1st Attempt at Hard Tube Bending

[Dougal 165]

The water cooling guru's make it look so easy on their YouTube videos don't they. Respect to them.

I don't even have my GPU in the loop yet, just the CPU, but I've already wasted a LOT of hard tube! It's REALLY difficult getting the various tube pieces even remotely the right shape lol. I thought I'd be able to take precise measurements for the various bends. Ha! Although some measuring can be done, it's much more about judging and 'guestimating' to get it right.

I can see this is going to be adictive to get right lol...

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Phil,

LOL - wow - I guess you took the red pill - I'll stick with the blue myself - as that's far deeper down the rabbit hole than I ever want to go - make sure you leave yourself a breadcrumb trail to find your way home again...

Best of luck with your project - though...

Regards,
Scott 

[Dougal 165]

29 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Phil,

LOL - wow - I guess you took the red pill - I'll stick with the blue myself - as that's far deeper down the rabbit hole than I ever want to go - make sure you leave yourself a breadcrumb trail to find your way home again...

Best of luck with your project - though...

Regards,
Scott 

Had myself a MASSIVE leak from the top radiator on my very 1st attempt!  Thankfully, none of the system other than the pump was powered up.

I fancied something of a change, but couldn't afford new hardware, so thought I'd have a tinker with the cooling system;-)

Thankfully, pure distilled water does no damage.

[martin-w 3,234]

3 hours ago, Dougal said:

Had myself a MASSIVE leak from the top radiator on my very 1st attempt!  Thankfully, none of the system other than the pump was powered up.

 

 

Were the ends of the tubes cut square and deburred? 

Edited November 16, 2018 by martin-w

[Dougal 165]

Hi Martin

Yes, I paid very close attn to that stuff. The problem was very simple... when i unscrewed and removed the soft tube fittings from the rad, one of the base radiator plugs had also come loose without me realising. Made for a lovely red stained carpet lol

[martin-w 3,234]

I bet your wife gave you a right telling off.

[Guest]

I haven't done hard tubing in a few years ... stopped going the hard route because I change components frequently and it was time consuming to undo and redo the hard line.  But with that said, hard tubing does look MUCH better ... what I used to do:

1.  Use appropriate tools designed for cutting and bending, Thermaltake have a nice kit.
2.  Use craft wire (most Hobby stores will have this stuff, Hobby Lobby, etc.) to bend and get the route, angles, shape you desire from A to B
3.  Allow for about 1/2"-3/4" extra tube on either end (trim to final fitment)
 

It's definitely more work that soft tube and higher risk of leaks, but can be very rewarding once completed.

Cheers, Rob.

[Dougal 165]

3 minutes ago, Rob Ainscough said:

I haven't done hard tubing in a few years ... stopped going the hard route because I change components frequently and it was time consuming to undo and redo the hard line.  But with that said, hard tubing does look MUCH better ... what I used to do:

1.  Use appropriate tools designed for cutting and bending, Thermaltake have a nice kit.
2.  Use craft wire (most Hobby stores will have this stuff, Hobby Lobby, etc.) to bend and get the route, angles, shape you desire from A to B
3.  Allow for about 1/2"-3/4" extra tube on either end (trim to final fitment)
 

It's definitely more work that soft tube and higher risk of leaks, but can be very rewarding once completed.

Cheers, Rob.

Thanks Rob

Can't believe I didn't think of craft wire. Nor did I see it suggested. Not even by Jaytwocents. Brilliant idea. For the moment, I'm just using the bear minimum of bends, but as you say, even like that, it's very rewarding compared to soft tubing. Spend G more time and money on case modding and cooling that flightsim just now lol. Keeps me off the streets I guess:)