Project: Metal Slug - [Hardware @ Dec. 1st]

New waterblock top is done.

 

Good to see you're back at this.

About this new waterblock top though, somehow it doesn't seem to be as "finished" as your other parts...

I for one have been missing your updates, so keep them coming.

Darkened

 

I didn't bother to sand it much because it's just going to end up under the motherboard cover anyways.
I'm hoping Santa will bring me a router table this year so I can be lazier about finishing things but still get clean results.

 

Good god man, are you actually modding on thanksgiving?

I was busy eating... < Chewing

 

Nice to see you back in action Captain. I've been missing your work.

How did you make that, erm... recess? (don't know the correct word) on to the cap of the reservoir? What tool you used?

 

The machine lathe at work.

 

Well, Eaglebit sent me the wrong video card so I had to order the one I actually wanted from Newegg.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to make some progress on the replacement pump top. But for now I'm going to lay down because my back hurts.

 

I made the new pump top today (out of more gray PVC). Again, made only with a manual knee mill and machine lathe. Took 3 hours and some very creative tooling setups, but it matches the CAD dimensions perfectly. I might dye it black, but I'm not sure yet.




Pump is an old Swiftech MCP600.

 

wow. that pump top looks amazing - nice work. Is that PVC? I've used it myself; very nice material to machine...

oh, and don't dye it. I think it has a great 'industrial' look as it is

 

that's incredible work, bro.

Wish I had access to something like that... probably should go back to school...

 

that looks really good, very good skills for it not bein made by a cnc....i've wanted to make my drill press into a knee mill, but unable to find plans to make the table part of it. i would personally dye the cover black. other then that....awesome build...keepin an eye on it

 

Mounting plate for the pump is now done. I'm definitely going to dye the plate.

The loop goes: Reservoir Tank -> Pump -> Radiator -> Res Pass-through -> Video Card -> CPU ->

 

Glad to see your back at it Captain, love this case, apologies for waiting about a year to bother to register and tell you so

 

Welcome. And Thank you.

 

I made an o-ring spacing washer at work earlier today to use on the outlet of the new pump top since the thread on that port isn't terribly deep.

And here are some extra pics comparing the old pump top and the new one.


Differences
1. The stock pump top has a hardpoint molded into it for the axle that holds the impeller in place. However, the impeller is primarily centered by magnetic force from the drive motor and the axle is securely epoxied at the other end so I wasn't going to worry about it not being a part of the replacement top.
2. The outlet on my point is a completely different profile. I drilled it at a different offset because I didn't like how tight the tolerances between it and the o-ring groove were on the stock pump. I also though a purely elliptical shape didn't make any sense for capturing the flow output evenly.
3. Original top was made out of polyethylene. New top is PVC and three times thicker at all structural points.

If I later decide to use the new top with a 1/2" ID loop I would expect that it's performance would be somewhat better in terms of flowrate. The output on the stock top is kind of narrow because of the need for the barb to be structurally sound. Something that's not a concern if the top is made from a solid block.

 

-- nice..

 

All of the hardware I need for this project (minus a sound card I'm waiting on) is in my hands and I've been getting everything put together again and taking some measurements. Here's the CPU block reinstalled.

The full cover block installed on the 6800. Quite an upgrade from the 5900XT it's replacing. There's still plenty of work left to be done to transform the video card.

And I'm making another I/O cover since the last one went missing. This one will get painted black and have the same labeling as the previous one added to it.

On Monday I can get the threading adapter for the video card waterblock made. Then I can get the new watercooling loop configuration setup for the first time.

 

Hey man is that I/O plate machined or done by hand as I need to make one myself, I'm guessing machined, anyway I'm just blabbering on really at this point so....

 

I used the original one and a sharpie to trace the pattern onto a sheet of 1/16th thickness polycarbonate. The ports were cut out with a drillpress and a scrollsaw.

 

Looks mighty fine Captain! Great execution of a good idea. I like minimalist industrial look of this, really nice I/O plate.