ELIMINATING CRACKED ACRYLIC RESERVOIRS
Optimus
uses only cast acrylic tubes from premium name-brand suppliers like
Plexiglas® by Arkema and Polycast™ by Spartech. Cast acrylic tubing is
one of the most difficult types of acrylic to make, but the quality is
second to none.
The benefits of cast aren't small: extremely fracture resistant, highly stain resistant and excellent optical clarity.In
fact, our cast acrylic is much stronger than acetal and nearly
impossible to break. Feel free to allen wrench your fittings in place,
our block won't blink.
CAST VS EXTRUDED ACRYLIC TUBE
Unlike
cast, extruded acrylic tubing can be extremely cheap to purchase and
it's easy to manufacture. That’s why extruded is used by nearly every
watercooling company.But extruded
acrylic isn't suited for liquid cooling parts. Extruded is prone to
stress and spider web fractures from machining and expanding/contracting
during temp fluctuations.
CAST VS INJECTION MOLDED NYLON TUBE
Like
extruded acrylic, injection molded nylon feature similar downsides,
including a +/- 10% expansion variation and high fluid retention, all
sources of stress. Injection molding requires self-tapping screws,
rather than CNCed threads, meaning the accuracy and service life of
nylon is very low.
CAST VS BOROSILICATE GLASS TUBE
Borosilicate
glass, while it looks great, has its own challenges. Glass can't be
machined, thus requiring additional support to create the seal, opening a
new host of potential leak issues. While borosilicate glass is much
cheaper than cast acrylic, cast offers incredible durability and
reliability while matching the clarity of glass.