Acryllic Waterblock

[Frodo Baggins]

I just thought of a crazy idea! Well, not inventive, just a 'why dind't i htink of it earlier'
I wanted to go wc for some time and all I need is fans for the rad, the rad and the water block (basically everything :O)

but now that I got some leftover acryllic from window mods, do you think it's possible to cover up my Duron Stock heatsink and make it into a waterblock? (temps?, worth it?)

 

[Frodo Baggins]

*sorry, bump*, some input would be helpful

 

[The Spyder]

Someone did that with a swiftech and got great temps!!!! Srry i lost the link when my harddrive died.........

 

[athlonnerd]

yeah, i saw someone that did that with like a 486 heat sink. lol. and it wokred well, soeone did it with an sk-6, but that didnt swork well. i wold try it

 

[rivercom9]

Sounds like a great proj. I would give it a go, seeing how you wont use those materials for anything else. Keep us posted with descriptions and pics if you can.

 

[adamtekh]

how r u going to mount it ?

 

[The Overclocker]

here are a few examples:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles148/

http://www.overclockers.com/articles171/

http://www.overclockers.com/tips92/

http://www.overclockers.com/tips762/

i recomend using a small heatsink with pin fins, the reason for this is added turbulence, using fins that go all the way along the base will not mork as well because the water will have no where to go.

also be careful with what you use to seal the plexi glass, normal epoxy goes very soft after a while when used in water all the time - trust me i know. although i have heard that marine goop will be ok because it is designed for use in water.

there are other waterblock designed which are cheap and easy to do, like this one:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles165/

and more detailed here: http://www.overclockers.com/tips730/

 

[Frodo Baggins]

TYhanks for the links Overclocker....

I got some more questions:

1. Will acryllic melt if I use it to make walls on the end of the heatsink? I don't know what temp is required to melt acryllic plastic.

2. I'm planning on attaching them together by using some epoxy, then adding silicone in the corners to make sure it's water tight....any better ideas?

3. For somehting like this to work, what size would the acryllic have to be? My acryllic (the spares) are pretty thin.

3. If I decide to try a copper cap water block, where can copper stock be obtained (I don't wnat to go ont he net for this because of shipping :O)

adamtek, how am I going to mount it on my chip? hmmm....I was thinking about using the four holes. If I measure it out right, I could make one of those unablock mounting

 

[The Overclocker]

1. nope, it will not melt, i have made a few waterblock like that before and they have no melted.

2.as long as you use epoxy designed for wet conditions, you should be fine.

3.the acrilic don't have to be think, i used acrilic about 2mm thin

4. hmmm.. i don't really know im afraid, perhaps you could try your yellow pages?

 

[Frodo Baggins]

Overclocker, you ahev any pics of the one you made?

Oh yeah, does it have to be water proof epoxy if I use silicone to seal it? Is there a price difference between epoxy and waterproof epoxy?

this is waht I'm planning on doing. What shoul dbe the dimensions (i'm not sure about the height of the waterblock should be) but the width is the size of a 486 heatsink

 

[Inept]

There's no such thing as "waterproof" epoxy. All epoxy is waterproof. There is epoxy that's designed to be applied while submerged in water, if you can believe it, but if you're putting the epoxy between two dry surfaces you're set. Just the plain old super fast epoxy or whatever is fine. If you apply it well you won't even need to use silicone to seal.

The better choice though is to use special glue designed to attach plastics to plastics to construct the block, then use epoxy to attach it to the metal part.

Picking the correct heatsink is the most important part with an enclosed heatsink design. Something like a standard coolermaster with all horizontal fins is a bad idea because it will impede waterflow. An Alpha pin sink or something of that nature is your best bet.

If you wanna make a copper cap, the cap can be purchased at home depot and thin copper plates (eg. 1/8" thick) can be purchased at most scrap yards!

 

[EgeWorks]

I'm almost finished my waterblock, it uses an old P133 HS(pin style), I have put an alu plate around it but it has a plexi top. It's not quite finished so havn't tested it fully but it should be ok. No leaks yet anyway.

Give it a go, they look cool

 

[Frodo Baggins]

hmmm...I havea fin style heatsink that was prepared to do this, but now I'm going to have to look for a pin style one

 

[JFettig]

or you could take a hacksaw or bandsaw to it and make it a pin fin sink.... and mite as well chop it down a little bit.. make it shorter...

 

[EgeWorks]

If you are having the coolant flow straight across the HS it shouldn't be too bad if they are fins(maybe rough up the surface a bit). Mine is injected straight down on the top of the pins so it wouldn't work with fins. I also chopped mine down to 30mm square, the size of a P4, you could probably go smaller and just cover the die.

 

[Frodo Baggins]

If you are having the coolant flow straight across the HS it shouldn't be too bad if they are fins(maybe rough up the surface a bit). Mine is injected straight down on the top of the pins so it wouldn't work with fins. I also chopped mine down to 30mm square, the size of a P4, you could probably go smaller and just cover the die.

sorry didn't really understnad what you wrote (maybe I'm too tired)

This won't work? (will I need to find another?)

 

[EgeWorks]

Sorry if it was vague- what I mean is if you have an inlet on one side of the hs and an outlet on the other it should still work, the picture is top view the circles are inlet/outlet and the rectangle is the HS the outside can be plexi or whatever(30 secs on paint, sorry bout the quality). Hope this clears it up a bit.

 

[JFettig]

were did you get that heatsink? is that copper? what you could do is cut those fins the opposite direction with a hacksaw and make them like a pin block... that heatsink looks like it would be real good

 

[Frodo Baggins]

interesting idea Ege, but I think I'll opt for something a bit more simplistic

mask, I got that heatsink from my dad's old box. I have no idea if it's copper or not. Is there any way to tell?

Your hacksaw way seems a bit rough ah well, If I can't find my dad's other blue finned one, I'll use that. or a dremel ....(I wonder how many cutting wheels it would take tho)...

 

[JFettig]

is it heavier than those aluminum blue ones?? if so and quite a bit heavier its prob copper

the hacksaw thing wont be hard at all, as for cutting wheels, it ifs not too think itll take about 1 reinforced disk...