Well Met and thank you for having me in the forums there is a lot of good information here.
So what I need to tackle is something I cannot do in my apartment complex. They got mad over me doing a bit of painting so I am sure power tools and flames are right out the acceptable range. firstly I have a case mod to do, by far the easiest part of this project. I have found that the Thermaltake Core P5 is not as E-ATX friendly as advertised. I will need to make new mounting points and cable pass-through ports on a piece 1/8th inch aluminum and bolt it in place. This seems like the easiest way to make this work and it would resolve some of the flex issues the P5 suffers from. I have thought of scratch building an open frame case but I think this would exceed the limits of my account. Any advice with this would be greatly appreciated. I have included a photo to show the E-ATX issue.
The second part of this build is outside of my skill set but something I would love to learn. Rather than use PETG or acrylic, I want to go with glass tubing but bend it rather than use fittings. So I am wondering if this something I can learn at Makers Space?
In advance thank you for any advice
to do the glass tubing this would count as @Team_Glass much more than computer projects
the item that I believe you would need is called the Glass Microwave oven in glassworks.
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/?tool=61
there are currently no pending classes to get people started on the machine but there were plenty a bit ago. you might try seeing if someone can arrange to get you signed off on that machine.
im not sure which drill bits at DMS would do metal but with a tiny bit of research or just asking someone on site. that step you should be able to knock out in 30 minutes easy peasy.
I did a bit more research an apparently a Bunsen burner is normally used for the bending although, I did see some videos where people were using stove tops. Might be a matter of practice on my part if that is the case.
if you get cleared on the jewelry / small metals work stations you could easily use those supplies?
I don’t think a microwave kiln will work to bend the glass. I interior is small. I’m think more along the line of lamping with a torch. Please contact @dr_cee for torching glass advice.
problem with glass tubing is ensuring you still do not constrict the internal diameter when bending.
You can use a silicone rope, or you can do more traditional glass blowing. Borosilicate glass would work best if you don’t have experience annealing, and it is generally more durable.
However, is there a particular reason you want to use glass rather than rigid PETG for the water lines? To me it’s just asking for trouble, and doesn’t provide much aesthetically since it is not much different once installed from other rigid tubings under those lighting and viewing conditions.
Cheers,
-Jim
Glad you posted the question here.
My advice would be to take a magnet to the case to check if its ferro metal or aluminum. 99.98% its Aluminum. In which case a simple dremel would work wonders.
https://mnpctech.com/dremel-diy-guide-for-cutting-designs-in-pc-case-panels.html
Mnpctech and I go back a ways. So case modding is a bit of my thing.
As for something to learn at the space, well lets say there hasn’t been much of an interest for case modding as of late. We, do however, have all the tools and expertise around the space in Metals, VCC, and Team_Glass as pointed out for such a project.
Plus with with Quakecon coming around there might be an interest in a class at the space. But I’d be glad to help out either way in area one needs assistance.
I have done PETG and Acrylic builds to death and I am wanting to take my next build up a few steps. No real reason other than being able to say I did and can do it. However, I will be doing my loop with PETG to limit measuring mistakes when I do convert over to glass. So far as the case Thermaltake says the Core P5 is made of steel but I am betting it is a low-grade type. I did have a case I was going to make before finding the P5 but I will need to dig through a few TB of blender files to find where I put it. If I find it I will throw it up here for you to look at, might be an option if things go pear-shaped. It is going to be a few weeks before I can start my build because Cablemod is refreshing its manufacturing space so anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks out plenty of planning time.
I am doing a total remake of the layout, the red indicates what I am removing and replacing. Planning on cutting a different layout for the cable pass-through ports. Making rad mounts so I can mount the rad on its side to better accommodate the push/pull fan configuration I am using would also give me about 20mm more to work with for the ports.
interesting. I suppose one could do that with the CNC in machine shop. Have we made a case design in sketchup yet?
Art glass city sell a fiber rope. Maybe an option to fill the tubes when you bend them. @dr_cee I’d your best contact for bending the glass tube questions.
I will need to see if I can move my stuff from the .blend format to sketchup but before that I need to clean up what I have first.
ah… blender. Personally I used sketchup for my designes but blender has a lot more features to it that works in the long run, like directly exporting STL files, which blender exports quite nicely so good choice.
My question would be should I work in metric or imperial or dose it matter?
(Edit: looks like I will have to start from scratch, I went to GrabCad and got the SLDPRT files for the Thremaltake Core P5. I will work on the layout tonight once I get off of work and post a very basic rendering of what I am planning)
Personally I’d go metric since majority of the parts in a pc build would be using metric standards. But do verify dimensions with a digital caliper. 3d Fab has a few that are available for use.