Building first block

Ok, I'm going to take the plunge and get into watercooling. I'd like to build my own block as, basically, I'm a cheap *******. Anyway, my friend has a drill press and a dremel and all the tools. I've been looking around locally, but can't find any metal suppliers. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to find copper bar stock? (I live in Houston btw). If I can't find anything locally I'll just order from onlinemetals.com which has a insane stock and seems fairly cheap.

My main question is which block should I start off with. I've been seeing a lot of talk about the White Waters lately, how easy is it to drill press a clone of it? Otherwise I was thinking of the multi-hole block as it looks very simple.

Finally, does anyone have any good diagrams showing dimensions for an AMD system? Off the top of my head I'm guessing something like 2" x 3" x 1/4" or so for the copper, but I'd like to find some hard numbers to better align everything.

Thanks

For a multi hole block, you can go a number of different ways. I think for a first try, I would get 3/8" thick stock(2"x3") as well as a 1/8" plate for the top. I'd drill the holes about 1/4" deep and consider dimpling the cap. (Just a note to say I've never made a block like this of my own, but have read a lot about them). It might be easiest to solder the cap on as opposed to drilling and tapping, but the result is obviously somewhat permanent.

I've ordered from Online metals... Packaging is good, but shipping will be high. Order enough so that if you make a mistake you can make another. I wish I had ordered more the last time because both of my last blocks were failures for different reasons.

Rufus210 said:

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I've been looking around locally, but can't find any metal suppliers. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to find copper bar stock? (I live in Houston btw).
-snip-

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How hard did you look? In little ole Minneapolis, there are no less than 5 places to buy Aluminum/Brass/Copper plate stock. Surely a city the size of Houston would have that many if not more. Did you look in the Yellow Pages under Metal, Steel, etc? Some places will only mention part of what they carry, but a phone call will reveal greater details.

Hoot

Rufus210 said:

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to find copper bar stock? (I live in Houston btw). If I can't find anything locally I'll just order from onlinemetals.com which has a insane stock and seems fairly cheap.

Click to expand...

Possibilites. All in Houston.
http://mcmurraymetals.com/
http://www.nbm-houston.com/
http://www.metalsusa.com/dynamic/contact.html

Buy out of state. No sales tax, but you pay shipping...

Normally it's a good tradeoff depending on your patience...

Toysrme said:

Buy out of state. No sales tax, but you pay shipping...

Normally it's a good tradeoff depending on your patience...

Click to expand...

I don't know. Might depend on how much you buy. I just bought a little over $67.00 worth of copper and tax was $6 something and shipping was $8 something. Bought from www.onlinemetals.com. They are only 300miles from here. I ordered this morning, got a shipment confirmation around noon and will have the copper tomorrow morning around 11am. All on standard ground UPS. I would buy locally but I don't have time to pick it up.

well if your really chep you can mine your own copper and smelt it and pure it and ingot it

J/K

it might actualy be cheeper to order a block than to make one though because trial and error can produce some bad results requireing that you spend more in materials than getting a pre made block .

if you have good skills with equipment it probly wont be a problem but not everyone truss her own work when playing with expencive equipment ( PC)

thorilan said:

well if your really chep you can mine your own copper and smelt it and pure it and ingot it

J/K

it might actualy be cheeper to order a block than to make one though because trial and error can produce some bad results requireing that you spend more in materials than getting a pre made block .

if you have good skills with equipment it probly wont be a problem but not everyone truss her own work when playing with expencive equipment ( PC)

Click to expand...

With the $67 worth of copper I bought I can make about 24-32 blocks depending on the size. About the same price as a DTek White Water. Plenty of room for trial and error.

Re: Re: Building first block

CustomCooledPC said:

Possibilites. All in Houston.
http://mcmurraymetals.com/
http://www.nbm-houston.com/
http://www.metalsusa.com/dynamic/contact.html

Click to expand...

Wow, thanks. I guess I didn't look around that much =o. Are these places willing to sell only a foot or so? I thought most of these types of places only worked with bigger buyers.

And the bigger part of buying localy is that I can buy one block, mess it up, and go back and buy a second no problem instead of having to order again.

Re: Re: Re: Building first block

Rufus210 said:

Wow, thanks. I guess I didn't look around that much =o. Are these places willing to sell only a foot or so? I thought most of these types of places only worked with bigger buyers.

And the bigger part of buying localy is that I can buy one block, mess it up, and go back and buy a second no problem instead of having to order again.

Click to expand...

Don't know. Those are justthe results of a few seconds on google. I would image they would have scraps that are a foot long. Give them a call.