Acrylic or PETG

[steverebo]

Anyone still using acrylic in thier loops or is petg the done thing now. I know that acrylic is more prone to cracking when hit but it is mu h clearer than petg and I find the bends in petg are never perfect they are always slightly warped due to how soft it is.

Im putting my new loop together tomorrow I have both 12mm OD acrylic and petg so looking for opinions from people

 

[Avet]

How wrapped it looks after bending is more about the skill of the bender. You can get them both to look good. Acrylic is clearer, but if you use pastel coolant it really doesn't matter. If your glass is tinted you won't notice the difference from outside. OCD ofc plays the role there. Because you will know what it is. Acrylic is also trickier to bend.

ID also makes the difference, because thinner wall tubing is harder to bend nicely.

If you have Acrylic, and PETG try a simple bend with both. See how good can you manage it and go with whatever feels good.

 

[WillSK]

I've been doing a lot of reading as I'd like to do a watercooled build for my next PC.

As Avet says Acrylic will be slightly clearer but PETG will be easier to bend, won't crack or shatter as easily (easier to clean the edges) and the difference in clarity as far as I can tell is minimal

 

[Bartacus]

The difference is very noticeable if you use translucent coolant. There is definitely a 'blurriness' to PETG tubing. They both bend pretty much the same, but it takes acrylic a lot longer to heat up. PETG is much quicker to heat and bend. I much prefer acrylic, but it's deffo more work to finish them up properly, but not much more.

 

[Warchild]

As Bartacus says, the are both easy to bend.

The whole discussion behind which is easier to shape acrylic vs PETG is somewhat true but also a little moot depending on available tools. Both are ridiculously easy to bend. The only difference is that Acrylic needs a higher temperature. If you have a way to control temperature, it would be just as fast as PETG.

Of the two, I will always choose Acrylic. Simply because of the clear effect it provides. It also allows almost any coolant whereas PETG limits you to ONLY non-based glycose.

Acrylic
Pro
* Clearer crystal translucency
* Compatible with almost all coolants
* Doesn't cloud
* Handles higher temp (moot point but still valid)
* Smoother feel and more scratch resistant than PETG
Con
* Less brittle (but does not mean fragile)
* Higher cost
* Harder to cut and burr ends/edges

PETG
Pro
* Easier to work with
* Less brittle
* Cheaper

Con
* Coolant limitations
* Clouds
* Extremely easy to scratch (so screw type fittings watch out)
* Lower temp for warping
* No as good effect under UV lighting

Coming from experience. I will never trust PETG in my loop again. Simply because of an issue I had with 1 rotary. Paint flaked and broke off in fragments contaminating my loop and thus leading to a block at the CPU. It took approx 2 hours for one of the tubes to heat up and warp inside one fitting leading to a huge leak.

Pretty much like this. Allowing the coolant to flow wonderfully out of my loop and into mycase

 

[steverebo]

I think I will go with acrylic the pros definitely outweigh the cons and I have yet to hear of anyone who's loop cracked or broke during transportation