About to do my first "hard" tubing project. Need some help.

[Cyclops]

Hello! Hard tubing time. I'm ordering these tonight:

https://www.dazmode.com/store/produc...ksaw-and-cord/

https://www.dazmode.com/store/produc...eburring-tool/

I've got a heatgun so I'm good there.

Anything else comes to mind?

I'm not sure about tube sizing. I've always used 3/8 - 5/8 soft tubing. What's more popular in hard tubing world? 12mm or 16mm? 16mm is a lot more expensive it seems.

[Bartacus]

It seems 16mm is pretty popular, but also hard to do on short runs (ie CPU / RAM). I've seen people use 12mm for that, and the mix works quite well. 12mm is easier to use in tight places, or so I've read (I'm still using 3/8 5/8 soft tube).

[nass]

dremel is nice to have and monson mandrel kit you'll also need. Dremel you use for the chamfer and what not. I used 16 mil guess depends on your case size and the look your after. The red in my case silicone tube insert worked the best out of mandrel kit and had the ek kit also. White inserts I didn't like.

[Cyclops]

Thanks for the good info folks.

[bungwirez]

I did all my bends by hand, eye.... so no mandrel for me. but I did lay out my square so I could have at least a moderately accurate 90 angle.

go slowly, and on your first ones use a stop watch to catch an idea of how long your heater takes to start a melt.

oh and lots of soap on that rubber insert. even if it dries out while you bend tube, little more water and it slips out easy.

[Cyclops]

I did all my bends by hand, eye.... so no mandrel for me. but I did lay out my square so I could have at least a moderately accurate 90 angle.

go slowly, and on your first ones use a stop watch to catch an idea of how long your heater takes to start a melt.

oh and lots of soap on that rubber insert. even if it dries out while you bend tube, little more water and it slips out easy.

I was thinking olive oil but soap can also be of help. Thanks

[trestles126]

this was my first WC build after 13 years and not touching the inside of a computer. decided to go hard tubing. I wasted about 3 feet of 12mm before i got the hang of it. key things i did wrong

didn't buy the right tools. the insert for the tubing is critical make sure u buy the right ID silicone for the tube your using or you'll for sure get kinks.

buy the monsoon reamer as well its cheap and take seconds to ream properly makes the process much quicker

be patient while heating. make sure you heat at least 3-4 inches of the bend if your tube isn't heated all the way you'll kink it

don't heat to much you'll get bubbles. i held mine 3-4 inches away on high and twisted in my fingers till it was flimsy

get them heat gloves....they helped a lot of my bends were by hand and your handling the hot tube closely

i used a monsoon die kit and it helped with all the 90s. i followed their instructions about laying out a piece of art paper and drawing dimensions on it and for the most part it worked.

always leave a lot of left over tube. i made perfect bends a few times and wasted the piece do to it being too short... u can always cut it down

i have a few bends that are 90s one way directly into a 90 the other way as seen in the pics... the mandrels don't work well because the previous bend doesn't fit into the mandrel so you have to wing it and do it by hand.... most of my hand bends came out just about as good as my mandrel bends... .using paper and making out the tube on paper first laying the tube down hot and bending and holding to the drawing on paper

[10e]

I was thinking olive oil but soap can also be of help. Thanks

Soap is better because it's easier to clean out of the tube than olive oil.

[nass]

[/URL]

You can do all the bends in your build with the mandrels.

Example the cpu right side, you do that bend first then just flip the piece straight up and do your next bend, all the bends in your photo's can be done with mandels mounted on a piece of plywood idea to keep things straight.

[Cyclops]

this was my first WC build after 13 years and not touching the inside of a computer. decided to go hard tubing. I wasted about 3 feet of 12mm before i got the hang of it. key things i did wrong

didn't buy the right tools. the insert for the tubing is critical make sure u buy the right ID silicone for the tube your using or you'll for sure get kinks.

buy the monsoon reamer as well its cheap and take seconds to ream properly makes the process much quicker

be patient while heating. make sure you heat at least 3-4 inches of the bend if your tube isn't heated all the way you'll kink it

don't heat to much you'll get bubbles. i held mine 3-4 inches away on high and twisted in my fingers till it was flimsy

get them heat gloves....they helped a lot of my bends were by hand and your handling the hot tube closely

i used a monsoon die kit and it helped with all the 90s. i followed their instructions about laying out a piece of art paper and drawing dimensions on it and for the most part it worked.

always leave a lot of left over tube. i made perfect bends a few times and wasted the piece do to it being too short... u can always cut it down

i have a few bends that are 90s one way directly into a 90 the other way as seen in the pics... the mandrels don't work well because the previous bend doesn't fit into the mandrel so you have to wing it and do it by hand.... most of my hand bends came out just about as good as my mandrel bends... .using paper and making out the tube on paper first laying the tube down hot and bending and holding to the drawing on paper

Some good info.

[Cyclops]

It's not letting me upload images....

[Hooded]

Try using the Basic editor or turning off the Enhanced Attachment Uploading off

[Cyclops]

Had to upload it to imgur

[Cyclops]

[Cyclops]