Idea for case as reservoir

[ochadd]

Thinking about building an acrylic/glass case and want to see if it has already been done before. The picture below would be an option done with Plexiglas formed and sealed to a foundation and a sliding motherboard tray would be used. Other idea is to make the reservoir/cover just attach to a base with a hinge so the whole thing could be opened up to reveal the components. Pump, motherboard, etc would look as if it was under water from the correct angle. Just for show and something neat to show off. Any thoughts?

I remember seeing pictures some years ago of a standard type case with one of the sides turned into a reservoir. If anyone knows and can link it would be appreciated.

 

[ghost6303]

not a bad idea, though there are a few problems i see....

what would you do to cap the ends? would the water-filled space just be like a flat rectangle of plexi bent down the middle? the water in the leg opposite the exit nozzle would remain stagnant pretty much.

if you had the intake on the bottom of one leg and the output on the other, that would solve the problem, and make bleeding easier as you can tip up the side with the intake and fill from there. or have a seperate fill port on the very top of it.

this would need to be quite tall/large to fit over a normal ATX board with cards sticking up out of it.
would the power supply be underneath this as well?
what kind of airflow would you have going under this? the mobo area still needs some sort of airflow even if most of it is watercooled.
where would the radiator go?

 

[ochadd]

not a bad idea, though there are a few problems i see....

what would you do to cap the ends? would the water-filled space just be like a flat rectangle of plexi bent down the middle? the water in the leg opposite the exit nozzle would remain stagnant pretty much.

if you had the intake on the bottom of one leg and the output on the other, that would solve the problem, and make bleeding easier as you can tip up the side with the intake and fill from there. or have a seperate fill port on the very top of it.

this would need to be quite tall/large to fit over a normal ATX board with cards sticking up out of it.
would the power supply be underneath this as well?
what kind of airflow would you have going under this? the mobo area still needs some sort of airflow even if most of it is watercooled.
where would the radiator go?

For sealing: I'm envisioning mesh to mount the optical drive and power/reset button and cover around the radiator.

The water filled space is exactly how you said. Same as if you would have a rectangular box but it is curved.

Could I just add two inlets to the pump? One from each side so the water doesn't stagnate.

The power supply would be located within the space and exhausting away from the radiator. The airflow to the board and PS would be the air from the fans going through the radiator.

Thanks for the response.

 

[ghost6303]

another idea would be to have two output ports, one on each leg, going to a Y connector then to the pump inlet, and one return port in the top (or a few smaller returns down the legnth of the top) which would make for a nice waterfall effect down the sides. like this...

that would at least make it so that water in both sides was moving.

 

[TGA]

Well as was pointed out, the water on the one side would just be for show if setup like in your sketch.

Also with the water level set up like the sketch I think you would end up with a lot of air bubbles in your system.

My final concern if taking on a project like this myself would be fabrication. Your seams would need to be glued very well. With the weight of it all set up I would be afraid it would spring a leak anytime I had to move it to work on it.