Its all about plasticizers!!!

Update: I am currently working on a article or more like a compilation of information & data that I can find in the internet regarding plasticizers & how different tubing compares. Once I am done with it, I will ask mayhems permission if its ok to share it out to the public as most of the information comes from him. My only objective is to educate the users to go for quality tubing as it will save them time & maintenance effort and also to give a proper explanation on what its all about & why it might not be a concern to you.

more stuff

So more stuff have arrived for my build. Due to the fact that I have limited money & living in ASIA, getting parts for my build is not as easy as some of you guys out there. I am yet waiting for pump to arrive too...maybe in 2weeks time? 1 month time? ETA is unknown but I hope its as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, I will wait for the lamptron cw611 fan controller :D

Testing

So I went to the local hardware shop just to browse around & found some clear tubing? They were selling it for RM1.50/feet so I was like dafuq! That is so cheap, what if I can use this as my rig tubing? So I wondered how will it perform because i doubt it was designed for watercooling rigs, so I bought 1 feet just to do some testing on it.

First testing I did was on kink testing and it failed miserably. I wouldn't even post any testing details about how flexible it is, all I can say is if your loop needs some bend, this wouldn't work. Period!

Next I tested it for plasticizer. First of all I would like to say the test I did was just for fun & by right its not a perfect testing condition as I do not own the proper equipment for testing. The testing data is more like for my personal use but I am sharing out for those who are curious like me.

The first test was to cut the tubing in small pieces and dump it in a hot water. I do not have a thermometer that can measure high temps but its pretty hot, water used to make tea. I am guessing its around 80-90'C. The middle tubing is the result of it after 1 day in that water temp compare to the above tubing which is brand new. Also take note that the water & tubing was thrown in a flask (coffee flask) which keeps water warm for long period, so I am assuming the temps falls with a slow gradient through time.

The next test was testing it with a warm temp that was excatly 40'C. Yes I am sure of this because I used a thermometer that measures fever lol, it can go up to 40'C only sadly therefore couldn't get reading for higher temps. As shown in the picture (the last tubing at the bottom) it still leaches. So if the tubing can't even perform at 40'C without plasticizer then there is no point in using it as your temps confirm will go above 40'C because malaysia temps are now freaking 35-40'C outside!

This is what plasticizer is if those who are wondering. White stuff that are like powder when dried, can easily scrap it off from the tubing if you can reach it.

I got my MDPC sleevings already & the pins for custom cables but guess what? I am having a hard time finding awg cables from my local electrical shops...Dang it! Went to jalan pasar & no luck at there either, now I am planning to order it from china although it will take me around 2weeks to get it.  Been getting bad luck since last week, though I could do sleeving last week but pins got delay & now couldn't find cables which I thought should be the easiest thing lol.

So I had nothing to do during this weekend so I thought of thinking something to do to be a little productive. Turns out that the NZXT hue plastic cover can fit at the top but I need to grind the plastic edge so that the 25mm fan can fit in there as well. But then I realized that I still need to wait to RMA the led strip so better not modify the nzxt hue first otherwise the shop can reject the RMA anytime if they require to see the nzxt hue even if its just cutting the plastic a little bit. Better not take the risk till RMA is done I guess

 So I had nothing to do but to take pictures on my fittings! Hehehe, total cost of that fittings are more than RM600 yo! There is a few rotary in the rig & I am lazy to remove it for photo session...
 

And here the power tools that I will be using for future modding...

Current build status

Just an update on how it currently looks like. The lights are actually more white than in the picture, but there is still a little "blue" to it. Not sure if I will stick with nzxt hue or get a pure white led strip. Once I get everything setup, only then I can tell if the lights are sufficient or not.

The red here in the picture looks very dim but in real life its actually brighter than the picture below but still not bright enough for me. But most probably I am sticking with white due to the fact white gives a better view to the components IMO. If its red, its kinda hard to see the components details.

It looks more like this in real life (adjusted the camera ISO settings :P )

Painted my casing

So I decided to add some red highlights to my casing since it will be an ASUS ROG theme build. So I started with striping down the casing.

 Removed the top panel...

Next was to remove the casing feet...

This is the top panel that I removed previously. It was 2 plastic joined together with more than 10 screws so had to open it in order to remove the mesh.

This mesh is from the bottom part of the casing, i.e the casing plastic foot. It was quite simple, after removing the 4 screws from the bottom you can then pull out the plastic feet. Then you can use a plier to bend the mesh notches straight. After doing it for all then just push it & it should pop right out. Sorry didnt take any detailed pictures because I was lazy hahaha. 

 The mesh from the front, the one at the fan filter cover.












 After applying some red coating to it...














 Did the same process to the rest of the mesh...









 So this is where the problem came, first of all I was painting above the original coating & without any primer. On top of that I applied too thick coats already so the next day I wasn't very happy with the result.














 The next day I started sanding all the red coating I applied last night & I sanded until the original coating is removed too. I then cleaned it & started spray coating it with red paint under the sun. It was very hot so the paint dries quite fast so I applied thin coating every 10mins or so. Sorry didnt take picture of this process too, plus I was sweating like hell under the hot sun so yeah...

Tip: Use a primer, but if you are a poorfag & cheapskate like me then just sand it till the base so that your paint can stick better to the material surface. Make sure you do in under a hot sun for it to dry faster, I did the painting at night & it didnt want to dry. The next day the result didnt turn out nice but after re-doing it under the sun it turned out nice.
 

 

 I like the red highlights at the top but when I cover it with the top panel, only half of it will be visible.  Plus I think its not enough red yet, still thinking what to paint, not much choice I have because some of the materials like top cover etc are made of those rubberized matte black material so painting that is not an option. I am thinking of putting some red leds for under glow effect & maybe on the top so the lights will bleed to the side and gives it a nice effect. 

Haven't decide yet, because I dont want to overdo the red colour otherwise it will look too red & ugly. Will see how it goes with the flow hehehe, let me get some corsair fans first & fan controller.