1st build. System-3.0

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Small Update

Got the power switch fitted today to the rear.


From the inside of the cab I fabricated a small cover for the power switch, With two holes for the power cables in and out. I didn't just want to leave it looking ugly from the inside even though I will never see it id know it was there.


As I mentioned a few posts ago I didn't like the speaker setup I had so I have totally redone it today. Cutting a new speaker panel and then using a 3/8 groove bit I routed out a recess for the speaker mesh to sit in. I am fabricating two custom speaker holders that will sit over the top of the two holes and hold the speakers in place But they are not finished yet. Very tricky and time consuming work.



The screw holes are for the custom brackets.
And the centre will house the audio Amp which will also sit indie a custom built holder.


With the panel in position.
Two Fans will sit above the speakers as the marquee area will house a lot of led strip lights so I need to keep the heat down.


The back edge of the speaker panel will have a slight groove routed into it to house the bezel plexi glass. 4mm which will be edge lit.



And that was that for today. See you soon...

[Hornet]

Hi sabreerbasAlpha, your doing a cracking job there! Nice to see small finishing details like the cable cover, it shows your enjoying this build and only the best will do. Great work 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Hi sabreerbasAlpha, your doing a cracking job there! Nice to see small finishing details like the cable cover, it shows your enjoying this build and only the best will do. Great work 

Thanks mate. Yes I'm really enjoying the build your right. I do have a tendency to be ultra picky about things but hopefully that wont take over during the build ..Anyway coming up next will be custom speaker housing and a custom Amp housing for the speakers.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Small Update

Not much progress this week due to rubbish weather were having at the minute. I managed to get the speaker inlay started, This will house the speakers above the main speaker panel but will also house a custom Amp and Led lights That can be viewed from the rear. It will also be a structural Part of the Marquee Inlay That will placed inside to house all the strip led lights for the marquee its self. I ordered the Mesh today for the speaker panel That should be here in a few days at which point the speaker panel and inlay should be finished. Ill then start on the rear panel plexi window.












So here's hoping to some half decent weather for a few weeks so I can make some solid progress and get most of the wood work out of the way..

[a1pharm]

Great job on the speaker inlays, you are going to like them.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Great job on the speaker inlays, you are going to like them.

Yep. I took your advice and changed the whole look. You were right.

[a1pharm]

I put some black cloth in between my grill and the speaker, this hides the speaker (for the most part) and looks professional.  The cloth only cost $3 for a yard at Walmart.  It also helps with a little of the "light pollution" I have in my cab (the marquee light does not spill out of the cab through the speaker grills).  Hot glue works great at keeping the fabric in place prior to mounting the speakers.

Again, great work, keep it up!
 

[jbenesh]

Your routing work looks awesome.   

[sabreerbasAlpha]

I put some black cloth in between my grill and the speaker, this hides the speaker (for the most part) and looks professional.  The cloth only cost $3 for a yard at Walmart.  It also helps with a little of the "light pollution" I have in my cab (the marquee light does not spill out of the cab through the speaker grills).  Hot glue works great at keeping the fabric in place prior to mounting the speakers.

Again, great work, keep it up!
 

Sounds like a plan also. You just keep throwing great ideas at me.

Your routing work looks awesome.   

Thank you my friend . I'm pretty skilled with it to be honest and have used one for years, But this is my first time Building a Cab, And I'm loving it. 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

So today I've made some very good progress on the Speaker panels and Marquee area.

I've fixed the speakers, Amp & inline fuse in place And got them mounted inside the cab.




From the rear the Speaker panel sits nice and flush on top of the Screen bevel.




I've fixed the speaker panel with blocks for the time being until its ready to be flush fitted with screws.




I've also got the marque panel made which is covered on the front with some sound proofing
 for no other reason that it has it has a very nice reflective rear piece which I have fixed to the
 panel and added four strip of Led lights Which will light the marquee very nicely.
 The rear of this panel will also back light the Amp speaker which you will be able to see from
 the back of the cab through a plexi panel.




That's it for now. Here's hoping for some more nice weather here in the UK.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Small Update

Today I started and finished the Top panel that houses two Whisper Led Fans. These Fans are so quite its unreal, I hadn't even turned them on until this afternoon, When I did switch them on I thought id wired them up wrong as there was no noise. Id recommend them to anyone. They are very powerful also and blow in some nice fresh air. Just what I wanted.

Cutting the holes in the top panel.



The fan grills will be powder coated crystal White.



I used M6 Inserts and Hex bolts for the Grill.
 I didn't want to just screw them in so I thought id make a bit of effort and fit the Hex fittings.




And fitted back on the Cab.



Hopefully the sun keeps shining so I can keep working..

[emphatic]

Those are some funky grills! 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Those are some funky grills! 

Well thank you sir 

Small update.

Started to work on the underside of the CP. I have routed a 3MM space to fit the Stick plate and the P-clips that will house the cables. The Kade Encoder will also fit into this area Just above the stick plate.. Still toying with idea of a track ball or not.?



A Quick test fit of some buttons all nice and snug..



Today I start my night shifts at work on 4 on 4 off so hoping to much more time to build build build.. Catch you all soon hopefully..

[a1pharm]

I like the rounded edges you're using (one of the benefits of NOT using laminate).  Keep up the good work, you're getting close to the end!

 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Ive been working hard the last few days so not had much time to work on the Cab, But ive made some progress today.

The PS3 Has been stripped down and is ready to mount on one of three custom water cooled platforms im making. The first picture will give you a rough idea of what im planning, But in a nut shell the Cab will hold Three water cooled systems 1. PS3 2. XBOX 360 3. PC Running a front end which I am undecided on.

Its a pretty ambitious build I know but ill pull it off without much fuss. I will need some advice though on some water cooling options but that can come later.

The first platform of three. The holes are to allow plenty of room for all the water cooling parts that will be fitted.


PS3 Fully stripped down.


The board fitted to the platform with the uncovered power supply.


Here you can see the platform at an angle giving you an idea of the space bellow the PS3 Board. its pretty tight.




Underneath shot..



The board and platform placed inside the Cab to give you an idea of scale. This is not were it will be positioned once fitted but you get the idea. The platforms will be separated with Plexe rods That will be edge lit with leds..




The whole cab will be powered via two power input blocks which you can see on the back plate in the pictures above. Im routing all the cables through the platforms themselves to keep it neat and tidy.



Hopefully the Xbox 360 will be fitted tomorrow. Until then have fun with your builds.. 

[rablack97]

loving this thread, very clean....looking forward to how you get that ps3 working in there.....

did you JB it or are you just gonna access the blu0ray for games?

[sabreerbasAlpha]

loving this thread, very clean....looking forward to how you get that ps3 working in there.....

did you JB it or are you just gonna access the blu0ray for games?

Well thank you for those kind words..

Yes the PS3 AND XBOX 360 Will both have disk access from the Cab. I have 3D Printed a new PS3 Blue ray disk cover pretty similar to one that covers the Fat Ps3 Blue ray. I will have to custom fabricate This into the cab by blending it in with bondo then shaping with lots of sanding. This will be the pain part of the build but I will document it well for you with lots of pictures. I've also 3D printed a custom pair of water cooling brackets for both the consoles based around an EK-Supreme version of there Intel block.. I could have just bought some to be honest but I was dying to give the 3D printer a go..The only difference in them is the bracket spacing and holes for both the PS3 & 360..

You can see them here http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/EK-Water-Blocks-EK-Supreme-LTX-CSQ_38165.html

I was going to leave this question for a later date but I guess its as good a time as any. Basically as I've already described im water cooling three systems in one CAB. Obviously only one at a time will be powered on, so my question is this what type of RAD & Pump will I need to move a good amount of water flow  around quite a bit of pipe..? Thanks in advance for any help..

[rablack97]

 

Yeah ok....that too

Have no idea about watercooling, but how are you gonna switch video and audio between 3 systems?

[sabreerbasAlpha]

The video and audio switching will be the easy part. ill use something similar to this for the video http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VGA-SVGA-LCD-Monitor-Display-Switch-4-to-1-Splitter-Box-Ship-from-UK-/400266740384?pt=UK_Computing_KVM_Switches_KVM_Cables&hash=item5d31c1c2a0

And something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3Port-Optical-Switch-Digital-Audio-Toslink-Splitter-Adapter-For-Xbox-DVR-DVD-PS3-/230770373250?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item35bafc7282 for the optical audio from the PS3 360 & Audio card from the PC. Ill hack the switch to be always on x3, that way ill eliminate the need to switch between the three as only one system at a time will be on.

The video and audio will be the easy part of the build. I did something similar for the 360 PS3 In a pc case I built last year. The only new venture for me here is using water cooling. something I have never done. 

[rablack97]

Cool.....you might want to PM this fella

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,132881.40.html

Scoll down look at the photos in regards to the piping and watercooling...I think he knows his stuff from the looks of it...

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Cool.....you might want to PM this fella

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,132881.40.html

Scoll down look at the photos in regards to the piping and watercooling...I think he knows his stuff from the looks of it...

Yes this guy is a genius plain and simple. Ill PM him when it comes to building the water cooling setup. He certainly does know his stuff. Im sure he will give me some pointers..

[sabreerbasAlpha]

So with the sun blazing at 91 in the UK And a few days off I've made some more progress today. The 360 has been striped down and mounted on its  cooling platform. The hard drive for the 360 will be mounted underneath but im leaving that part until all the fixings for the water cooling and power cables are in place.
 
360 striped down and mounted on its cooling platform.



As I mentioned earlier in a previous post, the cooling platforms will be supported with plexi rods, but for the purpose of construction and mock up im using 15mm pine dowel which will give you an idea as to what im trying to achieve.

The holes in the platform were made using a 15mm forstner bit.




15mm dowel sitting nice and snug, To be replaced with plexi for the final build.




Placed in the Cab the first platform gives me around an inch & a half of space beneath it. Plenty of room for a couple of cable runs, pipes, and air flow.


The PS3 mounted above the 360 on its own Cooling platform. The 360s USB inputs you can see bellow will be de-soldered before the screen is fitted to add some more room that I will need.


A side on view of the PS3 Mounted above the 360. The Heat sink on the 360 will of course be removed.


A Front view of the cooling platforms.




Top view of the PS3s power input. The red power cable you see will be routed around the platforms and will carry 12v.


The panel cover you can see bellow will cover the power cable inputs so it doesn't look messy down there. The power cables will come directly out of the top for both switches. Still need to add the Negative cable holes.


That's all for now folks..

 

[a1pharm]

I'm digging the integration of the multiple consoles, keep up the great work, dude!

Cheers!
 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

I'm digging the integration of the multiple consoles, keep up the great work, dude!

Cheers!
 

Thank you mate...

I Wanted to do something no one else had done. And I'm pretty sure no one else has built a 3 system, water cooled bar top before. It will cost a fortune to build it properly but who cares. Its something I've wanted to do for a long time.

I've already had an offer to buy it and its not even half way done, LOL

[sabreerbasAlpha]

So I've made a small amount of progress today as the weather has cooled a bit here I've had a chance to get out and work on the upper the rear panel.

Through this panel you will be able to view the inner workings of the water cooling radiator and fans.




Only the best plexi straight from Germany.



The holes from the routing frame filled and smoothed.



The rear upper panel in place



Next up will be the lower rear panel. Until then have fun all with your builds..

[sabreerbasAlpha]

some new toys for the water cooling system are on the way.

The radiator


The Pump


x2 Reservoirs


x2 reservoir tops


x2 radiator fans


PS3 water block


Xbox 360 water block


All the goodies were purchased from Special Techhttp://stores.ebay.co.uk/specialtech-shop Who sell some ubber cool Water cooling gear. I will be going back to them for the connection parts, pipes, and anything else I might need. I love the white and chrome coil over pipes they do..

Catch you soon.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

A small update.

I had toyed with the rear door/panel call it what you want for a while. from the posts above you can see id gone with a hinged door previously but since I decided to water cool the entire system I have decided to go for a single piece magnetic panel. The rear panel can then be completely removed for any service or maintenance that needs to be done. It makes sense to be honest also as the cab wouldn't have to be moved or relocated to lower the previous design I was using.

Any way onto the pics and as usual I have taken a few for to look at.

I first marked out the rear panel completely, again im using 3/4 MDF.



After drilling the holes and cutting out the two pieces I then fit a routing template to cut the two plexi holes for the rear panel.


With template removed and the routing complete. I used a 1" flush cutter.




Both sides cut out and complete.



I Then began routing the groove for the plexi glass to sit in & filled and smoothed all the routing frame holes.







And there she is sat in the cab.



At this point the panel is just sat on the lower and upper panels. I have still to fit the magnetics to hold it in place.

Catch you soon. 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Small Update

Having decided  where the PS3 & 360 are going to sit in the cab, I decided to add the disk entry for the PS3 to front of the cab and disk entry for the 360 at the rear. The space is pretty tight and awkward to add them both to the front and the water cooling configuration I will have wont really allow me to place both disk drives at the front.

I decided on adding the front panel from the PS3 to the front panel of the cab. I routed out a 5mm space for the panel to fit into, I then glued the panel in place using industrial bond and then filled the gap with a mix of bondo & filler to harden the fill up so I could sand it down. The front panel will have a laser cut piece of plexi fixed to it, with the disk entry laser cut and smoothed to stop the disks being scratched. the guys over at CutLaserCut have given me a nice price to laser cut the piece for me and post it back as long as I mentioned them in the build so there you go guys. You can find them here. http://www.cutlasercut.com/

As usual I've taken some Pics for you to view at your leisure Enjoy.



A mix of 60% filler & 40% bondo to harden the filler up. It worked a treat. This wasn't 100% necessary but I wanted the panel to be stiff and knowing it was being hid behind the Plexi looking like crap would have just cheapened the whole process for me so I spent a fin minutes to get it right.



With the filler all smoothed off I taped up the edges to protect it until I cover the panel then place the plexi over it.







So that's pretty much all I had time for today. but I did have time to open up some other goodies that arrived with Mr post man.

The goodies that arrived are

DB 25 pin solder fixings for the control panel.
A DB 25 PIN switch box for the Leds.
3x Temp control displays for the PC,360 & PS3.
Braided cable sleeve for the wiring.
music active Led Set with remote.
2x Kade encoders, I already had two but there in another control panel im building.
2 packs of led strips.
1x real of 2mm cable to wire all the leds together.
3M of monster 12v cable.
and finally one new 360 disk tray cover. that will fit into the cab when closed.



So that that for now. Until next time guys enjoy your own builds and have fun.

[rablack97]

very nice....

[sabreerbasAlpha]

very nice....

Thanks rablack. Enjoying this build, Just wish I had more time.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Need some help please. can anybody point me in the right direction for an extended PS3 Blue ray cable. Or a Mod Tut. Thanks..

[Drnick]

Don't know how long the original PS3 one is but found these.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-LCD-Cable-60P-FFC-FPC-0-5mm-Pitch-Line-60-pins-60way-2PCS-LOT/614311823.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PCS-AWM-20624-FPC-FFC-CABLE-0-5mm-pitch-60PIN-200mms-long/956051018.html

or see these guys, they may have something that allows you to connect 2 together as a straight through.

http://www.kentec.net/en/products.php
(Whoops looks like minimum order of 1000, but they do make custom ffc cables of any length)

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Don't know how long the original PS3 one is but found these.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-LCD-Cable-60P-FFC-FPC-0-5mm-Pitch-Line-60-pins-60way-2PCS-LOT/614311823.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PCS-AWM-20624-FPC-FFC-CABLE-0-5mm-pitch-60PIN-200mms-long/956051018.html

or see these guys, they may have something that allows you to connect 2 together as a straight through.

http://www.kentec.net/en/products.php
(Whoops looks like minimum order of 1000, but they do make custom ffc cables of any length)

Thanks Drnick but it looks like its a no go my friend. The top company only have the same size I have and the bottom company wont make anything unless I buy 1000 of them...

So it looks like a major redesign of the internal parts, That is unless anybody else can help me with an extended ribbon or know of another source to buy an extended cable...Thanks again, it would be a big help and save me hours of re-work

[a1pharm]

Why don't you just get a few regular cables and clip them together (end to end to end....) ?  You'll pay for a bunch of cables, but it may be worth it for you.

If that doesn't work, here's a long one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PS3-BLU-RAY-DRIVE-LONG-RIBBON-CABLE-for-CECHK01-CECHH01-RARE-part-parts-bluray-/250931594736

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Why don't you just get a few regular cables and clip them together (end to end to end....) ?  You'll pay for a bunch of cables, but it may be worth it for you.

If that doesn't work, here's a long one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PS3-BLU-RAY-DRIVE-LONG-RIBBON-CABLE-for-CECHK01-CECHH01-RARE-part-parts-bluray-/250931594736

Thanks a1pharm but that ribbon would not work in my machine. my PS3 is a CECHG01 & I don't think now having looked everywhere for one that my machine is/ or would be compatible with that long cable. I have another (3) PS3 fat machines all of which have the short ribbon cable. So I guess the only thing to do is try and find one with the long cable. Or use a PS3 slim, But that would mean buying another PS3 I've already bought 4 for this machine to use various parts and to play about with different ways of putting it together. I've destroyed two of them and used the parts and had one good one fully working left which was going in this machine. But my issue was I designed the whole interior of the cab around the PS3. The XBOX 360 & The pc motherboard were all integrated around the PS3 Given the issues I had with setting up the water cooling for all three. Right now im pretty much at square one again. All this because I didn't spend a few minutes researching the PS3 & The cable inside it.

I guess you live and learn. Ill give the putting two ribbons together a go but im not sure if that will work maybe it will. If it doesn't its back to the drawing board for this build. Gutted really I've spent so much money on it and wanted to have it finished soon, But this will put me back a while now as work is getting so busy at the minute...

[sabreerbasAlpha]

So having said all the above a while ago I have now decided to make the Cab with disk access for both PS3 AND XBOX360 Internal. I will modify the CP to open to allow disk access to both machines. It seems the most viable alternative at the minute. 

[a1pharm]

So having said all the above a while ago I have now decided to make the Cab with disk access for both PS3 AND XBOX360 Internal. I will modify the CP to open to allow disk access to both machines. It seems the most viable alternative at the minute. 

It's too bad that Xbox and Playstation don't have homebrew that allows a USB Loader (like on the Wii).  I wouldn't fret too much about the disk access issue, you may not be using it terribly often.  It will mean a lot to you, but probably less to those you play with.

Looking good, nonetheless, keep it up!

Cheers!
 

[sabreerbasAlpha]

So having said all the above a while ago I have now decided to make the Cab with disk access for both PS3 AND XBOX360 Internal. I will modify the CP to open to allow disk access to both machines. It seems the most viable alternative at the minute. 

It's too bad that Xbox and Playstation don't have homebrew that allows a USB Loader (like on the Wii).  I wouldn't fret too much about the disk access issue, you may not be using it terribly often.  It will mean a lot to you, but probably less to those you play with.

Looking good, nonetheless, keep it up!

Thanks a1pharm.



Cheers!
 

 I've come up with a new plan and spent another 100 pound this morning on new parts. This build is getting expensive now. 

But I had to come up with another way of disk access, which wasn't essential as you said but I still wanted it in there. I think I have a viable design to make it work and for it to be practicable in its use. The only issue I had was in the re-design, the water pump I have was to big in its location but I've overcome that now by buying two smaller ones and relocating them. I've also changed the radiator from a triple setup to three separate ones which has given me some more space up top.

 In the pictures above were the Amp was is now were the Rads and fans will sit. The Amp has been relocated to a lower position in the Cab.

Overall I'm happy with the new design and way forward, Ill start work again on Saturday and hopefully make some good progress.

[sabreerbasAlpha]

Some more expense but well worth it.

I've just bought three of the rads. I like the slim profile and they will fit in nicely with 120 Fans attached.



Again I purchased them from special tech.

http://www.specialtech.co.uk/

Rad fans bellow. Seems I got the last three

http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/Be-Quiet-Silent-Wings-Pure-120-x-120-x-25mm-BL043-Case-Fan--BQT-T102025-LR-B-pid-16083.html

[a1pharm]

This is shaping up to be very cool... (pun intended?)