Making one's own waterblocks...

[TheyCallMeSAK]

I've heard that many people are able to make their own blocks. This would be very nice since the avg price for a good block is like $30. What a fricken rip off. Please give ideas on how to do it or if you have done it, great! Using pretty commong supplies there must be a way to do it 🙂

 

[LYHTSPD]

well, i have never made a waterblock personally, but looking at them i think that it would be very hard to do it with "common supplies". first, you would need a solid block of aluminum right? since i work a lot around machine and stuff, let me tell you that alum. is not that cheep. then to make just the holes, you would have to have a really nice drill press, or a milling machine with the proper tooling. cutting through that much alum is going to create a lot of heat. you would have to have some type of lubricant flowing over the part. im sure that you MAY be able to do it an easier way, but it sounds like the $30 is about what it would cost someone to make it themselves anyway.

sorry if i rained on your party 🙂

 

[TheyCallMeSAK]

Well, I actually have access to all the tools that would be needed to do it 🙂. Father works at a fastener mfg company that makes and modifies steel dies, blocks, threaders, etc all the time. They do some pretty crazy stuff with the equipment they have. Since copper is considerably softer than steel, i can't think of any other complications. It's prolly just a matter of materials and know-how.

For starters, I'm not sure how the avg waterblock is even designed. In some pics it looks like they are two pieces somehow connected. In other pics, it seems these pieces are weilded or brazed together. check this page out for examples of what im talking about 😛 http://www.dangerden.com/product_pages/water_block.htm

I will prolly give it one try with the copper I need, and see if it can be done easily enough and come out nice enough.

If anyone knows much about or has had experience with waterblocks and might be able to offer some knowledge, please chime in 🙂. Thanks fur ur post LYHTSPD, and if i can't get this done the alt way, i will be stpending the $25-$30 for a nice block. Thanks guys 🙂

 

[LYHTSPD]

i checked out that site... looks like there is a lot more involved than what i had originally thought. now i am a totaly DIY type of guy... but looking at this stuff makes me think differently. the copper blocks looks like they have been CNC machined to get the grooves in there. i would almost say buy a professonal one man. if you think about it... do you really want a DIY leak box dousing your 1 gig amd with water? i sure wouldnt!! 😀

just out of curiosity... how much would a total water cooling setup cost? i have thought about doing one, but dont know much about the cost vs. gains of them. is it really worth it??

 

[Rockhammer]

You can make a pretty effective waterblock with a 4"-PVC sewer clean-out plug, a heatsink off of an old 486 or early pentium, and some JB weld. The only tools you need are a hacksaw and metal file.

Take a look at my guide to building a direct cooled peltier here:

http://www.ocshoot.com/tims.htm

It works the same way, only instead of the peltier, you glue the heatsink into the plastic cap. You'll have to use the hacksaw to trim away the outer row of pins all the way 'round the heatsink. I've used a version of this waterblock for several years now without a single leak or other problem. They are as effective as almost anything you can buy commercially, and will only cost you about $5 in parts. You can buy the JB weld and cap at the hardware store. Here is link to a site that has a couple of different heatsinks that should work. They are only a buck or so each.

http://www.excess-solutions.com/heatsink1.htm

check out part numbers:

Item ES2279 and Item ES2277

Have fun!

 

[TheyCallMeSAK]

How effective is a direct cooling peltier? I'm looking to OC a 1.33 athy to over 1.6 Ghz 🙂

 

[Jwyatt]

Same here SAK. I have my 1.33 on the way.

DANGER BELOW....I AM NOT GOOD AT DESCRIBING THINGS WITHOUT GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS BUT IM GONNA TRY ANYWAYS😛😎:disgust::frown:😕

I built my block. We had some 1/4"X2" copper buss bars laying around my plant. I whacked off some parts to give it a try.

This is what i did.

Cut several(only need 2, but made a few extra's in case i messed up.) bars at 2"X2.25". Decided how i wanted the water to flow. I chose instead of doing like dangerden and all others are doing to do mine a bit different.

I cut 5 slots about 1/8" wide 3/16" Deep leaving about 1/8" in the middle of them. I did not go all the way through from one end to the other, but left around 1/16" or so on each end of the slot. Looks kinda like a garden in there. Then I cut on another piece of copper 2 slots, one on each end. About 1/8" deep 1/4" wide. Then drilled through the holes my fitting size i wanted to use for the inlet and outlet.

After that. I stacked them on top of each other. Making sure that the slots onthe bottom part were perpindicular to the slots on the top. I then clamped them together and milled the ends down so the bar was 2"X2" or close enough.

After they are the same size and all matched up. I drilled some through holes in the top part for some 4x40 machine screws. And drilled and tapped the bottom to match that. After that as complete I removed the screws and smeared some rtv high temp sealer on both the top and bottom parts(the insides of them that needs to seal up. Use a thin layer and let it set up for a few hours. After the wait clean your garden rows and your pipe fitting holes and the machine screw holes. Then slap em together and screw em tight. I tightened mine like i would a wheel on a car. Pulling it together as evenly as possible.

I do not have a CNC mill at work. I basically eyeballed alot of it.

If you want i can make a simple jpeg to show how it looks. real basic and easy to do. Im not a machinist, but know how to do some basic stuff like this.

Hope this helps