Nicholas Falzone Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 (edited) Distro Plate Part I This will take a while but here is the first part of the distribution/pump/wiring plate. I decided to start on the smallest part in case I screwed it up and needed to start over. For all these cuts, I used a single flute bit, either 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch or 2mm for all the small stuff. Here goes nothing, this will hold the pump: First cuts made: Threads proved challenging for me, partially because I forgot what I had figured out when I did them the first time. Eventually I got them to work though: After this I flipped the piece over and cut all of the screw holes as well as water channels: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 (edited) Distro Plate Part II This is a little out of order but it will all make sense later. I was going to put wiring access on the motherboard side but I eventually figured out it made more sense to put it on the GPU side. I did many iterations of this design that I used for mockups but I'll cover that more in the wiring section. However I decided to cut the wiring channels while also doing the water cooling part of the distro plate to minimize setups: Blank Slate: First blood. The beginnings of the wiring channels. This will lead to the RGB header on the motherboard: More channels. This will hold the CPU power cable along with RGB lighting hub: From here I started the water-cooling section again, first by drilling about a million holes: After that, I flipped over the work piece and routed the channels for the water cooling along with the O-Ring channels: Practice vs the real thing: With fingers crossed I combined the two sides with some practice o-rings to check fitment. To my delight everything worked out: More to come soon... Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) Since I am making a pretty small PC I needed a pretty small power supply. Luckily I got my hands on a Cooler Master 650w SFX power supply which is surprisingly small for how much power it has: I wanted to make a holder for this that goes with the rest of the case and since Wenge is so strong, I decided to make a thinner holder with this. As usual I made a few test pieces to get the basic dimensions: I then needed to get the stock ready. I resawed some Wenge stock with my bandsaw: Resawing left a surprisingly smooth surface but I cleaned it up with the drum sander anyway. First things first though, time to glue up! All cleaned up: Similar to the main case Wenge, I wanted the grain to be continuous so I cut it accordingly: I wanted to showcase dovetails as a design element in case so I chose to use them again here. Luckily these were much easier as they were much smaller. Marking: First cuts: Marking some more: More cutting: And after some cleanup we end up with more dovetail joints: I needed to make the cutout to mount the PSU to so I cut this out on the CNC with a 2mm O flute bit: It works! Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 I decided to attach the PSU bracket to the acrylic with both screws and a dado joint. To do the dado, I used my trusty router table: With this done, I located some holes to screw the bracket into the acrylic and used the same 6-32 screws I've used on most other things so far. Next I needed some vent holes for the PSU fan and some holes for the power supply cables. I decided on a simple design that would get the job without attracting too much attention to itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) Once I had the holes for the GPU and Motherboard made into the central acrylic panel and knew where they were going to sit in relation to the bottom wenge portion, I could make the holders for these along with corresponding holes in the Wenge. They would look something like these: I used more of the 12mm acrylic: And cut them out: From there, I marked their placement on the Wenge and matched up the holes on the real thing vs the CNC model: Luckily I measured well and got the holes in the right place: Next I made holes from the bottom to attach the acrylic with countersunk screws: Lastly, I sanded the edges and made a slight chamfer: Edited January 15, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) I needed a little piece to hold down the GPU to the acrylic mount. Eagle-eyed readers will notice how the photo above does not match the final version. This is because I kept messing up and made this three times. Slow down to speed up is my motto but sometimes I forget. I also cut out the profile on the bottom as seen in the photo: And the final version: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 15, 2021 Author Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) To further hold the heavy GPU assembly up, I decided to attach a bracket at the top that slips between the PCB and the waterblock. I made a quick test one to see if this would work well enough: I had plenty of off cuts of Wenge to make small parts with and I liked the grain of this one: My plan was to CNC route the holes but use my router table for the rabbet: When I started to route the rabbet, the hardness of the wood combined with the small size of the piece made it seem sketchy so I instead CNC'd it as well: Next I needed to make a little cutout where a standoff was blocking the Wenge: Once I drilled/filed this out, it fit great: From there I drilled and tapped holes in the acrylic: And lastly I chamfered the edges: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 (edited) Earlier I routed a hole and groove for the PSU power cable and fan cables shown below. I wanted to put a cover on this to hide most of the wiring: I picked a piece with matching grain to make this as hidden as possible and ripped it to the right size: I thought about using the CNC for this but hand tools worked better in this case: Getting close, I just need to do the rounded corners: And a small slot for the cable to pass through: All done and ready for sanding: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 (edited) I wanted an elegant way to hold the PSU power cable to the acrylic and decided on some little Wenge brackets. This took a few tries to get something that I liked: Final version: I chamfered the edges to match the rest of the case: I wanted the same countersunk holes and this required some creative work holding: But it worked: Once they were all cut I drilled and tapped corresponding holes in the acrylic: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas Falzone Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) One reason I moved the wiring access to the GPU side is so I could put a cover on it without hitting any motherboard parts with screw heads and shorting out the hardware. Luckily I still had some 1mm brushed black aluminum from A.C.Ryan to make a cover out of. First I made a practice version: Once I was happy with the size and hole placement I started cutting the real version. I used a 2mm Single flute bit with a bit of alcohol to make it cut more cleanly. Ideally I'd have a mist system for this: It fits just like it should. Next is programing in the corresponding holes on the acrylic side: Edited January 31, 2021 by Nicholas Falzone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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