tower mod flow

[Nagelfar]

     

 

 

 

Hi there

 

First time entering CMWS but hopefully not the last.
My name is Robin (aka Nagelfar) and live in Uppsala, Sweden.
So far I´ve taken cases and modified those rather heavy.

This time I´m using Cooler Master old Elite 130 ITX case which will undergo a rather big transformation

Creating space inside of it to be able to fit in a full size GPU as well as a big CPU cooler.

I do own a 3D printer and found out it´s kind of fun to design your own solutions.

Therefor this build will include a lot of 3D printed parts of my own design.
Trying to create the case parts as tool less as possibly.

 

My multimedia computer are starting to show its age (2010) so it was high time for an upgrade.
"flow" are meant for everyday use such as well everything really, hence why the components are not that powerful.

A big shoutout to Cooler Master Nordic that helped me with the cooling solution

 

This build will be aircooled and the parts is as followed

 

CPU: Intel core i5 9500KF

Motherboard: Asus RoG Strix B360-I

RAM: 16GB, 2666Mhz Corsair LPX

GPU: MSI GTX 1080Ti Trio Gaming X

Storage: Gigabyte NVMe gen 3, 256GB and 512GB

Case: Cooler Master Elite 130

PSU: Cooler Master V850W SFX Gold
Cooling CPU: MASTERAIR MA620M

Case fans: MASTERFAN MF140R ARGB and MASTERFAN MF120R ARGB
2x Be Quiet Silent wings 2, 80mm 

Custom cables, material provided from MDPC-X

[Nagelfar]

Yea I´ve been at this one for some time btw so this first post might include a lot of pictures.

 

 

Here it is, the victim of my plans. Honestly though this case deserves a facelift.

 

Didn´t take long before I´ve torn it apart to see what I have to work with.

 

Mask up and measure twice before cutting right?

 

 

Got a shipment of coolingparts from Cooler Master.

 

 

Had to try out the towercooler, poor motherboard looks so tiny in compairson.

 

Let me tell you a story of how to get hold of a free MSI GTX 1080Ti Trio X gaming GPU.
People don´t think that you can repair electronics as it seems. This one had broken down DP.
Good thing to know some people in the business that has the capability to repair and swap out DP

 

Total cost of repair and the card itself: $15

 

 

Going to be a tight fit but the end result should look amazing

 

 

Some storage

 

Total noob when it comes to CAD so there are some flaws but I feel this will do as the front panel, well a draft of the front panel.

 

 

My 3D printer aint big enough to manage to print most of the parts in 1 piece so a little sliceing is needed.

A draft piece printed to see how it might end up.

 

Good enough so time to print out the rest of the front and glue it together.

 

I did say I was going to give the Elite 130 a facelift right?

 

And some matte black paint on it. Close to the end result right here.

 

Creating a attachement frame for the side panels 

 

 

More sliceing and more glue.

 

Feet and upper profiles

 

Even more sliceing and glue

 

 

FIller on a can is so nice to have

 

 

 

GPU sidepanel and you guessed it, sliced and glued.

 

 

 

 

This part is so tedious but very important, sanding. Good thing you can enjoy a cold beer and a bourbon while doing it.

 

Time has come to the back of the case "Make it Yours"

 

Rather ellaborate design for a beginner in CAD oh and of course sliceing and more glue.

 

 

Pretty pleased how this turned out if I may say so.

 

 

Some paint to make it look even better.

 

 

 

Putting the case together to try out the fit.

 

 

 

Where the PSU once was positioned in the case is where this fanhousing now is.

 

 

Decided that I might need some more cooling for the motherboard and the bottom SSD, x2 80mm fans should do the trick.

 

 

And finally about 3 months overdue it arrived, This little powerhouse containing 850W

 

 

Created a super simple yet very effective PSU holder

 

 

Now when I got the PSU I could start creating some cables when I´m certain of the lenghts. Supermessy workbench I know.

Using the shrinkless method.

 

 

CPU power cable

 

ATX cable

Created a simple but very effective pin layout.

Dont want no cables causing a shorthcircuit now would we?

 

 

 

 

 

Well that´s about it for now.

 

 

 

[Nagelfar]

As of late it has been some modelling in Fusion to design the internal parts. The PSU cover along with the fan cover have take quite some time but a first prototype is in the printer as we speak so I can testfit and see what it looks like.
 

Firsst of is a new floor for easier and cleaner cablemanagement.

 

This is the piece that have tanek quite a bit of time for me atleast to come up with.
Prototype´s in the printer atm.

 

 

Also did some planning for the bigger cables.

 

Ohh and this, I hope, will give the cable that little extra touch.

Cablecombs

 

And the finished products are in a matte black PLA with a bit of a texture to it.

 

Now all I need to do is to wait for the printer to be done.

[Nagelfar]

Short update this time. As I mentioned eralier I´ve been working on the interior and had the flu for the past 2 weeks so its going a bit slow atm.
Fitted the panels for the fan cover and the PSU cover to try to get them to have a snug fit:

Remember I try to get this a tool less case. This includes no screws as well so it´ll take some time to design the panels the right way so to speak.

 

Trying to hide some of the headers on the motherboard with the PSU cover as well. Going for that smooth look.

 

Also the fan cover.

[Nagelfar]

Progress but slow. 
I lent the GPU to a friend when he was waiting on the new 3000 series to come out, unfortunatley that meant I did´n´t really had anything to take measurements from and therefor I had to adjust some, well a lot, of the parts that was already done.

 

Painted the frame, not that it was needed since it wont show anyways but atleast I know it´ll look good underneath as well.

 

 

Primed and sanded parts. This part is so timeconsuing.

 

 

Decided to go with inlays, perhaps I should have gone with a white build instead?

 

Came out pretty nice in the end.

 

Other parts not so much. Having a hard time getting the paint stick on some parts for some reason.
Ohh well sand it down and have a go at it again.

There´s a lot of parts in the end. Here´s the collection of all the printed parts.

 

Finally had the chance of testfitting the parts after I got the GPU back.
Found out that I have a lot of work left trying to adjust some parts.

 

A little detour from the computerbuilding.
The kids was doing some perler beads and I couldn´t resist creating this Venom head haha.

[Sa mod]

very cool

[Nagelfar]

flow is up and runnning, well atleast I installed windows and stuff like that to make sure it works properly.

 

Before that happened I had some cable to make still.
This time and the last one is the GPU:
Good thing to keep the workbench nice and tidy.

 

Endresult looking something like this.

 

 

Speaking of cablemanagement.
I had the bottom left to tidy up a bit as well.

 

A bit tight but with a few stripes here and there it held up nicely.

 

When that was done it wa time for the side panels.
Not much to say really. Cut out pieces of plexiglass.

 

Looking something like this when they´re in place.

 

Now some "awesome" shots on the site where it´ll end up at in the end.

 

As you all can see I´m very close on getting it completley finsihed.
Just some minor fixes to do before the final shots, which I hope will turn out good.