External, unattached Rad for Transport?

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nomenon

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Sep 26, 2004
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Hey, I'm a college student who would love to put watercooling on my system, however the need to be able to move a system from one place to another as well as the need to be able to afford texbooks after installing said system limits me.

The major roadblock between me an mounting the system internally is the drive rails all along the front of the case, and the limited space in back. Side mounts would require a nice big hole that I'm not really prepared to make. Thus I have the exciting prospect of placing the radiator outside the case connected (ephemerally) only by tubing.

So the question then becomes how does one ease his job of draining, disconnecting, reconnecting and refilling the system? Drilling holes in ones case should be within the scope of my abilities.

thanks for weathering this post to this point, and for any suggestions.
 
How bout some pics of your case so we know what you are dealing with? If no pics, then make and size will do.
 
You could use quick connects like people use on air tools. They are not made of copper so you would need to use antifreez due to dissimilar metals.
 
You could just take a computer case, the smallest one you can find and put the pump, radiator etc in the case. A good electronics store sells “project boxes” you could use as well. Then just use the quick disconnects to move it around.
 
You could always build a external water box like I did last year and use ppastic quick disconnects for easy transport. You'll lose a little flow through the quick disconnects, but it's worth it if you transport the system often

Bio-Hazard Custom WaterBox Project

image41.jpg


DSC883.jpg
 
Thanks Bio, you built what I was trying to describe. Coolness, pun intended ;)
 
I built that last year as a article project, now it's sitting gutted on my basement floor, haven't used it in months and the paint is all chipped and scratched. I may have to fix it up and do a rebuild for my stepson, he wants to get into water cooling .
 
The case is a cheap antec that is 17inches high and 16 inches long. The front air input is not really usable as it is entirely covered by drive cages. Between the end of the hard drive and the back of the case there is some 8.5 inches (11 between the cages and the back) and 5 inches between the vid card and the bottom. There is a 120mm fan port on the back, but there is little space between the fand and the side and the motherboard's ports. As I see is the only way I could get this to worl would be to place the radiator on the door of the case somehow... I would atleast have 3 inches of depth to work with, but the difficultly of having hoses all over the place limits that.

I do like the idea that BillR and Bio brought up, as it should be easy to find a case to tear apart, and while this is no less a project, I would have less downtime on the computer at least. One question that comes to mind is where a nice place to get the disconnects might be.

Anyway, that gave me a good bit of food for thought, thanks for the info!
 
The fittings Bio used are found on page 148 of the online catalog of
http://www.mcmaster.com/

bit pricey but work extreamly well. some flow restriction but if you using a modern block it wont matter that much. Can disconncet them with a "click" and they might leak one or two drops at most. I use them for my fill ports.
 
I want 2 lf those so bad, but $40 for 2 locking sets...:( I guess I'll have to mow a couple of lawns & do some yardwork. Damn it sucks being 15 1/2 & not being able to get a job better than being treated like crap making minimum wage :mad:.
 
ikellensbro said:
Damn it sucks being 15 1/2 & not being able to get a job better than being treated like crap making minimum wage :mad:.
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Consider if you were age 50 and treated like crap making minimum wage. Study in school, do well in life ;)
 
While I don't make minimum wage, putting down about $400 a semmester on books isn't much fun either ;)

Thanks for the links. One thing that I was wondering after reading that wonderful article, ;) is how you connected the molex from the water case to the rest of the system.

I had to think that given the cost of the fittings, and all the work required it would almost be easier to just get a new case, but a) not nearly as fun, and b) who wants to carry a 70 pound case around. Just a few thoughts
 
I wouldn't trust a case like a Lanboy to be able to support all the torque created. Have you though of mounting the rad on top of your case?
 
ikellensbro said:
I wouldn't trust a case like a Lanboy to be able to support all the torque created. Have you though of mounting the rad on top of your case?
Click to expand...
that is what i am considering to do, once i finally splurge and get watercooling.
 
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