Prototype Delrin 'DelRez' Reservoir *56K Warn!*

[nikhsub1]

Well my itch got the best of me. I sourced out a hungry machinist to have the ultimate reservoir made. In my almost 5 years of water cooling, I have never used a reservoir, but, for my current build I wanted one, but nothing suited me. You may recall my thread HERE on the solid brass res I aquired. I love the brass res, but it has some shortcomings. You can not remove the glass without dismounting the whole res, big problem IMO. Second, it weighs nearly 4 lbs! Third, the barb placement is no good, and there are not enough of them. Anyway, this new res I had made I have coined 'DelRez' as it is made out of delrin. It very much resembles the aquatube made by Aqua Computer out of Germany. The aquatube is aluminum though, so not an option. Anyway, it uses G 1/4" (BSPP 1/4") thread which is identical in size to all the new swiftech thread (1/4" NPSM). There are 2 reasons why I chose this size, first, Danger Den is switching to them, they have new barbs called 'Perfect Seal' which use the same thread and are o-ring sealed. Second, innovatek's res uses G 1/4" as well and there are some way cool addons that can be put in this res. Temp sensor, LED's etc. All fittings including the plugs are o-ring sealed, no goop or tape necessary. Anyway, I'll stop boring you and show you some pics. Oh, I have 2 mounts, 1 for mounting in the top of the case and one to mount in the 5.25" bays (takes 2 slots). I decided to go with diamond plate for the mounts, not sure if I will leave it polished or spay it black.





Bay Mount:













Top Mount: (The plate is 5" x 5" which IMO is too big... will be making 4x4 or so)

[dogbait]

Beautifully made and designed nikhsub1, must feel more solid in the hand than an Iwaki (and that's saying something!)

I notice you have the reservoir in a drive bay contraption. Is the res to be mounted vertically or on its side?

[nikhsub1]

Either way. I'm going to use the horizontal bay mount for now. The square "Top" mount is to mount the res vertically, like in the top of a case.

[Captain Slug]

Lovely lovely. If I had an unlimited budget I'd make an entire case out of delrin.

[Mr. Tinker]

I see this is going on some sort of heavy duty truck rear bumper themed computer?

[567234ta]

nice man, where is the winch?

[Delirious]

WOW that awesome, bout time someone made a res out of something other than plexi, aluminum, or the ugly polyethylene ones.

Im consumed with jealousy

[bigben2k]

Yep, top notch idea: cheap, functional, flex of configuration.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more of these pop up everywhere.

[Etacovda]

'cheap'? that much delrin will be anything but cheap. Thats not tube, you know - its obviously been machined out of a solid. At a guess, at decent quantity, you'd still be looking at 10USD of delrin to make the thing (assuming 75mm diameter, 100mm length, priced off a site at 200ft delrin quantity). Then, theres machining the rod, finishing, boring holes, tapping, machining parts, the bay mount, acrylic window, leak testing...

I guess our definitions of 'cheap' probably differ a bit. I very much doubt they'll 'pop up everywhere', and they wont be 'cheap' if they do.

They could be made cheaply, wouldnt be too hard. Id use delrin tube rather than rod, with machined end pieces to suit, oversized with lugs to reduce machining, and use long bolts to secure them end to end for sealing - uses 4 bolts to secure the lot that way. The arylic front plate would be a bit more tricky, but wouldnt be terribly hard to do. The front end piece could be made into two pieces to allow simple assembly/deconstruction to negate the need for tooling to pull it to bits.

I should cad this, im probably making no sense.

[BGP Spook]

I know the feeling.

Taking a CAD class as a part of my engineering degree and am finding it infinitely quicker and easier to draw something complex than to describe it.

You had me right up until you started describing you solution for the acrylic front plate.

[nikhsub1]

I thought about using rod instead of bar (solid). I didn't want to go that route though, doing it from a solid piece is the right way to do it IMO. Less joints is always better. I got a 1 foot 3" diameter piece of bar, it was $45 shipped. I can only make 3 out of the foot, if it were a 2 foot piece I could make 7. 3 foot 11 etc etc. Now if i were to have a batch made up, the actual res would be sold seperate from any mounting hardware. Obviously the square top mount (non bay) is simple to make as it is one piece and that would be fairly cheap depending on the material used. The drive mount is easy as well but will require 3 seperate pieces, perhaps some thread inserts.

[bigben2k]

Yeah, I meant that it could be done cheaply; sorry I wasn't clear.

If I was you nik, I'd look into making more; I have a feeling that it's going to get picked up quickly. How much do you think you could sell one for?

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by bigben2k

Yeah, I meant that it could be done cheaply; sorry I wasn't clear.

If I was you nik, I'd look into making more; I have a feeling that it's going to get picked up quickly. How much do you think you could sell one for?

Well considering this is $75 http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-res-41.html and does this, http://www.aqua-computer-systeme.de/...num=1138808880 I think maybe $50 - $60? But then I don't even have firm costs yet. The BSPP allen plugs in the res are $3.48 EACH from Mcmaster... must find them cheaper.

[ElMoIsEviL]

Originally Posted by nikhsub1

Well considering this is $75 http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-res-41.html and does this, http://www.aqua-computer-systeme.de/...num=1138808880 I think maybe $50 - $60? But then I don't even have firm costs yet. The BSPP allen plugs in the res are $3.48 EACH from Mcmaster... must find them cheaper.

Maybe because the owner of that res did not follow this warning from Innovatek.

Warning: Use of fluids other than the Innovatek Protect family is not recommended. Innovatek will not RMA defective products that have used alternative fluids, including UV Dyes. Do not use alcohol based cleaners on innovatek products.

[gmat]

Ha i always wanted a non-aluminium version of Aquatube. Yours is almost perfect.
Do you think adding a baffle would be easy ? Do you accept Paypal ?

[ElMoIsEviL]

I wonder if it would be possible to make one out of copper?

That would look sweeeeet..

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by ElMoIsEviL

I wonder if it would be possible to make one out of copper?

That would look sweeeeet..

Possible sure. Cost effective, no. Copper is a bitch to mill as it is. I have a res like this one in brass, it weighs 4 pounds. Empty. This one weighs about 10oz or so.

[ElMoIsEviL]

Are you going to be selling those?

Cuz I'd buy one.

[mx]

I don't know much about delrin, but shouldn't it be possible to cast a reservoir? Someone casted the original cylinder? It's just such a waste of material doing it this way. Don't get me wrong, the res is real nice but it should be possible to manufacture it much cheaper?

[dogbait]

With the barb up top, aren't you going to have to keep that res. completely full to avoid air entering?

[bigben2k]

Molding might be an option, but requires a fair quantity to be cost effective. Molding Delrin ?!?

The unit as is has 4 ports; you just plug the two you don't want to use.

[ElMoIsEviL]

'Perfect Seal'

Thanks to you I found the fittings I needed. This is exactly what my Alphacool GPU cooler needs.. awesome.

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by dogbait

With the barb up top, aren't you going to have to keep that res. completely full to avoid air entering?

Yes. These can be fun to bleed

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by mx

I don't know much about delrin, but shouldn't it be possible to cast a reservoir? Someone casted the original cylinder? It's just such a waste of material doing it this way. Don't get me wrong, the res is real nice but it should be possible to manufacture it much cheaper?

I'm sure it could. However, much like Cathar, if I have enough interest and I make some up for sale, it would NOT be to make money... at all. Not enough volume to be foolish enough to think so. Heck, if someone else (Swifech, DD or whoever) made these before I did, I would not have had to. Luckily, I just got off the phone with Legris, the nickel plated brass plugs that were $3.48 at mcmaster are $.60 from a Legris dist. Waiting for a call to absolutely confirm that though. The machinist is supposed to call me within 2 hours for his cost. Hopefully I can have these made so I can get them to people for a reasonable price.

As far as casting, I don't trust it, I dont like it. Cold forged or pressed ok, but no casting. Too much could go wrong.

[bigben2k]

Hey Nikhsub1, if you're in discussions with Legris, can you do me a favor and find out if they have a 3/8 BSP female to 1/2 barb adapter? I need two for my Swissflow.