Concerns for my Watercooling setup...

[StratocasterMaster]

Project: Dopefish Lives

I currently am working on a case mod with watercooling as one of the primary points of interest and have a few concerns of my design and some of the components I already posess...

I plan to have two reservoirs, atleast at this point in time. One is more or less for asthetics while the other will serve its role as the high-point in the system for filling.

The first one is the 3.5" round cylinder pictured above. I want to etch into the visable side 'Well of Wishes' in referance to where the Dopefish is hidden in Quake (e1m9). I want to have this situated either directly to the inlet of the pump or have a barb on it and run a very short line to the pump inlet barb from the reservoir barb. I then want to have a barb coming from the top of the reservoir (a plexi 1/4" top I will make) that will run to the real reservoir at the top of the loop. The last barb will be opposite the pump barb at the lowest point of the reservoir to make draining the system easier, I will have a valve on the line and a access port on the rear of the case.

Here is a visual of how I was hoping to have the pump attach to the reservoir, not sure if this is even possible:

Ignore the top barb placement, I want it to come from the top cover now... as well as the additonal low-point barb for draining that is not in this image.

The *real* reservoir will be placed in the open space above the top 5 1/4" drive bay. It will be very slim (1/2 regular drive bay height) but maintiain a 5 1/4" width and a possible 10" depth. Its only purpose is to serve as a high-point for filling and bleeding/burping. I will add a small access port to the top of it that will allow easy filling.

Questions:
-Will my 'Well of wishes' be too thin to use as a reservoir?

-Can I, and if I can how do I utilize barbs on the rounded sides of my lower reservoir?

-Is it possible to have the lower reservoir attach directly to my Eheim pump?

-Will my top reservoir be too thin (volume-wise) to serve as a good high-point for my system?

-Would making a small plastic model of a 'Dopefish' to have float in my lower reservoir risk blocking flow if it were to get too close to one of the ports? If so, how could I avoid this occuring; the fish is a main part of the looks for this lower res. (The fish will be larger than a barb ofcourse, planned overall diameter is 1")

Thanks,
~Kris

 

[sprocket]

I ran into the same dilemma as you...how to put a threaded barb into a thinwall tube.
My first approach (which worked but looked like ass on a stick) was to simply drill/tap the tube and use Plumber's GOOP to secure and seal the barb.

My second ( and all subsequent revisions) used a solid piece of clear round Plexi, 1" diameter about 1" long, which I drilled/tapped for the barb (I've been using DangerDen barbs which are 9/16-18 thread) and then glued into a matching hole in the tube. This gives the barb some decent length to thread into and a flat surface to seat on.

I'm still not completely satisfied with the outcome (although the reservoirs are all watertight) and am looking into using clear resin and casting the main body. This would eliminate all but one joint (the top cap) and make barb installation nearly foolproof.

Good luck.

 

[StratocasterMaster]

bump.

~Kris