I don't have pictures yet (I am going downstairs to take some after posting this).. but let me explain I decided to watercool the machine in my sig (if you know Xeons they belch out huge amounts of heat (idle at 120ºF), and the Radeon 9700 isn't a iceball either). Dad and I changed out the heater core in his Cadillac a bit back and the old one has been collecting dust in the garage ever since. I took it and figured out it would work quite nicely. Now I have a radiator for free. I needed a shroud, because this heatercore was about 8" square. I talk it over with my dad and he says somwthing to the effect of "Why don't you build a box". I get to thinking I am going to have a lot of circuitry with a temperature controlled fan and a relay controlling the pump and a time-delay power-off 2 minutes after the computer shuts down, so I thought why not. We go to the store and buy 3 sheets of 1/2" cabinet grade birch veneer plywood and 2 pieces of angle moulding (total cost $18) and get to work. The box is huge, but I really don't care. It should hold all my WC stuff just fine . I have yet to have a name (help me please, I'll send you an Internet Pizza if I pick your name) I am going to have hydraulic quick disconnects to seperate the box from the PC. yes, I know it is overkill but it is nice to have, and the only WC bits in the WC will be a bit of hose and the waterblocks, as well as a fan wire to sense when the computer is on, as well as provide MBM with an idea how fan the rad fan is running. To control the system, I built a box and spliced on a serial cable I hacked one end off to it and hooked up switches and status LEDs to. I have a switch to turn on some effect in the box, but I don't know what I'm going to do yet (suggestions please) I will post pictures soon and please make suggestions!
Pics!!! This is the box with the radiator in it. This is just the radiator (sitting on a Char-Broil gas grill I might add) The box without the radiator Detail of the radiator mounting (note, the partition is not glued in yet) Box with lid on, there will be moulding around the bottom of it just like the top. Here are the 2 Swiftech MCW5000-PX WBs connected together. I have 2 Xeon 2.4GHz procs. My control box Sorry for the blurriness. My digital camera is a pain. It won't focus too well. This should be where I changed my mind about how to do the wire and I had to change the hole....
Those are some very nice joints there, chap :> Are you going to coat/paint/lacquer the wood in anything when it's finished? Woodstain perhaps? Would give it a nice long lasting protection just incase worst comes to worst and you spring a leak or something You could call it Project:Wooden External Watercooling Box. That has a nice ring to it...
that has a nice ring to it my dad says I should put linseed oil and paste wax on it, and he's been doing woodworking for more than 40 years, so.... I'm going to put linseed oil and paste wax on it
Ya don't see too many dual processor rigs on this site... Good to know I'm not alone in building external watercooling projects either. Cheers, and nice Xeons. Those Swiftech blocks I hear are hella nice too As for a name... hrm... how about "Knot A Caddy" or "Knot on Wood"?
I went to my garage and piddled with some hose connections and took some pictures... Here's a quick disconnect fitting. I have 2, and one will be going on each hose between the computer and the WC unit. When disconnected only a little bit of water escapes and almost no air is introduced on reconnection. Here's the radiator with my simple and easy method of converting 3/4" to 1/2". The wire attached to one hose has a thermistor on the end of it for measuring water temperature leaving the radiator and adjusting fan speed accordingly. I know I could've cut the plastic barbs off and added barbs to it but now if there is a problem with the heatercore, I can get a new one and not have to modify it, too. Yes, I will put hose clamps on the rad but I still need the rad w/o the hose for fitting the partition. The quick connect is setting by it, for size comparison. To put the box in perspective, I have an Antec case and it will set on top of this box.
should look great with linsead and wax jsut remember to rub and rub and rub wax is a pain but its looks awsome
Minor update. I took pictures while waiting for the glue to dry, so I can take off the clamps and do more work. (There are no nails in this box.) Gluing the shelf together that the reservoir will sit on. Glued the partition to the main box. After this dries, I can work on it later tonight, and glue the shelf into the box and get the bottom moulding cut and maybe glued on. After that I just have to finish it and the building of the box itself is done!
I'm thinking of insuing a similar project, and I was thinking of something similar to what you had, but I wasn't sure if it existed. Do you know what this is exactly called and where I may be able to find one? Thanks!
i have been looking at making my own wb but have come to the conculsion that its cheeper to buy one just a thought
Asazman, look here http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/...Id=6970&catalogId=4006970&langId=-1&PHOTOS=on those are actually for air tools and Im not sure they will work with the low pressure water. Or they may be the variety used with hydraulic machinery, in which case, Im still not sure they will work with such low pressure. Tkwsn, have you used those with water before?
those fitting are called dry-break couplings, normally they are for high pressure lines, but you can find them for low pressure lines as well, as to where, im not sure of a website, local hardware stores around my area do sell them, and ive used them on low pressure lines and they work, but as for using them with water cooling, bring a towel, they do leak a little on disconnecting most ive seen for low pressure lines though are kinda ugly and dont appeal to me, but perhaps knowing they are called dry-break will help you find some stainless steel or something
so wait whats the coolin properties of word? i thought the reason that medium isnt really used is because of the face that wood doesnt insulate that well...the it dispates the coolin effect too much. Granted metal would contain the heat and hold it...but its a sweet idea dont get me wrong i love the idea..and i love the intercoolers soooo
They do work with low pressure just fine - they are meant for hydraulics, which means both low and high. John Henry Foster Co. has them - I'll find a link here soon, if I'm not too lazy . The heatercore was replaced because he thought it leaked. Turns out the hose next to it leaked. . I cleaned it out with some Sno Bol (toilet bowl cleaner - Hydrochloric acid) and blew the dust out of the fins with my air compressor. It works great. The cooling properties of words are you say the right thing to someone and they get so mad they're sad to be frosted... oh wood , well, I don't have a block bender of even a brake, so metal is out (in order for us to be able to weld it, it would have to be 1/4" steel, which would weigh a lot. We have all sorts of tools for woodworking, and are good at it. And, isn't the point to dissipate heat? What do you mean intercoolers?
More box building pics. I have all gluing of the box done. All that is left is to drill the 4 holes for the fan and to finish it and then I am done with building the wooden box. I have a lot of stuff to put in it. This first pic shows the reservoir sitting on top of the box, as we contemplate how to attach the shelf. Here's my dad sanding the shelf's hole. We decided to put one big hole instead of 2 holes, one for each hose, because it would be easier to make and to work with. We screwed the reservoir on to the shelf to thread the holes before it got glued in. Here's the shelf glued in. This is the first place we have used screws (or nails) because we had no good way to clamp it in. The wiping is where we removed the extra glue from the joint. I took this after we were done with gluing. We glued the bottom moulding on and are now finished with the gluing aspect. This gives a good view of my garage. Things to notice in my garage: Old radio from truck thrown on top of toolbox R134-A Air conditioning gauges 4 bottles of Zerex coolant (empty) Jack stand Dart board Pellet gun 2 RJ-45 Jacks running to our garage from our hub. One goes from a Smart Jack to our T1 router. Yes, I have a T1 in my house. Titebond brand glue. Discerning viewers will note I removed the letter "e" in a fit of humor. Big box of crushed soda cans (bottom right corner) Water pump gasket off of car (on above box) really bad job of lining up wall outlets Speaker from truck attached to the side of the toolbox Broken old-school flashlight from 1960s (power switch won't latch so I set it upright so it'll stay off until I fix it) - thanks flacowboy Anyways, back on topic... The box, I think, is really starting to come together and look good. Another view of the final gluing.
