Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 26 to 37 of 37

Thread: Painting a PA120.3 rad, k to do?

  1. #26
    Banned
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Portishead, Bristol, England
    Posts
    3,248
    Quote Originally Posted by Marci View Post
    About 120/130 deg C. The closer the baketemp is, the more it will structurally weaken any soldered joints.

    None of the "gloss" radiators out there (Swiftechs, HWLabs, Coolingworks etc) are painted using any method that involves oven-baking.
    So how they done then and are you going to change so we not only have a dam fine working bit of kitbut a dam good paint finish on the rads too

  2. #27
    XIP - can sit on his hair
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    3,290
    As per HWLabs website...

    Full electrostatic polyurethane painting finish for uniform coating with high temperature curing for increased finish durability.
    Dunno what they define as HighTemp for electrostatic...

    When we find a way that doesn't put the price of each rad up by an unrealistic amount...

  3. #28
    Banned
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Portishead, Bristol, England
    Posts
    3,248
    Then in the mean time ask that lass that sprays them to put more on or soemthing. Just had one out the box and it comes off on my nail. I'm happy to pay £45 for a rad that works but i kinda exopect it to have a better paint job. Or leave them raw so we can do out own. A £7 can of Plasticoat does a better job than your paint and sprayer. Sorry Marci just getting anyoed as 6 of them here are crap and total let downs on there paintjob

  4. #29
    XIP - can sit on his hair
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    3,290
    Send em back then.

  5. #30
    Banned
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Portishead, Bristol, England
    Posts
    3,248
    And use what? Nothing out there is decent enough cooling wise.

    I'd rather pay to have a working rad that came in a raw formatt for me to spray than it come working but with a jackass paint job.

    Might of found a shop to spray these up now anyway

  6. #31
    XIP - can sit on his hair
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    3,290
    As I've said countless times, if folks want unpainted rads, order them by emailing Steve via tradesales@thermochill.com - ie: You'll have to order them direct from us. I said this ages ago when the whole paintjob issue first arose.

  7. #32
    Xtreme Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    283
    always new ppl getting on board Marci. Redundancy with patience is always part of marketing...in my experience.

  8. #33
    Banned
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Portishead, Bristol, England
    Posts
    3,248
    Do a stick some place, stick on your website. I haven't heard anything about till now anyway.

  9. #34
    Xtreme Recruit
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    99
    Maybe the info about getting unpainted Thermochills needs to be easier to discover on the site. It never occurred to me to search for it, but had I known...

    Same applies to the exact sizing info, unless you know it's there it's hard to come across.

    While we're on the topic, the paint finish is pretty fragile. Black Ice, for their issues, do a good paint job and it stands a bit of bumping when you're trying to get a heavy radiator into an awkward position. The Thermochills don't.

    The bleed screw is a nice idea, and provides some benefit, but because there isn't a slight raise in the tank where the screw is, you can't use it to get the last of the air out.

    The neoprene foam seals are also hard work, as a fan can easily squash them 'the wrong way' and push them inwards so they fan fouls on them and either sticks or makes a noise, which can result in repeated fan fittings. A minor quibble, but never had the same issue with silicone rubber gaskets.

    The self-tapper screws provided to fit fans etc, are scary. I'm always afraid that over-tightening could pop one through the rad. Not sure how you'd resolve that, but a little piece of plate bent and soldered in a _|-|_ shape under each screw hole might save a few unhappy people who didn't read the warnings.

    Finally, PA140.X, sure, nice idea, there are several 14cm fans about now, but really, only extreme people could fit one. What I suspect a lot of people dream of from their Thermochill is for it to be smaller, not bigger - even if some performance was lost. e.g. a Mini-A120.2 that has the same fan spacing as BI, maybe 10 to 5mm thinner, and yes, slightly worse performance... but still better than a BI240GTX or whatever would be the same size.

    That said, I've really really like a shroud for my PA160 that would fit a 14cm fan. must be lots of people with a 160 that would go to a 14cm fan if they could just buy a nice shroud that would fit.

    I'm not surprised that a PA120.N outperforms other rads with the same fan-count, but it's not apples to apples when you consider the physical volume the PA requires to mount. Best cooling to noise ratio no question, but that doesn't help you if you can't fit one in.

    If I want to get inside my case without a PSU relocation, I just can't use two PAs, one rad has to be a BI GTS ... and that thin GTS is a crappy rad, but at least it fits. Yeah, yeah, I know, should have bought a Mountain Mods and I could have 2x PA120.3
    Current: E6600, AT1950XTX, P5B Dlx, 2Gb OCZ Platinum 1T, 4x320Gb Seagate, Tt Tai-Chi case, D-Tek FuZion, MCW30, Tt P500 7W pump, Swiftech 7/16" tube, HiFlow barbs, TC PA120.2, w 2x Scythe SFF21 D, Scythe SFF21 E, Scythe SY1225SL VBL
    Planned GFX loop: MCW60, DDC+ w Petra's top, BI GTS240 (or a PA if I can fit it in somehow)
    Parts waiting for attention: MCW60, PA120.2, PA160, BI GTS120, BI GTS240, Apogee GT, more Scythe fans, DDC+ w dodgy AlphaCool top that no longer leaks (but does rattle) and a box of Tt landfill that came out of the Tai-Chi

  10. #35
    XIP - can sit on his hair
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    3,290
    Same applies to the exact sizing info, unless you know it's there it's hard to come across.
    On each product's page at thermochill.com, in the Specs, where it says "DIM:" for Dimensions... *shrug*
    While we're on the topic, the paint finish is pretty fragile. Black Ice, for their issues, do a good paint job and it stands a bit of bumping when you're trying to get a heavy radiator into an awkward position. The Thermochills don't.
    Equals a price rise.
    The neoprene foam seals are also hard work, as a fan can easily squash them 'the wrong way' and push them inwards so they fan fouls on them and either sticks or makes a noise, which can result in repeated fan fittings. A minor quibble, but never had the same issue with silicone rubber gaskets.
    Equals a price rise. If gasket is catching on fan, you've overtightened the screws, or not stretched the gasket across full width of the rad as you've fitted it.
    The self-tapper screws provided to fit fans etc, are scary. I'm always afraid that over-tightening could pop one through the rad. Not sure how you'd resolve that, but a little piece of plate bent and soldered in a _|-|_ shape under each screw hole might save a few unhappy people who didn't read the warnings.
    Equals a price rise.
    What I suspect a lot of people dream of from their Thermochill is for it to be smaller, not bigger - even if some performance was lost. e.g. a Mini-A120.2 that has the same fan spacing as BI, maybe 10 to 5mm thinner, and yes, slightly worse performance... but still better than a BI240GTX or whatever would be the same size.
    Buy an MCR rad instead of the BI then... if we make it thinner it'll perform exactly the same as an MCR but still cost more. Why bother, other than for the sake of owning a specific brand name? We don't care about what brand is what, just what performs the best. We don't cater to the masses. We produce whatever offers the best performance. It's down to the endusers how they accomodate that product in their system. Everything is as it is out of necessity to achieve that performance whilst keeping the price as "reasonable" as we possibly can. The size is as it is due to performance. Why compete with other brands by shrinking into the same format directly when we KNOW that we'll always be double the price thanks to exchange rates? A pointless exercise in wasting money making stock that won't sell I'm afraid.

    We are in the process of looking into all the issues brought up... but none of the fixes for these issues will appear quickly. We're backed up trying to keep up with demand - we don't have time to break off to make changes, nor do we have time to take on any more business developing additional lines to the current rads. Any "new" designs released would mean the discontinuance of an existing line, or we can't keep on top of production to meet demand... already an issue as it is.

    ALL the trade resellers are badgering for pricedrops to fall inline with competition, not pricehikes. If prices go up, expect availability to become an issue as the resellers drop them due to lack of confidence in end-users justifying the price and completing the sale.

    Until we can meet current demand, we will be doing ZERO development work or changes... as at the moment we're at least a month behind on shipping schedules for orders, and no matter what we do, demand grows every month so we cannot keep on top of it... simple as that. We don't make enough profit to expand production further because we can't put the price up due to our products being expensive enough as it is in the international market.

    I'm afraid it's a case of yer all gonna have to live with it as it is for the foreseeable future. Sorry.
    Last edited by Marci; 04-17-2007 at 07:15 AM.

  11. #36
    XIP - can sit on his hair
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK
    Posts
    3,290
    where it says "DIM:" for Dimensions...
    Now listed in description at ThermoChill.com as "Dimensions:"

    Maybe the info about getting unpainted Thermochills needs to be easier to discover on the site.
    It's ALWAYS been in the ThermoChill FAQ on the site, and is now also in the product descriptions under "Finish:"

  12. #37
    Banned
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Portishead, Bristol, England
    Posts
    3,248
    Cheers Marci for making the changes.

    Well no sod in the UK does the spraying i want...can get it done states side fine....gay!!!!!!!!

    I'd pay the extra if the paint job was worth it.

    let me know if you have a job going. I'm a fast worker and get my head down. Maybe invest in some more staff.

    Heck i'd even come there for like a month for free to help as i'd love to see how these come togther

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •