How do you do this? Not Fish Related but I want to put a bell end on my didgeridoo and don't know how.
A picture of what I mean by bell...
A picture of what I mean by bell...
Bending PVC
- Thread starter salsa
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] To practice, lay a length of "throw-away" one-inch diameter (or less) PVC pipe, about 3 feet long on a flat surface... garage floor, sheet of plywood or whatever. Turn the heat gun on high, place the "business end" about an inch, or thereabouts, from the section of pipe you want to heat. Slowly turn the pipe and move the heat gun back and forth 3 or 4 inches in each direction. Be sure to wear a good pair of leather gloves. You'll see that, in just a minute or so, the pipe becomes very malleable. Turn off the heat gun, pick up the pipe and slowly bend it to the desired shape.[/FONT]
salsa;1677027; said:
Heat Gun, Oven, Element, Torch, Whatever. Any way you do it, you'll have to do a test/practice piece first. Properly heated PVC will be like stiff play-dough, but you'll have to do some messing around to find that happy medium.
You will need a mold or something of the same shape to bend the pipe around. It doesnt have to be an exact mold, using several different objects to get the total desired shape will work. Luckily what you want seems easy, a wine bottle perhaps ....
One suggestion is to heat slowly in a large area, not rapidly in small areas. Its easy to burn PVC pipe but practice will help. When the pipe starts to bend, you will still need to continue heating till it is mallable.
You can also have a bucket of water to cool the pipe if your desired shape is tricky.
One suggestion is to heat slowly in a large area, not rapidly in small areas. Its easy to burn PVC pipe but practice will help. When the pipe starts to bend, you will still need to continue heating till it is mallable.
You can also have a bucket of water to cool the pipe if your desired shape is tricky.
I have used a heat gun to bend pipe, but it is easy to burn it. Boiling water works too.
It helps to have a rag soaked in cold water to harden the pipe when you get it the way you want it. Like Kusoji said, practice with some scrap pieces first.
Have fun making strange sounds...
It helps to have a rag soaked in cold water to harden the pipe when you get it the way you want it. Like Kusoji said, practice with some scrap pieces first.
Have fun making strange sounds...
I used to build whirlpool systems for bathtubs. You need to build a long wood box closed on the end to put the pvc in to heat it evenly or you will just put a kink where the pipe is the hottest. Leave one end open to place your heat gun, and place a small vent at the other. Heat the pipe to the desired temp and bend. Oh, and don't place the gun too close to the box or it will melt.