OK, back to the log. now where was I...
March 12th 12:15 AM:
Primer looks good. nice even flat black color. Seems to have a lot of dust on the pieces. Sanded Panels a bit to clean them up and get rid of the dust. Right hand hurts from spraying primer, nozzle sucked. Glad I sanded everything down. Even the plastic bits look ready for paint.
Ready for paint.
Small Plastic bits all primed up.
Paint cans have a much better nozzle and lays the paint down easy and quite nicely. Arms are getting tired from holding panels while spraying them. Right arm is starting to hurt from spraying paint. Glad I got a new respirator for this. Laid down two coats of paint on everything, but the metal parts look kind of off, not bad, but a little not right. Plastic bits look great, the paint just loves it.
Two coats in and looking sharp. Hard to capture the color with my crap lighting at the shop, but you can see it a bit. Even sitting next to the pieces you can barely tell that they are green and not black. Super dark, Lookin good.
2:08 AM:
Headed back to the house after laying down a third coat of paint on everything. Need another shower and some food, just realized I haven't ate all day and am not really sure on when the last time I ate was. Made a couple of PB&J's and grabbed a tall glass of milk. Downed them and headed back to the lab to start some work on the MB. Getting the back plate for the H50 off the motherboard seems a bit... difficult, leaves about half of the foam padding stuck to the board. What a pain to remove. got it off though. Removing the NB heatsink is a breeze, two screws, two push pins and it's free. After cleaning off the chip set I kind of zone out for a minute or two, not really sure. Getting tired at this point, decide it's time for a cup of coffee and music. Need to stay awake. Three cups of coffee later I decide it's time to head back to the shop and put some more paint on the parts.
4:01 AM:
Paint is looking good, but I'm wearing out fast. Gotta get one more round in before I go. Lay down two more coats on everything bringing it all up to four coats of paint. Too tired to think so I head back home.
Hard to tell, but there is paint on there.
5:19 AM:
Get back to the house to find my roommate and a couple of friends are now at the house. Not getting much sleep tonight I see. Have a couple more cups of coffee and wrestle around with the little red-head with nice curves, wakes me up a bit. Might be able to make this project work. Don't get much done while trying to explain what I'm doing to my roommate and friends so I decide to head to the front room and get some music going. Eyes are getting heavy, thinking about taking a nap, but knowing that if I fall asleep now, most likely not getting back up until after noon. Decide to stay awake.
7:30 AM:
Can't take much more. I'm sure the paint is set up enough for transport by now. Had the heater at the shop on 90 so it's nice and toasty in there. Paint looks good except on the MB tray and one side panel, couple of dull areas. Out of time at the shop though, have to get back to work. Truck has been running outside so I load the parts into the truck so they touch nothing but nice soft fabric. Transport them home and kick the heat up to 75 in the house. Lay the pieces out so they get good air and heat. Head back to the shop for work.
8:00 AM:
Clock back into work, need to get some things done that are supposed to be picked up today. I'm more like a robot at this point than anything else.
10:00 AM:
Still no sign of the boss and I can't keep my eyes open any longer. Time to find a bed... except the lady is here to pick up her stuff, perfect timing. Load her stuff into the car for her, she's full of questions that I either don't have an answer for, or just don't care. Finally leaves, still no sign of the boss. Text him and fill him in on my plan, sleep. Not sure what time I rolled into the house. Last text was at 10:24 AM, I've been up for over 24 hours. I'm out before my head touches the pillow.
March 12th, 3:07 PM:
Eyes open, body is still dead tired, but brain refuses to let me sleep so I get up. Lots of work to get done, not enough time to do it. Me & the roommate take care of some bill payin and grab a bite to eat at the Asian Buffet. Back to the house for work.
5:33 PM:
Head downstairs to the lab to get back to work. Motherboard tray and side panel with the window have some ugly spots in them, have to sand a bit and spray another coat of paint on them in the garage. The garage is useful, just no heat so I'm now stuck letting the parts cure in the house. oh well, no problem, back to work. All the parts are in one place and I get back to work on the motherboard. When buying the water block for the Vreg it stated I also needed a heat transfer plate to go under the block. Not sure what that was about, but it's too big for the motherboard, and not usable. After inspection, the water block is perfect and fits just fine. Not sure what is with the plate, not too worried about it either.
Heatsinks removed and studs mounted for waterblocks
Water blocks mounted, small problem though, studs will not let the 90's face directly at each other... craps.
7:00 PM:
Northbridge and Vreg water blocks are mounted, only to find out the mounting studs are in the way and can't make a nice connection using two 90's. that sucks, kind of ruins my plans. Also can only get one 90 mounted on the NB water block, have to use a barb for the out. Not what I wanted. Going to have to change some of my loop connections around. After mussing about for a while I decide my original plan still looks best for hose routing, though the connections are different now.
7:12 PM:
Roommate calls and says he forgot his ticket to the Arena Cross races at the Majestic so I hop in the truck and drive to the races. The parking lot is mud and slush and water holes in the middle of the slush, almost have to put the truck in 4WD to get out. Finally find my roommate and give him his ticket. I should go to the races, but lots of work to be done so I head back to the house.
7:56 PM:
Back in the lab and decide to get to work on putting the case back together.
Front panel and hard drive cage that needs to be reattached.
The copper rivets I found. Seen them at the hardware store and just had to use them for this.
Used some blue masking tape to protect the exposed edges of the new paint while putting everything back together.
9:00 PM:
Front, bottom and rear panels attached with motherboard tray and hard drive cage back in.
Paint looks really good, very pleased with my results, not bad for an amateur. OK, on to lapping the CPU. Throw a movie on for background noise while I'm working and start in on the lapping. granite top is nice and flat so makes for a great results.
Started with 600
Finished with 2000
11:33 PM:
Roommate shows back up with girls, must go socialize. All work and no play makes me a Dull Boy...
.:: To Be Continued ::.
