Monsoon Free Center Compression Fittings

[geort45]

Could you post a link to the fittings you chose and a link to your tygon tubing ?

[djfunz]

Sure.

Tubing: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10...pwL9&mv_pc=833

Compression Fittings: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=33208

45° Rotary Angle Fitting: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=35514

[BoxGods]

Sure.

Tubing: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10...pwL9&mv_pc=833

Compression Fittings: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=33208

45° Rotary Angle Fitting: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=35514

The tube seems to be the correct specifications (though the written description appears to be incorrect for some reason) for the fittings you purchased. Tube is an extruded product so it can vary in size by as much as +/- 10% from run to run and sometimes even within the same run. This variance is not specific to Tygon, which is an excellent company, it applies to all tube including rigid extrusions. We make tube also and I have wrestled with this issue to no avail--just too many variables I am told. The other issue is that sometimes the tube is slightly out of round because it was coiled while still a little warm. This is pretty common and causes the wall cross section of the tube to be a bit wider on one axis.

A few simple pointers keeping in mind I don't know your experience level, so no offense if these are things you already know. If the section of tube your using is a tad on the plus side of the tolerances a little lubricant usually helps. Spit is OK but a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil works better. Obviously don't go nuts with it and wipe off any residue BEFORE the fitting is installed--this means put a little on the end of the tube and wipe it right off before installing the fitting/compression ring--you just want to compensate for the natural frictional "grab" of the rubbery PVC. Also, when we did our in house user testing (fancy way of saying I had some buddies over =) I noticed that for some reason it did not seem to occur to them that while wrenching the compression ring down you can simply grasp the tube sticking out of the fitting with your free hand to hold it in place while tightening the compression ring. This also works when removing the compression ring to keep the barb in place--so it doesn't spin out. It sounds very simple I know but for some reason it doesn't always click that you can do it and it works quite well.

If it is a particularly fat area of tube you can try sliding the compression ring along the tube length and looking to see if the entire section has the issue. Sometimes, (but not always of course) you can cut the tube in such a way to avoid having thicker areas on the ends where your trying to install fittings.

Hope that helps =)

[djfunz]

Fantastic explanation! Thank you for taking the time to write that.

The description does not correlate with the product for some reason on Frozen CPU's page. It is however, 3/4" OD. I measured just to make sure.

Very nice explanation regarding the extrusion manufacturing process and premature coiling of warm tubing. Certainly didn't know the methods behind it before.

I consider myself a noob when it comes to water cooling. I bought one of those Thermaltake all-in-one kits 5 years ago, but decided to ste it up a notch this time around. Thanks for confirming lubricant as a solution. I was wondering if something like that would be okay. So, just put a few drops on the end of the tube where the compression ring will tighten, wipe it off, and then tighten around the fitting. I had my girlfriend helping me yesterday by holding the tubing while I tightened the ring with the wrench. It worked okay for tightening but still twisted the tube a bit. Loosening the ring again though, was almost impossible. I had to twist the barb out, taking everything out. I'll also slide the ring down the tube and report how that combined with the olive oil trick works.

Thanks again for your time.

[Halfdead14]

What's up with the accent disks not being painted on all sides, also the paint seems to flake off on it's own. Bad batch of paint?

[BoxGods]

Fantastic explanation! Thank you for taking the time to write that.

The description does not correlate with the product for some reason on Frozen CPU's page. It is however, 3/4" OD. I measured just to make sure.

Very nice explanation regarding the extrusion manufacturing process and premature coiling of warm tubing. Certainly didn't know the methods behind it before.

I consider myself a noob when it comes to water cooling. I bought one of those Thermaltake all-in-one kits 5 years ago, but decided to ste it up a notch this time around. Thanks for confirming lubricant as a solution. I was wondering if something like that would be okay. So, just put a few drops on the end of the tube where the compression ring will tighten, wipe it off, and then tighten around the fitting. I had my girlfriend helping me yesterday by holding the tubing while I tightened the ring with the wrench. It worked okay for tightening but still twisted the tube a bit. Loosening the ring again though, was almost impossible. I had to twist the barb out, taking everything out. I'll also slide the ring down the tube and report how that combined with the olive oil trick works.

Thanks again for your time.

No problem, glad I could help. The tube is made with an extrusion machine that has a hopper on top that melts little PVC "grain" pellets. The hopper is heated and pressurized and feeds the material through a die to get the desired shape. The extrusion is fed into a water filled trough about 10 feet long to rapidly cool it down and then the tube is loaded onto spools. The reason you get the relatively large tolerances are all the variables--the quality of the PVC material, the ratio of UV stabilizers, color, etc., the injection temperature in the hopper which changes as the amount of material in the hopper decreases, the extrusion feed speed, and even the temp of the cooling trough. The material comes out pretty hot and the cooling trough starts absorbing that heat. They try to keep it cool with these little recirculation pumps but over the course of the extrusion run the trough does get a little overwhelmed I think. That is likely why the tube always has that "memory curve".

As for the lubricant, what I actually suggest is adding a drop of olive oil to a small cloth and rubbing the end of the tube with it. Then using a clean cloth rag to wipe off as much as you can PRIOR to installing any fittings, not after. You want as little oil lubricant on the tube as you can get because if the tube is on the fitting in a nice warm PC case for 2 or 3 years it may get a little gooey and make removing the fitting more difficult. So the goal is zero excess or residue. Oddly enough that is why I suggested the extra virgin olive oil as it has a lower fat content. Sounds weird I know lol.

What's up with the accent disks not being painted on all sides, also the paint seems to flake off on it's own. Bad batch of paint?

Except for the black and white the finish is actually a plating, and we did have a bugger of a time figuring out how to hook them up in the tank. If you have had a problem with a bad finish on your disk it is likely a bad part and of course we will be happy to replace it, just shoot me a PM for email info. I have also been asked why we don't ship the disks with the adhesive pads pre installed on the back The reason is that any user that is going to paint the disks to match a custom case paint job would have a lot of work getting the pads off. For any user having trouble getting the pad centered on the disk, just use scissors and cut about a mm off of the pads diameter--before you put it on the disk of course =) I am not sure why they made them so close to the disk diameter--something I will address on future runs.

[djfunz]

I came back to report the good news regarding the olive oil. I used a cloth to wipe all the oil off and the ring tightened quite nicely. I almost didn't even need the wrench.

Just an observation regarding the compression ring. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there is a very small lip (forgive me if there is a technical term for this) opposite of the threaded side. This lip does not exist on the threaded side of the ring and it was no surprise that the tube slid up and down with ease on the threaded side of the ring with no lip. It's not until it reaches this lip that the tube catches and has to be forced through. This could be a completely normal design for all compression rings, but given my noobness, I haven't had the opportunity to compare other manufactures compression rings. Any thoughts?

[BoxGods]

Thanks for updating! Another thing the Olive oil is good for is a lubricant when your cutting threads in an acrylic reservoir because it keeps the acrylic clear.

That lip, or flange on the top of the compression ring is what actually compresses the tube against the barb and creates the seal. It also grabs onto the tube a little to make it harder to accidentally pull the tube off the barb. Supposed to be there in other words =)

[DoGMaN]

All compression fittings can be a pain at times, but god how I love the way they look. One thing I have figured out after years of installing and removing them is that if the tube is heated a bit it will make connecting them easier. I use a bowl of hot water. Just leave it in long enough that the tube is good and warm. You don't want to melt the tubing just help it to be a little more elastic. Press the tube onto the fitting as far as you can then put the compression ring on. As the tube cools it will contract some helping the seal. Also make sure that your cut is as close to perfectly clean and at 90 degrees from the wall of the tubing. It isn't as important if you use barbs since there is a much larger area of contact. The water also helps a little as a lubricant. Obviously not as much as olive oil, but it helps.

[BoxGods]

All compression fittings can be a pain at times, but god how I love the way they look. One thing I have figured out after years of installing and removing them is that if the tube is heated a bit it will make connecting them easier. I use a bowl of hot water. Just leave it in long enough that the tube is good and warm. You don't want to melt the tubing just help it to be a little more elastic. Press the tube onto the fitting as far as you can then put the compression ring on. As the tube cools it will contract some helping the seal. Also make sure that your cut is as close to perfectly clean and at 90 degrees from the wall of the tubing. It isn't as important if you use barbs since there is a much larger area of contact. The water also helps a little as a lubricant. Obviously not as much as olive oil, but it helps.

I do this on barbs that are freakishly tight as well. I know it seems a little counter intuitive if your used to working with metal because heat makes metal expand, but for the tube it makes it a little more pliable. Just use tap water hot however--not boiling as you really do not want to form the tube end to the barb shape and degrade the seal. Also agree 100% on the square cut tube ends--I have helped buddies track down leaks and when we pull the tube the end looks like it was cut by an arthritic nearsighted beaver...with dentures. A decent tube cutter can be had for $5 - $10 and lasts forever and can be shared by all your buddies. Cheap insurance IMO.

I also agree on the look of compressions vs barbs. When they first came out years ago I kind of turned my nose up and stuck with barbs and zip ties for a while...but once you do use compressions it's hard not to prefer them.

[WiSK]

Hi BoxGods. I saw that Aquatuning in Europe now added all the rotaries and lightports, scheduled for 15 November. So that's good news. But they don't seem to have the Silver Bullet listed. Can you confirm if they ordered any of those or not?

[Sadasius]

..but once you do use compressions it's hard not to prefer them.

Yup and once I did I did not look back. Gave all my barbs away once i made the change over.

Your fittings look pretty cool and looks like it will solve the red fingers of doom every time i do a build.

[BoxGods]

Hi BoxGods. I saw that Aquatuning in Europe now added all the rotaries and lightports, scheduled for 15 November. So that's good news. But they don't seem to have the Silver Bullet listed. Can you confirm if they ordered any of those or not?

No they haven't ordered Silver bullets yet. You might mention it to them via email as customer requests/feedback always helps, and I can add them to their rotary order when it ships.

Yup and once I did I did not look back. Gave all my barbs away once i made the change over.

Your fittings look pretty cool and looks like it will solve the red fingers of doom every time i do a build.

Before I started using compressions I used to see people "whining" about sore fingers in forum threads and build logs all the time and I would chuckle to myself and think what crybabies. Then the first build I did using them had like 12 fittings and my finger tips were a wreck for a week after...and I am hard on my hands with lots of injuries and cuts and a few missing chunks of fingers etc. so not exactly a soft hands guy. Pain is an awesome design motivator lol.

[WiSK]

No they haven't ordered Silver bullets yet. You might mention it to them via email as customer requests/feedback always helps, and I can add them to their rotary order when it ships.

I got a reply from a guy called Pascal "We will be ordering all the Moonsoon products as they become available to us" but I think he just didn't realise I'm pointing out that they've forgotten one item

[BoxGods]

I got a reply from a guy called Pascal "We will be ordering all the Monsoon products as they become available to us" but I think he just didn't realise I'm pointing out that they've forgotten one item

Actually they did order them so I guess he did notice. They did seem a little confused about people using DI instead of prepackaged fluids as they mentioned their fluids have antimicrobial added...is DI not popular over there or something?

[WiSK]

I have honestly no idea because I don't read the German forums where the Aquatuning people have most presence. But their bestselling ready-to-use coolant has all kinds of additives for anti corrosion, anti bio, anti foaming, and apparently lubricating for pumps. So I guess that's what they usually recommend to their customers.

[Waterlogged]

Geno, If your going to do business with AT, please trademark your product names in UK/Europe. Also check into patent rights and anything else to protect your I.P. from them. If you need info on what I'm talking about, click on the "just say NO to AT!!!" at the bottom of my sig.

[Sadasius]

What Waterlogged said....Will be better business if you do!

[BoxGods]

Yeah I am pretty aware of their penchant for trade marks and other peoples IP from my time working with Danger Den and other companies. I have filed for patents on several elements of my designs like the windows on the Free Center Fittings and the Light Ports for example. I have also built solid relationships with most of the bigger resellers to buttress the patents--if resellers don't want to carry your knock offs its not usually worth the effort. When I send them the sales info on a new product I include copies of our patent filings so they know in advance and can avoid purchasing knock offs. End of the day there will always be somebody leaching off of other peoples innovations though and I think the best defense is to focus on what you do best--creative designs. I always like to have TWO better designs ready to go so if they do invest in tooling and inventory for a knock off I can stick it to them with a better product right away by letting them eat all those costs. How you treat the community and your customers goes a long way as well--your warning is proof of that personified.

Needless to say thanks for taking the time and caring enough to give that warning, I appreciate it.

[Aquatuning]

Geno, If your going to do business with AT, please trademark your product names in UK/Europe. Also check into patent rights and anything else to protect your I.P. from them. If you need info on what I'm talking about, click on the "just say NO to AT!!!" at the bottom of my sig.

We have noticed you like using the phrase ""just say NO to AT!!!" so we have trademarked it. We will send you over a royalty form shortly

[BoxGods]

My favorite was a recent reader comment on an article about the new ASUS Transformer Book. The guy said, "This form factor is so awesome...I wonder how long it will be before Apple "adopts" it, calls it magical, then sues Asus for stealing it?"

[WiSK]

I still don't see the Silver Bullet on the AT european sites, despite two more unanswered emails to them. I'm actually ordering from Freddy @ Highflow.nl, I just presumed he resells Monsoon stuff from AT.

[BoxGods]

They have just now ordered the silver bullets and added them to their rotary order which is shipping in about 15 days. As for who they distribute to, sorry but I am not really sure. I have asked for a list so we can add it to the resellers page on out site and will if/when I get it.

[WiSK]

Excellent! Thanks for all your help Geno

Edit: I checked AT german site and they have the Silver Bullet now listed, but they've put the price as 119 euro (> US$150) hahaha jokers.
More edit: now a more reasonable 5.99 euros

[BoxGods]

Always glad to help!

wow...for that first price it better include the batteries