How many people are up to making a DIY block?

[peepingdan]

I'm interested in FINISHING the waterblock base that I have sitting next to me... I need to find a drill press.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by msv

Darn, outwitted again...
Well, there are some diffrences between me and Meg Ryan (trust me on this one).

BTW, R-Type? Did I miss where that name came from? I bet it´s allready been explained, but I can´t recall.

regards
Mikael S.

Well ph really made that up by mistake I belive. I had it stamped R-Pin or something to that effect on the base. R is supposed to represent #Rotor style. R-Type sounded good to me so we went with it.

[pHaestus]

So BillA and I both have one accidental third party wb name under our belts. He inadvertently named the PolarFLO-TT (triple titter)

lol

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by pHaestus

So BillA and I both have one accidental third party wb name under our belts. He inadvertently named the PolarFLO-TT (triple titter)

lol

"Tripple Titter" Not bad. Maybe we can make some ProCooling ProPorn blocks with naked women laser engraved into the tops. And yes that is possible, don't ask how I know!

[killernoodle]

With boobie barbs!

[jaydee]

Just finished the job here in Texas and have to do a repair on another site tomorrow and fly back Thursday. Then, unfortunatly, I am headed out again Monday to Minnisota to start another one. That is unfortunate because I will not have the time to make this block being my tools are 120 miles one way drive away. I was expecting to have most of next week off but that job got bumped forward a week. I will spend some time finishing the DIY vs. Commercial article though this weekend and run it by pH to see if it is worth posting. I will also get the drawings for the block done and post them in a new thread so people will nothave to wait if they want to get to it.

[pHaestus]

I think you should concentrate on making die sims for me and Bill We need to work out the whats and whens and wherefores of that I guess

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by pHaestus

I think you should concentrate on making die sims for me and Bill We need to work out the whats and whens and wherefores of that I guess

Need the details to I can order tooling and copper.

[JFettig]

Jaydee, stop by for a visit! Im in willmar 90 miles west of minneapolis

pHaestus, you need a die simulator? give me some info, Im building a couple at the moment.

Send me a PM with some info.

Jon

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by JFettig

Jaydee, stop by for a visit! Im in willmar 90 miles west of minneapolis

pHaestus, you need a die simulator? give me some info, Im building a couple at the moment.

Send me a PM with some info.

Jon

I think the town is called Prarie Hills were the jobsite is...

[DeadEye]

Originally Posted by jaydee116

I am pondering writing a DIY guide to making a water block similar to my Type-R block that pH will sooner or later publish a review on. I used my mill to make that block but I will make a similar version on my drill press and take pics as I go and write an article for pH to post here. Question I have is it worth my time to do so?

I think as you have touched on in a number of your replies, some articles would go down well IMO. Many of the visitors here are obviously interested but common terms used by engineers / machinists leave lots I would guess questioning what is being talked about. Articles giving good step by step photos and explanations would help quite a few to go the next step.
Even something simple to us like tapping of threads can be confusing to the newcomer. Go for it I would say.

[jaydee]

I been a slacking bitch lately. Friday I went fishing/4x4'ing. Tore up my exhaust and spent most of yesterday welding up a new one (gald I have keys and the alarm code to the shop at work )(came out nice BTW). Today I am cleaning house, as it needs it horedly, and starting to pack for Minnisota trip which starts tomorrow.

BTW JFettig it is Eden Prairie when I am headed. Tickets say I am going to be there untill the 20th for some reason even though the job shouldn't last more than 7days. Maybe a bunch of repairs on other jobs to do they havn't informed me of yet.

Anyway I sent a DIY vs. Commercial block article to pH but I think it isn't up to posting standards yet, still a work in progress. I am not to good at writting. When I get back from Minnisota I will try and get time on my equipment to make the block and write the article. Still don't have a final drawing done yet either.

Not sure if I will have internet access there or not so I may not answer any questions untill I get back.

[JFettig]

Jaydee, if your feelin up for it, come down and visit 2hr drive


Jon

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by JFettig

Jaydee, if your feelin up for it, come down and visit 2hr drive


Jon

Ouch, they won't let me go tht far. Company rented vehicle. Would if I could though!

[jaydee]

Well I got back from Minnisota and spent a few days with my daughter and picked up my Drill Press to make this DIY block article this week only to be told today I am headed out of town for a couple weeks starting Wendsday.... Bah, wasn't expecting to leave again so soon. So put off for a while longer..... Did get a couple articles to pH which he is doing something with..... I got another air cooling article in mind I will get to when I gt back aswell. Has to do with 60mm to 80mm fan adapters and a Volcano 6 Cu+. Aim for quiet yet effective cooling for cheap.

[jaydee]

I put up 2 articles (DIY Tool List and DIY vs Commercial) I sent to pH on my muffledpc.com website. pH can still use them as he sees fit though.

[jaydee]

I will update this with why I havn't got to the block project article. My first run was pretty unsucessful. Didn't come out nearly aswell as I planned. Anyway here are some pics with descriptions. Sorry for the fuzzy one's.
Here is the drawing:http://www.customcooledpc.com/DIYTypeR/DIYtype.zip
The idea is to drill out the smaller holes first. Then when you drill out the bigger hole it will connect everything. You have to do the smaller holes first becasue the drill bit that small will snap if it bends which will happen if it slides into the bigger hole.

I printed it to scale, cut it out, and taped it tothe copper block then used a hole punch to attempt to make a cup so the drill bit would not slide around on entry so the hole would be more accurate. This was my 1st mistake. Turned out to be a bad idea because I got very few holes center perfectly with the punch.
-------------

Drilled the smaller holes with a 1/16" bit.
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Drilled the bigger holes with the 1/8" bit. As you can see this didn't work to well because of the badly off center pre-punched holes.
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So I took the dremel to it to connect the holes and make the channels. The smaller holes made a a breeze to cut the channels with the dremel as there was a lot less material to remove.
-------------

Still pretty sloppy and not the results I wanted and I havn't had the chance to redo it.

Next time I will not pre-punch the holes and see what happens.

[Kobuchi]

That's about 400 times the DIYer must manually centre a punch or bit. 400 tedious chances to screw up.

Maybe better first invest the time to make a one-shot incremental drilling jig for the purpose?

That could just be using cheater sticks (what you might know as setup blocks) - 1/4" spacing is it? Drill the centre, then shim with things of consistent thickness to proceed from there.

Or better use a pin or two. I do this of course cutting rows of box joints on a tablesaw. Otherwise I'd be squinting at a line for every cut! I've used alignment pins for drilling copper blocks too, though not in making drilled channels.

For your block the pin must point down, like a second drill bit. One could use some cut-offs from the copper, plus a few scraps of paper, to raise a clamped metal strap (perhaps another piece from the same material) with a pin hole through it. This hole would be 1/4" from the drill centre, and the same diameter as the bit. Now, once the first hole is drilled, it may be aligned under the pin hole, secured with a pin, and new holes drilled at repeatable distance. The maximum error between two holes is the runout or pin slop times two - far less than doing anything manually. Drill a few, and two pins are possible.

[JFettig]

Jaydee, that hole layout doesnt look the same as the last block. It appears that they are farther away.

I think the effort it takes to drill all those 1/16" holes way outweighs the messyness of using a dremel.

One thing you could try is plunge milling, just plung out all those with your 1/16" end mill, I havent done it myself, but I have heard about people plunge milling with good results.


Jon

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by JFettig

Jaydee, that hole layout doesnt look the same as the last block. It appears that they are farther away.

I think the effort it takes to drill all those 1/16" holes way outweighs the messyness of using a dremel.

One thing you could try is plunge milling, just plung out all those with your 1/16" end mill, I havent done it myself, but I have heard about people plunge milling with good results.


Jon

The hole layout should be the same. 1/8" holes 1/16" between the holes? Or did I screw up? I was thinking about using an endmill aswell. A Ball nosed endmill would work better for drilling especially with a Drill Press. But is a newb DIY'er going to find an endmill at a hardware store? And that raises the price up considerably.
Yes, all those little holes helped considerably in dremeling that block. It took about 1 minute to grind the channels out. It only took about an hour to drill all those holes aswell. Problem is getting them centered better.

Remember this article is supposed to be for newb DIY'ers just getting started. Trying to make it as easy as possible for them.

[Kobuchi]

For goodness' sake think jig - any number of simple shop aids can make this operation both easy and accurate.

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[jaydee]

Originally Posted by Kobuchi

For goodness' sake think jig - any number of simple shop aids can make this operation both easy and accurate.

I am not going to make a jig to make one water block.

[TaTs]

Hey Guys,
This is actually my first post here (maybe it's off topic ). I'm trying to finish my design for a block and right now I'm really unsure if I should go for the R-Type from Jaydee or the Rotor design?
I tried looking into the reviews http://www.procooling.com/html/pro_testing.php but I'm too dumb to interpret them. (Wich one actually performs better, specially with a 1200 l/h 100cm head pump = 317 GPH 3.28').
Once I get the design defined I'll draw it and have it machined. And of course post pictures here.

Thanks for any help.

_____________
TaTs

[jaydee]

Hi TaTs. My R-Type beats the #Rotor block that was tested at all flow rates. The lower the line on the graph the better the block is.

[TaTs]

Hi Jaydee, that's great 'cause I was thinking it was the other way around . This means that I can stick to my plan to base my block on your design (if that's ok with you).
Should I stick to this design for the other blocks? I'm planning on having WBs for, cpu, NB, gpu, HD and psu. I'm not sure if I really need a more complex desing or if I can go for a channel or something for the rest.
My intention is really to remove all fans inside the case.

Thanks for the help.
____________
TaTs