Plasti dip???

johnny sublime · 15 Feb 2017 at 17:52

Would it be posslbe to plastidip hard tubes or copper????

Legend · 15 Feb 2017 at 18:09

Techincally yes, but the problem would be doing so and then trying to attach fittings. The tolerance is so small, you would scratch up the paint or find that the fittings didn't even go on at all. Of course, if you did to an assembled build no problem, but that would require A LOT of masking off, and getting an even coat around the entire circumference of the tube would nigh on impossible.

pastymuncher · 15 Feb 2017 at 18:49

Shrinktube would work and be easier to do as well.

Smffy · 16 Feb 2017 at 16:36

You could spray them plastikote/dip and tape off the 10mm that seals in the fitting.

LePhuronn · 16 Feb 2017 at 17:11

Just mask off the bit that sticks in the fitting first. EK-HDC fittings are 8mm seating depth for example, so mask off 7mm and spray away.

LePhuronn · 16 Feb 2017 at 17:11

And Smffy already said that

Bluntwrapped · 16 Feb 2017 at 18:36

Forgive me for asking, lol but why would you want to do that in the first place?

Legend · 17 Feb 2017 at 13:19

LePhuronn said:
Just mask off the bit that sticks in the fitting first. EK-HDC fittings are 8mm seating depth for example, so mask off 7mm and spray away.

This won't work. You need to put the fitting further down the tube before you screw it in, and it won't slide over a layer of plastidip.

johnny sublime · 17 Feb 2017 at 22:18

Wanting to do matt black tubes but hardline

LePhuronn · 18 Feb 2017 at 00:02

Legend said:
This won't work. You need to put the fitting further down the tube before you screw it in, and it won't slide over a layer of plastidip.

There's no need to put the outer fitting on the tube any further than where it will screw in, we just do it because it's easier to get the o-rings in place and see where we're putting the tube. But if you're careful there's no reason why it wouldn't work.

LePhuronn · 18 Feb 2017 at 00:08

johnny sublime said:
Wanting to do matt black tubes but hardline

It's going to be a fiddle to do it, so unless you've already bought the tubing and fittings have a look at actual black acrylic tubes. Barrow, Alphacool and Monsoon do it specifically for the watercooling market, but there's no reason why you can't get extruded black tube from any plastic supplier and use that (although you may not find 1mm wall thickness which may cause bending issues).

Alternatively you could try a vinyl dye which actually changes the colour of plastic by restitching the polymers together. Since it's not actually a coating there's nothing to scratch off, eliminating the problem of getting your fittings and o-rings to slide over. Whether vinyl dye works on acrylic I'm not sure, and what the effect it would have on clear acrylic I also don't know, i.e. does it go opaque or stay transparent?

Actually, that's something I'll look into myself - I've been wanting some smoked black tubing for a while.

Smffy · 18 Feb 2017 at 08:41

Pretty sure the compression caps will fit over the paint though if you wanted... it's not like it's thick and they don't fit tight to the tube.

Legend · 18 Feb 2017 at 13:17

Smffy said:
Pretty sure the compression caps will fit over the paint though if you wanted... it's not like it's thick and they don't fit tight to the tube.

I very much doubt it... the tolerance between any fittings and tubing I've tried is (by design) very small... a layer of masking tape is almost too much, and plasti-dip will go on thicker than that. It's possible to do as LePhuronn says and not take the tubes down any further than they will fit, but that could be very fiddly, and in doing so you may end scratching up the paint anyway.

BriT · 18 Feb 2017 at 14:37

Use black liquid? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayhems-x1-uv-oil-black-premixed-watercooling-fluid-1l-wc-003-mh.html