|
Water-Cooled Borg Cube, Part 3: Water Block |
aka Bob is assimilated by his Borg Cube... |
Okay, I admit it. I'm certifiable. This water block really shows I'm off the deep end. There are tons of excellent water blocks available commercially for about $40. What could possibly be worth the pain of making your own block? Cosmetics, individuality, and the idea that I'm doing a really cool thing mostly. I'm not gonna see my water block in every other water cooled PC photo I come cross. This block isn't unique to me, I borrowed the idea for it from a Belgian fellow who showed how to do it on the Bit-Tech board. But what the heck? We Borgs assimilate. Resistance is futile. So here's how I made my own CPU water block.
 |
Here is the (so far) unmolested Swiftech MCX 462 air cooled heat sink. It's a very impressive unit to hold in your hand, quite large and well machined. It's possible to buy one sans fan for less money. Since this is a water cooling project, we don't need no steeking fans! |
 |
Flip the sucka over on it's back and drill out the rivets holding the fan brackets first of all. Look's kinda defenseless here, don't it? |
 |
Zo, ve drill vewy cafuwy... |
 |
Voila! No more fan brackets! |
 |
Now, joo got to take joo Dremel, and apply some whackage to the first three rows of pins around the edges. This'll be where the plexi top seats against the copper. Be careful with the whackage--my Dremel want to sling these pins right at my face at high velocities. Wear safety glasses! Go slow, and take 'er easy... |
 |
With the rough cutting done via Dremel, it was time to cook up something to take the pins down almost to the copper. I hit on this "poor man's milling machine" as the best way to do it in my shop. I've C-Clamped a piece of metal to the drill press to use as a guide and put a stone in the chuck. By taking several successive passes and going very slowly I was able to grind down the remainder of the aluminum pins almost to the copper. |
 |
Here's another view of the milling rig... |
 |
I spent one evening with the poor man's milling machine, and then two more evenings drilling out the remainder of the pins. Woohoo! Ready for a plexi cover for this bad boy! |
 |
My brother Dave is preparing to start sawing the 1/2" acrylic we'll use to buidl a plexi cover for the Swiftech. |
 |
Since I have way more material than I can really use, and I'm pretty new to working with plexi, I decided to make 3 sets of pieces, just in case I managed to screw the first couple up! Also, one is for my brother if he ever decides to build one of these crazy water blocks. This is definitely a time to measure twice, cut once. We use a plywood cutting blade and just go real slow with the plexi. You have to use a table saw or perhaps a powered miter box to ensure precision if you're going to build a water-tight enclosure. |
 |
I really like the optical properties and substantial feel of this 1/2" thick material. Originally I tried to do this with 1/8", and it just wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. |
 |
All the pieces are rough cut. As you can see, the saw leaves nasty scratches on the sides. Note the utility knife blade on the left. |
 |
I found out by accident (unfortunately not before I'd finished one piece with 400 grit sandpaper) that stroking a blade like this backwards over the plexi edge is the fastest way to eliminate deep scratches and rough finish it. Once you do that, you can apply increasingly finer sandpaper and later polish until you achieve the desired finish. I decided 400 grit created a nice matte frosted effect. I didn't want to get to completely transparent, because I think it would show the glue in the joints more than this matte finish. Also, I plan to light this thing in some way and I think the matte will diffuse the light a little better. |
 |
Here it is trial fitted. I have to break out the solvent and corner clamps and glue this sucker together next... |
 |
It's a good thing I cut 3 sets of sides, because my first attempt did not turn out well enough to satisfy me. It's not terrible, but one of the sides (hidden in back <G>) doesn't fit quite flush, and there's some glue spillover here and there. Anyway, I got 2 more sets to practice on so I want to do better. The reason the side is off is that in polishing the edges I must have taken one down a little too far. We'll check fit again before applying glue the next time! Also, I plan to use a brush for glue the next time. Trying to apply it from the tube just doesn't work. You get too much in the wrong place. An even coat over the whole edge that's very thin is what's needed.
|
 |
Note the notched corners on the copper block. My theory is I'll enlarge those a touch, drill a suitable shallow hole, and glue LEDs into the four corners to light this thing up! The other insane possibility would be to drill crosswise a hole big enough to slide a cold cathode in. That's probably WAY over the top though! |
|
|
Even with an imperfect top, this thing is incredibly impressive. Note how large it is next to the mouse and my Gallo Nucleus speaker. I have never seen anything like it, except, of course, Petzl's original! The finished product should really be commanding, er I guess the modern expression is L33T! |
