Home made mcp355 acrylic top

mariop · 09-20-2009, 05:48 PM

Hi guys,

i have a swiftech mcp-355 pump and as we dont have any kind of modified tops to this pump here in brazil (we dont have anything for watercooling here) im going to make my own top.

It would be really helpfull if people who have any top like this give me some advice. I will use a mechanical lathe and a drill press to work this out.

The project is 10mm longer so the rotor hole would be in the center of the piece, making it easy to align in the lathe. I will cut 10mm out from the rear after drilling everything, making it 68x62x20mm .

Side view of it:

The rotor place is 8.5mm depth and 40mm diameter.

I would really apreciate if anybody could help me with dimensions (specially the rotor place depth and diameter and the space between the fixing holes.)

Thanks,

Mario.

atomic ferret · 09-20-2009, 07:41 PM

Ambitious project. Good luck with it.

Metric · 09-20-2009, 08:09 PM

Nice job so far Mario

I bet if you talk to Vapor or skinnee, they can help you with your dimensions.

A few tips with your design: A spiral volute will help with performance as well as a slightly smaller inlet. Martin's review has some helpful design options near the end of the review: http://martinsliquidlab.petrastech.c...opTesting.html

Best of luck and can't wait to see an update with your top

Humminn55 · 09-20-2009, 08:12 PM

I think your biggest problem is getting the volute shaped correctly. A spiral volute has been shown to be the optimal shape, but a circular volute is better than a botched "simulated" spiral volute.

Good luck, and wouldn't it be cheaper to contact someone like Petra's or Jab-Tech or Sidewinder, even with overseas shipping, than the time and expense of trying to do it yourself, esp. given the uncertain results you may end up with?

iandh · 09-20-2009, 08:43 PM

Round volute and larger inlet for flow, spiral volute and smaller inlet for head pressure.

For inlet dia, try 5-6mm. For spiral, go from 1mm to 5mm clearance from impeller, intersect with 6-7mm outlet. Ramp spiral linearly from start to finish.

Arthur · 09-20-2009, 09:21 PM

Good luck mate, it seems nice out there. We are waiting the process update.

voigts · 09-21-2009, 01:58 PM

Back before the XSPC top and others came out, I made my own top. I used a 1 1/2" wood spade bit to cut the circle for the middle, and then went back with a dremel and small sanding drum to spiral out the volute to match the stock top. i took a piece of thick card stock type paper to trace out the shape of the volute onto, cut out the shape, and used it to trace onto the acrylic block.

One hard part is getting the outlet drilled correctly without it getting too close to the pump mount screw hole on that side. You really have to watch that when drilling. You also have to be careful to not get the acrylic too hot so as to cause it to craze. Also, don't even attempt to make a top out of extruded acrylic. It won't work. You must have cast acrylic in order to do the machining.

I used my top very successfully for over a year.

Alternatively, you could also do the inlet and outlet mod on the stock top that allows you to use 1/2" tubing. I did this also.

Petra · 09-21-2009, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iandh

Round volute and larger inlet for flow, spiral volute and smaller inlet for head pressure.

For inlet dia, try 5-6mm. For spiral, go from 1mm to 5mm clearance from impeller, intersect with 6-7mm outlet. Ramp spiral linearly from start to finish.

I'd say to give a 6-7.25mm inlet a try with a 6.5-7mm outlet and reduce the volute depth from 8.5mm to 8.0mm... 40mm is fine for the volute diameter and the mounting holes are 50mm apart in a square, centered around the inlet. For the sake of simplicity, since you're doing this by hand with a lathe and drill press, you can stick with a circular volute... just make sure that your outlet intersects with the volute wall really cleanly (you may need to go in and port/polish it by hand with a dremel or something to smooth things out).

Just make sure to let us see the finished project

mariop · 09-21-2009, 06:51 PM

First of all,

thanks everybody for the feedback. Is really great to have your help.

atomic ferret, thanks for the support man

Metric, the link from martinslab is really good, thanks for sharing it

. But as Petra said, it would be really hard to achieve a nice spiral with manual tools (non cnc). So i'll stay with the circular volute.

Humminn55, yes it would be certainly easyer to have it(not sure if it would be cheaper. Shipping costs and customs taxing are a bit high). But it's really fun to make your own stuff

iandh, i'll stay with a circular volute and maybe a 7mm diameter inlet (is the ID of the G1/4 barbs that i use.).

voigts, is really nice to see similar projects man! I know that the outlet hole is really close to the fixing hole, but on the new sketch that i'll make i will shorten the G1/4 thread a bit.

Petra, thanks for the support

. Im thinking on a 7mm inlet and 6.5mm outlet. I will re-sketch the whole thing with the new dimensions(including the 8mm depth volute) and improving the outlet and volute intersection

Tomorrow i'll update the sketchs.

Thanks for the help,

Mario.

EDIT: guys, and what about the input angle? Is it nice?

mariop · 09-21-2009, 07:38 PM

just to show you guys a flow indicator that i made a few weeks ago:

Petra · 09-21-2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mariop

just to show you guys a flow indicator that i made a few weeks ago:

LEGO propeller flow indicator FTW!

iandh · 09-21-2009, 10:51 PM

I know you already decided to go round volute, but here's a pic of a spiral volute design I made a while back. The lower section of the volute is round, so it "seals" against the impeller (reduces pressure loss across the underside of the impeller), and the spiral is undercut with a keyseat cutter.

If you do decide to do a spiral, I'm sure you could make up the top and then find a machinist to finish it off for you. If you BS with him long enough and explain what it is for, you may end up getting it done for free.

urgrandpasdog · 09-22-2009, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iandh

Ohmahgawd.... that top is amazing.

mariop · 09-22-2009, 08:45 PM

Petra, Lego rules

iandh . Awesome work man! Is that brass? Loved the mirror finish! I couldn't understand very well. You did a circular volute and then made it spiral? (Indeed, im not understanding how the spiral volute design works.)

Actualized:

inlet with 7mm, outlet with 6.5mm, volute 8mm depth. I'll start to make it next week, this week i have some tests at college.

Petra · 09-23-2009, 07:25 AM

Looks good

Anyway, a keyseat cutter is a particular bit for a mill which allows you to do recessed cuts (probably not the right term, but I'm not a machinist), which is how Ian was able to cut a spiral wall into an originally circular volute (same way the circle + relief cut was done for my tops).

mariop · 09-23-2009, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petra

Looks good

Anyway, a keyseat cutter is a particular bit for a mill which allows you to do recessed cuts (probably not the right term, but I'm not a machinist), which is how Ian was able to cut a spiral wall into an originally circular volute (same way the circle + relief cut was done for my tops).

Hmm, now i understood.

I'll make 2 attempts. One will be the single top, and the other one will be a top with a reservoir adapted to it.

mariop · Today, 12:29 PM

Hi guys! project isn't dead. im quite busy at the university, but when i have some free time im working on it.

Actually, i only have to make the chanfer, the outlet hole and polish erverything. Today i have disassembled my pump to put the tops and see if holes were aligned, things like that.

Some pics of it:

Hope next week i could finish it and test everything.