3/8 seems about it indeed. i got a 1/2 npt and that is a bit much for a 1/2 inside diameter barb.

so 3/8 should be just about perfect.

my top half out of the crappy brass is ready, tomorrow i'm gonna pick up the 5m of copper for 80€ :-)
looks like i won't have too much trouble selling the copper. i expect once (rotor's) block is finished those belgian watercoolers might be a bit more eager to buy the raw copper off me.

here ya go, everything about the block will have been made with the equipment i have.
http://users.skynet.be/donsole/wb1003.jpg
http://users.skynet.be/donsole/wb1004.jpg
http://users.skynet.be/donsole/wb1005.jpg

Whoa:cool: you did a great job considering you did it for the first time!!!! Except the block being of brass, everything else looks just GREAT!
Man, I'm glad you'll get that copper and keep the good work!

I'm not familiar with those thread measurements, can somebody explain them a little? What 1/2 NPT and 3/8 mean?

/edit/ and today looks like my lucky day, I found the shop with Allen bolts, bought 20 pcs M4!

well, the tapping rules for the metric bolts, i understand by now. but the hole inches system still has me sort of clueless. i once bought a bunch of 1/4NPT barbs, what a mistake. seems the taps for those kinds of thread cost way more, because they are kind of exclusive in europe. so actually, i have learned that the taps are the most costly part. ask first what kind of tap is most cheap. for the barbs, eg m14 or m15 should do nicely for barbs with upto 10mm ID. buying almost same barbs in NPT size might cost u slightly more on the barb front, but way more on the tap front.

BillA once told me something like: there is no free learning ; ofcours he was right ;-)

bb2k posted a nice link to the npt specs here

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/sho...5&pagenumber=4

I tried to find something similar for metric, but no luck yet...

Is there a 'rule' about how many turns of the teflon tape is needed to seal the barb? A plumber once told me that for water pipes is 12 - 13 full turns of tape... How many for our use? Or is it experimental?

use your imagination puzzdre. spank on some teflon, try to screw in , if it is too easy to screw, use some more...

2 or 3 turns is just fine. That plumber must have been thinking about some pretty large pipes!

If I use my imagination and a teflon tape, She could be glad...:D Or freak out...:eek:
:evilaugh:

Actually, Teflon is very slippery, and helps parts screw together better. I like to use it because it makes "unscrewing" even easier.

BTW, I don't use brass parts, I only use PVC and polypropylene. I refuse to deal with galvanic corrosion.

[edit] it's polypropylene, not polyethylene!

there will be a time where i will know where to find only the best parts. its been a small miracle to get as far is i got upto now. tomorrow i will go to pick up some Si tubing with some nylon Y fittings. only place in belgium where i found both. if i am in luck, they also carry pvc barbs.

the telephone is my best friend. when you are out hunting non pc parts it seems the only way to go in belgium.

bb2k, thx for info on tape!

PVC and polyethylene barbs are very *rare* here, except for ordering them from net. I think I'll have enough trouble finding the Y piece with suitable ID...:rolleyes: So, one must cope with it, and use what's acceptable and easily available...brass for now...

g.l., good luck! When hunting non pc parts here, the only way to go is to actually GO to the shop, and show the pic, explain a lot, wriggle your hands miming the shape of the thingie you're looking for, and usually ask The Question - 'Any idea where I should look some more?'

Telephone is better option, but not very lively here...
:D

There will be the better times!:cool:

Sounds like a miserable place! How about Nylon barbs? Available in white or black from McMaster's.

if u want Y's 12mm ID, i can send u some from belgium. that should be really marginal cost.

that mcmaster adress might be something, but feels so stupid ordering some teenie parts from the other side of the world.

Weeeelll, almost...:D
The problem is market. It's too small. We have lot's of shops with almost exactly the same offer of things, tools, equipment, etc, and anything used rarely or in some *bizarre* applications can't be found. Ordering from the US or more developed parts of the Europe is a must in that case. That leads to the greater expenses for sh&h, customs fee etc, so (for now) the things are shitty.
Today I heard that one computer shop here (I mean in whole Croatia) has cold cathode tubes for sale. ONE shop, and not one in sight 'till this month. Market... Toooooo small...:shrug:

g.l., thx! That would be veeeery nice, if it's not such a problem to you! I can send you money for them and postage by mail. Think that three or four 12 mm ID Y's and I'm happyhappyhappy!

:p yeah, I did it once (that AS3 and UV dye)...:rolleyes:

i'll pick some up (3 is dumb, i'll get u 5 or something, that way u r ok for future)

try imagining some other stuff that is hard to come by in CRO, normally customs won't bother if it isn't sent by shop, no?

Geee, m8, I really dont want to take advantage on your good will.
Those Y pieces are not available here, so I hope I didn't ask for too much, just thinking that I'll need two for inserting temp probes and one or two for splitting the flow and merging the pumps.

For the other things, I cannot think of anything for now, got AS3, found a shop (RC modeller center) that has large dia Si tubing but no Y splitters...

So the Y pieces are my only need.

Thanks a LOT for help and good will!!!!!!:)

Pls, PM me with address and total sum for Y's and postage so I can send you cash...

Oh, and customs, yup, they won't charge anything as long as goods sent are less than 40 Euro total, everything over that will be charged, doesn't matter are they sent by a shop or a person...And one catch too, that 40 Euro total is for various goods, meaning I can buy for example one AS3 and one UV dye for total 25 $ and that is ok, but if I buy four AS3, I'm pushing my luck...:rolleyes:

Those Y's will be ok, don't worry. Man you're doing me a GREAT favour!

Thank you!;)

Some more progress... these are the tools I bought (and used:D ) today. Tappers and holder. Here's the pic:

Since I was doing this for the very first time, I tried it on a piece of copper (don't let the tinned surface fool ya)...not hard at all, just time consuming. Couldn't find any cutting oil or such, so it was done on *dry* :p

Tomorrow is a block tapping time!!!

For those interested in metric threads, here's the back of the tappers package, some useful drill dia for different dia taps...

i can send you for the moment 1 Y the shop only carried 3, so, considering the shop is far away, it will take me some time to get there again. so one is no problem...

what would it cost to send, because the Y in itself is too dumb to pay for, costs 2€/piece.

i got my copper yesterday, sawed off a piece, sanded some. second hole i tap; bingo, tap broke off. i tapped 3 holes for the barb without a problem (with a 70€ tap) for the M4's i bought a kit for 20€ with 20 taps, i should have known that cheap junk would be nothing but trouble. what did you buy for your tapping kit?

g.l., you got PM.

Glad you got the copper!!!

Sad to hear you broke the tap...

The taps I bought were 6 Euro, just for M4 tap. The holder was 4 Euro, but it can hold M3 - M8 tappers only. There was a bigger one, but I'll wait till the shop get the 3/8 tappers, and buy it both (they said next week...). The tappers seem to be a good quality for the money, I managed to tap these two holes holding the piece of the copper in my hand. I have found another store that have tappers of better quality, and the price was for M4 about 14 Euro. If I break one of those I have, think I'm going to buy that better ones.

i'm gonna look into the pm right away;

telephoned a metal tools shop, apparently they have a tapping set for m4, where u handtap in 3 stages, easy-medium-finish

they say it can tap holes in cobalt, so should be extremely stiff.

they also told me again, that it is not necessary to use cutting oil for copper.

Yeah, those 3 stage tappers are easy to work with, athough I found that if I go with easy and medium, without finish, the screw is somewhat tighter in the hole, I tapped one hole just with the first two, and second with all three, and the screw in the all three tappered hole is more loose... Maybe its because I was tapping the holes holding the copper in my hand, so it wasn't precise...

I'll try it again, just to mount my vice on the balcony (happily, it's a sunny day...):p

:mad: :cry: :shrug:

There must be a Murphy's law about working on a piece of crap always turns good and easy, and working on a piece one actually wants to use and consider it most important, fails on a first attempt...and unrepairable, if possible...

Hate it, I just managed to break two (2) tappers, easy and medium, ofcourse in two different holes on one half of the block.

Great.

When I broke first one (on the first hole in block), I thought never mind, I'll seal it good and have only three bolts holding the two halves. Then I broke second tapper, in different hole, and ofcourse, on the same side of the block, so I cannot even use two diagonal bolts to hold the halves.

Oh, and I managed to break one 2.5 mm drill bit aligning the halves of the chipset block. Scratch that too...

MadDogMe: think I'll listen to the early warnings for now on...:D

Brittle...hate that word...

Well, off for lunch, and to make another, brand new half of the block later...

brittle...hate it...mumblemumblemumble...told ya so...mumblemumblemumble...

Damn I sorry that that happened :( , Cu is very 'grabby' even though it is soft. Try doing 1/4 turn forward then 1/8th turn back. use WD40 or 'Three in One' oil for lubricant,(we definatly used paste at school, but it was for tapping Steel). try using the tips of your fingers to turn the tap, so you can feel any increase in pressure or snags/grabs, then turn backwards and move forward/inwards very slowly in small steps/turns...

The cheap taps are VERY brittle, you get what you pay for with tools :shrug: ...
I'd go for the best ones you can afford...

a good advice indeed :-(

what do you think maddogme, i can buy a 3 stage tapping set for 8€ that can be used to thread cobalt. would that be any good? cobalt is supposed to be the most hard material , no? or should i go more expensive still.

I don't think that you want to spend a lot of money on it.

You should take the time to figure out why the tap broke. Off-hand, I'm going to guess that you put a side-to-side motion in the handle; that was probably the cause.

Oil is absolutely necessary (WD-40 is my favorite), at least with steel. Copper is softer, but that's no excuse.

You should probably take the tap out, somewhere in the process, to clean it up: like MadDog said, Copper is grabby. 1/4 turn in, 1/8 out. One step at a time...

thk u bigben, i will go get myself some wd40then.

BREAK
 

Thx for the tips!

/rampage mode on

After the lunch BREAK I decided to buy better taps. Maybe the best I can found in my town. I'll take a BREAK of drilling and cutting till tomorrow, so after the BREAK of dawn I'll be back in bussiness. I'll BREAK open a new bag of espresso coffee, and after a morning grumpiness gives me a BREAK, I'll try again. But not sooner. Don't wanna to BREAK something more.

/rampage mode off

Yeah, copper is very grabby, and funny thing, I broke both of the taps trying to slowly back the tapper. For the hole 10 mm deep, I managed to take it out fully and clean it twice, and on the third time it broke. I'll try with WD 40 next time. It could be that when I tried harder to back it, I put more pressure on the side, so the tap broke, but I really tried to keep it straight all the time. Dunno... One experience more I guess. It can always serve as a negative example.

Think that I'll saw off that piece of copper to 50 x 50 mm size, and use it anyway. At least in another block.

Thx guys!

Off to ATM and into the shop.

Seems that tomorrow is the Day. Got new set of tappers for 14 Euro, but I'm not tapping anything more today. Any more suggestions and tips are very warmly welcome!

pic: