I've got a sort of hidden block in the making, its not a terribly big secret, basically circular microchannels on a lathe.
I've been working on the design for a while, its main strength, and one of the main things I was looking for, is adaptability, rather than imense performance.
In its current form, with a change of top plate to get the mounting holes right, the same base can be used for a CPU, GFX card or NB.
The company i've hired to look into its construction were testing their lathing abilities today on some scrap copper. The design called for 1mm wide channels 6mm deep, and they were unsure of how possible this was ( not very by their early thoughts ) but they're going to make the deepest, thinnest channels they can with off the shelf tools, and then let me know tommorow.
The idea is, once I know what they can do, I can change the design accordingly, and they're going to make me a steel prototype ( easier to machine apparantly, doesn't gunk up the tools as they're being used like copper can )
This should cost me about £50 ( about $80 ).
If I'm happy with the looks of it in steel, a full prototype with o-ring and screws will set me back another £50 + about the same again for 3 different top and middle plate designs. ( the idea is that I run some quick tests on each configuration, and pick the best one )
Total cost to get me one perfect block is going to be in the region of £250, not an amount to be dismissed out of hand.
But it will be my design, and will give me an enormous amount of pleasure to have gone through a design process from start to finish, and have something to be proud of at the end.
I love coming here to look at what people have come up with, even if I am a bit of a lurker. I think its fantastic that we're all thinking so much.
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