so basically you are screwed with those blocks then?

could you run a bead of silicone around the sides then?

No not totally scewed. What I am going to try is mill a 1/16" channel down the middle of the 1/8" sides on that block. I need something there to hold the silicone so it won't just blow out the sides. BUT I need a 1/16" end mill.

The red lines are where I would mill the groove and fill with silicone.

http://www.custom-cooling.com/ex1.jpg

what about taking out a little lip in the side of the block, and filling that with epoxy?

I think I see what you are saying. Where the top and the bottom meet. Make a groove around the joint and fill it with epoxy to seal it and have he screws hold the top down?

http://www.custom-cooling.com/ex2.jpg

yep, cause you still need something to seal it, why use silicone when epoxy will hold it down and seal it too

Silicone will to, and it is flexable. We use silicone all the time at work. When we go do a repair and have to take something apart that is siliconed it is very difficult. We have to cut it off usually. It is very good for sealing up and holding things together. And it is still completely removable if need be. The main problem with Epoxy is your screwed if you don't get the 50/50 mixture exactly right. To much hardner and it will be brittle and not enough and it will not stick well enough.

Another thing I could do is make a gasket for it with gasket material used in cars. I always made gaskets for my carb's and thermostats on the cars and dirtbikes.

yeah, a gasket would work well, they can also handle very high pressures, I can't see why it would leak at all.

Isn't gasket material quite cheap too, relative to silicone?

Not really. A tube of RTV silicone is $2.00. That will do about 50 blocks. Gasket material is about $2 a square foot which will do about 12 blocks or so which is still very good. Thats cheaper than solder or epoxy still. I will put that on my to look into list.:D

yeah still though, having proper gasket material would give your blocks a certain uniqueness about them, which could turn out quite good

Yeah, I am going to give it a try. It will still keep the cost down and people can still take them apart if need be.

Well I am pretty much shut down for the year.:( Work starts again Monday at the full time job. Road trips will soon follow. Damn I was hoping for another month or two to get things ironed out.

ahh well, now you gotta spend your spare time producing current designs

Yeah, which I still havn't finished!!!:( They called me in again today and I didn't get around picking up the rubber gasket stuff. I am a forman for this company so they call me in every freekin time they decide to change something or have a meeting about whatever.