Project:: Cosmos SKULLTRAIL

[coolmiester]

First time here on THW so just thought i'd stop by and show my face, say Hi and show my new prod log

Its a work in progress so any comments, good or bad welcome!

Anyway without further ado, its that time again to get a commissioned project up and running for the Coolermaster stand at Multiplay i34 which doesn’t leave much time so expect this one to take shape pretty fast once all the background stuff is out the way.

There are four major sponsors which I’m eternally grateful for and have all supplied some killer hardware so i’ve first of all got to thank those involved for making the mod possible and vow to hopefully do them all justice.

Sponsors Include:
Coolermaster
Intel
Zotac
HWLabs








System Spec:
CM Cosmos S
CM Ultimate UCP 1100watt PSU
Intel Skulltrail Motherboard
2x Intel QX9775 Quad Core Extreme CPU’s (Socket 771)
2x Zotac 9800GX2’s
4GM RAM

Watercooling:
By me

So, let the games commence :lol:

Guess this is a bit of a give away but hey, i like vents

 

[coolmiester]

All stripped and ready for anodising

I didn't get anywhere near as much as what i'd planed today but i did get both vents mounted ready to be stuck in place after the panels are flattened and sent for powder coat to give better finish for paint but no real hurry as the painter is on holiday next week

He did drop some of the paint off today which as always is pretty much just like a new car so i'm happy with that.

I dunno, i seemed to spend more time looking at the damn thing today than getting into my usual attack mode but i seem to have more of a game plan so i guess all was not lost :lol:

Oh yeah i borrowed a Cosmos 1000 side panel off my mate Tom so i didn't have to deal with the mesh panel in the Cosmos S which was a big help

 

[coolmiester]

No laser cutters here...........all done by hand

OK, there's a few imperfections which you wouldn't get with laser but much more fulfilling to know you did it all yourself with a fret saw.

Anyway, as you can see the front of the Cosmos S mesh is being replaced with 5.25 aluminium plates which will be anodised black once all the cut-touts have been finished and have chrome hex bolts.

The top one will hold a 4" TFT - two which are already been cut are for dual reservoirs - middle one will hold fan controllers and the bottom one for both Zotac and Intel logos

Few shots of the finished Zotac logo with frosted white and orange plexi attached to the back which will be lit up from behind once everything is anodised and installed.

.........hope they like it

 

[mi1ez]

looks like SOMEONE'S having fun!

 

[coolmiester]

 

[coolmiester]

Time to get a bit work done on the three Coolermaster Aquagate's and the replacement reservoirs

Got all three res's stuck together using my new found friend Poly Weld with FB barbs fitted all seems fine but will be leak testing before final fitting.

And a couple of shots of the new look Aquagate in a standard Cosmos S which i did a while back for testing.........and i should point out that only 2 will be used in the system and the other is for another mod.

 

[coolmiester]

Cheers mi1ez...........fun indeed

Admittedly not a lot of case modding going on here at present as the Cosmos chassis is at the anodisers so I thought I would get the system up and running on the bench just to make sure everything was working………………i knew that mini Cosmos waterbox would come in handy one day

Anyway got it all up and running like a dream with the CPU’s being cooled by 2 D-Tek FuZion and a GTX480 so everything’s nice and cool there but Zotac are still to decide whether to run two GX2’s or three GTX280’s so pointless putting the GFX under water just yet though I was tempted to fit the monster EK block that weigh in at 1080g each

That’s about it for now until the chassis returns and the side panels get back!

 

[coolmiester]

Its a bit of a headache choosing which blocks to go for CPU's and NB due to hose routing but after much head scratching it looks like D-Tek FuZions for CPU's and a DD MC-Chipset block with a modded mounting bracket will be best.

So, decided to make myself a nice little mounting bracket for the MPC-Chipset block.....

Started by scribing the shape onto a 3mm piece of aluminium then took the original MPC mount to mark hole alignment.

Not sure if there's time to get it anodised black or whether i'll just have to paint it but either way it looks OK and fits like a glove.

 

[mrplow99]

Awsome.

 

[coolmiester]

BTW, you might of gathered, i'm playing catch up here just to get the log up to date but not much more to go

Got the side panels back from powder coat today which is a great way of flattening down the standard brushed aluminium and a great flat base for primer so its time to start attaching the vents.

Had to use that 2 part metal stuff to attach a couple of bolts to the back side of the vent to enable it to be screwed down.

I also got hold of this Terotape and Primer which gives the vent a nice cushion to sit on which hopefully eliminates paint cracking when the side panel flexes.

So anyway, this is how it looks and now i've got a night of bodging and wet sanding ahead to blend the vent into the panel then get it into primer ready for paint.

Just did a test fit with the chrome bits on to see what the whole thing looks like in black.

 

[coolmiester]

A long day of filler - sanding - wet sanding - more filler - more wet sanding and not much more tbh but all ready for primer, paint and clear coat so see what tomorrow brings

Oh yeah and i polished the NB block mount but i may get it anodised black.....not quite sure on that one yet??

 

[coolmiester]

Thanks mrplow99

Good and bad news today!

Got the panels back from paint today and one turned out fine while the other had a few little reactions which the painter put down to water caught in the vent from wet sanding so its got to be re-done which is a bit of a pain but these things happen i guess.

Here some pictures of the good one.........the other is already being re-sanded.

 

[coolmiester]

Wish i had more to report tbh but its just been a case of redoing the panel which is in primer again waiting for paint and clear coat then waiting for the chassis to get back from the anodises.

I also ordered a Mips Ram Freezer 4 Block for the RAM which should be here in a couple of days.

Sorry, that's about it

 

[coolmiester]

OK that's it do date and thanks for your patience while i played catch up.

I'll update as and when so hope you enjoy following it through as much as i am making it and if anyone is at Multiplay i34 in August it will be on show there...............if i get it finished that is!

Again, my apologies for all waiting for the wet stuff to start taking shape but there's not much i can do until the chassis gets back other than to make the black bits blacker and the shiny bits shinier :lol:

So, in keeping with the black / chrome of the vents.........

 

[coolmiester]

MIPs Ram Freezer 4 turned up first thing this morning so i set about getting it fitted but ran into problems right off the bat

Basically once i got the stock heat spreaders off the Hynix HYMP512F72CP8D2-C4/Y5 Ram it soon became apparent that the centre processor was 1.2mm higher than the memory chips either side.

Hmmmm........after much head scratching i decided to shim the memory and as luck would have it i had some cheap aluminium heat spreaders which just so happened were 1.2mm thick and already had thermal pads on them.

So i set about cutting eight of them in total (two for each stick of memory) down to 50mm x 15mm which fit perfect.

Just a case of adding them and a little AS5 to the reverse side of the memory and and assemble as normal.

Leaving the actual RAM hex bolts loose so the four individual memory stick could move from side to side in the slots, the whole unit then fitted straight into the board with no problem at all then the hex bolts tightened up.

All in all a bit fiddly but well worth it as it's one of the best machined blocks i've laid eyes on in a long while.

I'll let MIPs know of the issue with this particular RAM so they could maybe machining some heat spreaders for this memory which would be easy for them to do and make life much easier for anyone else in this situation.

Still not linked hose up yet but its been running fine for the last few hours so all is well but looking forward to see if it actually works.

Also today, my good mate Tom also picked the 2 chassis up this morning and it should be back here Tuesday so i can start getting it re-assembled(mines the black one)

Anyway, a few pictures as usual..........BTW the 3rd but last picture shows the copper/brass version along side the copper/brass nickel plate one i'm using.

 

[coolmiester]

 

[smyffalis]

holllllllllllly ****. this is awesome. and thats a word i hate to/rarely use. haha **** meeeee. n i thought my "command center" was a crackin job haha

 

[idont]

i love it

 

[Butcherski]

that case is awesome just by itself, but it seems you've made it even more jaw dropping :O i wont say anything about spec ... sick

 

[coolmiester]

Not sure if this is in the shops yet but the nice people at Coolermaster sent me a couple of their new Ultimate UCP 1100W PSU's to play with so got one hooked up to the Skulltrail already and is working a charm............very very quiet

Also Zotac contacted me this morning and have another GX2 being shipped for tomorrow so i can eventually get this HUGE chunk of copper strapped to them (weighing in at 2180g i think they will need some kind of support made)

 

[yomamafor1]

E-Peen show off?

 

[Slobogob]

That is some impressive work. I would appreciate it if you could be more detailed about the kind of tools you use along the way.

 

[coolmiester]

That is some impressive work. I would appreciate it if you could be more detailed about the kind of tools you use along the way.

I'll certainly do my best Slobogob- anything in particular??

Got the case back from the anodisers this morning in Ikea flat pack form courtesy of Tom so set about re-assembling it which was a lot easier than i first thought looking at all the bits.

So glad i went with anodising rather than paint or powder coat which i did consider at one point as it looks great.

Once that was riveted back together i had to keep going and added the painted surrounds and chrome rails just to see how it was looking.

All in all a pretty productive time as its the first time i've seen it starting to come together and i think i'm liking it already.

 

[radnor]

Well....that case will have more water than the Sahara. In another though will pack more punch, that the Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabue all together.

Good Lord. Keep it coming and good luck !!

 

[Slobogob]

I'll certainly do my best Slobogob- anything in particular??

I recently started on a little project. The premise was to build a case and computer that could fit into four standard PC drive bays, doesn't cost more than roughly 200€ (300$) including the tools (has something to do with the energy efficiency and costs saved by using said mini-itx), be exchangeabel (i.e. upgradable two years from now) and stay below 50Watts during average load.

Compared to your work it's dead ugly, especially since i never actually build a complete case from the ground up. Thinking about it, it's almost the exact opposite. Most often looks had to step down to keep the cost in check and a lot of performance features are not possible because of the power restrictions.

I'm curious about how to improve once i embark on a new project.

As mentioned before working on the case itself is pretty new to me. You will probably laugh but i found it rather difficult to cut metal in a straight line, not to mention cutting circles. Getting rid of sharp edges turned into a blood bath more than once. There's still a broken cutting disc stuck in a door down in the basement... (no joke!)
Based on that you could say that the brushed piece of aluminium you showed is the absolute pinnacle of achievements to me.

While the results are nothing less than stunning, the way to get there is what interests me most. How do you cut the holes? How do you avoid scratching the surfaces? If you use manual tools, like saws etc. how do you keep your work precise? A mm too short or too long and some pieces won't fit anymore - something that happend to me at least a dozen times during the last few weeks. Do you plan your steps on paper first? That are the things i'm curious about.