Retro-style water cooling?

[Epitome_Inc]

Hey guys,

I'm in the VERY early planning stages for an "antique-radio-cabinet-to-PC-case" build, and I'm considering making this my first water-cooled rig. Has anyone seen water cooling parts that would be considered "retro" and which might fit into a build like this? Especially if you've ever seen a reservoir that resembles a vacuum tube, I think that would look pretty sweet. Most everything I can see online is very futuristic, and I want something the exact opposite. I am considering doing copper pipes, and if you have thoughts on that I'm very interested. Thanks!

[Metallus97]

I have not, but would be happy to assist coming up with ideas! Awesome idea!

you combine both of my loves.

I own a small buisnes for vintage (tube) Radio and amp repair... and am a watercooling enthusiasts 

 

Especially the reservoir as a vacuume tube is legit awesome but I gues hard to make. There are watercoled transmission tubes wich have strong enough Glas and are big enoug to hold the water, but I gues there would be huge corrosion problems.

some ideas of the top of my head:

tubes: maybe „sleeve“ them with tweed as the old cables where

Blocks: go for copper and not shiny nickel

[Epitome_Inc]

1 minute ago, Metallus97 said:

I have not, but would be happy to assist coming up with ideas! Awesome idea!

you combine both of my loves.

I own a small buisnes for vintage (tube) Radio and amp repair... and am a watercooling enthusiasts 

 

Especially the reservoir as a vacuume tube is legit awesome but I gues hard to make. There are watercoled transmission tubes wich have strong enough Glas to hold the water, but I gues there would be huge corrosion problems.

some ideas of the top of my head:

tubes: maybe „sleeve“ them with tweed as the old cables where

Blocks: go for copper and not shiny nickel

Ooooo, good idea on sleeving the tubes! And yes, copper pipes = copper blocks. I've watched enough YouTube videos today to know about galvanic corrosion. I figured an actual vacuum tube wouldn't work because that's not what they're meant for, but I thought perhaps I wasn't the first person with this idea and some manufacturer out there makes a reservoir in that shape? It seems like a plastic facsimile would be possible. I'm sure it would be a very niche product, but you could even have a reservoir that's vacuum tube-shaped with EL wire inside it to mimic the element wire. Hmmm... I wonder about making one myself now...

[Metallus97]

1 minute ago, Epitome_Inc said:

Ooooo, good idea on sleeving the tubes! And yes, copper pipes = copper blocks. I've watched enough YouTube videos today to know about galvanic corrosion. I figured an actual vacuum tube wouldn't work because that's not what they're meant for, but I thought perhaps I wasn't the first person with this idea and some manufacturer out there makes a reservoir in that shape? It seems like a plastic facsimile would be possible. I'm sure it would be a very niche product, but you could even have a reservoir that's vacuum tube-shaped with EL wire inside it to mimic the element wire. Hmmm... I wonder about making one myself now...

give it a shot! I think this is to special to have been made already

 

maybe you can strip down a actual tube and use the Glas housing. It should hold because it had to hold a vaccum and be temperature resistant anyway.

 

maybe try a cheap 12BH7 or something along those lines. That should have enough volume for the water and they are relatively cheap. I have several

[Epitome_Inc]

27 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

give it a shot! I think this is to special to have been made already

 

maybe you can strip down a actual tube and use the Glas housing. It should hold because it had to hold a vaccum and be temperature resistant anyway.

 

maybe try a cheap 12BH7 or something along those lines. That should have enough volume for the water and they are relatively cheap. I have several

Ok, so I've found some 1/2" cable sleeves that may work:
https://www.cabletiesandmore.ca/flexo-remix-braided-sleeving

 

And instead of an actual vacuum tube, I'm wondering if it's possible to create the look of one using one of these:

https://www.amazon.ca/Fityle-Terrariums-Wedding-Decorations-Miniatures/dp/B07JN9C8N4/ref=asc_df_B07JN9C8N4/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=358346468858&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6853907887056332277&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1001937&hvtargid=pla-775627562762&psc=1

 

I'd have to find a way to mount that (or if there's one that's the EXACT size needed) to a pump head and add in EL wire or something similar. Not sure if there's a colour of coolant that would go with that kind of build. Clear might be the best and simplest considering the sleeved pipes. Which I suppose wouldn't need to be copper if they're sleeved. I'd probably still go with copper fittings and blocks though. I'm starting a Word doc to keep track of these ideas. It'll be months before I can really get started on this project, but I learned from my lightsaber build to take my time and roll around these ideas for a good while to refine them.

[Metallus97]

2 minutes ago, Epitome_Inc said:

Ok, so I've found some 1/2" cable sleeves that may work:
https://www.cabletiesandmore.ca/flexo-remix-braided-sleeving

 

And instead of an actual vacuum tube, I'm wondering if it's possible to create the look of one using one of these:

https://www.amazon.ca/Fityle-Terrariums-Wedding-Decorations-Miniatures/dp/B07JN9C8N4/ref=asc_df_B07JN9C8N4/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=358346468858&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6853907887056332277&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1001937&hvtargid=pla-775627562762&psc=1

 

I'd have to find a way to mount that (or if there's one that's the EXACT size needed) to a pump head and add in EL wire or something similar. Not sure if there's a colour of coolant that would go with that kind of build. Clear might be the best and simplest considering the sleeved pipes. Which I suppose wouldn't need to be copper if they're sleeved. I'd probably still go with copper fittings and blocks though. I'm starting a Word doc to keep track of these ideas. It'll be months before I can really get started on this project, but I learned from my lightsaber build to take my time and roll around these ideas for a good while to refine them.

Deff. Keep me/us up to date!

 

so the sleeves are pretty perfect Idd say!

the “wedding gift thing” can surely made to look like a tube but I don’t know how stable that thing is

 

[Epitome_Inc]

1 minute ago, Metallus97 said:

Deff. Keep me/us up to date!

 

so the sleeves are pretty perfect Idd say!

the “wedding gift thing” can surely made to look like a tube but I don’t know how stable that thing is

 

I wonder if my first purchase should be a water cooling kit so I can experiment long before it comes near my PC parts. Is there a good source for old/cheap water cooling parts to fool around with?

[Metallus97]

3 minutes ago, Epitome_Inc said:

I wonder if my first purchase should be a water cooling kit so I can experiment long before it comes near my PC parts. Is there a good source for old/cheap water cooling parts to fool around with?

I don’t know what’s the used marker situation in your area but Idd go there 

i think that’s a good idea because it is the hardest part about this build 

[Epitome_Inc]

I was talking with a buddy of mine who's a jack-of-all trades type and he suggested an Edison bulb for this use. They're far cheaper than a vacuum tube and are easy to find. That way I can buy a pack of them and play around to figure out if this will work. It'll be a while before I can get started, but I'll be sure to update this thread when I have something to share.

[Metallus97]

3 hours ago, Epitome_Inc said:

I was talking with a buddy of mine who's a jack-of-all trades type and he suggested an Edison bulb for this use. They're far cheaper than a vacuum tube and are easy to find. That way I can buy a pack of them and play around to figure out if this will work. It'll be a while before I can get started, but I'll be sure to update this thread when I have something to share.

Nice idea! But for the final build idd go with a real tube!

edison bulbs inside a radio dont make much sense xd 

[Epitome_Inc]

Ok, I did a TON more research into the water cooling to see how hard it would be to incorporate the vacuum tube and also the cost ($500-$1000 just for a custom loop). I can't justify spending that just for the look. But... I have decided to do custom sleeving for the power cables with something retro-looking. TitanRig, MainFrameCustom and Ensourced have some products that look good for this purpose. I may do it myself since the vast majority of what's on offer is decidedly NOT retro. I also plan to include some vacuum tubes with orange LEDs in them for the look so I get to keep that. This way I don't need a large tube, just three or four smaller ones. I may even get them along with the radio I buy for this build. I'm still researching the exact parts I'll use, but the release of the 5600 XT has come at a great time. I'm probably still 4 or more months away from buying anything, but I'll keep my eye on things.

[Canoe]

Going back to the materials used when making electrical components back in their original days, you could consider custom wrapping your tubing (or cables) with hemp twine. Flax also works, but is usually expensive.

• Use some thick twine and simply wrap it around.
• Do a braid wrap on one tube for a different look, and if you don't mind cramped fingers.
• It also insulates some, so the hot tube leaving the CPU block isn't radiating as much of its heat out at components inside the case.
• Leave one end of a tube bare if you wish to be able to observe flow/bubbles.
• If you want to maximize an aged look, get some cotton and stain it lightly in tea, let dry, and wrap some around the tubing where the twine wrap will begin and end, with the wrap completed such that some of the cotton wrap sticks out past the twine, so it looks like the entire tube was wrapped in cotton before being wrapped in twine. You could dab the cotton at the part just where it emerges from under the twine, with something the colour of tar.
• Sewing stores usually have various cotton braiding, some of which has an open core. Stain/dye it for custom sleeving.
• You may find an interesting tube to re-purpose in a lab supply store, or check with stores for returned bulbs that they were going to throw out. Could make a nice reservoir or bubble trap. There are fibre-optic type solid tubes that can take light from an LED down the tube and into liquid. Lightly sand the part within liquid to get more of a glow.
• If you were using clear fluid or making your own, I'd be tempted to colour it the colour of natural Verte Absinthe. Just because.
• Some outdoor/climbing ropes have some rather attractive sheathing. Remove the inner load carrying core and use the sheathing for sleeving.

 

[jasonc_01]

Maybe try plumbing brass and copper from home Depot. Brass fittings and soft copper coil, the can be aged and patina'd

[andrewmp6]

ek has wooden looking blocks and fittings https://www.ekwb.com/custom-loop/lignum-wooden-line/

There is a ball res pump https://www.alphacool.com/alphacool-eisball-digital-rgb-ball-reservoir

https://www.performance-pcs.com/water-cooling/combo-pump-reservoir/optimus-absolute-reservoir-system-acrylic-5-75-d5-included.html

[Epitome_Inc]

I have ordered my parts for the initial PC build and they should all arrive by Monday. Here's what I got:

-Ryzen 5 3600x

-ASUS ROG Strix B450-F ATX

-GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5600 XT OC

-Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz

-Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 2280 500GB

-Corsair RM850x Plus Gold Fully Modular PS

 

Until I have the time to find and work on the radio cabinet (my guess is 4 months), I have bought a Lian-Li CS LANCOOL II white case to hold it all, plus a set of white fans. Our entertainment center is white, so my wife wanted the new computer to match. I had my eye on other components originally (Tomahawk mobo and 1TB WD Blue NVMe), but by the time I got the money things weren't on sale or were sold out and I didn't feel like waiting another month for stock to come in. I'll be sure to post some pics once it's together sometime early next week.

[Epitome_Inc]

After an RMA on the video card (swapped for an EVGA 2060 KO Ultra) and a return on the mobo (swapped for the Tomahawk Max), I've been using this rig since late Feb. I have started a build log for migrating this to an antique radio cabinet here, for any who are interested.