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Cubic Inches


Andrew McIntosh

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Hello, thanks for checking out my build.

 

Stage 1. 

 

Here's my blank canvas, built from scratch. Aluminium base (450mm x 450mm x 1mm) and frame (20mm x 20mm x 1.4mm aluminium angle) covered with 3.5mm clear Plexiglass. Thought my current PC looked out of place sitting in the centre of my  sound system,  so building this to balance things out.  There's no set plans at this point, just making it up as I go. Thoughts are split between the Transformers Allspark, The Rebel Alliance and 1970's Aussie muscle cars.

 

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Ignore the old motherboard, I'm just using it as an ATX template. It's attached to 3 horizontally mounted aluminium tubes, approx 12mm diameter. You'll see these later on, once the real motherboard is mounted.

 

 

Stage 2.

 

Thoughts are still split as to which direction to take.  Left hand side takes inspiration from the fluted front guards of Holden's 1970 HG GTS Monaro. The flutes will act as a fresh air intake for the power supply.

 

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The mesh is perforated light steel - sourced from some spare ceiling tiles from the building I work in. This was glued to the clear plexiglass. The guards consist of 3 layers of 1mm aluminium sheet. Used 3 layers so it would have a bit of body - the top layer curves over the middle layer.  This was also glued to the plexiglass. Holes were cut in the plexiglass to allow air intake through the flutes. The paint I have  used here  is 'Montana Black' spray paint - the colors used are  'shark' (light grey), 'nostradamus' (mid grey), 'slate' (dark grey) and black.

 

The top side takes inspiration form the Allspark. It's 1mm aluminium which has been cut with a jigsaw, painted with the same paint as previously mentioned, and glued to the plexiglass. Sitting on top of it is my proposed exhaust fan. The plan is for it to look like the air cleaner off an old carby.

 

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Right hand side, well that's the Star Wars influence. Empire logo, same color scheme as above, painted on 1mm aluminium sheet, glued to plexiglass.

 

Front panel is just perforated steel on plexiglass, though the plex has had a large hole cut in it to suit the Cooler Master  MegaFlow 200  intake fan.

 

Also, threw some temporary lighting inside, just for a glimpse of how things might look later on...

 

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And yes, I will try to improve my photography skills!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Stage 3

 

So I was thinking about the top exhaust.  To really look like an air cleaner, it needs to look like it's  sitting on carburetor.

A 120mm fan might do the trick.

 

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Painted with Montana Black 'lambrate'

 

Perhaps it would look more like a carburetor if it was on top of an intake manifold?

 

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25mm aluminium tube + 35mm wide  aluminium floor coving

 

Then, either side of the intake manifold,   rocker covers.

 

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aluminium heatsinks off an old car audio amplifier

 

We now have a V8 exhaust fan.

 

It looked a bit out of place mounted to the Allspark top panel, so I have made a more appropriate one.

 

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perforated steel mesh, plexiglass, 25mm x 10mm aluminium bullnose. Add Montana Gold 'Ketchup' to the paint list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, there's a bit of space to fill between the top panel, and the front panels 200mm intake fan...

 

Keeping the V8 theme going, it seemed logical to make some some exhaust headers to mount under the exhaust fan

 

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25mm aluminium tube. Tried bending these to shape first, but quite difficult to do tight bends on a small scale. So ended up cutting and glueing.

 

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Then, some perforated mesh rolled into a tube. Paint the inside 'true yellow', outside 'raspberry'.

Mount the tube inside a slightly larger tube, made from perforated mesh with larger holes. Inside painted 'deep purple', outside painted 'stealth'. Colors above and below are all from the  Montana Gold range.

 

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Next, take a water pump housing from a dishwasher and mount it to the front of the larger tube. A thin coat of 'magic white' will work quite well with the LED lighting I have planned...

 

So, looking from the front, you will see this sitting behind the front fan, and directly below the top exhaust

 

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Next update will involve mounting the PC hardware inside the case

 

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Specs - Asus P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3, i7-3770, Asus Rog Mars760, 24GB DDR3, Fractal Design 750w Integra PSU,

 

 

 

 

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Semi naked case - no top or side panels.

 

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^Right hand side, motherboard mounted to 15mm aluminium tube

 

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^Left hand side

 

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^Rear view. CPU radiator mounted on inside, 200mm exhaust fan mounted externally. PSU mounted lower right hand side. On/off switch mounted top left.

 

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^Inside rear, viewed from top front.

 

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^Front view. 200mm intake fan mounted on inside.

 

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^Inside front

 

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^Top right rear

 

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^GPU cable management

 

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^Diffuser for  LED lighting (RGB 3528 strip) mounted top front

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Diffuser for LED lighting mounted to bottom rear of case

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Mounting of headers etc to top crossmember

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  • 3 months later...

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