[decodeddiesel]

Fixittt, that mill is so sweet looking, I would love to have something like that to play with.

Personally I think AL is an OK material for waterblocks, I mean if temps are as close as both of you show then there really isn't much of a justification to using CU, especially if the blocks would be cheaper and more plentifull to the end user. Personally I would love to get my hands on a $25 or so AL Spir@l. I do have 2 concerns though and I believe they should be given consideration by both of you.

First is base thickness on AL blocks, obivously the ideal thickness is going to be different than CU. An experiment where you start with a thick base (ie 7 or 8mm) then slowly mill the base like .5mm at a time untill you find the optimal thickness would be in order. This easy experiment would not only improve the performance of your blocks but would deffiniatly shed some light on a major issue in waterblock design that I feel has been greatly ignored...I know it would get you my buisness and respect!!

Second is the whole corrosion issue. As you can see by recent posts there is some questions of Water Wetter's and especially Purple Ice's ability to prevet corrosion, and the tests show it may even cause it! I personally have no oppinion on this as I have not done any testing on mixed metals, and have ALWAYS made it a point to use all CU and Brass in my setups. If I were to go to AL I would like to see some proof that corrosion WILL NOT occure with either water treatment (ie additives) or by annodizing your blocks. Frankly, I believe I would send an AL Block to Faraday and get it annodized anyway, but if you are going to produce all AL blocks then this reassurance through doccumented testing is deffiniatly going to put some potential buyer's minds at ease.

Well sorry for the long post guys, just letting you know what one long time water user's oppinions are on your perspective designs and some questions/comments/concerns I have. I hope you read them and take some of it inot consideration. I am very impressed by both of your work, and am looking to see great things in the future.