DIY Radiator Stand

[Fuganater]

So I am getting a test bench from and Italian maker but it has no watercooling options. So I got to thinking about a radiator stand because the test bench is a mini test bench, no WC options.

I saw the Phobya stand and I really really liked it. Which fits 3x 3.120 rads or a 4x180 rad, but its $90. And they have a smaller one, which fits 2x 2.120 rads and its $60.

They have options which are great. You can mount your res and pump to the outside or inside of the rad stand.

So why can't I make it out of pelxi? So after a few hours in sketchup. I came up with this.

Inside the rad stand. You can see where the Rads go.


Outside the rad stand. Here you can see where the fan holes need to go.


I actually think I may be able to just cut the openings by hand and then just use some modders mesh to cover the holes. That will be way cheaper in the long run as I won't have to ship the plexi out and pay for a laser cutter and I can do it in 1 big piece.

Here is how I will cut the fan holes. All I did was make an X across where the fan hole needs to be (mounting hole to hole) and then drew a 2 5/8" hole there. Delete the parts that are outside the fan hole and there you have nice rounded corners. Should be easy enough to make if I take my time.


As of right now the feet are 8" long and 2" wide.

Total dimensions are :
1' 7" tall
1' 5" wide
4" deep (might make this 5 for thicker rads)

All materials are 1/4" thick acrylic.

So I'm going back to the acrylic idea. 1/4" is more than thick enough to handle the weight of the rads. + I will have rad grills made to give it some more strength.

The new feet. I'm 100% sure these will keep it sanding.


And the cutouts for the rads.


I got replies for the aluminum and just having the main pieces cut will cost over $140 so alu is out.

I just sent some emails to plexi companies to get work done. Hopefully I'll have a reply tomorrow.

Comments and advice welcomed. Cheers till then.

[Fuganater]

Here is the design for my rad grills.


Next up are the mounting holes for rads and pumps.

This measurement is actually wrong. Its 1 3/16" between the 2 holes, not 1 1/4"


Here it is drawn on the stand. These holes match both a DDC and MCP pump. DDC pump is sideways though but I won't be using one. The holes in the middle are for the EK Res. I like theirs the best and they only need 1 mounting point per res holder.


I could also make holes for the DDC pump to face the correct way but as I said, I won't be using it.


More soon.

[Fuganater]

Not much progress yet but I got my fans in.

18 Yate Loon High Speed fans




Testing the first batch.


They all work!


2nd batch.


All good again.


Wiring is a mess. I will be removing the molex connector plugs because I don't need them with the fan bus'.



Now I'm just waiting on the fan grills to arrive and for my acrylic supplier to respond back about laser cutting the parts.


Cheers till then.

[Fuganater]

I have been gone for several months now but I'm only back for a few days. Since I was gone I received a few pieces of plexi, not the whole order, but some.

The custom made rad grills.





The sides and feet.


The holes line up perfectly!




The holes in the feet and the sides are for hoses to go through or for some Koolance Quick Disconnects. I have the threaded kind so I can actually mount them into these holes.

That's it for now. I'm going on vacation and I hope to have the rest of the plexi when I return so I can really get started on this.

Cheers till then.

[Fuganater]

Finally got in the last 2 pieces of acrylic in! My order was not fully filled 2 months ago and since I have been gone I was not able to receive the pieces.


I wasted no time and started drafting up the design on the main sheet.


In order to make sure I had the holes lined up perfectly, I used a 360 rad template that I bought from MNPCTECH. This proved to be an awesome investment and I recommend it to anyone that is going to be making radiator cutouts.


2 down and 1 to go!


I lined the rads up on the acrylic to make sure I had enough clearance between them and on the sides.




And finally the 3rd done.


Next I drilled the holes for the screws. I did this first because I was afraid that the acrylic would crack if I tried to drill after I made all the cuts.


Then I installed the fan grills, fans and rads to make sure everything lined up perfectly. And it did!




Here is what it will look like with the sides on.


At the bottom of the sides, you can see the 2 holes for the cables and tubing. I actually need to cut this layer out but more on that in my next update.


Hopefully tomorrow I will be doing all the cutting and gluing. I may get this done by Sunday!!

Cheers till next time,

Fuga

[micropage7]

Originally Posted by Fuganater

So why can't I make it out of pelxi?

whooa are you sure plexi could handle the weight and not bend coz when the rad full with water they will be heavy

[fullinfusion]

Whatt!!! MOARRRRRRRRRRRR Now!!!!

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by micropage7

whooa are you sure plexi could handle the weight and not bend coz when the rad full with water they will be heavy

Its 1/4" thick so no bending. As long as I glue the joints well....

Originally Posted by fullinfusion

Whatt!!! MOARRRRRRRRRRRR Now!!!!

Coming soon

[PopcornMachine]

Looks like a fun project. Thanks.

[Fuganater]

Time to cut, but first, I had to drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in the pattern so that I could fit my jigsaw in.


Took me about an hour to cut all 3 holes.


Here are the markings I made on the sides. I thought the threaded quick disconnects had a larger thread but they don't. So I have to cut away some of the side so that they will fit. I did it on both sides just in case I change something up one day.




Both sides cut.


Now its time for glue!


Top glued on. I let it sit for a bit before doing more.


One side.


2nd side.


All done!


Now to start attaching the rads. 2 done


All 3 attached! Looks great




Here are the threaded Koolance quick disconnects that I'm using.


Next I installed all the fans to the backs of the rads.


Then the tubing. I'm using Koolance rotary 90 degree fittings, Bitspower 1/2" barbs and 7/16" tubing.


Next I made a ~5' long power cable for the fans. I just threw on some old cheap black sleeving to keep the wires neat.


Lastly, I leak tested the system for a few hours. No leaks so I guess its good!



I'm pretty sure I'm going to carbon fiber the black. Its shiny and shows dirt and fingerprints and I don't like that. I need to order some today.

Until next time,

Fuga

[AthlonX2]

how much time and money do you have into this? it looks awesome

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by AthlonX2

how much time and meny do you have into this? it looks awesome

I got the rads for about $30 each, fans were $3 each new, QDC for $20, tubing is cheap, all the plex was about $60. Once I got the model done in Sketchup (30+ hours), its only taking me about 12 man hours to assemble this.

[stinger608]

Very cool Fug!!!!!! Watching this come together man.

[nleksan]

Mass production begins when...?


Truly awesome, and I am jealous! I am really wanting to make a 'radbox' for my Switch 810 so I can add either 2 480s or 3 360s to my loop once I add a second GPU and have the cash for an XSPC R4E MB block... I just don't have any experience with building something like this, especially as I want to make mine out of metal, give it the ability to hold a secondary pump, match the white of the case, and have the flexibility to locate it a fair distance from the PC so that I can use some high RPM 38mm thick fans to provide massive cooling overhead. I am salivating now thinking about how nice a combo of an XSPC EX420 and Alphacool UT60 240 internal + 3x Alphacool UT60 360 or 2x HWL Black Ice GTX 480s would perform... Drool.

Love it!

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by stinger608

Very cool Fug!!!!!! Watching this come together man.

Thanks. Not much more to do.

Originally Posted by nleksan

Mass production begins when...?


Truly awesome, and I am jealous! I am really wanting to make a 'radbox' for my Switch 810 so I can add either 2 480s or 3 360s to my loop once I add a second GPU and have the cash for an XSPC R4E MB block... I just don't have any experience with building something like this, especially as I want to make mine out of metal, give it the ability to hold a secondary pump, match the white of the case, and have the flexibility to locate it a fair distance from the PC so that I can use some high RPM 38mm thick fans to provide massive cooling overhead. I am salivating now thinking about how nice a combo of an XSPC EX420 and Alphacool UT60 240 internal + 3x Alphacool UT60 360 or 2x HWL Black Ice GTX 480s would perform... Drool.

Love it!

I wish I could make more of these but my plate is just too full. I would have to make a TON of them to make any money off of it.

It acutally wasn't that hard to make. I only had to cut the Rad holes and make an adjustment to where the tubes come in. Other than that its just glue the parts together. I can hook you up with all the measurments and who I got the stuff through if you want.

[HammerON]

Sub'd!!!
Nice idea

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by HammerON

Sub'd!!!
Nice idea

Thanks! I hope more people do it because it really isn't that expensive to do and its fun.


Not a big update. Got the fan filters in and I'm still waiting on the 3M Carbon Fiber to arrive.



Got them all installed.



As soon as the Carbon Fiber arrives I'll be done with this.

Cheers till then,

Fuga

[t_ski]

Congrats on making the front page on [H]

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2012/07/...radiator_stand

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by t_ski

Congrats on making the front page on [H]

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2012/07/...radiator_stand

Thanks for telling me!! Thats pretty awesome!



I made the [H] front page!

http://www.hardocp.com/news/2012/07/...radiator_stand

I did a few things.

Installed a BP crystal Link (smallest one) between 2 of the rads to elimate the tubing.



Then I leak tested for about 14 hours. No leaks so its a win! I ordered some more SLI fittings so I can do it between the other 2 rads.


This is ugly and restrictive!!


I need to find a way to hook the rads up to the inlet in an effective way. I can't really use tubing (ideal) because of the angle. So I came up with this solution.

D-Plug, 50mm extension, 90 degree crystal fitting and a SLI fitting I had laying around. Its easy to take appart and looks way better.


Next I installed a pump on the side to help out. I had an extra DDC3.25 and an EK top so it works way better than the stock top. I'm thinking of putting dual pumps on this with a heatkiller pump top but I have not decided yet. Need to do some testing first.


Here is how the tubing looks right now. The loop is where the next BP SLI fitting will go.


I'm gonna work on connecting the pump to the fan bus since its all 12V. I'll have another update tomorrow assuming I get some stuff in the mail today.


Cheers till then,

Fuga

[INSTG8R]

Awesome work as always. Congrats on making the front page at [H], well deserved.

[Fuganater]

Time to finish up!!

Got my Carbon Fiber!


I took off all the rad grills.

All done. (No mid way progress pics because this was very time consuming.


I also added CF to hide the fan labels.


I got the last SLI fittings that I needed. so Now the connections look super clean.


Then I decided to add a res to the build so that the pump would never run dry.


For some reason this setup didn't feed the pump enough so I changed it up. Lucklly I have lots of extra fittings now a days.





The carbon fiber looks really nice.









I post final photos soon.

Cheers till then,

Fuga

[Frogger]

subbed best stand alone rad setup I'v seen in years

[Fuganater]

Originally Posted by Frogger

subbed best stand alone rad setup I'v seen in years

Thanks man!



Final Specs:

• 3x Swiftech MCR320 (360mm) Radiator
• 18x Yate Loon High Speed Fans
• Swiftech DDC 355
• EK-Multioption 150 Reservoir
• Koolance VL3N Quick Disconnects

Final Weight with water: 20 lbs

Final Photos:































A special thanks goes out to Thomas Harrell of White Light Laser who came up with the design for the radiator grills and also who cut them for me. You can visit his Etsy shop here.




I hope you all enjoyed this project. I know I did.

Cheers till the next mod,

Fuga

[pantherx12]

That is awesome well done!

Although the Res/pump look just tacked on, if you do a revision 2 in the future you should try and get them fitted internally : ]

[Munki]

Well, i'm glad someone pointed out the [H] front page. At least I got to see some of the photos. *Grumbles at firewall*

BTW AWESOME!