Chiller Build (recently found some time)

[Stewie007]

Posting here, since it has most of my recent design pics and stuff.

I've got two pictures of the full chiller. The first one is before I started. Its a pretty big setup spanning nearly 5 feet. This is intentional. I've got a plan to contain it within a chest. The width of the chest depends on how well I can keep the tubing within decent parameters width wise. Currently, 18 inches is the width of the actual chiller. The chest will have to be at least 2 feet wide to house it with the sound insulation.

The other full size pic is from later on in the evening. Note that I didn't get a heck of a lot done. I had some trouble with the condenser. The last picture is kind of blurry, but its after the repair. The pre-repair photos didn't come out well. Basically, when I was adjusting the valve position in the right corner, the already cracked braze joint that I epoxied came lose. It snapped clean off. Luckily the epoxy was soft, so it peeled right off of the paint. The good thing is that I got to put the right size stub on the tube. It worked out okay and I repaired it just fine, but it killed my progress.

The third picture notes the pump placement. The condenser pump's volute has been turned so that it discharges at the bottom. It will make it easier to line up the system. The cooler pump will probably discharge to the right, but I'm still waiting for the new Volute, which is the front cover with the discharge nozzle and inlet.

Next week I'll be receiving the next slew of parts. The 5 x 3 rectangular tubes and 5 x 3 plates will be arriving. I'll be able to start building the reservoirs soon. Before that, though I've gotta get the tops cut out for filling and maintenance. I may just go with a 4" hole on the top center

[Stewie007]

I did some more work today on the chiller. I realized that the metal fitting expanded the threads in the pump inlet and it was lose the way I initially installed the pump. I made one more half turn and its good and tight now. As a result, I had to flip the pump around to accommodate this change. No big deal really.

With the coupling and the inlet valve I've anticipated problems that may occur in the future should I need to service the pump. This way I can remove it while losing minimal water, and keep from having to drain the reservoir

To that note, I noticed that I made an error, however, and installed the 3/4" coupling on the inlet in the wrong place. It should be below the valve. I kinda whipped the together a bit quickly. The worst case scenario is that I'll ruin the volute on this pump then I have to get a replacement part for this pump too.

The shot on the bottom is the full pump discharge into the condenser. Everything has been secured and tightened.

[Stewie007]

For the rest of the time, after getting the pump situated, I worked on the outlet from the condenser that will run to the radiators and then eventually back to the reservoir.

Unfortunately, It seemed that the elbows were just a bit too long for the tubing to clear the condenser inlet. So I used a Tee, capped off one end and did it this way. Its angled at 45 degrees and runs straight over to the opposite side of the rig. I soft soldered the barb on the end which will feed the radiators. I'm using soft tubing for the radiators, as metal isn't really necessary.

The rest of the pictures show the piping lay-out. I need to get a special clasp for the piping to hold it securely. The one connected to the pump is actually quite solid. However, the other one is surely not. Its annoyingly crooked because its just hanging there.

This week, I'll be receiving the next parts. This includes at least the fans. I'm going to order the 3 radiators soon. First I need to build the cold radiator. That will probably go down this weekend. I doubt I'll have much time to do it this week.

[Buckeye]

Good grief Stewie, that thing is going to be a monster chiller

[Expat GriZ]

Like Buckeye said...an absolute beast!! Looking forward to your testing and some temps. Nice pics...keep em coming!!

[Stewie007]

Yeah.... sure is a beast. I just needed an excuse to build another piece of furniture hehe.

The Arc of the Stew-venant.

The good news is my pump part has been delivered. The bad news is the Fed ex guy left it on my doorstep at my apartment....... and tonight I'm house/pet sitting for the parental units. Now I have to go get it, because I'm not gonna leave it sitting there for the whole week.

Tomorrow I'll be getting the 12 fans, LOL. I decided on some Coolermaster R4s. Got them for a steal at 6 bucks rather than 9. . Saved 36 bucks on the whole order.

Hopefully my 5 by 3 tubing will be arriving soon. Unfortunately, stock issues will prevent my 5 x 3 plates from arriving here on time for the weekend. So that will have to be the following weekend. In the mean time I'm going to get my radiators and fittings ordered.

[Stewie007]

Placed the orders for my radiators, some primochill tubing, and fittings. They'll perhaps be here Friday. But I doubt it.

[Stewie007]

Got my tubes today. Boy were they dirty when they got here.... Almost thought they gave me plain steel. The fans also arrived. Friday, I'll be getting my radiators, and according to fedex my fittings will arrive in a saturday delivery....

Oh, and almost forgot... My other metal pieces will be delivered tomorrow!!! That's the fastest UPS ground shipment I've ever heard of. It came from Ohio, but still, usually UPS is like.... 3 days from there not 1.

[Stewie007]

All I can say is that I'm ing pissed! I don't know what the problem is, but I can't get the stupid plates to effing seal against the rectangular tube. I'm using the right alloy, I braze for an effing living..... But no matter what I do, I fix one damn leak and then another, and another, and another.... I think I'm going to ditch this stupid idea and go with something else. It ain't working.

So.... 100 bucks wasted.

[Stewie007]

Alright, now that I've had some sleep and got to thinking, I've decided on a way to solve my problem.

Since the stainless steal plates were finished, I deduced that I needed to sand it to the fresh metal for proper brazing. Also, I overheated part of the steel and caused some diffusion at the joint in an attempt to use the Lincoln rods that I had. Unfortunately, those have a higher melting point and I overdid it. That part of the metal will not joint.

I'm getting a price quote from the local machine shop that I used before. I'm going to cut the 5x3 tubing in half, and I'm going to turn them vertically. That way I'll be able to salvage the situation.

[Stewie007]

Woot! Pictures coming up.

I was able to acquire a metal cutting blade at Lowes and I cut the other tube in half. The 1" drill bit was a blunder, so the outlets are 5/8". I'll have to make sure the pump inlet has enough of the larger tubing before the inlet so it doesn't cause any issues.

I also got my radiators. Fans are installed, and soon I'll be attaching them to the fan enclosure.

[Stewie007]

Okay, went out and got a metal cutting blade. Its a bit small, so I had to make one pass, turn the pipe over and make another one. It however worked quite well. Yay.

Then, the next two pictures cover the brazing success. I realized that the first time I brazed the plates, the rough HRAP finish prevented a proper bond. Today, I used my belt sander with some 40 grit and sanded the rough finish off. As you can see, it penetrated the joint well and also, it did not leak. Yay! I unfortunately wasn't able to get the useless 1 inch drill bit to drill through the plate even after graduating from 1/4" to 1/2 to 3/4 to 1... No dice. I want the drain hole to be bigger than 5/8in.

After that, I started to assemble the first radiator to the plexi-mansion. We'll see how strongly the glue bonds it. I'm a little concerned about that.

[Stewie007]

Just a shot of the radiators successfully glued in place. 2 of 3. I can't set the last one until the internal parts are done.

Unfortunately, I ran out of oxygen, so no more brazing. I also don't have all of the proper supplies to set up the reservoir stands.

Anyways, it looks like there will be a slow down on work as I go to Hilton head to continue with some wedding plans. Stay tuned.

[wdrzal]

Stewie just curious what type of 1" bit did you use??? I ask because 1" metal bits are pretty large & expensive.Not to mention most hand drills or DIY home drill presses will not handle them.

Holes over 1/2" in metal for a DIY guy are easy(& cheaper) to make using Bi-metal hole saws. For metal from the light gages ~26 gage to ~1/8" steel (~11gage) or 1/4" aluminum is pretty easy. You can hole saw in thicker metal if required. Note that bi-metal hole saws come in fine & course tooth (TPI). Use fine tpi for metal lighter than ~16 gage to prevent tearing in my experience. It's nice to have a bi-metal hole saw kit with saws from 1/2"to 2" inches with the arbors. A good quality kit will be ~60 to 120 dollars depending on the number of saws & pieces. You can also drill wood and plastics. Then you can expand to larger hole saws if ever needed up to ~4" to 5" inches if you have a heavy duty 1/2 inch drill.

Another way to make larger holes in steel up to ~1/8" is using electricians knock-out punches. These are a little on the costly side,but if you have access to them they punch nice holes in metal.

[Stewie007]

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, with my current gear (lack of a higher torque drill press) doesn't want to handle the thicker metals. I ended up getting the hole as large as I could and brazed a fitting to the metal. It should hold up just fine since there won't be any pressure on the joint, but it wasn't my ideal situation. Oh well. In the end I think it'll work out.

If only I could find 5 x 3 rectangular tubing caps I would've been alright. I had to go with thicker plates (3/16) to prevent too much warping during brazing. I noted that the filler metal was cracking while brazing the fittings to the top. I managed to keep it from becoming a problem, but I think I'm going to coat the joint with a heavy duty metal bonding epoxy just in case metal expansion and contraction causes any cracking in the future. Without any pressure on the joint, it should hold up quite well. Just gotta make sure I use the right epoxy.

[lowfat]

What are the radiators for? Are you only throwing the chiller on the CPU or something?

[Stewie007]

What are the radiators for? Are you only throwing the chiller on the CPU or something?

I am water cooling the refrigerant. The radiators will thus cool the condenser loop water.

[lowfat]

I am water cooling the refrigerant. The radiators will thus cool the condenser loop water.

That was my second guess.

[Stewie007]

That was my second guess.

I originally got the idea from our chillers at work. Back when I originally started this project, (before scrapping it and starting over) I modeled it after the water cooled chillers. I don't know, water cooled seemed so much cooler than air cooled...

Unfortunately, my taste for design is expensive, and like my other projects, it takes way too damn long to complete because of the budget and my time constraints. Kinda shows why I get so few replies these days hehe.

Sorry guys, hehe I try.

[Stewie007]

I got some work done today with the reservoirs. I used some left over plywood from cutting the base and created some stands.

The condenser reservoir pictured below worked out well. Although I made it to narrow so I had to taper the bottoms with the table saw. So it fits perfectly now. The biggest concern is the proximity of the other pump inlet to the stand. Although the nut clears the side of the stand, insulation will be tight. The fans are about an inch or a bit more away from the side, but it really isn't a big deal. Its far enough that it won't create too much back pressure.

I notched the top of the back because the piping with the barbed fitting was being stressed a bit too much. It also gives me something to clamp the tube to.

[Stewie007]

I also finished the cooler reservoir. I thought I cut this one right, but when I got it together, it was interfering with the condenser pump, so I had to again taper both ends with the saw to fit it properly. I notched it in the back so the wing nut wasn't blocked either.

Everything fit height wise perfectly. Yay!

[Stewie007]

Finally. Now that most of the stuff is done, I've got a good shot here to show what its going to look like fully assembled, minus a few tubes. Once the final radiator is on the top of the plexi mansion, that cooler res won't look so funny being that high up.

But all in all, this is pretty much what it will look like. Pretty funky.

It won't be long before its ready. All I have to do is finish the radiator enclosure, fit up the last tubing, and acquire the last of the electronics.

Then its a license, and refrigerant!!!

[lowfat]

What happens if you ever need to move this thing?

[Stewie007]

It will be mounted inside a sound proofed chest that I'm going to build for it, and secured with long hex bolts.

It is designed to move. It will have to make a 20 mile journey to my apt from the folks' house. I'm going to have to make a few stabilizers for shipping, however. The radiators are glued to the enclosure, so they might have a slight problem with moving without possibly detaching....

I'm going to assemble the chest in 3 parts. A top, a base and the enclosure that will slip into the base like a sleeve. That way it won't be difficult to disassemble for possible repairs.

[Stewie007]

Alright, today I went out to URI to find a flare fitting that would work for my chilled loop. I happened to find this funky looking thing. Although, I'm not sure how well it has sealed, I may have to get some flare gaskets....

I also built and installed the discharge line. I had to use so many elbows because of the proximity of the condenser loop. It seemed to be the best way to do it at the time.

Then I built the cold radiator. I should have taken more process pics, but heck I got so into it that I forgot. The last one is showing how it will look when installed. Its almost done. As soon as I get it together, I'll start to finish the enclosure. Unfortunately, the glue job looks like it might not be as strong as I had hoped. I'm going to use a adhesive caulk sealant to ensure the radiators stay put after it dries.