Planning first hardline loop, are bending kits w/ angle guides necessary?

[LaboonTheWhale]

hey guys

 

I'm planning my first loop and its like learning about watercooling all over again. I want to make sure I'm not going to mess this up or buy redundant products. 

 

I know straight off the bat I'm shit with eyeing angles and making sure its 90 degrees or whatnot. I see these "bending kits" by Monsoon on Performance-PCs that have those angles along with the saw and inner bending tube and whatnot. 

 

Are those really needed? It seems like it would be extremely helpful or would it be one of those redundant costs. 

 

So far I have in my cart a cutting saw + stand, inner bending tube, and reamer. 

[ExplosiveSloths]

Useful but not necessary.

 

[TrigrH]

Like all tools, they help make the job easier. I'm sure it would help a ton, but I've seen many people just do their bends over a heat gun.

[W-L]

7 minutes ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

hey guys

 

I'm planning my first loop and its like learning about watercooling all over again. I want to make sure I'm not going to mess this up or buy redundant products. 

 

I know straight off the bat I'm shit with eyeing angles and making sure its 90 degrees or whatnot. I see these "bending kits" by Monsoon on Performance-PCs that have those angles along with the saw and inner bending tube and whatnot. 

 

Are those really needed? It seems like it would be extremely helpful or would it be one of those redundant costs. 

 

So far I have in my cart a cutting saw + stand, inner bending tube, and reamer. 

Mainly helps with repeatability, but not absolutely necessary. If you want to do it on the cheap and have access to a 3D printer there are tubing guides you can get models for. 

[LaboonTheWhale]

1 minute ago, W-L said:

Mainly helps with repeatability, but not absolutely necessary. If you want to do it on the cheap and have access to a 3D printer there are tubing guides you can get models for. 

I sadly do not have a 3d printer. I'm worried about imperfect bends, but at the same time, an added $50-70 is a little bit er....

[Dreaper]

19 minutes ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

hey guys

 

I'm planning my first loop and its like learning about watercooling all over again. I want to make sure I'm not going to mess this up or buy redundant products. 

 

I know straight off the bat I'm shit with eyeing angles and making sure its 90 degrees or whatnot. I see these "bending kits" by Monsoon on Performance-PCs that have those angles along with the saw and inner bending tube and whatnot. 

 

Are those really needed? It seems like it would be extremely helpful or would it be one of those redundant costs. 

 

So far I have in my cart a cutting saw + stand, inner bending tube, and reamer. 

So W-L just helped me with mine and he can confirm i was hella annoying and asking a load of questions including this, i did get the kit and screwed the pieces onto wood and it made the job for a noob 100000% easier, but i did see Bitwit draw out on a poster angles and you could try and do something like that 

[W-L]

10 minutes ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

I sadly do not have a 3d printer. I'm worried about imperfect bends, but at the same time, an added $50-70 is a little bit er....

You can always make templates to follow as dreaper has suggested, not as good as a physical guide but will get things pretty close. 

[Dreaper]

14 minutes ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

I sadly do not have a 3d printer. I'm worried about imperfect bends, but at the same time, an added $50-70 is a little bit er....

 @10:48 in the vid 

[MoonFrost]

ill add some advice after my first experience. I found bending without the tools a lot easier.

Use gloves designed for withstanding heat. And be careful not to touch the heated area part with your gloves (I did) left an impression in the PETG.

Unno if you bought one yet, but don't forget to get a silicone tube to insert into the tube so it doesnt kink during the bend.

A deburr tool to smooth out outer edges, I think a reamer only does the inner? unno.

at first I got the saw, but it looked janky, I opted for this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZQLKP0I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
on 16mm O.D., 12mm I.D.,  no issues.

Sandpaper would have helped me smooth out some edges, instead of only using a deburr tool.  But I didnt have any.

 

 

My number one advice tho that I wish I could redo, PETG hardline tubing scratches super easy. I got gouges everywhere when I was tryign to attach my fittings.  Get the tube going into the fitting as straight as possible, any resistance by the tube when putting the end of the fitting over it will scratch it.

 

edit: oh, also a dry erase marker would have been useful, I eyeballed everything and had to contantly make adjustments to length

[andrewmp6]

Or you can make your on jig with sockets and a peg board kinda

 

Skip to about 7 mins in you can see his jig.

[bling]

You can do by eye, it's not easier but completely doable. What I figured out is that by hand it's more difficult to get a small radius curve. In order to overcome this I've used the table border, which is basically the same as one of those tools but it's free

[MeDownYou]

22 hours ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

I sadly do not have a 3d printer. I'm worried about imperfect bends, but at the same time, an added $50-70 is a little bit er....

You can get bend guides for 15 dollars or so for tubing, they just aren't benders,