Concept Project Hermes - sub 50mm 120mm custom aircooler

[Damascus]

*edit*
I wound up in financial trouble after being cheated on a tradd and wound up needing to sell both my 6950x + x99e-itx. Half a year later, I'm back in business (x299e-itx) and will be making a sort of quasi Hermes 2.0, with much more surface area and far, far less universal usability!


My objective with this project is simple. Create the highest wattage cpu cooler within the restrictions of my already overtaxed wallet and ITX cases like the S4M, DSE Breathe etc. This, of course, means that I have a height restriction of between 45-50mm.

My first hurdle is sourcing materials. The only place I've been able to find suitable heatpipes is aliexpress, I would love to find a north American or European source for every component in this project. If you know any, give me a shout.

Next up, the plan! I'm going to use a 6x6mm heatpipe copper buckle 70x70mm vapor chamber, 6 250mm heatpipes and several 100x200mm 0.5mm copper sheets for fins. To cut the fins my current plan is to cut out many 100 - 120mm by 10-35mm sheets, form them in to blocks and then cut/drill through that. I plan on fully customizing to each motherboard and or chassis, then running the extra long 250mm heatpipe to the vrms, cpu (of course) and the case itself for a small amount of passive coolimg.

Update - all heatpipe components ordered, ETA is 19-36 days, the manufacturer I ordered from is busy so shipping is delayed 3-6 days, shipping will take 16 - 30. I get a mystery gift though

Spoiler: Long term plan

I'll be breaking this project into phases, using the helpful tags as a reference.

1. Concept. My x99e-itx is is on it's way, when it arrives I'll set up basic 3d models
2. The materials arrive and I begin building the first prototype.
3. If successful, I'm open to selling these coolers to anyone interested. Given clearance models and time I'm confident I could build a Hermes for any motherboard
4. Possible ramping up to machining the coolers, this will not only save a time and drive down cost, it would also mean less dependency on my availability to make more
5. ???

 

[Damascus]

Reserving for future images, also @Matias Petersen you want on board?

 

[Vlad502]

I was thinking same thing before buy used heatsink
Maybe you need to start with drawing prototype and check compatibility with motherboard and possible positions for mounting.
Then will search manufacturer. MoreSuns store has option to make custom heatsink and IMO this is better to DIY.
And BTW take a look this project: DAN HSLP-48: A powerful sub 50mm heatsink

 

[Damascus]

I was thinking same thing before buy used heatsink
Maybe you need to start with drawing prototype and check compatibility with motherboard and possible positions for mounting.
Then will search manufacturer. MoreSuns store has option to make custom heatsink and IMO this is better to DIY.
And BTW take a look this project: DAN HSLP-48: A powerful sub 50mm heatsink

Dan's is similar to what I'm going for but a few things are different - and I just realized I forgot to mention what :| I guess this is why you don't do a writeup on 4h of sleep

I plan on fully customizing to each motherboard and or chassis, then running the extra long 250mm heatpipe to the vrms, cpu (of course) and the case itself for a small amount of passive coolimg.

Also, the link for moresun goes to a blower style with three heatpipes? Not really what I'm going for.

 

[Kmpkt]

Let me know if you have any questions about assembly etc as I am in the end stages of a similar project myself. Soldering and spacing fins is going to be a pretty delicate process and if you need I'll probably be able to load out my spacing shims when I'm done with them. Nice to see someone else trying to do an LP heatsink. Love the idea of designing specific to the board.

 

[Damascus]

Let me know if you have any questions about assembly etc as I am in the end stages of a similar project myself. Soldering and spacing fins is going to be a pretty delicate process and if you need I'll probably be able to load out my spacing shims when I'm done with them. Nice to see someone else trying to do an LP heatsink. Love the idea of designing specific to the board.

I've got one big question, what manufacturer does small runs? My gen 0.1 is going to be ridiculously time consuming to make on my own (mostly a lack of tools I suppose) but I don't mind as it's a personal passion project. If anyone else wants one though I'd be stuck.

And wow, I'd love to snag the shims when you're done. I'm currently planning on using 0.5mm foam spacers but I honestly have no idea how close together they should be (would love any input on spacing)

Final note for now - what's the most popular mainstream board? I'm assuming it's the z270i/370i as they're high performance boards spanning two gens with the same but I might be wrong, and I kind of want to try a design that more than 7 people are likely to be interested in

 

[Kmpkt]

My fins are going to be 1.6mm apart but I might be using thinner sheet than you. I think we're doing 48 fins spaced 1.6mm but don't quote me on that. I can't help but think you're going to need crazy static pressure to use fin spacing that narrow.

 

[Damascus]

@Kmpkt Good to know, I probably can't get high pressure with slim fans :| the fins will be 0.5mm I figure with 0.5mm spacers I can stack them up as high as I need, 1.5 is probably what I'll go with. What project are you working on, out of curiosity? Do you have a thread or are you waiting until it's done

 

[Kmpkt]

I'm working on a 45mm-ish tall heatsink that would be in direct competition with the current generation of < 50mm coolers. There are a couple novel and proprietary features that engineering simulations indicate will significantly boost performance when compared to conventional heatsinks. I'll reveal everything by way of a build log once I've got tests worth showing as well as the okay from my patent lawyer/agent that I can disclose the key features without compromising my patentability. Of course it might just be a giant lemon in which case I'll probably build log it anyways.

 

[Damascus]

I'm working on a 45mm-ish tall heatsink that would be in direct competition with the current generation of < 50mm coolers. There are a couple novel and proprietary features that engineering simulations indicate will significantly boost performance when compared to conventional heatsinks. I'll reveal everything by way of a build log once I've got tests worth showing as well as the okay from my patent lawyer/agent that I can disclose the key features without compromising my patentability. Of course it might just be a giant lemon in which case I'll probably build log it anyways.

Sounds really interesting, do you have a target price? I'd love to pick one up when they launch (maybe even buy in to a gen 1 early?) to compare against my own design

 

[Damascus]

If all goes to plan I'll have a 1080 strix to put in my breathe, if not my current 980 ti g1 should also make a fine pairing

 

[Damascus]

@Kmpkt What thickness copper do you recommend for fins? Currently have 0.5mm but I'm worried that's too thick

 

[Damascus]

Update:

Ditching the buckle in favor of a custom coldplate that mates with the finstack

 

[Kmpkt]

Using 0.50mm copper and aluminum sheet for the fins.

 

[Damascus]

Using 0.50mm copper and aluminum sheet for the fins.

Awesome, I was worried 0.35mm would be too fragile, I'll stick with plan A

 

[Damascus]

Ok! Found some vapor chambers and am now ordering what should be enough for two coolers!

2 vapor chambers, 6 120mm heatpipes, 6 240mm heatpipe and a a whole lot of 0.50mm sheeting

 

[Kmpkt]

Have you figured out how you're going to assemble the thing yet and what kind of solder points you're going to use? If you can't make the thermal barriers between those components optimally conductive, you're going to lose all of your performance at the joints (ie. it won't matter how many vapour chambers or heat pipes you have).

 

[Damascus]

Have you figured out how you're going to assemble the thing yet and what kind of solder points you're going to use? If you can't make the thermal barriers between those components optimally conductive, you're going to lose all of your performance at the joints (ie. it won't matter how many vapour chambers or heat pipes you have).

Current approach is using a whole lot of solder, the vapor chamber goes on the IHS and then the heatpipes would be fully soldered on to the V.C. I'll explain it better later, GTG for now

 

[Vlad502]

May i ask you, what machine (power and/or hand) tools you planning to use for fins?

 

[Damascus]

May i ask you, what machine (power and/or hand) tools you planning to use for fins?

I'll be using:
A drill press (tool library, rent or buy)
Solder gun + pen
Dremol + craftsman rotary tools
Probably some tin snips