Make a removable laptop water cooler! And other cool devices

This Instructables will show you how to make an awesome water cooled heat extractor and pad cooler for your laptop.
So what is this heat extractor really? Well it's a device designed to make your laptop cool - in every meaning of the word. It can also make the fan obsolete and therefore completely silent. The pad cooler is intended for your HDD, graphics card, CPU or other devices that run hot.
This technique can also be used to make custom radiators in almost any sizes. Be sure to check every picture for more details!

This video shows you how easy and quick it is to install the pad cooler on a laptop HDD!

Step 1 Materials

You will need:

Copper plating (0.5 mm)
Copper tubing (I used 4 x 6 mm copper brakeline pipe)
Plate scissors (type straight)
Solder and flux
A stove or a blow torch
Laser printer and normal paper
Iron
6 mm Lip and spur drill ("centre tapped")
Power drill
Plastic tubing
Zip-ties
Aluminum tape
Bilge pump (or just run it from the tap)

Comments

[Asmodeous]

This insulated bake-ware sheet does wonders for cooling my laptop.

http://www.rachaelraystore.com/Product/detail/Farberware-Insulated-Bakeware-14x16-in-Cookie-Sheet/549387

[lamboi]

nice, what kind of pump did you use? I'm confused of which to buy for my laptop.

[bigjeff5]

Just thought I'd point out that aluminum is nearly as good as copper at conducting heat, and is 1/7th the price.

You know, in case you're on a budget.

Copper may have been cheaper when this instructable was posted, but it has been steadily increasing in price over the years.

Otherwise, pretty slick :).

[Mckye]

 I think I would like to do this project, however, I was thinking about putting Oil in the line, then I could take and mount a brushless micro motor inside a section of copper pipe and attach a propeller blade to it running the power cords out and possibly to a USB head, the oil wouldn't fry the motor and the motor would move the oil through the line quite fast without forcing you to attach a pump. also, it would keep the whole unit quite small. What do you think?

[seabee890]

i am not sure about the oil, I don't remember if glycol/water   or oild was better at transfering heat. maybe experiment by timing how fast a set amount of liquid heated up when exposed to a set amount of heat.. I like your oil idea and using a usb multi plug you can tap a line without wasting any ports. I wonder how much heat would be generated by the extra electricity needed to power the usb punp that will cool the cpu? 

[_Scratch_]

I'm pretty sure that the reason most people don't use oil in the water cooling line is the same reason antifreeze is a bad choice for water cooling. The liquids MAY conduct as much heat as water does, in terms of speed, but most don't hold as much heat as water can, so water is a good choice, and if you don't mind spending some money, you could get the fluid that is made for water cooling computers, as it is non conductive and holds about as much heat as water does.

[bigjeff5]

Pure water is non-conductive. What makes water conduct electricity are the impurities that are often found in it, particularly salts.

Therefore, one of the best liquids possible for liquid cooling is pure, distilled water. It is non-conductive and has one of the best thermal capacities of any liquid.

Incidentally, if you do depressurize the pipe properly you have a heat pipe, which moves heat far, far better than water and a pump can, though it doesn't give you that nice buffer of water's massive heat retaining abilities since a proper heat pipe won't have much water in it.

[seabee890]

WOW, god bless F7. I suck at spelling sometimes. First question would running oil help prevent condensation?  should we have a drip loop to prevent line following moisture from getting into the computer?  to the people who have created this project do me a favor?  i would like some data before i create the project.  run your computer with a control program under {x} conditions. then plug in the USB powered cooler {L} and run under the same set control conditions  without the cooler in position to cool off the computer. Find the difference in operating temp between these two conditions {X}  and {X+L}  then run your computer under {X} conditions with {L} in place to cool off the computer and find out how effecient your cooling system really is.  Your may be making your electrical system work harder to cool your computer down and shorten the life. If it just looks bloody cool and you don't care about a few extra months of service life, then turn up the rock an roll and party on. thanks

[sqeeek]

 Well, I can answer one of those:
Condensation is caused by water in the air turning to liquid upon coming in contact with something cold. 

So, if the pipes are cold, then, 
no.
Right?

Feel free to disagree, anyone, this is me pretending I remember physics class. 

[jdpanchal]

Condensation on a surface occurs when moisture in the air cools past the saturation point as it comes into contact with the surface. The saturation point(temperature) varies for different humidity (amount of moisture in air). Generally, if you are using water in your cooling system that is not directly from the cold tap/faucet, there should be no condensation because the water in the pipe (or oil if your are using it) will be at room temperature or higher. This will not result in condensation.

[sqeeek]

Makes sense, that's along the lines of what I thought. @seabee: no, oil would not help prevent condensation. If your cooling system is cooling to the point you get condensation, try keeping it warm, not changing the coolant ;)

[www.microbike.ie]

 did you work that idea?

[Gnutella]

bending the tube is the hardest part.

[junits15]

watercooling a laptop isn't smart economical or very useful......but this is still one of my most favorite instructables. :)

[_Scratch_]

I am starting to do this project, but i don't know whether to put the 2 pipes through opposite sides of the plate or close together on the plate like how it is done on this instructable.

[_Scratch_]

Edit- The pipe i was using was too big, so i instead wrapped the plates around the side of the pipe and soldered them there with a blowtorch, so there are fins that stick up on each side, alternating sides. Looks pretty sweet. Sorry for the bad picture, i was using my cell phone from 2006.

[tisla]

i have an acer aspire 4745g the one with switchable graphics...my problem is when i switch to its ati radeon gpu the cooling exhaust gets really hot..and wioth that i want to use a water cooling for my laptops Gpu...could u help me figure out hot to make one?? i also recorded high temps in everest..its quite alarming for me...hope for ur response..tnx

[Matrix-technician]

It would be helpfull if you listed the dimensions or included the template as a pdf in this "ible".

[drats666]

I think instead of breaking the case your using that i'd simply remove the casing, add the tubing inside with a small radiator/box unit on the outside. I'd  replace the cpu heatsink, hd heatsink and memory and northbridge heatsinks with water cooled blocks. I'd have a case made of carbon fiber using the old case as a reference model, simply extending it a bit(lowering it to allow room for the tubing)

[MicroK!D]

carbonfiber really? sounds cool but lets see if you acually do it.

[drats666]

Actually, carbon fiber bodies aren't that uncommon. Several rugged business laptops have carbon fiber shells. my laptop (just a case replacement) is made of carbon fiber. you can go to most companies that deal with molding and carbon fiber, bring designs and measurements and your wallet and they will make it for you. mine for my old toshiba cost about 200.

if you dont want carbon fiber you could use one those 3d print services i believe, you'd simply have to find one that can support the dimensions of your product. an example of this service is http://www.printo3d.com/

[drats666]

carbon fiber cases are nothing new, in fact alot of the ruggid business laptops have carbon fiber shells. you can go to a local company with design plans and they can make the product for you, or if you perfer you could have it made of plastic using hmm forgot the name of the technology it is, but here is a simular link to what they are www.printo3d.com/  that one is mainly geared towards small prototyping but their are some larger ones.

[HavsCritiria]

Hey, how drastically is the temperature affected?

[tanntraad]

Hey, on my system I got a nice 15-20 (Celcius) drop.

[firestormcomputers]

Sadly, I get that just from using my laptop cooling pad. . ..

[RonindeBeatrice]

It's also a bit much to tote around a water supply where ever you wander.  Nonetheless, it's a pretty cool guide for making your own HSF fins.

[HavsCritiria]

That's really good. wow, thanks for the reply.

[red-king]

thats quite a large drop in temperature. i think i might try this instructable....

[junits15]

beware! I tried this it is a LOT harder than it looks, especially if you dont have a lip and spurr drill bit.

[littleDANIEL]

Can anybody please tell me how you would go about powering the pump?
thanks in advance
good job

[fredrikher]

Kjempe bra prosjekt. Jeg synes dette er noe av den beste Instructablesen her.;)

[Skip]

these don't have to be just for cooling, do they? if you had a tank of water with an aquarium heater in it, you could use the heated water to create a temperature regulator somewhere?

[anarchysk8]

anyways thank you for the great idea i hav a great plan to make it self contained and about 4x4x1 total with the exception of the tubes running to the new found radiator and the power cord running from the fan which will be the new pump

[anarchysk8]

oooo also a great way to skimp on size would to be take a normal 80mm computer fan and on one side drill 2 holes and attach the tubes to it then just take plastic or tape for that matter and cover the whole fan making it enclosed it then fill it with water and seal the average case fan can work under water (making those non conductive liquids they sell with their awe inspiring videos on you tube not seem as awe inspiring as they think) make sure it is sealed otherwise the fan will seam like god compared to ur new waterlogged laptop (laptops dont take as easily to water as the fans do)

[anarchysk8]

if u hav trouble drilling the holes even try cutting several "plates" or squares and stacking them then using a clamp or lots of tape and then drill with a high speed wood drill that u can get at home depot for $1 at low speed the high speed ones have a longer tip and allow for better dispersion of heat when drilling through the metal since copper is an excellent heat absorber also if u have any other problems with this build u can use tin or aluminum its just not as efficient

[somerandomguy]

If you use water from the tap make sure it isn't to cold or else water could condense on the HDD or on the heatsink.

[wesley14]

is there any other metal substitute for copper?

[wesley14]

where did you get your copper tubes and plates?? what metals can i substitute for the copper?

[Coffeebot]

This will be perfect for my laptop..heck even for my PC.

Question, though -- how do you solder the copper? Do you use normal techniques for copper pipe (torch, etc.), or the small-scale soldering iron you'd use on your electronics?

[tanntraad]

I use the stove (electric) because I think that you have the most control then. A blow-torch would also be just fine. A small-scale soldering (~30 W)for electronics is not powerful enough.