Vexamus

K, I've got a question for you fabbers out there.

I've got a Thermaltake Bigwater SE. The block I think is garbage, it's got one s-curved channel and that's it. Not a whole lot of surface area, not any turbulence to speak of.

My question is, I want to take a dremel to this bad boy and remove some more material creating a crisscut pattern much like Koolance blocks. More area of the copper touching water means better cooling. Turbulence means better cooling as well, so just by cutting some alternate paths though the block.

Here's where my question lies for you all. How close to the contact surface do I want to get with my dremel? Do I want the water running right above the contact surface or have 1/2" of copper before the water channels? What's more efficient, what's safer?

Thanks in advance.

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CrimsonMango

by doing that you'd just be basically destroying most of the surface area of the block by cutting more material out - leave it as-is, or pick up a new block


my suggestion would be to try and have the inside of the block bead blasted which will leave micro dimples on the surface of the block and create a little bit more surface area


otherwise, leave the block as-is

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Vexamus

Not necessarily.. If I just cut straight through the S curve or at 45 degree angles, the block will be able to contain more water. Especially if I stagger the lateral cuts, it'll create very good turbulence without hammering on overall flow and not making my pump work too hard. By using a hand dremel I'm almost guaranteed to have the prime imperfect internal surfaces. Leaving many "posts" sticking up off the water surface, I'll be increasing surface area greatly as well as increasing turbulence.

Currently there is an approximatly 5" tubular cut in the block that only make 4 turns. The cut is also very well finished.

At the very least, I'll divet the channels to create slightly more surface area and a lot more turbulence.

I just need to know how close can I get to the contact surface? Will it allow the water to be heated quicker? As it stands now, there's a large gradient in temps. idle at 35 and max at 48 on stock clocks... Over clocked, I idle at 38-39 and max at 60, the block gets good and hot, but the water doesn't seem to get very warm very fast. I need that heat off the block as fast as possible.

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fstfrddy

I have made a couple of blocks and have drilled dimples to within .040in of the bottom. if you do this make sure all of your base lapping is done first because you wont have anything left to lap after.

can you show me a picture of that block?

Snerp

Using a dremel is just asking for a messed up block. Don't do anything to it unless you have a machine shop at your dispossal...screwing it up could give you a nice excuse to get a better block.

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Vexamus

Thanks Freddy...

That's the information I wanted... I'm pretty damn good with a dremel, I've been using them for years so cut me some slack.

http://www.thermaltake.com/2005/wate...k/cl-w0010.htm This is the block. I'm thinking of staggered crisscut paths and making it deeper.

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fstfrddy

Just be careful it wouldnt take much to destroy it, are you using 1/2" with it, I don't think I would mess with the channel too much, it is there to direct flow properly.