Custom Watercooled HD Caddy

[AussieJester]

I am building a custom case (see sig for details) and thought i would add a watercooled drive bay for the hard drives. I thought the DangerDen effort was the trick-->




So have modeled my attempt on their fine looking unit, However with room for 6 hard drives. :-)

I was given half a dozen sheets of 3mm copper plate, this will be used for the base of the unit, 20mm acrylic plexi will be the other half-->



Click here for full size pics

Took me a good 40 minutes to mill the plexi on my drill press. Shall tackle the second one after the football this arvo.

This setup will be run on its own separate loop with ford lazer heatercore -->



I was formerly using to cool a E6600 conroe and 1800gto gfx card. will be using a swiftech mcp-655 pump ;-)

Back with some updates soon ;-)

[jinsean]

that's pretty cool... i wish I had the know how to do all that custom stuff hehe

[septim]

read around and experiment if you have the resources and time.

always remember safety first in the work area, goggles and gloves are a must.

AJ, more pics would be nice. including your custom made cube would be nice.

[Mekrel]

Going to be putting some kind of sound dampening stuff on it like rubber gormmets?

[migueld]

Isn't that wood? If so wouldn't there be some problems with water filtering through it? Also are you planning on putting o-rings? It seems you'll have major leaks if you don't...

I'm doing a hd block as well and it's giving me some pain as well

One last question, where would you put the fittings?

[Chas_The_Man]

No, its acrylic. It looks like wood but thats just the paper backing.

[JeffnWV]

do hard drives get hot enuff to cool? what performance increase would it offer? or is this just "because you can" ?

[Sideroxylon]

Nice little project but how effective is cooling the sides of hd's?

[migueld]

Poor Aussie, this is question bombardment

HDs get extremely hot when there is no ventilation, I had a drive die on me because of that in my old Powermac G5.

Personally the reason I'd do HD blocks is mainly to reduce noise.

I guess in Aussie's case it's good because, among other things, he's using them as the HD chasis (since he doesn't have one).

[[XC] MarioMaster]

Nice little project but how effective is cooling the sides of hd's?

the sides would be more important than the top, the bottom can't be cooled with the circuit board in the way, the top of the HDD is just a thin covering while the sides are the actual aluminum frame of the hdd which conduct heat away from the motor/etc better than the top would

[Solarfall]

looks like a interesting project... i'll be lurking around

[serialk11r]

Hard drive cooling is useless, but AussieJester's stuff is always awesome I have faith that this will turn out nicely.

[AussieJester]

Hard drive cooling is useless

Shall we just mark this down as yet another incorrect post by yourself ? :-S

Hard drive life can be reduced by overheating drives. While watercooling obviously isn't essential (as it isn't with cpus and gpus)
I happen to have sheets of copper at my disposal and off cuts of plexi, this project is costing me nothing but time. If my 15 000rpm scsi drive temps are reduced 5-10 degrees I will be happy, currently they hover around 45 degrees.

are you going to tap the acrylic then? tell me how that goes

Yes I will be and it goes very well, almost all the waterblocks I make i tap the plexi have yet to strip one (touch wood)

For those curious as to why i am cooling the sides of the hard drive and not the top well, "Why cool a stainless steel cover thats insulated via a neoprene/rubber seal from the frame? " (pointed out nicely by link on OCAU ;-) )

OK then.... lets get to some updates :-)

Today was a case of 3rd time happy! I finished milling the channel in the plexi sides pictured in the OP but i wasn't happy with the overall size of them. I decided to try a peice of 10mm plexi and after doing the channels I realized I had cut the piece to narrow grrrr... 3rd time round I came up with these-->



Click here for full size pics

The channel is 5mm deep and 20mm in diameter I hope this will not be restrictive on the loop too much. The 5mm area around the channel in pic is to be milled down around 0.5mm, this is where the gasket will sit, this is the same 'arrangement' i used in my last waterblock waterblock

I am happier with this design, the lengthy side of construction is behind me with the milling of the channels complete, tomorrow I shall drill holes for mounting of hard drives (HD will be held in place with thumbscrews) The 1/2 inch fittings will be installed and I shall pop my scsi drives in the unit for a test to see how she goes :-) Either way it makes for a different inbuilt hard drive rack don't it :-P

For those curious as to the finish I will be going with, the thin edge will be left clear & frosted, the large sides will be painted black. The clear edge will be lit with blue LEDs.

[GAM]

Top work as usual AJ. It's certainly coming along now and nicely to boot.

[AussieJester]

Things have moved along a lil slower than I had hoped, I haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm the last few days to get out into the workshop so rather than go out and do a half assed job I have stayed inside and shot up a few keyboard warriors instead LoL...

I did however venture out this arvo to finish off the seals for the hard drive blocks-->



Click here for full size pics

I milled a small recess into the plexi...actually i meant to mention last post this isn't actually Acrylic perspex as per I usually use, this is a polycarbonate Very similar in appearance feel etc as acrylic perspex however it doesn't polish up like plexi does, not an issue for these units as I plan to paint them. No particular reason for using the poly over plexi other than i scored ~ 10 pieces ~ meter long and 150mm wide from the scrap bin at Polytech Plastics sometime ago :-)

The rubber seals I have made as alwaysl from an old inner tube i dug out of the dumpster at local garage, has worked well for the years i have used the tubes for seals on my DIY waterblocks so I saw no reason to change for this project ;-)

I should be able to muster up the energy tomorrow to drill the copper and slap these things together for a lil test.... back then.

[Leeghoofd]

I fully agree HD's must have some good air flow, on some lans pc's with Hd's with no ariflow , got reduced and inferior performance when overheating....even breakdown occurred.
My seagates topped around 45°C now with no added cooling, with a slow spinning fan temps are reduced by 8°C .

Awesome job as always ( getting bored typing the same line on every post you make lol ) go go Aussies

[GAM]

Hey AJ, how about a close up of those seals? And maybe a little literary detail on how you've done it?

...actually, I just looked again at the pics 'full size' and although I can see now that the seal on one side is a single flat section of tyre tube, with only one it doesn't look like it will close the gap, but it is hard to tell the depth (no doubt I'm mistaken ). Will you place a second length on the other side?

Also, is that the join just left of centre of the apex of the inner round section? And are you 'joining' it in any way, like glue, sealant, etc?

Cheers mate. Top work.

[AussieJester]

Hey AJ, how about a close up of those seals? And maybe a little literary detail on how you've done it?
...actually, I just looked again at the pics 'full size' and although I can see now that the seal on one side is a single flat section of tyre tube, with only one it doesn't look like it will close the gap, but it is hard to tell the depth (no doubt I'm mistaken ).

Already covered in previous posts mate...

Will you place a second length on the other side?

no one is more than sufficient.

Also, is that the join just left of centre of the apex of the inner round section? And are you 'joining' it in any way, like glue, sealant, etc?Cheers mate. Top work.

Its one piece no joins at all.


Update

I have now drilled all holes and countersunk the appropriate ones in the copper, poly has also been drilled and tapped. I need to get some more 3mm countersunk cap screws to assemble it before that though i need to fabricate the rear section that the inlet and outlet fittings will be fitted to.
Also I seem to have miscalculated the number of drives the unit will hold, i originally planned for 6 however it has room for 7... :-S No idea how i went so wrong there... OH... also for those curious how the hard drives would be held in place it will be clear next update as I have also milled a recess for the thumbscrews .

Back tomorrow with lotsa pics.

[GAM]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GAM
Hey AJ, how about a close up of those seals? And maybe a little literary detail on how you've done it?
...actually, I just looked again at the pics 'full size' and although I can see now that the seal on one side is a single flat section of tyre tube, with only one it doesn't look like it will close the gap, but it is hard to tell the depth (no doubt I'm mistaken ).

Originally Posted by AussieJester
Already covered in previous posts mate...

! Sorry, I have done it again. Dreadful memory and replying in haste.
In defence, because I read the daily updates daily, I neglect to retrace/reread what has passed before. Apologies.

[GeoffP]

AJ,
Give me your address - I will nip over, suck your brain dry and steal your workshop

[AussieJester]

AJ,
Give me your address - I will nip over, suck your brain dry and steal your workshop

Update

Cheers for the comments fellas :-)

The pictures in this update will hopefully clear things up for those that where
clueless to how this designe was going to work :-)

I managed to dig up enough countersunk cap screws to loosely assemble
one side of the unit--->



Click here for full size pics

Again it is only loosely assembled and much finishing work is required ie. sanding/filing, etch priming & painting. Should look nice once all painted IMO anywayz :-)

Over the weekend I shall continue work on it and hopefully have a completed unit to test and reprot results back with come Monday :-)

[NaeKuh]

it looks really sharp.

I have a question tho. Is it really that benifical to watercool the hard drives?

I honestly can't see how cooling the sides of the drives would help vs cooling the top plate.

:T

[AussieJester]

it looks really sharp.

I have a question tho. Is it really that benifical to watercool the hard drives?

I honestly can't see how cooling the sides of the drives would help vs cooling the top plate.

:T

If you pull a hard drive apart u will see that the stainless steel top you talk of is insulated from the cast sides by a rubber seal, I believe cooling the sides will produce a good result as this is effectively part of the chassis of the hard drive and in fact probably has a larger surface area than the top plate. The effectiveness of this can be seen on the blocks bt companies such as DangerDen who manufacture blocks for cooling sides of the drives, they work extremely well, i'm not saying cooling the tops doesn't work and am not about to get into a debate over side cooling versus top plate cooling either... fact is i needed a drivebay caddy for my new custom built case im working on, had ample 3mm copper that was donated to me, a heap of 10mm polycarbonate i dug out of the scrap bin at Polytech Plastics and had room for a dedicated loop in my case . Hope this clarifies my decision to side cool for you buddy :-)

Thanks for your comments :-)

[MaxxxRacer]

looks good. nice work for a custom job. Looks like it wouldnt have much restriction at all.

[AussieJester]

looks good. nice work for a custom job. Looks like it wouldnt have much restriction at all.

Cheers mate :-) It looks a lil 'rough' still but i can assure you it will look sweet when finished, I plan on black gloss finish for the plexi obviously the copper will be polished. I agree it shouldn't be restrictive, It will be running on a dedicated loop with a mcp-655 pump and 3 pass ford lazer heatercore :-)

Cheers for the comments :-)