Home made radiator?

Seth_jxl · 06-05-2003, 02:16 AM

hey ppls,
i just wanted to konw befor spending heaps of money on a brand new radiator, if its possable to build one DIY. hase any one done this b4? or hase any ideas on this aria?

i currently do not have a watercooling system

but i am building all the parts excpt for the pump and hopefully i can build the radiator too. the radiator dose not have to be all that powerful, it just has to be able to cool the WB on my P4 1.6 (over clocked to 2.05ghz with retail fan).

Balinju · 06-05-2003, 08:37 AM

i can't give you any tips of how to do a radiator your self, but i can suggest you that instead of buying a new radiator for a lot of $$, go to a junk yard and find a second hand heater core which will cost much less $$.

some tips for your w/c, try not to mix metals, if you block is going to be made of copper, do not buy an aluminium heater core, try to find a copper/brass one

Seth_jxl · 06-05-2003, 09:20 AM

oh yeah, iv seen some pics of ppl using old car radiators in ther computers. the other prob im having is a little bit of a fight with space. i only got a midi atx tower case and im not sure if i can fit an old car radiator in it. iv seen people puting them on the outside of the case, dose this work?

when my case look presentable and half decent ill post some pics of it, but right now its just a mess of fans, wires and circut boards so ill fix it up and take some pics soon.

oh and this is the site that i found where ya can mount it on top of the case, i so want that radiator it looks so mad.
Click Here for radiator link

yuanlong · 06-05-2003, 10:00 AM

If you gonna use anything from a car, you will gonna need to fix it outside that casing as no casing could fit it... unless of course you custom make a casing...

bigben2k · 06-05-2003, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yuanlong
If you gonna use anything from a car, you will gonna need to fix it outside that casing as no casing could fit it... unless of course you custom make a casing...

You couldn't be further from the truth!

Maybe you only have access to small cases in Malaysia?

Here's mine, and I'm fitting a car's: heatercore and blower.

Balinju · 06-05-2003, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Seth_jxl
oh yeah, iv seen some pics of ppl using old car radiators in ther computers. the other prob im having is a little bit of a fight with space. i only got a midi atx tower case and im not sure if i can fit an old car radiator in it. iv seen people puting them on the outside of the case, dose this work?

when my case look presentable and half decent ill post some pics of it, but right now its just a mess of fans, wires and circut boards so ill fix it up and take some pics soon.

oh and this is the site that i found where ya can mount it on top of the case, i so want that radiator it looks so mad.
Click Here for radiator link

that rad is huge, you could look for a small heater core. there are heatercores which are at least have the size of that

g.l.amour · 06-05-2003, 11:55 AM

well, i do'nt want to put you off, but making your own rad can yield fine results (think gershwin has) but most of those have proven to be very good, only on the account because they are alot bigger than an HC.

so, you don't have to look hard to find a nice junkyard HC for 10 - 15$ and look a bit harder and finding one that is 150x150x50 won't be that difficult.

whichever route you take, g'luck

edit: i owned that same rad from the howto, it is large in surface but only 2/3" or 20mm thick, that brings its own advantage. getting one that is half the surface area and twice as thick should make for an equally good radiator. but damn that hayden was a nice rad, it could compete very well against the HC'z (because the 2 120's you could mount no doubt)

redleader · 06-05-2003, 03:52 PM

I love that case Ben. Any pics of what you're doing?

bigben2k · 06-05-2003, 04:14 PM

No, unfortunately. I'm waiting to get the mobo, and I'm pondering switching the pump, and how to wire the PSU array, but otherwise I've got a good layout in mind.

g.l.amour · 06-05-2003, 05:07 PM

this is gonna make alot of ppl curious ben, known u for about 3500 most interesting posts, but almost no tangible digicam shot of work in progress. don't get me wrong, i don't want to make ya nervous, i am just very very very curious because i don't think anyone here has spent the amount of time thinking and engineering their project like you are...

godspeed

bigben2k · 06-05-2003, 05:58 PM

He he, my financial situation is my limit, otherwise it would have been completed a long time ago!

yuanlong · 06-05-2003, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigben2k
You couldn't be further from the truth!

Maybe you only have access to small cases in Malaysia?

Here's mine, and I'm fitting a car's: heatercore and blower.

Well maybe that's true... I haven see some real big casing before...
now my maxxxpert is making my casing a total mess and I'm gonna take it out soon...

Seth_jxl · 06-06-2003, 01:10 AM

reply to bigben2k,
hey if ya having probs wiring ya pump up to ur PSU, on ma other thred theres a site which might be of some help to you, its

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/sho...6131#post76131

Seth_jxl · 06-06-2003, 01:47 AM

hey i got some pics of ma case, they arnt all hat great but if ya have any idear of how i can fix it up please tell me. soon (when i got a job) i will be able to build by water cooling but now i gotta live wid the noise of the fans pumping hot air through my system lol. i currently dont have a web site and my pics are a bit bigger than 72kb, so if ya wanna see da pics, e-mail me at, seth223@optusnet.com.au and i will send them right out to ya.

Seth_jxl · 06-06-2003, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigben2k
You couldn't be further from the truth!

Maybe you only have access to small cases in Malaysia?

Here's mine, and I'm fitting a car's: heatercore and blower.

hey how much did ya get that case for? thats exactly what i want. is u live in the us on the other hand, then its not realy verry much help to me (im from australia). any aussys out there who konw some good sites with good prices?

Rufus210 · 06-06-2003, 02:05 AM

Building a full radiator yourself would probably be a pain, but you could do a pasive setup like this one over at OC.com:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1085/

Seth_jxl · 06-06-2003, 02:26 AM

im not so sure about that radiato at oc.com, i think using the heat radiator on the back of an old fridg would be alot easier to build and i think it would give better results. what ya think?

bigben2k · 06-06-2003, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Seth_jxl
hey how much did ya get that case for? thats exactly what i want. is u live in the us on the other hand, then its not realy verry much help to me (im from australia). any aussys out there who konw some good sites with good prices?

It's a Chieftec Dragon DA-01, and I picked it up from Directron for ~60 USD: that should be about 90 AUS$, if the conversion hasn't changed drastically recently.

There's a new model called the Matrix.

Gurke · 06-06-2003, 11:16 AM

how about sth like this:

and it performs really good!

bigben2k · 06-06-2003, 11:29 AM

Unfortunately, that would be abysmal. (political statements aside...)

The problem lies in the amount of surface area for the airflow: as a round tube, it's about as small as it can be.

Also, if this is a straight copper pipe, meaning with nothing inside, then there's minimal turbulence of the water.

Now take a look at this guy's mounting posts: nice big aluminium pieces, which would be perfect to add surface area!!!

I'd try slipping in a string of turbulators inside the copper tubes, to disrupt the water flow, improving the heat transfer.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if anyone wants to go that route, start collecting cans of pop! You can cut them out to make very nice and effective fins to copper tubing.

Seth_jxl · 06-06-2003, 07:22 PM

wow,
that heat coil sure looks nice and also thats a great point you made about putting in another pipe. but just one thing, how would ya make that without the copper pipe kinking? and also it would be one hell of a task to mount it dont ya think? i got a small midi tower (should have a full tower soon) and theres no way i could fit somthing like that inside it and keep it cool. the only thing i can think of is iff it had its own spereat cooling case.

Gurke · 06-06-2003, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigben2k
Unfortunately, that would be abysmal. (political statements aside...)

its not my page....

8-Ball · 06-07-2003, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigben2k
Unfortunately, that would be abysmal. (political statements aside...)

I don't think so.

It's a slightly different approach.

If thin walled tubing were used, I could see it performing quite well.

With regular radiators, The whole tubing has been covered in fins, often with a little flare at contact. I often wonder about the quality of contact at this crucial point, and its associated thermal resistance. It will have one, and the tubing of the rad will have to rise in temp to provide sufficient thermal gradient to dissipate the heat in to the fins.

However, in this casem there will be a reduced convective heat transfer coefficient for the whole rad, but I think the thermal resistance getting the heat to the convection surface will be lower, so it is a blance between these two factors.

I hope this makes sense.

8-ball

MadDogMe · 06-07-2003, 04:14 AM

That stuff comes ready coiled I believe (It is phase change/refrigeration stuff?)...

Size to surface area compared to a HC it'll suck IMO, imagine the pressure drop!. You may be better off dunking it into a tank of water to get the heat 'leached' away faster than by air, then let natural(or forced) evaporation take care of the rest. But then why bother with the copper tube!

...

Just my opinions...

Seth_jxl · 06-08-2003, 09:28 PM

ll if copper tube isnt thew way to go, then what is? i aint makin a radiator outa stanless pipe or anything.

06-05-2003, 02:16 AM	#1
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	Home made radiator? hey ppls, i just wanted to konw befor spending heaps of money on a brand new radiator, if its possable to build one DIY. hase any one done this b4? or hase any ideas on this aria? i currently do not have a watercooling system but i am building all the parts excpt for the pump and hopefully i can build the radiator too. the radiator dose not have to be all that powerful, it just has to be able to cool the WB on my P4 1.6 (over clocked to 2.05ghz with retail fan). __________________ -SETH-

06-05-2003, 08:37 AM	#2
Balinju Cooling Savant Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Malta Posts: 495	i can't give you any tips of how to do a radiator your self, but i can suggest you that instead of buying a new radiator for a lot of $$, go to a junk yard and find a second hand heater core which will cost much less $$. some tips for your w/c, try not to mix metals, if you block is going to be made of copper, do not buy an aluminium heater core, try to find a copper/brass one __________________ So the bullet proof vest aint a $hit when d laser is pointed to your head Kid

06-05-2003, 09:20 AM	#3
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	oh yeah, iv seen some pics of ppl using old car radiators in ther computers. the other prob im having is a little bit of a fight with space. i only got a midi atx tower case and im not sure if i can fit an old car radiator in it. iv seen people puting them on the outside of the case, dose this work? when my case look presentable and half decent ill post some pics of it, but right now its just a mess of fans, wires and circut boards so ill fix it up and take some pics soon. oh and this is the site that i found where ya can mount it on top of the case, i so want that radiator it looks so mad. Click Here for radiator link __________________ -SETH- Last edited by Seth_jxl; 06-05-2003 at 09:27 AM.

06-05-2003, 11:55 AM	#7
g.l.amour Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: on da case Posts: 933	well, i do'nt want to put you off, but making your own rad can yield fine results (think gershwin has) but most of those have proven to be very good, only on the account because they are alot bigger than an HC. so, you don't have to look hard to find a nice junkyard HC for 10 - 15$ and look a bit harder and finding one that is 150x150x50 won't be that difficult. whichever route you take, g'luck edit: i owned that same rad from the howto, it is large in surface but only 2/3" or 20mm thick, that brings its own advantage. getting one that is half the surface area and twice as thick should make for an equally good radiator. but damn that hayden was a nice rad, it could compete very well against the HC'z (because the 2 120's you could mount no doubt) __________________ yo soy un tiburón

06-05-2003, 04:14 PM	#9
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	No, unfortunately. I'm waiting to get the mobo, and I'm pondering switching the pump, and how to wire the PSU array, but otherwise I've got a good layout in mind. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

06-05-2003, 10:00 AM	#4
yuanlong Cooling Neophyte Join Date: May 2003 Location: Malaysia, KL Posts: 39	If you gonna use anything from a car, you will gonna need to fix it outside that casing as no casing could fit it... unless of course you custom make a casing...

06-05-2003, 03:52 PM	#8
redleader Thermophile Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: The deserts of Tucson, Az Posts: 1,264	I love that case Ben. Any pics of what you're doing?

06-05-2003, 05:07 PM	#10
g.l.amour Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: on da case Posts: 933	this is gonna make alot of ppl curious ben, known u for about 3500 most interesting posts, but almost no tangible digicam shot of work in progress. don't get me wrong, i don't want to make ya nervous, i am just very very very curious because i don't think anyone here has spent the amount of time thinking and engineering their project like you are... godspeed __________________ yo soy un tiburón

06-05-2003, 05:58 PM	#11
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	He he, my financial situation is my limit, otherwise it would have been completed a long time ago! __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

06-06-2003, 01:10 AM	#13
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	reply to bigben2k, hey if ya having probs wiring ya pump up to ur PSU, on ma other thred theres a site which might be of some help to you, its http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/sho...6131#post76131 __________________ -SETH-

06-06-2003, 01:47 AM	#14
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	hey i got some pics of ma case, they arnt all hat great but if ya have any idear of how i can fix it up please tell me. soon (when i got a job) i will be able to build by water cooling but now i gotta live wid the noise of the fans pumping hot air through my system lol. i currently dont have a web site and my pics are a bit bigger than 72kb, so if ya wanna see da pics, e-mail me at, seth223@optusnet.com.au and i will send them right out to ya. __________________ -SETH-

06-06-2003, 02:05 AM	#16
Rufus210 Cooling Neophyte Join Date: May 2003 Location: Houston Posts: 15	Building a full radiator yourself would probably be a pain, but you could do a pasive setup like this one over at OC.com: http://www.overclockers.com/tips1085/

06-06-2003, 02:26 AM	#17
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	im not so sure about that radiato at oc.com, i think using the heat radiator on the back of an old fridg would be alot easier to build and i think it would give better results. what ya think? __________________ -SETH-

06-06-2003, 11:16 AM	#19
Gurke Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 8	how about sth like this: and it performs really good!

06-06-2003, 11:29 AM	#20
bigben2k Responsible for 2% of all the posts here. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, U.S.A. Posts: 8,302	Unfortunately, that would be abysmal. (political statements aside...) The problem lies in the amount of surface area for the airflow: as a round tube, it's about as small as it can be. Also, if this is a straight copper pipe, meaning with nothing inside, then there's minimal turbulence of the water. Now take a look at this guy's mounting posts: nice big aluminium pieces, which would be perfect to add surface area!!! I'd try slipping in a string of turbulators inside the copper tubes, to disrupt the water flow, improving the heat transfer. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if anyone wants to go that route, start collecting cans of pop! You can cut them out to make very nice and effective fins to copper tubing. __________________ WBTA (Water Block Testing Alliance) Nordic Hardware WC 101

06-06-2003, 07:22 PM	#21
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	wow, that heat coil sure looks nice and also thats a great point you made about putting in another pipe. but just one thing, how would ya make that without the copper pipe kinking? and also it would be one hell of a task to mount it dont ya think? i got a small midi tower (should have a full tower soon) and theres no way i could fit somthing like that inside it and keep it cool. the only thing i can think of is iff it had its own spereat cooling case. __________________ -SETH-

06-07-2003, 04:14 AM	#24
MadDogMe Thermophile Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Just shut up ;) ... Posts: 1,068	That stuff comes ready coiled I believe (It is phase change/refrigeration stuff?)... Size to surface area compared to a HC it'll suck IMO, imagine the pressure drop!. You may be better off dunking it into a tank of water to get the heat 'leached' away faster than by air, then let natural(or forced) evaporation take care of the rest. But then why bother with the copper tube! ... Just my opinions...

06-08-2003, 09:28 PM	#25
Seth_jxl Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 27	ll if copper tube isnt thew way to go, then what is? i aint makin a radiator outa stanless pipe or anything. __________________ -SETH-

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