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Custom WB and Lapping results

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Rekarp

Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Location
Houston, TX
Custom WB Update! Rad Box

Over the past few days I have been wanting to cool my main pc so it can be quite and cool. I have been working on my gaiming pc watercooling which was getting a little expensive so i decided to go DIY on the main pc. The water block consists of 1/2" aryclic and a 1 1/2" copper top. I got the idea from Owen's copper cap but with a twist. Instead of having a copper plate and the copper cap on top, I flipped it over so the cap was the base of the block. In the aryclic top i used a hole saw to bore halfway through it so the cap can sit in it and then it was sealed with some plumbers goop. I did not tap any of the holes to keep the tools needed and price low. It uses 3/8" I.D. tubing and im hoping it would be a good performer. I have not tested it yet so stay tuned.

DSCN0765.jpg

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As you can see, the makers of the cap imprinted there name on the bottom. It is lapped to 600 grit since i used the higher grits on my Dtek WW. Speaking of which heres part two of the post

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Lapped to 2000 grit :cool:
 
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How thick is that cap? I am wondering if you were to go nuts and lap that thing to the point of rubbing out the imprint, if that wouldn't get you some pretty decent results. But of course the thickness of the cap becomes a question mark, to thin and it may break.
 
Update

I did a little tweaking with the cpu design and came up with this. Due to the fact that the brass tubes are close together, worm clamps are a tight fit. So with one tube longer it should fix that problem. I then made the indention for the cap deeper, about 3/4" deep, to move the inlet closer to the copper. Shown below is the final block (unless it leaks) on a test board i have.

DSCN0769.jpg

I then decided to make a gpu block for the video card. So i used the same idea of the cap block to make a single slot cooling for my Fx5200.

DSCN0770.jpg

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I made an external cooling box for it. All it needs are some fans and it will be ready to go. Ran it for 24 hours and no leaks in the box.

DSCN0773.jpg

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Next time im hoping to get some leak testing done.
 
looks pretty good for a DIY, all these DIY builds are making me wanna do a DIY water cooling system when i get my sig. system in and built.
 
What kind of acrylic did you use specifically (acrylic, polycarbonate, plexigalss)?
How did you maange to dril those long holes for the GPU card w/out it cracking on you. I have tried drilling thick plexi like that and the bit would cut into the material too fast and act almost like a wood screw driving in and finally cracking the piece apart.
 
Thx for the interest guys.

As for temps, well i have to wait a day for the sealent to dry.

The aryclic I picked up at a local plastic shop and its unbranded. I used a drill press and went really slowly through it with some standard metal/wood bits. And make sure you always clamp your piece down to the table.
 
That is an awesome job you have done there.

One tip though, since you are using dimples for surface area... try busting out the engraver and making a whole bunch tiny pits over the die area, every little bit counts right?

Here is an example:
4qpj4n


Good luck on your project, it makes me one to revise my DIY.

Bryan D.
 
bryan thx for the tip but since the cap is so thin its hard to do that with out risking breaching the bottom and making it useless.

Right now im leak testing the CPU lock and all is going well.
 
Thin? I wasn't trying to tell you to "drill" the 19 pits like I did. I was suggesting you use an engraver on it. Notice how you see a circle covering most of the plate, well if you look closely in the circle you will notice that it looks almost "rough" and pitted. That was from the engraver. I have used the copper caps and I know that it will be think enought to use an evgraver and not have it go through. Awswell.

Hope you get great Temps!!
Bryan D.

PS - click my link below to see my DIY WC.
 
sry for the delay but im still leak testing. Want to make sure this thing doesnt leak at all so i dont fry my rig.

Sunrunner, sure ill make sure to post the temps. I was thinking about making a NB block for my system also. It will probably look just like the CPU block.
 
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