Maze3 poly top cracking?

[witchhunter]

I've heard some frightening rumours about those nice acrylic tops cracking after some time?

How much truth is in this? How to prevent it?

Am wondering about bying one, but can't get the copper-top in uk

 

[nikhsub1]

They can be buggers. I had a Spiral that cracked around the barb. Never removed it, never did anything unusual to it, it just started cracking from the inside out. Until EVERYONE gets the plastic tops RIGHT, I would stay away from them, even though they do look cool. All my blocks are metal tops now.

 

[SkiFletch]

yeah, its not a Maze 3 specific problem at all here... its primarily an acryllic and construction problem. I had the same thing happen to me on my Gemini High Flow. only mine started the crack at the bolt and then spiderwebbed out from there....

 

[Adamu]

Most of the time the reason that poly tops crack is that people try and do things to them that they weren't designed for. I know this from personal experience. DangerDen accidentally sent me a P4 block with no mounting holes so I tried to drill the holes myself instead of sending it back like I should have.

I left the poly top on while I drilled the holes because the poly top already had holes drilled in the proper position and I thought it was strong enough to handle the drills vibrations. It wasn't . After I was finished drilling the block looked fine, but two hours later there were cracks all around the barbs. Overnight the cracks had doubled. It would have leaked for certain if I had been running it in my system because there was a crack running directly from the outermost barb to the edge of the block.

After seeing how brittle these poly tops really are I will only go with copper topped blocks from now on.

BTW Danger Den ships internationally now so why can't you get a copper top from them?

 

[witchhunter]

BTW Danger Den ships internationally now so why can't you get a copper top from them

I dunno about the shipping rates in DangerDen, but i tried it at d-tek, and shipping from US -> Poland costs 100$, while shipping from UK to UK (my dad's working there, will be home within a month) is free of charge (www.extremecooling.co.uk)...

Assuming I'll buy that poly-crap and will use it properly, can i expect problems? with it still cracking?

 

[HighFlowRod]

One thought;

Remember hose barbs, usually national pipe threaded, are tapered (if they are npt threaded). The more times you screw them in the more stress your applying to the threaded poly/acrylic top. The manufacturers should specific a maximum torque.

Oh yeah; Adamu

Great avatar! My brother and I are old Dr. Who fans.

 

[Adamu]

Assuming I'll buy that poly-crap and will use it properly, can i expect problems? with it still cracking?

If you used it properly then I'd think there wouldn't be much risk of it cracking right away. If there was then DangerDen would have gotten 1000's of returns and moved to only copper tops. Just try to put as little amount of pressure on the barbs as possible and keep an eye on it during the first few weeks of use. If you wanted to spend the extra money you could order just the copper top from Danger Den. It states on their shipping page that for 0-4lbs shipping is $24.

Great avatar! My brother and I are old Dr. Who fans.

Thanks. Dr. Who is my favorite science fiction show.

 

[RnPgrosz]

I think this problem has been a little exaggerated. It seemed to be more of a problem with the earlier Poly-topped blocks and I haven't seen many reports of problems for a while. I have a Maze 3 polytop I have been using since late July and I see no sign of cracking.

 

[Tecumseh]

If the major mfgers could agree on a common top then there could
be tops made of tempered glass. IMO tempered glass is the only
material that a clear-toped WB should be made of. It wont stain
or crack or do other goofy stuff.

 

[Overbrazil]

Mine tc4 top cracked, but the metal top is ariving. But i dont recomend using a cracked top.
[]´s

 

[mfpmax]

Clear tops are for looking pretty...