Sounds like some kind of Axle is required. What ever you come up with will be cool, that I am sure. Man that Blue Plexi is nice looking.
Printable View
Sounds like some kind of Axle is required. What ever you come up with will be cool, that I am sure. Man that Blue Plexi is nice looking.
Don't to post your Updates here TD.. We have folks that live for your MODS. LOL
I was stepping through my list of sites that I keep the log on, and as I saw your reply this morning on TMN, I was like, "OH CRAP!".... so, here I am!
;)
Good afternoon everyone! Midways through my vacation between jobs, I've gotten a lot done! Between prototypes and paint decisions, I'm feeling very good!
Reservoir brackets are prototyped. I used paper to get my measurements down. I wanted on solid piece of acrylic and, if my plans go accordingly, it will use 3 bends per end to make the reservoir brackets. There will be a few more alterations to the presentation, but they will eventually be screwed into the sides of the 5.25" bay area.
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/res_bracket.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/res_bracket2.jpg
My 5th, and final flame test. "Keep it Simple"... and I like it the most! Color is spot on!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5a.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5b.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5c.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5d.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5e.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5f.jpg
I was looping a flame strand under another lick, and I tried this... I got it 50% right! ;) I know what I did wrong and will correct it when I apply this same painting technique to the side panels!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5g_scar.jpg
Learned that I was pushing too hard on the blade when weeding my graphics of the excess tape... note to self, "GO EASY!"
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5h_scar.jpg
Also, I am not giving up on the "true fire" style of painting, it's just taking a bit more practice than I was anticipating... but practice is good!
;)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flame_practice.jpg
Ok, first round of painting is done. I have a bit of cleanup to do around the panel where some of the tape let a bit through, but for the initial application, it looks good!
I have some airbrushing that I need to do as well as some *gulp* pin striping if I can pull it off! (have those other panels to practice on). The striping will be on the outer edge of the green flame work. But the process is committed to the panels now! :)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5i.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5j.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/flamev5k.jpg
That does look good. Pinstriping needs a steady hand so No Coffee or Candy before hand. LOL I like the Yellow to green flame. Glad to see you moving on, now if I can get Lian-Li back from my Buddy (Painter) I can finish up. Sometimes Modding is a slow process but it usually pays off in the end.
Great Job TD.....
Tech,
I watched a guy do that type of flame painting to a vehicle on TV. It was a show like Overhaulin, not sure maybe it was Overhaulin! This guy was supposed to be the best in the world at flame painting. He did a great job but I'm not sure if I would want it on my car, truck, suv or van. Watching him do it was awesome. He had a template that he just turned 4-5 different ways giving a new look to each flame. You wouldn't believe how fast this guy was at painting the flames!
It does look as though your doing a great job too! I think I could handle having the flames on my computer instead of my car. As usual you are the best at what you do, and your right practice is good! Just wish I had half of your talent in designing a mod. My talent is in fixing computers.
You likely saw Mike Lavalee... the innovator and creator of "True Fire". He has been on that show doing cars. You are right, the more I practice, the more I learn, the better I get. Right now I'm relying on the templates too much, but with my ModShop check $$, once it finally gets here, I plan on picking up a better airbrush and some more in depth instructional videos to gain a better explanation of flame painting.
As for the talent... I spent roughly the first 10 years of my computer career learning to build, troubleshoot, diagnose. I eventually started getting very bored, as I could almost build machines with my eyes closed! This was a decision I made to keep my interest in technology, and my beloved computer hobby, and also exercise that creative outlet and get better at it.
Thank you for the compliments! Very kind and appreciated! *tips hat*
Just like the airbrushing... it is all practice. You start easy, and then one inspiration leads to another and then all the sudden, if you stick with it... you end up eyeballing a brand new case thinking, "I could cut that there.... paint that, replace that acrylic...fabricate a bracket there...."
Heheheh, it's kind of an illness! But it's an illness that I dont wanna be cured of! ;)
That must be where they get the word SICK from (sick meaning cool, awesome etc..). As for building computers, yes I do build them in my sleep! Fifteen years ago it was difficult to build a computer. Now-days you just plug things in and it works! I can see how you could get bored. I really like the aggrivation of Diagnosing computers myself. I spent 2 weeks trying to fix my wifes laptop. I fixed it but I had lots of trouble getting the WLAN to work. Wish I knew what I did to fix it, I just kept doing the same things over and over. It's working now, still don't know why! Anyway, keep up the good work!!!!!!!
They also have a Video at MNPCTECH. It was amazing how fast he applied the flames. Bill, if your out there post up that link..
Started a new job on Monday... so I have been a bit distracted getting myself acclimated to the new company and it's work requirements.
Looks like this is going to be a good match! ;)
No "work" updates, but I'd like to introduce you to a sweet sponsorship that just blossomed!
https://www.sharkyforums.com/
http://www.palit.biz
Palit is not a well known video card brand here in the USA... yet! ;) They are making a very strong push into the enthusiast market, and with recent reviews of their technology being very strong and promising.... I dont see them going anywhere but up! To work with the Deuce theme, I was shipped 2 of their 1GB 8800GT video cards, for a total of 2GB of frame buffer luvin! Perfect!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/video.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/video2.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/video3.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/video4.jpg
My issue that I have to get creative about is that the card is not an NVidia "reference card" design, and as such, the full cover liquid cooling solutions that I was moving toward... wont work. So, now I get to be creative! With a rework in the power system as well as the additional 512MB of memory on the back of the unit, that is going to make it a bit tricky! Before I pull the coolers, I am going to put the cards into the current machine and bench them and make sure there is no artifactingm because once I start pulling these apart, I'm pretty sure Palit's warranty will go bye bye... :)
I've already got a plan or two to really jazz this card up, liquid cool it, and cool the memory and the VR's... I have some options!
gonna be tricky, but I think I'll be able to get some good performance *and* good looks!
About Palit
Established in 1988, Palit Microsystems (H.K.) Limited is well-known for manufacturing stable, excellent, and innovative graphics accelerators and motherboards. As one of the top PC components manufacturers, Palit continues to provide top-to-button graphics cards and motherboards with stable and excellent quality to the world. With headquarter in Hong Kong, factories in Mainland China, and branch offices in Germany and Taipei, Palit has developed worldwide sales network and cooperated closely with our customers.
hmmm, your right never heard of them. Guess they are breaking into the American Market. Can't wait to see them stripped apart.. LOL
Several of the recent round of nVidia card reviews from Anandtech, HardOCP, and Tom's Hardware have included them. One interesting tidbit, they were the first to take advantage of the DisplayPort support of the nVidia cards, and are one of the only companies to offer display port on any of their cards.
Cool! Did not know that!
WOO HOO!!!
Fun stuff!
These will eventually be bent into my reservoir brackets that will mount them to the inside of my 5.25 bay area.
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic.jpg
The units with the holes in the pic below will be for retaining my fill ports, the additional flames are for decorative accenting.... but where? ;)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic2.jpg
Flames anyone??
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic3.jpg
This will be my solution for supporting the rad from below, you'll see how it all ties together! ;)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic4.jpg
With a little back light, you can see the bottom etching I threw in on the piece.... DEUCE!!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic5.jpg
Etched material from the back
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic6.jpg
Flames with the res....
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic7.jpg
Fire and water anyone?
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/acrylic8.jpg
More later!
How about just Fire Water!! Kinda reminds me of Hungarian Plum Brandy!:eek: First few shots burnt like hell then they started tasting good.
I think they will look good in the tube.
James
What do you mean by Display Port Support?
Any news?
Oh yes! Just no pictures yet!
I have placed a load of equipment on order with some of my winnings from the ModShop,
Specifically, I picked up the following items that are in various phases of shipment to me:
Kustom Shop LiveFire tutorial and stencil set:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/kslivefire.aspx
21" Acrylic strip heater
http://www.delviesplastics.com/mm5/m..._Strip_Heaters
A new Iwata Eclipse HP-CS airbrush
http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddet...p?prod=ECL4500
A "Secrets of airbrushing TrueFire by Mike Lavalee" DVD
http://www.coastairbrush.com/products.asp?cat=227
A set of Mack "Tom Kelly" Striping brushes
http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddet...?prod=KM%2DSET
A can of OneShot Pearl lettering enamel, Pearl Reflex Blue
http://www.coastairbrush.com/products.asp?cat=158
A can of OneShot Proper Purple lettering enamel:
http://www.coastairbrush.com/products.asp?cat=157&pg=2
The new DVD user guide for Auto Air colors paint system
http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddet...prod=4919%2D00
Herb Martinez's "Guide to pin striping cars"
http://www.coastairbrush.com/proddet...146168&cat=284
And a bottle of airbrush Super lube.
:)
I have received the Live fire DVD and stencil set... the video shows a lot about how this system works, and how to think while painting LiveFire... very educational!
I have not given up on my live fire/true fire painting, I just needed more examples. Mike Lavalee is widely considered the "father" of this style of flame painting, and as such, I am very much looking forward to getting that DVD and watching it too. I think application of what I learned on Live Fire, combined with "True Fire" will give me a good base!
Add into that, a reliable airbrush (I am *so* excited to finally be getting this thing) in the Iwata HP-CS Eclipse... widely considered to be the workhorse for most professional airbrush artists, I cannot wait to use this!
;)
I am also working on a surprise for the video card cooling config. I may have someone who is willing to assist me in creating custom memory "ram sinks" to cover and cool the dual sided memory config of the video cards!
I have to pull one of my 8800's out and get the Heatsink off, snap some high res pics and get them up to the guy, but he is very interested in helping out and contributing a unique cooling solution!
I also thought up a way to re-use the video card shroud in the mod!
More to come... oh yes... much more to come! ;)
Reminds me of a Ketchup Commercial..
Anticipation
can't wait to see you making your own how to video on Flames. It will be widely used as well..
Ok, lets have some fun on an update!
;)
I've been ordering and receiving a LOT of equipment as of late. Between painting supplies and acrylic fabrication supplies... plus some modding add ons for this unit... it's been a bit crazy at my house for a week, while the dust settles! So, the last 2 days, I went out and started using one of my newest pieces of equipment, an acrylic heater/bender!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/bender.jpg
Let me just say, for the record, this makes for a much higher quality bend in thicker acrylic, as you dont take the change of accidentally overheating it and causing it to flame up or get too hot. Doing so causes bubbles in the material... not pretty! But to test how well it worked on 1/4" sheet cell cast acrylic, I dropped a practice piece on the heated unit for about a minute (going to take a stop watch out there and get a good precise time that is needed) and resulted in this, nice, smooth, no bubble bend on 1/4" acrylic..... Mmmmmmmmmm! :)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/bender_thick.jpg
I also ordered some 1/8" clear acrylic rods...
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/eighth_rods.jpg
"What on earth for?", I hear you asking....
well, light pipes! I have some ideas on this, we'll see if they make the final cut!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/eighth_rods2.jpg
Back to the video cards.. and their initial water cooling install....
Strip off the old stuff, which is actually a very good heatsink:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit1.jpg
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit2.jpg
Thermal pads had excellent placement, and the heatsink TIM on the core was precisely placed, and not gobbed on! I was very happy to seee this, and thought that some of you may want to seriously consider Palit as a video card distributor. Very good use of thermal material on this disassembly!!!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit3.jpg
Ceramique - The choice of champions! ;)
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit_cerim.jpg
A group shot with hte cards nekkid...
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit4.jpg
And a group shot of the impending new equipment...
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit5.jpg
The cores cleaned up nicely using alcohol and papertowels:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit6.jpg
One before and one after, to show a comparison:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit7_b4after.jpg
A close up of the DangerDen Maze5 block mounted:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit8.jpg
Both cards done and looking siiiiiick!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit9_sli.jpg
I have plans on how to re-use the video shroud, here was a test fit. I have several ideas on how I want this bit of the mod to proceed:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/palit10_tester.jpg
And the pumps were not exempt to the modding... I picked up some clear acrylic tops for my Swiftech 355's!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/pump1.jpg
One down, and one to go! Good comparison reference:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/pump2.jpg
Both tops mounted with the barbs attached:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/pump3.jpg
The acrylic has 2 spaces per top to embed LED's.... you can bet I'll be taking advantage of those!
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/pump4_light.jpg
The pics below, you will note that this one bracket was only a bending test piece. one end was performed using a heatgun or torch, and the other end was performed using the new bending station.
This end used the heatgun, and as you can see it is less than precise.
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce...upport_bad.jpg
Ow....
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce...pport_bad2.jpg
The end that was bent using the station is MUCH more precise! Bends are good quality and well executed. No rippling or bubbles:
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce...pport_good.jpg
And a test fit of the res in the bracket.
http://www.tech-daddy.com/wlog/deuce/res_n_bracket.jpg
Lots more to come!
:)
I can't wait to see what you do with the Light Pipes. I know the magic you can work with LED's from your past MODs. Looks like you will be busy for awhile... Congrats on the new toys. Mine is still at the painters. :mad: I just hope it turns out as well as yours.
How will you cool the mem chips on the cards? or will you?
Dont worry about the memory cooling, that update will be coming later on.
Working on that now... ;)
Oh yes, the memory will be cooled.... ;)
Sweetness. Looks awesome. I didn't even know there was such a tool as an acryllic bender. Huh. You learn something new everyday.
Cool stuff! :D