Scratch Build – In Progress ProtoHype - (paused)

Thanks for the tip. Been doing some searching about copper plating. If it works it might definetly be an option but I'll have to do some more searching as cheap mentioned there might be problems with the pores.

When you suggests "making the aluminium as massive as possible" it's beacause the aluminium corrods faster than copper right? Do you know if it's only the aluminium that corrods or does the copper corrods aswell but with a slower pace?

Thanks
O Yeah I do... but it's starting to bug me now actually. There's like a voise constantly telling me ......build....build. It's even haunting my dreams with all the things that needs to be done

I was pretty shure they were made out of copper at first but now I've heard and read different thing so I sent them a mail to be shure. Thank you very much for that link. Will post there reply here when I get it.

Well... I sent them a mail to be shure and hopefully will get a reply soon.

I had some other thoughts about the tank corrosion problem. One second option might be to create an internal tank out of copper and then "encase" it within the aluminium tank. Possibly soldering the coppertank to the alu. I read on THIS site about corrosion and they say that one way to prevent copper and alu corrosion is to "Soldering the contact surfaces together.". Anyone able to confirm this?

Once again, thanks for all the replies

 

Galvanic corrosion requires an electrolyte. If you solder the pieces together, no amount of moisture can enter that area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion
Wiki has a lot of suggestions on what to do.

 

yeah, copper+aluminium=not a good idea. However you could nickel plate the aluminium which will stop its corrosion. BTW great job so far.

 

Or you could create your own rad.

 

I'was more kind of wondering if the galvanic process is terminated if the alu and copper are in contact in the electrolyt by for instance a solder. Kind of like a shortcircuit.

Thanks. I'm currently looking in to all types of plating and surface treatments

Don't you dare tempt me with that....

 

BTW, looking at your avatar, someone should start a MacGyver-related mod!

 

yeah me too... I think all you need is a lot of paperclips, pvc-pipes and som fertilizer. Maybe some gum for rigidity

 

Awesome work on the mod. Magicool http://magicool.biz/Magicool/RadiatorsAL.html and Koolance http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=585 carry aluminum radiators.

 

Silver flash coating? And use deionized water + antifreeze? Should go a long long way in stopping corrosion...

 

You forgot tape... lots of electrical, insulating and double sided tape . Could build the Tour Eiffel with that.

Back to the mod.

 

VERY NICE WORK!! As far as a radiator you could shop around auto parts for a heater from a vehicle or motor cycle, engine oil cooler or such since they are made from aluminum.

A galvanic reaction can be stopped with a zinc block in the reservior wrapped with cloth to prevent debris from circulating the zinc will corrode as a sacrificial lamb.

Just a thought,with the whole case being aluminum you could use the case itself as the radiator.

 

Thanks for that info, never thought of using a sacrificial lamb with cloth, Cool idea.
Regarding the case as a radiator.. that's actually the plan. There will be two loops one out of copper that will use a regular radiator and one loop out of aluminium that will use the front of the case as a radiator.

Thanks for the tips
Silver flash coating sound expensive. Not shure I can find anyone doing that around here.

Thanks Nice links. I wasn't shure aluradiators existed for pc-watercooling.

 

I'll say it again. I have run mixed-metals loops, and 'Toad is still a mixed loop. It takes years normally for a problem to develop. It's not the safest way to roll, but water cooling is pretty high maintenance anyway.
-Keep the alu and brass/copper bits from actually touching.
-Flush the system every 6 months.
-Use cheap grocery store distilled water and a drop of biocide.

TL;DR= Let's get back to the porn!

 

Machining skills are as perfect as always, it's looking great so far.

 

Thanks.. doing my best, but im still learning. I't can never be perfect enough...always things to improve.

a little progress report: Working on the "lid" for the hd-blocks. The alu part is done still have the plexi and rubber gasket to manufacture. Cutting the rubber gasket might be a challenge.

Take care

 

Oh and something I forgot to add on the mixed metals, I would strongly advise against it. I have a Swiftech GTX CPU block (copper base, alu top) and after 2 months of use with anti corrosive coolant the block top had already started to corrode, now I have the Delrin top.

 

It's been a while since the last update. During this time I have been trying to fabricate the top for the HD block. The hardest part was, as expected, to create the rubber gasket and make it able to provide a leakproof seal. I first tried by cutting a gasket from a sheat of rubber but soon abandoned that idea to try the luck with silicone. The silicone was also hard to use since I would need to be able to remove the silicone once set, and that wasn't easy without destroying the silicone. This ended up with a leaking seal and I decided to give another shot at cutting a rubber gasket. The second time it turned out much better and this is the method I'm sticking with at the moment. I still have to hard test it for leeks while applying real pressure since I've only been testing it with the pressure my lungs are able to produce .

Anyway... Here are the pictures of the last parts for the HD blocks in the making.
Sorry for the crapy quality of the first 4 pictures. I forgot my real camera at home and had to use the "light identifier" also known as "camera" on my nokia 5310.


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I couldn't keep myself from modding the screws just a tiny bit. Gave them a treatment in the lathe to make them a littlebit smaller and give them a more edgy look.

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Had to do some test fitting with some old harddrives. Fits like a glove but dang this thing turned out heavy


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There you have it... the HD blocks are done, (apart from the finishing surface treatment later on). Now it's time to work on the rest of the build.

/GNU

 

Beautiful work Gnu.

 

+1

The HDD rack/cooler looks absolutely amazing . Excellent work.

 

Wow, very nice!