Sawing heatpipes

doyll said:
Assuming your side cover slides to latch on it probably isn't possilbe to simply drill holes for the heat pipes to come through.
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It's kind of hard to explain, but if I remember correctly, the sliding bit/latch is only along the bottom edge of the case. Will double-check this.
 
The problem is the holes have to be the size of the heat pipe plus twice the distance the cover slides for the heatpipe to be centered in the holes when cover is on. So something like 8mm (heat pipe) + 10mm +10mm (sliding latch) = 28mm hole for each pipe.... which means one great big hole for all pipes. ;)
 
What about a cling film side window? Never seen that done before.

I would rather invest in a new shiny case than a mid performance HSF.

Used to have a gigabyte auroura, quite similar case to your wavemaster... :) had terrible intake fan design and was really tall for no reason I had to sell it.

If you can afford to treat yourself to a new case, a case with 140mm fans would be quieter and perhaps a good investment... I'm looking at the Fractal Arc, currently have the Coolermaster Silencio 550. The Fractal Define R4 is a great case too with a door and good design.

Don't know your budget, so just giving my opinion. Don't even know what CPU you have.. :P
 
Could try marking a circle, where heat sink goes, use a HSS (metal) drill bit (start small) and go all round your pre marked circle, place panel on a block of wood. Then go up in sizes to holes meet up. Then file.
Then could use one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-043-AK&groupid=701&catid=1428&subcat=2363 but stand it off with some draught excluder tape (b&q) or if your near a window installer ask for some glazing security tape, the amount you need they would probably give you it. Done. Total cost approx £10, time 1-2 hours, satisfaction priceless :)
 
lJoublanc said:
I have the TAC-T01 wavemaster case. I've had it for about 10 years; it was a really good investment.

As you can see, the case dimensions would make you think it would fit. A bit silly of them to make a heatsink that doesn't fit in their own chasis!
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I imagine when they bought out the cooler the number of users with a 10 year old case was of no concern to their design
 
joeyjojo said:
Interesting I thought it would be something clever. Wikipedia tells me that "The vast majority of heat pipes for low temperature applications use some combination of ammonia (213–373 K), alcohol (methanol (283–403 K) or ethanol (273–403 K)) or water (303–473 K) as working fluid". Probably is just water then :)
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Its not bloody water in there lol what a dumb thing to say. water+copper+air=patina

due to water boiling at 100c water would not be a good match as for your cooler to even start to work you would need to get a temp of around 100c for the basic principle of a heatpipe to start working its witchcraft.

Maybe cheap coolers do hold water in them but hey you get what you pay for
 
drmoonshine said:
Its not bloody water in there lol what a dumb thing to say. water+copper+air=patina

due to water boiling at 100c water would not be a good match as for your cooler to even start to work you would need to get a temp of around 100c for the basic principle of a heatpipe to start working its witchcraft.
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You've made a basic mistake. Water does indeed boil at 100c at sea level. However when under lower pressure, at the top of Everest, in a vacuum or inside the heat pipes of a heatsink water boils at a much lower temperature.

You've also made the mistake in assuming water needs to reach boiling point to "work". As soon as water temperate rises molecules react and vapour is released. It's this reaction and release of vapour that does most of the "work".
 
.Griff. said:
You've made a basic mistake. Water does indeed boil at 100c at sea level. However when under lower pressure, at the top of Everest, in a vacuum or inside the heat pipes of a heatsink water boils at a much lower temperature.

You've also made the mistake in assuming water needs to reach boiling point to "work". As soon as water temperate rises molecules react and vapour is released. It's this reaction and release of vapour that does most of the "work".
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But still it aint water in there is it. point taken though Griff :p
 
drmoonshine said:
Its not bloody water in there lol what a dumb thing to say. water+copper+air=patina

due to water boiling at 100c water would not be a good match as for your cooler to even start to work you would need to get a temp of around 100c for the basic principle of a heatpipe to start working its witchcraft.

Maybe cheap coolers do hold water in them but hey you get what you pay for
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:)

I read and quoted the wikipedia page on heatpipes which is quite interesting. Basically they evacuate the heatpipe then put water in, and seal off the ends when the pressure is right. By tuning this pressure they can get the evaporation temp of the water to be whatever they want. They probably tune it depending on the temp gradient between base and fins at room temp with a heat source similar to an average processor.

There's no air/oxygen in there so no corrosion. It's similar to how a fridge works, but a fridge uses a fancy refrigerant gas.
 
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drmoonshine said:
Its not bloody water in there lol what a dumb thing to say. water+copper+air=patina

due to water boiling at 100c water would not be a good match as for your cooler to even start to work you would need to get a temp of around 100c for the basic principle of a heatpipe to start working its witchcraft.

Maybe cheap coolers do hold water in them but hey you get what you pay for
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I guess CoolerMaster is doing it wrong.

What are heat pipes?

Heat pipes are hollow metal pipes filled with a liquid coolant that moves heat by evaporating and condensing in an endless cycle. A Heatpipe can be considered a passive heat pump, moving heat as a result of the laws of physics.

How do heat pipes work?

As the lower end of the Heatpipe is exposed to heat, the coolant within it starts to evaporate, absorbing heat. As the coolant turns into vapor, it, and its heatload, convect within the heatpipe. The reduced molecular density forces the vaporized coolant upwards, where it is exposed to the cold end of the Heat pipe. The coolant then condenses back into a liquid state, releasing the latent heat. Since the rate of condensation increases with increased delta temperatures between the vapor and Heat pipe surface, the gaseous coolant automatically streams towards the coldest spot within the Heat pipe. As the coolant condenses, and its molecular density increases once more, gravitational forces pull the coolant towards the lower end of the Heat pipe. To aid this coolant cycle, improve its performance, and make it less dependant on the orientation of the Heat pipe towards earth gravitational center, modern Heatpipes feature inner walls with a fine, capillary structure. The capillary surfaces within the Heatpipe break the coolants surface tension, distributing it evenly throughout the structure. As soon as coolant evaporates on one end, the coolants surface tension automatically pulls in fresh coolant from the surrounding area. As a result of the self organizing streams of the coolant in both phases, heat is actively convecting through Heat pipes throughout the entire coolant cycle, at a rate unmatched by solid Heat spreaders and Heat sinks.

By adjusting its dimensions, capillary surface structure, coolant formular and internal pressure, our engineers can fine-tune our Heat pipes performance, operating range and angle dependence, to match a wide range of operation.

A Heat pipe based cooling solution usually weighs less while moving more heat at a lower delta than traditional cooling solutions, increasing components and product lifetimes and operation reliability.

Heatpipes enable passive cooling solutions for high heatload and high temperature equipment, lacking moving parts and boasting extraordinary lifetimes as a result.

Items Description
Wick Type (inner wall) Copper mesh
Cu powder sintering
Groove
Composite wick

Items Description
Container Material Copper (JIS C1020)
Coolant Distilled, De-lonized Water, Methanol, Acetone
Pipe Diameter 2 mm ~ 25.4 mm
Min. Thickness 1.2 mm
Min. Bend Radius Ø6 -> R9 (1.5 times)
Allowable inclination Angle (At Top Heat Mode) 5° max
Allowable Operating Temperature -50°C ~ 200°C
Storage Humidity (%RH) 5~90% RH
Storage Temperature (°C) 5~60°C
Max. heat capacity 5W~600W per single pipe
Surface Finish Ni or Anti-Oxidation coating
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http://odm.coolermaster.com/manufacture.php?page_id=8
 
joeyjojo said:
It's similar to how a fridge works, but a fridge uses a fancy refrigerant gas.
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No, fridges use fancy refrigerant pumps with their fancy refrigerant gas. So do AC units.

Ammonia fridges use an outside heat source like fridges in camper vans and caravans.
A single-pressure absorption refrigerator uses three substances: ammonia, hydrogen gas, and water. At standard atmospheric conditions, ammonia is a gas with a boiling point of -33°C, but a single-pressure absorption refrigerator is pressurised to the point where the ammonia is a liquid. The cycle is closed, with all hydrogen, water and ammonia collected and endlessly reused.

The cooling cycle starts with liquefied ammonia entering the evaporator at room temperature. The ammonia is mixed in the evaporator with hydrogen. The partial pressure of the hydrogen is used to regulate the total pressure, which in turn regulates the vapour pressure and thus the boiling point of the ammonia. As the ammonia boils in the evaporator it pulls heat from the refrigerator's interior and provides the cooling required.

The next three steps exist to separate the gaseous ammonia and the hydrogen. First, in the absorber, the mixture of gases enters the bottom of an uphill series of tubes, into which water is added at the top. The ammonia dissolves in the water, producing a mixture of liquid ammonia solution and hydrogen. The gaseous hydrogen collects at the top of the absorber, while the liquid ammonia solution flows to the bottom.

The second step separates the ammonia and water. In the generator, heat is applied to the solution to distill the ammonia from the water. Some water vapor and bubbles remain mixed with the ammonia. This water is dried out in the final separation step, done in the separator, by passing it through an uphill series of twisted pipes with minor obstacles to pop the bubbles, allowing the collected water to drain back to the generator.

Finally the pure ammonia gas enters the condenser. In this heat exchanger, the hot ammonia gas is cooled to room temperature and hence condenses to a liquid, allowing the cycle to restart.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator
 
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I've often wondered how heat pipes work in a tower case with the pipes parallel to the ground. I see from the above explanation they have wicks in them not free flowing liquid. Still, would they be more efficient in a desktop case, with the pipes vertical so that gravity assists the return of the cooling fluid?
 
I have compared Noctua NH-U12P and Phanteks PH-TC14PE in towers laying flat and standing up. Each performed the same in both positions.
 
Is this a serious thread ? :confused: if so....:eek::eek::eek:

Don't cut any pipes on a cooler or you will end up with an expensive paperweight..


HazardO said:
Here is an example of someone who tried to lap their direct contact cooler. It should give you an idea as to why this is a bad idea..

http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/don-t-lap-direct-heatpipe-touch-heatsink-57924/
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lappingmistake9694687hb9.jpg



Classic noob mistakes... geeze some people scare me with tools and not an ounce of common sense..
 
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