyes:

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/mmz_tl_01...s/Dscn0264.jpg

I probably won't post much more at this point... unless I get a bug in my ear to try a new CPU block design.

That's gonna wrap it up for the most part... Thanks to everyone that helped with the various design stages and suggestions! :dome:

you dont use clamps? is that safe?

thats awesome man, got er runnin? whats yoru temps and stuff lookin like?

hoseclamps are over rated;)

Jon