Oh, now that's just nice, right there.
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Oh, now that's just nice, right there.
Looks killer, but will it hold in too much heat from the card?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tech-Daddy
the hole cut into the end with the Palit logo, will have a slimline 80mm x 15mm inserted there, feeding air across the top of the board. That should help! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke122
Hell yeah. TD modding at the best.
Glad you guys like! :)
Welll.... how did I build the card shroud?
Read on...
First thing though.... It's not totally done. I still have to get a fan mounted in the bottom of this thing, under the Palit logo.
Secondly... I need to get my bolts to properly screw in and hold in... that is always challenging! ;)
But enough about the technicalities... here's how this all went down.
Starting with the blue, 1/4" acrylic, I drew out the design on the protective paper, then cut it out in a general, more manageable form from the 24"x24" panel.
I made the design so that I had flames wrapping around the tubing paths leading to the MAZE5 GPU block. Knowing that the OD of the tubing was 5/8", I grabbed me a spade bit of equivalent diameter and put it on the drill press, and made the preliminary holes for the tubing... keeping in mind that with bending and sanding, the shape of the flames would likely change.
I then dropped in some manuvering holes to be used while working the scroll saw. My thinking was to put them in places that I may have difficulty turning the acrylic on the saw.
After the initial scroll saw cutting, the rough shape is defined. I was not totally concerned about missing my lines on the flames, as flame work sometimes takes on a life of it's own... and if I had a few flames that were not perfect... I was cool with that! Sanding will refine the shapes as I progress!
For measurement sake, I kept referring back to the card to make sure my perspective was correct. The "P" logo on the right is for Palit, the vedor that is graciously letting me mod some of their product! :)
Got the P logo cut out, and then compared it against the print out of the logo... not bad! There will be a bit of sanding here to refine the edges. Same concept here... I drilled holes in strategic places on the acrylic to allow me to manuver the scroll saw in some of the tight places.
Take off the paper protector to see how badly I've butchered this piece.... and was pleasantly surprised to not have any cracks or splinters! But... oh my, do I have a lot of cleanup and sanding to do! ;)
Just did the first bend on the side facing the card slot. I also had to cut a notch for the DVI ports. I used the acrylic bender to heat the bending line, then used two blocks of wood to press and hold the bend. My second shroud will be produced a bit differently on the bending technique, as the wood grain left some unwanted imperfections i nthe surface of the acrylic. I'm going to build me another bending jig to mimic the size of the video card and the height that I need.
I flame polished the edges of the entire piece. Lemme say, that it can really, really, *really* make the edges look good.... or it can throw a horrible wrench into the appearance if you over cook an edge. It is a very delicate dance that you must perform, *especially* on the thiner pieces (in my case the flame tips).
Looking underneath the first bend and checking my clearance.
Flip it over and visualize.... I started seeing problems with my tube inlets in this shot, and started investigating....
I <3 this shot... ;)
I dropped in 2 sample pieces of tubing to see how they would fit, and saw that they were not passing through as freely or as straight as I had hoped. So, I ended up taking my dremmel's sanding drum, and sanding/enlarging the opening to better accommodate the tubing. I also reshaped many pieces of flame work, then re-flame polished the edges.
After some more adjustments, I ended up with the below unit. Notice the flame next to the PCI power. I Had to bend a flame lick to insure that it would not impede any power cabling. Because I kept it, I May reshape it to wrap it around the cable line...
*ding*
Actually, I have a sweet idea for integrated cable management for the PCI power. I'll have to build it off of the top card since it requires a long piece of acrylic to be pulled and shaped from the main body... heheheh, fun fun!
Nice job. +Rep
A really nice job.
Very inspirational. I'd bust out my scroll saw right now if it wasn't the middle of the night!
DAMN, this is one amazing mod.... i love the blue acrylic and painting on the side panels :D
Man, i wish i could do this.... my mod wont even compare to this.... +rep
Incredible plexi work, man. Unique application too - you don't usually see a video-card shroud that genuinely looks good. +rep
As I have had a TON of time to work on this mod, I will have a pictorial update for you in the next day or two.
I have disassembled my primary rig (the one that housed all of my hardware that is going into Deuce) and have been installing and removing all of it in an effort to better visualize and route all of the cabling.
Well, in the coming days, there will be some good and exciting pics that I think you will like, as well as some serious movement.
To give a brief synopsis,
1) My plan for the pumps was not going to work. I mis judged the width of the motherboard and where the backs of the video cards were going to be.... but trials can bring inspiration when routed properly, and I came up with a bitchen solution for the pumps! I think you will like!
2) Chemical "WeldOn" is drying on the last joint of my reservoir brackets! I took one of the completed units and the one prototype that I did many weeks back, and placed them in the 5.25" bay area to see how they would work... and I am happy! I eyeballed those dimensions perfectly!!!
3) SLI bracket on the video cards is going to be a bit of a pain in the tookus.... since the cards each have their own full cover, I have to find a way to route the SLI bridge through the flamed acrylic *without* messing up the flow. This only impacts the top card, since the SLI bridge must cut across the flames to make it to the bottom card. I think I have an idea to minimize the flame impact.... we'll see.
4) I ordered fans for hte video cards, and unfortunately I recieved the wrong type. I am awaiting the replacement correct white LED fans.
5) In all of the hoopla of placing my case, I had the epiphany that, "Oh crap! I dont have room for an optical drive!" DOH!!! But I found an excellent item that will work the solution, an eSATA/USB chassis that will hold the CD/DVD drive. I have to check out my SATA ports on the machine, and if that wont work, then I will have to use it as USB. Fingers crossed....
more to come... but that is about a summary of what all is going on!!!
:up::up::up:
Lots of stuff for you to do lol, at least you know where you are heading. I can't wait for the pics.
the video card looks awsome! cant wait to see it together!!!! :D
Pics up tonight... I'm about to fall asleep on my keyboard! :)
You would not believe the number of times I had to re-write stuff just to get the pics up!
I will add full text after I have had some sleep!
The graphics card shroud looks beautiful as does the pump and res mounts.
Maybe you should make a support for the GPU, it is sagging a lot with just the weight of the block and shroud, with coolant it will be even heavier. MAy be something for you to consider, I knock could snap the card in the socket and damage the mobo in the process.
the card is actually not sagging. It is the bend of the acrylic on the ends that I did to give the fan som additional room. The card is actually quite straight. A bit of bowing due to the waterblock tension.
Still working on that.
:)
Yeah I noticed that the plexi bowed a bit more but I actually looked at the PCB itself. The waterblock you say, quite understandable once I think about it.
Finally got my other video card back last week and then *finally* got my correct LED fans delivered! (First set did not have the LED's.... be that as it may! The 2nd video card shroud was ENTIRELY too much drama. ANd I apologize in that I did not take pics of the processing today... only the results.
Card #2 I misjudged on the sanding and ended up taking too much material off, and I spent the rest of the day performing lots of custom bends and tweaks to get the shroud to lay right on the card.
That and the SLI bridge was just more drama than it needed to be! ;)
BUT... I still have some more LED's to mount in the shrouds to make them pop.... but.... welll... see for yourself!
First fan installed and looking pretty darn dapper I might add! ;) I bored out the holes with a counter sink tool to let the screws fall through deep enough to grab the fan fram for a few twists. I flame polished those too! ;)
Put in both cards, note the SLI bridge!
Turn on the fans using a little psu I have for hard drives, and drop the lights:
My box is on FIRE!!!!! ;)
I have a few minor tweaks and cleanup to pull off on these units, but I am damn happy!
-=TD
wow that looks cool
yeah!... and with 2 of thoose pumps you should do fine xD
awesome effects mate. does the heat during the bending smudge the plexi?
Man awesome work on the GPU covers, the white LED fans really make them a point of interest for this mod. I love how you incorporated the SLI bridge without changing the 'flow' of the flames.
The smudges will be cleaned off after I am done assembling and disassembling the cards. Polish and cleaning will help immensely!Quote:
Originally Posted by Acey
Thanks everyone!
:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
I wish to inform you that this bad boy is featured!
Congratz on the feature mate, you deserve it.
Awwww damn guys!!!
Ya shouldn't have!
;)
*blushes*
not a huge update tonight.... but a neat one none the less!
The CPU *should* now have a goood, effective white halo effect due to the addition of this little bit of LED'ness... ;)
I bought several of these ridgid strips of LED's, and they can be cut into groups of 3, and have holes for soldering your own custom wiring into them.
So, I cut 2 of then out, cut a bit of wire out and soldered it into place, and used double stick tape to mount to the bottom of the CPU water block bracket. The supply line will be disguised, but am not sure yet how.....
:)
I have never thought of doing that before, what an awesome idea. +rep
Rigid strips you say, do you have a link? These will really help out my next mod.
hey i saw this a few hours ago while talking to tech and thought it was sickk
Tbfo hes talking about pirahana lights.....
Never seen them. Are they the ones you put in molex connectors to light them up? I have heard them be called fireflys but not piranha lights.
Here ya go....
http://www.besthongkong.com/index.ph...063c59b21478f9
:)
Thanks mate. ALRIGHT they have orange!!! Just the colour I was looking for.
Quick work tonight, following up on the pre-fab'd LED strips from last night, I incorporated 2 strips of flat top white/90 degree strips to fill up the shroud's dark area on the other side of the water block (opposite of the fan).
I was using a small power source to run the fans and lights, just to make sure everything was still working after install...
....
Yummy! ;)
that is pure awesome TD.. you are an absolutely amazing modder
I second that, excellent. Good idea to put some of those LEDs under the shroud.Quote:
Originally Posted by b4i7
well deserved the featuredness
wait till you see what im planning for moditor hope it works
Oh, come on - the man makes a chassis a really cool color, cuts some plexi in intricate shapes, and bends some more plexi into one of the coolest GPU covers I have ever seen and he gets featured? What's up with that? Wait, no...that actually makes perfect sense. Congrats, dude!
+Rep
I'll say it again: This just keeps getting better and better!
TD congratz on the MOTM nomination over at Bit-Tech, good luck buddy.
Congrats n good luck mate. 4 of us are in the running.
