Monsoon Free Center Compression Fittings

[stren]

So I took some more photos - FWIW I was running the wide angle LEDs in the previous photos. For me at least the narrow angle LEDs were in the black sleeving.


Clear tubing with water (3/8ID 5/8OD tygon (pure zero plasticizer stuff which btw is too small for the fittings))

Evening with lights turned on, power off and then on:




For reference the tube is 2ft long. The left one seems a bit brighter, I tried wiggling the right one to see if the angle was just a problem but not much changed.

Evening with lights turned off (30s exposure), power off and then on:

There is some light bleed because I left the door open, in reality the room is pretty dark, not enough to trip over but you aren't going to be reading anything.




In reality the exposure was too long in the 2nd photo, really it doesn't look as blindingly bright as the photo makes it out.

Clear tubing with water + Mayhems X1 Dye at recommended concentration

I won't even bother to show the daytime ones as there's almost no difference with the LED on or off.

Evening with lights turned off (30s exposure), power off and then on:

Same camera settings as before:




Most of the red glow on the left side is actually the PSU.

So I can't recommend these when using dye, if anything it seems a lot worse than colored tube. For dark cases in dark rooms they'll work a treat though as long as you stick to clear tube and water.

[BoxGods]

Thanks for taking the time to test and post Stren. I have never used the Mayhem dyes but I have seen them. Any of the dye colors that are very dense/thick (regardless of brand) like blood red or black are not going to transmit light well for obvious reasons--if there is something solid between a light source and your eyes the light is blocked. Stren is correct that DI and clear tube will give the most obvious effect but less concentrated (not sure that is the correct term) dyes will give decent glow as well. Different LED colors will have different transmission strengths and tints as well. Using a light blue dye with a blue LED, white LED or red LED for example. The result would be a deeper blue, a brighter/lighter blue, and a purple "ish" blue respectively.

Not sure of the correct terms for color density in different dyes...all my color description terms sound like a beer ad--Amber, Pale Ale, Stout etc..

And obviously the darker the setting (in a case at a LAN party etc.) the brighter the light will be.

Again thanks Stren for burning a good portion of your Friday to set all that up and take pictures!

Why do I suddenly want a Guinness?

[stren]

No probs - FYI I compiled all the stuff into a review on my site

[Waterlogged]

stren & BG,

I remember when I was a kid, I'd play with my dads old military flashlight with the red lens in it and noticed that when you point red light at an object that is red itself, the object will change color to something other than red (sometimes white or silver colored or orange or even pink depending on the shades of red involved). Not sure if the same will happen with other colors but don't see why the same wouldn't be true with them as well. Maybe it's best to recommend white LEDs for colored fluids/tubing and leave the colored LEDs for clear fluid/tubing combos?

[BoxGods]

Was it one of those "L" shaped ones made from some indestructible green plastic?

Your right--different LED colors do have very different looks. I like to run Pure DI with nothing added for maximum performance with Silver Bullet plugs for antimicrobial and red (or w/e color the build requires) LED's on the light ports and in my reservoir for some color. After a million builds with UV I am pretty much sick to death of the UV "disco" look so I prefer the effect I get with the LED's. Others might want to run a lightly dyed fluid and a white or matching LED color...just lots of options.

[BoxGods]

No probs - FYI I compiled all the stuff into a review on my site

EXCELLENT job Stren. I have written a lot of reviews over the years so I know how much work is involved. You guys should all check out his site!

[stren]

stren & BG,

I remember when I was a kid, I'd play with my dads old military flashlight with the red lens in it and noticed that when you point red light at an object that is red itself, the object will change color to something other than red (sometimes white or silver colored or orange or even pink depending on the shades of red involved). Not sure if the same will happen with other colors but don't see why the same wouldn't be true with them as well. Maybe it's best to recommend white LEDs for colored fluids/tubing and leave the colored LEDs for clear fluid/tubing combos?

Yes I did wonder about this, at some point when the UV LED are released I want to repeat the experiment to see how they work.

Gene - Are the white LEDs the ones in the white housing? I might be able to pick 2 up with my next order of parts and retest with some watered down dye.

EXCELLENT job Stren. I have written a lot of reviews over the years so I know how much work is involved. You guys should all check out his site!

Thanks Gene BTW how bright are the LEDs you are using? Is there any scope to push brighter on them?

BTW any recommendations on tubing that doesn't leech plasticizer quickly or at all? My primochill turns pretty fast, and I tried the tygon plasticizer free but it seems to be sized incorrectly because I can pull it out of the compression fitting.

[BoxGods]

You can always find brighter LED's it seems like. For example I believe our red is in the 250-350 mcd range and you can get them all the way up to 1800 mcd (maybe even more I don't know) though most people would think that was way too bright lol. I designed the LED plugs so that it would be very easy to change the LED without having to drain the loop etc. so that builders would find it easier to experiment.

The tube we manufacture for Danger Den and Mod My Toys does not have any plasticizers added in the hopper at extrusion and I have asked our materials supplier several times if the raw PVC grains have any added and he insists they use 100% virgin material. We use top of the line Japanese color granules (not the Chines stuff) and Japanese UV dyes. I can't say for certain there are zero plasticizers in the tube as we don't make the raw materials. That said, I have loops that have been running DI for 6-8 months and I don't see any of the whitish build up you have talked about--even on black tube where I would think it would show up. I am not sure what time frame your covering when you see the build up--I replace parts pretty often or put them into a new build so I don't have any loops older than that.

In conversations with our plastics guy he tells me that plasticizers are what make PVC tube flexible. Without some sort of plasticizers you get rigid PVC pipe like the kind in your household plumbing. The problem is that there are different grades and qualities, and they can be added at different times in the process. Cheap PVC tube and sheet products like shower curtain liners etc. use cheap low molecular weight plasticizers that do not really integrate into the matrix all that well so they will leach more and faster. Top quality products use higher molecular weight materials and they are added much earlier in the process--before the PVC is ground into "grain" or pellets. If a tube shop normally makes rigid pipe and seldom does flexible tube (the same machines make both types) then they tend to use the same grain they use for the rigid pipe and just toss in xxx amount of the plasticizers in the hopper. Obviously that is a very late stage addition and the mix is not going to be all that even.

The factory that extrudes our tube does rigid pipe mostly so we buy our raw PVC grain direct and deliver it to them. I do that to avoid the factory mark up though and I have no idea how it impacts the final product. Also the information above is from conversations with people trying to sell me their materials...so who knows.

[stren]

You can always find brighter LED's it seems like. For example I believe our red is in the 250-350 mcd range and you can get them all the way up to 1800 mcd (maybe even more I don't know) though most people would think that was way too bright lol. I designed the LED plugs so that it would be very easy to change the LED without having to drain the loop etc. so that builders would find it easier to experiment.

The tube we manufacture for Danger Den and Mod My Toys does not have any plasticizers added in the hopper at extrusion and I have asked our materials supplier several times if the raw PVC grains have any added and he insists they use 100% virgin material. We use top of the line Japanese color granules (not the Chines stuff) and Japanese UV dyes. I can't say for certain there are zero plasticizers in the tube as we don't make the raw materials. That said, I have loops that have been running DI for 6-8 months and I don't see any of the whitish build up you have talked about--even on black tube where I would think it would show up. I am not sure what time frame your covering when you see the build up--I replace parts pretty often or put them into a new build so I don't have any loops older than that.

In conversations with our plastics guy he tells me that plasticizers are what make PVC tube flexible. Without some sort of plasticizers you get rigid PVC pipe like the kind in your household plumbing. The problem is that there are different grades and qualities, and they can be added at different times in the process. Cheap PVC tube and sheet products like shower curtain liners etc. use cheap low molecular weight plasticizers that do not really integrate into the matrix all that well so they will leach more and faster. Top quality products use higher molecular weight materials and they are added much earlier in the process--before the PVC is ground into "grain" or pellets. If a tube shop normally makes rigid pipe and seldom does flexible tube (the same machines make both types) then they tend to use the same grain they use for the rigid pipe and just toss in xxx amount of the plasticizers in the hopper. Obviously that is a very late stage addition and the mix is not going to be all that even.

The factory that extrudes our tube does rigid pipe mostly so we buy our raw PVC grain direct and deliver it to them. I do that to avoid the factory mark up though and I have no idea how it impacts the final product. Also the information above is from conversations with people trying to sell me their materials...so who knows.

Awesome thanks for the info. I know Derick had issues with fast build up (<2 months I think) with the DD tube. I would say I always see it within 6 months, sometimes within a month depending on batch. BTW now that DD are no longer here what happens to all those products that you used to do for them?

[WiSK]

In conversations with our plastics guy he tells me that plasticizers are what make PVC tube flexible. Without some sort of plasticizers you get rigid PVC pipe like the kind in your household plumbing. The problem is that there are different grades and qualities, and they can be added at different times in the process. Cheap PVC tube and sheet products like shower curtain liners etc. use cheap low molecular weight plasticizers that do not really integrate into the matrix all that well so they will leach more and faster. Top quality products use higher molecular weight materials and they are added much earlier in the process--before the PVC is ground into "grain" or pellets. If a tube shop normally makes rigid pipe and seldom does flexible tube (the same machines make both types) then they tend to use the same grain they use for the rigid pipe and just toss in xxx amount of the plasticizers in the hopper. Obviously that is a very late stage addition and the mix is not going to be all that even.

It's not only different grades and qualities, but different chemical composition. Just like oil: you wouldn't want to deep fry in olive oil, nor put it in your car engine. There are different oils suited to different purposes and environments. So with plasticisers, some compounds might not have ideal compatibility with water cooling tubing. For example, plasticiser which doesn't cloud might have the weakness that it is not so heat resistant; it might react badly with certain other chemicals; it might be costly to produce; or it might just not be easy to mix evenly into the raw PVC pellets.

On a related note. I've seen people talking about Tygon "plasticiser-free" tubing. If you actually read their literature, they only say it's DEHP-free, and that they are using another (un-named) compound. This because Tygon is serving mostly the medical industry and there was a scare about DEHP causing cancer. So that new compound is just as likely to get cloudy, or have some other property which might be undesireable for water cooling.

/derail

[BoxGods]

I think DD will actually still be making cases so they are not entirely "gone" though I don't know that for sure. As for products we manufactured for them like the Monsoon reservoirs, I retained all the design rights, patents, any trade names etc. so it's a non issue really. We had already transitioned away 6+ months back--Mod My toys had already picked up the tube line etc. We were doing some of their manufacturing like Fat Boys, plated brass block tops, SLI kits and stuff like that. Jeremy was the guy steering the ship day to day and when he left he took most of the enthusiasm with him. The change was "overnight" even if it took 6 - 8 months for the end result. Sad to see as my first block (more then a decade ago now) was a DD block and I probably have at least one of every block they ever made in my collection.

[Waterlogged]

Was it one of those "L" shaped ones made from some indestructible green plastic?

That'd be the one, it's still hiding in the house somewhere...even though I've long lost all the filter lenses.

[BoxGods]

Just to show how old I am...I remember using one of those on a back yard camp out--me and my buddies checking out analog :banana::banana::banana::banana: pilfered from somebodies garage "collection". Man kids REALLY do have it good these days lol.

[BoxGods]

Thought I would give you guys a "Worlds First" sneak peek teaser of the new fitting design.



Functional Carbon reduces weight and looks pretty cool as a bonus...or maybe it looks cool and reduces weight as a bonus =)

Available at launch in black or red Carbon and white, stealth black, black chrome, chrome, or red bodies. Blue carbon and other body colors to follow.

We also have the matching carbon disks accent for Monsoon rotaries for an amazing fitting/rotary combination.

Shipping in a week so resellers should have them just before Christmas. BAH-ZOWIE!

[stren]

any shots of the red/white and red/black ones?

[BoxGods]

Yeah but the company we are manufacturing these for (Mod My Toys) determines when pictures post...and they said NO! You know them Stren so if you emailed I am sure Hank would show you.

The red looks awesome tho...I had a custom 1mm weave done to scale the pattern down to "fitting size" so the CF really pops. I am sure they will be posting pictures in the next few days.

Yes the threads and compression flange on the compression ring are still brass also for those who emailed asking.

[Utnorris]

Nice! Just went I think you can't out do yourself you do. Awesome job and Merry Christmas!

[WiSK]

Staying ahead of the competition, I like it

[Martinm210]

Very nice, great work!

[NostraD]

Thought I would give you guys a "Worlds First" sneak peek teaser of the new fitting design.

EGADS! Those are tight!
WHy, oh why are they coming out NOW! I just barely finished purchasing all the chrome Monsoon comps for my build!

[lowfat]

Now those are cool. Will be see 3/8" 1/2" versions?

[BoxGods]

EGADS! Those are tight!
WHy, oh why are they coming out NOW! I just barely finished purchasing all the chrome Monsoon comps for my build!

They actually match/blend quite well with the Monsoon Free Center fittings...exact same body style, diameters, tool, and colors. And of course they match the rotaries. No reason you can't add a few as accent.

Now those are cool. Will be see 3/8" 1/2" versions?

The investment needed to do every size and color on the first run is just too steep--I think they are going to add the blue combinations on the second run, then comes the thin wall sizes. So short answer, yes you will, but not for a few months.

Had a few people ask if those are a render or a picture...it's a picture taken by Performance PC's of production samples.

[BoxGods]

Staying ahead of the competition, I like it

I try. I already have the NEXT design 100% ready to roll. Seems like that is the best defense against knock offs. The new ones will be a totally different direction and "top end" parts.

[paulbagz]

Got 18 of these just the other day, so in love with them lol

-PB

[BoxGods]

Darth Bevis sent along this video of a Husky build with nVidia. I am linking to it so you can see how the Light Port lighting looks on clear tube with a blue dye. Towards the end when they are showing off the lighting remote the tube is being lit only by the Light Ports then he scrolls through the other lighting effects. The room is a little darker--more like a LAN environment which helps of course. Another killer build build by DB.

***link corrected***

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d105E2sijd4