Scratch Build – In Progress Loricatus by shinji2k

If I was born 500 years ago I would have definitely been a blacksmith. There's something so satisfying about shaping metal, even though I'm not very good at it yet .

I tried looking for a picture or video clip but I didn't have much luck.

Ah Berserk, one of the more disturbing things I've read. I will always remember that manga for it's demonic horse rape scene . It's a shame the series will probably never be finished. I actually modded Skyrim and added the Berserker armor and Dragonslayer so I had a female version of Guts.

I can only hope it'll look that good when I'm done.

What'll be awesome is figuring out this stupid transition to the side panels.

 

I wish I had something for ya. I've been brainstorming an idea for the nuc competition on top of the normal holiday season crap. I figured I needed a couple weeks of thinking about something different since I'm still a little hung up on the design for this.

 

I haven't completely given up on this yet. I haven't had much motivation to work on the case but I have been playing around with some water block prototypes. It's not much but I figured I would share it.



Cutting 36 0.02" slots 0.100" deep is not fun on a vertical mill with no flood coolant. Why did I think this was a good idea?



Various iterations. I tried a clear acrylic and a black UHMW PE top. I'll probably settle on black acetal but this is what I just happened to have on hand.





The white there is HDPE, definitely not sturdy enough. Looks like I need to buy some acetal. The clear acrylic is also an option, I just don't like milling it.

That's all I got, sorry.

 

I did a little more tinkering. I was hoping to do some preliminary testing with the acrylic top but I milled the o-ring channel a bit too deep. So I whipped up another acrylic top, I'm up to five now I think.



Still trying to bleed the loop but it's lookin' good so far. I like that the bubbles are evenly distributed across all the channels. For another test I added some purple dye.



I'm pretty happy with it so far. I still suck at milling acrylic, the o-ring groove looks awful. I also wish I could have cut more channels in the base. But 0.025" fins with 0.02" channels was the smallest I could do without a lot of warping. My machine just isn't rigid enough and I'm not setup for flood coolant.

I was also thinking of a one piece top. I like the acrylic but acetal is a lot easier to machine and it hides my mistakes.

 

Custom water blocks are awesome. I think you're being too hard on yourself. I can't even see mistakes. I think you should use an acrylic top to show it off!

 

Indeed. As someone who has just started milling themselves, I am finding out that (as usual) it is a lot harder to do in reality than inside my head!

 

I agree with Ocelot for the acrylic top, it looks awesome like this!

 

Very nice block but which looks best?, IMO clear but suppose with not knowing how the rest of the internals are going to look like yet I just don't know.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I scrounged up enough random hardware to do a quick performance test. All I have spare at the moment is a 3570k and a board I can't OC on but it's a start. Maybe I'll steal my old x58 rig off my brother see how it handles the heat from an OCed 920.



The only block I have to compare to is an old-ish Apogee XT. Amazingly enough my block only averaged 1C lower than the XT. I would expect that to widen with higher TDP chips and some OCing but I'm honestly surprised it's holding up as well as it with being such a simple design.

Now I just need to finalize the top design .

 

Nice.

 

Maybe?





I wasn't too impressed at first but it's starting to grow on me. I'm not liking the matte finish though since you can't see the coolant going through the fins. If I use this it'll need to be polished.

My other option is going with a black delrin top with brass brackets. I think polished brass would better match the base than the aluminum brackets.

Or I could do a one piece delrin top. Hmm...

Time to order some supplies.

 

That's a very sleek design. I think it would look great polished. Those Philips screws have to go though.

 

Looks fantastic, thats so much work I dont think I would ever even start, you have to be proud of the fact you have even got as far as you have never mind it looking as great as it does.

 

Not gonna lie, that waterblock looks amazing! One of those with a polished top, engraved logo/project name on the edge and a LED next to/in it would make that look like a factory bought one! I'm so hoping this project gets finished, as it's looking awesome already!

 

Slotting like that on a manual mill is probably preferable to a cnc. I couldn't slow mine down enough to cut. I ended up shredding a drive belt.
That said, you deserve a medal for milling that base.
Since you have a ton of spare tops, you should mill a tiny bit of space over the fins on one and see if the added surface contact improves the temps.

Last top looks sweet.

 

All of this. Love the design Shinji!!

 

Over the years I've amassed a decent collection of socket head screws of various sizes but of course I didn't have #6 flat head screws that were long enough. I'll definitely get some nice ones for the finished product!

Thanks for taking the time to look at my project!

You must've read my mind! I need to come up with a nice logo for the build and engrave it on the top.

Instead of a medal I think I may need a psychiatric evaluation. I must have a few screws loose to think this was a good idea . If I ever mess this base up I might cry, copper is not fun to cut with a slitting saw. Aluminum cuts like butter compared to copper. Unless I was super careful, chips would build up and push against the fin I had previously cut. My first attempt at the base was a mess with the fins all mangled. This type of work really should be done with a horizontal mill.


I did a quick and dirty polish of the base and top, I'm actually pretty happy with the design. I'll probably make another top with what I've learned from this one but hopefully that'll be the final one!

 

Woooo, that really looks saaaaweeeeeet.

 

Yes so true I find my mill is great for the heavier stuff but water blocks need a CNC really.

Great work though shinji2k

 

I was so taxed from the last slotting job, at the end I moved the Z up without extracting the saw, and broke it.

You really should test the top with a gap, though. Mine got fantastic temps with a 1/32" gap over the fins.