Home-made Liquid Cooling

[carwiz]

Ah, okay. Just trying to help keep you out of the "swamp".

 

[LiquidSnak]

Thanks I really appreciate it!

 

[LiquidSnak]

I've had to table the project for a week, too busy. I should get some time tomorrow though to work on this. The coolant is on order, and I am searching for a radiator

 

[simmo]

Back in the day when water cooling was considered Extreme we used to modify radiators used in a car heating system...check your local wrecker..you will need to modify the in/outlets maybe but whatever and you will meed to modify it to take cooling fans..

just a thought

 

[LiquidSnak]

That's a good idea. I might be able to find a good oil cooler

 

[Corpsecrank]

You should have grabbed a stock amd cooler since they are easy to get free or cheap and they have a very solid copper bottom on them.

I would not have chosen aluminum for something like this it just doesn't conduct heat as well as copper would. You want to move heat from the processor into the liquid as fast as possible because it is not the fluid that cools but the fact that it is dragging the heat away so the faster you can get he to the fluid the better off you are.

Just a more efficient solution for this. The aluminum may actually do a decent job but I am sure copper would be even better.

Another good idea once this actually starts coming together would be to get yourself a cheap 10 dollar copper cooler for a graphics card. You can gut some solid copper basic coolers that are a circular copper block with a fan in the center and fins around the edges. I think that would make a great base for a graphics cooler if you wanted to make one of those for this project and it is really cheap to add.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Indeed. I got the pump today, and am waiting on the coolant. The pump moves 10L per minute, and is silent! 1/2 inch tubing I picked up at home depot, polyvinyl. If the aluminum doesn't work well, I'll pick up a copper heatsink, and am definitely going to do my graphics card, as it's the hot spot in my system, hanging out at 37-39 degrees C. The sealing is done on the heatsink, and I am going to pick up the couplers today to figure out piping.

 

[Lordbob75]

Indeed. I got the pump today, and am waiting on the coolant. The pump moves 10L per minute, and is silent! 1/2 inch tubing I picked up at home depot, polyvinyl. If the aluminum doesn't work well, I'll pick up a copper heatsink, and am definitely going to do my graphics card, as it's the hot spot in my system, hanging out at 37-39 degrees C. The sealing is done on the heatsink, and I am going to pick up the couplers today to figure out piping.

You are definitely going to want to go copper.
If you figure out a good way to make a GPU waterblock, please document it well so I can make one too!

~Lordbob

 

[LiquidSnak]

The answer seems to lie in epoxy resin, and 220 grit sandpaper. As long as you get it covered in epoxy, which I just dipped then sanded the excess, it seems to be leak proof.


Update time ^_^ I finally got some more time to work on the project, and made it to home depot for the essentials. Here is the work so far, and the final cost of materials was a whopping *drumroll* $74.86, the pricey bits being the 10 liters per minute pump, at 21.38, the heatsink at 11.99, and the two foot section of three inch diameter ABS pipe for the reservoir at 7.24.

The reservoir, nine inches tall, three inches wide ID, holding 35.79 fluid ounces by my calculation. The supply line is installed, with a T coupler so that it can be used to drive two heatsinks in the future. The return line will be more complicated, but installed soon. The electrical line is sealed with rubber that has been melted into the gaps.

Inside the reservoir is the pump:

Home depot supplied the couplings at full price. (hehe)

Drilled and tapped, then the couplings installed on the replacement plate, which is sealed to the heatsink with 100% silicone

 

[darksupernova]

This is totally brilliant, I wish I had the confidence to try this!

 

[LiquidSnak]

After adding the return line inlet to the reservoir, I put five feet of hose on each side and ran the pump off of 9V for some time. The system is absolutely silent, and so far, leak free. When my camera charges, I will shoot a video when I'm absolutely sure that it is leak proof. Unfortunately I miscalculated the volume of the system to be 32 fluid ounces, when in fact the actual volume of the system as is is 36 fluid ounces. I'm not going to buy more coolant, so it will have to suffice to dilute it with distilled water and hope the non-conductivity holds.

 

[Lordbob75]

Distilled water is what I use in my system, and after testing it with a multimeter it appears to be pretty non-conductive.

Also, what pump did you buy? Mine cost like $70 and I would have loved to buy a less expensive one if the quality is good.

~Lordbob

 

[LiquidSnak]

Wow, good thing I bought when I did... It's up to $32 now:

Amazon.com: 10L/min (158GPH) High Temperature (80 'C) DC12V Brushless Submersible Water/ Oil/ Gas Pump: Kitchen & Dining

 

[LiquidSnak]

This is totally brilliant, I wish I had the confidence to try this!

Thanks

I've found with projects, you just have to work out a plan of attack and go for it. I've tried about four ways of sealing the heatsink before epoxy dipping worked ^_^ Hot glue is your friend, also.

 

[Lordbob75]

Wow, good thing I bought when I did... It's up to $32 now:

Amazon.com: 10L/min (158GPH) High Temperature (80 'C) DC12V Brushless Submersible Water/ Oil/ Gas Pump: Kitchen & Dining

That is still half of what I spent on mine!

~Lordbob

 

[LiquidSnak]

The only qualm I have is will it be putting out enough pressure to run through a radiator. If not, I'm thinking of running copper piping in a loop, and having that be either cooled by fan inside the computer, or by some other exotic element just for sh*ts and grins.

 

[Lordbob75]

The only qualm I have is will it be putting out enough pressure to run through a radiator. If not, I'm thinking of running copper piping in a loop, and having that be either cooled by fan inside the computer, or by some other exotic element just for sh*ts and grins.

Hell, just make your own rad. Wrap the copper piping into a few U curves close enough together and get some really thin copper strips to make fins with, then just attach fans and you're done!

~Lordbob

 

[LiquidSnak]

Looked them up and picked up a transmission oil cooler (3/8 inch inlet outlet, the same as the rest of my project) for 23.99 at schucks auto parts. The last part I needed, which brings my total to just over a hundred dollars for a system with a reservoir, CPU block, radiator, lines, and fittings for a GPU block as well. The only thing I would have to buy is a GPU heatsink and two more fittings to make it into a watercooling block.

I added two fans to the cooler, antec 3 speeds. Though I forgot one had blue LED's -_-'

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Pick up your room young man........that's what I hear in the background !

 

[LiquidSnak]

hahahaha. It's so true.