Clevo W110ER Custom copper machined coolers

- So .... I get my W110ER - pop off the bottom cover, and I'm initially wowed by the very high standard and nicely finished cooler,

but what's this? - ugly little grey spud in the bottom corner...... chipset block eh?

^ I'm not having that



This is a teaser and is one (Standard) of two designs - the second will be a bigger and more elaborate cooler, but there will be much more to come....... including blocks to attach to the standard cpu/gpu cooler to add extra surface area and make use of the space around it.

The coolers will be carefully considered not to block air flow around the case and where possible I'll be making the most of the laws of thermodynamics to actually promote convection through the blocks and around the surrounding PCB.

Stay tuned folks it will take me at least a month to get this designed and made, I'll have more than a few made so it's cost effective - if people are interested, I can even do other popular laptops - because no one like heat :thumbsup:

(p.s. I hear there are some contact pressure {or the lack of} issues on the P150 and P170 coolers, I'll be on to this in due course - but as I don't have one - I could do with a development buddy in Yorkshire?)



Stage one - design/prototypes

15/10/12 - Evening update,

I've finished modelling the standard block, amazingly - I don't have my verniers - so I'll have to check the dims another day but it will be within 0.1mm and is all very easily tweaked and changed. It's a great start and will form the basis of future designs. Next stage is to check the dims, and then start assessing clearances to see what we've got to play with.

I thought I'd give you something else to stare at... ugly as it is....



NOW simply change the material to copper, and hey presto! (we can do better than that though in time......)




19/10/12 - Evening (20/10/12 very early -should be asleep - morning....) update

Please see POST #13 for full info and description:



This is a very quick knock up of what I have in mind for the CPU cover block.



see post 23 on page 3 for more info.

Stay tuned! :thumbsup:

Update 17.04.13

* If you float about pages 9-11 you'll see the CPU cover is near completion, although I've yet to revise a few aspects of the design so we're not 100% there yet. If you have a good look through the photo's you'll also spot a hand made PCH cooler (it's wrong air gaps to small, fins to wide but I just knocked it up by hand - no CNC for this yet).
I've just moved house and have all my kits packed up in boxes, hopefully it will all be out, comissioned & running soon

 

P150EM coolers should be in development within a week or 2....... I'll link to that thread as and when it starts.

:thumbsup:

edit, looks like it will be P150SM now, if I have enough cash!

 

Pre-ordered!

 

Thanks for the bios mod's mate - my Corsair Vengeance 1866mhz wouldn't work until I manually set the FSB and timings using your bios ! - it would boot once with the stock bios, then BSOD and refuse to boot again until bios was reset, it was trying to run 1866mhz and 7-7-7 I think (nice try my little W110..........if only)

Just updated post #2 with my initial progress, as you can see we've now got accurate 3d model of the original cooler (which I modelled from my own)

I've added a poll, I'd be really grateful if you guys could help steer the design process based on these guestimate prices (copper prices change weekly so based on items being machined from a 250mm²x6mm copper plate at a cost of £120-160+)

 

I'm very interested in this as well as I've recently turned my 6110 into my main computer.

 

another quick update,

I've measured up and I really can't see how I can utilise the space to right of the heatsink as there is a structural chassis member that the mount bracket slips under. To the left, we have the RAM chips, so we'll have to work around those and use the little space that is under them.

We are basically going to end up with a cooler which has approx 60% more of a foot print, so we can add more mm² of surface cooling area on top of that.

I have my own idea's of what it should look like, but I'll put up a sketch of the blank cooler foot print and if anyone wants to get busy on CAD or a "paint" program to contribute some idea's then feel (or if like me you may prefer to hand sketch these sorts of ideas and upload a photo go for it)- I will lay down a few basic rules and also indicate the direction of air flow in that area.

I think we're basically looking at just ONE size, which will be the biggest I can squeeze in without modifying any of the case. - as I don't think anyone would want this.

Hopefully cost wise probably £10+p&p for aluminium and £20 for the copper flavour - I hope this puts it in reach for most enthusiasts out there.

I will also begin work on some blocks that attach to the back of the CPU cooler plate, as we have LOADS usable space here and I've noticed the hottest part of this machine for me is always the CPU.

 

Ambitious project, hope you get improvements. But part of it I think should be adding some form of additional airflow. Refining heatsinks is good, but my experience has shown little improvement without adding airflow.

CPU actually isn't so bad now just by blowing open a hole on the bottom panel below the CPU, and propping it up. An improved system fan profile would help as well.

Looking forward to your results however. I'm always a skeptic, but I've seen the best designs and improvements come from enthusiasts, so I have high confidence there will be some decent improvements.

Is the chipset really an issue at 80C though? I considered removing the stock one too, and throwing on a my own copper mod, basically a copper plate with ram sinks on top of it.

 

:hi2: HTWingNut - thanks for joining in, I've read many of your post's over the last few years (or more.....)

I am very carefully considering air flow around the case, and just using the existing air flow I'm confident I can make improvements to the chipset (and hopefully significant ones).

I hope to add more "bling" to the CPU cooler, with no doubt less significant temperature differences as this is largely determined by the fan profile as you well know - this is not my area of expertise so sadly its a non starter for me personally.

Opening up a hole, will no doubt make the RAM and chipset run even hotter as the closed gaps in the main fan intake are specifically there to force air in from other locations, so while making your CPU/GPU run cooler other components will generally then run hotter which is difficult to monitor so it's really a trade off, I need to build a MAF monitor, so I can monitor airflow and temperature from a cooler to give a figure of roughly how much air & heat the cooler is actually moving.

I'm sure the proof will be in the pudding - nothing beats real world tests , I hope to have a prototype in the next 2 weeks, but that's an ambitious time scale.

As mentioned the benefits are 2 fold, both aesthetic and hopefully performance related.

(If you think this is ambitious I have a rather mental idea of machining an entire case from aluminium or copper to the exact motherboard profile so the whole board is pretty much in contact with something, retaining the current CPU/GPU fan to do the bulk of the work. sadly I lost out on a auction for the equipment I'd need to get such an accurate 3d profile of the components - but I will invest eventually as I need this kit for other things - maybe this one's for the future)

 

Ok, so while assessing the air flow in the case, it seems there is mainly a cross flow, from bottom left to top right (as you look at the cooler, with the exhaust pointing right) so this pretty much dictates just one design style. I'm seeing probably 3 versions of the same size block, one alloy and maybe 2 copper - with one rather extreme version for myself, and done to order if you folk are interested (I can't find any 6mm copper plate at the minute so copper versions may be delayed!)

feel free to contribute any idea's if you want to see a different fin design, but bear in mind the air pull towards the fan and the height restriction of 6mm with a tapered front edge (not show in my pictures below - sorry)

Basic - cost effective aluminium version. (6082 grade)


Basic - cost effective copper version (C106 grade)


Extreme - seriously labour intensive version. This is cross cut @90° and features 2mm holes drilled through - except on the contact area (C106 grade copper)
This allows for a much greater air flow, and through convection will pull fresh air through itself when hot - no fan required. This design will only work with copper and solid silver.....not sure what's more expensive these days :confused2:
(These will cost some serious cash, as they are not only difficult to make, but labour intensive - made to order only)





21/10/12

I'll hopefully have the first Aluminium version in the next 10-15 days - copper is currently very hard to find due to a crash in the stock prices, so no copper version for the foreseeable (a single 2" x 1/4" copper bar is currently over £200..........its just a phase it will pass but sadly it might take a month or two - until then, im hunting for scraps of copper - or solid silver - which performs better than copper, and is probably cheaper right now )

 

Is it possible to do a cross cut with your "basic" design? Something like this?



I'm assuming this will just be machined from a block of copper?

 

Yes they are machined from (the seemingly elusive) copper plate so anything is possible.

This would basically require an additional setup in the mill same as the "extreme" version but without the holes. As the air gaps are 2mm and the fins are 1mm we would be machining 4mm of face out, in exchange for 2mm of face and a "potential" increase in air flow (relying on an unknown air source)

to improve on the single cut design we would be better to combine 1/2 of the drill through holes from the Extreme to allow convection thus generating its own air flow. - this design is especially effective because the heatsink is upsidedown so traditional "desktop style" fins and pins won't work as well as the heat naturally rises back in to the cooler and gets trapped (like a hot air balloon) - cut a hole in the top and the heat comes pouring out (and your hot air balloon is on a cold crash course!)

the idea of the single cut is that what little air flow is there is channelled down the full length of the cooler. additional cuts would cause turbulence at every cross and reduce air movement rather than enhance it - obviously without my 2mm tooling limit it could increase surface area - which would be the norm! .

I can make anything you like though, it simply my 2mm tooling is bad for your design - (don't want to contradict myself - I did ask for opinions!)

maybe I will invest in the sub 1mm milling equipment

If you want to get in to this and do some of your own simulations (which is really cool), I believe you can get a 30 free trail of "Autodesk Simulation CFD" - but you might want to read the insrtuction/tutorials online (and utube etc.) BEFORE you start your trial!

If I get some spare time (which I really doubt....) I'll put some sim models together (which you can view on the free "viewer" from Autodesk), but once you've spent 30 days playing with the software, and various different orientations (upsidedown heatsinks like this one, right way up, sideways, etc.) you really get a "feel" for what will work and wont wont in certain situations.

You'll find most of the main manufactures use this to produce (with some incredibly detailed models) what you have in front of you today. (hence why I mentioned opening or changing air vents will adversely affect the cooling of other components!)

"Autodesk® Simulation CFD software provides comprehensive computational fluid dynamics tools for applications such as electronics cooling, valve design, LED thermal management, therm"

Give it a blast, it's a pretty cool tool if your serious about cooling!

 

I'll hopefully have the first Aluminium version in the next 10-15 days - copper is currently very hard to find due to a crash in the stock prices, so no copper version for the foreseeable (a single 2" x 1/4" copper bar is currently over £200..........its just a phase it will pass but sadly it might take a month or two - until then, im hunting for scraps of copper - or solid silver - which performs better than copper, and is probably cheaper right now :thumbsup

 

OMG silver cheaper than copper? Jeez. I would have love to have a full copper or silver version of a propper GPU\CPU block, but because of those prices, I will probably not buy them .

But you have a hell of a project here "Calibre41" CONGRATS!.


Calibre41

Do you know if the following little GPU memory coolers fit above GPU\CPU block

I'm talking about the copper ones which are:

-> 14 mm (L) x 14 mm (W) x 14.5 mm (H)



It's to do the same as the following:

( 2nd pic)

ps: So, does anyone know if a 1,45 cm little cooler will fit above CPU\GPU block on this laptop (W110ER)?
Keep Cool

 

There's only a few mm between top of the CPU heat pipe and the bottom of the case. But it is possible to put the shorter heatsinks on the CPU heatsink like this:





And honestly those added RAM sinks didn't help much when all was said and done. Maybe if I soldered or welded them to it. What I want to do is get an mSATA to SATA adapter, and use an mSATA SSD, leaving space open in the hard drive bay for a blower fan, cutting open a slot in the drive bay and blowing over the CPU. Something like this crude representation:



Although to be honest, after Prema's BIOS update, propping mine up, and opening a clearance hole underneath temps improved by a solid 5-6C at load. I rarely exceed 80C for CPU and 75C for GPU which is more than reasonable IMHO. Of course if I enable Throttlestop then it's a different story, but then it will need a lot more cooling to keep temps under control.

 

Things will start hitting the cover at about 7.4mm so 6mm + little thermal tape/compound and your done . Also you'll notice a line in the bottom cover in this area - it is 1.5mm high, so will contact even a 6mm cooler with no thermal tape.

(UPDATE 2 MONTHS ON, the "line" mentioned below rests on the CPU screws, giving the case something to sit on, and stop it from flexing! the maximum cooler profile under the "Line" is 4.5mm, the rest of the cpu area can have a cooler 5.85mm on it, 6mm should fit but may start touching the cover especially if you press it)


I will be machining a 2 piece full cover block to go here, and a 1 piece to go on the GPU area also - so might be worth holding out for them

I will be able to get some copper, but just a small amount - say a 3ft length at 6.35mm thick (about £100-150) therefore, copper versions are made to order, and will be a fair amount more than aluminium.

I'd like to get some 0.5 or 1mm copper and attach a heat spreader to the bottom of the aluminium blocks to find some middle ground between cost/performance

its on it's way so just sit tight!

HTWingnut - thats pretty extreme man!!!

 

I removed the fan because I fried my motherboard (the one you're getting), not because of fan, but because of something else stupid I did. So I just removed the fan altogether and put a grille there, lol.

 

THANK YOU for the info both HTWingNut and Calibre41.

And Calibre41,

1º The blocks you are making won't replace the CPU\GPU block of the laptop right?

2º Your gonna make a gpu\cpu block addon to add above the original one, right?


If it's the first chance, how would we attach the heat transfer pipe to your block?

If it's the second chance, how will it fit above the original and the pipe in the middle?


ps: How much would you think it cost a full set (gpu + cpu + chipset) all of silver?? and all of copper?
Keep Cool

 

No trouble,

1 - no it won't replace the original cooler, I will be developing something but the W110's time will most likely be long gone by the time I have anything acceptable as a working prototype.

2 - this is a one piece cover going back on what I said earlier 1 piece will work better because the existing 4 screws will provide a solid contact, whereas having 2 halves will allow it to rock side to side if pressed on, it will be mounted using your existing CPU screws and springs, it will add 0.3-0.5mm to your spring compression, which shouldn't add any extra unwanted pressure.

The plate that hangs over is drilled through, again, to allow through flow and promote convection.

Silver ££££ very expensive I'm not sure but probably a few hundred or more

Copper, when finally available! I would think if the price is as low as £45-50 for such a large and custom piece we would be doing well.

Aluminium (aircraft grade) £40 ish at a guess.



The GPU will be a much more complex design and machining process, so they will cost more, I will try my best......

Thanks for your interest

stay tuned

that's terrible news, how did you damage it? (I hope a replacement was not to expensive!)

I have about 6-7mm of clearance there where my HDD sits, maybe - just maybe, I can do something with that for you.................. without changing your SSD to MSATA

although can you not get SSD's in 1.8" size??

 

1.8" SSD's are more expensive and don't perform as well as mSATA for whatever reason despite having the same interface. The Crucial M4 256GB mSATA has same performance as the 256GB SATA version.

Replacement wasn't too bad. Larry at LPC-Digital has been kind to me and offered some great pricing.

To be honest my modding mood with the W110ER is more or less at a halt. Usually whenever I get a new laptop I like to push it to the limits and if something doesn't work quite right I like to try to improve it. Now with how it is, I'm pretty happy with it. I had gone through modding by adding a fan and switch for the fan over the CPU, added the RAM sinks and when that all came to an end after dragging my pliers across the board (unplugged but battery still in, d'oh!) by accident, and then it wouldn't boot at all. Too bad too because the 650m on that mainboard was pretty good. My new one doesn't overclock nearly as well. But in any case with the Prema UV mod it performs how I'd like.

 

- Ouch!

I very, very nearly killed my Acer 5943g with a nice 5850m intergrated - all I did was unplug the LCD cable while the battery was still plugged in, it was turned off but I still got a flash and a spark! - the wifi card blew, and the card reader controller chip blew - which seemed to then blow every other wifi card I put in......... de-soldered the card read chip and all was happy again - apart from the card reader of course lol.........that's toast!

I'm not sure you can get anywhere these days without killing a few of these!

Thank you very much for sending this old motherboard, Hopefully PCSpecialist will get back to me with a cooler fairly soon, and I can get them put together and start measuring up the rather complex design needed for the GPU sink.....

I've decided - after a very long time of wanting one, I've got a "micro" mill arriving tomorrow to make these coolers :thumbsup: and also to push my concept laptop cooler forward - top secret tech!

 

Jesus, that sucked... I have a old laptop laying around, which blew the DVD drive connector, it started smoking .

So you got your micro mill? PLZ tell us as soon as you got a GPU\CPU\Chipset cooler of any kind :thumbsup:.
Keep Cool

 

Hahaa!! funny you ask, I've just unloaded it in my garage, I'll begin the rather large but necessary job of completely disassembling the whole machine cleaning it up and checking all tolerances, greasing, oiling and putting it all back together, (gearbox, table, spindle the lot) so as much as I want to start machining bits up I need to start right (and the aluminium stock came today too.... )

Literally just stopped what I'm doing to watch the next (new) episode of Red Dwarf season X

 

Damn, I forgot to send the board, just been too dang busy. Will get it out as soon as I can.

 

no trouble, which reminds me - the cooler quote hasn't come back yet either.

i'll give them a nudge ....

 

Come on this will take forever .

Stop watching "Red Dwarf season X", so that we can get a working cooler in this century:thumbsup:.


Though I will probably not be able to buy the whole set .
Keep Cool

 

haha! Red Dwarf X is a very necessary part of the product development!


on a more serious note, the diagonal cross cut is looking like going out the window in favour of a less time consuming 90° pattern because I have, while machining a prototype, realised I can actually improve the convectional flow through the aluminium block without the tedious drilling as seen in the extreme edition and while still providing enough material to transfer heat to it's extremities.

It should also look fairly complex and extremely fancy - rather than just looking like a heatsink, it will look like something obviously quite special which is nice.

It's taken me many, many hours to make this prototype and I'm also not 100% happy with the machine's initial set-up so I will be taking the time to re-adjust the lead screw and table alignment tonight and re-tram.
Progress is therefore slightly slower than I hoped for - but it IS happening and I will be making a short run of say 5-10 blocks hopefully in the next 14 days, - I believe there is a sale section on the forum so I will go thought that route when they are available but I will post in here to notify you. - Price still to be confirmed.

Thanks to all for voting and commenting so far, your interest is what pushes this forward :thumbsup:

 

This is becoming very interesting with time... keep up the good work!

 

I am very interested in some copper blocks for the chipset, the crappy cast iron one is barely cutting it.

JUST SHUTUP AND TAKE MY MONEY

 

Ok,

Here's is a quick update of the direction the prototype is heading in, this is not the finished part, it shows the removal of the diaganol cut I mentioned (sad to see this go, it looked great) and the introduction of an undercut to allow as you can see, a HUGE amount of air to flow directly through the block.

I'm not posting this on the front page, as I don't like it, it's more functional but not very attractive............. a balance of both would be nice, but I don't think I can do this until I have a CNC addon for my setup - which I will get ASAP - but they're another £500-600+ minimum + the agro of getting it all going and working - so a more basic design will be beneficial at this stage I might release a more complex design in say 6-12 month when I have CNC at my disposal.

..... stay tuned............. :hi2:

 

Milling machine down!

The X-axis lead screw is bent and as the machine is new, I have had to remove the screw and I'm waiting for replacement/ further instruction from the supplier....

- I did however just foot the £450 invoice for all the electronics I need to build a CNC kit and have started design on the motor mounts and various casings/guards etc to fit this mill - so it will be PUMPING out various parts sooner rather than later :thumbsup:

I just need an ancient laptop to run Windows XP and communicate with the stepper motor driver via an old 25 pin (printer) parallel port and an old liquid cooling pump or similar to circulate the cutting/cooling fluid.

Progress is both going forwards and a bit backwards at the same time...

 

This looks GREAT! But... I'm on a W150er.

Any future potential for a W150er model?

 

Absolutely! I'd like to do a bit of everything where improvement (aesthetically or perforamce based!) can be made, so not just the W110's!

I've seen what they've done through photo's only on the W150er. I like how they've made a cooler for the GPU memory and the HM76 that slips under the HDD but I would be able to make that bigger and machine it from copper and aluminium - great potential in there for an upgrade - it look like there is plenty of space to expand the fins and base size on that cooler.

Also looking at the bigger MXM based clevo's I'm sure addon blocks could be made to measure to bolt on here and there for addition surface area - and I could possibly re-make the MXM RAM sink from copper and re-attach the heatpipe which would be nice.

I'd need to meet/greet someone who has a machine (what ever model) they want to doing to measure up and design something -if it's new/popular then I can design it and sell them, and if someone wants a one off special producing for a less popular machine I'm sure I can facilitate that to. I'm near Sheffield/Doncaster area in the UK - and this really just a weekend hobby - so don't expect mass production scale! - but do expect reasonable prices as I'm not looking for profit - more just return on investment to fund this little hobby ( I'd have to sell LOADS of blocks at £25 to make enough "profit" to get my money back :laugh: )

 

:thumbsup:

We just need to find someone close to you now! It appears as though there's quite a bit of room for all sorts of things. If Sager doesn't come up with a fix for my USB/Audio daughterboard, I may be modifying it to fit my USB Go! Pro audio card in the stock jacks.

I wish I had the tools and ability to CAD and create this type of stuff. Haha

 

I'm not familiar with the setup of the audio daughterboard - is this typical of Clevo design or is this like an extra/upgrade over the built in audio?

the ability to create this stuff is not to hard to learn, but the software is over £1500 (luckily I use it all where I work so have access after hours ) and the hardware/parts and tools are another £1500 - taking in to account I'm designing and building this CNC machine myself!.... an off the shelf mini CNC of this size would be £5-8000 thats $8-12,000 - scary stuff! - I think this is why there aren't really any people out there making things like chipset blocks etc. I'm hoping this setup will grow - I have the knowledge and design ability to completely replace the whole cooling system on any laptop - but not at a price that could be afforded.

There are so many ways I could use this machine it's daft - I'd like to get a 3d model of the W110's internals (motherboard and all components - screen / hinges etc so I can machine a replacement case and screen from a solid piece of billet aluminium - re-using all the existing hinges - wires etc - but I haven't yet got a 3d scanner.

- I feel like a kid in a candy shop - it's almost like there is no limit - if I can think of it - I can make it, sadly I cant make replica's of the plastic casings and panels as they're manufactured in a different way so my casings would be full replacement top and bottom (unless I could find/make a 5/6 axis robotic mini CNC arm with a milling head - )


Eyes are on ebay for a 3d scanner !

 

I'm not too sure as to whether it's typical about the daughterboard or not. It's just the default onboard setup. I was just able to peer in and see how it was setup. I didn't quite get the entire casing disassembled. All I can see is that there's quite a bit of room for some things.... Potentially with the ability to turn one of the USB 3 jacks into a hub and run a third USB 3 connector out the right side of the case. It all depends on if I can figure how to disassemble this damn thing.

Aye, that software is pricey. Although, I think my brother has a student license for school and whatnot. Wonder if I can just invest in a DIY CNC Machine. I do recall seeing quite a few plans on instructables. As to the case setup, I'd much rather prefer a carbon fiber casing, perhaps lined with better shock absorbancy & having the wiring coated in DR-25. (Yes, that's just a BIT overboard. But, on the other hand I do have some 1/8" sitting around from automotive projects. :laugh Although... Just looking at the case itself, I don't think the time or effort would be worth any of that. Cooling is definitely worthwhile though!

 

Yeah I know, I'm just about crazy enough to do it anyway. A one off - machined from solid billet aluminium case - what's not to like!

Carbon fibre would be very difficult to work with at home (I think .....) as it moves about a lot when curing - unless it's under pressure from a mould, while in a vacuum chamber . - I can make a mould - I can make a vacuum chamber..... and I could machine a skeleton case and use carbon fibre infil panels.... now that WOULD be truly mental lol - I'll jot that one down in the "ideas for the future section of my "ridiculous ideas" book - and get back to page one, chapter one "build your CNC"

- someone need's to kick me and wake me up before I try and put any more of these wild idea's in to action.... although progress is going well.

Here's what my Mill looked like a week ago after it's first setup and testing, it's all going to be looking completely different once I've finshed the CNC conversion - you won't even see any of it really - it will all be housed in a huge self contained box

p.s recognise the outline shape I've milled in to that piece of aluminium on the table.......

 

Hmm... Even THAT mini mill is $400+ USD. Might really have to attempt to find a friend with a mill, or seriously consider a DIY one out of a drill press or something.

I've worked with carbon fiber and fiberglass a bit myself for automotive projects with a DIY vacuum mold. The components actually came out very good. I'll have to find the photos. It just took a lot of time. Only issue I foresee is threading the screw holes & making those small screw bases.

At times like this, I wish I was a pro in this topic! It's just so damn hard to get a job with people that do that and even tougher to get into a position with automotive performance mills! Might have to find a position in the military that'll allow me to mess around with this stuff I do wish my uncle was still around though. He was a government contracted machinist and worked out of his home his entire life. I don't think there was a thing he couldn't do.

 

OMG... I think I just bought that book today "ridiculous ideas - by calibre41" Whatever is there, we are on the same page!

So, when are you thinking the "beta version" will be made?

I don't think computers will have much market for true carbon fiber parts...

The car has a lot more market for that, specially because the car is a symbol of power nowadays .. Also a car is a car, it helps to go shopping < < girls > >

I my self wouldn't buy carbon fiber things for the laptop as it would be lot expensive and wouldn't do anything at all (I would instead paint with a metallic high gloss paint that I have here).
Keep Cool

 

WOW mate, $400 USD is seriously cheap man, They are £438 here (£365 + 20% sales tax), that's $700 USD! look at the Proxxxon mill's they're smaller but ideal for just doing PC parts or look at the smaller version's of the one I have which are the Sieg X0, or the more expensive SuperX0, or they do a shorter version of mine know as just the SuperX1, and also a more basic short version called the X1 - mines the SuperX1L which has a longer cross table and as well as more y axis travel - the "Super" usually denoted a tilting milling head for milling at angles - which is largely pointless IMO...... it just slips out of tram and requires checking/adjusting periodically........

I'm not sure how cheap everything else is - but if you can get one for that price, don't mess about making one from a drill press it will only flex under the stresses and strains of cutting parts and produce a poor finish and bad fitments. - also there is a GENERAL rule - which is BLOODY accurate, what ever you spend on your mill - you'll spend 50% of that AGAIN in the first project for just the BASIC essential tools to get you going - and another 50% during the next 2-3 projects on more exotic tools. - I thought to myself nooooo I'll be good, I'm good with money, I can design around not having all the tools - I was carefull - I only bought what I needed - but I still spent over £250 on tools/cutters - and I'm JUST talking tools to fit the machine - not regular garage tools I already have a full complement of mechanical tools and presses in my workshop.

The CNC controller and all the rest of the kit/electronics I purchased today was bought from the states, I got a Gecko Drive G540 controller and 3 motors (570 oz/in 3.5A dual shaft nema 23 steppers) + beefy cables and a big 48Vdc power supply - all in it was about $700 but again, I'll have to pay bloody sales tax as soon as it lands in the UK, AND import duty so it will be about the $825 delivered - and then to save another $400-500 I'm going to make my own conversion kit which I think will cost about £50 in materials and 2-3 days of machining parts + £20-30 for an old Pentium 4 machine running XP and another £200 for CNC software...............it all add's up....... no point trying to make money out of a project like this - the price will be to high and people just won't be interested in spending. Better to do it as a hobby and have fun with it!

 

Interesting....

PROXXON 37110 MICRO MILLING MILL MF70 CNC KIT AVAILABLE on eBay!

Add about $15 shipping and that's still fairly cheap. Perhaps I'll spend my tax return on a nice little setup.

I suck with drawing; perhaps I can excel in CAD? I assume it's mostly relevant to dimensions, and I do have a nice array of Starrett products sitting downstairs. Hmm... While pops is making knife handles and sheaths, I could make whatever floats my boat.

I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to mess with this thing, but I assume I can learn! All those extra components, motors, etc. are all like a foreign language to me!

I'm sure people wouldn't mind spending a decent bit of money if you can figure a way to watercool these things

 

funny you mention liquid cooling - as I'm already on it, but its highly unlikely to be a project finished in the W110ER's lfetime! but rest assured I am designing it - but it is a tricky one.

That Proxxon mill you linked isn't worth the money if a Sieg is only $20-30 more as the Sieg is much much bigger and has a full size MT2 spindle so you can buy loads of tools, the proxxon has a fixed "drill chuck" type affair that doesn't look removeable - its supposed to be cheap (they're 2/3 of the price of the Sieg) and CNC kits are available for all mills - you design and build them yourself and the "kits" are just motors and electronics.

 

Watercooling ?? OMG... You guys serious? This is a 11.6 inch laptop...


Well I would have to pass that, as I'm sure We would need to send the laptop to you calibre, because I'm pretty sure cutting the laptop case will be needed.

Oh and also it will be too expensive for me.
Keep Cool

 

Well the design hasn't even made it to prototype yet and it's not specifically for the W110ER it is just a general ultra low profile liquid cooling loop and it is a long term "nothing better to do" project, but the criteria I'm design to is simply:

1. Must fit inside the original case WITHOUT and modification required (inc. plug and play electronics) - it will be a unit per laptop design - not a universal 1 fits all design - this would be almost impossible to effectivly incorperate without massive quality/ability sacrifices)

2. Must provide additional cooling capacity (although system fan profile might limit the temperature at idle it should provide additional cooling capacity when the standard cooling system would be maxed out.

3. Must be affordable (under £150 per system for a GPU/CPU setup)

 

Another development and an update.

I have my new X-axis leadscrew so the mill we be back up and running at the weekend so I can start making parts for it own CNC conversion.

I'm getting a profile for the aluminium blocks extruded from 6060T6 aluminium and will test this - I'd also like to incorporate a copper shim soldered to the base to allow improved heat transfer. The material costs are significantly higher but it reduces manufacturing time and tool wear - the end result is the price is more reasonable - as is the task of making them. I'm searching for a company who can do the same thing from copper.

 

It always comes to suggestions of water cooling, but no one has really pulled it off in a notebook yet.

So if you do, serious kudos, the custom copper blocks are interesting none the less.

 

Yeah, I've got a solution I just need the time to design/simulate/test & tweak it, and when all that's said and done, it will then need to have a reasonable price for it's performance advantage and without a custom fan profile it will just make a laptop quieter at one end of the spectrum and cooler at the "normally far to hot" other end - so its the fan profile that is the sticking point

 

I simply like this thread! My advise "Focus on one project and push it out, then take it from there one at a time". :hi2:

A watercooling solution for the P-series could be used on all of them for example P15xHM, P15xEM, P170EM, P170HMx all share the exact same cooper parts for GPU & CPU, so I would invest right there. Focus on the radiator part as circulating the hot water to all blocks is one thing, but getting the heat out of it another.

Take a look here for inspiration:

Liquid GPU and CPU Cooling for Laptops and All-In-Ones - Asetek, Inc.

At the end Dell was too scared to put it into mass production, but I guess a vendor here or two would buy and install a bunch of watercoolers under their own waranty.

Again put me on preorder for this!

 

Well water cooling really requires a decent sized reservoir for it to be effective. Cycling the same fluid over and over without cooling it would only heat the fluid and not be effective. Water cooling is really only reserved for large systems that can accommodate large radiators.

 

Esetek water cooling gaming notebook Alienware M18x - YouTube

this video has been all over the internetz, although no one really pays attention... even when this might become reality: fitting it into a W110ER would be a different level of difficult