Maximum PC

Hello everyone,

With the Modyssey having a stroke of bad luck with logistics and lasercutted plexiglas arriving broken to pieces and with the biggest LAN Party of the BeNeLux approaching very quickly, I decided it was time to do a special build.

With Star Wars up in my all time favorite movies and the IMPERIAL AT-AT being one of my all time favorite models from the series, the idea had been circling my brain for quite some time. I asked around in the SCIFI OCD group if there was anyone who had access to a 2010 HASBRO IMPERIAL AT-AT that i could buy, but unfortunately noone had one and buying it from Amazon or Ebay was just crazy expensive.

Untill I got the email that changed my universe for ever. I could aquire a AT-AT for roughly the price of a Coolermaster Cosmos II, about half what I had to pay before. A mini-ITX was soon scored after and the build could commence !

So what have we got ?

An IMPERIAL AT-AT, i7 2600k, Zotac Z68 Wifi-a, CPU GPU, Mosfet and NB/SB Waterblocks Crucial SSD, 2 x 240 Radiator and a XSPC Pump. Around 250 pics, 30 minutes of rough video of the build that I need to edit and a whole list of small stuff I need to do in the last days.

I will be posting a update on the work involved every day for the next 2 weeks or so.

Hope you like it!

This was the picture that sold me, could immediately see the potential and the creative energy was flowing !

















And these are the parts to work with !


Another update to come soon !

Here is the main body. I had to get a lot of stuff out of there to make room for the mini ITX board.




With the interior out of there I could get a better view on how the fit the hardware.



The location of the reservoir was quickly found. The space was exactly 60mm. I was expecting to have to restore the model a lot here, but i found a very nice 60 mm res that fitted perfectly.




The inside of the leg. I needed to fit a lot of wires, cables and tubing in there as I wanted NO visible cables !








The start of the base, and figuring out the locations for the radiators.


I am going to need a bigger office soon !














And that was it for this update! With the rough build thought out its off to the finer parts !

Hi all, here is another update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

With the hood removed I could start thinking on how I would mount (and cover the non attractive parts) of the hardware!




Had to cut out the middle section of the models interior baseplate without messing to much with the fixation points that provided its structural strength.
Cut away to much and it would not be capable of supporting the hardware.




Replaced the frosted plexi with a piece of UV red I had laying around. This will fit better into the overall lighting scheme.




Playing around with the location of the pump !


This looks like an easy job but actually took a couple of hours getting it to fit exactly with no luight from the interior shing through on the sides, the hood needed to to fit perfectly and the pump had to be taken apart to fit into the hole in the vertical piece of plexi. Must have done 50 test fittings in total.




One of the main design criteria was that it had to look original from the outside, so the pump had to be well inside the model for the backdoor to close. (unfortunately this also meant my GTX580 was 2 cm to long)




This was the original idea, the hardware on that location was soon changed to the I/O plate!


Well that was it for now !
Next update will have my first ever build video (let me know what you think!)
Laters

Hi all, here is another update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

Started work on all the cabling that had to be extended through the legs and into the body for the pc hardware. The 2x240 radiators and PSU will come in the base.








Had to cut out a lot of plastic to be able to route all the cables through. But I had to do that again without compromising the structural integrity of the model asa AT-AT that continuously drop to its knees wont destroy any rebel bases soon!






Also had to route 2 x 3/8th Tygon tubing to and from the rads into the legs. This was a very tricky point. I do have some restriction in my loop now, but the cooling works beautifully!


When all the wiring was done, I had to trace them all to be sure I wouldnt connect any of them incorrectly!






All the cabling installed! What did I install in total:
2 X 6 Wire GPU Pwr
4 + 4 Wire Mobo Pwr
24 Wire ATX Connector
4 Wire Molex
HDMI
USB2.0
CAT5e
2 x 3/8th Tubing


Also installed a little fan, its all watercooled (except for the RAM) But having some airflow is never a bad thing!




The connection to the base. This way it can move around the base a little but is still firmly attached (this is actually one of the first thing I will change; get a full modular psu)


AT-AT Chainsaw Massacre --- There's legs everywhere !!


Anyone got a wiring scheme???


Luckely I had some tiny helper hands for them hard to reach places!

That was it for this update !
Laters!

Here is the first build video !

http://youtu.be/Q7wVPYe8kX0

I would REALLY like to know what you guys think of this!
Is this something you would like to see more ?

Hi all, here is another update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

Started work on the reservoir that needed to be placed between the legs !


Heavily modified the clamp to made it fit perfectly when the I/O hood was placed.










It was really removing a mm at a time to make it fit perfectly !














Fits perfectly into the design of the AT-AT's underbelly IMO !


Cutting away all the places where ther res needed to go, left me with a large hole through which light could escape! This hasd to be fixed !


Fixed!


I modded a 10 cm ccfl to fit inside the reservoir !


Just need to make a resistor setup to be able to control the amount of light emitted by the CCFL. This is just too strong ! I had to cover the whole inside of the body with alu tape to prevent light from shining through!


That was it for this update!
The video will follow soon!

Hi all, here is another update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

With the Most of the routing work for the legs and reservoir work done, I could start on the base. The idea was to have the radiators, PSU, fancontroller, flowmeter, UV strip and media bay in the base as that would not fit inside the body.



Had a couple of pieces of mesh left over from the EURISKO. Thats why i keep telling my wife, never throw away anything ... And why i got so much crap scattered across my workspace , lol





The whole base is going to be covered with pieces of styrene.


Cut ou the letters by hand, could have gotten a lasercutter to do it more precise but I just like this work !


Glueing it all together, another job for my trusted fret saw. It weighs 40 pounds !






Damn it. Red UV plexi has the tendency to go pink.
Also the styrene is not lightproof enough so you can see the plexi through it.


Fixed it with some Aluminum tape !


I really needed to get some more red into the base, luckily I had this rgb strip laying around.






Wiring , wiring , wiring ...


Ah that looks better ...


Finally I could get started on soldering all the connectors back. I am so hoping I labelled it all correctly ...




I could not use screws to mount everything correctly in place as that would be visible on the top side of the base, so I had to resort to an old disney trick ... TAPE IT !!!








The final result ... Well almost, the connecting tube between the rads has been cut in 2 and a flowmeter has been placed to make sure I had adequate flow.


Gotta love them enermax fans, they arent the most quiet around but they sure do look pretty. Sort of like a generator ..


And with the base almost done, I could start on the body side soldering and placing of the hardware !


Until the next update !

Hi all, here is another update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

Hi all, here is the final update of the work that I had to do for the AT-AT!

Started work on the laser assembly for in the head. The head was well designed with multiple layers , hats off to the people at HASBRO !!!



I had to remove the leds that were in the lasre cannons and drill holes for the laser ligtht to get out !




The lasers had to be taped down and calibrated to fit exactly through the holes and not deviate to much when aimed at the wall. Cant have them pesky rebels escape cause we cant aim properly !




Installed a couple of red leds to light up the front window


I use a TSOP 1838 IR receiver to analyse the output of a old remote (from a broken hdmi switcher) and program the arduino to shoot the lasers at different patterns.


Found a nice place to store the Arduino also.


Last electrical check, yes everything works, now lets install the hardware and connect the watercooling stuff.


Filling station. The res I use to fill it up is on the top. Cause the input of liquid is directly in front of the pump, it wont run dry. Only thing was the air inside the system. Took a while before everything got out.


And there we have it, fully filled up and operational.


OH NO !!! I had to change out a fitting cause it was leaking and during that some liquid got trapped inside the aux 12v connector of the motehrboard. When the case was upright it didnt short anything. When the case was on its side ... IT DID !!!
So long Motherboard, CPU and GPU !!!!


So with 2 days left before the LAN party it was stress time !! Had to remove all the affected hardware and replace with new.


Hmm, which one was the broken one again ... DAMN !!!


And test out if everything worked again ... Luckely it did !


But after all the stress and driving around the country to get the exact parts I needed, with 2 hours left before the beginning of the LAN party I could relax. Its finished !!!


Now one last big job, how to get it to the party ... The same technique Luke used to trip one over, I used to keep it steady ... LOL


At the party some final adjustments (a piece of plastic inside the PSU kept touching the fan causing a terrible annoying high pitch sounds)


But there it is, I made it !




Now back at my house, I am redesigning my office. I have changed the hardware layout a little. The GPU is out and replace with 3 x 2 Tb HDD (just barely fitted) and its functioning as my NAS ! Probably one of the few watercooled NAS out there ...


With the USS EURISKO and the AT-AT my office got a upgrade !


And that was it ! Look here for the full highres picture log of the lan party http://asphiax.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/imperial-at-at-at-the-party-10/
I will be covering the base with styrene and maybe do some airbrushing to liven up the exterior of the AT-AT so keep posted for updates !

Hope you enjoyed the build as much as I did and I am already working on the next one !
ASPHIAX