Cooling Threaded water cooling parts?

I'm contemplating moving to a watercooled setup in my next PC. I don't plan to overclock, and plan to just put the watercooling on the CPU.

Here's where I'm getting hung up. I'm looking to use braided steel hoses, sealing them in plastic (possibly working normal vinyl(?) tubing over the steel). I've found a site that sells braided steel for several applications, ranging from brake and nitrous lines to paintball guns. The main reason I'm looking at their lines, instead of Home Depot water hose, is the end fittings are available in a really nice looking red and blue.

So, the question is, does anyone make a waterblock with threaded fittings, or would it be possible to take a tap/die set to, say, a DangerDen waterblock? As far as a water resevoir goes, I could probably make one, and use the type of fittings I want. But also, what about the radiator and pump?

Any help would be appreciated...

 

I suppose you could use a male-male adaptor, one side being the block's thread (often 1/4NPT for american blocks, although not always) and the other side being whatever you need.

 

It would be relatively simple to retap/add adaptors to use the braided lines, but what ID are they?
All the brake/nitrous lines I've made are very small.

By the time you move up to large ID lines, the fittings are going to be pretty bulky and hard to deal with.
Also, installing the lines might be a real PITA...especially the connections to the blocks themselves...getting a wrench on them could be a problem and tightening them might be tough as the blocks aren't really that firmly mounted to begin with.

Edit:
More to ponder...
Braided steel line is not particularly flexible either.
Extreme care would have to be excercised not to torque your waterblocks.

I can definitely see the attraction.
Properly done, the look would be amazing, but using the real thing might be very impractical.

 

Yeah, the bends would be a pain. When you get up into the 7/16" ID lines, the minimum bend radius is 3.5"....

The place I'm looking at actually does these lines up to 1 3/8" ID lines, for radiators and water hoses.

Unfortunately, the colored lines are only available for either the braided teflon, or the paintball gun lines. And the min bend radius for 1/2" ID teflon lines is 6.5"....

Just found another site, and more info on the fittings. This place sells the hose by the foot, with no fittings (~$3/ft for the 7/16" ID), and the nice looking red/blue fittings are basically clamp on fittings. Slide the red part of the fitting over the hose, push the fitting in, and screw the red part down! That alone would make it much easier to insulate the hose with vinyl tubing or such. Below is a pic of a straight through fitting. They're also available in 45, 90, 120, and 180 degree bends... Use a couple of 90deg fittings to come off the CPU waterblock, and then wrap the hose around to the far side of a cube case....

I'm liking this idea.... Maybe use blue-tinted vinyl hose to insulate....

 

OK, allow me to continue playing Devil's Advocate.

Outside of the hose stiffness/bend radius issue (which I personally consider to be a deal breaker in itself), you do realize that you'll end up having more cash tied up in hoses/fittings than most entire waterloops, right?
Depending on the complexity of your system I can see the cost for just the lines exceeding $250, and that doesn't count the adaptors you'll need for each component.

Don't get me wrong...I love this stuff, my car is loaded with it and all my racebikes were plumbed with braided steel, but it was all designed to cope with pressures and temps that are not present in a computer waterloop. You've already admitted that you'll have to use 90 degree fittings (not an especially good thing) to get around the radius issue and I suspect that other comprimises will have to be made down the line.

Maybe you could explore ways to simulate the look of this plumbing without using the real thing.

That said, I would like to see it done successfully, so maybe you can carry it off.

 

OK, go ahead and be Devils Advocate, the pay's great...

The site I found sells the stainless braided hose for $3.09/ft (-8 size .5"), no minimum order. The fitting above is $11.20/ea, and a 90deg bend is $20.90. I'm only planning on WCing the CPU, not the GPU, so while I'll spend more on the hoseing, it'll look d**n cool, I think. I figure if I pack this into a server cube case, put the pump, radiator, and (if I put one in) resovoir on one side, out of sight, and just use the steel hose and fittings to get around to the CPU. Maybe even use 45deg bend fittings, rather than 90s coming off the waterblock. Then just use plain vinyl tubing on the unseen side. Eventually, the vinyl could be replaced, and a window put in on the far side (which would help cut down the weight, I would think)

Or, who knows, by the time I upgrade to a new machine, something else will come along, maybe the stock AMD quad-core processor cooling will be a closed loop Puron setup.....

But I do appreciate the constructive comments!!!

 

Short detour....

Why would adding a window "help with weight"?
If anything, that will be heavier.
Back OT...
I didn't realize you were only going to plumb the CPU block with the braided line and hide/disguise the rest.
Much more do-able I would imagine.
Is this automotive/aircraft tech part of an overall theme or a standalone bling item?

 

I'd think a sheet of plexi would weigh less than the equivalent amount of case metal. Unless I go with an aluminum cube...

Right now, it's just a general "that might look cool idea." Thinking on it, maybe doing an aircraft themed mod would help it look even better....
Ooo! Maybe even use (thinnner) braided to sleeve teh PS wires! Wait, wait... $$$. Maybe over the long term.....

 

Don't think so.
The plexi (or whatever you use) will have to be larger than the hole you cut, typically 1" or so in all directions, and will be considerably thicker than the sheetmetal of the panel.
Then you have the edge trim (if you use it) and the hardware to attach the window to the frame.

Granted, I'm being anal here...the difference might be just ounces, but a windowed panel will be heavier.
Anyway, if you are talking about a cube case (Mountainmods?), then weight is not a primary concern here, is it?

 

Yeah, that could be right.

I was looking last night, for aluminum cube cases, and the MountainMods was the *only* one I found. The problem is, I'm not so sure about spending $250-350 for the case. To top it off, I don't really like the looks of the fornt of the case, with the big, open fan openings.

So, I'm thinking either a Yeong-Yang cube, or a CodeGen cube. Problem being, both of those are steel, which would make this monstrosity a pain to get to and from LAN parties. I'd need a pickup truck with loading ramps!

I've also started contemplating cutting my own case, but the cost of getting the pieces welded together would put me in the price rang of the MountainMods (just the welding), and it'd take me months to cut all the panels.

Hmm. Maybe this idea is going to go in the "maybe someday" bin in the back of my head...