Custom Made Laptop Cooler by Joebarchuck

Note: I am posting this in the AW forum as this is an M17X sized Desk Cooler with an Alienware Theme.

I have been working on this project for months. I am almost done!

Expect about 35 hours of work to complete this custom cooler. Since I could only work on it on Sunday evenings, it took me months...

What needed to be done:

- Holes (Huge pain... Lots of mess)
- Painting (Quick and no issues there)
- Frosting Glass (Easy nothing there)
- Installing the fans and electronics (Lots of trial and error there, it was my first time. I had to deal with fan noise vibration, tried 4 sets of fans and the Enermax with my foam attached installation came out to be completely quiet even at 100% Fan Power.)
- Molding for the Alienware logo


What is left to do:

- The Alienware logo is still in casting phase... The first test was not perfect but looked amazing though I messed up with the mold and it was brittle and broke.
- Cabling needs to be hidden with cable organizers.
- Peltier devices needs to be permanently attached to the fan mainframe and some power adjustments are necessary.

I will update this thread as I progress with my desk.

So far without peltier cooler in place:

- World of Warcraft: Minus 8 degress celcius with 100% Power on Enermax Fans. M17X fans on low power. (Playing WOW for hours without fan noise is AMAZING!)
- Farcry 2: Minus 6 Degrees celcius with 100% Power on Enermax Fans. M17X fans on low to medium, again playing without extreme fan noise is great.

Note: 100% Power on Enermax Fans is 13 decibels. (Only the air flow can be heard. No fan noise at all from my custom cooler. The only noise comes from the M17X.)

Here is a list of used materials:

- 1 Kitchen contertop from Ikea
- 1 Ikea foot shelve and 1 Ikea metal foot
- 1 Frosted glass can
- 2 5x7 picture frame (For the precut glass. It's easier than cutting your own)
- 1 Stainless steel grill
- 1 Texturized Black spray paint (For grill and grill surrondings)
- 1 Switch
- 2 Enermax cluster fans
- 1 Fan controller
- 2 Bright blue LED powered by the fan controller
- Lots of cabling extensions
- Lots of screws, bolts, nails, etc...

Some Components:


Desk Before Cuts:


Desk with Cuts and Paint Done:


Almost Finished Desk:


Almost Finished Desk with M17X R1:


Almost Finished Desk 100% Fan Power:


Almost Finished Desk 100% FP with M17X:


What the desk will look like with the Alienware logo once I get it right...

 

Very nice. Thanks for the nice pics.

 

+1 rep for effort.

Almost like being on a starship.

Very cool.

 

dude that's so beyond amazing. GREAT JOB

 

Thank you.... I've put a lot of effort into this desk...

 

amazing!!!! awesome job man

 

amazing job ! , you inspired me to star building a homemade cooler hahaha

 

Thank you all, I will also temperature test on the R2 once it comes in. Hopefully it will help as much on it as on the R1.

I will keep everyone posted on my findings.

 

man i was think of doing something like this but then remembered my desk was made of glass, hahhah but still think of making a custom cooler though.

 

Well, I wanted it to be glass at first but I had no idea on how to make the holes...

The glass that can be cut won't be strong enough to be a desk. It would have to be custom manufactured and that would cost $$$.

 

That is SERIOUSLY BAD ... well you know.. IT IS OUTSTANDING!
Love to see folks with enginuity.

+1 rep for that sir. No bout a doubt it!

Best Wishes,

StevenX

 

That's pretty sick man. It makes my Zalman look like crap. I may have to make one of these this summer if I have time!

 

Good Job! +1 rep.

 

definitely some good effort there. Plus, love the wallpaper on the M17x, do you mind providing a link?

 

Very nice Joebarchuck. It gives me ideas myself.

Oh, and 'For the Horde!'

 

Here is the link:

F458 Italia Interior

 

I am going to start working on the Horde version for my brother during the summer...

I have ideas to make it even better...

 

Absolutely AMAZING!

...makes me want to build things

 

What are the panels with the ally symbols?

 

Very nice ...

 

Wow, that thing looks great.

 

Oh, it's an illusion I created to make the cuts perfectly straight. I also masked the glass under with black tape to install a soft plastic joint on the sides so light would not "leak" out where I did not want it.

 

That is very cool. Are you seeing a dramatic change in temperatures?

 

Very nice! I bought a modular desk so I can maneuver my AC unit under my notebook when benchmarking.

 

Yep, definitely. I am seeing about 8 degrees celcius drop while playing World of Warcraft and 6 degrees celcius drop while playing Farcry 2. Those numbers should greatly increase with the peltier system I am working on.

The fans on my M17X R1 never go to max power like they used too while playing which is a huge relief.

I just hope the M17X R2 will be affected in the same way by my cooler and remember I am also in process of installing a 200W peltier device on each fan which will send in extremely cold air. From my preliminary test the air temperature blown into the M17X with the peltier is about -4 degrees celcius. The issue I am having is that it send freezing air to my knees and legs and makes it impossible to play without snow pants... I have some ideas to remedy that.

 

Thanks Mandrake. Yep instead of the peltier system I was thinking about buying an AC that I would put outside and having just a large tube go to under the desk but my girlfriend is against it

 

I like it. Its a very well built design, and i like how the desk is still fully functional.

DYI projects are always very satisfying when they look good and function correctly in the end

 

I can't express how amazed I am. That is an astonishing job and it's obvious you have some talent. Great job!

 

Excellent job man!!

 

Looks great, nice job!

 

It was a lot work... Did your R2 get here? Mine shipped can't wait to test it.

 

Ok, where do I get one! you taking orders yet

 

Well, I am going to make a new one with my brother and I expect to be able to make it much faster as I know what I did wrong. I'll take more pics on the second one of the steps and things to think of and to do.

Hopefully it will help the ones that want to make the same one.

I would be glad to answer any questions but please keep them on this thread so my inbox is not overflowing...

Thank you all for your support.

 

Yeah really, I need a desk and this one looks great! I certainly wouldn't mind learning how to make one like this.

 

Lok'tar Ogar!

Oh and cool desk! A bit much on the wow symbols, but still great idea and looks wonderful.

 

The WOW stuff is just printed on a transparent plastic sheet of paper and sandwiched in between the frosted glass and a frosted plastic sheet.

I take it away and just have the blue lights or put anything else...

 

Very nice. + Rep

 

Great setup!
if I ever tried anything like this it would definitely fail. lol
It's great to see good ideas come to life, I would probably go through a couple of desks with all my mistakes.
Outstanding job!

 

I had never used a jigsaw or circular saw before this project. I learned a lot from my mistakes and the result came out pretty good but I know now I can do a million times better.

Seriously if you have a bit of time and the will, do it even if you don't have experience with wood...

 

Awesome work Joe! +rep

 

Haha Joebarchuck!! I just saw your wonderful table and that is so amazing man! +1 rep from me too! It looks like the best table ever to play Mass Effect on I mean it looks like a table from a scifi movie

 

I will post an update in the coming weeks once this first version is completed. Then I will take more pics and post more steps on making the second version which should help anyone here make a similar desk while avoiding all the mistakes I first made.

 

Gonna convert the desk the college provided for me into one of these bad boys hopefully.

 

Very impressive custom desk ! Hope u are monitoring the humidity levels if u are blowing very cold air into the laptop due to condensation.. i am staying at the tropics so this is a problem for me.

 

I am sure they are going to be happy once you leave college... Increased room value with Alienware desk.

 

I have thought about this issue but I live in Los Angeles and humidity is really not a problem. If I lived in Florida I would simply have to use small water filter in between the laptop and the fans such as the ones found in air conditioning units. They let the air go through but the fibers "catch" most of the humidity.

 

Wow ! Just amazing ! Clean Work !

 

again amazing effort +1

how long did it take you build it, and what was the total cost if you don't mind me asking?

 

It took me about 35 hours of total work spread out over the course of three months to do everything. The cost is quite low around $350.00 but someone following the guide I will write soon will pay maybe half of that. I spent a lot of money on parts I did not need, fans that were not working for this project, paints that did not stick correctly, etc... Now I know all this and I know what to purchase.

 

in the words of borat..... 'veryyyy niecceeeeeeeeee'