Project: Hutch, a Qmicra v2 gets water

[craigbru]

wow that looks amazing, can't wait to see the final result!

Thank you. It won't be long now.

Looks great so far, sub'd!

Makes me want to be a bit tidier with my work.

This case was all about clean, so I'm glad you like it!

Those are some sweet switches. Where might one acquire such sweet switches?

They are both from Performance PC's

16mm

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...74_412&zenid=183e3a7a829ff6c41c8bb654cb1c70eb

22mm

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...74_375&zenid=183e3a7a829ff6c41c8bb654cb1c70eb

Ok sorry man but there is now something else I am looking forward to more, that is the world cup because New Zealand just qualified for the 1st time since '82.

Lol, that' fine. It's completely understandable.

 

[Wile E]

Thanks a million. Those are awesome.

 

[craigbru]

One of the biggest ongoing, yet unresolved issues with this project, was the placement of a reservoir. It's been debated for much to long, and I wasn't sure we would find a solution we really liked. Well, that has now changed...

Hutch will be getting a custom reservoir that due to it's placement, will be a huge focal point for this case. If every mod has at least one aspect that could be considered it's 'showpiece' item, then this is it.

So, to get ready for the reservoir, it was decided to bring a new look to the top of the case. The cuts should highlight the res, and the fluid flowing through it. I took a piece of transparent sheet of adhesive mailing label paper, and printed out the pattern I wanted.

I peeled the backing off of it, and stuck it in place.

Now, anyone that has followed one of my logs, knows that I love using masking tape to guide my cuts. I find it much easier than following a regular line, and it makes for very accurate filing. With this in mind, I applied tape on the sheet to match the lines.

Finally, after a little time spent with the jigsaw and Dremel, I'm left with the following...

With the cuts out of the way, it's time to start on the reservoir itself, and that will be covered in the next update. Until then, I've got a high tech paint image of the reservoir placement. Who needs CAD? Haha!

One other thing... Most of the work in this post was streamed live as it happened. Thanks to my http://losias.net/losias-live/ page, I can now stream, and archive those streams for later viewing. I'm hoping that this will become a huge feature on this site, although I'm still getting the bugs worked out. Anyone interested in knowing when I stream live should follow me on twitter @craigbru. I always send out notice when I'm live. For those not on twitter, or if you miss the live streaming, the videos are archived on the Live page as well. Until the next update!

 

[Ilovecroatia]

Last Page

ok, i feel like an idiot. thanks for info.

 

[craigbru]

The reservoir... When Hutch and I were originally planning this project, we tried to come up with some sort of showpiece for the case. We wanted something that would to set it apart and make it a little different. For a very long time, what exactly that would be, eluded us. Well, through and idea on Hutch's part, and some revisions on mine, we came up with a plan. The results of that plan are what follows.

In the previous update, you saw how the reservoir will sit in the case. There is exactly 11mm of clearance between the top of the center shroud, and the bottom of the case cover. That's perfect for a 3mm - 5mm - 3mm acrylic sandwich. With that in mind, I made a few careful measurements, got the acrylic marked up. I used a few of the Bitspower fittings sitting in place to make sure I had the proper clearances. As with everything in this case, space is at a minimum, so the planning had to be perfect.

To save time, all 3 layers of acrylic were clamped together and cut out at the same time on the scroll saw. I also used some spray adhesive applied to the paper backing to ensure no movement during cutting. The following is the result.

Before going any further, I figured a test fit was warranted.

Since the test fit went well, it was time to make a cutout in the center (5mm), piece of acrylic. This is where the actual coolant will flow. I peeled apart the pieces, and marked my cuts.

After it was cut, it was simply a matter of gluing the 3 layers together.

So, what's next? I've got to even up and polish the edges, as well as adding two more smaller threaded pieces of acrylic to attach the Bitspower fittings. Once that is done, I've got to make a few small modifications to the case cover to allow the reservoir to fit properly. After that... well, we might be ready for paint!