Project Icy Hot

[boardsportsrule]

Ok, i have decided to start posting my progress, so im kinda in the middle of this, so i have some catching up to do. I decided to water cool my pc, but with limited space in my tower i wanted to go with a external unit. At first i was going to make it totally disattached from PC, but after a while i had an idea of making it attach to the bottom of my case. Transportation would be easier, electrical stuff would be easier, the pump would work less, it just seemed logical. The basic theme here is fire and water, heat and cold etc. my motherboard pumpes off a lot of red, so i had to throw that in, and i like blue so it works any ways, enough talking here comes the photo's
computer specs
abit An8 ultra
a64 3200+ venice(hoping to go X2 some time soonish)
mushkin redline 4000, 2X512
6600GT(zalman 700-cu cooler)
200gb seagate hdd
audigy 2

here's the victim. Notice the piece of plexi on back(covered in brown paper)...thats where the PSU went...right above the CPU .

this was my original idea for my res. After some more thought i dont like it...to big, to normal...im not sure what im going to do now... my main idea is having a2” diameter acrylic tube that goes on the side of the box. Or a bay res..not sure...

another thing of the past are these quick connect things. I was going to put them on the back of my case for easier disconnect but with new design i dont need em.

so this is my shroud... i have 2 of them..this ones painted, but not clear coated...i had them just clear for a while, but i think with the blue, and then throw in some white LEDs inside....should look nice.

none of this would be possible with out 2 excelent tools..first a 90* clamp... helps so much! Second the best glue in the world for acrylics..

 

[boardsportsrule]

not alotta room inside the box, as the radiator takes up a lot(2 for rad, 2 for EACH shroud, 1 for each fan, total of 8”) and PSU will be on floor of the case, so i decided to mount the pump on the side... not yet tho..only once a couple more sides are on...

this is a eheim 1250 pump...painted white as u might see . im going to work out some sort of vibration dampening system, so i will mount it on this piece with dampenage then mount the piece onto the side.

with the pump its only fair to show the block...got a swiftech storm. Yay! Possible adding a GPU block later...but not until i upgrade my Vcard.

I sleeved all the fans with blue the PSU has blue sleeving too!

with water cooling the goal is to get crazy oc's without mcuh noise...so i made a fan controller... controls all 4 fans with 1 knob so they all go the same speed...i need a bigger heatsink for the regulater..maybe some 1 here can point me in the right direction, not sure how big of 1 i need...the fans only take .08 Amps... but as u slow them down they take more...

i found some great tubing here locally...nice turn radius for some local stuff!!

This paint is awesome..just thought yall should see this makes ur plexi blue, red, green or what ever color u want...pretty much..

 

[boardsportsrule]

this is my random scrap pile...i raided my 1 local glass company and took all their 1/4” pexi scraps, and their white stuff..and a little bit of 1/8”.

i also have all this sleeving junk

this is the overall photo of how its coming together so far...u can see how its going to lay out..pump and 2nd shroud isnt there..(ps. No thats not a stock rad....painted it white..)


things to do soon:
make grooves for air circulation inside box.
Get more 1/4” plexi
figure out res.
more painting :s


till next time folks..thanks for checkin it out.

 

[rogue_jedi]

looks like a nice project. is the radiator box going to be attached? or just sitting next to the computer?

the black knight always triumphs!

 

[boardsportsrule]

its going to be mounted to the bottom of the computer with bolts of some sort

 

[Qtip42]

your hand.......is blue.............why?

 

[rogue_jedi]

i'd guess overspray from painting the plexi. that or he's an alien of some sort. more likely the overspray tho (musta been holding it or something?)

 

[boardsportsrule]

well i was abducted at age 4 and ever since i have these blue scales on me...

but yea, overspray... to get the sides of the shroud i held it up as it was easier then sittin on the ground...

PS fixed the pic of my original res...

my plan is to get some 2" OD, 1 3/4" ID acrylic tubing and use that as res..not sure where to locate it tho...

 

[Sobek]

Looks good so far. I've been looking for the cheapest place that sells quick disconnects. Any suggestions or where you got yours?

 

[boardsportsrule]

i got mine from usplastics.com..not exactly cheap...ill sell u mine tho, as i have no need for them...pm me if ur interested..

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...=usplastic&category_name=6917&product_id=7413

 

[Sobek]

usplastics.com is the only place I've seen them.I want to get 4 of them. I've been meaning to check out any local plumber's supply companies to see if they have them. I'll let you know if I'll take them off your hands. Thanks for the offer and reply.

 

[SpangeMonkee]

you should put this on the side of the case.

 

[boardsportsrule]

lol...yea, maybe...

just put an order in for
more acrylic supplies...some tubing, fittings and other fun stuff

 

[DarkenReaper57]

Quick disconnects are the only way to go with an external w/c system . I bought some colder ones that I am using on mine, and I love them. They also make filling and draining a LOT easier. You can just hold down one of the push-in things on the quick disconnects to allow air to escape as you fill, or just allow water to flow out when your system is full.

Do you have any design ideas for the plexi? Make sure you have adequate reinforcement if you plan to put your case on it. I hate when acrylic cracks .

Looking great so far. Keep us posted on the good work.

 

[boardsportsrule]

1/4" plexi is freaking strong... im pretty confident the glue will suffice... i have cut it so that the comp box actually holds it down...and all i will have in teh comp is the mobo, vcard, ram, hdd and optical drives..i'll be pretty damn light...i guess i will just have to try and see! if it breaks ill start over and have a longer project log

 

[DarkenReaper57]

1/4" plexi is freaking strong... im pretty confident the glue will suffice... i have cut it so that the comp box actually holds it down...and all i will have in teh comp is the mobo, vcard, ram, hdd and optical drives..i'll be pretty damn light...i guess i will just have to try and see! if it breaks ill start over and have a longer project log

Yeah, 1/4'' plexi is rather strong. If your PC isn't horribly heavy then it won't be a problem. I was gauging the long-term effects of a 50+ lb computer sitting on plexi glass at certain points . That is a lot of stress at concentrated points, even if it is distributed across 4 case feet (assuming you have case feet).

But yeah, you should be fine .

 

[incomudro]

I dont know what kind of plexi some of you are talking about but the 1/4 plex I buy sometimes never breaks in half but chips very easly on the edges and sometimes the corners break.

 

[boardsportsrule]

OK, been awhile, alotta little things done, overall not a lot... things should be coming together fairly quickly now. The res was kind of holding me back..now i got it...this is mainly about the construction of the res's that i am using, but a couple other random things.


I got this neat for cutting any size hole into plastic, wood, and even soft metals. I started the res by cutting out some discs..they came out all nasty



put em onto the dremel and a little bit of filing action and nice






then cut some 2” id 1/8” wall acrylic tubing, 18” long...at this point i have fought with the drill and my fingers are paying for it.



after some tapping, which was pretty hard actually, i had to clamp a piece of wood above the acrylic and clamp it to the table, and drill a hole into the wood and work bench, and tap thru that... any ways, after tapping i glued the pieces on




tested it for a while, no leaks, and didnt even have to useteflon tape on the tapped part... so i made another one!, and a mounting mechanism..and drilled another hole on each... and put some smaller tubing connecting them...right now i have nothing glue'd as its all just being mocked up, expect them mounted onto case soon.



An explaination of how they will work is in order... the side of the tube that is near the back of the case will have barbs, connecting to inside the case. In the front i will have plugs, which can be removed for filling.



now for some random things.

I have decided not to res PSU on case floor...i have cut out a spot for it in the back, and made a support for it.


i found a big ass heatsink for my fan controller...that plus the fact there will be airflow over it i feel it will be more then sufficeint. Also connected things to plug fan into(and sleeved)...all 4 verified to work





also making a basic window on the side...keeping it simplefirst time making a window, so we'll see how it turns out.




this is my baby... 250+ holes..took for ever...friends made fun of me cuz i would run to their drill press at any opportunity i got... pic's arent good, VERY hard to take a picture of..but it looks NICE





PS. i have had no problems with this plexi and breaking...when cutting you just have to go slow and its fine...i even use wood blades on the table saw and chop box...