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CM Stacker Makeover

Date Log August 3, 2006

We will be looking at showcasing our new Patent Pending Radiical Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© in this makeover of the original CM Stacker Case. To show some continuity we are going to attach the new makeover to the original project so that the onward development of our water cooling products can be seen in a before and after situation. If however you wish to refresh your memory about the first CM Stacker project you will find it here. We hope you enjoy this project and the changes that our CM Stacker makeover demonstrates.

This retrospective look at the CM Stacker cooling system is also intended to illustrate the water cooling research that we here at Radiical have been working on for some time. The Three Port Radiator© and its associated Bleeder Wick© is one such advancement. The Three Port Radiator© incorporates the reservoir and bleeding function of the water cooling system into one integrated unit.The Three Port Radiator© is unique in that it permits the filling bleeding and draining of even triple sized radiators with ease. No more waiting until the T-line or reservoir bleeds the system. With the Three Port Radiator you can be up and running within minutes of filling up the system. Filling has been simplified to a simple funnel and tube attached to the third port. Bleeding both long and short term can easily be accomplished with the Bleeder Wick©. With the direct filling and bleeding options made possible with the Bleeder Wick© it is conceivable that previously unusable "in case" areas can now be made useful.

We will be trying out a few things for other projects during this makeover so bear with us side tracking occasionally. So lets get into the project and see where we will be going first.

Set Out

I personally like to keep projects based around a no case massacre policy. The end result of any project in my mind should see the case intact. I am aware that sometimes it is necessary to look at case modification but I prefer to add to rather than detract from the original case appearance.

The first task I like to complete is the placement of the largest components in the case. In this instance we will be using a Radiical Three Port Radiator©. This will be in triple fan, dual pass format and will be placed on the back plate of the case. We will be staying with the no cut policy and using the existent 120 mm fan space already available. The big problem here is the length of the radiator. Placed using the available 120 mm fan mounting holes the inlet and outlet barbs it will not line up with any opening in the rear of the case.

To solve this problem we have modified a set of bugs legs to meet the task.

We added to the bugs legs some 35 mm extension pieces.

By making up four 35 mm extensions the bugs legs can be used to set the radiator higher up on the case back using the original 120 mm fan mounting holes.

Because the bugs legs are now able to rotate around the stainless steel center mounting post the radiator can also be positioned sideways by up to 25 mm. In the position shown below (as before and after pictures) the rotation of the radiator body towards the center of the case back allows for "lining up" of the two radiator barbs. It will be a lot easier to fit the tubing to the pump and from the CPU to the radiator return coolant barb with this minor but necessary adjustment.

Before

After

Next we will look at the placement of the tubing through the case back and into the interior for the pump set out. To do this we can simply remove the original second PSU back plate.

Then install our own see through tubing entry plate.

The trick here is to work the tubing entry to your own advantage so looking at the entry point for tubing should also involve establishing where the tubing will go directly after it enters the case rear. In the picture below taken from the front of the case it can clearly be seen that tubing entry and barb spacing will present no issues for this project.

Care should be exercised to ensure that access to the video, sound and USB ports is not hindered by the placement of the radiator body. A PCI pass through plate has been installed above the blanking plate to carry the radiator fan wiring into the case.

The blanking plate is then fitted with some of the end use tubing. In this case we will be using 7/16 " tubing for the external Three Port Radiator© inlet and outlets and 7/16 " tubing leading to the pump inlet. The reasoning for this is discussed below.

In this project we will want to position the pump entry close to the case back plate. The reason for this is that we will be testing a number of pumps and tubing sizes as we go in this computer case so ease of fitting out for new pumps and tubing must be a consideration.

Pump;

Speaking of pumps we decided to make life simple for ourselves by modifying the Laing D5 pump to suit our needs. For those of you who like before and after pictures here is what we did. Just a warning here you will definitely void the warranty.

First the original Laing D5 pump with those large molded barbs.

Then after offing the barbs to the point where we could tap thread.

Threads tapped the next thing is to fit half inch barbs and we are good to go for tubing up for the tube fitting stage. Black Tygon.

We decided to take a side track here and try out some of the Black 7/16" Tygon just to see how it is going to look in another project later on.

Happy with the look here so its back to the rest of the Makeover project.

Just looking again at the Tygon tubing pictured above I am surprised at the space saving that a Radiical Three Port Radiator© adds to the internal case space. No messy tubing going to and from a bay or floor mounted reservoir really makes a difference to the appearance.

Next its on to the real game. I have always wanted to put together a 3/8" tubed system in this case with GPU as well as CPU blocks in place. This is based more on another project due for this case in a few weeks time so there is some reasoning behind this move. First we start off with a reduction in barb size for our modified D5 pump.

Please Note;

Just a note here for reference about the inlet size for the Laing D5 pump. We tried flow rate tests on 3/8" and 7/16 " barb sizes on the inlet to the modified Laing D5 pump and decided that the gain going from 3/8" to 7/16 " on the induction side of the pump was worth the difference in tubing size. As a result the final fit out will involve 7/16 " tubing to and from the radiator and the inlet of the Laing D5 pump. For the balance it will involve 3/8" tubing.

Then we fit one of our GPU blocks to the graphics card.

Next its time we added some 3/8" tubing.

With the bulk of the 3/8" tubing fitted it is time to look at how we are going to marry the returning 3/8" tubing to the 7/16 " going to our triple radiator. A simple 1/2" to 3/8" reducer is used her to address the changed tubing size. With our loop completed its time to fill and leak test our new creation.

Filling

To fill our new system we will need to remove the third port plug from the Three Port Radiator©.

and fit a Bleeder Wick© using a 1/2" barb and a short 3" (75mm) length of spare 1/2" tubing. Oh and you will need a funnel.

Handy Hint;

It is not a good idea to use one of your girlfriend, Mum or wife's kitchen funnels. Just remember that the ingestion/swallowing of Ethylene Glycol based corrosion inhibitors and/or additives constitutes a medical emergency due to the highly poisonous nature of these chemicals. Work safe and spend a few dollars to get your own dedicated funnel for use with your cooling system.

Now start adding coolant. It is best to flow the coolant down the tubing at a leisurely pace. Do not rush the process and do not fill the funnel with coolant or an air lock will develop and you will need to tilt the case and radiator to release it. When you have filled the radiator and fluid has started to flow into the pump inlet look for any air trapped before the pump in the tubing as shown below.

It is essential that this air be directed back into the radiator so that the pump is not starved of coolant fluid as it starts. Tilt the case so that the air rises up into the radiator and discharges into the top header tank. You will more than likely hear a sheeting sound as the air is displaced with coolant fluid. Top up the coolant in the radiator header tank and ensure that there is now fluid in the funnel. Do not over fill the funnel or it may tip under the weight of coolant and spill onto the case top.

Using a spare PSU switch the pump on and as soon as it starts switch it off. The coolant will now rush into the radiator and adjust the levels in both the radiator, fluid lines and the funnel fitted Bleeder Wick©. Top up the funnel as required. Restart the pump and again switch it off as soon as the coolant moves. This may be necessary for a few tries until there is sufficient coolant in the radiator to start full operation. Check for any leaks. Refill the funnel line at the top of the Three Port Radiator©. Now its time to start the pump and run it for several minutes. You may need to stop the pump to refill the funnel. During this time you will hear small bubbles being smashed by the pump rotor and circulated around the system until they reach the Bleeder Wick© where they will appear as micro bubbles rising out of the coolant.

After three minutes the tubing should look like this with the greater percentage of bubbles already released.

Having filled the system it is now time to fit up the temperature measuring system and attach the fan cables. For this project we will be monitoring the system temperature during testing so we have installed a PT100 RTD into the base of the WHX water block. The cabinet reader shown here is constantly monitoring the IHS surface temperature. The reliance on the onboard motherboard sensors is therefore not required.

We also hooked up an Aerogate to monitor and adjust fan speeds for our testing.

Conclusion;

Finally if you decide to use a monitoring system its time to fit the smaller Bleeder Wick© which will act as a monitoring and topping up station. While this is not essential some people do like to see water movement when they check the water cooling system at start up.

If you do not want to use the small Bleeder Wick© then the sealing plug should be reinstalled and the installation is complete.

Draining

I suppose we would be remiss if we didn't follow up all of the filling and bleeding information included here with some sort of explanation about draining the system for parts changing and other maintenance. As luck would have it we had to start follow up testing of the triple system so we thought a quick change out of the Laing D5 pump for the Alphacool 1510 was in order. That way we can change the pump for another pump and demonstrate one of the draining methods at the same time.

To start out there will be a need to just touch on the two methods of draining we have tried. We have loosely called them the "tip and drain" and the "clamp" method.

Tip and Drain;

Simply tipping the computer on its side with the Bleeder Wick© in place will allow the rapid removal of coolant through through Bleeder Wick© into a suitably sized container. The problem with this method is that you can empty almost all of the coolant but some will still remain. If you are just going to add in a component high in the case like a new CPU or even graphics card block this impromptu form of draining may appeal to you. Problems associated are of course coolant still left in the loop and accidental impacts if the case slips.

The "Clamp"

For those who wish a bit more finesse there is the clamp method. We will be using the clamp method because we do not want to drain the system we just want to change the pump out without removing all the coolant.

First things first of course. The Mantra with the Radiical Three Port Radiator© that should be followed without any question is;

"Do not carry out any service or maintenance on the coolant system with the third port of the radiator open".

We can close off the third port either by plugging the Bleeder Wick© with an air tight seal or remove the Bleeder Wick© completely and fit the sealing plug as illustrated below.

Next we must clamp off the inlet and outlet tubing for the part to be replaced in this case the pump. As you can see below we have closed off the inlet to the pump and also the outlet using the blue tubing clamps.

When we were happy that the tubing had been closed off and no leakage would occur we simply undid the stainless steel clamps on the barbs and replaced the pump. The reverse applies when fitting the new pump into place. Remember to recheck the stainless steel tubing clamps are re tightened on the pump barbs.

With the new pump installed we simply removed the blue tubing clamps opening up the tubing for use and refilled the system using the third port and the same procedure described above.

Should we have wished to drain the system we could have clamped off both tubes at the reducer and/or the pump using the blue tubing clamps. With the tubing clamped on both sides we could then remove the reducer or pump. After placing the two clamped tube ends from the pump and reducer into a suitable container the system could then be drained by simply releasing the blue tubing clamps. With dual pass radiators it will be necessary to carry out draining on both sides of the radiator.

Conclusion

So there you have it our latest makeover taking the original CM Stacker project up to the present day and introducing our new Radiical Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick©

Copyright Radiical Pty Ltd 2006