HDD waterblock, BB style ;)
 

Following BladeRunner's great work, and a bit of inspiration from Volenti here, I'm going to be combining both ideas to make an HDD waterblock.

So here's a (very) rough pic (below).

In short, BladeRunner used 2 * 2mm and 1 * 10 mm, which makes a lot of sense.

I'll be using 1/8 in. stock pieces, with 1/4 for the middle plate. I then plan to solder a 1/2 in. copper pipe, for in/outlets.

There will be a recessed hole for the HDD screws. I've opted to divert the flow around that area, because it would be difficult and unnecessary to keep it sealed otherwise.

Of course I now have to accomodate a 1/2 connection, in my 3/4 system:mad: :D (maybe I'll just switch back to 1/2)

The only worry I have is the mix of metals; copper and the solder. My rig was "pure" before this. I also have to redo the drive cage mount in my Chieftec case.

Measurements later...

That block/pic shown is going to go on the side of the H/Drives is'nt it?, you'll have one of those on both sides right?. You might want to take a look at the small chips on the PCB of the HD's, on my GPX60 there are two small ones and one large. One of the small ones gets VERY hot, the other gets hot, the large one just gets warm. The two small chips could use some cooling, passive large surface area HS maybe is what I was thinking...

I was thinking of putting fins on the side where you have H20 blocks in mind...

I was planning a HDD waterblock too... Mine is slightly different:
- there's one barb per side (i assume yours is side mounted too), 2 blocks
- from the barb, a serpentine shaped channel runs through the block
- the channel stops and connects to a inter-block tube
- the 2nd block is symmetrical
Since i've got 2 HDDs to cool down both waterblocks will be milled (with a CNC i've got access to), and have an 'E' cross-section (to mount HDDs in).

Until i'm there, i'm using extensive passive cooling, with those neat Antec HDD coolers (good heatsinks) and alu profiles. Keeps the 15K.3 at 39°C.

Yes, one block per side.

I am aware of the hot chip, and the only solution I have at the moment is to slap a heatsink on it, and a small fan. Maybe I could put together a miniature waterblock, hum... That'll have to wait until I get the drive.

not to be wet blanket...
why is hd cooling necessary?

Actually, it isn't really necessary, but it's another thing one can do, to avoid using a fan. Fans are still optional though.

With the latest and greatest SCSI drives at high RPM, the temps can be quite high, and so, for the sake of reliability and longevity, it's always preferable to keep it at a relatively low temperature.

Anytime we can keep electronics at a lower temperature is good. Air cooling just doesn't cut it, or is simply too noisy.

Hmm kay.

Using the TweakMonster BGA ramsinks as a reference, they are 9mm tall, so I'll allow for 10mm of clearance for the HDDs (yes, this is a dual HDD block).

Using a Maxtor Atlas 15K SCSI drive as reference, HDD dimensions are:
Width: 4" / 101.6 mm
Length: 5.787" / 147 mm
Height: 1.028" / 26.1 mm

So the block will be 2.5" tall, and 6 inches long.

Dimensions:

I saved by not ordering the copper pre-cut. The order has been placed. 5 day delivery.

I will be installing (3) Seagate Cheetah 15K.2 36GB into my rig here in a few days..

I decided to forget about watercooling them (too much hassel :) )

The way I am going to cool those suckers down is with a 120mm bracket that I made up (much thanks to OC.com for the great idea). It will use an Enermax adjustable 120mm fan, will keep these things cool, keep the noise down to nothing, and look great in the process.

I can get pics if anyone is interested.

Yes, I know that this is the Liquid section....just putting in alternative ideas for those who want more ideas.

I wouldn't mind taking a peak.

Here it is. I am not quite finished with it yet. I was planning on adding some LEDs to the pannels for HDD activity indicators. I was thinking about adding some blue LEDs to the fan but I am not all that into looks.

Here is the fan cover I made:

Here is the location where I was going to put all (3) drives and the fan. The drives will sit inside the CDROM bays on brackets and the fan above will cover them up yet providing plenty of air for cooling:

Here:

Why have you got three DV/CD ROMs? , is'nt a burner and DVD enough? :D ...
I'd find the hot chips on those suckers and fin them, I don't know if a RAM sink is enough. They get alot hotter than any RAM I've ever sen, but if you have a fan it'll be OK. I'm thinking passive...

I've seen (and heard) those Enermax fans.. They're *far* from silent even at low speed.
Zero fan = real silence -> watercooling !

I thought I read somewhere that most of the heat of a hard drive comes from the side with the pc board on it. So wouldn't it make sense to cool that instead of the sides?

Just not sure why you chose to cool the sides instead of the bottom.

Sides are flat, and closer to bottom (and are the same metal part as the bottom).
Cooling a PCB with various components with *one* waterblock (or heatsink), without shorting anything but touching the most things at the same time is ... tough.
So indeed the sides are the hottest *usable* surfaces for cooling.

The H/D blocks you can buy that cool the top (PCB) side have to be used with some weird gunk/paste that you slap on really thick to create a flat uniform surface, even then you can only use it if the HD doesn't have an open hole where the moror spindle is, or you leave out the paste around it...

It'd be better to cool the sides and the chips separetly IMO...

the side thing has been done before,

http://www.insanewb.com/waterblock/m...dd/MAER095.jpg

http://www.insanewb.com/waterblock/ma.er_hdd/maer.htm

Hum... I like the tubing in the back.

Too bad this fella didn't have a pic of the insides. It looks like he drilled straight through 6+ in. of a copper block.


After reviewing some more data on corrosion, I think I may opt for brass barbs.

MadDogMe:

I have (3) CD Drives because each one has its own strengths and weaknesses:

Pioneer 6X DVD = Good DVD drive and convienent slot feed mechanics but wont read all CDs and makes annoying "whine" when CDRs are used in it.

Toshiba 32X = All purpose drive. It is not the fastest drive but if a CD can be read, this drive will read it (or die trying :) )

Yamaha 16x10x40x CD-RW = Newest drive. Good for burning and fast installs but does not like to read all CDs either.

All of these drives are SCSI devices so they are not cheap and I dont necessarily enjoy swapping CDs all the time when changing programs :).

As for using the Enermax fans, I bought those almost a year ago for another project and forgot about them until I was about ready to buy another fan for this project. Already had them so I used them. They should be quiet enough for my needs (considering I am still useing a 120mm Sunon 108cfm on my radiator)

Yea water would be nice, but trying to make/plumb 4-5 HDDs in a bank would get old and annoying really fast.

>Yea water would be nice, but trying to make/plumb 4-5 HDDs in a
>bank would get old and annoying really fast.

Actually i remember seeing someone do that in a webpage , unfortunatly i dont have the link, and cant find it (googled a bit).

What he did was make a hard drive cage, just like one from chieftech cases, and welded a copper pipe to each side of the drivecage.

Something like that :

http://clientes.netvisao.pt/carlo001/drivecage.jpg

Its an ideia anyway :) .

The copper is here!

Arrived yesterday, in a heavily taped cardboard tube.

Hack time!

This is false. A 10000 RPM motor puts out a LOT more heat then a PC100 mem chip and a few controllers.

Ok, I don't know what that had to do with anything...


I should have measured the position of the screws, before ordering the copper stock: I might not have ordered a full 2 1/2" wide plate, for the middle layer!

I think I'll flip the second HDD over, so that I can have more clearance for the HDD screws.