Prototype A 3d-Printable GPU AIO Mount!

Colinreay

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 28, 2016
198
490
Man you gotta get your priorities in check! Lamo. Thanks for the follow up I really appreciate it.

Fun fact this bracket will also allow you to put a AIO liquid cooler on a Xbox or Playstation ;)

Lol, that'd be great! Didn't know that Xbox and Playstation had standardized cooling mounts!

This project sure is great. What would be absolutely perfect is if you could 3D print a shroud similar to a hybrid card so it doesn't look so bare. It'd look amazing and function perfectly. I could even cool say a MSI Aero 1060 ITX in my CustomMod 5.92L by using a slim 120mm AIO from silverstone.

That'd be great! I think I could work on a pretty basic shroud where you can update parameters on size to have the shroud fit various cards. I preordered (shudder) a Prusa 3d Printer, so hopefully once I get it next month I can really get some iterations dialed in.
 
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nxrUK

Trash Compacter
Mar 29, 2017
48
17
Lol, that'd be great! Didn't know that Xbox and Playstation had standardized cooling mounts!



That'd be great! I think I could work on a pretty basic shroud where you can update parameters on size to have the shroud fit various cards. I preordered (shudder) a Prusa 3d Printer, so hopefully once I get it next month I can really get some iterations dialed in.

It would be great to get a a simple design done. Although it would be hard having many different ITX cards and different AIO's to cater for.
 

nxrUK

Trash Compacter
Mar 29, 2017
48
17
I was thinking, using a 92mm AIO and a 120mm SLIM AIO, I could fit two AIO's into say a 7L or so case. Similar to the A4-SFX, have a 92mm Asetek radiator under the PSU for the CPU, and the 120mm next the PSU pulling air into the PSU fan and exhausted passively out of the top of the case. In doing this you could easily use a 8700k and a 1080 ITX card. May start designing something like this.
 

SpringerTheNerd

Cable-Tie Ninja
Sep 7, 2017
195
209
Lol, that'd be great! Didn't know that Xbox and Playstation had standardized cooling mounts!

Yeah as far as I'm aware they (Xbox 360 & Xbone for sure) all use 100 x 100 mounts so basically if you want to liquid cool a console all you need is a universal GPU block and it goes right on. Although it would be much easier with a AIO so you don't have to fiddle with resivours and pumps. Obviously a console doesn't need liquid cooling but it's just a silly little project I want to do. If anything it will make it whisper quiet!
 
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yodixuve

Minimal Tinkerer
Oct 26, 2017
4
4
Thanks for sharing the design files.

I have a older pulsemodding bracket that is completely flat - no teeth. It is 0.3mm too think to work with gen 5 pumps. Its made out of nutty strong metal that I can't sand down by hand.



I also had a NZXT g10, which did not work with the gen 5 pump either - until I ground away the teeth to leave me with a flat piece resembling the pulsemodding bracket. Because the g10 was thinner metal it actually fit gen 5 pumps fine once the bulky teeth were removed. Sadly there is some flex now that I have butchered it so much so im not comfortable using it.



Laser cutting metal seems to be relatively cheap via various only submit your design for a quote type service (similar to 3dhubs), so im hoping to get something like the pulsemodding bracket cut in slightly thinner metal. Pulsemodding don't seem to exist any longer or I would just request a thinner version from them.

Hopefully I can edit your design and remove the teeth (allowing it to be cut from flat sheet metal) - but I have never done modeling before.
 

Colinreay

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 28, 2016
198
490
Thanks for sharing the design files.

Laser cutting metal seems to be relatively cheap via various only submit your design for a quote type service (similar to 3dhubs), so im hoping to get something like the pulsemodding bracket cut in slightly thinner metal. Pulsemodding don't seem to exist any longer or I would just request a thinner version from them.

Hopefully I can edit your design and remove the teeth (allowing it to be cut from flat sheet metal) - but I have never done modeling before.

Yeah, the new CNC option on 3d Hubs is really cool, I really want to try it out!

If you want, I can modify the design and upload it for you to use. I have the stock mounting hardware for Gen. 5 Asetek Pumps, so will look how thick the material is for those brackets.
 
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yodixuve

Minimal Tinkerer
Oct 26, 2017
4
4
The pulse modding bracket that I have which does not fit (too thick) is around 1.92mm thick.
The NZXT G10 that I removed the teeth from (and now fits) is 1.83-1.85mm thick.



The NZXT G10 is seemingly a exact copy of the pulsemodding bracket (who I assume also copied something else) - with the curved teeth removed the only difference is thickness.

Here is the now flat G10 fitting a gen5 pump:


Can't seem to find my asetek stock mounts but they were much thinner metal, yet had strength due to the punched shape I assume - something that would cost too much to replicate.

If you wanted to knock something up design wise that would be great, I am unsure how long such things take! I think CNC differs from laser cutting though, CNC being much more advanced + expensive. Laser cutting I believe would get us cheap simple straight cuts, no fancy curves or slopes etc.

Sort of like taking a sheet of metal, and drawing a design on it with a pen or using a baking cookie cutter.
 

Colinreay

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 28, 2016
198
490
The pulse modding bracket that I have which does not fit (too thick) is around 1.92mm thick.
The NZXT G10 that I removed the teeth from (and now fits) is 1.83-1.85mm thick.


The NZXT G10 is seemingly a exact copy of the pulsemodding bracket (who I assume also copied something else) - with the curved teeth removed the only difference is thickness.

Here is the now flat G1
Can't seem to find my asetek stock mounts but they were much thinner metal, yet had strength due to the punched shape I assume - something that would cost too much to replicate.

If you wanted to knock something up design wise that would be great, I am unsure how long such things take! I think CNC differs from laser cutting though, CNC being much more advanced + expensive. Laser cutting I believe would get us cheap simple straight cuts, no fancy curves or slopes etc.

Sort of like taking a sheet of metal, and drawing a design on it with a pen or using a baking cookie cutter.

I made a quick mockup of the design and am working on getting quotes! I'm looking into using 1.5mm aluminum or steel, and I've only talked to one manufacturer so far, but they were nice enough to give me a quote on doing one of each, which came out to be a little under $30 with 2 week shipping from China, or $40 with 4-5 day DHL. This thing would be incredibly cheap to produce/replicate. The thing I fear about making it out of metal would be the increased cost barrier for someone to make their own (as manufacturers will drastically raise prices for one off things) - it'd make much more financial sense for me to buy 25 or so and sell them. Even if it was open source this still would make me feel a little weird...

Also, side note - CNC stands for Computer numerically controlled. Pretty much anything that uses G-code and a controller to move various axis I would consider a CNC machine. 3d printers, CNC mills, CNC routers, CNC lathes, Laser cutters, etc, they're all members of the family. From what I have seen though, CNC is usually used to refer to CNC Milling.

I'll keep looking around at options. If I make it out of metal, then I could also feasibly add mounting points to attach a 3d printed GPU shroud (purely for aesthetic reasons and to possibly mount a fan). It wouldn't really get hot, so 3d printing might make the most sense. Additionally, since there are tons of GPU designs, 3d printing would make it possible to have a shroud for almost all popular cards. I'll also look into MOQ's for the Metal brackets from more companies. If one set is $30 with shipping, you could probably get it down to $3-5 if you buy 20 or so.
 
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yodixuve

Minimal Tinkerer
Oct 26, 2017
4
4
If I recall correctly my original pulsemodding bracket cost less than £8 (maybe $12USD) or something back in 2013, shipped from within the UK via Amazon. Super cheap for a somewhat obscure custom part at the time.

Sorry about the CNC mixup, I was worried you might put time into a design that might cost a tons to be milled out vs my original super budget hopes :)

There are some posts dating back 2011/2012 regarding someone called "DWood" who was successfully selling brackets before vanishing.



Looks familiar hey!

My only experience with 3d printed parts was when I ordered a Intel CPU delidding tool through 3dhubs. It took 4 reprints before I received anything close to being useful - and even then there wasn't a straight edge on it. There was several mm of variation in terms of high and low spots etc.

Perhaps a metal bracket for this mount is overkill but I don't have enough experience to say either way.

If the newest NZXT G12 is selling for £29.99 I suspect you could easily undercut them if thats something you are interested in.

Edit:
I was able to create a "cross section" from your design as a SVG file which as far as I can tell some laser cutters accept.

The fan bracket on my older mounts were critical in stopping VRMs from cooking so I have been trying to add one without much luck.

multiple hours later and a start from scratch I think im about to admit defeat o_O



What are your thoughts on a cut done with a acrylic sheet type material? Might be cheaper than steel.
 
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yodixuve

Minimal Tinkerer
Oct 26, 2017
4
4
Well apparently I didn't notice that on gen5 pumps they also made the pump cover larger? This makes it difficult to get our mounting bolts in.



Loosening / removing the cover lets me use my pulsemodding bracket + bolts. Some of the more expensive gen5 units seem to have a thermal probe which may poke through to the water via a o-ring / seal, so it would pay to proceed with caution.
 
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ChainedHope

Airflow Optimizer
Jun 5, 2016
306
459
Hello,

Any updates on this project? I am interested in buying one!

The files are in the resources section of the forum. Just download and go to a website that lets you buy 3D printed/CNC'd parts or find a local shop to print/cut it out and your good to go. You might need to change the design though depending on your pump (there were revision changes to the casings on newer AIOs that use this pump design) but it shouldnt be too difficult to change if you need to. Just open the files in Fusion360, FreeCAD, or some other cad software and extrude the part to get the thickness you need, export, and hand them off to your preferred shop for making.

It should be noted that using this with an AMD Fury card wont work. Vega might. The reason is that the HBM hieght is slightly lower than the gpu core so the cooling plate wont touch them. You can make it work with a very slim heatsink.
 

d34th25

Efficiency Noob
Nov 25, 2017
6
5
The files are in the resources section of the forum. Just download and go to a website that lets you buy 3D printed/CNC'd parts or find a local shop to print/cut it out and your good to go. You might need to change the design though depending on your pump (there were revision changes to the casings on newer AIOs that use this pump design) but it shouldnt be too difficult to change if you need to. Just open the files in Fusion360, FreeCAD, or some other cad software and extrude the part to get the thickness you need, export, and hand them off to your preferred shop for making.

It should be noted that using this with an AMD Fury card wont work. Vega might. The reason is that the HBM hieght is slightly lower than the gpu core so the cooling plate wont touch them. You can make it work with a very slim heatsink.

I have a titan X pascal. not sure if the mounting fits...
 

d34th25

Efficiency Noob
Nov 25, 2017
6
5
Should work fine as is. The issue is only with HBM cards and the newer style asetek coolers (they are only used on the newer, fancier >$120 AIOs from what I've seen).

I just learnt how to use blender and measured the holes on my gpu to be 58mmx58mm wide. I edited the model to account for the difference (which was damn difficult for a novice). Ordered the print (300Microns 25% infill) as a test. Will test it when it arrives around tuesday with a new thermaltake 3.0 aio cooler. Results will be posted if I can at least fit the bracket onto my card
 

Runamok81

Runner of Moks
Jul 27, 2015
445
621
troywitthoeft.com
Just wanted to chime in. I still have one of Dwood's brackets in use.

Funfact: I was quite involved with the original dwood / GPU bracket scene.

I built and maintained the triptcc.com e-commerce website where the brackets were sold, and shipped. I did the development work as trade in kind for some of his pieces. I used in Torch GP, a twin AIO cooled HTPC. In those days, prior or to the entry of the large manufacturers, dwood was selling $3K/mo in brackets, gross. Shame what happened with him. Even I never got the details. Lots of upset customers. Not everyone can have the same level of service as @Josh | NFC .

If I can answer any questions or be of service, please let me know.
 
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