so, last night i was thinking, how can i keep my udoo bolt cool without any fans? i searched on google for what i can do with some gold colored convection amplifier heatsinks i have laying around, and i went to 3D model a case utilizing off the sheft components. this being the deisgn result components in this design: heatsinks in particular: https://www.ebay.com/itm/141420633264 ($46) cpu base plate (2x25x25mm shim to be precise) https://www.ebay.com/itm/121996768646 ($6) heatpipes (3x): https://www.ebay.com/itm//263823342409 ($20) (i overcalculated the length (15cm) by 5cm (20cm) to have lots of placement headroom) case panels: custom designed in front panel designer (to be matched to the bolt's connector positions still) ($150 or so) some standard m3 mounting screws, bolts and nuts ($5) the left heatsink is unused, but can be used to cool a internal HDPLEX 80W AC-19V DC power module for example, or you can route more heatpipes towards that heatsink. to utilize the front usb, i plan on getting some mountable usb extentions.
okay, so i shrunk the design down quite a bit, now one only needs 3x 100mm long heatpipes, and less aluminium for the panels, saving costs it includes the HDPLEX 80w mains to 19V power block as well, so one can make it easily integrated to the case. room for a 2.5" ssd is stil in the front on the bottom plate.
components needed: €42 - 2x heatsinks: https://www.ebay.com/itm/141420633264 €6 - 1x cpu base plate (a single 2x25x25mm shim is what you're looking for here) €15 - 3x 100mm long 3x8mm flat heatpipes €15 - 3D printed heatpipe mounting bracket for apu. €15 - 3D printed U shape plate for heatpipe mounting to heatsink €5 - 5ml of thermal paste (apu->heatpipes, heatpipes->heatsink) €39 - case top panel €44 - case rear panel €47 - case front panel €41 - case bottom panel €5 - 4x case feet €5 - M3 and M4 bolts, screws and nuts €10 - vandal proof power switch €5 - some front panel IO headers and cables (powerled + power switch). €5 - 2 usb extention cables for the front panel optional: (can use a external power brick as well) €30 - HDPLEX 80w power supply this gives a total of around: €300 without the power supply, pretty expensive. but the fun thing is: you can customize the case exactly as you like. will post most likely again in this thread when i order some panels heatpipes, and stuff.
received the essentials for working on the cooling system. i used a roll of duct tape to gently bend the heatpipes so that the inner width is 210mm so i can fit a mini itx motherboard in the future (which is what i might do eventually after the udoo bolt is getting 'outdated' in 5 years or so) i have a spare 250x6mm heatpipe just in case i screw one up. also found out that the mounting holes for the heatsinks are not 3mm, but slightly larger, have to remeasure those and reorder the screws in the correct dimensions for the system to be put together nicely. aside from that i'm running ahead project wise. which is good. only problem i foresee is: how do i mount the 50mm baseplate on the 50mm heatsink screw holes? (the heatsink overlaps the holes in one corner each), maybe use a 3D printed object to get that done?
picture shows the progress. (yes i am using a 45x45x1.2mm copper shim so the apu is mounted flat and doesn't have bumps from the slightly bent heatpipes in it, makes the cooling safer to apply and transport (because if the apu is cracked: you're having a non-repairable, dead system))
i have settled on the final options, which can be either a udoo bolt or mini itx, with a semi-active fan (allowing up to around 90w power cpu's), going to be epic!
