what about brass???
 

well i was planning on making a gpu block and NB block out of alu since i can get a sh*t load of it, but unfortunetly i had a limited supply of copper and was able to only make my cpu w/b ( it turned out like crap, b/c i didn't know much about w/c), anyway, i cant use the alu anymore b/c of the battery effect that will eventually develope, the other metal i can get is a brass.

i was just wondering if brass would be a good metal for a block, i dont think its as good as copper, but lets say in comparison to alu. would it be a good performer?

It would actually be worse than Al.
But you can make your block out of Al and coat everything that water contacts with a clear coat of laquer paint....unless of coarse you plan on using a $hitload of anti corrosive chemicals in yur water, then it should last a long time and work quite well.

Copper is a PITA to mill..next time practice on Al before you start cutting on a nice peice of copper.(I learned the hard way)

you took the words right out of my mouth LR, except for the worse then alu part, thx for the info

my next thread was going to be a question on painting the inside of an alu block, i was just thinking of the TC-4? block, the metal top version is alu and its painted.
im thinking of just using some gloss rustolium spray paint on the inside, but will paint decrease performance?

yeah when i found out i can get that much alu i was pissed that i had my copper milled:( to that S shape design the first blocks had

oh, and i will be using distilled water, probably no additives,

one more thought, i do have some thin copper slabs about 5mm thick, i was thinking of using those as the base and solder a brass housing for it. the only thing is i will be limited to that switech design of drilling small pits in the copper which is not what i wanted to do,

To confirm, the thermal conductivities of Aluminium Copper and Brass are as follows. (all at 273K)

Aluminium 236 W/m/K
Copper 403 W/m/K
Cu-30wt%Zn (Brass) 106 W/m/K

So, there it is. Copper is roughly twice as thermally conductive as Al, which is twice Brass.

Also, I think the Al lid to the TC-4 is anodised black, although I may be wrong.

thx 8-ball, that what i was looking for.

but just to confirm this, would painting the inside of the block alu with spray paint work for stopping the bettery effect?

(like i states above, i will be using just water)

Mine is all Alu and it's doing pretty good. I'd go with polly barbs. Ever since I put on a new aluminum top with brass barbs the Alu touching the water got discolored. No sign of corrosion "yet". With the lexen top it didn't do that since the barbs were insulated from the Alu. Something you might want to think about.

"Beats head off wall" Do not spray paint the inside of the block!!! The paint will peal off or wear off eventually and go right through your hoses into the rad where it will rest for eternity. Not to mention is makes a nice insulation layer to keep heat from transfering to the water well.

ANODIZING is the way it needs to be done to rule out all the above. That is how the TC 4 and Swiftech's are done as is all the other commercial blocks. NO SPRAY PAINT OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF PAINT ON THE INSIDE OF THE BLOCK!!!! You just as well make it out of steel.

HEHEHE, sorry rant is over now. :D :D

CRAP, i guess its back to the drawing board for me.
guess i wont be using alu, dont have the time to get it anodized.

i'll have to use brass and a copper base plate i guess. i just wanted to use alu to make my own designs for the w/b, with the brass and copper im really restricted:(
oh well, just have to wait for my ati8500 to come in.

Like I said....its worse !

If you can use Copper for the base and brass for everything else you should be ok. Brass is worst than AL heat transfer wise. AL is fine to use as long as you use something like water wetter, which you should use anyway because Copper will eventually start to corrode! I have used AL religiously and have had no major problems with it. Copper is easy to get though. Go to the local recycling place or a machine shop. They may give you enough scrap to use!

Im sorry man..I spaced out for a second there.
I should have said that you need to coat everthing but the channels to avoid galvanic corrosion.Or you could anodize it.

I make block using Cu and Al, and all I do is clear coat the al top to make sure it doesnt get eaten by the corrosion and claer coat the block(except the channels) so it stays nice and shiny:D

Getting my type 2 anodize tank setup finished this week(I hope)
Then I can make the tops look pretty as well as protected:D

What we need to do is take BillA's advice(kind of) and try to overcome the thermal gradiant of aluminum!......Sure would be a hell of alot cheaper and simpler to make!

:drool: :drool: :drool:

Are we the only ones here tonight? :D I think a good jet and a base like my pyrmid pins would work very very well with Aluminum!

I used to use 75% window washer fluid and 25% distilled water, before I started coating everything, and it was quite effective at killing everything in it. More than 85%(?) WW fluid and you can kiss your @ss good bye if it ignites...all i know is it is 90% methanol........can anyone say BOOM BOOM

"I think" a good jet impingement on just about anything that has a thin base will perform well.
And yeah...I think were the only ones here.
Weve got it bad Jaydee

:drool:

Agreed. I was telling ben in my forums that I would like to see a WW with the micro fins milled out and tested again! I would be whilling to bet it wouldn't run much warmer without the fins!!!

Unless, of course, it caved in!:eek:

The fins add substantially to the structural integrity.

Bob

You know, that still bugs me... A 1 mm baseplate shouldn't bend anymore than a penny.

Has anyone tried to bend a penny recently?

I got a structural software demo, I'll see if I can calculate the deflection.

The flaw in this thinking is you need to make that penny 2"x3" with all the clamping pressure on the outside edges sitting on the tiny amd core.

I never tried a completely flat 1mm base. I have 1mm now but at a slight taper to 4mm which adds strength. But thats doing it in a circular design.

I bet if the impingement was designed well it would perform the same without the fins. :p

What I would like to try with it is a smaller nozzle size. Same shape but just a slit with the same area as a 1/8 hole, the fins cut out just under it but a tad wider than the nozzle. Sort of like morphings block.