Radiators are good when you need to fit the cooling system into a small space because they are made with many small fins that are closely spaced. But if you have the space you can get the same amount of cooling surface area with just the surface of the water tank. I used an old aquarium for the coolant tank and I bet the top of the water had more surface area than all the fins on a small radiator.
But no one with a PC would want a 20 gallon fish tank plumbed to the PC. The larger the tank the more square area that is exposed to ambient temperature air and the better is the cooling. But you are right. a one liter tank and a radiator and fan would work and take up much less space and you can buy the system mostly pre-built audit would take very little space. I was also very concerned about leaks and used a submersible pump (with added to the heat load) and the tank was below the electronics so any leak would drain water away and not flood the electronics. It was a VERY simple system. Just a pump inside the old tank ad two plastic hoses to an aluminum block that had water channels machined into it. My system use water evaporation for cooling and would loose water and needed to be topped off every week or so but a closed loop radiator system would not loose water. So there is some advantage. But the evaporated water can cool the water below the air temperature, a radiator can never get the water as cool as the air. I just did the simplest thing I have read about people using "open loop" cooling water the tap water is used once then goes down the drain or into the flower bed. Very wasteful but also very simple. On Fri, Mar 15, 2019 at 12:04 PM Ken Strauss <ken.stra...@gmail.com> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Chris Albertson [mailto:albertson.ch...@gmail.com] > > Sent: Friday, March 15, 2019 1:44 PM > > To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC) > > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Spindle motor coolant advice needed > > > > When I had a coolant tank, for a different purpose, I put automatic "anti > > freeze in the water. It is make just for this purpose and is > > non-corrosive with materials used in car engines. > > > > Also, if the water recirculates it will eventually warm up. I put a 12 > > volt fan on the tank lid and made it into an evaporative cooler. Then > > you top off the tank with new water now and then. If the water is taking > > even 25 watts of heat from the system it will heat up quite a lot unless > > you rig some kind of cooling. > > > > How about using a radiator like > > https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Radiator-Water-Cooling-Cooler/dp/B079DHJ91F/ > which is intended to cool CPUs? It comes with mountings for three 120mm > muffin fans. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
