My favorite all time knucklehead tee line plugger = AA Battery... I can't count the times I've seen posts (not here of course) saying, "OMG! AA Battery fits perfectly to cap my tee line!"

Corosion of aluminum caps shouldnt be a problem unless you fill your system to the cap, but I think brass caps would look a lot better and peopl would be more satisfied with them for some reason:p

The price difference is about 5x more but that 5x more is still pennies:p


Jon

I'm down with nickel plating if it's 25cents more

dunno if I trust anodization, maybe anodization is better after all?

gold plate for extra bling

Don't be so sure Jon... I notice that my cap and all the way up above the water level 'sweats' and is wet. And no, this is not from shaking or intentionally getting the cap wet.

SMan
"screw the bling bling, my 2¢" is my personal opinion, not that of Swiftech
I design products, others bling bling them
and I quite agree, most necessary for commercial products
most do not understand performance, but they all get the bling

geek
you're all dry
what does saturated mean ?
so condensation . . . . ?

word from my anodizer:

if aluminum is anodized, it will not react with any other metal while submerged in a liquid...

i'm not gonna charge extra for the anodization. i feel that the price i'm selling it for is worth the machining cost, material, shipping cost, and overall quality of the cap.

"if aluminum is anodized, it will not react with any other metal while submerged in a liquid..."

false, anodizing is a coating and subject to all the imperfections associated with such

perhaps the should be "if aluminum is properly anodized"?

actually that would be "perfectly anodized", but like all surface treatments, it will wear off eventually.

or get scratched off

better not drop that cap against anything metal

doesn't sound like Type III anodizing anyway

I agree

from my system:

Very reassuring.

Yet in this case it won't be submerged in a liquid. It will be in a warm, moist, oxygen-rich environment. Recipe for tarnish.

So the bottom of this cap will grow scuz and eventually cloud the water, and it will react with any copper/brass in the system...

but in a good way. Galvanic corrosion, sacrificial.

"When contact with a dissimilar metal is made, however, the self corrosion rates will change:

-corrosion of the anode will accelerate

-corrosion of the cathode will decelerate or even stop."

Any copper in the system reacting with the aluminum cap will actually tarnish more slowly than without the cap. The copper (cathode) "eats" the aluminum (anode). It's not just a plug, it's an anti-corrosion pill for water-cooled rigs!

Um, except it will coat the copper with Al, clogging the system.

Mixed metals is never a good thing, in this case it's not as bad as some others, but I'd still avoid it.

That got me googling to learn if "coat" can actually mean "plate", in this case. Apparently not - aluminum doesn't plate well to copper. So what's wrong with a bit of Al suspended in the coolant?

***

But if they'd bonded the outside terminal of that battery to the waterblock... with a resistor...

ever see a cascade's "middle plate"

will clog rather quickly

Depends on how big the particals are does it not?

yes, but I've seen corrosion in some pretty big pieces, enough to cover several holes of a cascade

I'd think it'd be even bigger on a t-lne cap, as material would corrode until it falls off, as pposed to corroding a little and being washed away....not an experyt hre by any means

point is, nickel plate for 25cents and be done with it

i'll see about nickel plating, who does it around here and what they charge and minimum quantity..

thanks, man

You haven't seen the MCW6002 yet have you?

No offense to Swiftech, the block performs very well from what I've been reading.

guys, nickel plating aluminum is not gonna happen. nickel + aluminum is not a good combo..

will just have to stick with anodized

You can plate aluminum with nickel - in fact, if you want to copper plate nickel, you need to nickel plate it first. In order to Nickel plate, you need to zincate the aluminum, but any place that does plating should be able to do that.

Too much effort and cost. Maybe powder coat it?

I was under the impression that it was only a matter of cleaning the part and giving it a short (1 min or so) dip in the zincate solution, then nickel plating as usual.

you can actually plate directly from aluminum to copper with the zincate solution, but I dont see why you would really want to. I would either anodized them or use brass, and guys, get your heads out of your butt, how often will the water touch this and something copper or brass. The corosion happens when theres a voltage differential right? if theres no connection theres no problem, yes I realize the condensation thing but I dont think it will conduct enough or if at all to cause corosion.


Jon