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Copper Braided Tubing?

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Valk

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Hey all. I still dont have the money to just kinda take the plunge yet. that is coming next month i hope, or april. just in time for spring ^^.
Has anyone seen any copper or aluminum braided Fluid coolent tubing that would be suitable for water cooling around? I like the clear silicon based tubing that is pretty common. but im not sure if i want a glowing coolent =\.
Since i use Copper braided IDE cabling, I wanted to kind of keep the motif the same. anyone have any idea?
aluming braided tubing would work too. sicne my case is unpainted, stock brushed aluminum.
of course. im sure sleeving would work too.
 
you don't have to have the fluid glow. i use zerex super protector and it is clear
 
I dont mind the crystal look to a clear tubing setup at all. but... i dont know the braided look to tubing is just sweet. I cant explain it. Maybe I shuld start looking for a baided sleeve material of copper instead and just sleeve it over some clear flex. my water system is going to be blatently visible.. the entire side panel of my case is acrylic.
 
I used a wire reinforced tubing from McMaster Carr. The wire totally prevents tubing collapse, however when you attempt a tight-ish bend you have to contend with the spring force acting against your fittings, PCB, mobo or whatever else might be involved. I found that using such tubing I had to have more 90 degree fittings (hurts flow some) in order to prevent cracking circuit boards. I highly recommend that you do NOT purchase wire reinforced tubing or braided tubing if you don't want several 90 degree fittings in your system.
 
Valk said:
Hey all. I still dont have the money to just kinda take the plunge yet. that is coming next month i hope, or april. just in time for spring ^^.
Has anyone seen any copper or aluminum braided Fluid coolent tubing that would be suitable for water cooling around? I like the clear silicon based tubing that is pretty common. but im not sure if i want a glowing coolent =\.
Since i use Copper braided IDE cabling, I wanted to kind of keep the motif the same. anyone have any idea?
aluming braided tubing would work too. sicne my case is unpainted, stock brushed aluminum.
of course. im sure sleeving would work too.



I wouldn't attempt it that way unless you want to short something out and possibly kill a componant. There is some chrome shielded sleeving you can get. It's not a real bright chrome but would still look cool. It still conducts electricity but its just as flexible as any other sleeving. Just use some clear heatshrink over the top of that. Then use some black heatshrink on the ends.
 
I have to agree with MoreGooder on this one. I checked out the reinforced tubing and it was VERY inflexible which would result in poor performance. Although it does look cool!
 
ok, check out your local performance auto store or even a mobile one (audio) if yall have those. they sell woven wire mesh you can install over various size tubes in your engine.

the kit at mobile one even has heat shrink for the ends (and cool looking, chrome-ish nut-things to cover the heatshrink) and comes in 5 sizes, one of which looks like it would be perfect for 1/2" ID tubing, and others which would be perfect for all the other sizes of wires and whatnot.

and if you buy the kit, you can sleeve all your wires with the exact same looking mesh and go for total theme consistency

good luck

mod on
 
MoreGooder said:
I used a wire reinforced tubing from McMaster Carr. The wire totally prevents tubing collapse, however when you attempt a tight-ish bend you have to contend with the spring force acting against your fittings, PCB, mobo or whatever else might be involved. I found that using such tubing I had to have more 90 degree fittings (hurts flow some) in order to prevent cracking circuit boards. I highly recommend that you do NOT purchase wire reinforced tubing or braided tubing if you don't want several 90 degree fittings in your system.

I just tried out reinforced tubing last time i put my watercooling system together. Had a couple more 90 degree elbows, but prevents tubing collapse MUCH better than the previous stuff I've had.

Use it with a powerful pump (I'm running a Mag 7) and the extra turns won't be much of an issue.
 
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