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Acrylic Bending


Seth772

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Hey Everyone,

 

Merry Christmas!

 

I have decided to go with a hard line and have spent a lot of time researching on how to bend the tubes. I found most kits do not have a 12mm option that Corsair uses. If you use a kit what do you use? I would appreciate any suggestions and input.

 

Thank you very much!

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I bought this kit, but after a couple of goes have decided that I think the bending mandrels aren't actually that useful. In some ways it seems easier just to go slowly and bend by "look and feel". That's the technique the experts use, but I'm nowhere near that standard.

 

The silicone insert and the reamer are must haves though.

 

https://www.amazon.com.au/Thermaltake-Pacific-Water-Cooling-Bending/dp/B06XK1Y3KF/ref=asc_df_B01BX3EZUI/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=341773396021&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1197020228523649679&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9071315&hvtargid=pla-450464182925&th=1

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for mine I did most of it by hand using the edge of a table to make sure that my bends were 90 degrees and flat. Some of my pieces required multiple bends in different directions. For that I used a silicon insert and soapy water to ensure that the bends didn't try and collapse. Also if you leave the insert in and put it up next to your system to see if it is close you can reheat the pipe and add or remove a small amount of bend without the bend collapsing.

 

I used a copper pipe cutter and a reamer that I already had from working with copper water lines in my parents house.

 

the cutter I used was one of these. I think jayz2cents uses a similar one.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-0-625-in-Multipurpose-Pipe-Cutter/1000667999

 

expect to buy more tube than you need. I used a piece about 1 foot long at first just to play with the heat gun and get a feel for how it bent, how close I needed to be to the heat gun, and what heat setting I needed on the heat gun. even then I messed up some pieces by not getting the bends right and had to order another kit of tubing. I didn't help myself by having pieces that needed 3 bends at weird angles.

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...

 

the cutter I used was one of these. I think jayz2cents uses a similar one.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-0-625-in-Multipurpose-Pipe-Cutter/1000667999

 

...

 

I'm not sure about this cutter you mention, but certainly the similar one in the Thermaltake kit I bought is perfect for PETG tubing, but no good for acrylic. For acrylic I believe conventional wisdom says you should use a fine toothed saw blade. I use a 24tpi one and it works perfectly. The pipe cutter I have in that kit just cracks the acrylic, but is ideal for PETG.

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My bad, I totally missed the acrylic part. ya, mine is petg. ignore everything I said except the part about the insert and buying extra tube. I have kids and animals so acrylic seemed like a bad idea. I tried playing with one acrylic tube and kept getting bubbles from over heating and it got really brittle. Edited by intender
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Buying extra tube is a solid suggestion.

Being very new to this I have already over ordered on tubing as I have a lot of mistakes I plan to get out of the way early on !!

 

I have no kids, but a very inquisitive and hairy dog, but, touch wood, no issues with the acrylic so far. I initially started with PETG, but then was "guided" towards acrylic by some folks here who've been doing this way longer than I have. At the end of the day, go with what you find easiest, just make sure you use the right cutter for the job !

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I'm not sure about this cutter you mention, but certainly the similar one in the Thermaltake kit I bought is perfect for PETG tubing, but no good for acrylic. For acrylic I believe conventional wisdom says you should use a fine toothed saw blade. I use a 24tpi one and it works perfectly. The pipe cutter I have in that kit just cracks the acrylic, but is ideal for PETG.

 

That blade spinner cutter actually works for PETG AND acrylic, if you know the material and how to use it. On hard acrylic, you would rotate it so the blades would cut it clean. However on the softer PETG, you rotate it against the blades, just so it scraps the softer material out of it. Also, if you cut with a decent cutter and have a solid, straight cut, the finishing is pretty easy as there won’t be too much material to remove.

 

This is something it always bothered me on Jayz videos.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I am just finishing up a massive build, using Acrylic tubing. though not new to DIY cooling it has been long time since I did it, and then it was soft tubing. I used 12mm OD acrylic tubing as I had a bit of a theme.

 

Here is some tips from my experience I can pass on:

 

Tube cutting: I used a small miter and very fine bladed hack saw, near zero issues with break off. I marked with a dry erase marker and cut. Measure 5 times cut once! I also cut little long and filed/sanded down. You can always remove you cannot add. used 600mm of tubing and only wasted about 100mm. NEVER throw out a piece of tubing, even my second messed up bend (wrong position) was perfect for a later connection. I even needed two of my short end pieces.

 

Tube prep: I used a very fine file to ensure even end, an in/out reamer tool to clean off burs and then 600 grit sand paper for a really nice finish to not cut any 0-rings.

 

Tube bending: I did it free hand, and had great luck and only messed up one bend (my first). What I had trouble with, was mutli bend alignments, marking the apex is easy, getting the apex of the bend on that mark was hella hard. I think mandrels would have helped me. I used a lower powered heat gun, to ensure no bubbling, it was the right call. three tips patience patience patience.

 

Fittings: I used Dazmode (Canadian WC specialty store) fittings, triple o-ring for half the cost of Corsair...Sorry Corsair.Love them!

 

I use an XD5 corsair pump and though I have just started leak testing (need more fluid 1000ml wasn't enough) the pump res is super! love the added jumper block, and the fan mount brackets, very versatile supporting many mounting directional configuration.

 

Close bends to fittings: I have a bend right out to the CPU block 90 fitting, its tight due to memory, if I did it again I would use a 90 fitting, this was one hard place to bend have enough straight tube to still go into fitting.

 

After you are done go over every fitting twice and tighten them. I had to create a little snake of a fitting bend to meet GPU to flow meter to rad, after a spacer, a triple rotary 90 and a double rotary 45 it fit like a glove, but......I did not go back and ensure all my rotary fun did not end up with a fitting not fully tightened, I looked so funny with blood red coolant in the face! Yes you are all allowed to laugh, I did...after I cleaned it up lol.

 

 

Hope these tips help, it has been fun and frustrating but man soon it will be great! Greg from Science studio has a really good tube bending video as well.

 

Good luck and happy cooling!

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