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!
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!
I also ordered some 1/8" clear acrylic rods...
"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!
Back to the video cards.. and their initial water cooling install....
Strip off the old stuff, which is actually a very good heatsink:
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!!!
Ceramique - The choice of champions!
A group shot with hte cards nekkid...
And a group shot of the impending new equipment...
The cores cleaned up nicely using alcohol and papertowels:
One before and one after, to show a comparison:
A close up of the DangerDen Maze5 block mounted:
Both cards done and looking siiiiiick!
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:
And the pumps were not exempt to the modding... I picked up some clear acrylic tops for my Swiftech 355's!
One down, and one to go! Good comparison reference:
Both tops mounted with the barbs attached:
The acrylic has 2 spaces per top to embed LED's.... you can bet I'll be taking advantage of those!
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.
Ow....
The end that was bent using the station is MUCH more precise! Bends are good quality and well executed. No rippling or bubbles:
And a test fit of the res in the bracket.
Lots more to come!
