Modular.

[AlienALX]

Update 16 - "This is HUGE".

OK so after a quick edge scrape with a stanley knife the board tray was ready to be worked.

First I drilled and tapped in the board posts. Note they are tall, because of the NVME cooler and rear shroud.

Frivolous? yes. Epeen satisfaction = 100%

Ah yes, but does it fit?

Like a glove.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 17 - "2AM PSU fun".

Hmm...

Oh OK I see..

Mmhmm.

Gercha.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 17.5 - "Alien Ant Farm".

So last night my ears were ringing from the CNC. It's not that loud, but it seems to hit the annoying resonant frequency like a vacuum cleaner. IE, you can hear it for a couple of hours after it stops.

The fix was as the title - blasting Alien Ant Farm. Drown it out !

OK so for today's fun I started work on the GPU retention system. A totally convoluted over the top way of bolting on a GPU.

Note one edge is urinationed. This happened because I somehow didn't set the machine to carve that edge all the way out (its to do with layers, still getting my head around all that) but it will be sanded flush later at finishing when I have a sheet of alu oxide glued to a piece of glass.

 

[AlienALX]

Lil bonus. This will be my PSU side side panel.

02 will be the big one. If you are a Radiohead fan that should make some sense.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 18 - "Brave And Stupid".

OK so I made another part earlier but the epoxy I used refused to set. So I will have to do it again, because its sticky and annoying.

Instead I decided to do the big job, shortening the block for the back plate. And this almost turned out to be a £150 failure. It was fine until it got down below about 10mm, then it started screeching like Satan's hawks ffs. I am actually amazed it managed to get through it.

But yeah, I shall say a prayer and be thankful tonight.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 18.5 "Convolution".

Did you know that the mathematical convolution actually seems like it reads "Fug It"?

So here is the GPU mounting system finished.

I filed the bottom latch straight, too.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 19 - "A bit cheeky to taking the p**s"

So I finished the right side panel design last night. Looking at a screen I figured my spokes were "a bit cheeky". Turns out they were taking the p**s. Testament to this cheap machine I guess.

The USBs are a bit too small. IDK why, might have carved on the wrong line. That's OK, that is what I bought the files for.

Last night I also decided I wanted a filter in there. Start looking at PC filters "£10!11" £20!2222" then realised my bits were all gold.

Brass fine mesh, £2.

Here is the block I wasted two hours making look like new.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 20 - "BRING THE NOISE !!"

Cenedd (G) sent me some bits. Carbide posh ones, 3mm. They fit my machine, yay !

However had I known how loud they are I would not have used them. The edges are really clean, but man that noise was the worst it has made yet tbh.

I am taking a week off now. I will tinker with the back plate and block if the back plate wasn't stolen, but I am having a week break before Christmas.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 21 - "Timing, a tick a tick a tick a tick, timing, A TOCK A TOCK etc".

So the constipated postal system finally took a small dump. Rabbit sized, but enough for me - the power socket up there ^

Latching power switch.

And the cooling box is done.

 

[AlienALX]

OK so now I am finally away from the machines and tools I can finalise the plans and designs.

Funny thing is when I found the cheap acrylic I remember saying to Gareth in email "Yeah it's opal white or yucky yellow". Thing is since then I have been thinking about adding a splash of colour so it doesn't look so sterile. I have never done a build involving any yellow before. Besides, I wasted about half a sheet with two incorrect rear panels (don't worry I have salvaged about a third making stick downs and small pieces !) but yeah, when I went back and looked at the "yucky yellow" again I was sold.

The entire case will be white, sans the top. I am going to do that in yellow. The top and bottom are a bit greedy, and need a whole A3. This is because they are 297 wide (fine) but obviously have 10mm of acrylic inside them (the front and back thickness) so the final cut size is 307. Which no standard size includes.

Of course it won't be plain. I love the crying minotaur from Kid Am Nesia, so that will be going on there using Gareth's posh 0.8mm endmill. I need a new collet for it, but I will have those long before the acrylic arrives.

I will also be using yellow coolant, but in dye form. IE - get the rig filled, burped and leak tested and then add it in after that.

 

[AlienALX]

Just a quickie before my "Before Christmas" break begins.

I was pleased to find the back plate was indeed pushed all of the way through the letter box and was waiting for me at the doorway to my flat.

It is thick. Like, at least 2mm thick. So I *think* with some precision work I can tap straight into it. Will probably mean I need to shave the bolts down though. I think M4 will be best.

Two concerns. The first is irritating. Apparently as pointed out on LTT the pads rot and melt. Well they didn't give me any at all. At least they tell you they are all 3mm, though /rolls eyes. Those will cost more than the back plate FFS.

Secondly the screw holes are weird. like AC have their own holes. So I will need to mod it a bit. Other than that? very pleased. And workable, I like workable.

One thing? the whole thing is going to be DARN heavy. So, I will need to make some supports to hold it all the way along the case.

Not a problem when you have lots of spare 5mm and a CNC

 

[AlienALX]

I am now planning final things needed. The 60mm cutting discs are too big, and keep stopping as my tool does not have the torque needed. So I ordered vented 30mm ones.

I am not going to plastic weld it. I was, but I just dread losing a two hour panel. So I got super glue with activator spray.

To hold the pieces together I have these from when I made my sub cabinet.

They are amazing tbh.

I also need these for various other jobs. I had some before, but alas I melted them bending acrylic lol.

More of the cheap burrs. These cost less than £1 each and are amazing.

A collet set to take the 4mm bit Gareth sent (a proper carbide titanium coated bit)

I shall be using that to do the crying minotaur, as it is very fine. It will take over 3 hours :O I will be carving vents at the hot end, but that will be a 1.6mm bit so will be 30 mins tops.

I will be gluing that to a glass chopping board so I can get rid of my cut marks.

Lastly for now I bought 10 of these.

These are to mount the back cooling block. However you will note that I have chosen 10mm. And it is around 15mm thick, with the 12.4 plastic and metal under it (more than 15 tbh).

I am going to pocket the holes so they go down 6-7mm. I need to do accurate measuring, as these need to protrude no more than about 2.5mm out of the bottom. I could have gotten really long ones and cut them down, but I did not want them at the same height as the actual ones holding in the water. All it would take is one wrong bolt undone and you have coolant everywhere.

 

[AlienALX]

Right, final order in. I should now have ordered everything I need to order !

And the final panel design, the left side (where the GPU and hardware is). I wasn't going to do much here, then I had an idea. Thom Yorke's signature (after hours of sorting in Photoshop) and some vents.

Now bear in mind I have only put these on one work piece to show. The sig will take over an hour, and so will the vents, and they use different bits. So they are currently on two different work sheets and the sig will be done first, bit change, then start the vents.

 

[AlienALX]

I forgot one thing....

Really, you don't think I was going to leave the cables green after all that, did you?

Thing is I am tired of modding cables. Not making them, or putting paracord on them, but modding old cables. It's a lot of salvage work, and it never looks great at the end.

So, I finally caved and bought the tools I need.

As well as 50ft of yellow wire.

And 50ft of paracord.

Do note, I am not doing them all. Only the green ones. The black ones shall stay that way.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 22 - Two little ducks.

So I had about an hour of sorting through lots of parcels when I got here. Still missing small pieces, but the acrylic for the top is here.
So I had two designs for the left side panel. First Thom Yorke's sig. For this I switched to a 4mm collet, and a 0.8mm carbide bit. I also slowed the machine down drastically.

That took about 50 minutes, but it was so quiet I could actually hear the Arduino beeping code at it. A much more pleasant pursuit, that is for sure, and I am glad 'cause the next lot will take about 4 hours. I then moved over to this.

Which was drawn by Thom and is part of the RH website. That took about 30 mins, and now we have a left panel.

I had ordered some 3mm tint acrylic, then I had the idea of going with yellow instead. So now both pieces are on the way, yes.

I will do the top yellow panel tomorrow.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 22.5 - I hate copper more than I hate aluminium !

So this was going to be one of those easy old jobs. Just drill 7 holes and back counter them. How hard can it be?

Really, really hard. The bit just didn't want to go through, it made horrid crunching and cracking sounds and I had to put far more force on it than I was happy with.

Now this was supposed to be drilled to just over 4mm, and I was going to use M4 bolts. The thing is it was so erratic and unpredictable that I know I would have ruined it. So, I accepted my 3.2mm holes in the copper, then back countered them and I will be using M3.

Meaning I just had to order more bolts. Annoying.

M3 16mm. Probably too long, meaning I will have to file them down. Now you can see why I stopped at 7. Besides, the only place I didn't drill any was in the bottom (note it will live upside down as you see it).

It can now F off. I will clean it, but I am stopping there. Far too stressful.

Edit. OK so I had an idea. I could not gauge the depth of the countersink. It was either one depth, or they are all different. I was annoyed, as I thought I would need to cut the bolts to length custom.

Instead I can just put washers in the counter holes until the bolts poke through the correct amount.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 23 - Yellow Snow.

So I got up today and had received a game from Gareth. Nice one dude. In the message it said

"Happy Christmas dude. Stop milling your own snow .. it's gonna be a nightmare to clean up! ;P "

Ah mr G, I spend about an hour after every session hoovering. And besides, today was the time to make yellow snow !

This took over four hours. Just as the software said it would. I hate it for being right tbh.

So whilst it was working away I decided to cut the wire to length.

Aaaaand... I don't have enough LMAO. FFS. Oh well, need more. After four hours and ten minutes I had lots of yellow snow.

I then cleaned all of that up, re-positioned the piece, changed the bit and loaded in the last cut on a panel. I was going to put boring old vents up here (as it's above all the hot bits) but I found a cracking design again on RH's website. They must have known someone was going to machine this seriously.

After a final pant crapping 35 minutes...

Pant crapping because I knew karma desperately wanted to ruin it for me after nearly 5 hours. The top D flipped and nearly jammed the cutter. Oops.

I will take that, merry Christmas all !

addendum

I knew I would forget something, so here is the USB sockets finished. For this I drilled in about 3mm, tapped a start, then super glued and activator the posts after cutting the threads down.

 

[Bartacus]

Merry Christmas bud, obviously you've been keeping busy over the holidays, LOL! Great stuff!

 

[AlienALX]

Merry Christmas bud, obviously you've been keeping busy over the holidays, LOL! Great stuff!

That I have buddy lol.

My uncle has terminal cancer so I've been burying my head in this. Every time I have any spare time I just get upset so it's better to turn that into work tbh.

Going to build a workshop next year. Going for the big one then.

I have been tinkering with the back plate block and etc, that should be done on Tues when the fixings I need arrive.

Have started prepping the PSU for paint too, as I want that done whilst it's still mild. If only it would stop bloody raining.

 

[AlienALX]

Update 24 - "Give it a little tappy, tap tap taperoo"

Today I finished the holes for the feet. First thing I grabbed was my tap set.

A while later...

I have also marked out all of the panels for cutting now. That should commence later in the week.

If any one was wondering where I got those cheap yet lovely case feet? they are not case feet. They are "Civic 25mm Universal Aluminium Bonnet Billet Spacers Risers + Extended M6 Bolts"

So they are meant for cars.