Personal Rig Update - Sheet Metal Mod

The Art of Building: A DIY Guide to Creating a Custom Water Cooling Loop

As I began working on my latest project, a custom water cooling loop for my computer case, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and nervousness. It was going to be a challenge, but I was confident in my abilities. I started by marking the area where I wanted to drill the pass-through fitting, making sure to get it exactly right. But, as I often do, I decided to take a shortcut and not make the hole for the pass-through fitting before painting the case.

"I'm just gonna slam it into the case and put scratches on it there," I told myself, as I tried to visualize the process in my mind. I might replace those washers with black ones, which would give the reservoir a sleek and modern look. The idea was to create a seamless experience for the user, but I knew that wasn't always possible.

"I've got this lined up the holes on the front fan mount vertically here so now I can physically see where this basically points at that left and right," I explained to myself as I adjusted the position of the pass-through fitting. The goal was to create a smooth flow of water, but it wasn't going to be easy. I had to consider all the variables, from the height and width of the reservoir to the orientation of the tubes.

As I worked on the project, I couldn't help but think about how far off I might be. Would I need to make any adjustments or repairs along the way? The uncertainty was exciting, but also a bit daunting. That's when I remembered the importance of being flexible and adapting to new situations.

"I'm just gonna loosen up the resonance and let it sort of fall into place linked wise," I told myself as I adjusted the position of the reservoir. By using a rail system for the resonance, I knew that I could make any necessary adjustments without having to completely disassemble the unit.

The project was taking shape, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. I had created something unique and custom, with all the features and functionality that I wanted. It wasn't perfect, but it was mine.

"I kind of wanted it to be more busy with like all these stuff everywhere," I thought to myself as I looked at the finished product. But sometimes, less is more, and this project was a great example of that. With only two visible tubes connecting the radiator back to one of the fill ports, the system was sleek and understated.

As I stood back to admire my handiwork, I felt a sense of satisfaction and relief. The project was complete, and it was exactly what I wanted. Well, almost – there were still a few tweaks that needed to be made before it was finished. But for now, I could take a step back and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

This edition of Project Nebula 2019/2020 has come to an end, but I'm excited to see what the future holds. The process of building a custom water cooling loop is never easy, but it's always rewarding. And who knows? Maybe next time, I'll be even more successful than this time around.

The final touches were applied to the system, with a coat of paint adding a touch of elegance to the finished product. It was almost ready for use, but I knew that there would still be a few tweaks needed before it was complete. Still, for now, it was good enough.

As I looked at the completed water cooling loop, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. It may not have been perfect, but it was unique and custom to my needs. And that's what made it special – it was something that I had created with my own two hands, using my skills and expertise to bring it to life.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is my computer the x2 9 and 9 series motherboards from EVGA feature powerful designs both gamers and overclockers one like robust power delivery featuring active vrm cooling plenty of em 2 slots for fast storage and simple yet powerful bios for world record overclocking and testing step up your next bill to be ready for the new Intel x-series processors with EVGA X 299 motherboards to learn more head to EVGA comm so work is going to continue right now on nebula and I know you guys keep asking me with your good Nabila I showed a picture on Twitter a long time ago but the lighting colors for this inside it's gonna be like blue and purple and stuff like that's good like they are like the color of like a nebula space themed space down work is continued on this a little bit already as you guys can see I've got the GPUs plumbed in there and that was pretty simple so this might bug some people's OCD right here how it's not let me take this out actually see how this is not exactly the same height as that that's because of these holes that are there and if you look on the back side of it there's actually a cable tie down thingy there so as you can see I went as close to that as I could without and I could have taken that out but then I think it just wouldn't looked weird so those are plumb through CPUs plumb through it's gonna be pretty simple when we go out from the reservoir which the out is technically right there you guys can see it we showed with our review of the resonance there so our outs going to come through here and then it's gonna come into there which is gonna go into the GPUs it's gonna come out there and into there and then out there to the radiators and then from the radiators back to the resonance so we need to do today is there's one thing I don't like about this case this is dumb I feel like even really had a terrible design there we are going to see I know this is gonna work or not because we're doing this all on camera together if I can make a thing oh there's the space sounds I've never worked with sheet metal before I've never worked with sheet metal before this is not the thickest stuff I could have gotten that's where I wanna be able to cut the thickest stuff so we'll be making a mock-up out of cardboard but also to to cut it kind of Hope some machinists out there or watching it or just like Oh Jay why are you doing it like that well that's how we learn around here I got this cheap old thing which is power snippers it's gonna be funny so I don't want to cover up these I just want to cover this up and to make like a little notch and then cool thing is all these holes right here I can use those to mount it this is just rough measuring here so you can see I've got it covering those holes all right that's like perfect right there actually because you can see there's just a small edge left there I guess doesn't need to be perfect cuz if I mount it to the backside Lisa design will still be in there instead of it being on the front and then I'll have to worry about that being super painted properly I think we can do this I think I'm gonna screw this up probably why is there not going yeah that looks so good this smells like the Iowa that's what this smells like like an old metal would like the shipping I get this cut that I you just square that all right just and then I don't need it to come up back here all right so I think I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sand this down paint this right now see it doesn't really get rid of the edge at all because it's so thin it's like sharpen me yes I didn't harden it now she told that edge down pretty good and they imagine that's painted to match that so that's the next part got some eye primer I think we're ready out here now for our actual paint layer okay let's do it all right so now the paint is dried take this back out yeah look it's nothing super special or crazy but like I said I want to show you guys a lot of the journey when I show you guys the journey not to be confused with the band yeah actually looks kind of cool looks a little darker get that on as much as why I have as much clear but I didn't polish it but that's okay because then the residence is going in front of that and like I said now I can now I can put the actual like pass-through fitting there and writing to do now is I need to like mark and put like screws through there or something so if I were a smart man I would have made the hole for the pass-through fitting before painting it oh man I think that no I was yeah let me take this guy let me slam it into the case and put scratches on it there I might replace those washers with black so now we're thinking yeah we're just gonna do the tube the tubing all behind there as long as I get the left to right perfect with where I want it it doesn't to be perfectly like height-wise it need to be close like I mean doesn't it be within one millimeter but I do have adjustment up and down and left and right still slightly so I can move the resonance to kind of line up if I'm off slightly so what I'm doing to try and figure out exactly how far left and right I've got to make my hole there cuz it's not going to be centered because it has to line up with where this is gonna come out and go down I've got this lined up the holes on the front fan mount vertically here so now I can physically see where this basically points at that left and right so you can see it kind of how far left that actually is I know this is not very scientific every time I've ever done things this way it's always worked out for the most part and then I seen it because I've got these nice vertical lines built into the distro play here I can actually see if I've got this turn too far left or right so I'm paralleling it to the line right next to it so I can see now that right about there is where I want that reservoir or that passed you fitting to go very unsigned tight and tiny to a picnic Wow yeah Phil wants me to use this on the like the screen of a phone yeah Barry put the gloves on all right how you put another coat of paint on this guy I know it sounds like a lazy thing to say but it's not gonna really show back here it's just not so I'm gonna worry about what the backside looks like it's tough too much so the idea with that too is then I can you know I'll be able to come up from there and I'm just curious as to how far off I am like from the start you know I mean that would be crazy if this lined up like perfectly because it's already been to two ends that have been cut oh that's way too tall yeah but this is just one of my scraps so now let's see if this one's it it's too long which is good cuz I can shorten it to be neat though if I get that tube behind here cuz you won't even see it going over there I'll just be like it goes into there and there's nothing else no well I'll be damned i shedding it still like just a tiny bit too long so i'm gonna do now is i'm just gonna loosen up the resonance and let it sort of fall into place linked wise so i'm gonna bring the whole resonance up to try and make that level but because everything else back there fits then i can loosen this all up just a tad where it's nice and horizontal and then tighten this back up so that's the awesome part about the resonance being on a rail so that reservoir is like totally floating there so that's it that was kind of my plans for today was to get the reservoir connected to the back part of the case because as you can see everything's going to the back and it's straight that's horizontal so now it's gonna come out of the pump like normal so i'd to worry about err kind of sort of getting trapped in that tube but when you fill a system like this anyway you've got to do a lot of tilting of it to get all the air out so that's where this edition of project nebula 2019 / 2020 I really hope it's done before the new year I really do that's where this one's gonna come to a close so we made a janky little plate that you can barely see and that's why I'm not too anal about it being not perfect and that quite honestly with the exception of the tubing that's going to connect the radiator here back to one of these tubes or these these fill ports is the only other tubing you're gonna see so with the exception of that that's the loop that's the visible part of it and I kind of wanted it to be more busy with like all these stuff everywhere but I guess it doesn't need it does it I can do tubes to know where it's just like yeah it's like going into the back of the car like that throughout the power cables through them don't give me any more ideas this thing's taking too long all right guy go it's Friday youthis is my computer the x2 9 and 9 series motherboards from EVGA feature powerful designs both gamers and overclockers one like robust power delivery featuring active vrm cooling plenty of em 2 slots for fast storage and simple yet powerful bios for world record overclocking and testing step up your next bill to be ready for the new Intel x-series processors with EVGA X 299 motherboards to learn more head to EVGA comm so work is going to continue right now on nebula and I know you guys keep asking me with your good Nabila I showed a picture on Twitter a long time ago but the lighting colors for this inside it's gonna be like blue and purple and stuff like that's good like they are like the color of like a nebula space themed space down work is continued on this a little bit already as you guys can see I've got the GPUs plumbed in there and that was pretty simple so this might bug some people's OCD right here how it's not let me take this out actually see how this is not exactly the same height as that that's because of these holes that are there and if you look on the back side of it there's actually a cable tie down thingy there so as you can see I went as close to that as I could without and I could have taken that out but then I think it just wouldn't looked weird so those are plumb through CPUs plumb through it's gonna be pretty simple when we go out from the reservoir which the out is technically right there you guys can see it we showed with our review of the resonance there so our outs going to come through here and then it's gonna come into there which is gonna go into the GPUs it's gonna come out there and into there and then out there to the radiators and then from the radiators back to the resonance so we need to do today is there's one thing I don't like about this case this is dumb I feel like even really had a terrible design there we are going to see I know this is gonna work or not because we're doing this all on camera together if I can make a thing oh there's the space sounds I've never worked with sheet metal before I've never worked with sheet metal before this is not the thickest stuff I could have gotten that's where I wanna be able to cut the thickest stuff so we'll be making a mock-up out of cardboard but also to to cut it kind of Hope some machinists out there or watching it or just like Oh Jay why are you doing it like that well that's how we learn around here I got this cheap old thing which is power snippers it's gonna be funny so I don't want to cover up these I just want to cover this up and to make like a little notch and then cool thing is all these holes right here I can use those to mount it this is just rough measuring here so you can see I've got it covering those holes all right that's like perfect right there actually because you can see there's just a small edge left there I guess doesn't need to be perfect cuz if I mount it to the backside Lisa design will still be in there instead of it being on the front and then I'll have to worry about that being super painted properly I think we can do this I think I'm gonna screw this up probably why is there not going yeah that looks so good this smells like the Iowa that's what this smells like like an old metal would like the shipping I get this cut that I you just square that all right just and then I don't need it to come up back here all right so I think I'm gonna do is I'm gonna sand this down paint this right now see it doesn't really get rid of the edge at all because it's so thin it's like sharpen me yes I didn't harden it now she told that edge down pretty good and they imagine that's painted to match that so that's the next part got some eye primer I think we're ready out here now for our actual paint layer okay let's do it all right so now the paint is dried take this back out yeah look it's nothing super special or crazy but like I said I want to show you guys a lot of the journey when I show you guys the journey not to be confused with the band yeah actually looks kind of cool looks a little darker get that on as much as why I have as much clear but I didn't polish it but that's okay because then the residence is going in front of that and like I said now I can now I can put the actual like pass-through fitting there and writing to do now is I need to like mark and put like screws through there or something so if I were a smart man I would have made the hole for the pass-through fitting before painting it oh man I think that no I was yeah let me take this guy let me slam it into the case and put scratches on it there I might replace those washers with black so now we're thinking yeah we're just gonna do the tube the tubing all behind there as long as I get the left to right perfect with where I want it it doesn't to be perfectly like height-wise it need to be close like I mean doesn't it be within one millimeter but I do have adjustment up and down and left and right still slightly so I can move the resonance to kind of line up if I'm off slightly so what I'm doing to try and figure out exactly how far left and right I've got to make my hole there cuz it's not going to be centered because it has to line up with where this is gonna come out and go down I've got this lined up the holes on the front fan mount vertically here so now I can physically see where this basically points at that left and right so you can see it kind of how far left that actually is I know this is not very scientific every time I've ever done things this way it's always worked out for the most part and then I seen it because I've got these nice vertical lines built into the distro play here I can actually see if I've got this turn too far left or right so I'm paralleling it to the line right next to it so I can see now that right about there is where I want that reservoir or that passed you fitting to go very unsigned tight and tiny to a picnic Wow yeah Phil wants me to use this on the like the screen of a phone yeah Barry put the gloves on all right how you put another coat of paint on this guy I know it sounds like a lazy thing to say but it's not gonna really show back here it's just not so I'm gonna worry about what the backside looks like it's tough too much so the idea with that too is then I can you know I'll be able to come up from there and I'm just curious as to how far off I am like from the start you know I mean that would be crazy if this lined up like perfectly because it's already been to two ends that have been cut oh that's way too tall yeah but this is just one of my scraps so now let's see if this one's it it's too long which is good cuz I can shorten it to be neat though if I get that tube behind here cuz you won't even see it going over there I'll just be like it goes into there and there's nothing else no well I'll be damned i shedding it still like just a tiny bit too long so i'm gonna do now is i'm just gonna loosen up the resonance and let it sort of fall into place linked wise so i'm gonna bring the whole resonance up to try and make that level but because everything else back there fits then i can loosen this all up just a tad where it's nice and horizontal and then tighten this back up so that's the awesome part about the resonance being on a rail so that reservoir is like totally floating there so that's it that was kind of my plans for today was to get the reservoir connected to the back part of the case because as you can see everything's going to the back and it's straight that's horizontal so now it's gonna come out of the pump like normal so i'd to worry about err kind of sort of getting trapped in that tube but when you fill a system like this anyway you've got to do a lot of tilting of it to get all the air out so that's where this edition of project nebula 2019 / 2020 I really hope it's done before the new year I really do that's where this one's gonna come to a close so we made a janky little plate that you can barely see and that's why I'm not too anal about it being not perfect and that quite honestly with the exception of the tubing that's going to connect the radiator here back to one of these tubes or these these fill ports is the only other tubing you're gonna see so with the exception of that that's the loop that's the visible part of it and I kind of wanted it to be more busy with like all these stuff everywhere but I guess it doesn't need it does it I can do tubes to know where it's just like yeah it's like going into the back of the car like that throughout the power cables through them don't give me any more ideas this thing's taking too long all right guy go it's Friday you\n"