wanna buy some copper hard drive blocks?

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 03:35 AM

i have been playin around with a prototype of a hard drive cooler...
Its solid copper, same length and width of a hard drive and 1/2" thick, drilled with a double side to side channels and has 3/8 channels and 3/8 brass fittings.

The fittings would come out either the end with the ide and power connecter or the opposite (depends how you mount it) and im still tryin to figure out a way to mount it.

also it would work with 2 hard drives (sandwiched around the block)

I MIGHT make a bunch more of these IF there is a demand, and i would also wanna know what you guys would pay for one of these? keep in mind... these are basically equal to 6 CPU blocks
please give me a price with out shipping (im guessing shipping for one of these would be around $10-15)
The inital selling would probably go up on ebay or something...

gmat · 02-03-2002, 12:01 PM

If you're able to send them over Europe, i'd say no more than $125.
But maybe i'm underestimating raw material costs...
Could you post some drawings of your design ? Is it inspired of BladeRunner's one ?

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 12:26 PM

hrmm.. i guess i could send it over to europe... how much would it cost to send a 5 lb package from the US to Europe?
here is the pic... the blue shows the pathways...

also note that this is not the final version... i will be making those plugs flush with the rest of the block... its just an idea to show you what i have

not many people seem to interested so far so i dont know if i will make them... ill give it a few days though

gmat · 02-03-2002, 01:17 PM

Hmmm i would more interested in a single-side version, with a M-shaped single channel. Mainly a matter of real estate in my YY cube...

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 01:39 PM

dont really have a 1 dimensional piece of copper =) but yea... the reason you can use 2 hard drives is because the barbs are on the side... i would imagine i could make barbs on the top.... but this is the best design for the smallest space.

as for the M shape... i remember seeing that done with a hacksaw, and WOW that takes for ever... i cut this thing to length with just one cut and it took like 2 hours + the filing.. anyway this is basically the same dimensions as the M design... the paths are just different. being that there are 2 paths for the water to go.. the water slows down in the hot area to collect the heat, then speeds back up to exit the block

gmat · 02-03-2002, 02:36 PM

I was rather thinking of BladeRunner's design, with 2 barbs on one side (hence signel-sided).
How much did U pay for the raw materials ? I may have access to a CNC...

futRtrubL · 02-03-2002, 02:55 PM

This is single sided as well, on his picture you can see the hoses coming off the bards in the top left. The two barb like things at the bottom are just plugs to seal the cross channels.

Edward

Brad · 02-03-2002, 04:47 PM

my personal thoughts on this matter is why make them out of copper, Al is cheap, light and easy to use.

Another thing also would be the option to daisy chain them, like special copper T sections, where you can have a stack like this:

|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€
|hard drive
|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€
|hard drive
|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€
| hard drive
|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€

the vertical lines on the far left are the main 1/2" tubes, with a series of 3/8" T junctions. Hopefully the black rectangles come up, they are the waterblocks themselves.

You could sell kits for 2, 3, 4 hdd's like this, it would be awesome imho, you could sell lots if you managed to do it professionally

*edit* the squares came out fairly screwed up, but you get the idea

*edit*

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 08:32 PM

as for the barbs being on one side... they are... the side closest to you are just plugs... the side with hoses are the barbs...

aluminum... i could easly do this, but i didnt because of the whole corrosion thing, and koolance already has an aluminum one.
if there is demand there... sure ill make some.. i just wanna get an idea of what kind of market there is before i spend a bunch of $$ on materials

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 08:35 PM

brad.. that daisy chain would be a good idea... and you could pretty much do it with my design just get some t's

as for the performance of this block... i have a 7200 rpm maxtor 60gig... it was running at 43C with no activity... now its at about 30-31 with the plate just sitting ontop of it... temps would probably be alot better if i added some pressure and ThermalPaste

Butcher · 02-03-2002, 08:44 PM

Squares? those things are euro sybmols...

BladeRunner · 02-03-2002, 08:48 PM

My thoughts are you'd need a long drill and you'd have to be very accurate to drill a channel through that far without breaking out of the copper, 1mm out and it could be toast. It also may not perform that well with channelling that limited.

The way I did mine probably does require more work but hack sawing out the M channelling was not particularly hard. It requires a bit of effort and a blade with some teeth, and lube to prevent it sticking.

The reason most of us prefer copper is for a one metal system to be sure of no corrosion. I also like copper because of it's simple soldering ability. True that aluminium can be soldered but it's much less easy to get sure results.

I was looking at getting the M shape 6mm centres of my design stamped out, but what could you realistically charge for a HDD water-block?. Maybe $50 max, people wont pay much more so with all the effort and materials for $50 just isn't worth it.

DigitalChaos · 02-03-2002, 09:24 PM

well thats what it looks like all hooked up if you didnt understand it (sorry for the bad pic but i dont have my good cam right now)

performance isnt bad either, like i said with it just resting ontop of the hard drive it is at 31C where it would be at 43C normally (probe was placed on opposite side right next to the spindle)

how much to charge... I was thinkin about $75 plus shipping
i will have to see what the final price would be after all the materials and stuff are added up... but im not gonna do that till i see a decent demand for these.. and maybe you were right about the fact that the ammount people would pay for these would be the same as it costs to make.. or less... hopefully not.. but thats why im posting

DarkEdge · 02-03-2002, 10:04 PM

Its really hard to say. I don't think HD coolers are that much in demand. I tcould change but who knows. Really all you need to cool a HD is a low noise, low output fan.

Brad · 02-03-2002, 10:17 PM

thats what I think, most hdd's don't need cooling, and an Al block would do just fine, which is why I propose my way, it would be relatively cheap, easy to setup, and still cool reasonably well, while offering great flow rates

Fixittt · 02-03-2002, 10:23 PM

I think U guys are missing something here.

the only real cooling a hard drive needs is on the componant side. that is where the benifit of cooling would aid a drive, and have it last longer, but maybe you are just trying to get less heat build up in the case, in that case I would recomend channels that run down the lenght of the drive, and would conver it to use a 5 in back, and would bolt directly to the drives sides, with maybe a plate across the top.

my pennies

DigitalChaos · 02-04-2002, 12:37 AM

hrmm interesting ideas... well MY purpose for all of this was to:
1: have LESS fans in my system, and this also provided an overall less space consuming way for cooling TWO drives and

2: extend the life of my drives

the copper was chosen of course because i want an all copper system

also.. the design of the block i found REALLY doesnt matter.. the heat given off spreads over the block... Keeping the block cool is what matters..

the biggest limitation on cooling a hard drive is the hard drive it self... hard drives are not designed to have something mounted to it to transfer the heat... they are designed to disipate their own heat.
For instance, my hard drive has a raised aluminum plate on one side (so heat pretty much as to conduct through the casing and then through the edges of the plate and then to the block). The other side is the circuitry, and that side has little raised edges along the sides where the screw holes are (terrible for heat transfer).
so in the end, without modification to the drive you arent gonna get SUPER cooling. but why would you want to do that to the only moving part in your computer? it may cause it to lockup or something, which i have expereince putting a homegrown mp3 player in my car (im live in wisconsin and the winter killed my drives)
so with the block i designed i feel very happy with the results of having my drive around 30C when it is in the very last position of a series loop with a CPU, Video, Chipset before it.

gmat · 02-04-2002, 04:58 AM

I agree.
We want all-copper for corrosion matters. And we want fanless systems

DigitalChaos · 02-04-2002, 06:10 AM

well i think i will get enough material to make another block or 2. i will put them on ebay 1 at a time and kind of let that show me what people will pay for them. I will make sure that i update this post with the url so you guys know. BUT i need to figure a mounting mechanism first, also you would have to mount the outside of the rails in your case... maybe ziptie it under the bottom of the 3.5" bay... or put it on the bottom of your case.

DigitalChaos · 02-04-2002, 10:15 PM

well i decided im going to make a CPU cooler (simple cross cut thing) to go along with this HD block and a dangerden super cube, rio1100, and a becooling vidblock
THATS A DECENT SETUP!! (dont even start about the rio.. its been goin for months without problem)

if anyone is interested in this let me know... because in a few weeks i will probably put it on ebay (gotta make the cpu block first)

GigaFrog · 02-04-2002, 11:51 PM

Blade, congrat for your new site.
It is simply astonishing.

02-03-2002, 03:35 AM	#1
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	copper hard drive blocks, possibly for sale if there is demand i have been playin around with a prototype of a hard drive cooler... Its solid copper, same length and width of a hard drive and 1/2" thick, drilled with a double side to side channels and has 3/8 channels and 3/8 brass fittings. The fittings would come out either the end with the ide and power connecter or the opposite (depends how you mount it) and im still tryin to figure out a way to mount it. also it would work with 2 hard drives (sandwiched around the block) I MIGHT make a bunch more of these IF there is a demand, and i would also wanna know what you guys would pay for one of these? keep in mind... these are basically equal to 6 CPU blocks please give me a price with out shipping (im guessing shipping for one of these would be around $10-15) The inital selling would probably go up on ebay or something... Last edited by DigitalChaos; 02-04-2002 at 12:39 AM.

02-03-2002, 12:26 PM	#3
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	hrmm.. i guess i could send it over to europe... how much would it cost to send a 5 lb package from the US to Europe? here is the pic... the blue shows the pathways... also note that this is not the final version... i will be making those plugs flush with the rest of the block... its just an idea to show you what i have not many people seem to interested so far so i dont know if i will make them... ill give it a few days though Last edited by DigitalChaos; 02-03-2002 at 09:32 PM.

02-03-2002, 04:47 PM	#8
Brad Thermophile Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Nuu Zeeelin Posts: 3,175	my personal thoughts on this matter is why make them out of copper, Al is cheap, light and easy to use. Another thing also would be the option to daisy chain them, like special copper T sections, where you can have a stack like this: \|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€ \|hard drive \|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€ \|hard drive \|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€ \| hard drive \|---¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€¨€ the vertical lines on the far left are the main 1/2" tubes, with a series of 3/8" T junctions. Hopefully the black rectangles come up, they are the waterblocks themselves. You could sell kits for 2, 3, 4 hdd's like this, it would be awesome imho, you could sell lots if you managed to do it professionally edit the squares came out fairly screwed up, but you get the idea edit __________________ 2x P3 1100's at 1400, Abit VP6, 2x Corsair 256mb PC150 sticks, 20gb 'cuda ATA-III, 2x 40gb 'cuda ATA-IV in raid 0. 20" Trinitron. No fans 2x 2400+ at 2288mhz (16.0 x 143), Iwill MPX2, 2x Kingmax PC-3200 256mb sticks, 4x 20gb 60gxp in Raid 5 on a Promise SX6000. Asus Ti4200 320/630. Cooled by Water

02-03-2002, 08:44 PM	#11
Butcher Thermophile Join Date: May 2001 Location: UK Posts: 1,064	Squares? those things are euro sybmols... __________________ Once upon a time, in a land far far away...

02-03-2002, 08:48 PM	#12
BladeRunner Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Chesterfield Uk Posts: 459	My thoughts are you'd need a long drill and you'd have to be very accurate to drill a channel through that far without breaking out of the copper, 1mm out and it could be toast. It also may not perform that well with channelling that limited. The way I did mine probably does require more work but hack sawing out the M channelling was not particularly hard. It requires a bit of effort and a blade with some teeth, and lube to prevent it sticking. The reason most of us prefer copper is for a one metal system to be sure of no corrosion. I also like copper because of it's simple soldering ability. True that aluminium can be soldered but it's much less easy to get sure results. I was looking at getting the M shape 6mm centres of my design stamped out, but what could you realistically charge for a HDD water-block?. Maybe $50 max, people wont pay much more so with all the effort and materials for $50 just isn't worth it. __________________ Zero Fan Zone

02-03-2002, 12:01 PM	#2
gmat Thermophile Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,221	If you're able to send them over Europe, i'd say no more than $125. But maybe i'm underestimating raw material costs... Could you post some drawings of your design ? Is it inspired of BladeRunner's one ?

02-03-2002, 01:17 PM	#4
gmat Thermophile Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,221	Hmmm i would more interested in a single-side version, with a M-shaped single channel. Mainly a matter of real estate in my YY cube...

02-03-2002, 01:39 PM	#5
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	dont really have a 1 dimensional piece of copper =) but yea... the reason you can use 2 hard drives is because the barbs are on the side... i would imagine i could make barbs on the top.... but this is the best design for the smallest space. as for the M shape... i remember seeing that done with a hacksaw, and WOW that takes for ever... i cut this thing to length with just one cut and it took like 2 hours + the filing.. anyway this is basically the same dimensions as the M design... the paths are just different. being that there are 2 paths for the water to go.. the water slows down in the hot area to collect the heat, then speeds back up to exit the block

02-03-2002, 02:36 PM	#6
gmat Thermophile Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,221	I was rather thinking of BladeRunner's design, with 2 barbs on one side (hence signel-sided). How much did U pay for the raw materials ? I may have access to a CNC...

02-03-2002, 02:55 PM	#7
futRtrubL Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Kingston, Jamaica Posts: 204	This is single sided as well, on his picture you can see the hoses coming off the bards in the top left. The two barb like things at the bottom are just plugs to seal the cross channels. Edward

02-03-2002, 08:32 PM	#9
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	as for the barbs being on one side... they are... the side closest to you are just plugs... the side with hoses are the barbs... aluminum... i could easly do this, but i didnt because of the whole corrosion thing, and koolance already has an aluminum one. if there is demand there... sure ill make some.. i just wanna get an idea of what kind of market there is before i spend a bunch of $$ on materials

02-03-2002, 08:35 PM	#10
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	brad.. that daisy chain would be a good idea... and you could pretty much do it with my design just get some t's as for the performance of this block... i have a 7200 rpm maxtor 60gig... it was running at 43C with no activity... now its at about 30-31 with the plate just sitting ontop of it... temps would probably be alot better if i added some pressure and ThermalPaste

02-03-2002, 09:24 PM	#13
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	well thats what it looks like all hooked up if you didnt understand it (sorry for the bad pic but i dont have my good cam right now) performance isnt bad either, like i said with it just resting ontop of the hard drive it is at 31C where it would be at 43C normally (probe was placed on opposite side right next to the spindle) how much to charge... I was thinkin about $75 plus shipping i will have to see what the final price would be after all the materials and stuff are added up... but im not gonna do that till i see a decent demand for these.. and maybe you were right about the fact that the ammount people would pay for these would be the same as it costs to make.. or less... hopefully not.. but thats why im posting

02-03-2002, 10:04 PM	#14
DarkEdge Cooling Savant Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sugar Land, Tx Posts: 176	Its really hard to say. I don't think HD coolers are that much in demand. I tcould change but who knows. Really all you need to cool a HD is a low noise, low output fan.

02-03-2002, 10:17 PM	#15
Brad Thermophile Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Nuu Zeeelin Posts: 3,175	thats what I think, most hdd's don't need cooling, and an Al block would do just fine, which is why I propose my way, it would be relatively cheap, easy to setup, and still cool reasonably well, while offering great flow rates __________________ 2x P3 1100's at 1400, Abit VP6, 2x Corsair 256mb PC150 sticks, 20gb 'cuda ATA-III, 2x 40gb 'cuda ATA-IV in raid 0. 20" Trinitron. No fans 2x 2400+ at 2288mhz (16.0 x 143), Iwill MPX2, 2x Kingmax PC-3200 256mb sticks, 4x 20gb 60gxp in Raid 5 on a Promise SX6000. Asus Ti4200 320/630. Cooled by Water

02-03-2002, 10:23 PM	#16
Fixittt CNC Beyatch Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Tulsa Spell it backwards Posts: 721	I think U guys are missing something here. the only real cooling a hard drive needs is on the componant side. that is where the benifit of cooling would aid a drive, and have it last longer, but maybe you are just trying to get less heat build up in the case, in that case I would recomend channels that run down the lenght of the drive, and would conver it to use a 5 in back, and would bolt directly to the drives sides, with maybe a plate across the top. my pennies __________________ Creator of the Spir@l Block Longest post ever http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&postid=43808#post43808

02-04-2002, 12:37 AM	#17
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	hrmm interesting ideas... well MY purpose for all of this was to: 1: have LESS fans in my system, and this also provided an overall less space consuming way for cooling TWO drives and 2: extend the life of my drives the copper was chosen of course because i want an all copper system also.. the design of the block i found REALLY doesnt matter.. the heat given off spreads over the block... Keeping the block cool is what matters.. the biggest limitation on cooling a hard drive is the hard drive it self... hard drives are not designed to have something mounted to it to transfer the heat... they are designed to disipate their own heat. For instance, my hard drive has a raised aluminum plate on one side (so heat pretty much as to conduct through the casing and then through the edges of the plate and then to the block). The other side is the circuitry, and that side has little raised edges along the sides where the screw holes are (terrible for heat transfer). so in the end, without modification to the drive you arent gonna get SUPER cooling. but why would you want to do that to the only moving part in your computer? it may cause it to lockup or something, which i have expereince putting a homegrown mp3 player in my car (im live in wisconsin and the winter killed my drives) so with the block i designed i feel very happy with the results of having my drive around 30C when it is in the very last position of a series loop with a CPU, Video, Chipset before it.

02-04-2002, 04:58 AM	#18
gmat Thermophile Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: France Posts: 1,221	I agree. We want all-copper for corrosion matters. And we want fanless systems

02-04-2002, 06:10 AM	#19
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	well i think i will get enough material to make another block or 2. i will put them on ebay 1 at a time and kind of let that show me what people will pay for them. I will make sure that i update this post with the url so you guys know. BUT i need to figure a mounting mechanism first, also you would have to mount the outside of the rails in your case... maybe ziptie it under the bottom of the 3.5" bay... or put it on the bottom of your case. Last edited by DigitalChaos; 02-04-2002 at 06:13 AM.

02-04-2002, 10:15 PM	#20
DigitalChaos Cooling Savant Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Waukesha, Wi Posts: 698	well i decided im going to make a CPU cooler (simple cross cut thing) to go along with this HD block and a dangerden super cube, rio1100, and a becooling vidblock THATS A DECENT SETUP!! (dont even start about the rio.. its been goin for months without problem) if anyone is interested in this let me know... because in a few weeks i will probably put it on ebay (gotta make the cpu block first)

02-04-2002, 11:51 PM	#21
GigaFrog Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NorthWest (French & US) Posts: 88	Blade, congrat for your new site. It is simply astonishing. __________________ Got water? Water cooled for 3 years. Safe with thermal switch. Now silent with fan thermostat.

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