Eskimod 2.0

[Todd K]

So...  ever wonder what happens to acrylic when you sandwich it with sheet metal and run a high speed rotary cutting tool through it?  Well, it blows up pretty much like this:



Thank goodness for the jeweler's saw to save my sanity.



Much happier with the cuts.



Outside edges cut.  Just need to get the inside.

[Todd K]

And sometimes this is why you build something by hand.  Not cuz it's going to be more perfect.  Just for the epic moment you get to say "I made that".

[Todd K]

Major sponsor update today.  This week my final two sponsors came in.  Big thanks to Alphacool and ModMyMods.com for their contributions to this project!



Alphacool has been generous enough to contribute some of their outstanding watercooling supplies to this project.  Big thanks to them.



ModMyMods.com if you haven't checked them out is an online watercooling supplies company.  They're relatively new and small, but the customer service has been incredible to deal with.  They've been super helpful and are genuinely supportive of modding projects.  I really can't even tell you how much they've done to help me out.  Kudos to them.  You have a loyal customer for life.

Off to the update!

Firstly we have the NexXxoS ST30 3x120 radiator.  The X-Flow design is going to be just perfect for this project.  Having ports on either end is going to allow me to really simplify and stealth this loop.  More on that in a bit.



And the fit is just fabulous.  Yay for pre-design.  Actually, I didn't even have a rad picked when I designed it.  Thank you jeebus.



Next are the Susurro 120mm fans.  Having finally seen these up close I may actually save them for my next project.  There's a really cool rubberized coating and my plans for the front fans are actually pretty invasive.



Mr. CPU block.



A bay res.  Don't see these used much these days, but the fit in the side panel is actually pretty amazing.





The accessibility of these side panels is going to be so great.  This is honestly the most terrifying part of the build for me.  I'm going to have to mod that res to put ports on either side to run the loop.  Wish me luck.



And a bridge for the dual GPUs.  This I'm really excited about using.  It's going to help me really temper down this loop.



This is the loop on the cards today.  I do like complex and symmetrical loops, but a nicely minimized loop is what I'm going for on this build.



As per the design.

 

Flow indicator.  The color on one side is good.



The other side does not match.



Thus the reason this has been on top of my computer the past month.



Some 3D print PLA stored in warm water.  I'm going to model up a replacement paddle wheel (name?) for the middle and print it and I have no idea if PLA will contaminate and ruin my loop.  Let me be the first to find out for you modderverse.



After a month in the water it's clear and the PLA is intact.  I'm going for it.



Once again big thanks to the amazing sponsors for this build.


 

[Todd K]

Well, after 2 weeks on the road finally got back home and able to do some work on the project.  Of course after I mowed down the wild field that was hiding my house first. 

Started with tearing down the old Eskimod build.  Need some of the parts for the new build.



And some test fitting of the parts.



Got the motherboard and GPUs mounted.



Working out the fit of the PSU.



And designing the PSU mount.



And test printing.



Test fit looking pretty good so far.  Will need some exhaust holes for the back.



And checking the length of the cables.  Cable combs are printed, just not used yet.



And this little beasty may be remembered from a previous project if you follow what I do.



HDD interface card.  Let's see if it can make my raid array hot swappable.



Designing the mount.  Test print is currently underway.

[Todd K]

Busy day again.  Got brave enough to mod the bay res.  Boy, this one felt like modding at it's finest.  Scariest part of the build so far.  Had to drill new holes into the bay res.  Popped some fittings in and ran a leak test.  So far so good!  We'll see if it's still water tight at build time.

 

 

Then into the side panel.

 

 

And printed a custom mount to hold it in place.  Nice and tight, should be good to go.

 

 

And a few screw holes later and the flow indicator is mounted on the other side.

 

 

And an exhaust hole for the PSU.

 

 

Sorry for the poor quality pics.  Took them all with the phone today.

 

[Todd K]

I'd like to introduce my new best friend.  Under my workshop bench was this little fellow.  It's a sharpener I used for my lawn mower.  Turns out it's also the best for shaping acrylic.



And here's probably the most fabrication and challenging part of the build.  Tons of time went into shaping the acrylic and sheet metal AND I'm still not done.  Need to cut the holes out of the sheet metal still.  Getting close though.





And here's the final printed raid caddy.  Hot swappable drive PCB with LED activity indicator.  Should be fun to get running.





Designed for airflow from the rear deck to carry away heat from the HDDs.





And peeking through the back.  Still need to trim the mobo tray a bit.



And the team received their championship rings in the past couple weeks.  Here's a pic.  Now wouldn't that make an epic power button?



So off to the 3D modelling program I went.



Biggest trouble is the resolution of my 3D printer.  This will be a lot of prep work to get it somewhere I'm happy with.  Either that or I find a higher resolution printer and try it on there.



So this was an unexpected birthday gift.  USB microscope.  Turns out it may be exactly what I need for fixing up the print out.



So much for me talking crap about not having much prep to do on my printed parts.  Yikes.



But what's an epic power button without lights?  Early tests are looking promising.  Bet the team's rings don't do that...




 

[Todd K]

2015 Grey Cup Logo.

[Todd K]

Sooooooooooooo... the air goes in the back and out the front.  So I don't want to be staring at the hind quarters of any fan, because fan backs suck.  There I said.  I feel better now.

 

Rip the fan apart and finally made little footballs for the project.  They'll be subtle.

 

 

Figured out some of the LED lighting.

 

 

And a suspiciously familiar shape.  Well, it is if you follow the league.

 

 

And all cut out.

 

 

Printed up some accessories.

 

 

Built up some structure to hold the floating fans.

 

 

And a quick test to see how it will look.

 

Some paint going on the little footballs now and hopefully gluing in the morning.

[Todd K]

Um...

 

[Todd K]

Been pushing hard this week to get as much done as I can.  Work has had me on the road a LOT which simply doesn't leave me time to work on the project much.  Unfortunately looks like I'll need at least another week to get done and I'm on a plane come Monday.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

Had to re-route some wires on my Corsair Link fan controller to better fit the build.  Popped it open and created a new hole on the side instead of the back.  Also drilled a couple screw holes in the corners to mount it in the side panels.



Now it fits nice and comfortably and hey, it's nice and close for the pump.  Bonus points!



I've had people asking about those fittings.  Those are some beta fittings that Bill Owen from MNPCTECH.com sent my way.  I used them on my last build and they worked just great.  Bringing them forward to this build as well.  Kind of nice to have something pretty unique in there.

Got some paint on the printed fan mounts so that I can glue them down to the fans.  Not thinking about painting the blades themselves at this point, but they pop off easily enough that I can revisit this later if I want.  Floating fans all assembled now.  Just some decoration work to add.



Window cut and mounted.  Simple design with two thumb screws.  Should work well enough.  I may add some foam or rubber to the edges to prevent scratches and such.



And the power button.  Oh my what an extravaganza this piece has been.  Modeled the power button after the championship ring the team received a couple weeks ago.  The resolution on my 3D printer wasn't quite up to the detail on the lettering, but I've done what I can to tidy it up.  Gutted a tiny flashlight for the LEDs.  Should run fine on a 5v line, so I'll have to add a molex to it.  Cut some acrylic and gave it a gentle sanding to diffuse the light a bit.  And a spot for a tiny momentary switch.



Fit seems good.  Still need to drill out some screw holes.

 

I kind of underestimated the power of the flashlight and blinded my wife a pinch during testing.  Here's what it's looking like.





Honestly at this point my next build should be a Green Lantern build...

Thanks once again to the sponsors of this build.