Neptune's Trident

[Boddaker]

wow nice update mate... been away for 2 weeks... wondering how this was going

Hey man, hope you had a nice vacation. I haven't gotten much done on this for the past few weeks,
so you didnt miss much! Other pressing matters been taking up my time. But I did manage to get in the
garage and finish up the IO hole...

I got an extra front bay cover so I could use it as a patch. So I placed it behind the hole
and traced out the area to be cut, and cut it out.

Sanded off the anodizing and filed the edges til I had a nice snug fit.

A shot of the "nice snug fit"

I taped it from behind and slapped some bondo on it.

Since the patch was a bit thinner material than the case was, I decided to bondo the back side as well.

After it set up, I sanded it down, first using a cheese grater file, then a orbital sander.
Then I used the bay cover as my drill guide, and drilled out the holes.

Done! Can barely tell it was even there. Once the primer is on, it will disappear completely.

[DonT-FeaR]

genious... im loveing this mod so far! REPPAGE

[The boy 4rm oz]

Awesome outcome there mate, I can't even tell there was a hole there previously lol.

[p0Pe]

thats amazing looks like something you could just as easily do in photoshop! great work

[Boddaker]

Ok, I got some stuff to show you.

I have been working on a new floor design with Geno from Boxgods, in an attempt to alleviate some of the mess
of tubing down by the radiators. The floor is made up of three sheets of 1/4" clear acrylic and there
will be six channels through the middle, each 1/2" wide, with compression fittings on each end.
Of course the design had to be trident-approved. ;-)

As you can see, I color-coded the channels so you can tell the three loops apart.

Here are the three floor layers, the top being the farthest away. I also incorporated cut-aways
for the optical drive, power cables, and lighting, as well as notches for case fitment and alignment.
This is not the final version, as there are some areas that need minor adjustments (which
weren't apparent until I did the mockup tests).

Here's a shot of the middle layer with the channels placed on top of the bottom layer.

And all three layers together. I set them on a piece of cardboard so they might be easier to see.

Here is the floor assembly clamped in place in the case.

I will also be employing the new compression fittings from Primochill.

I screwed them into the floor to see how they fit. This is when I realized the bottom holes were too close
together. So that will be addressed in the final revision.

A closer up shot:

And with the compression rings on.

In addition to minimizing the amount of tubing, this new floor design will look pretty cool with the
coolant running through it. I plan to paint the underside of it so you won't be able to see through
to the radiator compartment.

Now the trick to pulling this off will lie within the gluing process. If I screw it up, I will have leaks and
cross-channel mixing of fluid (which will not be good since I will be using three different colors of coolant).
I've got some scrap pieces I can practice with, and I will make a jig so that the layers will be lined up
correctly. Should be interesting, so stay tuned!

[SXRguyinMA]

neat idea! cant wait to see it!

[The boy 4rm oz]

Dude that is a sweet idea, and what a result you will get when it's done. The one thing I don't like are the compression fittings, I fear for their durability. The plastic looks like it may go brittle over time and you don't want any leaks, I would use chrome bitspower fittings personally.

[Boddaker]

Dude that is a sweet idea, and what a result you will get when it's done. The one thing I don't like are the compression fittings, I fear for their durability. The plastic looks like it may go brittle over time and you don't want any leaks, I would use chrome bitspower fittings personally.

Thanks, but after all is said and done, I will have 48 total fittings in this thing, 18 for the floor alone. And at $10 per fitting (yikes!) for Bitspower, well you can do the math... :-)

And I'm told these fittings are poly carbonate, UV stabilized, and plenty strong, so will last quite a long time.

[DonT-FeaR]

wow... gunna be great
i like the new addition

[The boy 4rm oz]

OMFG that's $480 for the fittings lol. Well as long as your sure those plastic fittings will be ok. If you don't mind me asking, how much do those plastic compression fittings cost? I have never seen them before.