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Kaej
08-15-2006, 04:07 PM
FINALLY, I managed to come up with a name for my PC project i'm happy with! Been touting this about TBCS for a while now but since i've finally got it off the ground and started to spray stuff, i'll put in a proper worklog.

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/5548/p1000316wf2.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000316wf2.jpg)

This is the mouse as it stands. The whole thing looks really good when it's put together but the L and R buttons, as well as the two extra ones on the main body need lacquering to protect them from wear. That's being bought this thursday.

http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/2332/p1000324vz0.th.jpg (http://img452.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000324vz0.jpg)

Safety first kids.

http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/3936/p1000320xa6.th.jpg (http://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000320xa6.jpg)

This is the door covering the drive bays. It's not a perfect hexagon and i'm trying to sand it as damn near as I can. Last resort would be putting a perfect hexagon frame over the cutting edge. The red mesh from the first photo is going behind this hexagon after the door is sprayed matt black.

http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/672/p1000321si4.th.jpg (http://img306.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000321si4.jpg)

This is the brand of spray paint i'm using. Halford's own, meant for cars. I have the grey primer, Matt black and 'Zinnobar Red' from a BMW. Works pretty well with the matt black. More pics later!

Kaej
08-15-2006, 05:19 PM
I'll take some pics of progress with painting tommorow. I'm up in the morning for work so i'll give everything an extra coat and then photograph stuff when i get in.

http://img350.imageshack.us/img350/24/p1000322vi2.th.jpg (http://img350.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000322vi2.jpg)

Thats the case after everything has been gutted out of it. It'll be the last thing i spray. Just using it to not lose little bits for the mean time.


These are the fascia and window parts. I'll explain whats going on with them tommorow.

Silenced_Coyote
08-17-2006, 03:32 AM
Wait a minute... So your case is going to have a prostitute theme? I'm so confused :?

Kaej
08-17-2006, 10:16 AM
:D Well no, it isn't, but i like the rhyming name and the idea that its gonna be one bitchin' PC case (hopefully). I've just bought more spray paint and a can of clear lacquer that i'll test on a scrap piece of steel i never ended up using. All the bits and bobs that are going red to offset the black body are in various stages of being painted.

On a down note, i still need to make a mechanism to open the door properly (i broke the original hinge thing when removing it). That shouldnt be too hard, but it could cause problems if it doesnt want to work.

Aside from that, everything is still on track. Maybe more photo's later of various things going through the spraying process.

Darn, my primer can just ran dry. :(

Kaej
08-22-2006, 01:04 PM
I've made a fair bit of progress with my case and watercooling system. All but one component is now in my possesion and thats just the CPU block because i'm not sure about whether to upgrade to Core Duo. But thats for another thread.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2701/p1000429pm3.th.jpg (http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000429pm3.jpg)

That is the (now finished and lacquered) mouse. The rest of the garage is a mess really and everything is gonna be finished painting more or less at the same time so expect a huge surge of pictures soon!

Kaej
08-24-2006, 05:49 PM
I've sprayed a fair few more pieces of my pc, but really i'm saving them until it's finished so i can get an opinion for the whole thing put together.

I was having trouble with sticker residue on the main body of the case so my dad dug out this; no idea what it is but its make slow and steady progress with on nasty on the bottom where acetone and white spirit fell short.

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/7137/p1000432dm8.th.jpg (http://img243.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000432dm8.jpg)

These are some extras for the case that have been painted Zinnobar red on grey primer to add to the red trim effect of the PC colour scheme.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/141/p1000431gk5.th.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000431gk5.jpg)

This is the pattern on the side of the PC, which will be red on top of the blacked out window. I've started spraying after cutting out the shape from the masking tape.

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4025/p1000433wx9.th.jpg (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000433wx9.jpg)

More soon!

Maz
08-24-2006, 06:30 PM
that cleaner stuff looks pretty industrial...

the mouse looks almost factory quality

and you said that shape would appear on the top of a blacked out window. looks like you are going to cut it out like that. you could always spray it directly on top of the window.

purdy
08-24-2006, 06:33 PM
Hey, I quite like the mouse, keep up the good work; can't wait to see the finished product!

DaveW
08-25-2006, 05:57 AM
I see you subscribe to Custom PC magazine as well! The mouse is looking neat. Keep up the good work.

-Dave

CanaBalistic
08-25-2006, 10:13 AM
You were having problems removing sticker glue with acetone??? That stuff will disolve a buffalo if you give it enough time. Ill asume white spirit is mineral spirits. Thats not the best stuff. I used that stuff as a light degreaser and thats all it could handel. Zippo fluid is by far the best for removing sticker glue and leaving the paint under it alone.

Cannibal23
08-25-2006, 11:13 AM
Zippo fluid is by far the best for removing sticker glue and leaving the paint under it alone.

i tell people this all the time and they never belive me. if only they knew what you and i know.

Kaej
08-27-2006, 04:49 PM
I eventually got all of the sticky off with that industrial strength stuff my dad gave me, let it soak in for long enough and then it just wiped away nice n easy! The whole thing is being sprayed in the garage now, the case that is. I was gutted because last night i scratched the frame for the side panel pretty deep by kicking the hard drive bay into it...not intentionally of course. It'll leave a dint in it but beauty is in imperfections and it'll teach me to be more careful in future. Its only 1mm by 4 or 5mm tho so its not too bad.

The whole thing will be sprayed and curing by friday when i can take photos, going campin tomoro for 5 days so its adios till then!

Maz
08-31-2006, 05:27 PM
cant wait till then

so you kicked your hdd bay into your case?!?!

that sucks, hope it turns out ok

NamesAreUseless
08-31-2006, 06:17 PM
i tell people this all the time and they never belive me. if only they knew what you and i know.

Kerosene also gets sticky sticker marks off of stuff

Kaej
09-01-2006, 02:24 PM
Fresh from camping and no disasters yet, just putting the final layer of matt black on my case now (not this second of course) and then all i need to do is decide on the interior spec and get the cooling up and working before i go away!

I was looking at sticking with S939 for the upcoming future and upgrading to Core Duo in about 12 months when I have a better idea of its capabilities and a better range of mobos to choose from.

I'm going to buy the DFI Lanparty SLI-DR Expert and an X2 3800+ to overclock the flip out of with the tasty voltages i can get from the mobo. The DFI came down from £150 to £120 recently so i'm gonna flog my A8N-SLI Deluxe and 3500+ on ebay or something.

In the meantime, my MDVA came this morning and looks great, cant wait to see it working.

http://www.modthebox.com/reviews/mashiedesign/mdva/mdva11_new.jpg

chedabob
09-01-2006, 02:47 PM
kaej, could i get a price for the a8n-sli delux and the 3500+ (is that an X2?)?

Kaej
09-01-2006, 03:48 PM
kaej, could i get a price for the a8n-sli delux and the 3500+ (is that an X2?)?

Well you could, but I dont think you'll be too interested when i tell you.

Its a bog standard 3500+ single core, 512K Cache, not sure what core that makes it but its the better of Venice and San Diego (dont know which is which).

Along with that, the chipset fan on my A8N-SLI has started to make a noise that sounds like a lawnmower going into labour. I used to give it a poke with a chopstick through a hole in the case and after about 10 seconds of prodding it would shut up and go back to its normal volume. But if you're not gonna use it for water-cooling or for L/N experiments then its not worth the look in really, because the fan needs either replacing or swapping for a chipset w/block.

If you're still interested i'll do the job lot for £65, inc postage. If you're in america or outside the UK then i dunno about postage but i probably wouldnt lose much more.

Kaej
09-05-2006, 05:53 AM
Components = Bought
Water-cooling = Ready To Assemble
Case = Curing

And now we play the waiting game....I think another week should do it :)

Kaej
09-09-2006, 02:35 PM
Ok, here's the skinny (Huggy-Bear I aint). The side panel is finished (voila).

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3900/p1010012bd3.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010012bd3.jpg)

The little missing red bolt is broken but can easily be glued on. The whole thing is being constructed on Monday. Here's a pile'o'stuff that will, with some luck, take the form of a PC. See you all Monday 8)

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/4310/p1010014hx6.th.jpg (http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010014hx6.jpg)

Kaej
09-11-2006, 07:38 AM
Here we go, halfway through Day one of putting togetherness. The only thing to arrive through the mail now is the coolant to go into the loop and some TIM remover and surface purifier for the GPU and mem modules on my 7800GTX.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1052/p1010037ni5.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010037ni5.jpg)

That there is the inside of my side panel, the two fans are hot-glued onto the panel on top of some fan grills harvested from various parts of this PC case and the one i'm sacrificing to do my good work. I glued around the edges of the fans as well so they get nice clean suction from outside the case.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/3334/p1010051wn1.th.jpg (http://img92.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010051wn1.jpg)

Motherboard, PSU and CD drive are mounted, along with the first radiator (out of shot). At this point i realise the size of the case is in itself a blockade to installing a water cooling loop of any magnitude. The amount of wires, tubes and fans (not to mention hard drives, which i now realise will barely squeeze betwixt the soundcard and radiator) will virtually fill the case with liquid like efficiency. The routing of the water-cooling tubes will be the last thing i do before filling the bitch via the resevoir, hot-glue sealing the resevoir and then hoping to god the best happens.

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9466/p1010053za3.th.jpg (http://img165.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010053za3.jpg)

The worst has happened, in my rush to get this project finished (i'm going to university a week on saturday) I accepted that everything would arrive Bristol fashion. Not my luck. In the above photo you can see that a number of the CPU pins are bent out of shape, either in shipping or prior (the CPU was OEM). I've managed to straighten them again using a plastic guitar plectrum (which, fortunately, is the exact thickness of the distance between the pins, and because its non-conductive, helped me straighten them out and whack it in).

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/765/p1010054ii4.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010054ii4.jpg)

This photo shows the magnitude of the volume of the case. Already its feeling superfluosly dense as i carried it to my living room for more space, and the route to the different components are getting cramped (i'm particularly worried about said resevoir, which i'm keeping under-wraps until the end;) ).

With that said, thats lunch. I'll be back in about 2-3 hours with more progress shots.

Kaej
09-11-2006, 12:48 PM
Back again, the PC is coming together nicely, i just get more and more worried about the amount of room inside the case each time i put something else in.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4158/p1010059nb7.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010059nb7.jpg)

This is the rear radiator where coolant will travel before going to the cpu. The fans were a bitch to attatch with the radiator due to a support tab for the PSU (not even in use, thats the kicker) which wouldnt let the Radiator line up with the holes for the fans. My dad found a drill bit just a little larger than the holes and drilled through, giving me the leeway needed to get it all on.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1102/p1010065em2.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010065em2.jpg)

This is the front of the PC as it will look finished, with drive bay doors and all. The MDVA will be visible thru the mesh on the front of the drive bay door and the main intake fans are behind the large red square.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/2408/p1010066fy3.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010066fy3.jpg)

Continuing the red/black theme is the back of the case (maybe overkill here) but i also sprayed the I/O panel as well as all the black PCI backplates and even the USB one that came with the mobo.

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/8479/p1010063zz5.th.jpg (http://img111.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010063zz5.jpg)

Hot-glued the feet back to the bottom of the case. I also didnt notice it but the holes left behind from when i drilled the old HDD cage's rivets are perfect for LEDs if i want to underlight the case at a future date.

gaz_the_chav
09-11-2006, 12:58 PM
mmmm

that looking like some hot shiz ther mate good work clean job

Kaej
09-13-2006, 10:25 AM
The building has stalled unfortunatly. I knew it'd be a squeeze to fit everything in the case and at the moment the HDDs are being an arse to fit. The cage i had ready to fit them into the case in won't fit. I underestimate the length of a 7800GTX board. They won't stack there either so i've opened another thread in the cases forum asking where the best place is gonna be.

Sounds like it'll be distributing the HDDs around the case.

Kaej
09-19-2006, 04:39 PM
The PC has been finished, and i've loved every second of it. Tommorow (about 20 hours from now) i'll upload pictures of it. It'll be in my living room because of my moving to University on Saturday, so there's no point in reinstalling it in my room. I wanna thank people on these boards for help they gave me over the past few weeks in getting this bitch going and up and running, can't wait to see what you think.

Cheers