Crimping and cutting heatpipes

[mfurse]

Hi Everyone,

I have recently been working on a modified northbridge heatsink for my DFI Lanparty UT SLI-D board to get around the fact my northbridge fan is so noisy and not really doing a great job.

I read a thred about modifying an Arctic Cooling Freezer 4 to cut the centre out and allow the graphics card in the top slot to fit in between the cooler and still get great results.

I bought an arctic freezer 4 and set to work resulting in this:

http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/8532/img0283xh9.th.jpg (http://img320.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0283xh9.jpg)

So all is grand and it fits a treat...until i go to put my massive SI-120 back onto my CPU! Stupid mistake I know - so wrapped up in the job in hand didnt look at the bigger picture!

So...what I am going to ask is does anyone know of an effective way to cut off one side of the heatsink so it only has one set of fins and will fit with my si-120!

I know the heatpipes are full of water/ethanol/ammonia in a low pressure environment so I cannot cut them..but can I clamp and solder then with a pipe clamp or similar? Will this retain enough of the fluids inside to still work correctly? Has anyone tried modding heatpipes?

Any feedback will be gratefully recieved! :)

Matt

[Cooper]

There are 2 U shape pipes there if I`m not mistaken.
If so - don`t do it. Pipes won`t work cos presure will be atmospheric. You must use a compressor to reduce presure in pipe then solder it.

[eXa]

the size of the coler would also be a bit small, so i think youd be better of with an hr-05sli.

how did you cut the fins? the cut looks so nice.

[mfurse]

I just had patience with a hacksaw, a file and some emery paper for final finish. Just took ages!!

Might ditch the SI-120 in that case and change to ThermalRight Ultra-120 tower jobby so the clearance isnt an issue - looking for performance and silence...tough job without going to water I know but I like a challenge - cheers for the input guys!

Matt

[Revv23]

can you bend the pipes on the 120 a bit to get the fins out of the way?

If not, pm me to buy your 120 ;)

[richnewman]

Looking good so far.

What did you end up doing?

[mfurse]

think im gonna sell the si-120 and get a scythe mine or an Ultra-120 after i've sourced an overhead shot of either installed on a lanparty ultra-d or sli-d to check for clearance...would be horrible to buy a new one and have the same issue!

Matt