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Project SunkisTt - Chrome Frame, Candy Paint (Completed)


ThermalMike

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When I started my first modding project with Thermaltake, I was not really sure what I wanted to achieve with this build. How to make it a part of what I do, taking into account what I have done for several years with my car hobby and paint hobby and bring it into full throttle for a unique system, a Thermaltake system that I am proud to say is my own. 

 

Project SunkisTt

 

 

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Parts List:

 

Case: Thermaltake Core V71

CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K

Motherboard: EVGA Z97 Classified

RAM: Avexir Core Series 4GB x4 DDR3-1600 C9

PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand Platinum 1200W

GPU: ASUS Strix GTX 970's (2x)

SSD: Samsung Evo 256GB (2x) -RAID 0

CPU Waterblock: Thermaltake Pacific W2

GPU Waterblock: Thermaltake Pacific ASUS Strix GPU Block (2x)

Radiator: Thermaltake Pacific RL 280 (2x)

Pump/Res: Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 w/ Mod Kit

Fans: Riing 140mm White (7x) - LED modded Orange

Coolant: Mayhems Aurora 2 (Custom Orange/Red)

Tubing: Thermaltake Pacific PETG 16mm

Fittings: (Chrome)

Thermaltake Pacific G 1/4 PETG 16mm (9x)

Thermaltake Pacific G 1/4 Stop Plug (8x)

Thermaltake Pacific G 1/4 90 Degree (1x)

 

 

Sponsors

 

Thermaltake

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Avexir

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BS Mods

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Mayhems

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The Build

 

 

First Step was to take the chassis completely apart and send off the frame to get it chromed. This process took about a month and required sandblasting off the stock finish, while going through the process of being copper plated, polished, nickel plating, then chrome plating and finally polished.

 

The end result looks like this:

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Now before we get started, here is the color I chose for the body panels. This is HoC (House of Color) Candy Tangerine Orange "UK08-BC02" - http://www.houseofkolor.com/speedshapes/speedshapes_urethanes.jsp

 

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Now back to the Chrome... Here is some of the pictures I took in the office to show my friends of the first big step I took into this build!

 

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Now as a Car and PC enthusiast I really wanted to combine my 2 favortie hobbies together so I had an idea to dimple dye some holes in the side of the solid panel and expose the hidden drive bays that are cleverly mounted on the back side allowing me to have more room for water cooling!

 

Here is the side panel after getting a great treatment of modding glory from a close friend that has a shop and machine that can do the work:

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Here is what it looks like back on the chrome frame:

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Other Side:

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Now to power the system I of course decided to go with the Thermaltake Toughpower DPS 1050W Power Supply.

 

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A smile in every box...

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Now before I play with some power, it was back to sanding all of the body panels on the Core V71 that will be painted, here I gathered all of my parts together and went over each part with 1500 to wet sand and smooth off any rough edges before taking the next step.

 

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Removed the logo and kept it in a safe place for now

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I also removed the mess grills separating them from the framing...

 

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Now the feet I already removed to do the chrome plating, but here is what the bottom looks like. You have to remove the rubber pad to access the screws on the bottom.

 

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** Over the time of waiting for parts to be available I changed out the PSU to the Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Platinum :D**

 

Since I already took this apart, painted it and put back together, i figured I would leave this here so some could see what the insides look like :D

 

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Muhahaha!

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Removing the protection plastic strip and then disassembling the PSU to get the case prepped.

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Yate Loon FTW!

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Some shots of the inside of the PSU

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Don't forget to take off the stickers on the bottom

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Moving on to the NEW 1200W Platinum, it got a similar treatment to the project!

 

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And then inside the case :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some updates on the project, actually a lot of updates so lets get started!

 

Here is the panels with the base coat of silver on them, originally I was looking to do a silver base, stripe it, then spray gold over it, but the silver did not stick so well...

 

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Here is the rest of the case panels all taped and ready to be shot:

 

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Now since the silver did not stick very well and it got me thinking of something that may look a lot better, there was a change of plans...

 

With the silver gone, I decided to go with a gold base add some red flake and then spray some HoC Candy Tangerine over like originally planned, check it out!

 

Here is the grill shells removed and the top/front panels painted:

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Now for the best part imo the side panels...

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I even painted the inside just the same so the back panel will show very nicely on the inside when looking through that nice chrome frame :D

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This case would not be the same unless it had a matching powerhouse to go with it, so my DPS 1050W got the same treatment:

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Now I have been sanding everything to knock it flat and then on to buffing and polishing.

 

Here is what the optical drive cage looks like not sanded next to the side panel that has:

 

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Got some time to do some finish sanding on the side panel, coming along really nicely...

 

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Now you may be able to notice some silver flake on the panel, well that is because the flake cut through to the panel a little and it needs to be re-shot.

 

Hope to get some time in the booth this week to re-shoot some panels so they come out to near perfection, because I want this chassis to really shine.

 

I hope to show you the chassis put together soon and once I finish buffing the PSU it is going back together and start the sleeving! #### I can't wait to continue!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I ran into a snag right before the holidays...

 

The back-side panel when I was painting it was hanging from a wire, just like everything else.

 

Well, the wire broke.. and the corner got smashed on the back-side panel haha!

 

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The good news is I have pounded out the damage for the most part.

 

Lucky tonight is what we call "Man Monday" and I will be over at my friends house working on it tonight hopefully.

 

I am also lucky to have some paint left over so the match should be fine.. Gotta love Candies :P

 

Hope to have some updates soon including my parts list.

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  • 5 months later...

NEW UPDATE!

 

Now for the radiators, I wanted to do something different and really "reflect" the chrome frame, so I got some stripper and took a journey of sanding, polishing and buffing my (2) Pacific RL280 Radiators.

 

Stripping the Rads

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Clean up

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Now we get to the fun part... SANDING!

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Polishing these (2) RL280 rads takes some time and the results are always great to see

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Paint, sleeving and LED swapping!

 

Here is the Sleeve on the PT40-D5

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The Commander FX also got a treatment

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Sleeving took on an adventure, I had never done sleeving to this degree before, using paracord without heat shrink was what I wanted to achieve.

 

This chair is my buddy!

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When sleeving your cables, first rule of sleeving is to make your pin layouts

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Sleeving the PSU

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Watch your thumbs! (Super glue is your friend)

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Start planning on how you want to run your cables

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For the fans I used I choose the Riing 14 (Duh!?) and at the time I selected the White LED models as the Orange fans would not be here in time and I thought it would look better on this case to have the grey pads and mess around with some LED modding.

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Time for some mock up!

 

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Now for the case to really show off the interior, I went with acrylic mirror panels for the floor and back wall of the chassis. Cutting the sections out to fit the floor and allow for airflow on the PSU side.

 

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I also want to give a big shout out to Hassan @V1 Tech for helping me with a killer laser etching of Tt logo's on my PT40-D5 res/pump

 

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And don't forget the chrome brackets to finish off the PT40-D5

 

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To get this all together I know the right people to get a motherboard from very well so I got the EVGA Z97 Classy to use with my 4770K CPU i have had which has been a nice overclocker for me already with my Z87 I kept it for this.

 

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I then took the system and set it up with a Tt Water 3.0 for some burn in testing and to you know.. GAME ON IT FOR A LITTLE BIT XD

 

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Started to unpack the W2 CPU block and get it prep'd

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Moving forward to the VGA block now I took stock coolers off and cleaned up the GPU and installed the waterblocks on each card

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Some Ram pics!

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Now I start getting the motherboard installed, PSU back in and cables connected up to see how they fit. Also working on the fitment of the acrylic mirror floor with the reservoir to get that mounted and set.

 

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Here is a quick look at what it is starting to look like with the door installed and what we have done so far and to show off the modded Orange LED Riing White fans color!

 

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Now for the fun part of this build, Tube Bending!!!

 

I would recommend to look into making a jig for your 45/90/180 bends if this is the road you want to take to get a good bend out of your tubing.

 

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Expect to not be perfect every time, here is one of my goofs

 

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For each end, you want to make sure to finish the ends properly by reaming and lightly sanding the ends. You do not want to damage your O-rings.

 

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Adding the first pieces

 

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Finishing up with the rest of the bends, we move on to leak testing.

 

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Here is a top shot of the tubing installed with the mirrors now exposed to give the infinity look for the interior components. This turned out just as I expected it to, was very hard on my part to not peel this off sooner!

 

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Here is the shorted SATA cable that will power my Commander FX 10-port fan hub. (I also made a custom cable for the SSD's that  changed the connector locations on to fit the placement of the (2) SSD's and my optical drive on top)

 

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Removed the 6+2 extra connections and shortened the cables

 

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Here are some dark shots

 

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Wrapping up the bending process and cables, very close now and I can do some "testing" haha Gaming on it now!

 

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I left the protecting plastic on for a special guest that is coming by the office soon. HE is the boss after all.. :D

 

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