HARD CORE MODER

adjago
HARD CORE MODER

Thanks dude! Trying to get better every day =D

Hey everyone! Got another update for ya! I finished up the brackets I started at the end of last update and made the case sturdier with a gusset and a shroud through the bottom case. I am very pleased with the build so far! I also am stoked to announce that Primochill and Mod/smart are officially going to sponsor the build! I hope to have some of that in the next update! Also Cooler Master is going to sponsor the build with the new VSM750w semi-modular power supply! I plan to sleeve it up with Mod/Smarts new MaxCord paracord, and I will be painting the connectors copper! Thanks to these sponsors for helping make this case mod awesome!
 

 

 

 
Now that I let you in on the great news, lets get into the update!
 
First off Ill show you the brackets I fiber glassed to fill all the holes. They almost look like they came stock this way =D
 

 

 

 




I decided to use rivet nuts instead of rivets so I can screw the case back together with bolts now.
 

 

 




Now I had a nice neat bottom box ready.
 

 




Next I made a gusset for strength using acrylic and aluminum cube standoff/nuts. My machinist is sending me the jig to make these and I should have them available for purchase soon after an overwhelming demand for them! Please visit my Facebook Page and leave a message for details. Ill leave a link at the end of the update!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Just that little gusset alone made the case really rigid! Next up was the shroud which will have a small window to show the side of the power supply, and also will have my solid states that I use mounted on it.
 
First I cut the shroud to size and marked lines to make my bends.
 

 

 




After the first bends I sized it up to mark the excess to be cut off with the router.
 

 

 




I had to make a notch to clear the lip on the right side. It ended up fitting really nice, then it was time to bolt it down.
 

 




I marked off the cube mounts and got them all on.
 

 

 




Once they were on I got it into place. marked them off on the case and then bolted it in.
 

 

 




It fit like a glove and came out cleaner than I expected. =D
 

 




While I had it tore down I added some MNPCtech.com U-Channel to the bottom panel on the top case that I cut out. It is without a doubt the best U-channel I have used. I left some slack because I will be coating it in white PlastiDip and the last time I did that it shrunk the U-channel a bit.
 

 

 

 




Last I stacked up the case and took some photos of where I am sitting at =D
 

 

 

 

 

 

 




Well that is all I have for now! Thanks again so much for checking out the build progress! Remember to check my Facebook modding page Clockwerk Case Mods for daily updates and to inquire about the aluminum cubes I will be offering very soon! Take care guys until next time!

Wow! Just Wow!

LCRava
Wow! Just Wow!

lol thanks man!

Hey everyone!! Sorry for the delay in updates on the forums! I had an update prepared for last week and ended up moving my workshop from the pool house area to the garage for the summer and I collected some tools and had a huge organization break. So now I am back at it and it is smooth operator! Aluminum cubes are still available at Clockwerk Case Mods, just send me a PM for information! Alright now on with the updates! Lots of goodies came in and I started some of the cool details that will be in this mod!
First thing is first, huge thanks to my awesome sponsors! You guys are really making this build extra special to me!


Alright now I want to show you the goodies that came in! First up my power supply from Cooler Master! The newly released semi-modular VSM750w Gold Rated Power supply. I wrote up a little review, check it out >here< Next update I will have it all sleeved up with the Mod/Smart MaxCord I am about to show you!





Alright now on to my Primochill & Mod/Smart parts!



Bright white MaxCord paracord!



Kobra sleeve for the sata signal cables.


Connectors for making custom cables.


Heatshrink to match.


LED boards for the numerous single wired LEDs I have going into this build.



Many bulkheads! Ill be custom painting them copper =D


More revolvers than the wild west!!


All the fittings I will be using.


Can't connect the revolvers without PETG! Originally I was going to use copper tube and I was only using PETG behind the scenes to connect the bulkheads but I have a little surprise for my tubing later on!


Can't forget the awesome selection of Primochill Intesifier Sicle Colors! That's all I can say about them though!


Alright that's all the parts for now! On to the labor =D First is the LED trim, I use 1/4" acrylic stock and painted the face copper and drilled the ends for 3mm LEDs. Last night I ended up masking them off and painting the top for a more fuller look and the light will show out the bottoms.











Once they were drilled and cut, they got hit with paint.






Then I glued them to the side panel with my acrylic cement.





It looked great but you could see some air pocket of glue because the stock wasn't perfectly flat. So I decided to tape off the panel and repaint the face and paint the top side as well, then clear coat them.



I am glad I did that it made the copper effect more bold.



I also glued my IO panel together. once I have my GPUs I will cut the holes for them.



I also made a front bezel, I am going to redo it a little smaller to make it sit flush in the gap between the 2 original bezels but I can show you how I made it. At this point I decided I am going to use the copper paint instead of actual copper panels as I would prefer everything be the same color rather than real copper and not match exactly.
Here I started with the acrylic trim.








Then I cut some copper I had and painted it copper...copper on copper lol




Once that was all set, I dropped it in to make a nice framed copper panel. I am going to try to trim a little off to make it fit, if that doesn't work I will just remake one, it was easy to do.




The last thing I want to show you really quick is the interior mid plate bulkhead placement, I was going to drill and mount them but I want to wait until I have the corresponding piece of hardware to line up the fittings as close to perfect as possible. I think its going to look pretty amazing, you can get the idea if you use a little imagination =D






Well guys I tried to load this update with photos for you since I had a delay between posts, I hope you enjoyed the update! Should have another juicy update for you in a little over a week. Oh yeah dont forget to check out my page Clockwerk Case Mods to get daily photos of whats going on in the workshop! Thanks again for checking out the build, take care for now =D

Interesting build....starting to take shape too.

Chaos_21
Interesting build....starting to take shape too.

Thanks man! 

Hey guys! I managed to start my custom reservoirs going. Im starting trim on the top one and I think I am going to redo the bottom one as one of the seams did not glue solid and I am having some leaks.
I have also been busy with the CNC, its almost finished now, just need the spindle and some odds and ends. Once its done I can put my money towards buying the rest of the components for this build.
Anyway on to the update! Hope you guys enjoy it!
First thing is that I greatly appreciate the help from my sponsors, they are the foundation of this project!

 
Here we go! I got my motherboard tray locked in place now with some aluminum cubes.







I also went through and started removing the rivets and replacing them with rivet nuts so the case will no be assembled with screws rather than rivets. It makes things much cleaner and easier to break down and assemble.





Next up I modded the bottom case bezel to hold two bulkheads and a little window to the bottom res. Two tubes will go from the top res and bring water down to the bottom res.
I used the step drill to cut the holes out.




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Then cleaned them up with the dremel and put in the bulkheads.




Next I cut out a window, I am not sure what trim to go with yet, white or copper. I might actually make acrylic trim for a more professional look.








Now Ill show you the top reservoir. I am leaving the bottom res out because I am most likely going to remake it. Its only about 20$ in acrylic per reservoir without the trim.
So I got the acrylic and some more syringes and a new needle from McMaster.

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I took the acrylic and cut it down to the correct sizes and made rabbit joints on the ends to make them more leak resistant when I glue them.












I cut grooves in the mid plate that the water will flow over to hopefully keep the water a little more even.



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After all the panels were cut and rabbited I got to work getting the fittings in place.





After drilling it was time to tap the front fitting holes. A good trick is to run the tap through a block of wood then into the acrylic. It keeps the tap straight and prevents cracking of the acrylic.







Once the front were on I did the back return and top fill fitting.



Quick set in place to get an idea of it, and then lay everything out to glue.


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This res glued together rather well.




Final res without the trim.





Filled it with some liquid and let it sit over night. It passed the test.




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Even if it leaked a little the trim will block all the seams with another layer of reinforcement. Here is the first trim panel I set up. I am bringing it up and around the fittings on all panels of both reservoirs. The trim will also be masked off and painted copper once glued on for a white-copper-white-copper contrast.








Here is the trim in its glory. I am going to glue it square to the bottom right and flush cut the overhang. Then get it done.


Well thats what I have for now. Hope you enjoyed it! Always love some feedback! I plan to have both reservoirs trimmed, mounted and connected for the next update. There are only a few things left that I can do before installing hardware, its finally getting to that point!! The CNC was eating my funds but after this friday I will be able to spend money on components. I already have my hardware decided and water loop as well. If you want to stay up to date on my progress daily check out my modding page Clockwerk Case Mods. Until next time modders!!
 

Hey everybody! I got a whole lot of update here today! Hope you all enjoy! I have a ton of photos so lets get right into it!
First and foremost thanks to my awesome sponsors! You guys are truly amazing!!



Alright first thing I got some more parts in. Mod/smart sent me in the power and reset switches along with spools and spools and spools of PSU pins for sleeving my own cables!! I am now stocked and I love it!





I recently had inquiries to make custom handmade reservoirs for some peoples builds after sharing pictures of mine. So I picked up a new 15/32 plastic drillng bit and a new syringe. These larger syringes are the way to go, they don't jam up and explode solvent everywhere.



Alright some modding! I painted the connectors needed to get my power supply sleeved, I hope to get that sleeved for next update.





Speaking of sleeving I found this paracord online and the color is called rust, it is really really close to the metallic copper. I think I will use it for some accent striped between the white.



Alright now into the reservoir work, there is quite a bit of it =D
First up was finishing the bottom reservoir. First cut all the pieces the drill and tap what needed to be, then glue together.






Then fit it together, glue it, and leak test it. This one is much better than my first. I had a dulling router bit and it was just a crap finish the first time, I didn't even share it. This one glued up mint with no leaks!





Next up was trimming both reservoirs. I have tons of photos as I shared every day but I am going to kind of broaden it out so my update doesn't have 150 photos of me cutting on the scroll saw haha







When I cut the trim I would do one axis at a time and flush cut the trim even with the edge on my router table.








After all the trim was on I was really happy with the way it came out! In the next update I should have the trim painted and installed correctly.



Next up was mounting the reservoirs. The top res is fastened to he motherboard tray and the bottom one is now flush with the front face of the bezel after some modding =D. I have to attach it with a screw or 2 when I have it exact. The bottom bezel will get some more detail treatment eventually.










Next up I didn't like using the mesh panel drive bay port cover for the bulkheads, it didn't seem professional or rigid enough. so I made one from acrylic and it is currently in place with some 3m mod tape, I will probably glue it in after the bezel is done and repainted but it looks much nicer than had before.






Now I am ready to run a couple PETG tubes from top res to the bulkheads.



Some soapy water for the rubber insert.


I made my own jig to bend tubing at the exact length it needed to be.





It was worth it because the tubes are nearly identical. I have a little trimming to tweak them to perfect but Ill do it later.




This is where I am now! I am super happy with the way its looking! I can't wait to get some hardware in this build!



Well thats where I am at for now! I hope you all enjoyed the update! If you want to follow me daily dont forget to check out my facebook page Clockwork Case Mods! Also remember I still have aluminum case cubes available and I have people now inquiring about custom reservoirs, so PM me on my page if you would like something made! Cheers!