AlumaxX

AlumaxX · Sep 9, 2005

I started working on AlumaxX in december 2004. I'm not in a hurry so I'm still working on it. The case I use is a Lian Li PC-V2000, it's big but I think I will need every inch/centimeter of it. Here it is, the case before any modding.

The plan is to watercool the CPU, PSU, GPU, harddisks and the mosfets. To keep a clean look, I will stick to aluminium, chrome and UV green. On the Danger Den site I had found these beautiful chromed radiators, but after a long search and many e-mails to shops in Holland and other European shops, I found out that the only way to get those was to buy them in America. So I did. It was worth the waiting.

and the raw material for the new rack

Shipment costs are pretty high so I sold some other stuff as well, like the Tygon hose. The first thing I did was removing that standard harddisk rack from the Lian Li case. Here it is in

and now it's gone

I had warmed up a bit and felt it was time to use my Dremel on the fresh aluminium. The first cut for the BIX II in top of the case. Taping and marking the spot before cutting it.

and just a preview of the hole with the grill.

The first reservoir will also be placed in the top of the case. I say first because I will use two reservoirs and that's because I will use two seperate waterloops in this mod.

Now it is time to replace the original harddisk rack by a custom made one. As always I make paper models before I use the final materials.

The hardisks will be placed in Aqua computer harddiskcoolers.

LunchboX3904 · Sep 9, 2005

tri rad setup....sweeeet

keepin' it clean i hope

AlumaxX · Sep 9, 2005

Sawing

and drilling to get the holes out of the aluminium.

a test fit in the case.

Time to add some UV acrylic to the aluminium. Again paper models.

rounding the corners

The second aluminium sheet is also cut.

The way it looks with the UV acrylic

The PSU as it came in. It's a watercooled Enermax.

After opening it I just knew the copper block is to pretty to hide.

Again some work for my Dremel

This part also needs some UV acrylic.

Legion© · Sep 9, 2005

Looking good! Looking very good indeed!!!!

I'll be keeping an eye on this one I think.

AlumaxX · Sep 9, 2005

The PSU has no fans but it needs some openings to let the warm air out, that's why I used some spacers.

The third radiator is ready to be placed. The BIX II is placed in top of the case. The other BIX is mounted in the front in the under compartment of the case and the second BIX will com in the back of the Lian Li.

Some small problem. the rad is to high, it would touch the first videocard. I will have to cut out a piece to be able to lower the BIX a few millimeters.

Now it should fit.

AlumaxX · Sep 9, 2005

Just to show the things I've done so far.

The temps and the flowrate of the water from the two loops will be measured and the fanspeed will be controlled by an Aquaero.

All the baydrives will be covered with an sandwich of UV acrylic and aluminium. First started with the acrylic.

I cut out the holes for the reservoir, the buttons from the Aquaero and the DVD trays.

The DVD drives will be stealthed. Like this

The acrylic looks good, but I don't want a see through case, so I will add a piece of aluminium to the front.

And the acrylic and aluminium parts that will cover the frontside.

The aluminium will have to be sanded and polished.

The aluminium is 2 mm. thick and the acrylic is 3 mm. The bottons from the Aquero will have to be extended a bit. I made these to place on top of the original buttons.

The acrylic has to be cleaned up, but I will do that when I'm almost finished with the mod.

Ultragamma · Sep 9, 2005

OMG, this is a such pretty mod... i want to see more of it!!!

FadedSpark · Sep 9, 2005

ZOMG that is the only LiLi case design i like and this mod just makes it...

LOVING IT!

Pete84 · Sep 10, 2005

Where did you get that watercooled Enermax?? Very nice!!

AlumaxX · Sep 10, 2005

I can post lots of pictures, because I'm much further then what I posted here. At the moment I'm waiting for LEDs. I only just discovered this forum and thought it was a good idea to kill time and post pictures here.

The PSU is from a German webshop called Heat-Trap

In this mod I use two of those PSU's b.t.w.

Pete84 · Sep 10, 2005

Large selection, but brutal prices, even if Euros and Dollars were equal, which they aren't.

Liked the passive radiators, stick one of those in a case side

Mysticcal · Sep 10, 2005

Starting to look like Gnome's Orac

Top Nurse · Sep 10, 2005

It doesn't get much better than Lian-Li and Aqua Computer / Innovatek.

Props to you

AlumaxX · Sep 10, 2005

The aluminium front polished

On4e of my goals is to hide as many cables as possible, that's why I made this paper cover. This will be made from aluminium in the end.

This paper model is the base for the cover.

All the waterblocks are from Aqua Computer and that stuff looks so good that I want it to be visible.

In the aluminium cover I will add a lcd screen.

The lcd screen needs a cover to, only the screen itself will be visible.

Again aluminium in combination with acrylic.

And all the aluminium I will need to cover everything

First part almost ready, you can see I marked the place for the lcd screen.

And with the cover for the lcd screen in place

KrakenGuy · Sep 10, 2005

I think that polished aluminum with that green acrylic is a really good combination. Like wow... I want to do that now...

TVersetti · Sep 10, 2005

...../subscribed

Wally · Sep 10, 2005

Those are the sexfullest waterblocks on the face of this planet...
Nice mod too, very clean, but damnit, get the aluminium on the front panely, it's givinh me a headache!

Just a thought - what about the risk of crap entering your PSU (cos you spaced the acrylic off) and shorting it, causing massive PC blowout?

AlumaxX · Sep 10, 2005

Why should I get problems with crap entering the PSU? A normal PSU with fans gets a lot more dust then this fanless ones.

The two Eheim 1048 pumps will be placed in FMJ housings.

To make these black housings fit better into my theme of chrome, aluminium and UV green I had those housings chromed. The original screws are replaced by some M4 bolts.

I placed one pumphousing on an aluminium U-profil and some acrylic.

This will be lighted up by some LEDs from underneath. I use two valves to be able to empty the two waterloops easily. First I removed some rivets here

Drilled some holes to mount the acrylic parts that will hold the valves.

and with the two valves.

Later more about this system to empty the waterloops.

SC385 · Sep 10, 2005

man that is sweet looking. KEEP IT UP!

AlumaxX · Sep 11, 2005

I want the two hoses to come out at the back. The problem is that the Lian Li has curved corners so it is not possible to place some fittings. No problem with a small modification it will become possible.

Now I only will have to file the part a bit because the sides stick out a bit. The part come at the back of the case, under the PSU at the bottom. First I need to Dremel a hole for the acrylic part. In the next picture you can also see the transparant acrylic backplate I made for the PSU's.

Now it's very easy to mount the outleds.

nobrainer · Sep 11, 2005

that is amazing. really innovative, and damn sexnatious

AlumaxX · Sep 11, 2005

Work on the cover for the mainboard. This is the place for the piece in front of the CPU.

Marking the place to drill.

And with the part in place, no bolts visible

The piece on the left installed

and an overview of it

The compartment in the bottom of the case will also be stealthed with aluminium sheets. Here is the aluminium I started with and below it are the paper models for it.

On this picture you can see the pump and the two PSU's.

Don't pay attention to the cables of the PSU at the top. These will be stealthed later. The first plate is ready.

and in place

and the second and third sheets

The last sheet is ready

Behind those aluminium sheets all the cableswork will be done out of sight.

The second PSU has the same cover as the first PSU now. The grill from the PSU at the bottom will be replaced with a chromed one.

Look how tight the pump fits. The outake just fits between the two PSU covers.

Do you know the problem of hoses that just don't want to stay there where you want them? That's why I made some acrylyc hose seperators. These parts will keep all the hoses excactly where I want them.

Also some seperators on the places the hose goes through the aluminium plating.

This part needs to reduce the stress from the hoses on the videocards.

The memory needs to be able to get fresh air, but I don't think the modules need to be visible, so that's why a made this cover from acrylic and some mesh.

Waffles730 · Sep 11, 2005

Wow, you're going crazy on this bad boy. Lookin' good!

Thermite Paste · Sep 11, 2005

subscribed

i cant wait to see how this turns out.

AlumaxX · Sep 11, 2005

The Lian Li case is beautiful but I wished they had cases without any holes in it for the cables. I seldom want the cables to be in the places the factory made holes for it. I want to determine the places myself. To get rid of those ugly unused holes I started working on another cover, a white cover this time. Holes for cables and hoses only whre they are needed.

I will measure the flowrate of the water in both waterloops. This is one of those flowmeters. I attached it to an aluminium coverplate, on the back of it so it is not visible.

Next I wanted to get rid of those nasty cables from the top PSU. The solution was simple. The next picture shows what the idea is.

and with the cables covered

Wally · Sep 11, 2005

AlumaxX said:
Why should I get problems with crap entering the PSU? A normal PSU with fans gets a lot more dust then this fanless ones.

.

Good point. Dunno why, for a minute there i thought that PSUs were filtered

qbert95 · Sep 11, 2005

Amazing idea and craftmanship. Im not too wild about going with the green plexi though.

/sub

Endurance Man · Sep 11, 2005

Good lord

, why cant i do this

. Think im gonna have to buy 1 of these sick projects from sum1.

AlumaxX · Sep 12, 2005

I needed something to keep the reservoir in the front in place.

and finished

I wanted some acrylic under the grill, the reservoir and the fillcap. The acrylic is 5 mm. thick and will be lighted by some LEDs from underneath.

The acrylic will follow the lines of the grill

Some small holes for the LEDs

The back looks a bit boring. I decided to use the double X from my AlumaxX.

Again some acrylic in combination with some mesh

and when it's on the case.

When I use the computer at home it would be nice if I could all the lights off. I will use 4 switches to turn the LEDs of and on.

Sesheron · Sep 12, 2005

wow....i am just awed by how clean all of your cutting is...i wish i had those |\/|4D L337 skillz

lozaning · Sep 13, 2005

wow, just wow. definatly one of the best modds i have ever seen ever. i love how clean and perfect everything is

JackFord · Sep 13, 2005

The craftsmanship on that is amazing, very very nice. I'd like to see this when it's finished.

themark · Sep 13, 2005

Very clean mod. Your attention to detail is really amazing. I would compare it with "Black Narcissus" over at bit-tech. I have a question though... how are you making all of these acrylic and aluminum parts? By hand? What tools? Do you have a CNC mill sitting in your basement? I'd like to know the process you're using, so I can understand the work you've put in. Great images too by the way.

BoySetsFire · Sep 13, 2005

badass work sofar. i'd like to see those toggle switches covered somehow, on the inside. maybe another slick little bit of metalsahping for a shroud around them?

rogue_jedi · Sep 13, 2005

i love all the cases spawned by orac

some really great craftsmanship on this one so far. good job

i'm invincible!

daedal · Sep 13, 2005

Wow. Very nice so far. I'm feeling it.
Love your mods, man. Very inspirational.

Randolf · Sep 13, 2005

gota ask what tools you are using for all the cutting. like the radiator grill for example. very nice. and it looks like you are working in your kitchen

AlumaxX · Sep 14, 2005

I use the same tools for the acrylic and the aluminium. Before I can saw into the material I drill a hole to get the sawblade in. Next I use this saw

The blades can be changed and you can buy different kind of blades for metal, plastics and wood.
Next thing I do is file the edges, just use normal files. You can see them on the table in one of the pictures from the acrylic grill.

To give it a good finish I use sandingpaper. That's all I use and that's one of the reasons it takes so much time to finish the project.

TotalEclipse · Sep 15, 2005

The pieces of clear plexi you used for things such as routing the hoses, how did you get the L shape? Did you heat the plexi and bend it?

Randolf · Sep 15, 2005

wow... only that saw, a drill, files, and sandpaper... I'm impressed. I've just been using a dremel on mine

AlumaxX

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