alpenwasser
New member
You know, I can see ourselves still getting updates from this thread for many, many
years down the line. It just keeps on giving. Awesome! :wub:
years down the line. It just keeps on giving. Awesome! :wub:
Project P182 Watercooled V2!
- Thread starter DeMoB
- Start date
DeMoB
New member
Digital Calipers FTW!
The tollerances on fitting the Alphacool Nexxxos Monsta 420mm (3x140mm) in my case are going to be down to 0.5mm. Before I bought the radiator I had no way of knowing 100% if it was all going to fit.
I always said I liked a challenge though!
As there is quite literally no room to fit 140mm fans on my case configuration, I need a way to step down to 120mm fan fittings, and a new way to secure the it all to the case...
...and I need to do all that in under 2mm. >_<
Here's the beginnings of my solution:
Next up, I need to find a '120mm fan hole' sized hole saw, and borrow someone's bench press drill.
The tollerances on fitting the Alphacool Nexxxos Monsta 420mm (3x140mm) in my case are going to be down to 0.5mm. Before I bought the radiator I had no way of knowing 100% if it was all going to fit.
I always said I liked a challenge though!
As there is quite literally no room to fit 140mm fans on my case configuration, I need a way to step down to 120mm fan fittings, and a new way to secure the it all to the case...
...and I need to do all that in under 2mm. >_<
Here's the beginnings of my solution:
Next up, I need to find a '120mm fan hole' sized hole saw, and borrow someone's bench press drill.
Haha, who knows, maybe it will. But I've surely lost my "wow factor" of the final reveal now that the main compartment has been showcased.
DeMoB
New member
The Slowest Modder In The World!
Next month marks the 5 year anniversary of this mod.
And it's still not finished. >_<
I'm going to try a little harder to make some time to finish it off, but I got engaged at the end of last year, and am currently neck deep wedding planning, so don't hold your breath.
---
Ok, first up, I've gotten hold of a second P182 to replace some choice parts from my original case. I want to clean up a lot of the cuts I originally made, and need to expand others in ways I couldn't do.
I'll get back to the radiator mount on my next update (ended up getting one laser cut out of steel).
First under the chopping block again is the motherboard tray. The old one had been through 3 motherboard revisions, so I had to expand the CPU cutout in an ugly way to still have access. Redoing this for my 4th motherboard for this mod so it'll be nice and clean again.
Compared to the mismatched angles on my last one, this should look a lot nicer:
---
Next up is something I'm going to let you guess at what I'm doing:
Can you tell what it is yet?
Next month marks the 5 year anniversary of this mod.
And it's still not finished. >_<
I'm going to try a little harder to make some time to finish it off, but I got engaged at the end of last year, and am currently neck deep wedding planning, so don't hold your breath.
---
Ok, first up, I've gotten hold of a second P182 to replace some choice parts from my original case. I want to clean up a lot of the cuts I originally made, and need to expand others in ways I couldn't do.
I'll get back to the radiator mount on my next update (ended up getting one laser cut out of steel).
First under the chopping block again is the motherboard tray. The old one had been through 3 motherboard revisions, so I had to expand the CPU cutout in an ugly way to still have access. Redoing this for my 4th motherboard for this mod so it'll be nice and clean again.
Compared to the mismatched angles on my last one, this should look a lot nicer:
---
Next up is something I'm going to let you guess at what I'm doing:
Can you tell what it is yet?
Mysterae
New member
And I thought I took ages....
Next
Can you tell what it is yet?
Cut out for a dildo or really long LED? Of course not, I recognise the front panel of an Aquacomputer Aquaero
. Odd place to put it, but I like to see more folk make a feature of it.
DeMoB
New member
There was a period of a couple of years where I used the case without wanting to change anything, so I'm claiming it's not as bad as it sounds.And I thought I took ages....
After this though, I don't think there will be anything left to mod, so maybe it'll finally feel complete? >_<
My missus said the cutout of the ODD cage looks like a square penis too, so I guess the sexual imagery is all over this case. >_<Cut out for a dildo or really long LED? Of course not, I recognise the front panel of an Aquacomputer Aquaero
I'm putting it here as I wouldn't see it otherwise (due to the case door being closed all the time), at least here I'll see it through the case window.
Plus, it should make for a really nice feature-piece too.
alpenwasser
New member
Oh, nice to see this is still active.
DeMoB
New member
Go Big or Go Home!
---
So about that radiator mount I attempted before, it didn't work. I couldn't find a hole saw the right size and didn't trust my freehand circle cutting ability (though I still might end up doing some later ), so I decided to get it done properly (laser cut) out of steel.
Here's the design I made...
And here's what that got me...
While I was doing things properly, I picked up some nice hex-head screws to fix it to the radiator, and used some acousti fan mounting things to deaden the fan vibrations.
I've said before that the tolerances in this phase of the mod will be tight, you'll get an idea of that in a second, but I need to make sure my drill holes are spot on in this part of the case, and not owning a centre-punch, I ghetto'd one up...
Some nice drill guides later...
Then's time to start assembling things.
Except I didn't have a spanner for the bolt size I'd bought. >_<
So I dremmeled an old one to fit.
I hadn't really thought through how I was going to assemble the parts together for this part of the case, I think I assumed I could fix the mount to the case, then attach the radiator and fans to it afterwards.
Well I couldn't, due to the bottom case lip covering up the bottom set of mounting holes. So, I had to screw the radiator and fans to the mount first, then go through this fiddly process to secure that whole lot to the case at once. >_<
It's a hassle, but I'll not be taking the radiator off very often, so it should hopefully be fine. :lol:
Though I've realised that this radiator is so big, I'm going to have to build my case around it. >_<
Here's a quick visual on some of those tolerances for fitting this thing in the case...
And the ghetto-aligned pump mount from before?
It's bang on...
Awesome, I'll have to have a scout round when I get it all up and running then.You can do almost anything in the software, it's a matter of finding the setting and understanding how it works. For example I disable the 3 leds and have the main display on about 60% normally but 5% when the pc is on standby - gives a gentle glow at night
Haha, if you can actually consider this level of progress as activeOh, nice to see this is still active.
---
So about that radiator mount I attempted before, it didn't work. I couldn't find a hole saw the right size and didn't trust my freehand circle cutting ability (though I still might end up doing some later
), so I decided to get it done properly (laser cut) out of steel.Here's the design I made...
And here's what that got me...
While I was doing things properly, I picked up some nice hex-head screws to fix it to the radiator, and used some acousti fan mounting things to deaden the fan vibrations.
I've said before that the tolerances in this phase of the mod will be tight, you'll get an idea of that in a second, but I need to make sure my drill holes are spot on in this part of the case, and not owning a centre-punch, I ghetto'd one up...
Some nice drill guides later...
Then's time to start assembling things.
Except I didn't have a spanner for the bolt size I'd bought. >_<
So I dremmeled an old one to fit.
I hadn't really thought through how I was going to assemble the parts together for this part of the case, I think I assumed I could fix the mount to the case, then attach the radiator and fans to it afterwards.
Well I couldn't, due to the bottom case lip covering up the bottom set of mounting holes. So, I had to screw the radiator and fans to the mount first, then go through this fiddly process to secure that whole lot to the case at once. >_<
It's a hassle, but I'll not be taking the radiator off very often, so it should hopefully be fine. :lol:
Though I've realised that this radiator is so big, I'm going to have to build my case around it. >_<
Here's a quick visual on some of those tolerances for fitting this thing in the case...
And the ghetto-aligned pump mount from before?
It's bang on...
Last edited:
alpenwasser
New member
Haha, if you can actually consider this level of progress as active
I shall allow it. :cool2:
DeMoB
New member
Caging The Monsta
---
From the last set of photos, it looked like the radiator might actually fit completely internal to the case. I'd already measured it by this point, and knew it wouldn't quite.
I was prepared for this though as the P182 has a drive bay door, and behind that, space is allocated for dust filters. Without those, this actually gives me enough clearance to have the radiator protruding slightly out of the case frame (and then end caps additional to that ).
So, lets make it fit.
First off, time to adjust the front panel...
And then the some more cut outs at the back for the PSU..
Then putting the case parts around the radiator, we can get a good idea of what it's going to look like...
Pretty snug, eh?
And how close was it to fitting completely inside the case?
It was almost perfect!
I've said it before, but I think it's worth saying again. I wasn't kidding about having barely millimetres of tolerance in this build!
The case mid-plate is at the exact height to rest on the radiator and PSU when installed, and with the 120mm fans centred on the 140mm radiator, I get this much clearance below them to the bottom of the case...
Snug as a bug in a rug.
That's what she said!
Thank you kind sir, I shall endeavour to continue. ^_^
Not yet, but it's all in hand.
---
From the last set of photos, it looked like the radiator might actually fit completely internal to the case. I'd already measured it by this point, and knew it wouldn't quite.
I was prepared for this though as the P182 has a drive bay door, and behind that, space is allocated for dust filters. Without those, this actually gives me enough clearance to have the radiator protruding slightly out of the case frame (and then end caps additional to that
).So, lets make it fit.
First off, time to adjust the front panel...
And then the some more cut outs at the back for the PSU..
Then putting the case parts around the radiator, we can get a good idea of what it's going to look like...
Pretty snug, eh?
And how close was it to fitting completely inside the case?
It was almost perfect!
I've said it before, but I think it's worth saying again. I wasn't kidding about having barely millimetres of tolerance in this build!
The case mid-plate is at the exact height to rest on the radiator and PSU when installed, and with the 120mm fans centred on the 140mm radiator, I get this much clearance below them to the bottom of the case...
Snug as a bug in a rug.
DeMoB
New member
Mod In A Box
I'm about 2 holes away from being able to powder coat this rig, but I need a stepped drill bit to make them, and the only place I can find one is at a Maplins that's an hours round trip away. Which I don't have time to go to yet.
Anyway, thought you'd get a kick out of how I'm currently running my rig.
Step 1. Cut a hole in the box.
Step 2. Put your di..., erm, PC in the box.
With external PSU mounting for heat isolation. :grin1:
Oh yeah, and that blue carrier bag next to the box?
Rain-protection during transport.
:lol:
I'm about 2 holes away from being able to powder coat this rig, but I need a stepped drill bit to make them, and the only place I can find one is at a Maplins that's an hours round trip away. Which I don't have time to go to yet.
Anyway, thought you'd get a kick out of how I'm currently running my rig.
Step 1. Cut a hole in the box.
Step 2. Put your di..., erm, PC in the box.
With external PSU mounting for heat isolation. :grin1:
Oh yeah, and that blue carrier bag next to the box?
Rain-protection during transport.
:lol:
DeMoB
New member
T-T-Titanium
I've been able to get away without having a fill port on my reservoir by using the quick disconnects just before it on the graphics card, but it's a really awkward way of filling it. A res without a fill port is a very sorry res indeed, so I had to find somewhere to connect up one of the unused res ports without making a massive obvious hole somewhere.
Round the back of the case should fit nicely, but I didn't have the right sized hole saw for my fill port. So off to Maplin's I went and picked up a set of titanium coated step drill bits.
Oh my gosh, these are awesome, I can't believe I didn't have some before. They cut like butter in steel and the edge is really clean!
I mean, look at these!
Before I started cutting, I must have spent half an hour measuring the right place to drill, and it paid off. The ports will match up perfectly.
Job's a good 'un.
(Yes, I did scuff the powder coating on the back of the res >_>
But it's ok, as I'm getting it re-done with the rest of the stuff that needs powder coating)
I've been able to get away without having a fill port on my reservoir by using the quick disconnects just before it on the graphics card, but it's a really awkward way of filling it. A res without a fill port is a very sorry res indeed, so I had to find somewhere to connect up one of the unused res ports without making a massive obvious hole somewhere.
Round the back of the case should fit nicely, but I didn't have the right sized hole saw for my fill port. So off to Maplin's I went and picked up a set of titanium coated step drill bits.
Oh my gosh, these are awesome, I can't believe I didn't have some before. They cut like butter in steel and the edge is really clean!
I mean, look at these!
Before I started cutting, I must have spent half an hour measuring the right place to drill, and it paid off. The ports will match up perfectly.
Job's a good 'un.
(Yes, I did scuff the powder coating on the back of the res >_>
But it's ok, as I'm getting it re-done with the rest of the stuff that needs powder coating)
alpenwasser
New member
Oi, nice!
DeMoB
New member
Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off To Work We Go...
Got a pretty good ebay deal on a graphics card this weekend.
Will be nice to finally retire my beloved GTX 480.
MSI R9 290 - £215 shipped...
It's blatantly been used for mining, but I have a copy of the original invoice should it ever require RMA'ing. By the way, that original invoice, was for a set of 12 of these for a cool total of £3600+ >_<
I dare say I've got me the fastest cardboard rig this side of recompute.
Got a pretty good ebay deal on a graphics card this weekend.
Will be nice to finally retire my beloved GTX 480.
MSI R9 290 - £215 shipped...
It's blatantly been used for mining, but I have a copy of the original invoice should it ever require RMA'ing. By the way, that original invoice, was for a set of 12 of these for a cool total of £3600+ >_<
I dare say I've got me the fastest cardboard rig this side of recompute.
Got a pretty good ebay deal on a graphics card this weekend.
Will be nice to finally retire my beloved GTX 480.
MSI R9 290 - £215 shipped...
It's blatantly been used for mining, but I have a copy of the original invoice should it ever require RMA'ing. By the way, that original invoice, was for a set of 12 of these for a cool total of £3600+ >_<
I dare say I've got me the fastest cardboard rig this side of.
Looks like this is gonna be a very personal rig
.Looks like I'm gonna have to go on ebay and get me one of them cards! I'll need to make sure I get the invoice though.
