Scratch Build – In Progress Ridiculous Rasberry (Mk.3 Waterblock!)

Hi there,
My name is Elliott and this is the first watercooling project I have ever undertaken

No pressure there then!

My Scratch build is based around the immensely popular Raspberry Pi.
Inspired by the amazing efforts of Phame (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=256779) and his watercooled R-Pi I first intended to make my own version of the watercooling loop he used.

As watercooling an R-Pi is pretty much overkill anyway, I tried to think of other ways I could make my cooling system even more extreme whilst retaining some form of 'practicality'.



A few of the things I wanted to change and/or add were:

Waterblock - More water channels and thinner fins to increase cooling efficiency. Also less depth to the waterblock to increase the flow rate.

Smaller reservoir- In Phame's build he used the reservoir as a large passive heatsink. I wanted to use a more active method of cooling which meant the volume of coolant was less and flow rate higher.

Peltier cells!- A second waterblock would allow the coolant to pass the cold side of a peltier cell, thereby lowering the temperature of the coolant below ambient temperature.


So, here's some bits so far!


The gorgeous CNC milled aluminium Chipset Waterblock




The Peltier cell



So that's it so far

More updates tomorrow!

 

And another hard days work makes the waterblock for the cold side of the peltier.



And here are all the parts I have so far...
The old CPU heatsink in the top left will be cooling the hot side of the peltier cell



Hope your enjoying this,
Please give constructive criticism if you can think of some

 

although i think custom watercooling is something that should be done more often rather than simply buying your stuf i find that peltier cooling is a little bit over the top for a rasberry pi. especially whenn you consider that the peltier will probaby use more electricity and generate more heat than the pi itself.

also why didnt you use a oring instead of glue/silicon between the plexi and alu. that would be much more pressure resistant and also look more proffecional.

also i would suggest changing the srews to a hex screw type because that would probably look 100% better.

all in all i realy like where this is going although i believe the peltier is a little bit to much and will cause more problems than it will solve.

 

Sub-ambient Pi? If you do this, someone will make a tiny nitrogen pot for one next!
Welcome to BitTech. With a project like this, I'm sure you'll fit right in.

 

Peltier cooling on a little Rasberry Pi? That's so overkill... it's awesome! Good luck.

 

Thanks for the suggestions/observations Skyrip .
I agree, peltier cooling IS over the top for a R-Pi but over the top is what I was going for so thats ok

And yes the peltier consumes 12V at 3A so it is relatively inefficient. What I'm trying to do is build a proof of concept which I can apply to other watercooled builds in the future. It just so happens that at the moment I'm using the R-Pi

Yes I was considering making a gasket or o-ring seal for the top plate of the waterblocks. In the end I chose sealant as this meant I didn't have to put extra tool paths for o-rings or gaskets in the CNC program. I only have an hour of CNC maximum per program.
I will use an o-ring on the next one I make though

YES! hex nuts would look better. I'll order some today

Thanks Cheapskate!
A tiny nitrogen pot eh?

Thanks KithKahn
Overkill is what I'm looking for right now

 

Moar updates!

So I mounted the peltier cell between the waterblock and CPU heat sink today.



I hooked it up to a power supply and found that I can get the cold side to just start forming condensation.
I read somewhere that the cooler you can keep the hot side of the peltier, the cooler the cold side will be.

So... I put the 80mm fan back on the heatsink and cranked up the power to 12V at 3A (the peltiers maximum is 14V at 3.3A).

Lets just say it got so cold I stuck my finger to it


I think I'll turn it down a little for normal running


Now for some Pron shots of the R-Pi




Oh, and I started making the connectors for the waterblocks. I'll be using 4mm ID tubing.



Hope you're enjoying this

 

after Phame's loop next step is SS, and LN2 pot of course
i'll watch!!!

 

passive watercooling, and I suspect convection pumping with the use of a one way valve and that would be perfect.

Love it

 

Nice start dude and welcome to the forum.
Look forward to following this.

 

I really want this setup. Subambient Pi is amazing. Makes me want to make a setup for my Opty setup, but it would be a lot more work. I can't wait to see this one finished.

 

This is quite incredible. I very much look forward to more!

 

hahaha this is too cool!

 

So much win here. Overkill to the max, love it

 

*Rubs hands together*

Now that sounds cool. Something to decorate the lounge I recon!

Wow thanks Phame.
If you have any tips don't hesitate to say, after all you have way more experience in this field than I do

I definitely agree with the 'a lot more work' part Kayin! the waterblocks took a while but stay tuned to see the next bits

Thanks KidMod-Southpaw
and there will be...

Thats the problem!
Thanks OrangeClockwerk

I agree Meelobee, overkill is the way to go!


Updates soon!

 

UPDATES!!!

Sorry for the slight pause there, the next few components of my project are pretty complex and I have had a lot of work on so its taken a while.

Photos of the real thing will be posted tomorrow but here's something to look at now



Looks like a CPU waterblock heh
Stay tuned to see what it really is!

On another note, work saw my project and asked me to make a large, low profile, passive heatsink for another project. So here it is...



Updates tomorrow!!

 

Ridiculous Raspberry - RESERVOIR and CASE!

Its more of a chamber than a case for reasons which will be explained soon...

but can you guess?

The end of the chamber acts as the reservoir with inlets and outlets milled into its back.
The X will be sandwiched between two circular plates to seal the chambers.



The cables will go through the lower hole and will be packed with putty around them so they will seal but can still be changed in future.





More later today!

 

This has got to be one of the most pointless builds I have ever seen.

I love it LOL.

 

Scratch Build Ridiculous Rasberry (UPDATE!)

Well that was a short pause

The good news though is the project is still ongoing and I'm now onto the Mk.3 version of the Pi's waterblock.

So to bring you up to date I'll tell you all what's been happening while I was away...

I decided it would be far more space efficient and also easier to set the waterblock height if the design used individual waterblocks rather than a single complex multi-height waterblock.

Therefore I designed a new waterblock which would be small enough to fit but also large enough so I would not have to thread the waterblock itself and just bolt through instead.

I also wanted to smooth the flow between the rather flat and linear waterblock channels and the circular bore hose barb.

Therefore I milled a 'slot to round' shape in the waterblock top. Hopefully the photos pick it up ok








Notice the shape of the water channel?



Images Resized

 

That is so cool mate!