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krazy · 05-08-2004, 06:40 PM

Well, I'm dragging this thread kicking and screaming back from the dead.

I had some cash inflow and ordered my new case. When it arrived, I promptly began measuring, photographing, and laying out holes and cuts. To see pictures of the case stripped of plastic parts and on the operating table, look here:
http://stoerzinger.dyndns.org/~karl/...1_case_before/

-----------

Front fans:
First to go were the drive cages and their mounting shelves. I laid out a rectangular cut on the front face of the tower and cut the whole thing out. Partway through, my dremel kicked and sheared the collet screw. Fortunately, I made it over to Home Depot and picked up a new one 2 minutes before they closed and was able to continue working.

Before cutting out front panel
And again afterwards
the new panel held in place with kleekos
cutting the fan holes with a fly cutter on the drill press
finished product ready to be toughed-up and riveted in

The new heater core:
The ugly heater core I got used off of ebay has three problems: for starters, it's making white buildup in my loop, and it's too big to fit nicely in the back panel of the new case, and did I mention that it's uuuuugly?

I stopped at several car parts stores around town and paged through catalogs. Eventually I found one that was almost perfect for what I wanted to do, and the place could have it sent over from their warehouse by that evening. I stopped by after work and picked up my shiny new single-pass core for $34. Perfect.

I modified the pipes coming out of it and epoxied on thread adapters. I would have soldered them, but I'm certain I would have ended up melting the joints to the tanks and made a royal mess out of the whole deal. The epoxy I used is the 8-hour cure time waterproof rated stuff. I'm pretty sure it'll do the job for a low-temp, non-pressurized system like I'll be dealing with.

face view
side view
I cut the pipes off with a dremel and a hack saw blade
wire-brushed copper ready for epoxy
epoxied-on thread adapters

Installing the heatercore
My plan was to do what Ben did with a similar setup and use the PSU mount in the back of the case to contain the heatercore. I intended originally to omit the two crossbar stabilizer pieces to get a little more room for the heatercore. I planned to use hex coupling nuts epoxied onto the corners of the core to secure it to the case.

These pictures don't show it, but I ended up changing plans slightly near the end when my epoxied mounts proved to be too weak. Two of them snapped off as I was tightening another one, and the core almost made it's way towards the floor (a quick grab saved it). Now the core is physically sitting on top of the (now slightly notched) rails and secured by the coupling nuts only at the top. When I re-epoxied the nuts, I did a much better job cleaning and roughening the metal up so I'm fairly confident they'll stay put this time. If they don't, the core can't fall down into the rest of the computer at least.

Cutting the hole was easy. The bottom was already in the perfect place, so I just had to trim the square ears out of the corners. The top was enlarved upwards by slightly over an inch, and the hole was already the perfect width from the factory.

the basic idea (with the case on it's side)
the fit at the bottom (can it get any better?)
and the fit at the top (perfect)
the factory hole
the same hole after I was finished with it

Getting power into the case
Since I'll obviously be putting the PSU on the inside of the case, I needed a way to get power in for both the PSU and the pump. My solution was the most obvious elegant solution: add a power plug to the back of the case somewhere else.

I scavenged the plug from an old power supply and cut a hole for it in the lower rear corner of the back panel. I'll run power up to the PSU and pump relay from here with a normal-type power cable wire and put shrink wrap over the soldered ends to keep from electrocuting someone if they go digging around inside my case.

marking the cuts
roughed-out with a dremel; time for hand tools
the finished product

Inital airflow improvement: eliminating that pesky shelf thing

I didn't like the tight path left for air to get from my front fans up to the heater core, so I decided to remove the shelf in the way, leaving the front portion intact to support the drive bays and whatnot. I changed my mind at the last minute (after drilling out the rivets already) and decided there was probably a reason for this part, or de designers would have omitted it. I figured all it could be doing was diagonally bracing the middle of the case, so I changed my design and left an outline of it as an angle brace. This opened up the middle for good airflow and also left the structural support in place.

shelf intact with freshly-notched side support trusses to hold the heater core
beginning to cut with the dremel
the finished product. Look better?

---------------

That's all for now. My reservoir and new cabling will arrive on the 13th, and then I will have almost everything to put the whole shebang into the new case.

Comments? Advice? Questions?

edit: fixed bad tag

05-08-2004, 06:40 PM	#7
krazy Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Posts: 123	Well, I'm dragging this thread kicking and screaming back from the dead. I had some cash inflow and ordered my new case. When it arrived, I promptly began measuring, photographing, and laying out holes and cuts. To see pictures of the case stripped of plastic parts and on the operating table, look here: http://stoerzinger.dyndns.org/~karl/...1_case_before/ ----------- Front fans: First to go were the drive cages and their mounting shelves. I laid out a rectangular cut on the front face of the tower and cut the whole thing out. Partway through, my dremel kicked and sheared the collet screw. Fortunately, I made it over to Home Depot and picked up a new one 2 minutes before they closed and was able to continue working. Before cutting out front panel And again afterwards the new panel held in place with kleekos cutting the fan holes with a fly cutter on the drill press finished product ready to be toughed-up and riveted in The new heater core: The ugly heater core I got used off of ebay has three problems: for starters, it's making white buildup in my loop, and it's too big to fit nicely in the back panel of the new case, and did I mention that it's uuuuugly? I stopped at several car parts stores around town and paged through catalogs. Eventually I found one that was almost perfect for what I wanted to do, and the place could have it sent over from their warehouse by that evening. I stopped by after work and picked up my shiny new single-pass core for $34. Perfect. I modified the pipes coming out of it and epoxied on thread adapters. I would have soldered them, but I'm certain I would have ended up melting the joints to the tanks and made a royal mess out of the whole deal. The epoxy I used is the 8-hour cure time waterproof rated stuff. I'm pretty sure it'll do the job for a low-temp, non-pressurized system like I'll be dealing with. face view side view I cut the pipes off with a dremel and a hack saw blade wire-brushed copper ready for epoxy epoxied-on thread adapters Installing the heatercore My plan was to do what Ben did with a similar setup and use the PSU mount in the back of the case to contain the heatercore. I intended originally to omit the two crossbar stabilizer pieces to get a little more room for the heatercore. I planned to use hex coupling nuts epoxied onto the corners of the core to secure it to the case. These pictures don't show it, but I ended up changing plans slightly near the end when my epoxied mounts proved to be too weak. Two of them snapped off as I was tightening another one, and the core almost made it's way towards the floor (a quick grab saved it). Now the core is physically sitting on top of the (now slightly notched) rails and secured by the coupling nuts only at the top. When I re-epoxied the nuts, I did a much better job cleaning and roughening the metal up so I'm fairly confident they'll stay put this time. If they don't, the core can't fall down into the rest of the computer at least. Cutting the hole was easy. The bottom was already in the perfect place, so I just had to trim the square ears out of the corners. The top was enlarved upwards by slightly over an inch, and the hole was already the perfect width from the factory. the basic idea (with the case on it's side) the fit at the bottom (can it get any better?) and the fit at the top (perfect) the factory hole the same hole after I was finished with it Getting power into the case Since I'll obviously be putting the PSU on the inside of the case, I needed a way to get power in for both the PSU and the pump. My solution was the most obvious elegant solution: add a power plug to the back of the case somewhere else. I scavenged the plug from an old power supply and cut a hole for it in the lower rear corner of the back panel. I'll run power up to the PSU and pump relay from here with a normal-type power cable wire and put shrink wrap over the soldered ends to keep from electrocuting someone if they go digging around inside my case. marking the cuts roughed-out with a dremel; time for hand tools the finished product Inital airflow improvement: eliminating that pesky shelf thing I didn't like the tight path left for air to get from my front fans up to the heater core, so I decided to remove the shelf in the way, leaving the front portion intact to support the drive bays and whatnot. I changed my mind at the last minute (after drilling out the rivets already) and decided there was probably a reason for this part, or de designers would have omitted it. I figured all it could be doing was diagonally bracing the middle of the case, so I changed my design and left an outline of it as an angle brace. This opened up the middle for good airflow and also left the structural support in place. shelf intact with freshly-notched side support trusses to hold the heater core beginning to cut with the dremel the finished product. Look better? --------------- That's all for now. My reservoir and new cabling will arrive on the 13th, and then I will have almost everything to put the whole shebang into the new case. Comments? Advice? Questions? edit: fixed bad tag __________________ Abit NF7-S ... xp1800+ ... Abit GF4ti4200 ... Maxtor 120gb SATA150 Currently gathering parts to water cool everything! (read about the project) Last edited by krazy; 05-09-2004 at 04:55 AM.