CoolIT Systems

At last I can post some pictures of the case, it turned out good, apart from the fact I had to cut the whole out for the Graphics card ports.. For some reason it was not there, anyway enough of the bad points here is how the case turned out.



The round hole in the front is for a Lamptron illuminated ring switch, I am hopeful that all the equipment fits in, and my measurements on google sketchup proved accurate enough.




I like the way the grills turned out on the sides and the color scheme as well, the little orange and black box is finally coming together after months of planning.



As you can see some hole cutting had to be done with the dremel, I will have to file it down as well, I added the backplate in this shot to give you an idea of size, but the 120mm fan grill should do that as well.





As you can see (well I think so) it turned out like my google sketchup model and was probably as close as it gets, I only have one issue really apart from the missing slot for the GFX and that is sourcing the feet. As the radiation will be positioned under the base of the case I really need the feet to raise this puppy about 2 to 2 ½ inches above the floor to give the radiator some room.

Bellow is how the main section of the chassis looks without the side panels on, this really is going to be an interesting build,




I am still looking forward to it as it gets closer, but I am not looking forward to messing around with pipes in there with my sausage fingers and such little room. The plan is to run the pipe from the radiator to the CPU, Memory, graphics card, and then Res and finally pump.

I am not sure what the next installment will be, be it the Etches for the side windows or the starting to build, but I will keep you all updated.

Just a Little update as some more pieces were added to the mix



As the case had a single slot hole, I changed the backplate



Have started mocking up the actual components in the case so I will, post some more this week with photos of some of the hardware in the case.

Till next time

Well Here I am again with my next Installment, I had planned to start off with a building up part, but I realized I would have to do the top window before putting anything inside.

The top window etch was a simple one (if you can call 100s of dots simple) this was done with a UV orange acrylic and a smoke tint in front of it, to give a dark colour when off and a orange glow to the etches.



As you can see it came out pretty well and gives kudos to 2 of the sponsors, this is the window going in the top of the case.



Pressed in and tightened up with nuts to insure in stays in, no that was done it was time to go about putting in the hardware, starting with the motherboard and CPU, PSU and memory.





So far so good, now it was time to screw the 120.2 radiator into, place, if you have been following the mod from the start you will know that I am using a Custom 120.2 Coolit radiator with pump attached. So let’s take a look at it mounted.



Please ignore the overexposure (hence the bright orange) as I wanted to highlight what is under the case, as you can see I have had to place the case onto some foam to keep the radiator off the floor, that is until I sort the feet out..




As you can see I preinstalled the rubber vibration grommets for the fan (otherwise I would have had one of them homer Simpson moments DOH!!)I nearly done it but only screwed in 2 of the radiators securing mounts:P

Ill update some more this week, I would of done it tomorrow but I have to take the misses to the tattoo parlor. Stay tuned as I will mock up the cooling with the Graphics card in place in my next update.

Back again for another installment for the log, this time I threw in most of the hardware as I could and put hoses in without clamps just to get a rough idea of how I want it laid out inside the case.



Now I have a rough idea of how the loop will go, (ignore the large tube, it was put there just for mock up why I waited for more tubing to turn up) the only think I will be changing is placement of the res, due to the fact a Lamptron switch will be in the centre of the front panel and will interfere with it, so ill cross that bridge though when it comes to it.

Now I have the loop right, it is time to get connecting all the parts properly



I also as you can see added the UV orange coils around the black tubing, to tie in with the case color, here are some more shots.




As you can see it is slowly coming together, I just need to wait for black screws for the PSU to turn up, as well as the black fans, oh and the next pictures you will see what happened with the feet and why I say they could of spoiled the whole mod with the way they came out, I was not a happy chappy.





I think you would all agree that those feet are pants and its back to the drawing board on them, time to add in the DVD drive and SSD just so I can get an idea of res placement inside.




I have decided the res will go roughly were you see it, it is the only place I can mount it with long enough hose that want fold or nick, but still be able to maneuver it out for maintenance. Next on the agenda is those pesky feet, damn things, I have ordered some carbon fiber, to help with the rework of them (well the vinyl version that stretches with some hot air)..

So the feet will probably be my next installment, I am hopeful that I can also redo the cable tidying as well, but that might have to wait as some of the pieces I need for that have still not arrived…. Damn royal mail in north London GRRRR.

Back again for another installment for you guys, this time we will concentrate on the etches for all 3 windows on the case. I will start off with the roof which you have already seen. Before you go and comment though (if you are going to) I have to be honest and say all I do are the lines, my misses does the dot shading. (lucky me)




Believe it not the lines on writing are the hardest to do, because the outline has to be good, one slip and well the whole acrylic is ruined.. using a rotary tool to do this is recommended, it takes a very steady hand and a lot of pain killers after a few hours.

The next etch to do was what I call the hardware side window, I decided to keep this simple so that the inside was still clearly visible so I went with the Mini Impossible logo similar to the one on the keyboard.





Well you think it is easy, once you have it done, you have to go over it again to ensure it stands out when flipped (the etching always has to be on the inside if you want the lines to glow with UV light. So onto the table again.





As you can see once flipped it looks a lot better, you may also notice it is made up of loads of dots. The final etch is keeping with the theme, I thought I would show you the image that was worked from first.



We took this image and cut out the writing and a bit off the bottom, I wanted to create a piece of art on the graphics card window, I think it will look a lot better on that side as the Graphics card will give the picture a background to stand out on. Anyway back to the pictures.




Doing something like this is no easy task, it takes hours even on something so small



Again you can clearly see the image is made up of 1000s of little dots to give the shaded feel



I am actually looking forward to getting this finished and in the case to see how it looks lit up, I tried my best to get some good photos to show you the line work and dot work clearer. The only way I could do this was from mad angles so exuse the pictures for that.




Click here if you want to zoom in on this too see how many dots were used, That’s all for now, the next installment will be finally getting the feet right. Until then enjoy the pictures.

Just a little post, to show you what i ended up doing with the feet, I actually like the way they come out.



Hopefully i will be able to upload the case shots today, but I am also fitting a new bathroom so i might be to busy, but ill defo get them uploaded in the next few days.