Project: Dark Carbon

[jhanlon303]

Just a quick request:
When you get the "real" anodized parts back could you do a couple shots of how they compare to the red paint? The paint is awesome so far and the contrast with the CF is astounding.

john

[rendermandan]

Just a quick request:
When you get the "real" anodized parts back could you do a couple shots of how they compare to the red paint? The paint is awesome so far and the contrast with the CF is astounding.

john

No problem John, Here you go.

Here are the 3 parts I had anodized. The two hard drive fan housings and the pci back panel.

A little closer shot.

Here is a shot with a scrap piece of aluminum that I painted with the anodizing. You can see how easily that stuff scratches and shows imperfections.

If you ignore the "yellow bright area from the flash" you can see the color matches almost perfectly!

The hard drive fans came red. but they didn't look so good agains the red anodizing, so I game them a shot with some paint.

And here is one of the fans back together. Not to bad!

And here they both are. You can see there is a gap at the top of the frame, so I had to cover that up.

Of course with a piece of CF.

And here is what they look like in the case. -I still have to make a larger CF cover for the top.

Sorry, this shot came out a little blurry.

Next I installed the back panel.

Here you can see I installed some Chromed pci vent covers. -Not sure if I should paint them black or leave them chromed. What do you think?

Oh, I also ordered some red anodized screws for the covers a long time ago.

Here is a shot with the motherboard installed.

One other interesting thing. Asus isntalled some kind of "heat reducing" chip directly on the opposite side of where the cpu bracket is. Here you can see that it sticks up from the bottom of the board quite a bit. The issue I am having is the back plate for the water cooling will rest against this chip. -First off, it will put un-needed pressure on the chip. It will also block any air getting to the chip. So does anyone know if this will be a problem? I hope not.

-Not sure if anyone noticed but I don't have a fan controller. Well, I've been planning all along to have a windows controlled fan controller. Gediminas has been working on the electronics side of it. And here is a shot for the custom PCB I'm going to have made up. Let me know if anyone else would be interested as its not that much money to order a few more. The main cost is in the setup charge.

And here is a screen shot of the custom windows interface. -It runs basically the same as the Lighting controller that I made for XPS Ground effects. It uses pulse width Modulation to control the fans. -It controlls 6 different fans and will hopefully read out their speeds in real time.
It will also read out the speed of my water pump.

I've also been working on more boring wiring, so I didnt' take any more pics of the same stuff over and over again. But I'm almost done. All I have left is to wire and sleave all the fan wires. Then I can start on the outside of the case. -Wait till you see what I have in store to light up all the panels on the outside of the case. -FYI, it will use 300 red leds. Yes that is NOT a typo!!!

[KiLLERMAN21]

Looking great Dan, the anodized pieces of aluminum look absolutely great, they look even better against the CF. The fans look pretty great also. The 300 LED idea for the outside sounds pretty sweet aswell. +rep for all the work.

[SXRguyinMA]

lookin awesome! how much for one of those PCB's? and would it come assembled ready to install? and what about the software to go with it? Thanks!!

[rendermandan]

lookin awesome! how much for one of those PCB's? and would it come assembled ready to install? and what about the software to go with it? Thanks!!

We are finalizing the design on it today and hopefully ordering it soon.
Not sure how much yet. I think its an extra $15 us to order an additional bare board. And Yes, we would install and solder it all for you ready to go. We have to order some parts and get the software up and running first though. So Is still in the development stage, but I don't think it will be a problem. The two guys that are helping me, really know what they are doing. I have to give them the credit. It was just my idea, but they are making it happen.

I'll get back to you with a price that would include the assembled board, and software.

Thanks!

[nevermind1534]

Let me know about that too.

[Vital]

How much did it cost to get those parts anodized red? And where did you get it done, locally or an online service? Also, is it durable, significantly better than the red paint you were using?

I am considering anodizing the aluminum angles on my HTPC project, to protect them and add some color to the design.

[rendermandan]

How much did it cost to get those parts anodized red? And where did you get it done, locally or an online service? Also, is it durable, significantly better than the red paint you were using?

I am considering anodizing the aluminum angles on my HTPC project, to protect them and add some color to the design.

I had them anodized at a plating company locally. Anodizing is a controlled errosion process that chemically etches the color into the metal so the finish is very durable. I even took an exacto knife and made a small scratch on the back side of the fan housings to see how well it woudl hold up. The part scratched but the color of the scratch was the same so it hardly showed. It holds up much better than the paint. The piant really is just a coating and it scratches off and flakes off pretty easily. I used the paint on all the aluminum that really won't even show. The parts that show and get the most abuse is what I did the real stuff on.

They can do almost any color you want and it is pretty cheap. I had all 3 pieces done for $20 us.

Just a word of caution. tell them what sides of your piece show. that way they know not to hold the piece on an area where you need it anodized. otherwise you will see a spot where the bracket was.

[Vital]

Great to know that it isn't too pricey. Will look for plating companies in my area.

[rendermandan]

well, apparently using PWM to change the fan speeds is screwing up the pulse signal for the rpm sensor. So we are going back to the drawing board. we will have to regulate the voltage through the microcontroller. So it may be a little bit longer on the controller.