Top Panel Brass Inserts

As I mentioned, I want the front panel to be removable if the need should arise. To keep the possibility of wood screw threads stripping out, I put #6-32 brass threaded inserts into the holes. This proves itself to be no piece of cake. I drilled the largest hole I can and still be able to thread in the inserts, and even at that, the screwdriver cut parts break off. It took me about an hour and about 8 inserts to successfully get the 4 inserts in.





Power and Reset Switches

I had to work a bit to figure out how to mount the power and reset switches. I decided to make a small mount piece to attach to the bottom of the case in which to mount the switches. I took the front piece off, and using my drill press, drilled two straight holes for the center of the switches.



To make sure I got the holes on the front to line up with the switches mount, I put back on the front and drilled through the front panel holes into the switches mount.



I wanted to try to match the grain of the front panel on the power/reset buttons. I took an end of the front piece that I cut off earlier when I trimmed it down to length, and measured and cut out two power buttons. This way the grain would match fairly well, and the curve of the buttons matches the front.





The buttons will set flush with the front when installed later.





Radiator Drain Screw

I think that the Swiftech MCR rads are the best bang for the buck around. One small beef I have with them is that I wish they had a drain screw on the end. I needed a drain at the bottom of my loop, and having one in the bottom rad is the best solution. So I decided to add one to my bottom MCR220 rad.

I sanded the paint off of the bottom, and drilled a 1/8” hole in the bottom. You have to be very careful here when the drill bit goes through the metal not to jab the drill bit into the internal radiator tubes.



I clamped the rad so that it wouldn't wander around on me.



Soldering anything like this is a bit tricky. If you heat up the rad too much, you risk messing up the solder joints on the rad. I took a #8 brass nut, rounded off the corners, and put plenty of flux on it and the rad around the hole I had drilled. I put a cold, damp washcloth around the solder joint on the end tank.



MAPP gas burns a lot hotter than plain butane, and this is all I will use anymore when soldering. It burns hot enough that you can heat up just the area to be soldered, and the wet cloth helps keep the surrounding area just below the temp where solder flows. Its a bit tricky. At first, the flux partially burned out of the area, and I had to quickly brush on a large gob of flux and solder some more to get the solder to flow around the nut. Thankfully it seems to have worked. This is right after soldering.



I used my Dremel and ground down the solder to make it look more even. I didnt want to grind too far and weaken the joint, but just enough to even up the solder as much as possible.



I cut off a #6-32 brass screw short to just thread through the now soldered on nut. I'm not sure the rubber washer is going to seal the drain screw well enough, so I plan on picking up an o-ring tomorrow for this. I still have to pressure test the rad to make sure all is well.

Reservoir Plans

I nailed down exactly how I'm going to make the reservoir, and made some alphabet and color coded Sketchup drawings so I hopefully don't make any stupid mistakes. Its amazing how you can get twisted up when you are in the heat of things sometimes. The idea with the res is the the water has to go from the inlet on the side up to the rear of the res, up the angled piece, and then down into the outlet on the bottom. My thought is that this will provide ample opportunity for air to work toward the top.







As usual, thanks for stopping by.