Project: Honeycomb

[p0Pe]

So much for what your mother always said right?
you could learn a lot from her.

Oh snap

What I said about MM might be good for someone who want to buy it You would want to know if something you were about to invest a lot of money in, was not worth it at all would you not?

Praise the wisdom of mother

Your comment just stroke me as odd, as I could not see the point of it If your intention with it was to ask if he got the main inspiration source from the mm case, then it would make sense.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

You think you just have the ...Freedom to Eclipse peoples' happiness and ambition with your own negative little bits of trivia?

This doesnt concern you,

Please stay out of it. unless you want to call me an asshole for making a valid observation too? in that case whose being more negative? Me for asking if the build was based on something or the one calling me an asshole?

Oh snap

What I said about MM might be good for someone who want to buy it You would want to know if something you were about to invest a lot of money in, was not worth it at all would you not?

Praise the wisdom of mother

Your comment just stroke me as odd, as I could not see the point of it If your intention with it was to ask if he got the main inspiration source from the mm case, then it would make sense.

The point I was making an observation. It looked like an MM-UFO, and i was asking if that was what it was supposed to look like as hes building from scratch and not modding a pre-built MM-UFO

 

[Suhidu]

This doesnt concern you,

Please stay out of it. unless you want to call me an asshole for making a valid observation too?

No offense meant, I was relying on the pun of "Freedom to Eclipse" (i.e., "FreedomEclipse"). My post was in jest and I agree that I should stay out of it, at least seriously.

 

[p0Pe]

Now to close this, so more off topic is avoided in this thread.

Not trying to be an asshole here.....

but what youve pretty much done is made a MountainMods UFO case but added your own touch to it.

This is not a question - This is a statement.

This doesnt concern you,

Please stay out of it. unless you want to call me an asshole for making a valid observation too? in that case whose being more negative? Me for asking if the build was based on something or the one calling me an asshole?

The point I was making an observation. It looked like an MM-UFO, and i was asking if that was what it was supposed to look like as hes building from scratch and not modding a pre-built MM-UFO

You really need to make up your mind. Are you making an observation, and writing that, or are you asking a question.
If you are making an observation, then your original post has no purpose.
If it however is a question, then it is somewhat relevant for the topic.

 

[t_ski]

That's enough people - take it to PMs if you want to discuss this further. No need in messing up this project log with your arguement.

 

[Fuganater]

That's enough people - take it to PMs if you want to discuss this further. No need in messing up this project log with your arguement.

Indeed....

 

[de.das.dude]

the thing is this guy is working hard on this case as he is building it up from scratch. and his honey comb idea is great. ALSO, his sponsors think its an awesome build.

really cant wait for the honeycomb side panel to finish!

 

[Fuganater]

Cutting the Mobo Side Panel

the thing is this guy is working hard on this case as he is building it up from scratch. and his honey comb idea is great. ALSO, his sponsors think its an awesome build.

really cant wait for the honeycomb side panel to finish!

As you wish

After I finished drawing up the side panel yesterday I started cutting it. It took me roughly 4 hours to do the 1 large window and 3 small ones. I wanted ever cut to be perfect because you can always take more off, you can never put it back.

When cutting windows plexi, first thing to do is drill out your corners so you have somewhere for you blade to go.

First one done.

Second.

And finally the third small window.

You can see how the edges are just a bit off. So here they are after filing for a good 30 minutes to get it perfect.

Next up is the large window. I had to drill lots of holes.

Done! Well... almost.

Using the technique that I do, You will still have most corners looking like this but that's OK. I take my jigsaw and clean up the corners with ease.

All done!

Here are some shots to show the edges. Remember, this is all done by hand so its only about 95-98% perfect. I might have to file 1 or 2 of the the sides again.

And here is what it looks like on the case.

This is only the 1st level of the side panel. There will be raised hexagons on the top, one orange with a black one on top. And behind the window cut out there will be Orange and then the clear piece. The Orange will have LED's behind it to give it some glow.

Since I have some clear plexi I figured I would cut that to size too and since I don't have a table saw or a laser cutter, I had to make my own.

Here I am using a level as my guide so that the line is perfectly straight.

Up close shot.

Not too bad.

And since I cut that piece off, I used it as my straight edge for the next cut.

Another good cut.

The line to the left is where the frame stops.

Here is what it looks like in comparison to the panel.

That's it for now. I'm still painting the mobo plate and I/O back plate. Until I receive more plexi all I can do is attach the front panel. I might find some other small things to do but nothing major.

Cheers till next time.

 

[PopcornMachine]

Nice work. The cutouts of the plexi is like a tutorial I haven't seen anywhere else.

So you drilled some holes to allow rough cutting, and then finished it with a jigsaw?

I would be interested in seeing to tools you used to do this.

Looks excellent on the case.

Thanks so much for the detailed pictures.

 

[de.das.dude]

i think he did the rough cutting with a jigsaw and finished with a file

 

[PopcornMachine]

i think he did the cough cutting with a jigsaw and finished with a file

Thanks. I see that now. Didn't know you could file plexi like that. Very cool.

 

[Fuganater]

When I do the other side panel I will give a few steps I skipped here.

 

[de.das.dude]

Thanks. I see that now. Didn't know you could file plexi like that. Very cool.

plexi and ABS are nice to stuffs to file with.

 

[Fuganater]

Custom Waterblock and Cables

After talking to a guy on one of the forums he has agreed to help me make a custom made mobo waterblock. Here are some shots of the beginning stages of me planing it out.

These are pictures from a few days ago. The current layout is almost perfect. I still have to work on it for a few more days.

Now for the cables.

CPU Power cable cut.

Assembled

And sleeved.

Here is where I stand with all the other cables.

The CPU Power and 2 PCI-E cables are assembled so far. I have the ATX Power cable cut in the middle and on the left was an attempt at sleeving a SATA cable. I just finished cutting the cables for the SATA power for all the HDDs, the SATA power for the Blu-Ray player and the fan hub power cable.

Now to connect all these to the mobo I need more holes. I wanted to make a hole for each wire to go through but that didn't work out. But it did look good.

I ended up doing this.

Here is where all the wires will pass through the center piece.

This is at the top left of the mobo. The CPU Power will pass through here.

Here are the holes for the ATX Power, SATA cables and the PCI-E cables.

I didn't get a good one of the CPU power. I'll have more later.

And finally I couldn't resist doing a fan test. The white LEDs look good for now.

Today I am working on the PSU support, fan grills, painting the I/O backplate/PCI covers and more PSU cables.

Cheers till next time.

 

[de.das.dude]

if you want any help with the desigining of the block, i am game. i'll use autoCAD

 

[Fuganater]

if you want any help with the desigining of the block, i am game. i'll use autoCAD

That sounds great! I'm using sketchup right now to make it, print it out and see if it fits. Its really hard to measure due to all of the caps and such on the board. I'll let you know.

 

[de.das.dude]

skecthup sucks man. its irritating

and as for measuring, usng a piece of paper and cutting as you go works well.

 

[Fuganater]

Ya thats what I've been doing. Measure cut. Need more on one side or less on another. Draw, cut. Rinse and repeat. I'll be working on it more this week so there will be pics.

 

[de.das.dude]

an you suggest me some grill designs ?
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151955

 

[Fuganater]

Sure I can have a look.

 

[Fuganater]

EK Waterblocks Goodies

My EK Waterblocks order finally got here! Thanks EK for this massive sponsorship.



Here it all is

2x DCP 4.0 Pumps

2x Multioption X2 Res 250

2x 420 Rads (These are MASSIVE!)

1x Supreme HF

1x RAM Dominator

Tons of 10/13 Straight and 45 degree Compression fittings.
Straight and 45 degree

Huge thanks again to Gregor at EK Waterblocks for sponsoring this build.

 

[de.das.dude]

i friggin love EK's minimalist packaging!

 

[Fuganater]

Installing the Rad/Res

First thing is first. I'm not using the stock bolts for the rads. I like the ones I bought but they don't fit the threads of the rads.

So I drilled

and tapped them to accommodate an 8-32 bolt

When I tried a test fit I was like OH CRAP!! THEY DON'T FIT! My initial measurement was off by about 3/8" to accommodate the rads. So I cut spots in the bottom of the case for them to go.

Here you can see how far it sticks out the bottom. Which isn't much.

Here is the front one on.

How it will look with the second one. Can't install it until the new plexi arrives. Should have been shipped yesterday or today.

I forgot to take a close up but at the bottom of the left rad you can see the barbs are on. I had to cut about another 3/4" to be able to fit the barbs on. No biggie.

It took me quite awhile to figure out where the heck I was going to put the Reservoirs'.

This was my first thought.

And my second.

But in the end my buddy came up and told me they would look sick if I put them back to back on the same stand. I said OK lets try it.

I cut the clear piece of plexi to be exactly as wide as the res clamps.

Drilled and mounted the res clamps. I had to drill a hole the drill a larger hole on the opposite side but only 1/2 through the plexi. The screws they give you are extremely short.

and attached the reservoirs'

Here they are in the case.

This is not actually the final position. They will be about 1 1/2" to the left of where you see them... well to the back of the case but to the left of the pic.

From the front you can see they only block about 1/4 of the 2 front fans. That's fine since everything is WC'd. The 2 fans in the front are just to keep air moving.

With the side panel on.

You can't really see them... Lets fix that.

I cut 2 more hexagons out so that you could see them better. I won't cut anymore because then it will lose its look.

Things are finally coming together. My next update is all about experimenting with lighting. I've never used SMD LED strips before nor just using normal 5mm LEDs but some of the effects look pretty good.

Cheers till then.

 

[Fuganater]

Lighting

As I said in my last update, I've never worked with SMD LED strips or used LEDs for this kind of lighting.

I drilled some holes in a scrap piece of clear plexi to see how the lighting looks. At the top is a few 5mm LEDs and the bottom is the SMD LED strip.

It looks ok. I don't like the spaces between the light on the side of the plexi.

Now here is the same piece of pelxi but with the SMD LED strip taped to the side of the plexi.

MUCH better looking IMO.

Here it is in the case. Its a bit hard to see it because I didn't cut it to size yet but I'm testing here.

From the front

I also wanted to see how it would look with LEDs directly under the res.

Deff not very good.

Since most coolant is crap I will be doing distilled water and some silver coils for now. The EK blocks are nice because they have a 3mm hole for an LED so I bought some Orange ones 2 days ago. They should be here next week. Anyways by doing this I won't need the coolant reaction, the LEDs should look great.

Well sorry for the bulk updates but I've been working really hard and didn't have time to publish them. I'm gonna work on the lighting some more tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I get some more materials in.

Cheers till next time.

 

[Fuganater]

i friggin love EK's minimalist packaging!

You mean the news paper that they use in the box?