phinix nanoTower - Smallest and most powerful mITX rig !

[KaizerDan]

Thats a nice honor, but id say this is well above a MOD! This is 100% original from scratch. Put your name on that thing and 30 years down the road and itll be on antiques road show along with all the other famous artists paintings and vases : P

 

[zer0gravity]

Can't wait to see more! I just got a DFI T36 and want to start a mod. Hope to see you finish soon

 

[phinix]

Thank you guys!!!

Maybe not the full blown update, but still.... Here are photos of some new items.

First, fantastic quick connectors I received from Aquatunning. Pascal, thank you again for help!:thumb:

Now, these are small 2 pin connector I'm going to use with all led lighting strips. These will make taking case apart much pleasent.

And these are the items I received from Phenoptix - thank you Ben !!!:thumb::rock:
SMD yellow led strip - 4 meters!!! Also received some UV leds, cable and huge banch of 3mm yellow leds:

Last two photos shows the tube I bought - yes, this is orange, yes it is not yellow. Let me explain - yellow tube under UV light looks like... acid-green. This orange tube under UV light looks like... sweet deep yellow. That is why I will use orange tube to get nice yellow effect. You will see, it will be fantastic!... Well.. I hope... :eeek::worried:

 

[mnpctech]

lookin good phinix! lots of nice "eye candy"

 

[ekuest]

lets get a shot of that tubing under UV stat! and some of the LEDs lit up. these lights are gonna look great!

 

[picool]

very awesome

 

[taco24501]

very awesome

Thats one bad ass itx

 

[mnpctech]

Any new eye candy updates .....Please?

 

[phinix]

lookin good phinix! lots of nice "eye candy"

lets get a shot of that tubing under UV stat! and some of the LEDs lit up. these lights are gonna look great!

very awesome

Thats one bad ass itx

Thanks guys!

Any new eye candy updates .....Please?

Yeah, I know.. its been a while since my last update, I was going to show you all some moves I did, but then I didn't want to make an update on small things. I've been very busy lately, changed my job, so had to "perform" 110% in new one to make a great impression That is why I havent had time to go further with Tower, however I did some things last weekend too - I will show it all next weekend, when I get last parts from ChilledPC. That will be a huge update! I promise!

 

[phinix]

Hello! I know, it has been a while...

I've been pretty busy in last couple of weeks, that is why I didn't come up with new update.
However, I wanted to show you few bits I worked on lately.

I noticed a small "glitch" with power chamber top panel acrylic piece - I used two small screws to keep it together, but one of the ends was sticking out a bit. This end was to thin to drill a hole in it, so I had to re-do this acrylic bit that goes under top panel of power chamber.
Without any more words, here is a new revision of this piece

It will come under the panel in this position.

Also I received some bits from ChilledPC, like these long 5mm strips of black tinted acrylic.
I cut them up to small 10mm pieces and will use them as separators in those side acrylic "combs".
Second photo shows those long strips next to those pieces.

I haven't glue them up yet, but here is one "mockup" comb, I built it to show you how they going to look like. Mind there is still white cover foil on them, which I wanted to keep till I actually glue them all together.

Second thing I made from black tinted acrylic are 4 corners. Sounds strange, but here's what it is: each corner of rear panel will have black cover which will be screwed to the panel and will also be a base for six L-shape yellow acrylic elements. Those elements will create those corner "combs", as you could see previousy on some of my sketchups. Acrylic corners are screwed with one M4 screw that keeps the rear panel to the frame and two smaller M3 screws that hold those corners mounted to the panel.
Here are few shots showing them, first - whole panel, second and third - bottom and top corner...

...and here is rear panel with that black corner, standing sticked to the "mock-up" comb
It looks great in reality, better than on photo, believe me I can imagine it will look even better when the panel will be coated and that comb glued ... But to see that I wil have to work a lot more

So this is it for now, if I find some more time and do some work, I will share it with you guys in no time...

Till next time - MOD ON!!!

 

[FrEaKy]

I needz a new pair of pants!

 

[snefan]

cool project, I'm really into small and powerful stuff! can't wait to see final result! /subbed

 

[phinix]

I needz a new pair of pants!

cool project, I'm really into small and powerful stuff! can't wait to see final result! /subbed

Thanks guys!
Next time before every update I will post first asking to spread a foil on the floor or put on extra pair of rubber pants!

 

[Shambler]

Finish the build, post more pictures, and sell this to me for about tree fitty.

 

[phinix]

Finish the build, post more pictures, and sell this to me for about tree fitty.

3,500 sounds more reasonable

 

[phinix]

Well, I did few things this weekend...

I had to measure and install standoffs for my little mobo, so this weekend I pulled out all psu cables from the mobo at "tried it on" my mobo tray...

You can see it fits nicely, not too tight or anything

To make points for standoffs I used a match and hand cream

Also, here you can see how the pci-e slot goes along the line of power chamber.
Graphics card will be about 2mm from the panel - I'm not sure if I'm gonna need some kind of isulation, what do you guys think? Should I add something just for precaution?

I think it should be ok...
Oh my! But what we have here?!
Isn't that a latest issue of CustomPC???

Well yes it is! And What is on that page there? Hmmm.... YEP! That is Nano Tower! YAY!!!

Hehe... Sorry, I just bought a copy today and was so happy to see it inside:blush:

Here is a fantastic prize I got! Quality of this stuff is incredible
Well done Bill!

Again, huge thanks goes to Bit-tech/CustomPC guys and all of you who liked my project and voted for me - THANK YOU ALL :clap:

Now, let's get back to update

I had to "trim" two of all four columns in main frame. Why? I noticed a bit difference between them and when I installed acrylic 10mm thick bottom panel I noticed this sucker started to shake a bit. I don't know how I haven't noticed that before, but looks like 0,8mm difference between two columns made a huge impact on stability of the whole Tower.
10 minutes with file and sand paper put it all down and Tower become stable as a rock:thumb:
Now even all panels lined up better than before. So it looks really good, almost perfect

I love to put on all panels and look on corners, they look so cool

Now, I showed you that before - those black acrylic corner shapes for those yellow "combs" I'm going to glue later.
This one here, rear left has to be modified cause this is the corner where I'm going to cut out long hole for peripherals cables, like graphics card cable, usb, etc.
That is why I had to use one more screw on the top of it, cuase lower one will be cut off...

You can see there a big M5 countersink screw. Why M5? Well... how to say it...
At the beginning it was small M3 hole..
Then...
You see...
I bought myself a nice kit of cone drill bits...:dremel:

I started to play with it...
Well... some holes became bigger...
...and I had to thread this one again for M5 screw:blush:
I will paint it black and will be fine!:eyebrow:

Anyway....

This is the corner where you can see I drew the hole that will be cut out.

I actually cut it out few hours ago, fixed that acrylic corner too, but battery in my camera went to sleep so didn't get last photos of it. Will do it on Tuesday.

At the end.. just a few photos of all 4 panels installed on "naked" frame...

..last phoot.. I love that "dramatic" filter in my camera... Tower coming out from the darkness....

Stay tuned!!! I should have all new stuff in the mid of the week! Cheers for watching and MOD ON!!!:thumb:

 

[Jesse B]

Bloody fantastic.

 

[soccermatt34]

o_0 unbelievable work. Top notch!

 

[FrEaKy]

/me changes pants

 

[Rossi~]

DAAYYUM!

 

[joelC]

truly inspirational..i have to learn patience from you man. That level of commitment to every detail is astounding. Props to u.

 

[Mustin]

I don't know how you do it. Looks amazing and it's not finished yet. I am clapping at my desk.

 

[kniah]

Subscribed. Nice concept, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!

 

[phinix]

THANKS GUYS!

OK, teaser time !!!

Here's a small teaser I got from Tom - CNC action on front panel!

 

[Rossi~]

THANKS GUYS!

OK, teaser time !!!

Here's a small teaser I got from Tom - CNC action on front panel!

That's an amazing photo
Hurry up dude

 

[The Oatman]

Can't wait to see the finished product :-O

 

[phinix]

Thanks guys

OK, I finally received the rest of the item from Tom.
All this stuff is so beautiful, but don't want to spoil you guys and show it all now
I was very busy working on panels this weekend and don't have much to show of finished parts, except of this USB socket. I bought this nice USB socket which will be plugged to the mobo front panel pins. This is actually "mount plate" for this socket. It looks like this...

First thing after I received the package, I unpacked it all and took it to the bathroom to clean it up. I gently took off the protective film and washed every single piece, then dried it one bath's edge. Even with lights turned off, all acrylic pieces looked amazing... So here they are... I guess you may already know which part is for, especially from those sketchups I showed in the past. I'll leave you with those photos for now...
...Enjoy:thumb:

 

[Elledan]

Damn, that looks like a lot of work to put that all on

 

[phinix]

Damn, that looks like a lot of work to put that all on

Oh yes.. It will be a pain, but I'll do it.. I have to!
I hope it will look as amazing as it looked in my head when I created that in sketchup...

 

[Elledan]

I'm sure it'll look fine Now get to work!

 

[FrEaKy]

I'm sure it'll look fine Now get to work!

^^This!

 

[Korben Dallas]

You know, if you told me this is the finished product I would still be drooling all over it.

your craftsmanship and creativity is out of this world. Good work

 

[oVrKiL]

Very jealous....that will be one badarse looking system when you get it up and running

 

[phinix]

I'm sure it'll look fine Now get to work!

Yes sir!

You know, if you told me this is the finished product I would still be drooling all over it.

your craftsmanship and creativity is out of this world. Good work

Very jealous....that will be one badarse looking system when you get it up and running

Thank you all very much for your kind words - Soon I will add more updates, tomorrow will work on my Tower big time! I want to finish it before Xmas, so thumbs up!

 

[Elledan]

Yes sir!

Ma'am would work too

Thank you all very much for your kind words - Soon I will add more updates, tomorrow will work on my Tower big time! I want to finish it before Xmas, so thumbs up!

You darn well finish it before xmas or we'll all be very disappointed. We have been waiting for this all year long

 

[Jesse B]

Ma'am would work too

There's no women on the internet!

You darn well finish it before xmas or we'll all be very disappointed. We have been waiting for this all year long

Indeed, we're getting antsy

 

[Elledan]

There's no women on the internet!

That's because you keep getting your plurals wrong

 

[Jesse B]

That's because you keep getting your plurals wrong

There are no women on the internet*

Jeez

 

[Elledan]

There are no women on the internet*

Jeez

Very good. *pats on head and hands cookie*

 

[mnpctech]

This is gonna be stellar when it's finished phinix.