[Scratch case] Project Duplex

[Ace_finland]

Hi,

So this is my new Project for the Cooler Master mod competiton. I still have a bit to design but will start fabricating soon.

It's called Project Duplex and will be a two faced case.
-On one side the motherboard, on the otherside a GPU and ssd's.
-Two seperate loops with a 240radiator each.
- WIll be made out of aluminum and acrylic
- Most of the watercooling will be hidden

Fabricating will start soon!

Ace

 

[Sir-Weasel]

sweet bro, but where to put the psu without opstructing the airflow between the 2 rads

 

[Ace_finland]

sweet bro, but where to put the psu without opstructing the airflow between the 2 rads

I will have some openings/slots in the back panel and its a bit hard to see but i have slots in the back of the acrylic which goes through and then up in the top of the case it can escape inside of the case. I'm trying to get a bit of airflow over the components aswell

 

[Wraith]

I do like the case design it's original that's for sure. What are you going to do about the heat from the motherboard chipsets or are you going to loop cool those too.

 

[Ace_finland]

I do like the case design it's original that's for sure. What are you going to do about the heat from the motherboard chipsets or are you going to loop cool those too.

The only part of the build i know i want is the ASUS maximus VI formula and that has a built in water cooling part. And i also have slots cut open in the rear of the acrylic, and inside the motherboard compartments are slots to the inside of the case. So theoretically there should be some airflow going over the motherboard as the fans are pushing air out of the case

 

[Surfie]

Not saying that it can't be done, but how are you planning on making the graphics card work, when it is not connected physically to the motherboard?

 

[Wraith]

Not saying that it can't be done, but how are you planning on making the graphics card work, when it is not connected physically to the motherboard?

He'll use a PCIe Riser extension. Look them up.

 

[Surfie]

I didn't even know such things existed. Well, you learn something new every day. Thanks for the information Wraithguard.

 

[Ace_finland]

Wraithguard is right, There are a few ones out there that should do the job!

 

[HCP]

I like this design, it hits my interest with other design than standard layout

 

[Bartacus]

Very interesting stuff!

 

[Ace_finland]

I like this design, it hits my interest with other design than standard layout

Thx buddy!

Very interesting stuff!

Thx buddy!

 

[Lil-Diabo]

Great design!
I am curious to know how you're going to run the PCIe risers and still make it look kinda neat

 

[Ace_finland]

Great design!
I am curious to know how you're going to run the PCIe risers and still make it look kinda neat

To be honest i'm not completly sure myself, on the outside of the case there will be covers. Inside the case i'm not sure yet but the riser i ordered is 500mm long so i should have plenty of spare to figure it out!

 

[Ace_finland]

Finally an update! Was a lot harder to get the profile than i thought. Living in the country side has its drawbacks

First i would like to say a big Thanks to OCZ and Mr J. for believing in me and sponsoring me with a 256GB Vector drive. Will take some nice pictures of it as soon as i get it back. Took it to a place to make it fit the build a bit better. More on that in another update
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The profile, Ordered 2mm thick profile but when i got it it was only 1,5mm. Oh well, would have been nice with 2mm for threading but 1,5mm will be enough.... i hope.

after cutting all the profiles with a hand saw and I milled them to the right angle and size.

De burring all the edges

All profiles except one

Welding it all together. Was too optimistic with the welding. I did not think it would warp as much as it did. All in all it was only a mm or 2 off but due to so many angles and lengths it looked so crooked I did not wanna use it.

Plan B: Cut off all the legs, straighten out one leg that was a bit warped. The rest were fine. Then mill all of the legs at once to make sure they are all the same length and straight

Decided instead of welding i would make inserts to bolt into the profile and into the base and top. This way it's easier to keep straight and also a lot easier when its time to paint. Should have thought about this before

Tapping the inserts

All done. Still need to clean up to get it looking really nice but will leave that until its time to paint

The base

Made a 2mm sheet and pressed it inside the profile, welded it and after milled it straight. If i can get another profile i might make a 45 degree cut instead. Would look a lot nicer.

Time for some sheet metal work. Sticking with 2mm aluminum. Don't know what this is called but it is very useful.

The panel is divided into 3 pieces for now while i work with the pieces. I might weld them together at a later stage. Still need to drill a lot of holes and cut some openings in them.

Drilled and getting ready to tap

Had to try a mobo on it. Case looks huge and it is a bit big but u think it will shrink a bit once i start adding things to it

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[Ace_finland]

So a very small update. Have been busy helping mum and dad move house, so have not had any time for modding but picked something up on Friday that i thought i would share with you.

My first part for the build, a 256GB Vector drive.

Content: SSD, a mounting plate, screws, a sticker, a manual and a key for acronis true image

The drive, looks great but didn't really fit the black and red build i'm doing. so decided to make some minor changes.

Didn't wanna go too crazy with these as i want it to look enough original but still fit the design
A solid black one, this was very hard to photograph, probably took 50 photos and didn't get a single good one. Need to read up on how to take proper photos

A black metallic one

Made enough stickers so i have a few to mess up, or if i wanna make a small raid

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[Sir-Weasel]

And for that small raid aray i suppose you are going to put them in raid 0
That will get you a meager 8gb/s :drool::drool::drool:

Printing that many stickers is done with the mentality better save then sorry

I like where this is going

 

[Ace_finland]

And for that small raid aray i suppose you are going to put them in raid 0
That will get you a meager 8gb/s :drool::drool::drool:

Printing that many stickers is done with the mentality better save then sorry

I like where this is going

lol, that would be awesome! Yeah, putting on stickers is not my kind of thing, i reckon i will use most of them to get two perfect ones Thx!

 

[Ace_finland]

Hey guys,

Finally an update!
Recently bought a house and have been moving things (mostly to the garage) so now i can start modding more and close to home so updates should be more frequent now

After thinking a while about the front and the back panel i decided the best way would be to have them water cut, i have countless times milled thin aluminum sheet and it usually ends with the flute snapping. Still need to cut a lot of holes in the back panel for all the connectors but i will do that at a later stage

One step forward two steps back, or however the saying goes. I wasn't very happy about the shape of the frame and the quality of the work i had put in it so i sat down and re-drew the frame and decided it was time for plan C. This time it is made from a 10mm aluminum sheet, it's 15mm wide. I changed the angles a bit and shortened it a bit length and depth wise, the width it still the same

Time to drill some holes

One drilled, one to go, hopefully it fits!

Time for some threading, i always use the cordless drill to tap with, so far i have never snapped a bit with it and its so much faster.

Had to change the "shape" of the mill so i could drill and tap the support bars

The support bars

Done

Seems like it fits!

So much better than the other frame, a lot of work but now i like it and it won't bug me anymore.

Bottom plate for the frame, drilled and counter sunk

Perfect fit except one hole which i need to file a bit.

Old vs new, i don't know what you guys think but i like the new one a lot more

New part arrived!

Another box in the box

Everything is very well packed

Lots of cables with it, needs some sleeving though

Love the brushed steel look on the top of it

Scale photo

More updates coming soon!

Very sad news about OCZ, the only SSD's i've owned are OCZ and i have been very happy with them.

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[SuB]

oh wow, nice to see this coming along... And nice to see some hard work going into a build!