best formable(sp?) tubing?

[JamesAvery22]

Has anyone melted their tubing before so that it forms to the shape you mount your blocks in? The stuff from home depot doesnt melt much at all. Clearflex gets sort of flimsy but doesnt stay in the shape you bend it to. I accidently bought some Tygon stuff that wasnt R3603 that worked very very well. 1/2" ID 3/4" OD that I could melt into a smooth 1inch radius half-circle. Was ~$1 a foot though. Any thing else have low enough melting point?

[gmat]

"home depot" vinyl tubing is shaped up quite easily using hot (near boiling) water. Tygon R3603 as well.. i could put 3/8" tubing over 1/2" barbs like this.

[mx]

I've tried R3603 and some harder cheapo noname 1/2".
If you put it in near boiling water and then stretch it with a plier you can easily get 1/2" OD tubing over 5/8" OD barbs. When it cools it shrinks and you have to cut it loose. If you put it in cold water while stretching it, it holds the stretched shape.

[bobkoure]

Erm... thinwall copper? Seriously - bend some "sweeps" out of this and stick flexible tubing over either end. If you take it to a radiator shop they can put a "bead" on the ends (so it looks like the tubing coming out of a heater core) which will give you a more secure fit with the flexible tubing.
That rad shop can bend the tubing for you too, if you're not confident about bending copper. There are heavy spring-like-things that you put over the outside of the tubing before bending. I think they're about $15 at my local (overpriced) hardware store.
Oh - and if you're using old style swiftech water blocks (so john guest "speedfit" push in fittings) you can just push the thinwall tubing in (assuming you got 1/2" tubing for a 1/2" fitting, of course). I've done this a few times to fit watercooling into rackmount boxes (not usually a lot of head room over the processor). And, of course, you don't put a bead on the end you're pushing in. Probably obsolete and unnecessary knowledge at this point...