Water Cubed

[jdbnsn]

Okay, I've been sick for the last couple of days so I haven't been able to do any work. Today I started feeling a bit better so I made it out to the shop for some simple work. The last image shows the optical drive and the LCD/media display module placed in their respective bays but I had yet to fasten them down. For the optical drive, I opted against building any bracket to hold it in place and simply used the mounting holes drilled in it's base to secure it to the platform. But for the LCD, I needed to design a mounting bracket that held it firmly in place as well as allowed for easy removal. I mounted the drive and fixed the facade to it's mounting bracket seen here...

here it is from the front...

Here is the LCD I am using. It's an M Play Blast from VL Systems and it's among my favorite devices for HTPC control. Aside from displaying just about any type of media/system properties as well as customizable graphics, you can power the PC on/off with the remote and it has remote temp monitors with wired thermo tape and fan speed controls etc.... Altogether, a very nice addition to any HTPC.

Here is the mounting bracket I threw together to handle the task...

And here is the unit placed in it's bay to check for clearance, it turned out to work quite well. Very snug hold on the LCD and just enough room to fasten everything down...

I also wanted to mount a couple of USB ports near the front of the PC and luckily I found this PCI slot fixture from an old motherboard that should work perfectly. But I won't get into this part until later...

[nevermind1534]

I like the look of your build; it's shaping up nicely. I'm thinking of using a dead DVD/VCR combo for casing for a HTPC.

[jdbnsn]

I haven't been putting up any updates because most of the work I have been doing is just tedious detail stuff like polishing and sanding. I got a little more structural work done today so here is a glimpse.

I mounted the USB ports on the right front panel of the base...

There was still much to do on the rear panel to get everything to fit together. I made some new cuts to fit the TV card (ATI TV Wonder Elite) and some to make room for the mounting screws. I also had to shave off about 1/8" for an angle bracket for the PCI cards to be secured to....

I also had to deal with the remaining spaces on the back panel including a cover for the PSU edges. I cut another piece to fit the spaces and drilled holes to attach to the PSU mount holes. I also drilled and tapped holes on the top side of the PSU for further reinforcement...

[Drum Thumper]

Man, this just keeps getting better and better!

[SXRguyinMA]

its coming along very nicely

[jermsz]

looks awesome, keep up the good work

[985323]

love the design, great progress so far.

[Luke122]

Hey Jon! Glad to see progress on this!

I have two thoughts for you; first, the case seems awfully big for the components in it. Is that for cooling performance? You could likely get away with an "almost" completely passive system for the ultimate in quiet.

Secondly, (and I suppose this affects the first also..) are you planning on using clear sheets of acrylic for the "water effect" casing? (etched and/or painted and lit) If so, then that's going to make the overall dimensions of the case even larger.. What are the external dimensions so far?

[jdbnsn]

Thanks Luke! I forget the exact measurements so I'll have to get that posted later. When I was first designing the layout I had several things to consider. I did initially want to watercool it but I cannot afford the hardware so it needed loose enough quarters for heat dissipation. I could have stacked the hardware a bit to reduce the size a little, but I opted against that to keep the design simple. I am a novice at modding so I wanted to keep it relatively simple thus all hardware was to be mounted on the same plane. Other than that, if you look at the top down pics you can see that the components are in pretty close proximity. I tried to leave a little bit of room between them for individual removal.

As per the covering, yes, I plan on making an acrylic shell illuminated with LED's that will fit over the case. This will indeed expand the dimensions a bit more but I was never consigned to build it tiny. It should turn out to be about the same size as an ATX case on it's side.

[jdbnsn]

Well, I forgot to measure the frame but I got some more work done. I added one more bracket with a thumbscrew to completely secure the PSU in place...

I have been spending most of the time polishing aluminum and cleaning things up. I primed and painted the base tray with a satin finish black and then I wanted to offset the satin with a matte texture to add decent contrast. I wanted to cover the inner floors with black foam but couldn't find anything that fit. So I asked my mom if she had any ideas and she came up with this foam padding from Michael's craft store, it worked perfectly!

I also decided to apply strips to the superior surfaces of the mounting brackets...

Here is the controller bracket polished up with a strip of foam concealing it's superior mounting edge...

And then I mounted some foam to the base tray's top shelf and trimmed away the wire passages with an Exacto knife. I am undecided as to whether I should try to apply some type of trim around the inner edges, it would have to be very thin. The last pic shows a plug from a fan cable extension. I intend to use these to run attach the fans directly to the top floor as opposed to running the wires through holes in the floor.