Custom HD Rack w/ Watercooling

sevisehda · 07-06-2003, 12:54 AM

I'm trying to make my next system completely watercooled. So I got to the point were I had to find a solution for my Hard Drives.

The criteria were:
1)Take up as little space as possible.
2)Watercooled
3)Tidy wire solution
4)Vibration isolated

The case I have is the all-too-common antec/chieftec standard midtower. As everyone knows the 2 included bays are nice but I really couldn't mod them. After much debate I decided to make a top/bottom cooler in place of a side cooler. My design was cheap fast. I took 2ft of copper pipe and reformed it into a flat channel tube. Then made 2 simple 'U's with 3/8 fitting on each end. The bay intself is a sheet aluminum. It is 4 3/8 inches wide, the extra clearence is for the rubber grommets to dampen vibration. I then drilled more holes for the fittings and then some more to mount the bay to the 5.25" bay.

So the whole thing was looking fine until I mocked it up(with 2 old 5GB drives, no point in risking a new 120GB drive to some random accident). I somehow made a mirror image of what I wanted. So I rebent the cage to solve the problem. Well this threw the fitting holes off slightly so I had to open them up some more with a file(hence the mishapen holes).

Since I'm waiting on my new Johnson pump I figure why gut my case now just to do it again in 3 days so its not mounted yet. Incase you were wondering it will be mounted perpendicular to the norm. So the fittings will face the back of the case and the front of the drive will gace the side of the case. This will hide the cables behind the drives so the inside is neater.

Things to complete before mounting:
1) Paint it matte black to match the cases interior
2) Attach individual activity LEDs to each drive by the Pin39 mod

For less than 20$ and about 4 hours of work I consider it success. I'll probobly mount it along with my new Johnson pump next weekend.

07-06-2003, 12:54 AM	#1
sevisehda Cooling Savant Join Date: May 2003 Location: NY Posts: 234	Custom HD Rack w/ Watercooling I'm trying to make my next system completely watercooled. So I got to the point were I had to find a solution for my Hard Drives. The criteria were: 1)Take up as little space as possible. 2)Watercooled 3)Tidy wire solution 4)Vibration isolated The case I have is the all-too-common antec/chieftec standard midtower. As everyone knows the 2 included bays are nice but I really couldn't mod them. After much debate I decided to make a top/bottom cooler in place of a side cooler. My design was cheap fast. I took 2ft of copper pipe and reformed it into a flat channel tube. Then made 2 simple 'U's with 3/8 fitting on each end. The bay intself is a sheet aluminum. It is 4 3/8 inches wide, the extra clearence is for the rubber grommets to dampen vibration. I then drilled more holes for the fittings and then some more to mount the bay to the 5.25" bay. So the whole thing was looking fine until I mocked it up(with 2 old 5GB drives, no point in risking a new 120GB drive to some random accident). I somehow made a mirror image of what I wanted. So I rebent the cage to solve the problem. Well this threw the fitting holes off slightly so I had to open them up some more with a file(hence the mishapen holes). Since I'm waiting on my new Johnson pump I figure why gut my case now just to do it again in 3 days so its not mounted yet. Incase you were wondering it will be mounted perpendicular to the norm. So the fittings will face the back of the case and the front of the drive will gace the side of the case. This will hide the cables behind the drives so the inside is neater. Things to complete before mounting: 1) Paint it matte black to match the cases interior 2) Attach individual activity LEDs to each drive by the Pin39 mod For less than 20$ and about 4 hours of work I consider it success. I'll probobly mount it along with my new Johnson pump next weekend.

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