CNC Design of Metal Tube Casing
Budget: $20 – $100 USD
Background:
I am working on building a computer that will be water cooled. In general, to connect the components together in a water cooling loop, one can use soft tubing (e.g., EPDM) or hard tubing (e.g., acrylic). Soft tubing is much easier to work with given the flexibility of the material.
Hard tubing, on the other hand, is much more challenging to work with; however, it is generally viewed to look a lot better compared to soft tubing. More details on the differences can be found at this link in case you were interested (several photos are included as well).
Proposed Approach:
My current plan is to do a hybrid of soft and hard tubing, which will hopefully provide the flexibility of soft tubes as well as the aesthetics of hard tubes. To achieve this, I am planning to use 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD soft EPDM rubber tubing as the primary tube system to connect each component. However, I would then like to add a thin metal sleeve around the soft tubing that would make it look like a hard tube – this is what I am hoping you can help design.
Tube Casing Requirements:
Here are the specific requirements for the tube casing:
Needs to fit tightly around 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD soft EPDM, which I purchased from McMaster Carr (link). I have attached a STEP file and 2D drawing PDF to this proposal for reference. Additional file formats can be downloaded directly at the link above if needed as well
Needs to be as thin as possible while still being strong enough to not flex with moderate pressure applied (note: I am envisioning using stainless steel as the material for these)
Needs to be removable – this is probably the most challenging aspect of the design. The casing needs to be designed such that it can be easily added to the EPDM tubing after it is connected on both ends. It also needs to be relatively easy to remove in case the tubes need to be modified downstream.
To achieve this, I am envisioning the casing coming in two parts such that it can be placed around the tubing, similar to the image below:There would need to be some sort of a mechanism to hold the two pieces together once they are on the tubing – not sure what the best approach to this would be
Needs to look as close to a hard tube as possible – ultimately, the goal here is to make the soft tubing appear like hard tubing, so it will be important for the design to wrap all the way around the tube and minimize the size of creases/cracks
Available in several lengths – each section of tubing will be a different size, so I would need the designs in several lengths: 1”, 2", 2.5", 3", 3.5", 4", 5", 6"
Please let me know if you have any questions or clarifications –
Thanks!
I am working on building a computer that will be water cooled. In general, to connect the components together in a water cooling loop, one can use soft tubing (e.g., EPDM) or hard tubing (e.g., acrylic). Soft tubing is much easier to work with given the flexibility of the material.
Hard tubing, on the other hand, is much more challenging to work with; however, it is generally viewed to look a lot better compared to soft tubing. More details on the differences can be found at this link in case you were interested (several photos are included as well).
Proposed Approach:
My current plan is to do a hybrid of soft and hard tubing, which will hopefully provide the flexibility of soft tubes as well as the aesthetics of hard tubes. To achieve this, I am planning to use 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD soft EPDM rubber tubing as the primary tube system to connect each component. However, I would then like to add a thin metal sleeve around the soft tubing that would make it look like a hard tube – this is what I am hoping you can help design.
Tube Casing Requirements:
Here are the specific requirements for the tube casing:
Needs to fit tightly around 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD soft EPDM, which I purchased from McMaster Carr (link). I have attached a STEP file and 2D drawing PDF to this proposal for reference. Additional file formats can be downloaded directly at the link above if needed as well
Needs to be as thin as possible while still being strong enough to not flex with moderate pressure applied (note: I am envisioning using stainless steel as the material for these)
Needs to be removable – this is probably the most challenging aspect of the design. The casing needs to be designed such that it can be easily added to the EPDM tubing after it is connected on both ends. It also needs to be relatively easy to remove in case the tubes need to be modified downstream.
To achieve this, I am envisioning the casing coming in two parts such that it can be placed around the tubing, similar to the image below:There would need to be some sort of a mechanism to hold the two pieces together once they are on the tubing – not sure what the best approach to this would be
Needs to look as close to a hard tube as possible – ultimately, the goal here is to make the soft tubing appear like hard tubing, so it will be important for the design to wrap all the way around the tube and minimize the size of creases/cracks
Available in several lengths – each section of tubing will be a different size, so I would need the designs in several lengths: 1”, 2", 2.5", 3", 3.5", 4", 5", 6"
Please let me know if you have any questions or clarifications –
Thanks!