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2009 MOD CONTEST - |BLACK/CHAMBER|^Cu (Copper)


TonyStarks

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HELLO EVERYONE!! It's great to be here; I've seen a lot of great and interesting work on the forums and I look forward to seeing more! This is my entry to the 2009 mod competition. I am just pointing out that the first part of this worklog has been transferred from another forum so the first several pictures are a bit lower quality as I couldn't find the originals. I started this project a few months ago and was originally going to aircool it. But after starting it, I decided to watercool instead so you will see a "new" beginning further down the topic, starting with pictures of the watercooling parts I'll be using. So, my project is BLACK/CHAMBER ^Cu which will be an ATCS 840 modified to fit my parts and have a color scheme of Black, Copper, Silver, and hints of White. There are a number of parts that I will be making out of copper sheet/plate and others that I will copper plate. It will be a dual loop setup. I hope that all makes sense! I look forward to sharing my work and reading your feedback!

Well after finally getting all my parts in and dealing with the my Enermax PSU issues I've started putting together my system . . . finally! I just powder coated my chassis with a nice matte black so I can begin the real work. I'll be modding my ATCS 840 case to give it my own spin. I've already started some of the cuts and what not on certain parts of the case.

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Here's some pics of what I'll be putting in my rig . . Classified hadn't arrived when the photo was taken and the Enermax was replaced with a PC Power & Cooling 1200w.

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A pic of my cutout plans all drawn out and ready to go. Note: this was before I decided to watercool, the panel cutout has since changed as I decided to remove the large fan that was going to be mounted on the window.

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Aren't Dremels great?

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Finished cut . . time to file and sand it smooth.

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My Coolermaster ATCS 840 completely disassembled. I powder coated the interior aluminum surfaces of my ATCS 840. A friend I know locally has a nice powder coating setup at a machine shop that he works out of who has been kind enough to teach me the ins and outs of powder coating.

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A closeup of the motherboard tray with a few cat hairs on it . . nice added touch lol

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Here is the ATCS 840 all re-assembled; I love powder coating! Forgot to put on the right side panel for the pic. The left side panel that I cut for a window is still in the process of being filed. There's some masking tape still on some of the outside parts of the case; I put it all over the place on the outside to avoid scratching the brushed aluminum while I was turning it every which way while re-assembling it.

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I just made a quick before and after of the little stand that sits at the bottom of the case for the PSU. It had a foam layer on it to prevent vibration that had to be scraped off when I powder coated the part; didn't want to start a fire during the backing process lol. So I re-cut my own foam afterwords with some insulation tape that fit the bill perfectly! I think I might use the stuff in a few other spots to dampen vibration that may occur.

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I got all kinds of MDPC-X sleeving from Charles at Murdermod and I'll commence sleeving real soon here. I know it's tedious but I'm actually kinda looking forward to it. Note: I got some white MDPC-X from Nils in Germany to accent the black sleeving that you will see later in the worklog. He noted I was the first person to receive his new and improved white MDPC-X in the USA and let me tell you, it's BEAUTIFUL! Quick shout out to Charles at Murdermod and Nils at MDPC-X for all of the friendly help and advice they've given me so far!

So here a few pictures of my sleeving so far. I gotta say it again-- the MDPC-X sleeving is f%^$% AWESOME! It's really incredible quality stuff that makes sleeving so much cleaner and easier. If you want to sleeve, there really is nothing that compares. I'm pretty happy with my sleeving so far though sorry about the pictures-- they aren't the best. I was holding the camera and taking quick pictures so the focus isn't perfect and yea, there's more cat hair here and there in the pictures lol. Final pics of my project will be MUCH better.

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BEFORE (6-pin PCI-E)

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AFTER (6-pin PCI-E) (with bonus cat hair :thumbleft: )

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(6+2 pin PCI-E)

Well back to sleeving . . I'll get some more pics up of my other progress up a bit later this week. Thanks again for checking out my log and feel free to comment.

Thanks Guys!

Cheers,

S

** END OF SUMMARY OF OLD, TRANSFERRED WORKLOG - NEW STUFF COMING NEXT **

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** NEW - WORKLOG CONTINUATION **

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As I mentioned before, at this point in the worklog I've decided to watercool my system instead of air cooling it. And as such, the design has changed a bit but the theme largely remains the same; BLACK & COPPER! I'll start off with some pictures of all the additional components I ordered AFTER I decided to watercool, making it a bit more of a complex project. I also decided to add some other items.

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I've decided to make a hole in the lower panel that sticks out on the front of the case where the coolermaster logo is. I cut a nice rounded square which will be filled with some black perforated metal.

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I'm SUPER paranoid about scratching the brushed aluminum on the exterior of the case parts; it's really sensitive stuff, takes next to nothing to scratch it so I put masking tape all over all of the ATCS 840 exterior surfaces while I'm working on them.

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Used a combination of Dremel and Jigsaw for this one; time to file the edges to be straight and smooth. Maybe I'll find something to do with the left over aluminum later on!

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The small carbide steel straight grinding bits for the dremel are good for cutting in close on the curved edges and giving them a smoother surface that is much nice for filing.

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After I'm done smoothing all of the edges, I removed the masking tape to get an idea of how the panel looks; I like the result. Haven't decided what I'll do with the bare aluminum edges yet. I could either paint them black to match or buff them up with some buffing compound and get a nice luster. We'll see later!

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Here's the perforated steel (aka modder's mesh) that will be fitted into the center of the panel I cut. I had to curve down the edges to fit the curve/bevel on the sides of the panel. It looks pretty sharp when it's put into place. I haven't taken a picture yet-- I still need to fully secure the mesh to the panel and I'm waiting until I decide what finish to use on the cute edges.

Soo, part of what the water cooling stuff I decided to go with is some of Aquacomputer's Aquatubes! Since I'm going with a Black & Copper theme I ordered a couple copper Aquatubes and they look incredibly in my opinion. Definitely a quality piece of metal; quite heavy!

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Here's a picture of one of them. Yea, I know I need to polish up the oxidation and fingerprints etc. I'm saving that for later when I polish all of my copper parts a final time and apply a special copper sealant to prohibit future oxidation, staining, and interaction with other metals.

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I just made a quick little diagram to show what I'm doing with the aquatubes, how and where I will be mounting them. The made a custom mounting plate to be able to mount them this way as Aquacomputer's mounting options don't quite allow me to do this. Pictures following . . .

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First I took a piece of 1/8th inch copper plate and cut it to size, cut the holes and then filed the holes down to the appropriate size. My idea is to have make this mounting plate out of 3 layers. A copper layer, a silver colored metal layer and then a thin outer layer of brushed black anodized aluminum to match the rest of the ATCS 840. I thought it would be cool to play with the color of the copper reservoir and the layers in the mounting plates hole . . and I must say the results are pretty nice . . you'll see!

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Did the same thing with a layer of aluminum, taking great care to get edges and holes filed to match the copper layer's size exactly. Yes, I know aluminum and copper aren't the best of friends, but the specialized sealant I have will prevent any possible problems . . for 10-12 years that is. I hope to have a new computer by then lol :mrgreen:

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Just a quick picture of the double layers for the mount along with the outer brushed aluminum layer before the holes were cut.

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Closeup of where the edges of the copper and aluminum meet . . I really like the effect!

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In order to get my mounting plate to fit in the bay area of the ATCS 840 while being flush with the outer surface of the case and being recessed enough into the case to my contact with the reservoirs themselves, I needed to mill small channels on either side of the plate. I know it probably doesn't make much sense just reading this but if you have an ATCS 840, you might get what I mean if take a look at your case. So, while I will be getting a small vertical mill in the next couple of months, it won't be in time for this project so I made my own homemade vertical mill!

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I just used the Dremel routing kit and made a straight track for it to run against and made the correct measurements for the placement of the mounting plate. I used one of those carbide steel straight grinding attachments. I then ran the bit, slowly and carefully against the track down both edges of the mounting plate.

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It might be kind of hard to see in the pictures but along that silver part of the edge there is a small recessed channel. While it's certainly not the work of a milling machine, I was actually impressed with the job the Dremel did! As long as you go nice and slow, it works quite nicely!

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To get a nice finish on the interior of the holes where you will see the reservoir windows, I needed to sand the filing marks down to a smoother surface. I used 220, 400, 800, 1000, 1500. So here you can see the sanded surface before I buff it.

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Because of the size of the opening I got some small 2 inch muslin wheels that could mounted in a drill chuck. I then used some Tripoli and White Rouge. The finished surface after buffing looks REALLY nice; the pictures don't do it justice. I love buffing metals, always looks so awesome. I ended up re finishing those surfaces in the next pictures you'll see with some finer buffing compounds that I received later on.

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(oops . . forgot to make color adjustments on this pic)

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Here are some pics of the mounting plate for the Aquatube reservoirs all finished. The hole edges are all buffed and the outer black aluminum layer has been added. I made some custom brackets that will hold it with screws in the drive bay, like other bay devices. Do note that there is one screw missing on the outer side of both holes. Because of it's placement being right at the limit of the edge of the plate, I will be adding the holes and screws to those spots when it's mounted to the case itself. Also, the outer edges of the plate (not the buffed hole edges) as well as the back and the brackets will be powder coated a matte black to match the interior of the case. I'm REALLY looking forward to see how this looks when it's fully installed.

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Here's a little preview of how the mounting plate will look installed with the Aquatubes. It was just a trial install to make sure everything was good to go. Don't mind all the masking tape on the case, I take a lot of tape on and off of the outer aluminum of that case to protect it depending on what I'm doing. And don't mind the old intel logo panel . . it was just a trial on my friend's laser engraver. I really like the looks of the mounting plate though . . I hope you all do too!!

So that's it for tonite . .err morning would be a better way to put it. I have quite a bit more done than what I've posted so far but I haven't had time to post the pictures. I will be marathon posting them in the next few days. I've finished the side panel, interior case modifications, copper plating of various parts, Classified ECP bay fixture and other stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to following everyone's work over the remaining couple of weeks. THANK YOU for taking the time to check my project out and I welcome comments!

More pictures REAL soon . . .

Cheers Everyone!

S.

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Hadn't seen our latest entry (out with a damn pinched nerve for a week) and all I can say is Kudos on the detail of the reservoirs, better than factory made! Can't wait to see what else is cooking.

Cheers and Saludos

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