Project Scorpion Case Mod

Scorpionjwp · Sep 16, 2005

This mod was continued from the failed Quad Xeon Mod that I was working on. This time somethings will change such as: Posting the first round of pictures for the mod and getting your ideas and positive comments on this Project in the works.

For some of you, this will have to be the biggest acrylic case build to date. I am just a quarter the way completed with a whole lot more to work on.

4-13-05 to current construction of case continues

9-15-05
I mounted the base made of gray Formica to the bottom of the chassis, in this base will contain the watercooling unit.

9-16-05
I added the cpu water cooling block to the water pipes, and made extensions when necessary. The Water Cooling system will be a Cooler master Aquagate all in one, I'm a watercooling noobie so this is my first at it.

The one added bonus about this case I have been working on is: I get the acrylic supplied to me at no charge by: Aristech Acrylics LLC

Here is the First Picture of this big case:

Scorpionjwp · Sep 16, 2005

And here is another view of the case I am currently working on this is the side of placement of the fans.

Not sure what the item is in the middle, this case will support Pentium 3-4, opteron, Amd64 and the quad processor motherboards. The item in the middle is the hot-swappable powersupply cabinet for the hot-swap power modules, it is there for the support of the quad server boards.

Everfalling · Sep 16, 2005

what is it? looks like you just went ape shit with plexiglass...

maybe it's the picture. take more pics so we can see the full shape of the thing.

Hard911 · Sep 16, 2005

this is what I called true Stacker Case

Scorpionjwp · Sep 16, 2005

it is clear Acrylic and besides granted that the material is free I got some other colors of acrylic.

Here is another view of the front:

And one of a close up view of the side with removable mb tray and x-connect ps:

Lights on:

And like I said with the first thread, I have completed a quarter of it, it is lacking a top panel, a left side panel and back panel, a sliver of the right side panel needs to be completed. Since I like the designs of modern office buildings, I am showing not of what I don't have plans to but what kind of building I have dreamt up.

Everfalling · Sep 16, 2005

oh ok..not finished... i was gonna say it looked odd... well, hope it all comes together at the end.

suggestion: cut off those panels of plexiglass sicking out of the side near the bottom.. looks sloppy.

Scorpionjwp · Sep 16, 2005

That panel is suppost to look that way, it helps support the 92mm fan that will eventually have an air channel attached to it. Upon inspection of the bottom panel, I will make a trim tomorrow to make it flow with the other panels on the side.

This is what is going on:

Everfalling · Sep 16, 2005

looks lopsided.

Scorpionjwp · Sep 17, 2005

At this phase of construction that lip on the bottom of the chassis before the base is from this and I can't really cut if off now, if I do, it is going to look a whole lot screwed up after I am finished:
It is a picture of before my other work log went down the tube, that little piece that is offset is from me attempting to attach it to another case.

This picture is from my website gallery:

Notice at the top of this pict along where the long piece of aluminum is below that piece is where I made the offset to the base plate and slid it underneath the piece of metal of the case below.

Scorpionjwp · Sep 17, 2005

One of the constant things on my mind is will my components be cool and static?

I have defeated the areas where cooling will be an issue, I have placed a 80mm fan mounted in a bracket, then mounted that to the hd frame. It will push air under the drives and up around the other drives in the hd frame.

As we know this equation for cooling should be right:
Looking in a case, you will have a heatsink on the video card or fan. The fan cools the video card, but still hot air lingers down in this area where the PciE, Agp and Pci slots sit. To counter this, my exact placement push that hot air away from the slots.

The power supply will blow cold air down at the slots, in a case you ask the motherboards fit in the same way an lian Li case has. As this cold air blows down and with the other fans on the side blowing toward this direction, this area of hot air is replaced with a cool breeze, thus keeping temps down.

With the processor side, there will be water cooling for the video card, cpu and chipset cooling. At the top of this case will be also two fans, which I will determine later, blowing the hot air out of the case.

Scorpionjwp · Sep 27, 2005

What you may have realized now, since I have been working on this case is the lack of alot of tools. I can explain that one, I am very limited on what I have due to lack of money.

I have that hole saw kit I bought at harbor Freight that have worked really well. I have one Bosch power drill and one Skill cordless drill not sure of what voltage. I also have a 9in bandsaw used for cutting plastics and formica that can't be cut using my jigsaw. Have two tin snips for cutting thick metals, a tap and die set, a limited selection of drill bits.

I have less than most modders here in these forums. I work with what I have nothing more or less, use what you have, till there is a time and place then I will buy more equipment.

Notice any uneven cuts, or jagged edges, or a case being lopsided, note my quote above and you will understand.

More updates coming soon, and lets try to get this beast in progress on the front page!

rogue_jedi · Sep 27, 2005

Scorpionjwp said:
Notice any uneven cuts, or jagged edges, or a case being lopsided, note my quote above and you will understand.

good set of files will take those right off

you're lucky, you have a tap set. i had to borrow a tap for making my waterblocks (with a dremel and a drill press

)

good luck with the project. i wish i could find a good supplier of cheap plexi near me

i'm invincible!

Scorpionjwp · Sep 30, 2005

Today of: 10-2-05

Things are going slow, got a riveter just the other day at harbor freight, going to remove a few screws and use rivets. It should look alittle better when I do so. The question of it being lopsided, the blue acrylic is streaked, thus making the front of the case lopsided. I will post a picture of a sheet of the blue acrylic today to give you an example.
That and the basement floor has an slight angle to it.

I will try to do something on the case today and post something.

Scorpionjwp · Oct 5, 2005

bump
and my motherboard showed up.
Got in on the deal awhile ago on the refurbished Asus a8n-sli deluxe mb. So much has happened since we have updated this project.

Why such a lag in the project? Since my prospects in looking for work in the IT field went sour, did I have to go back to something I know. And that was being a deli clerk, yes I slice deli meats, work at hot foods all in a time frame of 40hrs a week.

What has happened since the last update?
Bought a 8" drill press at harbor freight tools, it was onsale the time I bought it. Ahh best deal for $59.99, and a day later I got 2 24" bar clamps at the same place also.

Well I got more clear acrylic in, it has a small tint of red, not enough that you notice it, but enough to let you know it has a tint. I have been working on the right side panel more, not much on the left side panel, pretty much flat.

More updates below.

Scorpionjwp · Oct 11, 2005

Bump
Ok my case might not be as great as others that work on case mods here. So you truely want to know where I am getting the idea or something close to it for the mod.

There was a time and place where I attended ITT Tech for Architecture. I soon realized it was not my thing, from this I had a year long subscription of Architectural Record. This magazine gave me the inspiration to create my mod.

Looking at my mod might seem odd, but if you happen to use google and find the magazine Architectural Record. Then browse through the projects section, you will then find out that my computer mod is not strange after all.

Well I have been making sure my clear acrylic case is not noisy with the fans. The only fans you can make out is the 2x 120mm fans, but they are not as loud as some of my other folding computers I have running in the background.

Got some of the problems solved with the cable management issue I will be having. I took a stroll to homedepot to purchase copper tubing and a few 90 degree angles. I took this tubing and angle pieces, then used them as cable channels for the front panel connectors. Instead of having them hanging in the way, they are up out of the way.

I have yet to purchase the i/o shield off of ebay for the a8n-sli deluxe and also the Staticide permanent esd spray for protecting my case from dangerous static. Now just to google for the product to protect my motherboard on the watercooling issue.

Scorpionjwp · Nov 9, 2005

I have a reason why you might see this case as being lopsided. The basement floor has a slight angle to it, though I didn't notice that before, I do now. Maybe because over the years the house has settled.

I have another project to tackle, putting another radiator into my case, a dual 80mm rad. I want the watercooling fluid cold and at a temp that I feel that is comfortable for my case. At the top of my case will be the radiator w/ temp sensor. This is all I have in Idea's, just have to wait a day or Thursday to do anything, work becons again and it has been one tough of part of a week.

11-17-05 Update:
Since of today, I am solving my wire management problem:
This how it looks like now, looking above the mb:

I am using copper tubing for wiring conduits:

Still quite messy inside, and still alot of work to be done also. Well today on 11-25-05 I got back from microcenter about an hour ago. Had to get a few parts, a pci-e video card and a powersupply.

Well I taken out the X-connect out of the case and switched it with a Enermax Liberty 500w that I got today. The Ultra is going into one of my servers, whom has a POS powersupply, so now all of the nine computers I own have decent but not crappy powersupplies.

I worked on the top of my case, this mod has plenty of room for additional storage and what not. Will be getting the dual 80mm radiator or a single 80mm rad, along with a temp indicator very soon. But I have to save up for about a Amd X2 3800+ processor, 1gb pc3200 memory and a second 6600gt pci-e video card.

Scorpionjwp · Dec 7, 2005

Update: 12-6-05
About last week I went to Harbor Freight to get a $79.00 scroll saw. I am now doing detail work, carving out a few patterns for my case.

So you want to see a glimpse of what I'm Carving, I'll show you:

New views of the case, with a Enermax Liberty 500w modular powersupply in the case:

New Side view:

Scorpionjwp · Jan 9, 2006

Sorry guys about no updates, working at Krogers have been brutal for the past month or so.

I do believe we do need something of updates. You may be wondering, how is the watercooling setup on this case coming along?

I would like to say about 3 days ago I turned on the aquagate all in one to see if anything leaked or which way the liquid flows. The system experienced no leaks, that is right a watercooling noobie has no leaks in his system, I should have had a few leaks but I didn't.

Ah, now noticing that the pump that coolermaster has with the system is weak, I needed a second pump. Where am I going to put the pump? Oh, at the top of this case, to work in conjunction with the aquagate. I drove down to Microcenter to pick up a Dangerden 145gph pump, not bad for $49.99 either

With the pump mounted at the top and I discarded the 1/2 in couplers that came with the pump to replace them with 1/4 id barbs. It helps when you live close to a Lowes to go down and pick up items for this setup. The top pump will also act as a draining system to drain the fluid from the watercooling system, when the case is ready to be lugged upstairs or to a lan party.

Here is a teaser picture, to make you want more.

Scorpionjwp · Jan 18, 2006

In order for someone to know how to water cool their own computer for the first time, One must make a few mistakes to do so. I have walked into a blunder trying to rig my own computer for watercooling, I for one am not sure, so I looked around at other people's rigs in the post your watercooling setup thread.

I know the part being a closed circuit watercooling, well I tried I can give you that part, I just added one too many t- barbs to the setup to try to make my setup work. Not knowing what tubes went into what I made a few mistakes. I just have to try to not make those same mistakes again.

With this big blunder of mine out of the way, I cleaned up my system and took a few more pictures. Ahh, another mistake I made earlier, gotten the wrong watercooling blocks for the vga card, got the Zalman vga watercooling block. Like men we are, who needs instructions and who reads them. Well alittle reading into the Zalman product, I find out that it is only suppose to be used with their external watercooling system. What some reading will do to help sometimes, no biggie, need to find some reducers to make it fit within my 3/8 in water cooling system.

Ok enough of me talking and like the saying goes around here: This Thread is worthless w/o Picts!

Scorpionjwp · Jan 18, 2006

As for the top of the case, I still have alot of work ahead of me to complete the top. Lets see here, I still have some 3" acrylic tubing laying about, time to put it to good use. The worklog by melloman is giving me some ideas with the acrylic tubing, that I might have to put to use of course with permission I hope.

I know someone in the background is saying, You can do better Scorpionjwp! I'll see what will become of the top of the case, for sure it is not going any taller. Here is a pict to give you some Idea's and someone give me some feedback of what could be done better.

Scorpionjwp · Mar 21, 2006

Ok we now have a new round of pictures:
The watercooling draining system is almost completed, if you look closely you will see what is going to happen. In order for me to drain this rig, I will take it from a closed circuit loop to a one way loop. Describing it won't help, so here we go. Comments on the draining system, please let me hear them.

Disclaimer: I have never watercooled a pc before, and in theory this part should work.

This is what the top should look like when completed, the second container will have the tiered step design also as the first fill port container.

Everfalling · Mar 23, 2006

man i donno if it's the plexi or what, but this thing looks hella wonky. not to dis it or anything, i just cant find its shape.

sev · Mar 23, 2006

looks like pure evil to me... i liek it

Scorpionjwp · Mar 23, 2006

This case has got no shape, look at the pictures and enjoy. So quit asking me if it has a shape, since I clearly see, it isn't rectangle or square or triangle, it's just odd!

Well the case will be sorta like what their about close to completed on the New Convention Center here in Cincinnati.
You have to see it yourself to understand it, it has the flow and curves of modern art, but in a computer case.
Its a case built for cooling, with limited air flow mounted at the right locations, and the watercooling system with draining system built in, The temps in the case will plummet.

Scorpionjwp · Apr 9, 2006

Long awaited update to the top of the case, I still have lots to complete on the case to make it ready.

Scorpionjwp · Jun 16, 2006

I have another long awaited update, have the draining system completed, and the whole watercooling system is 95% done. I have also been working on the worklog Ark Of Covenant Pc mod, that however is coming along quicker than I thought. This tiered design will somehow be intregrated into my second work log.

Scorpionjwp · Jun 25, 2006

Ok here we go updating again, well the watercooling system is done, but the draining system needed some tweaking.

I removed the DangerDen pump, all because it would run afoul with the aquagate pump. Two different speed pumps, some nasty trouble ahead. I cleaned up the draining system, it looks better w/o the extra pump. So your asking where did the DangerDen pump go to, well it is going to the watercooling system that I'll have in my second work log which too is in progress.

Gosh I have gotten lots done since the last update:
However it needs 2 items to make it function. 1 and OS, and 2 a processor.
Here is what I want someone to do, search through the deals section for a Amd 64bit 3800+ and a Microsoft XP pro 64bit OS. Then report to me the findings, my budget for processor $150.00 +/-, and what ever place has the cheapest xp pro 64bit.

Here is more pictures, I am close to complete on the case, just some fine tuning and finishing up the other side of the case.

Ah cable management, what cable management, I need no cable management!

A refined draining system:

Scorpionjwp · Aug 3, 2006

I have worked on quite abit since the last update, and added a logo to the side of the case.
I'm doing Kyle a favor and promote the [H] on the side of my case mod.

The team 33 is our Hardforum DC folding team.

Here is the Front of the case:

Oh the draining system on the top of the case is now defunct, I need a pump that accepts 3/8Od, 1/4Id tubing. So if anyone has any suggestions for one, please let me know Asap!

Here is another Side view:

With a Camera flash in a dark room, only the lights on the case going:

Camera Flash off:

The case stays at 38 degrees and Cpu at 41 degrees. Even at a Mild Overclock the case stays at same temp. These temps are from Air cool and watercool.

The pc is Powered by:
Amd 64 3200+
Ultra 512mb ddr 3200
Asus A8n-Sli Deluxe
Ibm DeskStar 80gb Hd
Western Digital 120gb Sata Hd
Samsung 160gb Sata Hd
Liteon 16x Dvd drive
Currently: Windows 2k, next week Windows Xp Pro 64bit
Coolermaster Aquagate all in one watercooling

n1ce_hat · Aug 3, 2006

nice case, looks very unique and a lot of time must have been spent there..

but no offence (please), it looks like a totally overkill case for the components inside.. and don't get me wrong, i have a similarly powered machine, but overkill is a word i would use here..

Scorpionjwp · Aug 3, 2006

I do let you know that this case originally was going to hold a quad p3 xeon motherboard. This is why of the size of the case, so in terms of that thinking it was not overkill at that time.

But also during that time, the motherboard tray, of the area where the motherboard was assembled and cut to provide room for this full atx motherboard. Which at that time, I found out that the p3 xeon motherboard was toast before I got it, and a replacement would have put me into the hole for $300.00 brand new.

So what was I to do, scrap this case mod, or continue with it. You can clearly see I continued with the case and completed it. But w/o most of the original equipment in it, the only thing that remains is the hot-swap power cabinet at the lower front of the case. I left this here because the socket 603 and socket 604 Quad p4 motherboards use the same exact pinouts that this hot-swap power cabinet uses, along with it's power modules. So do some of the early revisions of the quad opteron motherboards, along with some Tyan quad motherboards.

Stu55 · Aug 6, 2006

I am le confused, but that looks like you put a lot of effort in to it. It is very interesting and unique.

miskari · Aug 7, 2006

dammm that thing is huge man, looks quite stunning in the dar, great job

Project Scorpion Case Mod

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

Gawd

Limp Gawd

2[H]4U

Gawd

2[H]4U

Gawd

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

Supreme [H]ardness

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

Gawd

Limp Gawd

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

2[H]4U

Gawd

2[H]4U

[H]ard|Gawd

[H]ard|Gawd