Maze3 fittings, changable?

I have a Maze3 cpu wb, and it has 3/8 fittings. My rad on the other hand has 1/2, so technically the wb is my flow-rate bottleneck. What would happen if i tried to change the brass fittings for some 1/2 ones. Would the lucite crack? Has this been done before?

thx for the help

i think it's not worth the risk of cracking your top

Aphex_Tom_9 said:

i think it's not worth the risk of cracking your top

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thats what i figured, thx for your input.
these things seem really touchy

If the lucite is not cracked, I'd carefully remove the brass fittings and replace with plastic fittings to prevent future cracking. You could change sizes at the same time. Leak check carefully after the change.

or u could do what i did with my maze4 cpu block. i couldnt find the 3/4'' NPT thread with 1/2" barbs anywhere. i had some spare dangerden straight 1/2 barbs so i filed down the threads of the lucite and barbs so they just go in but dont fall out. i then glued them in with a good waterproof 2 part epoxy. i part it all over threads and top on barb where it meets lutcite, then after that set i put a ring around the bottom on the barb where it meets lucite. i bet marine adhesive would work good too they always use it on this old house for leakproofing . hasnt leaked ever and its been a little over 2 months.

EDIT: tried home depot and menards with no luck, someone said lowes has stuff but there are none around me. ur looking for 1/4" NPT thread size, sorry.

gungeek said:

If the lucite is not cracked, I'd carefully remove the brass fittings and replace with plastic fittings to prevent future cracking. You could change sizes at the same time. Leak check carefully after the change.

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is there something about brass barbs that promote cracking in the lucite tops?

lithker says he couldnt find 3/4'' NPT thread with 1/2" barbs. doesnt home depot sell plastic fittings of that description?

its def not cracked now. is there any trick to getting the old ones off w/o causing crackage?

The practice of matching metal barbs to metal housings and plastic barbs to plastic housings is not my original idea. I think the idea is to better match thermal expansion between the barbs and housing resulting in less stress especially on crack-prone IMHO plastic tops. I read it, probably on this forum, from a very experienced watercooler, but I don't remember who. In their opinion and experience, matching barbs to the housing was the best chance of no leakage or cracking over years of use. It sounds like you need to change the barbs anyway to match the tubing, so why not replace metal with plastic?

Changed the barbs on my previous maze3 w/o any issues. Converted from plastic to brass, teflon tape for sealing. Lucite never cracked - DD seem to have a good technique for cutting threads in their lucite tops.