I have just used a frosted clear coat and sprayed them after a light sand. It works well and it's not uneven. It also protects the tube from future scratches. I've also done this with gloss clear on tubes that were somewhat scratched from the factory. Sand it down, clear coat, wait for drytime, new super glossy tube.
I was looking really hard on amazon for such tubes. Thank you for the tip! Edit: Before watching this video I've tried sanding and it didn't look quite good. Will try the soft sanding now.
For North America, you can get these pads from Amazon that are what Bit-Tech is talking about. Hope this helps. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R3S88JY?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image
Hi bit-tech! I'm planning to do a full custom waterloop in my Define Nano S and I really liked the idea of using CAD to plan the tubing. Could you do a tutorial on that? Love your content btw, very nice to watch and informative.
I can give it a go, it’s quite an involved process if you want full detail though. The simplest way is to rough things out or use freely available models on GrabCAD
@@bittech1 Just saw your hugely detailed wall-mounted model in the other video and was like: Wow, that must have been a lot of work! I guess many people would appreciate a tutorial (at least I would!)
@@bittech1 Could you in theory do this to the reservoir tube also? Got an acrylic or PETG reservoir tube from EKWB that has minor scratches on it already, wondering is this could be done to match the tubes?
Fantastic Video as always!! Two questions though: 1) Could this technique be applied to borosilicate glass tubing? 2) Have you tried using frosted glass spray paint for this effect?
Before we finished up filming I did actually have a go with some borosilicate glass I had to hand, no effect sadly. You could maybe do it by using a rougher grit and just spending time on it though, I might give it another try to see what’s possible. I haven’t tried the paint, but frankly I wouldn’t bother since this method is so simple. I know from doing windows that the paint can often peel off easily, so iit might get marked up by the fitting collars etc
I've tried 400-2500 grit and honestly what I've found to be the best for me waa using a scotch Brite pad in circular motions until you get a nice uniform look. Just did some ekwb reservoirs and they turned out great
Just curious not sure if youll see this but have you tried running a strip of masking tape on the sanding to leave a clear stripe through the loop. I think it'll look pretty sweet 🤔🤔🤔
So question... does this not change the tube diameter? I would prefer to use a branded tube from say corsair because the final dimension of the tube should be exactly what is needed for a secure seal to prevent leaking.
It does *technically* but it’s by some insanely small degree, any change would be well within the manufacturing tolerance of the tube. That said, just buy the frosted one to begin with. This tutorial Pre-dates a lot of the tubes on the market now.
I know the video is a couple years old now, but still very relevant to me as I'm looking at doing this now, so thank you. :) What I also wanted to try was to have a completely clear "window" running the length of the tube as well (so satin finish for 90% of the circumference, and clear 5mm or so strip on the side facing out). I am wondering if running a couple of long strips of tape parallel along the tube and hitting it with a polishing pad would be enough to clear the satin look without melting the acrylic.
Great video. Can you please provide links to the Festool Pads used in the video and also the Mercer pads you mentioned? I've been wanting to make my next hardline build with frosted/satin tubing and thought about doing it myself. Thanks!
Great advice, I was planning on using a frosting spray but this is much easier, I wonder if the grip from the rubber o ring on the fitting is reduced by the smoother ultimately scratched surface?
@@allblue1120 i did just that for my next build and the tubing looked great but they were crap i brought 6 of them and none of them took the silicon tubing for bending all the way in and the silicon was 8mm OD like the tubing is 8mm ID so if you go this route the tubes can be 50/50 with quality
@bit-tech Could you in theory do this to the reservoir tube also? Got an acrylic or PETG reservoir tube from EKWB that has minor scratches on it already, wondering is this could be done to match the tubes?
Great video as it is extremely Informative! Thank You Bit-Tech! Question: Which is the preferred way to prep and paint your hardline tubes for a nice black matte color? maybe a new Video?
Damn, nice tips! I was looking for Satin Tubes and I did find OCOOL was selling it. Unfortunately they only come at 13 mm tubing. And the EK HTC fittings I wanna use only go as 12mm 14mm and 16mm. I am just wondering though, do you also sand the tip that goes into the HT Fitting? And will the O-Ring on the HT Fitting still Seal the now sanded down tubing? I shall try this one! Thanks
@@bittech1 Great news! I am thinking about doing that to guitar pickup covers, they usually have thin layer of chrome or nickel plating, so soft pattern isn't big of issue I guess
Just found this and will be trying it, but I was curious if anyone had tried this on a reservoir or a block itself... I may try it on a reservoir to see how it turns out for now. It would let me run a fully frosted look for my build...except the vgc block(for now) but I'm going to mount it in the standard way instead of vertically with a riser, so it won't be that noticable.
@@Fantazmalistic I did this on an ekwb flt120 res. It turned out great. It's a smaller/thinner res so it actually colour matches the coolant in the satin tubing really well.
This is just some water with a drop of blue dye in it. For a loop you can use clear coolant and then a dye kit from the coolant provider you chose, this gives you complete control over the colour.
Not with this particular method I found, the soft pads don't really do much to glass tubing. For glass it would be best to use either an etching cream or to have them bead blasted.
justin crews Not unless you go absolutely mad with the sanding. This only lightly mattes the surface, it essentially doesn’t remove material in practical terms.
I wish you would link to some of those sand paper products, or atleast spell out what they're called. I googled "Mercer Abrulon"... but not even sure if that's what you said. 2:00
Look for either the Festool Platin or Mirka Abralon ones specifically as they come in the really high grits, although they may need to be imported. That said, they’re both European products so should be okay enough to source
@@bittech1 Thank you. I can get festool here in Denmark actually but the price is a bit much considering i have to buy them bulk. Have to buy 15 for each pack and they go for 50 EUR each pack. I gather grit 500 and 100.
Isn't it preferrable to sand it after bending? It could got back to clear when heated for bending ( like they do when they refurbish headlights for cars), isn't it? You already reply at the end of the video :)
Yeah sure you can if you have access to it, this is very practical though as you can do it as you go along. Sandplasting is used fairly often for frosting reservoirs though, can use a vinyl template to etch interesting designs into the sides
@@bittech1 Go 10 feets back, it looks okay, but the result on 20-30 inch looks terrible and not fine. I do it with 120 1000 2000 5000 grit paper, dry and wet
I mean I could have sand blasted the tubes but it’s not exactly a simple mod then... The trick is using the right pads, if you just use normal fine grit sandpaper the tubes won’t look good at all.
i hate when videos tell you to do something & then after tell you to make sure to not do something that would have been good to know before you mentioned the first bit sand your pipe...bend your pipe ruining work...make sure you sand before you bend pipe...tell me that FIRST not after