Hi All Just something i've been pondering, would it be possible to gloss/varnish a PCB to waterproof it without damaging it? Has anyone tried this?
Never tried it, but I can imagine that you'd have trouble because although you could seal the board surface itself, you'd have issues with connectors and pins, which are exposed and would have to remain exposed in order for them to actually work.
If you varnished the board as a whole (every thing thats going to be conected hooked up it should be fine. aslong as the varnish doesnt react with the PCB, wires or doesnt conduct electricity.
As long as the varnish is non conductive and solvent based you'll be fine. Make sure you mask any empty slots or pins as if you gloss over them an electrical connection wont be made if you plug something in in the future.
I Was just thinking of filling all the slots and using some old PSU connectors to stop the stuff getting into the connectors, the same for everything else really. I'm just really paranoid about my new watercooling leaking everywhere, as it'll cause water to leak from my face...
You'd be better off using some non-conductive fluid instead (like Feser One) in my opinion. The risk of damage from it leaking is much less than the risk of varnishing a motherboard ****ing up.
They all conduct electricity. Because really they are not the thing conducting it, its the contaminants in the loop and the dust on your motherboard/graphics card, as soon as it spills its going to mix and conduct. Most people say that once something has been in your loop for a week, its as conductive as the next thing. If you really want non conductive stuff you can buy things that are £100s per litre, but even that might still not work. So then you are looking into £1000s per litre for real non conductivity. A lot of people have spills and nothing happens. Some people have tiny drips and everything dies, no matter what coolant is used. The best thing to do is leak test properly and put your loop together well. I personally use de-ionised what with a silver kill coil in my res. One thing to consider would be the use of some sort of decorative blanking plate. Loads of people use some acrylic on the back of their graphics card to give it a stealthier look. I can imagine that it would also reduce the risk of death. In a standard upright ATX case, a drip or light leak from a cpu block would drip right onto the graphics card. My graphics card block would drip right into my power supply, which is why it has the fan facing down.
Just test your loop more thoroughly; varnishing is untested, difficult, and potentially just as fatal to your motherboard as a leak. For a better test of the loop, first pressurize to about 10psi with air (whilst otherwise empty); attach a good pressure gauge and leave for two days. If that pressure (about double what it will experience in water operation) is maintained, the loop is probably fine. Then, run a 48-hour leak test without any components installed and see if it's all OK.
High end Mark Levinson Audio gear used to have all the electronics encased in epoxy so there won't be any problem if you use a two part epoxy floor finish (as an example). Or one of the hobby glass coat finishes, that are also two part epoxy. The only thing you need to pay particular attention to is areas that accept removable parts.
I've seen cards getting painted and that worked out just fine, but varnishing all parts just to keep them safe from possible water cooling leaks is just silly. My 2 cents are: If you don't rely on your WC-skills then just forget about it.
