Impact
Site Admin Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 3257 Location: Pinecrest, FL	Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:17 pm    Post subject: Build your own Waterblock   Note: When working with tools or electronics, be careful. Take all precautions including wearing protective equipment. We at Absolute Insight are not responsible for any of your actions. A while ago I started on my first water cooling adventure. While I didn't know exactly what I was doing, I did know that I didn't want to pay a tremendous amount of money. Being a "why buy it when I can make it myself" person, I started dreaming of building my own water cooling system. If you are unfamiliar with water cooling, I suggest you read our article on the basics, it will familiarize you with the basic terms and how watercooling works. From here on I will assume you know the basics and understand terms like pump, radiator, reserviour, and waterblock. This article will only go over building the waterblock. The reserviour, pump, and setup will come in a future article. The first step in building any piece or equipment is to make a plan. I originally thought of using something called a "Cross Drilled" design. Quote: A cross drilled waterblock. I found this design at http://www.overclockers.com/tips206/. I ordered two small copper blocks from an online provider (www.onlinemetals.com) and was getting all excited about my new project until I realized something tragic. How was I going to attach the new waterblock to my motherboard? The cross drilled waterblock would easily be attached to a motherboard by bolting it down, through the four holes around your CPU socket. Unfortunately, my board doesn't have any holes (Gigabyte GA-7VAXP at the time of the block). So it was back to the drawing board. I needed to either design a whole new block, or figure out a way to attach the cross drilled block to my socket clips. After dissembling multiple old heat sinks and fans in an attempt to find something that could be modded to fit, I couldn't find anything that would work. I was about to give up when my dad (who was helping me try to devise something) stumbled upon an old heat sink that had stopped working. My old ThermalTake Dragon Orb 3 was sitting in a box. Quote: We had a good laugh at it. It was loud, giant, and didn't cool my system very well. The dragon orb was reviewed by overclockers.com before AI was ever around. You can see the full review here: http://www.overclockers.com/articles427/ My dad was about to put it back into the box from whence it came when he turned it over and said "Wow, no wonder this thing is so heavy. It's almost pure copper inside". Luckily his comment caught my attention. Copper is obviously the metal of choice. It has a great heat exchange capability and is also very inexpensive. After inspecting the Dragon Orb we were amazed to find that it had a incredibly large block of copper sitting at the bottom. The copper was surrounded by blue metal fins and was cut at the top, but it was a large block of copper with a socket clip attached none-the-less. The next step was to figure out how to get pipes in and out of the copper block, and to determine how to maximize the surface area to water ratio. By maximizing this, you provide the most area for heat to transfer from the copper to the water. At first I thought of using the cross drilled approach in the new block, but due to the way the clip was fastened on and the fact that it was a round copper block, that wouldn't work. I looked at other waterblocks to see how companies made theirs. A lot of manufacturers had pipes going in and out of the side, but some had the fixtures on top. After drawing up many designs, I had decided on a rough idea: I would, using a drill and a router, make a canal on the top of the copper block. Then use a piece of plexiglass or other material to seal the top, and run two pipes through the top and into the canal. Seemed like a good enough idea to me, so I started making my waterblock. I grabbed 1/4" Plexiglass from the local hardware store and found some thin piping we had lying around (3/8" outer diameter, which would fit 3/8" Inner Diameter tubing nicely). I started out by removing the ugly blue fins from my Dragon Orb. This was done by using the careful technique known as sawing. It invloved using a hack saw, hammer, and a pair of pliers. Don't remove them all the way, just down to where they hit the copper base (see pictures). I ended up using the last little bit of fins later. Quote: Using a vice, saw, and some pliers, remove the blue fins, but not all the way. This shows some of the fins removed. Quote: My Dragon Orb with the blue fins cut off. Quote: Another view of the fins cut off. The next step was to remove the little stubs of copper sticking up from the top of the block. These were slightly more difficult than the blue fins, but with a hack saw and a good 20 minutes you should be able to make your block look something like this: Quote: The block with copper nubs cut off. Sorry for the bad quality. The top was now very rough, you can fix this with a metal file, however it is not important to the functionality of the block. Sanding or filing the top of the block would be just for asthetics. The next step was to route out an area for the water to flow through. My original idea was to use a drill and to drill holes next to each other (repeatedly) and use this to form a channel. The problem was, I bent a few drill bits. Copper is fairly easy to drill through, just use a drill press, give a good bit of pressure, and when the block starts to heat up from friction, cool it off and continue. If the block gets too hot, the bit will stick and you'll have trouble getting the bit out (until it cools). After drilling two holes on the block (for each pipe) and attempting to make a channel out of more holes, I ran to the hardware store and grabbed a metal routing bit. Using a router and a carbide tipped bit, I cut a nice channel for water to flow from one hole to the other. I was going to make 3 channels, but ended only having room on the block for two. Don't route too close to the edges, you need room to add an O-ring. Quote: After routing my waterblock. The two corners are where my pipes will go in and out. Once you have your block routed, all that is left is to make a top to keep the water from shooting out and have pipes going in and out to attach hoses. The way I decided to attach the top (to make it water tight) was to use a rather large O-ring, and some bolts. I spread apart the blue fins in 3 llocations around the waterblock (can be seen in the above picture). I then was able to put bolts through holes in my plexiglass, between the fins, attach washers/nuts to the bottom, and tighten the bolts enough to see the O-ring smush down (water-tight seal). Drill holes in your plexiglass for the bolts and tubing. Make the tubing holes as tight as you can, it will help keep it water-tight later. Drilling plexiglass can be quite a challenge. You will most likely crack pieces of the plexiglass Don't get discouraged, just keep trying. All of the work does pay off in the end. I have heard of different people drilling plexi different ways. Most claim that low RPMs and pressure work well. I found that extremely low pressure, but high speeds worked fine. My drill press tended to melt the plexiglass from friction and go through it very easily. I did have to clean off little driplets after each hole, but it did the job. Once the holes were drilled in the appropriate locations, I took my handy dandy hack saw and chopped out the piece of plexiglass. Quote: The holes in my plexiglass top. Sorry for the bad quality yet again. Once I had the plexiglass top cut out, I went to the hardware store one last time and grabbed an O-ring that fit the top and some epoxy. Epoxy is like superglue; its amazing. Use Epoxy on the pipes through the plexiglass. If I didn't make myself clear, put sections of tube through the plexiglass, long enough that they stick out on both sides. Mine stuck out about 1.5" on each end. Make sure they fit into the holes in the copper and don't go down far enough to block water flow. Once they are in place, use some epoxy and let it set overnight to form a water-tight bond. Use epoxy on both sides if you want. Don't use too much on the under side (so it still fits iin the holes in the copper). Once the epoxy has set, put the top on the block (make sure to put the O-ring between the copper and the plexiglass top. Put the bolts through the holes in the plexi and down through the bent fins. Add a washer and bolt to the bottom and tighten until the O-ring starts to smush down on all sides. Congratulations, your waterblock is complete! If you followed the directions listed here, you should have something that looks like this (bolts aren't in mine yet): Quote: My finished block (bolts not put in yet). Quote: Another shot of my finished block. Obviously you won't want to put this straight into your system and start running. I suggest you let it run overnight in a bathroom, or outside, just not on your computer. A great way to test for leaks is to hook up hoses, and have the hoses come from and pump back into a bucket or bath tub. Set the waterblock on a piece of toilet paper or paper towel. If the paper towel is wet when you come back, look for where the leak is coming from. I tested my block in the bathtub with a submersable 70GPH pump. Quote: My first test run (one side open to show water flow). In your system, use tube clamps to make a water-tight seal between the tubing and the pipe. Quote: A closer shot of the block in action. Quote: Me: Very proud of the block. Afterward: About 2 months of my block running flawlessly, I decided to take it out and put in brass fittings instead of the tacky piping. This just iinvolved drilling slightly larger holes and buying new fittings. Use the methods for adding the pipes for adding the brass fittings. I also heated the plexiglass with a heat gun enough to twist the threaded end of the brass fitting through. This made for a nearly water-tight seal and I didn't need to use much epoxy. The brass fittings look much more professional. All pictures are copyright of their respective owners.
Back to top