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How to build a custom res?

B

Bionic_Tuna

Weaksauce
Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
70
I have a pretty good idea for a res I'd like to have, but I'm not sure how to go about building my own.

What would be the best clear material? plexi?
What's the best way to do straight, clean cuts on plexi?
What adhesive to use to attach the pieces together and make it water tight?

Any other suggestions are welcome, thanks.
 
Yeah I'm also interested in this. I'm about to build my another plexi case want wanted to make a resevior in the base along with the rad, pump and powersupply (need to keep the water away from this!).
 
Bionic_Tuna said:
I have a pretty good idea for a res I'd like to have, but I'm not sure how to go about building my own.

What would be the best clear material? plexi?
What's the best way to do straight, clean cuts on plexi?
What adhesive to use to attach the pieces together and make it water tight?

Any other suggestions are welcome, thanks.
Click to expand...

For a res, at least with my experience(i have had quite a bit)... plexi is actually very bad!
The best way to cut plexi is to use a table saw with a special blade. Basically the blade should have no curvature beneath the teeth. Should be a straight down line to the center of the blade.
There is a special plexi bonding glue. It has the consistency of water. It just melts the two pieces together.

I don't understand the problem with plexi but when ever I have mixed water and plexi, the plexi ends up cracking and leaking after about 2-4 weeks. Part of this is due to the fact that when you cut plexi you create micro hair line fractures on the edges. To combat this you must either soak the to edges in the bonding solution... but this actually caused both peices to become like paper... OR you have to spend a great deal of time sanding and heating the edges until the are perfect... and I do mean PERFECT.

I have heard several bad reports about factory plexi res and I believe it is due to the poor quality finish on the edges, or just the fact that plexi and water really don't like each other.

Before anyone jumps down my throat, there are different types of plexi... and it may have been due to that. Second, the cracks usually occured along the seems and then spread into the center of the plexi, usually that is. I had several just appear in the center of a nicely finished peice.
 
sp00 said:
Yeah I'm also interested in this. I'm about to build my another plexi case want wanted to make a resevior in the base along with the rad, pump and powersupply (need to keep the water away from this!).
Click to expand...

BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I build a VERY NICE custom plexi case that had an integrated res/water fall/ water return for water cooling. The case worked great for about a month and then cracks started appearing and eventually I had to scrap the entire case because of the EXTENSIVE cracking where ever the plexi and the water came in contact.
 
I occasionally buy those air tight cookie jar kind of stuff and work from there on. Never a leak and darned easy to open (just open the lid :p) Not to mention big nice space to let water in so u can fill up pretty easily.
 
ok plexiglass = acrylic (plexiglass is just a trademark). The problem with glueing acrylic is that you dissolve part of the material to "weld" it with the next piece. Unfortunately "clear" is not the prefered state of acrylic, it likes to crystalize. The pieces you buy are actually acrylic glass, aka material that has been cooled so fast it cannot crystlize anymore. Now, if you introduce solvent to that mix the material does crystalize at the bond (same reason plexiglass gets hazy when you try to "clean" it with acetone), and that is the source of all your problems later on. You are much better off bonding the acrylic with screws and use silicone to seal for use with water. The flexibility of the silicone also helps with thermal expansion issues.
If you want functional over pretty use PVC pipe. Strong, stable, dirt cheap and easy to work with - but not clear. So a little float stick can act as a level indicator, and if couple with a little contact switch act as an alarm.
 
I agree Acrylic Res are kind of bad mine is all cracked up it's a FrozenCPU dual 3.5 bay res BTW. Not Leakin tho
 
whitewale said:
ok plexiglass = acrylic (plexiglass is just a trademark). The problem with glueing acrylic is that you dissolve part of the material to "weld" it with the next piece. Unfortunately "clear" is not the prefered state of acrylic, it likes to crystalize. The pieces you buy are actually acrylic glass, aka material that has been cooled so fast it cannot crystlize anymore. Now, if you introduce solvent to that mix the material does crystalize at the bond (same reason plexiglass gets hazy when you try to "clean" it with acetone), and that is the source of all your problems later on. You are much better off bonding the acrylic with screws and use silicone to seal for use with water. The flexibility of the silicone also helps with thermal expansion issues.
If you want functional over pretty use PVC pipe. Strong, stable, dirt cheap and easy to work with - but not clear. So a little float stick can act as a level indicator, and if couple with a little contact switch act as an alarm.
Click to expand...

Now that makes a lot of sence when I look back on the case project I tried. To add a bit more info, any type of cutting or drilling usually heats the acrylic sheet up and "cyrstalizes" the edges which where the cracks probably come from.

wish I had known this when I began my case.... spent a good chunk of money only to have it start leaking and become unusable.

btw I would keep a close eye on that bay res it will probably start leaking in the weeks to come.
 
Went shopping for dog food last night, and found the easiest (and cheapest) reservoir: Water dispenser for hampsters etc. It's a reservoir with a tube at the botton, which has a ball in it as a valve the animal licks to get to the water. The one I found had a nice 3/8 tube; cut of ball, mount compression fitting with barb adapter - done. Price less then $5 for a clear reservoir.
 
Another method to bond plexi:

i read somewhere about this in a guide and acutaly tried it adn it worked fairly well

get peices of acrylic/plexi, then put them ina glass jar.
then pour in a littel bit of acetone adn leave the jar alone for a couple hours
later, the acetone melts the plexi adn the stuff becomes a clear goo that hardens really really hard. i used hte glop to glue some peices of plexi together, adn it works...
 
Dark Ember said:
You could try some acrylic, like what some fish tanks are made out of. :)
Click to expand...

All plastics are called acrylic :)
however I tend to trust strai lexan more than anything else Ive used... plexit is nice and all but to me it is too soft

My custom rex was done with 2in OD thin wall copper pipe.
I used to have an Innovatek tank-o-matic...but that hting cracked like fuckin mad ! It may have been the water wetter I dunno...but it cracked...I may buy another one later down the road....just to test that theory
 
Visable-assassin said:
All plastics are called acrylic :)
however I tend to trust strai lexan more than anything else Ive used... plexit is nice and all but to me it is too soft
Click to expand...

actually, lexan is made from polycarbonate, not acrylic.
 
one day im going to do my $40 watercooling writeup. Whole watercooling system, under 40. not the best looking or performing but it will be done. then you will all know :p
 
I made my res with pvc pipe with end caps on both ends. I first drilled a hole in both end caps and 2 in the side of the pvc pipe (1 at top and 1 at bottom). I than glued standard barbs into the holes in the pvc pipe which will serve as the connection to the main lines. I glued in valve style barbs into the end caps which will allow me to fill(top) and drain(bottom) the res after I permantly glue them on. Finally i spray painted the whole thing black and attacked it to my case with some metal straping also painted black. It cost around $20-25 with the valves costing the most.
 
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