"The ideal water block"

[Bruno Facca]

That purple ice sounds like what I was looking for, I'm using a glycol based antifreeze, it rises my temp for about 2-4 ºC when using 30% antifreeze 70% distilled water, also it's orange, there is a green one available too but I think ist's all I can find in the city where I live, I wanted some blue stuff. I'm looking for some UV glowing stuff, you know of any "generic" stuff that glows in UV light, like something that is easier to find than UV Dye itself? I 'm also very interested in finding some kind of water wetter that is available here, anyone knows of the chemical compounds used in it, I tried to find this out for days and days, in many search engines but I found nothing. I wasn't much into case modding but after seeing the pictures of some really cool cases I got interested in making one myself.

Todd a: It's my grandfather, he's 78 and and he can still work the same as a 20 year old , I don't know about wood cases, I was thiunking making an aluminium case. The wood cases I've seen so far were kind of ugly, you think I can get some nice results using wood? I can't wait to get a case with a window and space for my water cooling system to fit in. I'm already working on a nice reservoir, tubing and radiator for the pictures, they are almost ready.

About the etchings, it's a damn good idea, I was thinking of painting the top in a dark (really dark) shade of gray and adding an small ACS logo in white at the bottom corner (of the top) but etchung would be better and even easier for me to make! Of course that would take me a few extra days to build a model but it may worth it.

Very nice drawing, thanks.

About the retention clip, I had an idea for not letting the block slide, the bolt that will make pressure on the block will have a small hole at the exact middle of it's bottom (the part that will touch the block) and the top of the block will have a pin that will go inside that hole. Your idea sounds very good, the problem is, my english is not that good, for instance, I don't know the meaning of the highlited words:

I also figured that you could have some tabs or a lip (for me a lip is something that the ocean's waves have, it really hurts when it hits you in the head ) that hangs over the edge, possibly against the ZIF tabs just to keep it from twisting. Then just a little divet in the middle to take the pin from the retension clip to keep it in place.

I'd like to understand it better, if you have the time to draw something it would be really nice, or maybe just try to explain it in a different way, the crappy translation dictionary I have here does not have some words like that.

I will use the clip2 idea with with some rubber and the hole I told you at the bottom of the bolt.

I know what is like to have limited tools, until a couple of months ago I had only the tools to work with wood, something that I don't know the name, it consists of an engine and one disk shaped "rock" on each side, you what is the name for this tool and an Industrial table top driller? Now I got myself a aluminium/iron cutter, an industrial (damn I don't know the word again) think that passes a disk sandpaper on stuff to give it a nice finnish, also a hand circular saw (apart from the other 3 table circular saws my grandfather has), the new blast furnace and some more small stuff, the only problem is I didn't finished paying for loan I got to buy them I don't know what I would do without them anyway. You can take a look at them when you come to Brazil (yeah right hehe).

Thank you all
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

If you check the drawing again (I had a differant one up over night here then changed it), I have a ridge along the bottom edge. This will touch the socket. The water block will fit over the socket so it wont twist. Load up the drawing of waterblock3 (make sure you refresh the image) and look closely at the bottom edge. Tab is like the 6 peices on the socket that the clip attaches to.

"ZIF" means Zero Insersion Force. All sockets pretty much after the 486 is that way. They use an arm or something to lock it in.

A "divet" is a small hole or depression. The tip of a drill would make a nice hole for teh clip to lock in.

By the way I spell really bad and type much faster than I should, so things could be confusing even if your English was good.

As for the clip, I'd make the wire on the edge that clips onto the socket out of steal. The bar should be aluminum (unless you want to make it copper). The screw in the midle could be steal, but I've seen some nice ones out of nylon.

I drew the "anti-twist" feature here so it would be easier to understand:

[Bruno Facca]

That is a very good idea! The only problem is: what about different socket sizes? the block has to be compatible with socket A, intel's 478 and 603.

About the clip I already bought the steel wire and the bolt is also steel, including the "teeth" on the hole that the bolt goes in, that is because aluminium is too soft and it would screw up over time as you screw it in and out. I'm trying to find a suitable aluminium bar so I don't have to cast it too, if I don't find it I will cast a copper one myself and probably paint it the same color as the top of the block after.

Thank you!
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

Maybe you could have a sheet of thick lexan (maybe even 1/4" thick. Drill 8 holes in it around the edge (4 to match up with the holes on Athlon boards and 4 for the holes on P4 boards). Drill and thread a hole in the middle for the thumb screw. You then send it with 4 posts/screws,washers to mount in the hole to secure the lexan about 1/4" abo the waterblock. Then you just tighten the thumbscrew to secure the block on place. Then add two large holes for the fittings for the water lines. Like the Maze3, you could actually make this the top plate on the waterblock and etch a logo into it. Maybe incorperate one of those spiners into it for checking flow. That would look really cool. Maybe even an LED so the edges of the lexan and the etched logo will glow.

I hope the picture makes more sence. I think a little thicker Lexan then what I draw would be better. I also think a Nylon thumbscrew might work better.

[Bruno Facca]

Damn you can draw transparent stuff too! This is nice, I have considered it but I think it will be cheaper and easier to manufacture and easier to mount too if the holes are actually in the block's top, I will have to make 3 sets of holes, one for intel 423 and 603, other for intel 478 and another one for AMD 462 (socket A).

I didn't make a clear top because of *mainly* 2 reasons: it's expensive around here and I'm not use I would use one of there myself because of leak issues, for example the hose fittings on the block I'm making will be placed under pressure and welded on the bottom of the block's top, this offers much more security than screwing them, also if you put too much pressure on the bolts that will hold the 2 pieces together the acrylic (or whatever)will crack. I'm looking into a solution for these issues so maybe in the future I can make clear top blocks. You know, I'm kind of paranoid about leaks and a lot of other people are too.. .

Thanks
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

You will not get too much market for the 603. XEONs are pretty expensive for no reason and are mostly targetted for server machines. Those are the kinds of peopel that do not assemble computers, they buy pre-built computers, they do not service them, they do not void their warrenties... Stick to the P4 and Athlon market with the motherboard holes or clip design for the SocketA and Socket370.

I did take some mechanical drawing classes back in high school about 15 years ago, but most of my skills came from artwork. I used to draw all the time. Nothing better to do in school, but draw and read. I hated school/home work.

If you use the Lexan idea (or an "X" or "H" shaped peice of metal with the rized posts and big thumb screw that I've been thinking of) you can sell the same waterblock with the clip or the plate to fit whatever board you have. If coarse I've also been thinking that you really only need to use two holes with the bar going diagnally across the waterblock (of coarse the water block can be mounted diagnally too if you want. Then you just need a bar made out of steal about 1/4" square and about 4" long with a thumbscrew in the middle and a hole on each end to attach to the posted that you will mount on the motherboard. This would be VERY easy and cheap. The only thin would be if the core is mounted DIRECTLY under a line drawn diagnally between the two holes on both the Athlon and P4 boards (P4 might not matter as much). You could even have 3 sets of holes to line up with the P4 holes, Athlon holes, or a third set of holesuse for use with a differant attchment with 3 prongs for use on socketa/370.

Here's some drawings:

[Bruno Facca]

The 604 hole placing is the same as intel's 423, aren't these used by a lot of people? forgive me for my ignorance, that's because it has been years since the last time I even saw a P4 around here, most of the people I know owns AMD processors.

I like the top left drawing, I will probably make one of these to see if it does better than the holes on the block's top itself. About the one that goes only on 2 holes, i have considered it before but I think it wouldn't be as firm as the 4 holes method and the economy would be minimal so it's not worth it.

The new blast furnace I built (I used the best materials i could find) is already working and it's hotter than hell!! I'm pretty excited about this being finally ready, tomorrow the cast experiments begin. I'll keep you informed.

Thank you!
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

After looking at some P4 heatsinks I was also wondering if a lockdown arm wound be a nice idea.

[Bruno Facca]

Could you give me a URL for some pictures? I never seen one of these. I will post the latest news about the block in a couple of hours.

Thanks!
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

This is kind of what I was talking about:



I've seen a few other ones, but I'm kind of busy and cant find a better picture.

[Oliy]

You talked about having a hole in the top screw and a small pin on the waterblock to keep it centred.
I would suggest doing it the other way around - having the hole in the water block and having the end of the screw de-threaded.
This would not only be easier from a manufacturing point of view
(easier to centre a hole than centre a prong, also it would be difficult to drill a hole in a screw) it would be more economical (less material for the water block). okay so that's a minor point but im sure it would be easier to manufacture it that way.
also that pin could be one of the first things to break if such large pressures are being applied.
remember the hole doesnt have to be very deep, only deep enough to keep the screw in it while it is tightened.
i hope my ramblings are clear
O

[Bruno Facca]

@Todd a: Looks nice, it would be hard to manufacture but I will see if I can get one of these for testing.

@Oily: That would actually be harder to manufacture . The copper block is going to be cast so all I have to do is add a pin to the original model, the screws will not be made by me, I will buy them so that would be harder, about it braking it wouldn't suffer lots of pressure if you tighten it a lot because it will be like 1mm smaller than the hole, but it would probably be easier to find the hole when you're putting it on your computer . I will make one of these so I can test both ideas before making the block available, anyway that's easy and quick to do...

I'm sorry for not being able to post these news yesterday as I told you I would,I had some problems with my ADSL connection, so here are the news:

I had a problem casting the block, I couldn't make a mold that is good enough because of some technical problems (about the form of the block), the model ill have to be rebuilt from scratch, I already started and it sould take a few days. So again I'm really sorry for those of you who are waiting.

Now to the good things, the new design has been improved in many aspects, those little waves side by side would probably cause some "dead spots" in the lower part between them so they are now square, a little bigger and there is some more distance between each one. The artifacts in the bottom are now different, they are like "fat" cones, like the heads from the movie Coneheads (now that was a stupid comment , that should improve heat transfer a lot. I'm thinking about adding a big hole, as in the size of the core but round on top of the core so the copper would be thinner in there, it's 4mm now. The new blast furnace is working perfectly and I got access to a 478 pin P4 for testing the block, of course it will be extensively tested on my XP as well.

That I'm not sure but the top should be a very dark shade of gray with the letters ACS extruded and painted in white.

I can't tell exactly when I will be able to start selling it, I will probably have lots of blocks by next week (I said probably), but the problem is: It's hard to find someone good to make the scripts for the on line shop, like a shopping cart or something, credit card companies take about 15 days to authorize and install an on line credit card billing system and international money transfers (by regular banks) are very complicated and unsure, the credit card system in the site (that is waiting for this solution and some pics of the finished block to be put online) and a complete on line store will be made, but I guess that could take like a month. Any other ideas about payment methods?

Thanks
Bruno Facca

[Todd a]

You could start with PayPall and sell the block over E-Bay to start out. This might get you going a lot easier and cheaper than you could imagine. You could litterally set it up in one day.

When you mold the blocks you need to machine them quite a bit where the top and bottom fit together and where it sits on the CPU or just where the CPU sits?

[Bruno Facca]

I can't use paypal here because they don't send money to bank accounts in my country but I'm looking at e-bay right now.

That depends, when I say mold I mean make the wood model, that will be machined until it is as smooth as possible, then it's cast using aluminium, I make the final adjustments on the aluminium model, than I use that aluminium model to cast as many blocks as I want, when it's cast on copper I just have to do some lapping on the bottom, the top is good enough for sealing it.

thanks
bruno facca

[Todd a]

I worked with aluminum back in high school and it did not mold as nice. Copper most be much better to work with.

As for PayPal, can't they deposit the money into a credit card account from overseas. Something like a Visa Check carge would make things much esier and secure. I don't trust PayPal with my actual bank account. I have only paid for things with Paypal, not recieved payment, but I only had a credit card attached to the account. This was a few years ago and I have not used it since.