@@IIGrayfoxII no but he might have tips for him. Or just look at any of his tutorials. Also, I wanted to make the antfarm comment but you beat me to it.
Turbines, not impellers, in that application. But oh shoot, other than that, you basically beat me to it (3D-printing cool new blade designs for the flow meter turbine), but with better detail than I said, and I found your post here a while after making mine. Mine was like this: Me watching this video: "Oh, cool! Let's see which other cool blade designs we can come up with that would work fairly accurately for that little flow meter dealio-bob there!"
@@Bloodhoun21: A flow meter of this sort with blades that look like fan blades is only a turbine, because turbine blades don't drive initially; they _get_ driven. Yes, then of course they can go on to drive something like a generator or whatever, but first they are _driven_ by a force on the blades. Other devices with blades like these are either fans, pumps, compressors, or propellers, because their blades _drive_ the fluid. Fans, of course, can get divided further, into blowers and impellers. Also: why are you treating "pump" and "propeller" as if they are brands?
Yeah you must aply pressure to get the glue/resin in to the cracks, to do that you wuld probably need a specially made screw that you culd fill with air and that has holes where you wand the glue to go in to the cracks.
Not all the repair kits require vacuum. Some of them are pressed into the cracks using a screw. And some need nothing, they are runny enough to fill in without extra forces on them.
@@Dirkxke You really need a vacuum for this if you want to fill cracks as far as possible with the least stress possible and stop them from propagating further for good. If you press glue into cracks to fill them, you end up with pressurized air pockets trapped deep into cracks and the cracks will continue propagating from there.
How about using the old plate to test torque and see how much is really required and what will cause catastrophic damage? It will be good info for those who want to do DIY liquid cooling.
finger tight is all you need :) From the factory, these fittings are too tight. Unfortunately he did not losen them up and retighten by hand. Personally i always remove any fitting and retighten by hand. as long as the oring is compressed, there's no need to go further.
@@ledoynier3694 That's really where most people screw it up, 'cause you nailed it on the head. Once that ring starts to compress, you're DONE. Stop right there. Once there it has sufficient tension to stay on. You go past that point, that's where the bad things happen. But then IMHO liquid cooling as a whole is where the bad things happen. When most AIO's can even compete with a crappy five pipe 120mm single stack on peak temps, I'm really not impressed when I'm using double-stacks like the NH-D15's. To be fair though, I put functionality and longevity ahead of artsy-fartsy form factors.
why not chemically etch the distro play with channel name or fan showdown, add some rgb and make a new intro like the old mythbusters steel plate intro?
You could try dichloromethane, it is used as a diffusion "glue" for acrylic, so it's very thin. And if it doesn't work, it welds pla pretty pretty good together, or smoothes the surface.
dcm is nasty tho, you can also huff it and pass out. or use it to put drosophily flies to sleep so you can count them and mark down their phenotypes to do some mendel genetic experiments
It shouldn't be. Acrylic doesn't "fatigue" as much as some other materials, and the pressure in the system shouldn't be that high. However, One thing I've noticed that can make Acrylic crack up, especially over time is freezing temperatures. The colder it is, the more noticeable it gets. So maybe the Acrylic plates got exposed to freezing temperatures in transit, or were stored at a warehouse that got below freezing. I once was dusting my case and turned the canned air too much, and some of the compressed liquid gas got on my Acrylic side panel, and it instantly formed a LOT of very small hairline cracks...
Can't you just 3D print a new O ring with TPU or Nylon. If its to big maybe glue it together ? I never printed an O ring so I have no idea if it will work.
Has nothing to do with overtightening and everything to do with expansion, contraction and shrinkage. As he stated some of the plugs he never touched. I have 3 cracked distros and mine cracked around the screws that clamp the two halves together. I never touched any of them. Also note when he separated the halves and laid them on the table that they were warped. Distros have a short lifespan and are guaranteed to crack.
You can still use that plate. Just get some of the O-ring material from McMaster-Carr. Cut it to length and use some CA glue to stick the ends together. You can also get all of the fittings and screws from there.
For auto engine stuff that we think is sus we get them Loctite dipped under a vacuum, ie, after the air in the cracks are evacuated the release of the vacuum pushes the Loctite into cracks.
I have always been curious why they don't use actual glass due to all the cracking in distro plates. I had one from EK and it cracked on me, got replacement.. had cracking occur again shortly after on stuff i never installed.. so I sold it and moved to round reservoir... I have a friend who does laser etching on glass and she can straight up etch pictures people give them onto the glass surface and if you run it multiple times.. you can literally etch through the glass.
I'm currently going through an rma with my 6800 xt water block. The customer support is weird/annoying. And hopefully my issues are fixed but it's starting to look like ek isn't actually all that great.
I also had one of the first distro plates from EK but for the standard pc011. This exact thing happened to mine but it did start leaking. EK replaced it under warranty and so far so good.
3 things to try: 1: Use heat or flame to polish away the cracks. Put a fitting in without an O-Ring to maintain the shape of the threads then heat the cracks with a blowtorch or heat gun from the outside, essentially melting the acrylic back together into itself. I have used this flame polishing technique to successfully fix hairline cracks on an acrylic display box, but I don't know if it was water tight or anything. 2: Use a heat gun or blowtorch to actually flame polish the machined inside of the distro plate. I hate how they look with that raw machined look, and would much prefer to polish that out if possible, but I never see anybody do it, and I wonder if it is because it doesnt work well. 3: Use Weld-on 4 to glue the two halves together to see if you can make it water tight without a gasket.
Looking at the shape of the part, there's a good chance that it is acrylic cut on a laser engraver. The edges of those parts tend to have internal stresses at the edges from the intense localized heat of cutting, and this can lead to cracking over time or even instantly if they are exposed to solvents. There is an "annealing" process that can be used to relieve those stresses. I wonder if the manufacturer is doing that or not.
One feature I'd like to see be tested for case fan blades is: How do they disperse the air behind them? More wide or narrow coverage? How deep is their funnel of coverage behind them? Cause how they disperse the air behind them is _another_ factor on how "well" they cool your PC parts. Maybe use more smoke so that its more visible behind them?
Are they tapered pipe fittings or straight thread with an o-ring? I would guess the cracking is from tapered fittings. A straight ORB (O-ring boss) fitting might not stress the plastic unevenly.
Had V64 acrylic block with cracks up near the terminal that were iffy. Used the dremel along the crack until it was exposed and then dropped weld down into the crack. Then let each layer dry and backfill with more wild until filled, then sanded level. Took a couple of hrs over a few days and its never leaked a drop in over 12 months.
good to know you can take it all apart and replace the plate. I've one these and love it. No issues with cracking, but some weird noises and a white residue building up after changing the cryo fuel a third time. I saw you were using and air hose, possibly linked to a compressor. What compressor are you using? I've been looking around for one and wanted to get one, but didn't want to get a "shop" compressor for inside the house.
It seems to me that those types of cracks might be caused by expansion and contraction during heating and cooling. The only way to avoid that problem that comes to mind is having some kind of expansion compensation like rubber washers and gaskets but that might compromise it's water-tightness.
I have a thick acrylic lid for a vacuum chamber that was cracking around the valve fitting. I used heat to soften the acrylic enough for it to weld back together. The cracks just disappeared. You would have to be very careful not to deform or burn the acrylic though. Might be best to leave the plug loosely installed so the threads don't change shape. The fitting on my vacuum chamber lid is sealed with a thick rubber washer, so tolerances are less important in my situation.
I used to work at a custom plastics manufacturing place. Mostly making over priced desks and lamps but all the holes that had to be drilled or taped always had to be done with a custom hot bit to soften the plastic in order to prevent micro fractures and even then we used small buffers in the holes to smooth them out. All it would take is one tiny fracture and it would spread all the way through the entire piece. And if you can imagine destroying a custom 2 inch thick 4 foot wide 10 foot long piece of acrylic$$$$$$$
Neat! I have been subbed to you since I found the fan show down. Now, at a different phase of my life I am building a PC in the O11 D-XL and while doing research on water cooling it and I find a familiar face. Love the build! Cheers
Heat the cracked areas up to about 150C and the cracks should weld themselfs closed, a hot air soldering station is the tool for the job. Too hot and the acrilic will melt, just right and there should be very little damage.
I'm 2 months late, but the way you get liquids to go into those cracks is to seal them off, emerge them in the liquid and then apply a vacuum which will pull the air out. Then you apply pressure to force the liquids into the cracks. They do this on windshields all the time and it can be done DIY fairly easily with some clear tape and a syringe.
The fluid in the system reistically is only sitting a few (as in, less than 10) c above ambient temperature. I don't think thermal expansion would affect the nickel plated cooper plugs to such a vast degree compared to the acrylic that that would be the case. I've seen similar cracks occur on pumps/plates/blocks with acrylic tops that have been exposed to certain solvents, such as isopropyl alcohol. Im curious if he didn't flush the radiators thoroughly enough before installation and whatever chemical solvents that were in the system stayed in the loop, or if they somehow did get into contact with isopropyl.
They either changed their plastic supplier, too aggressive on tapping causing cracks to start during machining, or made the holes/threads too small allowing thermal expansion to crack it. None of my 3+ year old ek acrylic has cracked. every single one of my newer ek stuff has developed cracks after 5 months.
i have just ordered same distro plate and i am hoping those cracks won't appear. What my plan is to remove the factory end caps and screw them again. Also i am thinking if this thing happens to regular people will EK provide them with spare parts issued with warranty instead of repurchasing cause as you said this distro plate is freaking expensive?
Great video, quick question how did you add a drain valve when it had a stop fitting, whitout spill everywhere during the transition??? Would love to know for my own purposes
400 bucks? Dang, I'm under selling myself. Last 011 distro I did for someone was 150 and shipping. If you ever want any custom work done shoot me a message. I'll hook you up.
@@Evil_Chronic you are correct. Since this post I learned they do include the pump with the cost. The distros I make for people do not include the pump.
I have the same distribution plate. I really hate you have to run lines all the way to the back for the radiators… well the bottom one anyway. I was able to mount the top one with short fittings, but it’s very tight.
I have had nothing but constant issues with this sort of cracking with the acrylic top plates I've worked with on watercooling systems; I now avoid them entirely and only use delrin/acetal tops, aesthetics be damned. Acrylic is simply the wrong material to use in an application like this, and is always prone to stress cracking and especially so at elevated temperatures as seen in a watercooling loop. Polycarbonate *might* work better, but I don't think I've ever worked with parts that use polycarbonate instead of acrylic. Otherwise, I don't know of any good solutions for clear tops that won't eventually crack around fittings just like this.
Glad to see EK replaced the part, going to buy EK parts soon and reassuring to know they're reasonable. Not sure I would dust inside the house though, PC can draw the dust back in.
I see stuff like this and I think "Maybe using plastic to store heated water that you screw metal fittings into is fundamentally a bad idea" and then "maybe a bunch of water flowing around your PC is a bad idea". //air cool life
im about to build in the same case and pretty much all the same stuff, i dont want the distro in the front though can it go on the side? or is that the non XL version only?
Acrylic can expand and contract a fair bit so wouldn't surprise me if that's just from heat cycle if the threads where a tight fit. Best way if the threads are slightly lose and the seal comes from the gasket only.
Looks like the part that is cracked, is flat, get some gasket material, and a piece of acrylic, drill and tap the holes and you'll have a backup distro.
if they didn't have threads but rather used helicoil it likely would not have cracked. If he is going to drill it, that would be my suggestion. But he definitely can use gasket maker for it.
The plugs, are they a tapered fit or do they have an o-ring on the flat side of the nut? Using a tapered nut on something like this is asking for disaster. If so it may be wise to look at some different plugs, you may find the non tapered versions fit the holes, if not you could get a tap quite cheap to ream them out.
4:57 That looks to me like some 3D Printer Dust and quite possibly VOC's... I had the same problem and I would recommend to put the printers in a Enclosure with an HEPA Filter! - Just to be save in a room you spend quite some time in!
Don't know if it sticks well but you could try to use some 3d printing clear resin and cure it. If capillarity doesn't work you could try a suction cup like the one for the drains to pressurize and depressurize until it fills the gaps.
i had 6 cpu ek waterblocks all cracked (never leaked tho) switched to phanteks and no more cracked threads. did not over tighten them* also the phanteks had a flat contact plate, all ek's was convex on the center
When they fix cracks in windows they use a little vacuum pump to suck out the air so the uv cured resin gets pulled into the cracks. You could probably do that if you plugged the hole from the rear. Also, can you order a replacement seal kit?
It's too close to the edge to create a seal using such a device. The suction seal you are referring to requires that the crack be at least 2 inches from an edge.
You can fix it by using a vacum chamber and a thinner glue or some diluting paste on top of it to disolve the cracks and then fill them with glue with will require new treads to be made
Make an ant farm out of the old one!
He is not Ant Canada
@@IIGrayfoxII no but he might have tips for him. Or just look at any of his tutorials. Also, I wanted to make the antfarm comment but you beat me to it.
Yes! This!
didnt he only get send replacement panels, not the whole tank. he would have to 3d print one or buy another one.
Find some gasket material and set up a test bench so we can 3d print various impellers for the flow meter and see which is coolest looking
The gasket material is real easy to find online by the roll.
Turbines, not impellers, in that application. But oh shoot, other than that, you basically beat me to it (3D-printing cool new blade designs for the flow meter turbine), but with better detail than I said, and I found your post here a while after making mine.
Mine was like this:
Me watching this video: "Oh, cool! Let's see which other cool blade designs we can come up with that would work fairly accurately for that little flow meter dealio-bob there!"
Or custom Pump (Propeller/impeller?)
@@Bloodhoun21: A flow meter of this sort with blades that look like fan blades is only a turbine, because turbine blades don't drive initially; they _get_ driven. Yes, then of course they can go on to drive something like a generator or whatever, but first they are _driven_ by a force on the blades.
Other devices with blades like these are either fans, pumps, compressors, or propellers, because their blades _drive_ the fluid.
Fans, of course, can get divided further, into blowers and impellers.
Also: why are you treating "pump" and "propeller" as if they are brands?
biohazard design :D
The idea of 3D printing a case is something that never occured to me, I'm hype to see how it comes out!
Just make a very small pinball machine out of it!
Owoooooooooooooooh, indeedy.
Is this cooler an NZXT? Because it's Kraken.
Lmfao
Also, it's not a flow meter, it's a flow indicator.
Try one of those DIY windshield repair kits
There should actually also be stuff for fixing acrylic
Yeah you must aply pressure to get the glue/resin in to the cracks, to do that you wuld probably need a specially made screw that you culd fill with air and that has holes where you wand the glue to go in to the cracks.
I'm not that sure that would fix it reliably, and I would not want to risk it.
I think it might still look funny after that
What the windshield guys do is that they use essentially a vacuum cleaner to suck the glue into the cracks.
Windshield repair...I think they pull a vacuum
Not all the repair kits require vacuum. Some of them are pressed into the cracks using a screw.
And some need nothing, they are runny enough to fill in without extra forces on them.
@@Dirkxke a vacuum would have a better chance of working though.
@@Dirkxke You really need a vacuum for this if you want to fill cracks as far as possible with the least stress possible and stop them from propagating further for good. If you press glue into cracks to fill them, you end up with pressurized air pockets trapped deep into cracks and the cracks will continue propagating from there.
How about using the old plate to test torque and see how much is really required and what will cause catastrophic damage? It will be good info for those who want to do DIY liquid cooling.
finger tight is all you need :)
From the factory, these fittings are too tight. Unfortunately he did not losen them up and retighten by hand. Personally i always remove any fitting and retighten by hand. as long as the oring is compressed, there's no need to go further.
@@ledoynier3694 That's really where most people screw it up, 'cause you nailed it on the head. Once that ring starts to compress, you're DONE. Stop right there. Once there it has sufficient tension to stay on. You go past that point, that's where the bad things happen.
But then IMHO liquid cooling as a whole is where the bad things happen. When most AIO's can even compete with a crappy five pipe 120mm single stack on peak temps, I'm really not impressed when I'm using double-stacks like the NH-D15's. To be fair though, I put functionality and longevity ahead of artsy-fartsy form factors.
@@ledoynier3694 good tip. Going forward I will always remove and redo all plugs having seen this.
why not chemically etch the distro play with channel name or fan showdown, add some rgb and make a new intro like the old mythbusters steel plate intro?
You could try dichloromethane, it is used as a diffusion "glue" for acrylic, so it's very thin. And if it doesn't work, it welds pla pretty pretty good together, or smoothes the surface.
dcm is nasty tho, you can also huff it and pass out. or use it to put drosophily flies to sleep so you can count them and mark down their phenotypes to do some mendel genetic experiments
@@oOSpecialProskillsOo who doesn't like huffing and counting phenotypes...ah, good times.
Trichloromethane also works. TCM is commonly known under the name "Chloroform", so good ventilation is crucial when working with both DCM and TCM
@@oOSpecialProskillsOo I thought so when I saw the many interesting hazard stickers on the bottle 🤣
Is it fatiguing because of the load that the hard-line and coolant puts on the distro plate? Rather than overtightening?
It shouldn't be. Acrylic doesn't "fatigue" as much as some other materials, and the pressure in the system shouldn't be that high.
However, One thing I've noticed that can make Acrylic crack up, especially over time is freezing temperatures. The colder it is, the more noticeable it gets.
So maybe the Acrylic plates got exposed to freezing temperatures in transit, or were stored at a warehouse that got below freezing.
I once was dusting my case and turned the canned air too much, and some of the compressed liquid gas got on my Acrylic side panel, and it instantly formed a LOT of very small hairline cracks...
What if you do a drone fan showdown. Like test lift strength and sound.
Can't you just 3D print a new O ring with TPU or Nylon. If its to big maybe glue it together ? I never printed an O ring so I have no idea if it will work.
they do indeed work :)
That’s why watercooling plugs often have no Allen key slot and are just knurled so you can’t overtighten it as easily.
Has nothing to do with overtightening and everything to do with expansion, contraction and shrinkage. As he stated some of the plugs he never touched. I have 3 cracked distros and mine cracked around the screws that clamp the two halves together. I never touched any of them. Also note when he separated the halves and laid them on the table that they were warped. Distros have a short lifespan and are guaranteed to crack.
Had the same thing happen to my 4-year-old EK Velocity block, but has been fine with the cracks for over a year now, mostly just cosmetic damage.
You can still use that plate. Just get some of the O-ring material from McMaster-Carr. Cut it to length and use some CA glue to stick the ends together. You can also get all of the fittings and screws from there.
For auto engine stuff that we think is sus we get them Loctite dipped under a vacuum, ie, after the air in the cracks are evacuated the release of the vacuum pushes the Loctite into cracks.
It's cracking because you misses the rubber washers that dampen out the vibrations.
The dust blowing was very satisfying. The milk colored coolant, not so much.
I have always been curious why they don't use actual glass due to all the cracking in distro plates. I had one from EK and it cracked on me, got replacement.. had cracking occur again shortly after on stuff i never installed.. so I sold it and moved to round reservoir... I have a friend who does laser etching on glass and she can straight up etch pictures people give them onto the glass surface and if you run it multiple times.. you can literally etch through the glass.
I'm currently going through an rma with my 6800 xt water block.
The customer support is weird/annoying.
And hopefully my issues are fixed but it's starting to look like ek isn't actually all that great.
not as great as it used to be years ago. now it's pretty trash.
I also had one of the first distro plates from EK but for the standard pc011. This exact thing happened to mine but it did start leaking. EK replaced it under warranty and so far so good.
Me to 😍 just 1 day warranty left haha lucky me and get the v2🤙
3 things to try:
1: Use heat or flame to polish away the cracks. Put a fitting in without an O-Ring to maintain the shape of the threads then heat the cracks with a blowtorch or heat gun from the outside, essentially melting the acrylic back together into itself. I have used this flame polishing technique to successfully fix hairline cracks on an acrylic display box, but I don't know if it was water tight or anything.
2: Use a heat gun or blowtorch to actually flame polish the machined inside of the distro plate. I hate how they look with that raw machined look, and would much prefer to polish that out if possible, but I never see anybody do it, and I wonder if it is because it doesnt work well.
3: Use Weld-on 4 to glue the two halves together to see if you can make it water tight without a gasket.
Looking at the shape of the part, there's a good chance that it is acrylic cut on a laser engraver. The edges of those parts tend to have internal stresses at the edges from the intense localized heat of cutting, and this can lead to cracking over time or even instantly if they are exposed to solvents. There is an "annealing" process that can be used to relieve those stresses. I wonder if the manufacturer is doing that or not.
Sharp edges are stresspoints too, He has Crazing
It's EK, an overrated company.
He needs to do an RMA
Ek needs to specify torque and torque pattern for each fastener and use a dial torque wrench to prevent crazing.
Afcouse they don't do that, they dont case about the quality, the only thing they care is money.
How did you drain the Distro? Can you just add a fitting with a soft tube there while its filled? Why it doesnt leak out of that
Maaaan i adore this channel. I guess its because you are just naturally a pleasant person. There is no video persona. Just you doing you
How do you plan to use threads after you put glue in them?
what if you use the resin they use for car's windshields?
Could your case fit triple rad in theorie with your current distro plate ?
One feature I'd like to see be tested for case fan blades is: How do they disperse the air behind them? More wide or narrow coverage? How deep is their funnel of coverage behind them? Cause how they disperse the air behind them is _another_ factor on how "well" they cool your PC parts. Maybe use more smoke so that its more visible behind them?
what did you use to hide the 360 mounting section in the back of the case?
Are they tapered pipe fittings or straight thread with an o-ring? I would guess the cracking is from tapered fittings. A straight ORB (O-ring boss) fitting might not stress the plastic unevenly.
They're likely 1/4 BSPP(G 1/4), so just like ORB.
Had V64 acrylic block with cracks up near the terminal that were iffy. Used the dremel along the crack until it was exposed and then dropped weld down into the crack. Then let each layer dry and backfill with more wild until filled, then sanded level. Took a couple of hrs over a few days and its never leaked a drop in over 12 months.
Could you print a tpu o ring and yet it to seal?
good to know you can take it all apart and replace the plate. I've one these and love it. No issues with cracking, but some weird noises and a white residue building up after changing the cryo fuel a third time. I saw you were using and air hose, possibly linked to a compressor. What compressor are you using? I've been looking around for one and wanted to get one, but didn't want to get a "shop" compressor for inside the house.
Just checked my EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11D XL and have the same cracking around some of the factory installed fittings as well.
It seems to me that those types of cracks might be caused by expansion and contraction during heating and cooling. The only way to avoid that problem that comes to mind is having some kind of expansion compensation like rubber washers and gaskets but that might compromise it's water-tightness.
I have a thick acrylic lid for a vacuum chamber that was cracking around the valve fitting. I used heat to soften the acrylic enough for it to weld back together. The cracks just disappeared. You would have to be very careful not to deform or burn the acrylic though. Might be best to leave the plug loosely installed so the threads don't change shape. The fitting on my vacuum chamber lid is sealed with a thick rubber washer, so tolerances are less important in my situation.
I used to work at a custom plastics manufacturing place. Mostly making over priced desks and lamps but all the holes that had to be drilled or taped always had to be done with a custom hot bit to soften the plastic in order to prevent micro fractures and even then we used small buffers in the holes to smooth them out. All it would take is one tiny fracture and it would spread all the way through the entire piece. And if you can imagine destroying a custom 2 inch thick 4 foot wide 10 foot long piece of acrylic$$$$$$$
how does it attach to the case?
Neat! I have been subbed to you since I found the fan show down. Now, at a different phase of my life I am building a PC in the O11 D-XL and while doing research on water cooling it and I find a familiar face. Love the build! Cheers
Could try the to see if the liquid gasket stuff will work on it.
are you using rubber/silicon washers now with the fasteners?
Heat the cracked areas up to about 150C and the cracks should weld themselfs closed, a hot air soldering station is the tool for the job. Too hot and the acrilic will melt, just right and there should be very little damage.
do you have any suggestions on how to prevent cracking the distro plate?
I'm 2 months late, but the way you get liquids to go into those cracks is to seal them off, emerge them in the liquid and then apply a vacuum which will pull the air out. Then you apply pressure to force the liquids into the cracks. They do this on windshields all the time and it can be done DIY fairly easily with some clear tape and a syringe.
could it be the expanding metal that is contacting the acrylic cause some of the fitting to crack?
The fluid in the system reistically is only sitting a few (as in, less than 10) c above ambient temperature. I don't think thermal expansion would affect the nickel plated cooper plugs to such a vast degree compared to the acrylic that that would be the case.
I've seen similar cracks occur on pumps/plates/blocks with acrylic tops that have been exposed to certain solvents, such as isopropyl alcohol. Im curious if he didn't flush the radiators thoroughly enough before installation and whatever chemical solvents that were in the system stayed in the loop, or if they somehow did get into contact with isopropyl.
They either changed their plastic supplier, too aggressive on tapping causing cracks to start during machining, or made the holes/threads too small allowing thermal expansion to crack it. None of my 3+ year old ek acrylic has cracked. every single one of my newer ek stuff has developed cracks after 5 months.
Take the old one, put LEDs on it, and have some water run through it as a desk piece. If it leaks, you only get water on your desk.
i have just ordered same distro plate and i am hoping those cracks won't appear. What my plan is to remove the factory end caps and screw them again. Also i am thinking if this thing happens to regular people will EK provide them with spare parts issued with warranty instead of repurchasing cause as you said this distro plate is freaking expensive?
I’ve looked around your channel, but couldn’t find what software you use for CAD. Thanks
Great video, quick question how did you add a drain valve when it had a stop fitting, whitout spill everywhere during the transition??? Would love to know for my own purposes
Tipped it back until an air bubble was on the port then SPEED CHANGE
Cracks have been caused by not leaving any space between liquid and the top of the distro plate, same thing happened with mine and it sprung a leak
I had this exact same issue with the unit I purchased. Thankfully EK came through with a replacement unit!
For cracks like that to be penetrated by the solvent I think you need some form of vacuum pump or suction cups.
400 bucks? Dang, I'm under selling myself. Last 011 distro I did for someone was 150 and shipping. If you ever want any custom work done shoot me a message. I'll hook you up.
Did that include the pump though? I know it’s overcharged, but that’s one of the thing that drives the cost up since they are like $100.
@@Evil_Chronic you are correct. Since this post I learned they do include the pump with the cost. The distros I make for people do not include the pump.
my flt 360 got cracks around the pump that thing came preinstalled and was never touched!
Could you make a liquid pump and then 3D print fins to see which design moves water better?
what equipment you used to dust off those fans and rads, may i know
looks like compressed air and a blow gun to me.
pretty effective anecdotally speaking
I have the same distribution plate. I really hate you have to run lines all the way to the back for the radiators… well the bottom one anyway. I was able to mount the top one with short fittings, but it’s very tight.
This is why I don't water cool. An extra $500 to get marginally better temps on top of the extra maintenance? I'm good good, thanks.
im hoping to get replacement parts for my pc, old af board and processor and it went kaput earlier this week
Were those fittings NPT or BSPP?
My dude. I don't give a damn about pc's, but you make me give a damn and i appreciate you for it.
Thanks for sharing your case! How has it been doing today? Any new cracks?
I have had nothing but constant issues with this sort of cracking with the acrylic top plates I've worked with on watercooling systems; I now avoid them entirely and only use delrin/acetal tops, aesthetics be damned. Acrylic is simply the wrong material to use in an application like this, and is always prone to stress cracking and especially so at elevated temperatures as seen in a watercooling loop.
Polycarbonate *might* work better, but I don't think I've ever worked with parts that use polycarbonate instead of acrylic. Otherwise, I don't know of any good solutions for clear tops that won't eventually crack around fittings just like this.
Can you 3D print a fan shroud onto the #1 fan and make it better? Or even a shroud that bolts on top of a factory fan that makes it stronger?
I wonder if it would wick in if you used a pressure pot after dabbing it over the cracks.
Glad to see EK replaced the part, going to buy EK parts soon and reassuring to know they're reasonable. Not sure I would dust inside the house though, PC can draw the dust back in.
I see stuff like this and I think "Maybe using plastic to store heated water that you screw metal fittings into is fundamentally a bad idea" and then "maybe a bunch of water flowing around your PC is a bad idea". //air cool life
This! This man knows what he is talking about. Noctua nh-d15 fod the win. Better performamce at 10 times cheaper price.
How are you not at a million subs yet? There are a lot of people missing out rn
im about to build in the same case and pretty much all the same stuff, i dont want the distro in the front though can it go on the side? or is that the non XL version only?
There is another one that's made for the side
What was the song during that montage?
Acrylic can expand and contract a fair bit so wouldn't surprise me if that's just from heat cycle if the threads where a tight fit. Best way if the threads are slightly lose and the seal comes from the gasket only.
Looks like the part that is cracked, is flat, get some gasket material, and a piece of acrylic, drill and tap the holes and you'll have a backup distro.
if they didn't have threads but rather used helicoil it likely would not have cracked. If he is going to drill it, that would be my suggestion. But he definitely can use gasket maker for it.
what air compressor you use, i wery like to know. I'm tired of using ordinary gas pressurized ones.
Best Regards
UHDFreddyEST
Probably didn't like the heat cycling. This new one is most likely going to suffer the same.
my conclusion as well. seems like hard tubing problems to me.
The plugs, are they a tapered fit or do they have an o-ring on the flat side of the nut? Using a tapered nut on something like this is asking for disaster. If so it may be wise to look at some different plugs, you may find the non tapered versions fit the holes, if not you could get a tap quite cheap to ream them out.
What did you use to air clean the fans?
Thanks in advance
Proud of u btw, u gone from smol bean to huge channel :) it's only up from here!
did EKWB ever give you a reason as to why the Distribution Plate cracked like it did?
Because they use cheap ass acrilic and sell you that shit fir golden price, thats why.
how did u overtighten them its just supposed to be hand tight
4:57 That looks to me like some 3D Printer Dust and quite possibly VOC's... I had the same problem and I would recommend to put the printers in a Enclosure with an HEPA Filter! - Just to be save in a room you spend quite some time in!
The VOCs are volatile, so not very probable. Might just be compressed air. Let's go with dust.
5:10 Allergy trigger warning: May contain dust.
My lian li o11D distro plate g1 has mirco cracks got it warranted waiting for a new one to show up to my home
Nice detail on seeing you dust of the fans, and preventing them from spinning. Good example!
Don't know if it sticks well but you could try to use some 3d printing clear resin and cure it. If capillarity doesn't work you could try a suction cup like the one for the drains to pressurize and depressurize until it fills the gaps.
Are there any recommendations from the manufacturer, with what effort should the fittings be tightened?
Any update to this?
Use the dist plates to make some sort of jig for the fan show down??? Dunno.
Vacuum bag like carbon fiber molding or Safelite rock repair. Possibly pressurized to push it in if the vacuum pulls it away from the voids.
why the pipe on the top radiator looks so bad.. rly?
i had 6 cpu ek waterblocks all cracked (never leaked tho) switched to phanteks and no more cracked threads. did not over tighten them* also the phanteks had a flat contact plate, all ek's was convex on the center
Exactly, EK is shit!
When they fix cracks in windows they use a little vacuum pump to suck out the air so the uv cured resin gets pulled into the cracks. You could probably do that if you plugged the hole from the rear. Also, can you order a replacement seal kit?
It's too close to the edge to create a seal using such a device. The suction seal you are referring to requires that the crack be at least 2 inches from an edge.
Was it bought or given as a sample? Did this happened because it was a sample unit or it was just too thight? (Sorry for bad spelling)
What about some clear UV cure resin?
EK is using cheap poor quality acrylic again? They will never learn.
Exactly! What would anyone buy this low quality crap.
Hi, you can use your drain tube to fill the loop, much faster that way, just hold the tube straight up and pour water in using a funnel.
Is it possible that it's due to thermal expansion?
Yes, that combined with EK shit very low quality plastic..
You can fix it by using a vacum chamber and a thinner glue
or some diluting paste on top of it to disolve the cracks and then fill them with glue with will require new treads to be made