Ok I'm back ...... sort of..... had a break in at my house while I was at work and they tried to take the PC, but being connected by tubes foxed them though
and they left it, but the tower had been toppled over. Fortunately there was no damage other than the HDD which fell out, (as it wasn't bolted in), and now wont work. The upshot is I lost my OS and everything, and the bastards ran off with my box of CD's to so I lost almost all my software and back up disks
Neomoses
The finish was still done manually, but I'm getting better at it now so the finish is better and the time it takes quicker. I'm not sure how long it took but file, wet & dry in various grades - t-cut - polish = shine. It's not a biggie to me anymore and can be done while watching a film or TV.
The barb is like said 5/8 OD and I milled it out to 13mm ID just a quick wipe with the polish rag made it gleam and it's not "fitted" fully yet as I'll probably shorten it and lacqure the block before final fitting. I never lacqure them untill the coolers are done as it's a delicate coating that will last if not handled too much & with care.