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Mac Pro Replica - OEM Fan - Build log

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Apr 26, 2012
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Motherboard
Z68ma-D2H-B3 UEFI U1C Bios
CPU
i5 2500k
Graphics
Gigabyte GTX 970 Mini
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  1. 0
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  1. iBook
  2. iMac
  3. Power Mac
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Hey all, it's been a bit stagnant over here on these forums for a bit. Thought I'd post my progress pics on my Mac Pro Replica.

Standing on the shoulders of all you wonderful modders and a special shoutout to Bouly for his 3d .stl files. Without all of you I wouldn't be here.

I just have the bare assembly at the moment. Planning on waiting around til solid Skylake support (maybe even Kaby Lake) and HBM supported graphics....Might be a while.

3D printed files for base, PSU support, Mobo mount, and fan circle from Shapeways in black strong and flexible. Thanks Bouly!

So far I have:


  • Luminaire trash can
  • OpenBeams
  • Scrap ITX board
  • 600w PSU
  • OEM Mac Pro fan modded to 4pin PWM see here

Pardon the mess at my work station ;)

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Cutting the Trash can:

I used a 4.5" (114mm) Hole saw. The real mac pro has a 112mm opening at top the size of a CD. Couldn't source a Non-Carbide 4-3/8 (111.125mm) hole saw locally, so the extra 2mm will have to do!



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Pre-drilled the nicely centered divot so the mandrel didn't skirt around

BOOM. The shadow throws it off a bit. It's damn centered.

Now it just needs some sanding for the rough edges and the raised rim needs to come off eventually. I wonder how I can
"Diamond Chamfer" - Phil Schiller
these edges

My original 3d print was ABS and I used a local print place found using 3Dhubs. Image next to a Shapewals SLS nylon print. HUGE difference.
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Cutting the OpenBeams:


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Set up a jig at the desired length to cut 4 beams exactly the same length

...and yeah, I'm using a wood saw blade, cuts through aluminum nicely tho :thumbup:
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Both ends were tapped with an M3 tap and some Blaster penetrating oil for reduced friction.

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Broke the tap off in the LAST beam and the LAST hole. Guess I got too anxious. But in my defense the tap wasn't as sharp as when I started.

Good thing I have 20 feet of beams. (6pack from Amazon) I only needed 3 feet. I should have just bought the single beam 2 pack. But I wanted to be sure I had enough. If anyone needs some beams lemme know...


Sanding and tapping the beams:

I went with OpenBeams because, 1. They're cheaper. and 2. I much prefer the simple M3 screw/nut fastening system as opposed to the proprietary V-Channel mumbo-jumbo with MakerBeams.

Only caveat.... OpenBeams are significantly bigger
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Assembled, the beams hung over the 3d printed parts and would barely fit in the trash can.
They fit with coercion but left some nasty scratches on the inside.
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These sharp corners have to go...

Belt sander with 120grit. Took forever pushing these down with my hands they'd heat up right quick. 20 seconds of sanding and a few minutes of cool down.

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Sanded edge vs non-sanded edge.
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Won't be scratching the inside now!
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This one was particularly difficult but it's there. The mounting holes on the psu plate aren't exactly squared or placed equidistant from one another so this beam stuck out way more than the others.

Clear coating the beams:
Ideally I'd want these re-anodized but that's not really an option. So, to prevent oxidation I used some clear coat I had around.

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Loosely masked off


Countersink PSU 3d mount plate:

The stock 6/32 screws for the PSU are way too short to pass through the 3d print. Went with longer screws. No philips bits here! I counter sunk them for a nice flush look.


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Oddly, when sanded the print is white underneath! Went at it with a regular Sharpie. The dull finish matches perfectly.
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The beams are fastened to the plate with an M3 screw. Fiber washer and regular washer for extra support.


Fitting the ITX tray:

Quite simple here. Used a combo of aluminum and nylon spacers.

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Sanded a tad
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and Shapie'd
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All mounted up, just a few MM of clearance :thumbup:
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Another few MM clearance for future PCIe extension to pass under here.


360 View of assembly so far:
The fan isn't attached to the top just yet it's just the shell for now. I didn't want to risk damaging the fan.
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The fan top is 23mm below the cutout. This measurement was requested from another user because I don't have access to a real Mac Pro or one locally for that matter. Trusting that this measurement is accurate.


Upcoming:


  • Attaching OEM fan to top shroud
  • I/O shield
  • Base locking ring
  • Sanding top hole and raised edge
 
Took some time over the holiday week to work on the locking ring for the base and mounting brackets for the OEM fan

Base Locking Ring:


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Hacked off the oval protrusion and cut it out with the scroll saw. Had to go around a few times because it would melt back together
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Ended up breaking it in the process. Black ABS cement worked wonders
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Smoothing out the inner jagged cut using the contour of 120grit sanding belt

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Worked on the notches to rotate and lock. Overestimated the opening somehow in the beginning. Added small square holes to keep it from spinning freely. It goes on nice and snug.

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Here was my inspiration, a household item with a cap. Notice the notches ;)
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I ended up adding some dabs of ABS cement to the top and bottom of the square hole. With a few rotations the nub ground them down a bit and gave the ring a nice even, snug feel when locked.
Now it just needs re-painting!

Aluminum brackets for OEM fan:

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Used some aluminum from a metal clipboard for the cutouts
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It's elevated a few mm off a surface. Ignore the extreme excess aluminum, just wanted to be sure I had enough

Still need to get holes drilled in the brackets to allow for 120mm mounting
 
Awesome! Can't wait to read about the results with the MP fan :D


Here it is!

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Went with adding threaded posts to my brackets. Using screws into the tapped holes had the potential to strip out the threads from the soft aluminum. Nuts weren't an easy option due to the few milimeters gap from bracket to fan housing.

Got these from cutting the heads of M3 screws. Used epoxy to seal them into the hole. Just needs some paint!

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a 120mm Fan fits nicely on the posts. Ready to be attached to the upper ring.

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Got some black flanged M3 nuts. low profile vs acorn nuts, and they blend in nicely. You can see above the PS/2 ports how putting a screw here to secure the bracket would be very difficult.


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Testing to see a pcie extension fitting. I also rewired the fan with an all black 4pin cable.

When the top is on and the fan is full RPM (2500) this thing really moves air! It reminds me of those Dyson fans. It moves air in a focused stream but it doesn't look like anything is spinning

DysonAM01Fan.jpg

Upcoming:

Using antenna extensions to utilize the antenna block at the top of the fan. There's simply no room or easy way to put the mini pcie card on top. I don't have the sled mount and it's a tricky mezzanine connector. Also, the flat mini pcie extension would get in the way of the fan.

However, three thin cables should be acceptable and non intrusive
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Wireless antenna extensions and cable sewing:

Got wireless antennas routed from the top of the fan. Picked up some extensions that finally arrived.

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Used some shrink tube on the male->female connections for extra security.
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All of the cables fit through the existing opening perfectly
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The wires needed to be pressed to the contour when in the channel. This was especially important because of how close the fan is to the housing. Needed to be flush or the fan wouldn't spin freely.

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I added a small piece of aluminum to keep those cables pinned flush to the housing

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Did some cable sewing for the first time. Difficult getting the pattern down because the cables were sewn to the aluminum as well as to each other.
 
Finished the cable sewing and securing the inner wires:

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Taped down wires with Kapton tape

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Top thread is covered by the cap
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Bottom sewn cables won't be really visible with lid on :thumbup:

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Wifi antennas come down where a mini pcie slot would be (based on intel ITX boards from Gigabyte) The length should be really close.

Upcoming:

LED strips
Work on outer shell
 
Just added some LED strips cause why not. Makes for a nice glow. It was hard to capture what these really look like. They were advertised as 'pink' it's more of a purple/pink. Could have gone with any color but yeah, I chose pink :cool: These are wired up to 12v. May take them down to 9v or 5v and see how bright they are

It glows a bit through the plastic but it shouldn't be a problem when I (eventually) put some foil tape in the inside for EMI shielding (is this really even necessary??) vinyl wrap the inside and paint the outside

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I need to know something that you never say: Is this replica bigger than the real Mac Pro? I guess that it is bigger, but I don't know how much bigger

Awesome project and awesome work, it is really impressive how you made all from almost zero :clap::clap:
 
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