Alphacool Eisrohr 16/13mm Custom Loop Help

[TheChilled0ne]

Hello all!

My first time posting on the forum. I've been planning a water cooling loop for some time and, after waiting to see if Alphacool was going to develop a water block with active backplate for the Palit Gamerock OC 3090, finally pulled the trigger on the Bykski block.

Now I have all my parts built, case modified to fit all the parts I need/want, fittings in, and layout planned however I'm having trouble with the tubes.

As the title suggests I have the Alphacool Eisrohr 16/13mm but can't get the bends right. I have a bitspower bending kit and suspect the silicone insert is the wrong size as there is a significant gap around the insert in the tube and so this might be part of my issue but I'd like some of you experts to take a look at my images and offer suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong.

The tubes take an age to get malleable and the moment I come off the heat they seem to stiffen up so I hit them with some more heat try and again and end up essentially freehanding the bend over the heat to keep the tube soft and then it's starts to blister. I've ordered more tubes because I'm definitely going to run out if I can't even get a basic 90⁰ to work and need to do some dual bends.

 

[Vanzin]

Hi,

bending of Hardtubes is not easy and needs training. You have to get the correct temperature and much more.

 

[TheChilled0ne]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I've done some further testing and have some results to share later when I'm back home for anyone else working with this specific tube. I still think My insert is a bit on the narrow side - I have an Alphacool one specific for these tubes on the way today however I have made some significant progress!

Tips for any other newbies attempting to dive straight into PMMA hard tubes - specifically the Alphacool Eisrohr 16/13 Satin PMMA

1. My heatgun was no good, I borrowed one from work that we use for component repairs on TV broadcast equipment but it only has 2 settings and a very focused nozzle (combination of too little heat in a focused pattern resulted in long heating times unless right over the nozzle were the tube began rapidly over heating and blistering. I decided to buy a good one so I could experiment with incremental temperatures and found that a temp setting of 280C and air flow setting of "2" - approximately 300L/min with the flat nozzle attachment to further spread the heat along the length of the tube resulted in much more predictable bends.

2. These PMMA tubes don't like being softened to the extent that other tutorials suggest with other materials, letting the tube get very soft for easy working seems to result in much more kinking and buckling even on more 'gentle' radius bends especially if using a mandrel or bending template. (again pending further investigation into my narrow insert) I found its much better to soften it to the point it just barely starts to bend under its own weight, get a little further from the heat and let it continue softening another 30 seconds or so. Once off the heat if it bends easily but with some resistance - imagine the feeling of a clay then it seems to bend just right.

3. Appropriate diameter insert! even with the above I'm still getting some flattening on the inside or outside of my radius' which I suspect is due to the gap around the silicone allowing the tube to move a little too much instead of acting a force against the inside of the tube. Its difficult to say for sure because I have the satin tubes but the tube seems to expand when heated too worsening the gap around the insert. I used some calipers and the insert seems to be about 12mm so there is a 1mm gap which increases once the tube is heated. I will post my findings when I receive the Alphacool insert but have read in other forums that this insert also has a larger than expected gap, and since is listed as 1/2" /13mm this insert may be less than the full 13mm but as I say will post later with actual findings.

With what little tube I had left after my experimenting here is the results of what I learned, I have a few more in since this photo was taken but these bends are the result of 3 out of 4 80cm tubes! xD

 

[TheChilled0ne]

So the new Alphacool insert arrived today and I don't know what these other posters got or ordered but the one I got is indeed a snug fit and will not go into the tube without some form of lubrication. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this all works now.

As promised I've included an image of my bends done with the above info but I may have to redo some just to see how much better I can do with the proper equipment now that I have the extra tubes