Radical CPU waterblock [Update] - Hey guys, I'm back! Window Fixed! 6/22/05

On a lathe? Wow! Cheaper than a CNC mill for sure...

 

Could you please Private Message me Mr. Lemur 6. whenever you get a chance...I would like to ask you a question

Look simply amazing!

 

Actually... quite a bit more expensive. Manual stuff requires a lot of time, half the time being just setting the bloody tool up, and machining the actual part requires manual labor. Plus it's not good for your health...

CNC, you just set up your work piece, zero once, feed in your G-code, and you're off, and you just have to observe that your tool isn't tearing up something it isn't supposed to (or walk away and have a beer like some people do ).

Plus CNC is highly repeatable, to very close tolerances. So lets say I make a block, I can make the same block to within 1/10,000 of an inch accuracy in very little time (i.e. spit out a block an hour once I get the code in and all the bugs worked out). While in order to replicate a block manually to those kinds of tolerances would require a ton of time (days to weeks).

CNC machines are not THAT expensive, ~$5,000USD will get you a decent CNC mill that you can code conversational G-code into (and conversational CNC is very easy to learn vs. learning how to use Unigraphics to make a tool path), while a good bridgeport mill will cost you ~$2,000USD. So yeah, if you make a lot of things, CNC is cheaper for sure.

-Lemur 6

 

a good cnc machine cost much mora than that... i was watching today american chooper and saw a nice CNC machine and the first think i tought wow a case mod with that think... some ppl think im sick xD

 

Well, if you're talking automatic tool changer, multi axis mill/lathe combos with milk spigots everywhere, then sure, they'll run upwards to a million. But for a Plain Jane CNC like a Centurion II, (i.e. you have to put in the tool yourself and manually zero every tool and can't read in G-code from a CAD file), those are not very expensive at all.

-Lemur 6

 

http://www.cartertools.com/mill.html
This has both manual and CNC mills at decent prices. Perfect for small scale stuff. There also is a lathe, both manual and CNC.

Anyway, nice work and I hope this turns out the way you have it planned.

 

Base fabrication begins! 5/4/05

Hey guys, update time, sorry for not updating sooner, had troubles with my FTP server. Just a real short one today.

Seems like a lot of people are confused on what I use to machine my parts. Here's what it looks like:

Yeah... a ton of nobs and handles to turn. They don't turn on their own, I have to manually turn them. i.e. this is not CNC.

Remember I said I was playing around with cutting speeds for copper? Well check this out:

The insertion end finished


Lop off the extra on the other side, and we flatten it a bit.


and then we trim it down to size... oh... yep, that is an example of a perfect chip, the copper comes off in one long contiguous spiral.


Done. The base is amazingly flat and it does hell on the camera lense. Had real hard time focusing because it kept wanting to focus on the reflection. Also plays hell on your eyes, has a wierd way of refracting light. Take a look:

Oooh! Shiney

Sorry it's taking so long... other projects at work have been keeping me busy lately. Also, I need to order a metal slitting saw that's big enough to cut the fins. My arbor eats up over an inch (1 1/4" wide), so I'll need a cutter that's at least 3 1/4" in diameter to cut my fins.

Also, I could not find copper stock that was big enough, so I had to make due with what I could find, which was 2" in dia, over 1/2" smaller than what I originally wanted. So I'll have to make some fancy looking hold down plate for the bottom. Or... I might make one in alu instead for now and save the coper for the second iteration. We'll see what happens in the coming days...

-Lemur 6

 

That is friggin insane. I can't wait to see what you do next.

 

nice machining skill! that's Control!

go on!

 

now that is amazing

ive just found out that one of my good mate has 2 lathes, so i might have to get some metal and have a muck around with it and see if i can make a block or 2

take care lemur... mod on

 

i forgot to ask if... you used inventor do to the design?

 

Beautiful piece of copper you've got there.
I hope your extreme drilling skills and that shiny reflection make one hell of a cpu cooling block.

 

Wow! Just wow. Need to pick myself up one of those machines Only lathes I've seen were little midget crappy ones, that one looks a hair more useful.

 

No word is good enough to describe your work...

 

lemur 6 can i do that with my dremmel xD just joking nice machinery i wish i had one of those.... keep the work im looking forward to see if your design perfoms better

 

Yep, sure did. Kinda quirky program, but makes very nice assemblies.

-Lemur 6

 

Lemur , kickass job on the block so far. cant wait to see finished product.. =]

 

That's totally awesome, if you ever decide to manufacture more of those you can put me on the waiting list for one. My DD-TC4-Rev2 is getting a bit old and that looks absolutely awesome, and the build quality I can't wait to see how this looks in the end.

 

Nice work, there's nothing better than a well done hand machined part. So much satisfaction getting it exactly right.

I just have a quick thought though.

Surely the block bottom isnt completely flat, the reflections would lead me to believe that there is a uniform taper either inwards or outwards on the base. Im sure your going to lap it anyway though so it wouldnt be a problem.

Also on the subject of machine cutter paths and working plotting them in Unigraphics. I had to do a bit of cutter path planning to produce the code for a bracket i made as part of my uni course and found it suprisingly easy to pick up. I haven't ever looked at G-Code, and the part i had to plan for was pretty simple but i wouldn't think there was too much difference in difficulty between the two.

 

Oh man that's so nice. I absolutely love the look of freshly machined parts, that copper base is gorgeous.