[In progress] Our first foray into copper tube water cooling.

[For Science!]

51 minutes ago, Rampaging_Tomato said:

The core component of that is a pH 2 acid, it seems. I could... borrow... some from the lab.

 

I'm the second member of this project, by the way. The one whose computer was temporarily gutted for it.

It's phosphoric acid, so depends on whether you have access to a biological or chemical lab

[101m4n]

We now have the additional fittings we need to finish off the loop. We have decided on a configuration which minimizes the number of difficult bends we need to make. The two right angle fittings in the top of the case should allow us to be fairly inaccurate with the double right angle bend we need to make to connect the top radiator to the CPU, as they can swivel and give us a few precious millimeters of play. Additionally, we have decided to sand the outside of our tubes to 1200 grit for a "brushed metal" style fit, we think they turned out pretty well!

 

Layout of the loop:

 

Pipe before preparation:

 

 

Pipe after preparation

 

 

P.S. If any of you ever decide to give copper water cooling a go, don't buy one of these £15 "mini pipe benders", you'd be better off lighting your money on fire.

 

[Julian5]

get some steel wool to shine up the pipe

[101m4n]

45 minutes ago, Julian5 said:

get some steel wool to shine up the pipe

We've decided we actually like the brushed/mottled aesthetic that the 1200 grit has produced. Having a takeaway break for a moment now.

 

Progress:

 

 

[Billy_Mays]

28 minutes ago, 101m4n said:

-snip-

Looks pretty good and I see how your loop is planned out once you bend the rest of the bends so nice job

[101m4n]

The loop has been closed!

 

 

Now for a fill and leak test... Fingers crossed...

[SlipperyPete]

9 minutes ago, 101m4n said:

The loop has been closed!

 

Now for a fill and leak test... Fingers crossed...

that looks fucking awesome

[Julian5]

look amazing, better if it was shiny

 

[Billy_Mays]

5 minutes ago, Julian5 said:

look amazing, better if it was shiny

 

It's your opinion but he could try to do it on one of the tubes he messed up on and sees if he likes that

[Anghammarad]

6 hours ago, Billy_Mays said:

It's your opinion but he could try to do it on one of the tubes he messed up on and sees if he likes that

A mixture of polished, matte, and oxidized green =P

[Billy_Mays]

Just now, Anghammarad said:

A mixture of polished, matte, and oxidized green =P

Could be worse

[potoooooooo]

I hope it isn't filled yet, you're going to want to give the outside of the pipe a clear coat 

[101m4n]

7 hours ago, Julian5 said:

look amazing, better if it was shiny

 

47 minutes ago, potoooooooo said:

I hope it isn't filled yet, you're going to want to give the outside of the pipe a clear coat 

We were actually going for a rough/industrial feeling with the tubing. If there is anything that doesn't match, it's the shiny waterblock! If either of us change out minds though we can always drain and sand the pipes to a finer grit, I seem to remember from a few years ago 2500 grit gives pretty close to a mirror finish.

 

The build is done for now, but we will probably work more on it later, cable sleeving and an additional gpu, once my build partner can afford to/has the time to do so. I am also going to design a circuit to control pwm fans using coolant temperature (i'm an EE graduate), as running them just off cpu temp doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and all the options for this on the market are way more expensive than they probably should be (i'm looking at you aquero 6...).

[101m4n]

I have updated the OP to reflect the current status of the build, here are some images of the system so far!

 

 

 

Bending copper pipes properly is hard:

 

[Zando_]

Wow! Looks amazing! I love the copper aesthetic, and I think the matte finish from the 1200 grit looks awesome.