Project Smurf 3.0

Smffy · 15 Dec 2016 at 10:53

OJ46 said:
All that building and rebuilding has paid off, looking slick mate! Only shame is those pumps being hidden away on the PSU side, might have to go all redneck again and build Lian Li D80000

I am tempted to do that as there's a reasonable amount of space at the front, might be for a future mod though... Unless I get creative this evening while I do some copper work

Last night had about 30 mins and got this fiddly small section in, joins the top two rads from back to front:

Using this offcut with some white tape to mark on the pipes the fully inserted depth to make sure the fit is as perfect as it can be (its not as simple as PETG...).

The nice museum wax turned up so I can now finish off the pipes after polishing, wish me luck bending later :eek:

Cenedd · 15 Dec 2016 at 11:54

Good luck....and if we see you with one arm more developed than the other, we'll know it's from polishing your pipe

Smffy · 15 Dec 2016 at 14:19

Cenedd said:
Good luck....and if we see you with one arm more developed than the other, we'll know it's from polishing your pipe

Haha, you will indeed... Polishing and waxing my pipe.

Delta3D · 20 Dec 2016 at 10:50

That looks great! Loved the blue touch to it at the start

Smffy · 20 Dec 2016 at 16:56

Delta3D said:
That looks great! Loved the blue touch to it at the start

Blue touch has been replaced by Orange touch to match the incoming copper... Havent got to bending the pipe yet because long story short the 15mm bending guide needs modifying to squeeze the 16mm pipe in. Part way through doing that so concentrated on finishing up cabling stuff in.

New Aquaero front treated to match the res front:

Washers swapped out for the new copper Orange ones, i've also added some copper discs to hide the fan labels which look pretty tidy

Closer picture, still limited to iPhone though...

Cabled the rest of the fans in and since this picture i've added the pumps in place ready to start making the last few cables to the PSU. The old blue braid is staying for now, i'll probably order a load more that I need and either white as an accent or something lighter - copper brown looks shocking and orange is way to bright for my taste... Lot of cables hidden in there, occurred to me I cannot get to them as soon as its tubed so need to have everything spot on and probably a quick power on to test before filling.

More to follow when I get chance over Xmas, hopefully i'll do more Friday.

OJ46 · 20 Dec 2016 at 17:35

Looking sweet mate, loving the copper discs over the fan stickers. Classy touch

ALXAndy · 20 Dec 2016 at 21:15

Echo the above. Copper discs look gorgeous !

Smffy · 21 Dec 2016 at 10:11

ALXAndy said:
Echo the above. Copper discs look gorgeous !

OJ46 said:
Looking sweet mate, loving the copper discs over the fan stickers. Classy touch

I am pretty classy....

Cheers folks, pretty good range of the discs on the Bay - if you're interested search for "engraving blanks" you can get a massive range of them. Plain steel and paint is probably a good option but some nice finishes like brushed aluminium are around.

Edging closer to completion... Hope it works after all this effort

Smffy · 7 Jan 2017 at 11:25

Well, Merry Xmas / Happy New Year!

Back home and finally able to get going on this again, although almost immediately presented with more challenges... Basically starting on the copper pipe and off the bat its clear that when I bend this thick pipe it kinks like crazy - some pics below, note the inside edge.

Reality is this 16mm pipe is rare and the stuff I got is VERY thick compared to say a conventional 15mm pipe, its 1mm thick which makes it really hard to bend. To the point most people would not be able to put even a slight bend in by hand, the tools work fine. So i'm mulling over some options, which right now can be summarised like:

Try the 'fill tube with salt/sand method to stop kinks, not convinced it will work on this heavier pipe
Live with them... I don't think I can
Admit defeat and buy a load of the new EK 90s and use this pipe but straight with fittings for the major bends (didnt want to do this originally)
I have found some 16mm copper elbows on the interwebs, I could cut straight sections and then solder the copper elbows on like a proper plumber - what solder is not going to cause problems with the metals in the loop? Seen copper/phosphate stuff presume that is ok?
Get some thinner tube, or a solution to fit 15mm pipe in the fittings/to G 1/4

Other option I guess is finish this with all the PETG i've got which will mean its done in a few hours.

Pics for reference, the copper does look nice even this polished piece:

Bone9 · 7 Jan 2017 at 12:14

I say solder copper bends on or just use petg mate

Providing you proper clean out the inner of the copper after soldering surly it will be fine.

Smffy · 7 Jan 2017 at 12:18

Bone9 said:
I say solder copper bends on or just use petg mate

Providing you proper clean out the inner of the copper after soldering surly it will be fine.

Yeah leaning towards this as i've just found a site with a lot of end fittings in 16mm for about 50p each... also stumbled upon a lot of pipe in 5/8" so theres potential there too if I change fittings. I've used up quite a bit of the pipe with various tests anyway so need to stop doing that!

DRSEire · 11 Jan 2017 at 14:08

Wow that's amazing work well done.

Smffy · 12 Jan 2017 at 10:15

Morning...

So last night something rather dull (but secretly rather exciting) arrived... 16mm end feeds for my copper. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and finish:

I got a load of 90 elbows, some 45s and also a few female to male which I don't think i'll use but was curious... Bit of bed building with spare unpolished bits:

It was late and I'm not gonna lie I had been at the pub but I just couldn't resist building something... Which escalated as you'll now see in to the early hours

All just 10 second wire wool polished not finished and not sealed together just placed in situ:

Drunk me decided he didn't like the way this looked from the front... Thankfully sober me agrees:

Bit of a redesign:

And then it continued to grow...

One on the top left needs a mm/2 trimming to make it perfect so that will be done... Its alarmingly good for a half cut late night effort and I am loving the way it looks already! Also occurred to me you could easily bond these elbows to the PETG tubing, which when held in the case was a really interesting look:

I'd call that progress after a long and frustrating month or so

Cenedd · 12 Jan 2017 at 10:39

Now we just have to see how clean (and water-tight!) your soldering is!

Looking good at the moment though.

You're right, the copper and PETG combo is an interesting look. At 50p a bend it could take off! Just remains to be seen if the bond is strong, water-tight and lasting. I trust you're going to be testing the theory?

OJ46 · 12 Jan 2017 at 10:43

Ooooooh yes, loving the look of that mate! Looks far better than the curves IMO, it's just a bit more, what's the word... Interesting? Industrial? Either way, it looks bloody good!

Bit 50/50 on the PETG though but guess it would be very sensitive to coolant colour, so could look either very nice or awful depending on how it went

Good to see things heading in the right direction again, sure a lot of people (me) would have given up and thrown it out the window by now

Smffy · 12 Jan 2017 at 11:31

Industrial and interesting is the words, I also really prefer it which is funny but a good result.

Pretty sure some marine apoxy will bond it to PETG and these were 30p each, works on my old mans dive boat which gets salt blown at it constantly. I'm still looking at whether Just4Copper is a good option, solder free bends which don't really take and load like a household pipe. Mixed reviews but realistically the pipe is holding its self in place.

You could probably buy 20 fittings and have them nickel coated for £15... white fluid and it would look spot on

Just remembered how much cable and sleeve I still need and now I'm sad again haha!

Cenedd · 12 Jan 2017 at 12:30

Hmm, interesting product. Only question is whether it would react with the coolant. It's good for drinking water which implies it doesn't leach out or dissolve. It also doesn't mention that you can't use it on central heating pipes which may have Fernox or similar anti-corrosion/sludge additives so that's promising. Their website makes my eyes bleed though :eek:

Smffy · 12 Jan 2017 at 14:06

Cenedd said:
Hmm, interesting product. Only question is whether it would react with the coolant. It's good for drinking water which implies it doesn't leach out or dissolve. It also doesn't mention that you can't use it on central heating pipes which may have Fernox or similar anti-corrosion/sludge additives so that's promising. Their website makes my eyes bleed though

Theres a big old PDF of tests and results and apparently its fine in catering so shouldnt be a problem between -40c and 120c or something ludicrous like that... Might just get some and make a few testers. I get most of the negative feedback from plumbers about strength but in this scenario its not likely to be an issue as its short self suspending sections and doesnt have 60 gallons of water pressing down on it.

Cenedd · 12 Jan 2017 at 14:22

Nor should you get the sort of pressure exerted on it by water-hammer - and by that I mean specifically when you get water flowing at full mains pressure suddenly being shut off. Our old washing machine used to do it, you'd hear the water get shut off when the pipework vibrated with the sudden change. Suck it and see I think. Should avoid the problem of having solder showing through and ruining the look.

Smffy · 12 Jan 2017 at 14:25

Cenedd said:
Nor should you get the sort of pressure exerted on it by water-hammer - and by that I mean specifically when you get water flowing at full mains pressure suddenly being shut off. Our old washing machine used to do it, you'd hear the water get shut off when the pipework vibrated with the sudden change. Suck it and see I think. Should avoid the problem of having solder showing through and ruining the look.

Yep! Realistically given the amount of radiators and fans in the build the pumps are going to be running pretty low RPMs... Will order it and build a few pieces to see how it seals and how strong it is. This copper lark is more complicated than you'd think