Addison

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Addison is inspired by a Canadian radio design from the 1940s. It has a water-cooled Intel Core i7-4770K CPU running at 4.6GHz and an overclocked Nvidia GTX 970 video card.

The enclosure is crotch mahogany with aluminum trim and has a capacity of 10.6 liters.

Left and right vent holes to service the power supply and graphics card.

Coca-cola can size comparison technology is flawed because of the trademark display. An alternative is the common DVD or CD.

Or for the more traditional.

The raw wood edges mate with similar raw wood surfaces in the decorative cover. Any kind of paint or finish on physical contact surfaces tends to not work as smoothly as these waxed raw wood surfaces.

An original 1940 Addison Model 2 Radio

Specs:

Intel Core i7-4770K CPU

Gigabyte Z97N-WiFi Mini-ITX Motherboard

Gigabyte GTX970 Video Card

HyperX Fury 8GB System Memory

HyperX 480GB SSD

Silverstone 450W Modular SFX Power Supply

All-In-One Generic 120mm water cooling

Thanks for looking!

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Project goal is to design and build a powerful as possible gaming rig into a small as possible enclosure. 

 

Note: I place captions below photos.

 

Click here for final photos

 

Start by building a temporary structure to help mock up equipment locations. 

 

 

 

 

This will be my first use of water cooling even though it is just an AIO unit.

 

 

 

The key to this build is this Mini-ITX sized GTX 970 from Gigabyte.

 

 

 

 

 

Gigabyte has been a sponsor of mine since 2006. This is the WiFi version of their Z97 Mini-ITX gaming board. I chose this over their GA-Z97N-Gaming 5 board because I didn't need the onboard Killer NIC and liked the idea of having dual HDMI instead of just one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silverstone has been a sponsor of mine for over ten years.  

 

 

 

For this project I'm using the modular cable version of their 450W SFX PSU.

 

 

 

Here it is sitting next to their hard wired version. Modular cables are awesome but for this design so are the fan and power cable connector locations.

 

 

 

Kingston HyperX is a new sponsor. They provided me with this 480GB SSD which will be the system's only drive.

 

 

 

 

They also sent me this 8GB Fury kit rated at 1866MHz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Chopped up a bunch of 1/2" thick basswood sticks and glued them up into the matrix. Backing board is 1/16" aircraft grade birch plywood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carved out the openings with a razer knife and sandpaper.

 

 

 

 

 

Glued up some offset spacers for the I/O plate mounting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thickness of the cases back plate is determined by the mounting tangs of the video card. I also need the thickness to provide extra support because this sucka is heavy.

 

 

 

The project height will be determined by the 8-pin PCIE power connector on the video card. I have a low-profile version in the works. Until then the height of the back plate will remain "crazy tall".

 

 

 

Assembled the components and tested by installing Windows 8.1. Microsoft has been a supporter of mine for the last four years by providing the OS for all projects. Photo can also be captioned "Ten pounds of sh*t to go into a five pound bag".

 

Thanks for looking!

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Low-profile graphics card power connector will help keep down the overall height of the enclosure. I calculate about 10mm savings which translates to approximately .6 liters in my design.

 

 

 

This is the cleat that will eventually hold the radiator mounting plate to the case. It needs to be removable so I'm using threaded wood inserts. First drill out pilot holes.

 

 

 

An Allen wrench is used to set the insert into place.

 

 

 

This is the radiator mounting plate with holes located for the four radiator mounts and two slots cut for the hoses. Opening for air flow is on the to-do list. This is 6-ply 1/8 inch aircraft grade birch plywood.

 

 

 

Mounting the cleat using 8-32 screws.

 

 

There will be an identical cleat mounted to the other end of the radiator plate. The cleats will be attached to the interior of the case so as to span the distance front to back.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Cut out the radiator opening and trimmed the plate length to size.

 

 

 

I had to add some material for the video card mount in order to allow adequate depth for the wood insert. I also had to widen the face on one side in order to center the radiator fan (and opening). 

 

 

Wood insert and screw for the video card mount. I'll install another one next to it after adding more material to the area. I always use both screws in a two slot video card although some say that is overkill.

 

 

The front plate is identical to the back plate dimension-wise. Same 1/16" birch plywood with 1/2" reinforcements.

 

 

 

Here the two are back to back.

 

 

 

Here they are stacked. 

 

 

 

Both face plates have the same 1/8" ledge to help align and fit them to the bottom plate.

 

 

 

Something like this. The height will be trimmed down significantly as soon as I get comfortable with what it should be. Sits nicely until the wind blows.

 

 

 

The radiator plate tossed on top. It will bridge the front and back plates eventually. I'm experimenting with 15mm thick radiator fans instead of the stock 25mm fans and that could greatly alter the radiator plate position.

 

Important to note here that all of this is an internal structure that won't be seen when finished. There is a completely separate candy-coated outer shell that will slide down over the top of this inner structure.

 

Thanks for looking!

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Attached the cleat to the front panel.

 

 

 

Showing the embedded screw inserts.

 

 

 

Attached the cleat to the back panel.

 

 

 

Radiator mounting panel with attachment hardware ready to go.

 

 

 

Most of the scribbling is just random thoughts from some previous project. I tend to write on wood instead of paper.

 

 

 

Front and back panels bridged by the radiator mount.

 

 

 

 

 

Added in the bottom panel. This will be glued together eventually but I still have significant work to do on the individual panels so this is just a photo op.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Framed in the PSU so it can only move one way...upward. 

 

 

 

Bought this mesh desk set at OfficeMax for cheap.

 

 

 

Loads of high quality mesh that will take me years to use. Some brands are better than others. I like this variety because it is a tighter mesh.

 

 

 

Finally after all these years I sprung for a crimper. This project hinges on reducing the mass of cables.

 

 

 

Over the years I have amassed a virtual mountain of spare modular cables of all varieties. I feel comfortable that I can experiment and screw up on a grand scale without too much consequence.

 

 

 

First up is the 12V EPS 4+4 cable. My board doesn't need the +4 so half of the cables disappear before it gets shortened. Before and after photo.

 

 

 

Next up is the PCIE cable. Instead of the 6+2 connector nonsense I'm going with exactly what I need...8-pin. Before and after. Note: I'm not concerned with fancy sleeving or anything right now. I'm only concerned with proper length and whether it actually works or not. I assumed up front that I'll be making each cable twice before all the dust clears.

 

 

 

SATA cable was a piece of cake because I have done them before. Before and after photo.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking. 

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Mocked up with the help of some heavy-duty rubber bands. The upper corner pieces are temporary to keep the box square. They will be fitted permanently later.

 

 

 

A Delta AFB-series fan...for when you get tired of playing with toy fans.

 

 

 

 

Coke can in classic reclining pose.

 

 

 

Circle drawn on the front will be the location of a 120mm exhaust fan.

 

 

Note again: This is all internal structure.

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

For cutting a large 135mm hole I mark it off with my precision optical measuring guide.

 

 

 

Next I mount the piece in the chuck on my floor mounted drill press and select my 135mm hole saw. 

 

 

 

Took a long time to drill the hole. Seemed like five hours. Must be a dull saw blade.

 

 

 

Not as clean a cut as my CNC router but it is currently down for calibration.

 

 

 

Cleaned up the edges with my oscillating spindle sander.

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Beginnings of the decorative cover. This is the start to the fascia. It's in the front and it's in your face. Fascia.

 

 

 

135mm hole.

 

 

 

Hand carved with a razer knife. About 13 hours.

 

 

 

SSD mount.

 

 

Carved out some indents to relieve some interference with the PSU modular cable latches. Probably one of the most useless things in a computer. Whose modular cables have fallen out of the PSU because there wasn't a little piece of plastic locking them in? OK maybe Elon Musk has to worry about one surviving a space launch but...seriously?

 

 

 

 

 

Cut a 120mm fan hole in the center of the front interior panel. Glued up a fan support system.

 

 

Also cut out center section of radiator panel mounting cleat. I had left out the glue in this middle part when the cleat was originally attached.

 

 

Scythe SY1212SL12M (1600RPM) Slip Stream Slim 120x12mm Fan

 

 

Probably mounted backwards. I dunno. Don't care right now. This the better looking side. There are no flow markers so they are making me think.

 

 

Cut a fan clearance/support section out of the radiator plate.

 

 

Also cut out a small notch to allow the PCI-E cable to disappear down below the plate. 

 

 

 

 

Fan isn't mounted in the traditional manner. I would call it "restrained in place". I was concerned about stresses on the incredibly thin frame caused by mounting screws. I also don't want fasteners coming through the front panel because of the nature of the decorative cover mounting system.

 

 

 

 

 

Again. Facing the wrong way...I think.

 

Thanks for looking!

[Jeffrey Stephenson]

Been cutting up timber and punching out holes for my decorative cover.

 

 

 

This is wood angle. It is CNC cut from solid wood.

 

 

 

The angle is fit to each corner and acts as the foundation for the cover. All the exterior bits will be attached to these pieces. They are the only contact points with the interior box when the cover slides off and on.

 

 

 

The cover's front face includes an 135mm hole. This is the outlet for the 120mm Scythe fan.

 

 

 

This is the cover's back panel. It is cut to size but is being left blank for now because I haven't decided to do a full coverage panel or a cut-down "bikini" back panel. Either way, it starts with a full-sized wood panel.

 

 

 

The video card side panel with its 92mm vent hole

 

 

 

The PSU side panel also with a 92mm vent hole.

 

 

 

The top panel has an 135mm hole yet to be cut.

 

 

 

This is 11/16" quarter round made of pine. My design calls for rounded shoulders on the left and right edges. I'm going to incorporate these two pieces into the cover construction to get those curves.

 

 

 

Probably the most complex part of this project will be integrating this quarter round into the edge. Here it is placed nearby its future home. This means I'll be veneering on a curve later in the project. Always fun!

 

 

 

Progress so far all tossed together for a photo op.

 

Thanks for looking!