Projekt Passiv-Agressiv - Custom Radiators, waterblocks *03 Aug, FINISHED*

So, I have begun another project, you may remember my first works, ATi:Ressurected, and Old Skool Silence, also, the Motherboard Cube, and other assorted projects found here, my next case, which is entitled Projekt Passiv, for the reason that it will incorporate 2 passive radiators, custom built waterblocks/resivor, plus some other surprises.

i dislike the usual case mod. ill try to stay away from the vanilla mods i see alot of, so here is some of my work so far, there will be more to come as the project progresses. As always, Im open to suggestions or comments. so fire away!! I appreciate comunity feedback and ideas.



These are the 2 radiators which will be mounted to the machined aluminum blocks, they were $5 each on ebay. 4.5" by 7 3/8", fairly large...

Overview of the aluminum base, attached to the heatsink


This is a corner, of the aluminum radiator block, milling is being done with a 1/2" carbide tipped router bit and a 25 year old, brand new, practically unused sears/roebuck router. nice piece of machinery. almunim cuts very nicely as well.


Overview of the base, the channels are 1/2" wide, and will be 1/4" deep. the holes will be tapped with a 1/4"PT tap, for 1/2"ID tubing, i might use fuel hose, or sink connectors, since they come in a variety of sizes, and everyone uses tygon, so its kinda bland these days.


My shop:
9" Delta Band saw
10" Delta Drill Press
Both were christmas gifts from my father, thanks Dad.


of course, cant have a worklog without adriana lima


Some copper bar, which will be used for the bases of all the waterblocks:



1/2" thick aluminum plate, cut with a bandsaw, used for the radiator bases, and a 1/4" thick aluminum plate, which will be cut for the retention plates on the waterblocks.


Plans for the base, i was bored in history..

 

Looks promising. Not the usual CNC work that seems to be the rage lately.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing how far you can go with tools that most of us have access to. I'll be rooting for you.

 

well, just to add to the CNC craze, as i was planning, i decided against getting any parts outsourced outside my garage, this is the original case mod. 100% homemade. thanks for your support in advance. of course, no offense to those who do use CNCs and laser cutters, and water jet cutters and real mills, as opposed to manual tools, because their work is obviously alot more perfect than mine, with far less tolerance.

 

Wow nice! Very DIY! please keep us updated!

 

This looks VERY promising, I'll be subscribing. I might just get some ideas on silencing my own gear

 

ooh, looks very nice... i like DIY...

so mod on!

 

Hey , ATI , long time-no see . I found your response to Defyants mod and thought I'ed come visit

Nice start , going to be different too.
Don't listen to the people that are going to say ... Passive cooling, why bother ? you can't overclock, etc.
I think It's going to be a great mod, and all home done too!

DB

 

Promising... I feel a quality mod coming on...

Hey! Don't reveal all our modding secrets!...

 

Looking great, Just out of curiosity where did you get that copper bar from? (with the rounded edges) I have some of that in my stash and have allways wondered why they make it with rounded edges

slater..

 

sorry its been so long, ill have an update tomorrow evening. Hey slater, i remember talking to you a while back reguarding different types of metal in the same loop, thanks again for your help. I got the copper bar from a local metal shop, at 2.50 a pound. kindof expensive, but its nice stuff, I like the rounded edges better anyway.

 

Hello again,
I recieved the case today, and it is amazing, this is my second lian li, and I must say, they make great cases, I like the upside down motherboard idea of some newer cases, but i like the look of the old PC65s, so I think Im going to drill out the rivets and flip over the tray and backpanel. I also ordered some sleeving and heatshrink and got that all put together.

Here are Pictures of the case, and some progress of the radiators.

I ordered the case without the window, but they sent me the windowed version. oh well, i have a spare PC60 sidepanel i can use anyways. it worked out nicely.


Here is the spare panel I stuck on. I had originally planned to do some crazy flames but never finished it. Now I have a reason to finish


And the design for the panel.


The fans and cathodes, sleeved with red sleeving, and white heatshrink. The overall scheme will end up with white lighting and accents and mainly black with red metal flake. maybe some red bits here and there. i.e. sleeving. But be aware everything will not be sleeved. Im going to use fuel hose or sink lines for the molexes. but thats not until later on.


Rear exhaust fan. Yes friends this is a 120mm fan in a Lian-Li, i had an old junker case I was going to use, but when I saw this I had to get one. Plus Lian-Lis are absolutely a dream to work on. My last case was an old dumpster mutt and its a ***** to open and work on.


Theres one in the front too:



Front panel




Ok, moving on to the water portion, these are rough ideas, and since I took this picture, there have already been heavy modifications to this design. So thats an idea of where the blocks are going.


Updated radiator progress. Its slow, but I have this week off and I hope to finish both rads and start cutting on the case.

 

WOW... thats all i can say

i respect you for doing it the "old school" way... manual tools, i hope you get a decent performing waterloop... i must admit im quite drawn to those Lian-Li's as i need a new case for my project...

take care

keep moddin'

 

That radiator is really starting to come together nicely. And although I realize it probably wouldn't work, I think it'd kind of make an interesting cpu water block that could just be lack of sleep talking though.

 

This is looking awesome, man, nice work indeed!

 

Well, after much thought and pondering, i have decided to add a heatercore in the intake, and as much of a passive project this started out as, it will still remain passive, but the heatercore, will just serve as a fail-safe for during the hot summer months. the case will have some airflow, so it is simply not practical to make waterblocks for the mosfets and northbridge, as a.) the passive system cannot handle the extra heat, and b.) the blocks will only restrict flow in the system. So, I still have some other tricks to add, I found a cool-looking 3 neck flask on ebay I might purchase for a resivior, but I am asking for some INPUT AND SUGGESTIONS as to a res. The res will not be the highest point in the system, and since the water will not be moving very fast, I understand there is a high potential for air bubbles to get caught up in the radiators. Any thoughts on this concept or how to get around it?



Ok on to the real update:
I got some work done yesterday on mounting the radiators, but I do not like how the screws look just, "out there", so Im going to rig up a plexi/aluminum(or steel since I have some lying around) mounting plate to fit around the edge of the radiators and dress it up a bit. they will be lighted by LEDs, most likely white, or maybe white with a touch of red.

Getting ready to cut, after measuring and remeasuring 3 times...ugh:


All cut out, ignore the little bit in the middle, that will be covered up anyways.


Im not liking the look of these screws just sitting there in the open.



Test fit of how the top panel will look:


Now, since the case will be glossy black with red metal flake, what goes best with everything else? Any opinions?
Black:


Chrome:



Got to Ace hardware today, picked up some screws etc for the fans, i found some rubber bushings as opposed to actual grommets, bushings have only one side of the grommet, with a smaller portion to fit inside the hole, that way the fan is still isolated but there is no rubber thing sitcking out around the screws on the exterior of the case.

 

the black screws look better imo

 

i love the way that looks... personally i like the stainless steel/silver hex bolts... they look nice in my opinion

i love the domed nuts for the fan, they look really nice, might have to get a few for my project

take care

 

Amazing work, keep it up

 

Chrome fo sho

 

So, was that routing work in the aluminium done with a standard, everyday hand held router like this? - http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=121242