Project: Aluminum Water Cooling Case

This is a project/build log for an aluminum case designed specifically for a large water cooled rig. This case is capable of housing:

3 x 140x4 radiators
1 140x3 radiator
10-slot motherboard tray
A boat load of 5.25-inch drive bay devices

The basic frame of the case consists of .5x1-inch u-channel with its ends plugged with blocks press-fitted and pinned with a #4 screw along with some 1-inch angle:

The assembled case frame is too tall to fit in the camera frame. hehe

The frame looks kind'a "meh" until I bolt on the gorgeous anodized quarter rounds.

The two shelves were cut from a .10-inch thick 5052 via my trusty router, a straight edge and a downcut spiral bit.

At the back corners of the shelves, two .5x1-inch cutouts were routed out via a temporary router jig.

The rounded inside corner left by the .5-inch flush router bit were filed square.

FWIW, here's the difference in the thickness of the aluminum sheeting I use (.10-inch) compared to what everyone else uses (.063).

A mockup of the shelf inside the frame of the case:

A local fabricator cut the 5.25-inch drive bay rails for me.

A 140x4 rad arrived here in the shop.

Thanks for looking. Stay tuned!

Looks really awesome, Can't wait to see it finished.

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Danger Den Lan Tower 450, GIGABYTE GA-Z77N, Intel i3 2100, 8gb Corsair Vengeance, Crucial M4 60GB, Western Digital 1tb Black, ZOTAC GTX 560ti, Silverstone 450W SFX.

OMG the man is a metalhead now. McLovin it!

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Blah Blah Blah

that rad looks like it could cool my apartment.

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Danger Den Lan Tower 450, GIGABYTE GA-Z77N, Intel i3 2100, 8gb Corsair Vengeance, Crucial M4 60GB, Western Digital 1tb Black, ZOTAC GTX 560ti, Silverstone 450W SFX.

Hehe

Next up is to cut the front sheet.

In order to cut-out all of the openings for the 5.25-inch drives accurately, a custom router template is required. I used .5x1-inch u-channel and .25x1.25-inch flat bar to frame the openings on .5-inch particle board.

The aluminum bits guided my flush trimming router bit.

The aluminum bits were removed and the particle board template was used to cut the .10-inch thick aluminum sheet.

Now I just need to square all of the corners and cut to final dimensions. Ugh.

this looks way cool. will it be at pdxlan 18?

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Stabby
"i don't use caps."

PDXLAN - 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 12.5, 13, 14, 14.5, 15, 16, 16.5, 17, 18, 18.5, 19, 20, 20.5, 21...
GNWLAN - 5, 6, 7
SSL- 1
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Stabby-GDay
wow- sen' jin -alliance- 80 druid- Clock (quit for the 3rd time. i will never return)

Very nice. I love the aluminum look. That's why I bought 2 cosmos 1000 cases:)

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PDXLAN 11,16,16.5,17,18,18.5,19 soon 20 and a little later 20.5(November)
SSL, GeForce LAN 6, GNWLAN 6, GNWLAN7,Lanapalooza

Garrett.Day wrote:

this looks way cool. will it be at pdxlan 18?

Not likely.

@Baeowolf8 - Thanks.

"Life" had gotten in the way of this project for a few weeks, but I've managed to fabricate the inner and outer sheets of the front panel. It took me 5 hours to square-off all of the inside corners.

Wow that is one big arse case!

I think it will need wheels. Smile

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Good Karma good - Bad Karma bad

BOBDBONE wrote:

Wow that is one big arse case!

I think it will need wheels. Smile

A custom dolly that flipped over to a LAN stand would be better. Smile

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Danger Den Lan Tower 450, GIGABYTE GA-Z77N, Intel i3 2100, 8gb Corsair Vengeance, Crucial M4 60GB, Western Digital 1tb Black, ZOTAC GTX 560ti, Silverstone 450W SFX.

EQWoody wrote:

BOBDBONE wrote:

Wow that is one big arse case!

I think it will need wheels. Smile

A custom dolly that flipped over to a LAN stand would be better. Smile

I'd have to make a mighty big one for this case. It might not clear the ceiling. Razz

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Good Karma good - Bad Karma bad

BOBDBONE wrote:

EQWoody wrote:

BOBDBONE wrote:

Wow that is one big arse case!

I think it will need wheels. Smile

A custom dolly that flipped over to a LAN stand would be better. Smile

I'd have to make a mighty big one for this case. It might not clear the ceiling. Razz

Even better. Gives your roof extra support Wink

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Danger Den Lan Tower 450, GIGABYTE GA-Z77N, Intel i3 2100, 8gb Corsair Vengeance, Crucial M4 60GB, Western Digital 1tb Black, ZOTAC GTX 560ti, Silverstone 450W SFX.

Back sheet cut to width, height and the hole for the 10-slot motherboard tray routed out.

The inner and outer front sheets, cut to final length.

Shelves!

The 5.25-inch drive bay rails:

I bolted the 5.25-inch drive rail assemblies to the front inner sheet.

Note how the extra deep rails will completely hide the drives and cables.

Another design benefit of the front air duct is hiding all of the mounting hardware.

Two cutouts were routed out of the back sheet for the bottom mounted PSU (left hand side of the pic) and intake fan, and two intake fans up top.

Eventually, some "adapter plates" will be mounted over the two cutouts.

To attach the MB tray to the back sheet, four PEM cinch nuts were pressed into the interior side of the .10-inch thick aluminum sheet. I love these nuts because they make quick work out of adding some threads to sheet metal.

I'm really having fun watching this come together. Nice work. Makes me wish I had more money, more tools and more time. W2G!

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I use OpenOffice...