My first homemade waterblock

[LxO]

After watching We Built a CPU Water Cooler! and getting triggered, I thought I should make a waterblock with the machines I have at home. But as most internet haters I was lazy, I thought it seemed like a lot of work and shelved the idea. As often happens, things changed and I had to cool a thing for my internship. Instead of going out and buying a stock one (for at least $50) or waiting for one from China I decided to pick up the idea of making my own.

 

The design is a simple take on the fin style waterblock. Since I don’t want to cut “slots” (full width cuts with the endmill) I decided on 7 thick fins with relatively large gap between them.

 

 

 

The fin arrangement gives about 3 times the surface area compared to the ones used in the video.

To simplify the machining, I just went with a basic acrylic lid with some threads and a chamfer on the top edge. I don’t have the money or time to get real fittings so I just drilled some holes.

 

I started off with some 10mm aluminum barstock. Yeah copper would have about double the performance but I didn’t have any lying around. The first operation was just machining the holes in the aluminum block.

 

To hold down the barstock I used some clamps. This is how it looked after the first operation.

 

For the second operation I added some screw to the model before generating the toolpaths. This assures no collisions as I would need screws to hold the piece down.

 

I used a tapered ballnose with a 0.75radius and 4mm shank, originally I was going to use a 1mm radius but it got clogged and broke. The coating (TiAlN) isn’t optimal for aluminum.

 

This was my setup. Since I mostly machine wood, and plastics I really lack the stuff needed to do it properly (cooling, airblast, waterproof buildsurface). I used a spray bottle with a mixture of oil, water and dish soap(20%, 75%, 5%).

 

The whole thing took like 4h, I could have sped it up dramatically by first roughing out with a larger endmill before the tapered one.

 

This is how it looked before the final cutout pass.

 

 

 

And this is the aftermath.

 

This is the surface finishing after machining. I left the rough surface because it gives a larger area in contact with the water (not because it would be a big pain in the ass to swap tool to make the bottom surface flat).  

 

The acrylic lid was easy to machine.  I used a 2-flute 6mm endmill and relatively deep cut per tooth to minimize the heating and risk of gumming up.

 

 

This is how it looked after machining.

 

 

 

This is the end result. By the time the photos were taken it has been running for a few days (until my crappy little pump died). Since I don’t have any real fittings I don’t want to actually cool my pc with it but if there’s any interest I can probably make a new one for a raspberry pi.

 

I had to varnish the outside surface (not the cold side) too keep the aluminum from oxidizing.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading, if you have any questions feel free to ask them, i'll try to answer everything.

 

 

3D model and files: https://a360.co/2JxkbUB

[LxO]

Bonus toothpaste squish test:

[LxO]

@Mr horse Its for some thermo electric cooler test. Didn't have the budget to go out and buy something. Fittings are expensive, specially when you have to buy them yourself (but use them on someone elses project) and i didn't have a 1/4 thread close by.

[LmnSour]

Looks like the old DangerDen blocks. 

[bowrilla]

Well, good job in general but - how do you seal it up? There's usually some o ring preventing leaks. And it would have probably been wiser to go for smaller fins to maximize the surface area for better cooling. While I*m aware that this would require a smaller router bit for best results, you probably could have went for just wider channels but thin fins.

[TahoeDust]

Nice work.  Do you live on a boat?

[LxO]

@Mr. horse  yeah I tried but here in sweden it turned out harder than expected. Specialist stores have them but then the cost is the same as getting a nice kit from china.

 

@bowrilla I used a 1mm rubber gasket that i cut out to size (didn't include it in the photos since it was so ugly and covered other pieces). You're totally correct, smaller fins would only have been better. The only downside with that is that you have to remove more material (which would only take more time).

 

@TahoeDust haha, technically not but I have my machines there and try to be there as much as possible.