Hi all, I'm new here so go easy on me! I making a fully DIY water cooing system inspired by project monoith purely for fun, not expecting any performance records but more on that later once I've got some goodies to show! Main goal is to be as cheap as possible! Basic System Specs (that will be cooled): Core2duo/quad of some sort Motherboard NB, SB and VRMs HD 7850 (donated by my brother due to the fan dying) 2/4 sticks of DDR2/3 Cooling system specs: Homemade copper waterblocks 300Lph pump, undervolted to 7V (measured at 200Lph with no resistance) 8mm copper pipe for barbs and radiator (ID more like 7mm) approx 1L reservoir 8mm clear aquarium tubing Radiator design process: I would use a minimum of a thick 120.2 radiator usually for this type of load. I calculated surface area based on a radiator like the Thermalright PA120.2 (using approximate dimensions from memory as all my watercooling gear is currently at my parents) Approximate total surface area: 10FPI, 10inches long = 100fins Area of fin= thickness of rad x width of rad x 2 (assuming each fin has negligible thickness) =6cmx12cmx2= 144cm2 x100= 14400cm2 for my radiator I plan to cut 100 plates of 1.2mm thick aluminium of approximately 15cmx5cm giving a total surface area of 15000cm2. I then plan to drill 10 8mm holes in each plate and run 8mm copper piping through the parallel fins and use thermal adhesive to hold them in place. the final dimensions of the rad would be approximately 420x150x50mm. now for the queestions: 1. has anybody tried making a DIY radiator before? 2. will this even work? 3. would it be better to have the copper tubing as one continuous run or to have the flow in parallel? (5 up 5 down?) if you have any suggestions or design ideas please let me know! I have only very limited funds and very limited tools available
I don't think I've ever seen someone try to make their own radiator. Back in the day, before you could buy radiators that were actually designed for use in computers, people would use radiators designed for cars. The main radiator is usually pretty big, but there's various other automotive radiators, eg oil coolers, intercooler, heater core etc which might be the right size for you. So that answers question 1. 2) Yes, but probably not as efficiently as a manufactured one. 3) All the radiators I've seen use a parallel flow design, so I guess that's the way to go. Edit, from a quick google of "home made radiator" I've found this thread, so I was wrong, a few people have made their own custom radiators.
Thanks for your replies, Plans have changed slightly, the rad willmake up the front panel of a scratch built case, hence the size, which will now be 200mm x 400mm to accommodate two 200mm fans. Unfortunately copper fins would be prohibitively expensive for me, so I'm sticking with aluminium. I've found a website which will do pre-cut aluminium plates (200x100x0.9mm) for £0.29 each, so I plan to buy around 100-140 of these and stack them with steel washers as spacers. I do have a blow torch and I am aware that solder doesn't stick to aluminium all that well, but would it provide a good enough thermal interface if I use other means of providing structural integrity? otherwise, does anybody know of anywhere in the UK I can get cheap copper plates/sheets.
