low budget cascade

[sjg0]

Originally Posted by supercoolin

yep $19.95 ea shipped x 3, everything else was hand built (i.e. oil sep, accum, receiver, condensers, de-heaters). The Freeze Pack controller represents the big bucks on this build.

You hand built those condensers?

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by sjg0

You hand built those condensers?

I believe you understand the point I was trying to make. I found old pieces of condenser coil and cut out the sizes that I needed and re-built them. Free except for the Silvaloy brazing rods to braze up the relocated 180 bends. Shrouds and end caps were made out of sheet metal and plate aluminum scraps laying around the garage, $5.00 vs $200.00 if bought off the shelf.

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by Jor3lBR

You said you were in California?

Las Vegas, Nevada

[tiborrr]

Keep up the good work, supercoolin, and don't be afraid to show more progress! We are waiting!

[supercoolin]

Well as I wait impatiently for the second case I bought off eBay, I went ahead and started the condenser for the 1st stage. I took and old 3KW unit with 3/8" rifled tubes and cut it down to 6.5" x 18" x 3". This will go in the top of the case with 4 115cfm 120mm fans pulling air through it. Cost for this, 2 hrs labor, 25cents with of acid and two sticks of Silvaloy brazing rod @ $1.15 ea. Oh and 2.00 worth of 24ga sheet metal for the shroud. I post another pic of it mounted in the case when its done.




Also when I evac'd the 2nd stage, I decided to run a little freon through it and then change out the filter before final charge to make sure everything was mostly clean. Since R-134a is pretty good at picking up about any and all types of residue or residuals, I charged it with full 15oz. can full. It pulled down to -31C in less than 30 sec with 13" vac low side and 110PSI high side. As the accumultator began to chill down to -10C, the evaporator went to -45. When it hit -45 on R-134a, I had to conclude that mounting the spun filter/drier inside the accumulator and having the cap tube completely enclosed within the suction line was acting as a sub-cooler or even as far as the system was acting as an autocascade. This could end up pretty interesting once it is all put together, heck it might even end up being a autocascade on top of a full cascade (say 3 stage?) This is turning to be pretty damn fun.

BTW the oil seperator is working like a champ, oil level has stayed within 25cc's of the initial pre-charge and there has been no flucuation of the low side pressure that would occurs if the oil level drops below the auto re-feed port. I am pumped!!!

[sjg0]

Originally Posted by supercoolin

I believe you understand the point I was trying to make. I found old pieces of condenser coil and cut out the sizes that I needed and re-built them. Free except for the Silvaloy brazing rods to braze up the relocated 180 bends. Shrouds and end caps were made out of sheet metal and plate aluminum scraps laying around the garage, $5.00 vs $200.00 if bought off the shelf.

Omg no actually I didnt realize that. Thats amazing bro! I said that because the pics of the condensers you posted looked like you bought them, upon closer inspection i can see now they have been made by you, lol mucho props! They look really great!

[supercoolin]

Well as I impatiently wait for the second V2000a case, I went ahead and finished up the 1st stage condenser and started to fit up the piping so I can just braze it up once I mount everything in the case.



2nd stage is running with R134a and a 75W load and staying at -42. I have been running it a couple of days and have been pulling it down to check oil seperator flow and then recycling the charge. So far after about 40 hrs of run time, it looks like my guess on cap tube size for the return was dead bang on, staying at proper level and no added oil. Absolutely pure damn luck.



Looks like everything will fit pretty tightly, but fit it will. Coolant is actually runner through the HX to test the systme and oil sperator operation. Full sight glass of R134a at 95PSI high side..

[teyber]

AHAHA how low of a vacuum is your second stage in?

looks great, i really love it!

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by teyber

AHAHA how low of a vacuum is your second stage in?

looks great, i really love it!

THANX.....

12.6 in.Hg. I would have never believed I could pull those kinds of temps with R134a, I will have another tank of HC502a on Tuesday, so I will have see what that will do before I final charge it with R1150.

[Odium]

Very impressive!

[supercoolin]

been fitting up the plumbing waiting for the new case to arrive. It's on the UPS truck and scheduled for delivery tomorrow. Hopefully we will be making frost with the 1st stage this weekend (have a little right now on the 2nd stage piping..hehe)

[supercoolin]

Well not sure if I should post the pictures and progress that has been deleted during this last "Outage" but have been doing testing and tune and she seems to be pretty healthy. While I am waiting for the ethylene to arrive I charged the second stage with R507. Three separate start up and she holds -83 with the R507 and no insulation on all the piping. Looking forward to see what happens with it charged with the R1150. Hope I will get into the -100 club.

[teyber]

wow nice! and you got tons of room for a third sta.... haha just playing. it looks seriously sweet!

[sdumper]

Amazing how compact and clean everything is!!!
Great work!!!!!!

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by teyber

wow nice! and you got tons of room for a third sta.... haha just playing. it looks seriously sweet!

Next one will be a real 3 stage...this was my 1st attempt at a cascade to see if I could even build one and just get a stable -60 under load. It works much better than I had hoped so now I think I can tackle a real system.

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by sdumper

Amazing how compact and clean everything is!!!
Great work!!!!!!

thanks for the kind words but it was a lot of compromises to make things fit and sacrific clean lines.

[bazx]

Originally Posted by supercoolin

thanks for the kind words but it was a lot of compromises to make things fit and sacrific clean lines.

working to a set size is very difficult if not the hardest way to build

and you have carried it off very well

i think that you will enjoy a bigger build with more room to work

3 stage cascade is a great deal of fun to build good luck

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by bazx

working to a set size is very difficult if not the hardest way to build

and you have carried it off very well

i think that you will enjoy a bigger build with more room to work

3 stage cascade is a great deal of fun to build good luck

It was a challenge build and the most exciting part is the oil separator. I couldn't find anything small enough to work in my tight spaces so it was "Build-your-own" time. It is working flawlessly without any floats or valves, it is fully automatic and actually works!!! Everything else is so basic in design (Accum, Reciever, cond., evap.) that I wasn't worried about function, the oil separator was the real challenge on this project. And I have achieved my -60 loaded cpu target with only 52db.

[supercoolin]

When I joined this forum and started looking through some of the incredible projects here, I never dream I would be able to take three $20.00 compressors I bought off ebay and throw together a bunch of home-made parts and get -90 on straight R507. After a little adjustment of the gases in both stages and a 20min run with 50watts load, she held -88 with a low of -90. This stuff is totally cool...............Thanks guys for all the systems you have shared on this forum and the inspiration I have gotten readin about them, to even attempt anything like this.

[supercoolin]

Using R507 on the 1st stage 0psi low 260psi high 8K superheat
R507 on the 2nd stage -28inHg low +0psi high 5K-11K superheat (moves around over 5 minutes, need smaller fan @ super de-heater coil

HX temps
at the expansion valve -55, out of the HX -44 @bulb
2nd stage condsensor coil in 23, liquid out -35
2nd stage accum/sub-cooler combo -68
cpu evap with 50Watts -88


friggin can't wait for the R1150

all three little rotary's are running about 45-50, considering adding water coils around each to add a little compressor cooling.

[Jack]

Looking really nice and compact! What load are you aiming for with the R1150?

And why water coils? Those compressor don´t run hot at all... well, not yet anyway (the ethylene will make the compressors work harder).

[supercoolin]

Originally Posted by Jack

Looking really nice and compact! What load are you aiming for with the R1150?

And why water coils? Those compressor don´t run hot at all... well, not yet anyway (the ethylene will make the compressors work harder).

I am shooting at -60C with a 130W load (Phenom II at 4.8Ghz)

I am going to try and add a little water cooling to the compressors because I believe if I can drop the compressor temps 10-15C, it should add 200-300W of capacity to the 1st satge.

[fitseries3]

i love this build. very nice.

are you using the 2 compressors in the 1st stage and a 3rd in the second stage? so thats ~10k btu in the 1st stage and 5200btu in the second?

(sorry for the noobness, still learning here)

[supercoolin]

Well the tune is done and the mix works. I still have a bunch more on the controls but she starts with a single button, full auto startup including the mobo with full Windows shutdown. This is with a 175W load.

Ambient Temp 28.5C
1st Stage R-507
245 PSI Static
-48C at the HX
3psi low / 235psi high

2nd Stage R1150 92%/ Propylene 8%
295psi Static
-29.3C out of the HX
-116C at the temp plate (1/4" plate between evap and load cell)
-8inHg Low/275psi high

1523W load reading on the Kill-a-Watt so i'm curious how it compares to the power used by other cascades (is it efficient or crappy)

THANX GUYS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[paul_]

Wow I want one!