7/16" tubing is pretty awesome and cheap...
 

Ordered some 7/16" tubing from MCMaster. Part # is 5233K44 for 3/32" wall and only costs about 40 cents a foot. The Masterkleer tubing is very similar to Tygon in terms of color... a bit clearer than the slightly tinted Clearflex.

Cathar was right... the tubing is much smaller than 1/2" ID 3/4" OD tubing and can easily fit standard barbs and when heated can easily fit over larger ones such as on the D4 or MCP650 pumps. It's much easier to route this tubing and now I can see the rest of the pc much better now...hehe..

I'll try to post pics later today comparing standard 3/8" ID, 1/2"ID, and this new 7/16" ID tubing.

1 Question: Is there that much loss of performance with 7/16" tubing?

Probably nothing measurabe.

Let us know if you have any kinking issues as 3/32" is pushing it a bit.

If you use 3/8" tubing you can use quick disconnect fittings though...

<3 quick connect.

In a regular 1/2" system with less than about 7' of the 7/16" tubing, there will be no noticable difference, which was why I suggested using 7/16" tubing in the first place.

Until you get above 10' or so of the 7/16" ID tubing, I highly doubt that anyone (except for those with truly 0.1C or better accurate equipment) is going to be able to detect any difference.

3/32" is not that noticeably smaller than 1/8" wall.... thus.. kinking is nomore an issue than regular 1/8" wall tubing. Pics up soon...

Most manufacturers I've seen so far with the 7/16" ID (5/8" OD) rate the minimum radius (before kinking) as being the same as the 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) tubing when made from the same material. The smaller the ID of the tubing, the more it can bend without kinking given the same wall-thickness, and so what happens is exactly as you've observed, the 7/16" ID 3/32" walled tubing can bend just as tightly as the larger stuff as the smaller ID offsets the thinner wall for kinking, but the big advantage is that it requires about 2/3rds the effort to turn bends and so doesn't pull and twist on waterblocks as much.

Yeah, what material is this stuff you got. Is it regular pvc garbage or is it more like tygon or.........????

It's much more like Tygon....not like the PVC stuff you would purchase homedepot. You never heard of MasterKleer....pg. 82 at MCmaster.

http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...P/P1010026.JPG
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...P/P1010028.JPG
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...P/P1010030.JPG
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...P/P1010034.JPG

Sorry... my camera sucks. Hope you can kinda tell... The top picture has 3/8"tubing from Swiftech (Kuri-Tec?) the middle is 7/16" Masterkleer and the top is 1/2" MasterKleer as well.

can you bend all three and take a picture?

ok... I'll do that tomorrow.

What about the bend pics, I got my finger on the buy button just waiting for the pic.....ahhhhhh, I can't wait......must.....not......buy.......getting..... weak.....

For .40cents a foot its worth given it a try on the upcoming work im doing on my loop.


Edite: Ordering some now and it says its .36cents a foot, it also says its 'PVC'. Kind of interesting, but for 3.60 for 10 feet its worth a try.

I think the minimum is 25' for the 7/16" tubing from MCMaster. But it's so cheap that it still comes at around $10.

Still waiting for those pics to see how it bends compared to the others.

I got 10 feet, Ive ordered tons of stuff from them and there is never a min order, its just sometimes u pay for a 100 of something when u only need 1 or 2 :D

I got my masterkleer today, heres a pic of a bend with masterkleer and clearflex tubing.

http://www.pbase.com/typicalsloan/image/34815373
http://www.pbase.com/image/34815373/original

I assume the 7/16 is the one on the bottom. So what are your impressions of it?

Wow, that's awesome!! The masterkleer doesn't seem to have the blue tint to it that the clearflex does and appears even clearer than the clearflex which is cool. I think I'll be picking up up some masterkleer 7/16"ID for my setup :D

http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/ima...ons/icon14.gif Thanks to cathar for thinking of using 7/16"ID, testing it out, giving us the results and spreading the word to all the forums ;)

The masterkleer definetly has a tighter radius to it, it also fits snugly over 1/2 fittings to the point where u could go without clamps, not recomended.

Over all it has the same feel as clearflex without the blue tint and is physically smaller as without sacrificing performance. Wont get to test it out until my storm gets here though :D

Ay delirious.. thanks for posting pics... my camera went crazy so it doesn't work. I agree with you though... I'm NOT using clamps on my TDX....cuz it's so snug.

the pics you took were good and was what convinced me to get it. Just adding one of the max bends it can take.