MATX air cooled gaming rig

[Waynio]

This is all progress in 1 post since starting it.



New project time, it's a MATX air cooled gaming rig, open chassis with carrying handle, really easy maintenance, hopefully I've put enough thought into it all holding together well.

Just getting the pieces made before I start bending/curving, assembling, doing a little each day on it.

Cut, drilled, tapped & added m3 brass inserts to the back IO expansion piece, made from 10mm acrylic.

Mounted to the back panel.

Mobo panel added.

Saving the curve cuts for when I have the curved pieces done to increase chance of lining up correctly.



Curved & bent the PSU cover, front panel is just resting in place.

Load of drilling & tapping for mounting the 33mm acrylic support blocks.

And added 10mm acrylic psu cover supports.

Fully mounted the psu cover supports & added the side panel.

 

[Waynio]

Continued.

Next I'll mount the 33mm acrylic supports to the bottom panel & then mounting & curving the front panel.



Late session went on the custom fan mount.

Got it close to the design curve but it's a good job I saved the cut until the curve was done.

How it's all looking now.

Ah, made a pretty big blooper but can ya see it, is it an obvious error, is to me but is it to you, the viewer?.

For me it's an error I can just about live with, disappointed about it but can live with it since it would mean I'd need to remake at least 2 significant pieces, maybe more.



PSU height allowance, in the design it allowed for 1mm space between the psu cover & the psu but with doing a curve & a bend it curved better on the right side (front) than the left, as it is right now the psu just about squeezes in with some force.

My solution is to just add another layer behind the fan mount, rather do that than have to remake some panels.

Done the HDD mount, the HDD is mounted to a 3mm sheet & just slots in place.

How it's looking now.

To do.

Front USB & power button (40mm marble).
Case feet, 2x 10mm square bars on both sides.
Surface & edge finishing.
Think that's it.

 

[Phuncz]

You did all this manually on the electrical wire saw (don't know the exact name), including the curves ? I'm amazed !

 

[Waynio]

You did all this manually on the electrical wire saw (don't know the exact name), including the curves ? I'm amazed !

Thanks Phuncz, all manual except for the marking, I started printing my designs in 2d on a4 sticker sheets, saves doing a load of manual marking.
Scroll saw aka powered fret saw.

The curves I just pressed it against a big cooking pot.

 

[rawr]

This is nice! Are you going to put some paint on it after you finish construction?

 

[iFreilicht]

Oh wow this is looking amazeballs! Extremely unique, even if the two fans seem a bit pointless in an open-air case, they look very cool! I also like the compartment for cables and the 3.5" HDD, that looks good and should be pretty easy to work in.

 

[Waynio]

This is nice! Are you going to put some paint on it after you finish construction?

Thanks rawr, paint I don't know yet, either raw or silver to graphite grey.

Oh wow this is looking amazeballs! Extremely unique, even if the two fans seem a bit pointless in an open-air case, they look very cool! I also like the compartment for cables and the 3.5" HDD, that looks good and should be pretty easy to work in.

Thanks iFreilicht, ease of use was 1 of the main goals on this.

 

[WiSK]

Your build logs are always inspiring and your metal work is great to see

 

[Waynio]

Your build logs are always inspiring and your metal work is great to see

Thanks WiSK.


Change of plan for the front IO, made a cover piece to hide the intended marble button & USB holes in favour of a normal vandal switch, why? I messed up on the tube piece & had no spare tube & wasn't willing to order more.

To do.

Surface & edge finishing.
System install.

 

[Waynio]

My brother borrowed my tripod so these shots will have to do until I get it back, it's up & running & very quiet.

Spec
Corsair AX860i
Gigabyte Z97MX Gaming 5
Intel Core i5 4690K
Noctua NH-D14
MSI NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti
256GB Samsung pro SSD
1TB WD black HDD
2x Enermax UCTB12 T.B.Silence Case Fans in custom frame


Idle temperatures & room temp is 27c.

 

[jeshikat]

Of course it's quiet, the fans aren't spinning

 

[confusis]

It's....soo.....gorgeous

 

[iFreilicht]

Very nice! I love how there's practically no cabling visible at all How did you put the brass thread inserts into the acrylic? Can you just hammer them in?

 

[rawr]

Could you elaborate further on how you secured the GPU? Close-up pictures would be nice!

 

[iFreilicht]

Could you elaborate further on how you secured the GPU? Close-up pictures would be nice!

It's pretty easily visible in these two pictures. He inserted brass thread inserts into the acrylic sheet that the GPU get's screwed into. There don't seem to be any slots for the PCIe bracket on the mainboard side, so it's probably mainly secured by the mainboards PCIe slot on that side, which is absolutely sufficient in my eyes.

 

[Waynio]

Of course it's quiet, the fans aren't spinning

It's....soo.....gorgeous

Thanks confusis.

Very nice! I love how there's practically no cabling visible at all How did you put the brass thread inserts into the acrylic? Can you just hammer them in?

Lot of cable hiding space.
4mm hole & press them in with a soldering iron tip, they slowly sink in & set solid. great for threads you need to last longer, it's a trick I picked up from 1 of phinix project logs.

Could you elaborate further on how you secured the GPU? Close-up pictures would be nice!

Same way you mount a GPU in a retail case, the back IO/expansion piece I made to have 2 spaces since the 980 Ti has venting covering the back panel.
More photos will follow when I get my tripod back, it's borrowed out.

 

[iFreilicht]

Lot of cable hiding space.
4mm hole & press them in with a soldering iron tip, they slowly sink in & set solid. great for threads you need to last longer, it's a trick I picked up from 1 of phinix project logs.

Ah I see, that's pretty interesting. Yeah I figured you didn't want to screw the GPU into the bare acrylic, that could wear out quite quickly

 

[Waynio]

Last minute decision to paint the Noctua fans a metallic black, they are currently hanging in the sunshine, added the silverstone cable extensions & cleaned finger print smudges off surfaces, just waiting for my tripod now to do a final photo shoot, probably tomorrow now, depends if my bro gets back with my tripod.

 

[Waynio]

Painted the Noctua fans with a metallic black.

And 1 extra of it in use.

That's it, done.

 

[jeshikat]

Those fans turned out great! What did you use to paint them?