the silent surfer

[shadowlord]

Hi all!

it's spring/modding-time again !

i still had a mini itx mainboard laying around from my previous jukebox project so i thought about building a pc dedicated to websurfing and reading my mails.
since browsing the net is what i mostly do on the pc i see no need to start up the gaming rig, the 1ghz from the itx board will be enough.

the goals are:

nice looking (to be able to display it on the desk)
energy saving for daily operation
near silent operation
build the mdva i was given in the [H]-forum secret santa event a nice home. (Thanks again Arcygenical)

here is a shot of the mdva:

the case will be custom built from tintent plexiglass measuring only 200x200x200 mm

ok enough talk.... on with the pictures.

first i ordered the base and the top plexi plate to install the mobo and take the measurements for the cutouts i need on the back and front plate.

here is the rough layout:

i used a mini itx case to take the measurements needed to mount the mobo on its new home:

then i drilled the 4 mounting holes, the white tape is my depth gauge.

since the standard mobo stand-offs have a inch thread and i have only metric dies i needed to come up with a different solution.
i threaded the 4 holes with a M3 thread and made myself some 5mm spacers with my lathe:

and screwed the mobo to the base plate with M3 screws:

i have drawn a 1:1 sketch of the internal layout seen from the side, to help myself imaging how to mount things.

here you see the slimline dvd-writer and the 90mm exhaust fan on the sketch:

it looks like a 90mm exhaust fan will fit

i was drawing sketches for the plexiglass cutter for the side panels when i noticed that my ruler that i'm using was way off !.
so i had to stop for today and will have to buy a better ruler tomorrow.

anyway i finished a mod on the keyboard for this project.
since i'm hesitant to use a kvm switch for my gaming rig and project silent surfer i bought a wireless set for silent surfer and a wired combo for the gaming rig.
to be able to remove the wired keyboard easily i shortened the connection cable and will connect it to a usb extension cable in the future.

thats all until i buy a better ruler and order the sidepanels so stay tuned !

 

[adamvk]

Nice PC, cant wait to see finished results.

I'm thinking of doing something similiar to this once I build my new pc this summer, and use some of my old parts.

 

[Arcygenical]

Holy christ

Subbed!

 

[Shmuckety]

I like working with plexi. I used it for my htpc case (black- non transparent). Its looking good so far, can't wait to see the rest.

That is thick stuff! I hope you dont have to cut too much.

 

[Runedrune]

Oo nice job with the keyboard lol.

 

[shadowlord]

the plexi pieces shown are 8mm thick. the pieces for the sides are only 5mm, right now im waiting for the plexxiglas cutter to finish the cutouts for the rear IO panel and the cd-drive.
then i will drill all the holes i need by myself. (switches, leds, exhaust fan)

i have a few ideas for case feet i like to try out on the upcoming weekend, so hopefully i will have some new pictures on sunday.

 

[tmclaugh]

Do you own all of these tools, or do you know somebody. I would love to use some of the ridiculousness you have pictured. Any recommendations on where I could find some locally to use for free or on the cheap?

 

[shadowlord]

i borrow the drill press and the lathe from my father, this are some of the tools i own:

i purchased two switches and leds with holders for this project:

friday i recieved my side panels, unfortunately 2 pieces weren't cut to the right size so i have to return them on monday.

anyway the front and back pieces have the right size, so i started drilling and taping holes in the bottom and top plate. for top and bottom i drilled and taped 24 holes

i still need to drill the holes in the front and back pieces but here's a pic how it should fit together.

i put some rubber feet normaly used for loudspeakers under the bottom plate to see how the look for case feet.

the screws should arrive on monday so expect an update shortly.

 

[Phimp]

Awesome!
Can't wait to see the rest of the build.
Great work, keep it up!

 

[shadowlord]

hi folks!

got some work done:

i finished drilling all holes needed for assembling the cube. please note that the screws in the picture are not the screws that i will actually use, they were just the only m3 ones that i had aviable at that time.

installed the cage for the slimline cd/dvd-drive

then i drilled the holes for the mdva.

i made a template out of clear plexxi to help me decide how to mount the switch and leds.

^^what do you guys think??

still a long way to go, heres a short list of what i'm planning to do:

fabricate a hdd holder
drill the 92mm fan hole in the back
solder custom length psu cables
painting the cd-drive cage and the 90mm exhaust fan grill black.
mount the case feet
polish the plexxi edges

 

[Arcygenical]

Ooh, looks great.

I know where this thread is going

 

[shadowlord]

i've got a few things done last week for the silent surfer

first i drilled the 22mm hole for the power button

it fits perfect

on the day off work i decided to do some modding outside since it was a nice day.

i painted the cd-drive cage, some 80mm fan grills and the cd drive front bezel black.
here are the parts ready for painting:

then i used the jig saw to cut a square shaped rod from some scrap plexxi i had laying around: (you will see why i need this in a future update)

here are the painted parts:
(fan grill and drive cage are mate black while the drive bezel is glossy black)

i bought 2 silent 80 mm fans to choose one from for the project.

while the tacens one has the better specs on paper the "magic new bearing" makes a lot of crackling/crumbling noise
i don't like the color scheme of the scyte fan, but it beats the tacens by far noise wise so i will use that one for the silent surfer.


i drilled 2 pilot holes and filed away the remains in the middle to create a slot in the back panel.

the slot is for the dvi connector of the gfx card.

as you see in the previous picture the slot has to be larger than the connector on the card to make the cable fit. so i had to come up with something to cover it.
i used some sheet metal to create a bezel. i used the connector-screws to secure it to the card.

the s-video connector had to go to make it fit

woohoo it still works

all nice and covered

i secured the bezel with bolts and nuts to the back panel to hold it and the gfx card in place.

then i drilled the 80mm hole for the exhaust fan, and a 8mm hole for the power connector.

the now finished back panel.

alright front and back are now finished.
next on my list is to mount the feet and drill some intake holes in the bottom plate and fabricate mounting brackets for the hdd.

 

[Rakinos]

I like your idea for mounting the video card, now you just need for find room for a somewhat high res vga lcd to mount on one of the side panels, and make use of the card's vga header.

 

[shadowlord]

Hi all !

first i have to thank my workmate markus for his idea to use a laptop hdd instead an desktop one. this will help to keep the noise down.

here's my new 250gb samsung 2,5" hdd

and here's my ghetto setup for os setup, i had to tape the hdd to the desk since the cables would push it off the desk.

next i needed something to make the exhaust fan hole look nice and tidy.
first i tried some cable insulation but that didn't work out well.
so i ended up with this mug for mixing gypsum

i actually had to cut away most of it but the remainings are exactly what i was looking for.

then i cut and drilled some L-shaped aluminium pieces to mount the hdd to the case top cover.

i lined up the hdd on the cover and then drilled and tapped 3mm holes.

i used some rubber gromets between the cover and the hdd and screwed it in place.

first i thought about maybe etching the side panel but i come up with a different idea.
i will have to buy better supplies this week but i think i have a winner.

first i printed a silent surfer decal on some transparent ink jet foil.

then i used the old mdva mount for a test setup. i used a frosted plexxi piece behind the decal to spread the light of a single red led.

and with the flash off.

here is a shot to illustrate where i want to mount it on the front plate.

i'm still undecided if i should use the silent surfer lettering or if i should use some tribal art or such. but i'm shure i add a larger decal to the side panel instead an etch.


lastly i drilled and filed the intake holes into the case bottom.

i drilled and tapped holes for the feet as well but all pictures of that came out blurry


has anyone an idea for a cool looking decal ??

 

[rewind22x]

This is looking awesome, man, great job.

One quick question though; did you make that slimline drive cage, canibalize, or buy it (and where?)? I've been looking for something like that forever after multiple failed attempts of making my own. Thanks.

Keep up the excellent work.

 

[Showtimextx]

Looks good, alot of work :-o

 

[shadowlord]

rewind, i canibalized it out an morex mini-itx case.

 

[shadowlord]

Hi everybody!

i didn't stop with the silent surfer but other things intercepted with the work.

the sides of the panels looked ugly cut so i decided to polish them.

i started with my fein multimaster with delta sander attachment and worked my way up to 1200 grit sandpaper.

then i used a buff wheel in the drill press:

the "fine" work was done with a buff wheel for the dremel.

for the silent surfer decal i plan for the front i needed a bit frosted plexxi, to deffuse the light from the leds, and a way to mount it.

here is the frosted plexxi with some old led in place and the stripe aluminum i will use to mount it:

i drilled 2 hole trough the front panel:

and here is the finished mount.

things that still need to be done:
>paint a few parts black.
>solder custom wires to the psu.
>finall assembly
>maybe add a decal to the side panel.

 

[colinstu]

Very cool, can't wait for more progress.

/subscribed

 

[shadowlord]

Hi all!

today i have only a small update for you, read on for the reason why.


i soldered custom length cables for power and hdd leds and the power switch.

the original splitter cable for the mdva would require a hole to go inside the case again.
since i didn't like this i decided to solder the cable for the mdva directly to the line out socket.

the speakers will be connected via digital out. if the mdva requires a parallel load i could solder a dummy load to a 3,5mm connector and plug that in the back. maybe i could even tweak the peak level from the mdva with different resistor values.


the stock cables on the pico psu are very short so i decided to solder some custom length cables on it.
here is the stock pico psu

and here was where the disaster striked !!!!
the stock cables where soldered that solid to the pcb that it required max heat on my soldering iron and a long time to get them off. that led to the printed circuits from the pcb coming off.

in a long session i was able to back track the circuit lines and get her going again.

but since it doesn't look trustworthy anymore i ordered a replacement one today which should arrive on tuesday.

on that i will solder the longer cables to the already installed cables instead directly on the pcb.

 

[criccio]

Sub'ed!

 

[kaiweiler]

Me too
Looks awesome. Almost makes me want to sacrifice my speed for something like this.... almost.

 

[shadowlord]

i finished the custom cabling on the pico psu,.....this time without destroying the unit

here is the new power line, compared to the stock one:

and here is the finished psu with longer now sleeved cables.
the short hdd connector you see there is for the mdva.

 

[shadowlord]

Hi all!

here are the last steps from this mod.

i installed a window mesh over the air intake as dust filter.

i use this mesh material to hold an even finer filter material to keep the evil dust bunnys out,

mobo installed:

here you can see the fan on the back panel. i used o-rings to dampen the vibrations a bit.
the fan is a sharkoon one with 1000rpm ~ 21db

i/o cover and video card installed:

i only had red sata cables at home so i sleeved one with black sleeving

mdva and decal installed on the front plate:

and here is the front plate with the dvd drive:

here is it with all parts already inside:

 

[shadowlord]

and now ladies and gentlemen :

here it is...... the silent surfer !!

power led:

power and hdd led:

mdva in action

thanks for watching this.

 

[Arcygenical]

Fucking gorgeous!

 

[w1retap]

Very cool. I like the choice to use a slim drive in there. It looks great.

 

[remmeh]

That looks truly amazing. Nice.

 

[jmroberts70]

OMFG!! Amazing work!!!

 

[Rakinos]

very nice attention to detail, but... PAINT THOSE SCREWS/BOLTS!

 

[magnuspah]

Wow nice.... Only if I have those skills... and those tools

 

[adamvk]

Holy crap thats nice. Best mod I've seen in awhile. Simple, but amazing.

 

[shadowlord]

thanks for the nice comments so far!

concerning the screws: they are stainless steel screws, under normal lightning conditions their dark teint doesn't stand out as much as on the photos.
maybe anodized black screws would look better but they weren't that aviable like the stainless steel ones.

 

[adamvk]

Question about the MDVA. How much is it, and what does it all do?

 

[dslrjunky]

very nice attention to detail, but... PAINT THOSE SCREWS/BOLTS!

screw that!!!! that is fkcing amazing!!!

 

[shadowlord]

thanks iseedeadpeople!

adamvk:
the mdva is a spectrum analyzer just like the winamp thingie. it features different modes and settings.
here is the link: http://www.mashie.org/mdva/index.html
unfortunately i think it's discontinued, i got mine as a present in the secret santa event here on H-Forum last christmas.

 

[adamvk]

thanks iseedeadpeople!

adamvk:
the mdva is a spectrum analyzer just like the winamp thingie. it features different modes and settings.
here is the link: http://www.mashie.org/mdva/index.html
unfortunately i think it's discontinued, i got mine as a present in the secret santa event here on H-Forum last christmas.

Interesting. Ok thanks for the info.

 

[Arcygenical]

What's the threading on the bolts/screws in the front?

If it's 6-32 I can hook you up with a few buttonhead hex screws.

 

[shadowlord]

nice from you arcy but i think that wouldn't work since my threads are M3.