MrVoidX Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 SYSTEM COMPLETE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Design Idea: so the inspiration of this build is to create a silent case build that's somewhat lan friendly. To accomplish this goal, I'm planning on making the ventilation internal, meaning none of the fans connect directly to the wall of the case. Instead, vents will be attached to the bottom and top allowing for the sound to be dampened and lowered in pitch. Additionally the walls will be acrylic, further dampening any noise. Side note: most of the parts are coming from an older build I did. The motivation for this build is to replace my old all-acrylic case which is falling apart and had terrible thermals due to poor ventilation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So to kick of the build log I'll start with what I'm working on at the moment. Currently I'm putting together the lightering and fan controller. I'm building a custom 4 inch wide drive bay for this to all go in. On the top there's the "arduino" TAU to control everything, a prototype board for all the connectors and a PWM board at the bottom. TIP: to avoid that annoying sound PWMs make, make sure the operating frequency is above the audible frequency a person can hear. Technically I've already got the main frame of the case welded (started in August), but I'll get to that later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 So I already made one flub; I had the fan header backwards, which isn't too hard to fix as you just need to remove the plastic guide and rotate it. I just tested it and it works like a charm. Now I just need to program the board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 Just got a usb hub to join all the micro controllers together. This is going to fit in the drive encolsure that'll contain the power button, OLED display and fan controller. I also gutted the OLED from my old case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mini-update: looks like the board I got for the fan controller isn't properly setup for "EEPROM" storage. So I'll need to swap it for one that is. I'll probably have that setup by the end of next week. On to the rest of the case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 So while I figure out the fan issue, I started work on the drive bays. To make sure they're as accurate as possible, I started with the smallest bit to get the exact spot and drilled the second panel using the first as a guide with the smallest bit. The side walls are 1/8 thick while the top and bottom are 1/4. Normally gluing 1/8 at a right angle is impractical, but with the 1/4 inch top and bottom, joining them to the front panel should be more manageable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Finished sanding and buffing the drive bays; eventually I'll have this glued to the front panel. Also, I started work on the drive containing the OLED display, power and fan controller. Since acrylic isn't the friendliest material to thread, I used acrylic nuts that I glued to the inner wall of the drive. Although wide enough to have all 3 screw holes to each side, I opted for just the front 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 So I just finished some work on the front of the drive containing the fan controller/ power/ oled display. Originally I wanted to add a small fan to cool the disk dives, but I'm out of room. Since I got the front face laser cut, I wanted to avoid screwing up some holes, so I used a clear piece of plastic as a guide. On the back I have two acrylic screws to hold the power button and a bracket to hold the OLED in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 So it turns out it was all a misunderstanding of how the serial communication reports available bytes. So I got the fan/lighting controller up and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Just added a github with all the micro-controller code: https://github.com/OpenZSD/CaseController ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for the aluminum sections, I've been working on those parts since August. So I got a lot to post with regards to that. So to kick things off, I'll start with the vents. So the aluminum portions primarily serve as skeletal support with two acrylic sheets to produce semi-air tight cove. Besides reducing noise by having the fans placed more inwards, all the fans are connected to the vent making wire management a lot easier. Also, each vent is connected with just 4 screws. So without need to remove each fan, I can take out the entire radiator setup with 4 screws and removing a single fan header and tubes. Note, the magnified photo shows the fans pins without the plastic guide, but I added those later. UPDATE: just added a side by side picture of the intake and exhaust vent. The intake has the side where air is pulled showing with the other showing its opposite side where the fan connector attaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 So once again, I get side tracked with another flub. This time as I was gluing the drive bay to the front panel, the 1/8 walls bowed inward at the center. I was using two drive at the top and bottom for placement, but I screwed them in tight to the point the wall bent in. Fortunately glue was weak enough for me to nudge off some of the walls without breaking the panel. Another thing that held me back was that I was using stacked acrylic nuts as spacers for the fan control, but they kept sheering off. So to fix this problem I routed a channel and filled it with acrylic gel glue... and to make it look nice, sanded it to a nice round cylinder. Below is a picture without the glue filled channel and the glue filled channel circled. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update: just glued the front face of the drive. Now I just have to do the sleeving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrVoidX Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Just finished the drive and put the sleeving on. I noticed the fans will cause the LEDs to flicker when the fans are under 100%. This is a good sign I need to add a rectifier diode on the fan header board in the vent (I was hoping to avoid reopening it, guess not). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So after playing with a number of circuits to solve the problem of the flickering LED; looks like the solution is just to add a 1mF capacitor on the 12v source and a rectifier diode on the 12v line going out to the fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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