The Mineral Oil PC by Andrew Mollman

Containing the oil

There is a sign on the wall of my workshop that reads “Measure twice, cut once.” I kept this in the front of my mind as I cut the acrylic for the tank, then glued the sheets together with cement made for acrylic, Weld-On #4. I used a copious amount of clamps during the process.


I wanted the motherboard tray in my oil case to be easily accessible. I believe my solution is elegant. I bought two drawer slides for the tray from a cabinetry store and attached them to the back of the tank. All I have to do is open the hinged upper compartment, and then pull the tray out with the attached handle. To prevent oil from sloshing (and to keep the smell in), I made a lid out of leftover 1/4in acrylic.


One of the cool features of the SCAB addon that can be purchased with the CFA635 is automated fan control based on temperature sensors. To take advantage of this, I placed one temperature sensor in the radiator inlet and a second in the radiator outlet. I removed one barb each from two polypropylene T’s and secured the sensors with silicone.


Three bulkhead fittings reside on the bottom of the tank. One is the radiator inlet, a second is the radiator exhaust and the last is a drain. The bend on the pump intake is pretty tight, so I used zip ties to prevent the PVC tubing from kinking. I had to put some weight on top of the pump to keep it level.