Source
r/watercooling•
ExiledHawke

Weird question but, annealing pmma?

First up thanks for all the info on here it's been really helpful! I'm in the process building my first loop and ran into a bit of a weird question; I had never heard of this before either here or in any videos I watched to prep for this build. Corsair manual has a section that states:

"It is also recommended to anneal the tubing before use. This ensures that all internal stress caused by the bending process is normalized. To do so, place the tubes onto a tray in a cold oven and slowly heat it to 80°C over the course of one hour. Maintain the temperature at 80°C for another hour, then turn off the oven and wait one more hour for the tubes to slowly cool down to room temperature."

Is this actually a thing you have to do? I'm guessing not since it's never come up before but figured I'd ask to double check!

Cheers

PS: Here's a couple pics of my current progress https://i.imgur.com/Y1BPZ3t.jpg https://i.imgur.com/QdWU8CF.jpg

Posted Jun 22, 2022, 4:30 PM UTC

29
jthd488•

I’ve never done with that alphacool pmma, although, it did take a while to soften enough for a bend.

2
ExiledHawkeOP•

Yeah it surprised me how long it took, never got that from watching videos.

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FireWrath9•

It might help, but i'd say vast majority of people do not do this, just make sure to get even heating and don't bend too early or too late. get some extra tubing so you can practice, and use an insert. Your bends look great, especially for a first timer.

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ExiledHawkeOP•

Got ya, figured it can't have been a common practice at least. Thanks! I was putting off starting for a couple weeks now but glad I ordered more tubing after reading just that a few times here, ended up using 5 out of 9, 1-meter lengths to get here. First few tries were really bad haha.

2
Elianor_tijo•

Usually not necessary. The idea behind it though is that when you are extruding tube, there can be residual stresses in the plastic. Annealing removes those stresses.

Unless it's extruded and cooled very quickly, it should not be an issue for just bending.

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ExiledHawkeOP•

Perfect thanks, did seem odd i'd never heard about it before then!

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Chomperbob•

Didn’t have an issue bending acrylic, might just be a bit over thinking.

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ExiledHawkeOP•

Seems like it, I've spent way too long researching this before starting so it kinda threw me.

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Chomperbob•

Heat gun set to about 300 degrees, hold the tube about 2-3 inches above it, use the silicone insert. Keep heating til the tubing bends under its own weight, keep heating some more, warm up the bend jig, heat while slowly bending around bend jig.

2