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Bending PVC

florida | Posted in Construction Techniques on February 9, 2014 09:16am

I’ve got a lot of arched windows to trim with PVC and have been cutting the trim. It’s slow as the arches aren’t uniform

and requires us to glue two pieces of PVC together to get a large enough piece for the radius. After a great deal of searching I found

heat mats but they are $1400.00. I’ve seen and read about using a section of Sonitube and a torpedo heater which looks a lot easier and cheaper. Anyone done it this way and if so what size heater is large enough?  We’re only bending 1 X 4″  pieces aobut 5′ long

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  1. DanH | Feb 09, 2014 10:04am | #1

    If there's a tool rental place near you you can probably rent a plumber's pipe heater fairly reasonably.

    And people have done this sort of thing with the careful application of a torch.

    1. florida | Feb 09, 2014 12:35pm | #3

      No Dan, no one uses a torch to bend PVC trim and a plumbers pipe heater would be worthless for this job.

  2. gfretwell | Feb 09, 2014 10:23am | #2

    The old electrician trick, stick it in the tail pipe of the truck.

    You should be able to rent a hot box tho.

    1. florida | Feb 09, 2014 12:37pm | #4

      1 X 4" in a tailpipe? What

      1 X 4" in a tailpipe? What are you driving? I've actually bent a lot of PVC pipe in the tailpipe of my truck in years gone by.

      I have to get the entire board to 280 degrees for it to bend.

      1. DanH | Feb 09, 2014 02:35pm | #5

        That's a pretty tight bend!

      2. User avater
        coonass | Feb 09, 2014 09:49pm | #6

        florida,

        Check out this thread.

        http://forums.delphiforums.com/breaktimeclass/messages?msg=8043.9

        KK

        1. florida | Feb 10, 2014 03:41pm | #12

          Good stuff and some innovative ideas. That was a big help, thanks!

      3. gfretwell | Feb 10, 2014 11:43am | #7

        You might be able to put a piece of metal dryer vent over the pipe to duct the heat along the 1x4/

        The trick with any scheme is getting the heat even along the piece.

        1. florida | Feb 10, 2014 03:45pm | #14

          I've seen some guys using a shop heater but I don't want to go too big or too small. Even temps are the key

          but it's hard ot get any real information on what size to get

  3. User avater
    MarkH | Feb 10, 2014 12:17pm | #8

    Get a couple or three gas grills, cut out the sides so you can get your pvc inside, gang them together somehow, lay some sheetmetal inside to put the PVC on, set them to hold 280 degrees.

    1. florida | Feb 10, 2014 03:46pm | #15

      I can see the clouds of black smoke already!

    2. DanH | Feb 10, 2014 08:39pm | #17

      I'm waiting for JunkHound to offer some suggestions.

  4. gbaune | Feb 10, 2014 01:34pm | #9

    Heat

    How about 6' of 24 ga. heating duct, cap on the end and a job-site heater blowing in the open end.  Propane heaters are cheap to come by (stink?), electric might be the answer.  Build a form out of plywood and start manufacturing.

    What does it cost to have them custom made and how many are you talking about?

    Good topic................

    1. florida | Feb 10, 2014 03:48pm | #16

      That's my idea but no one seems to know what size heater it will take. I'll need somewhere between 12  and 100 and at this point I really don't know which. 4 per building,  5 down and 25 to go unless my customer runs out of money first.

      1. User avater
        spclark | Feb 13, 2014 09:34pm | #18

        6" round duct

        as long as necessary (hopefully not more than 10'!) capped @ both ends with a good, quality 15A heat gun blowing into a hole cut in the middle. Cut an exit vent in each end, maybe 1" dia. so airflow's consistent. If working below 50F, put 3-1/2" of fiberglass insulation on the duct so it stays warm.

        Don't need a lot of heat, just use enough in the right place.

        http://www.zorotools.com/g/00055914/k-G0394317?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google_Shopping_Feed&kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&gclid=CKP5vbjLyrwCFSzNOgodvS8A_A

  5. AndyEngel | Feb 10, 2014 01:46pm | #10

    When I ran

    the deck magazine, a couple of my authors bent PVC decking with the HeatCon blankets. The trouble with other approaches that they had tried was ensuring a uniform temperature throughout the piece. Temperature variations can lead to uneven bends.

    1. florida | Feb 10, 2014 03:40pm | #11

      I checked out the Heatcon blankets but at $1400.00 they are too steep for my blood although I may have ot suck it up and buy one anyway.

      1. AndyEngel | Feb 10, 2014 03:44pm | #13

        Yeah.

        Might make sense if you could use them on other jobs, perhaps carving out a new market niche. But honestly, while I've never used them myself, the people I've spoken with who have used them swear by them. But $1400. Yeah.

  6. oops | Feb 13, 2014 11:21pm | #19

    bending PVC

    FWIW.  I used 8" dia. metal duct.  It was a weird set up.  One sourse of heat  Y'd  into three equally spaced points along a  +/- 18' main duct that the material was in.  Worked so so.  The heat was not as uniform as would have desired.   I didn't have a lot to bend.  But the price was right.

  7. User avater
    deadnuts | Feb 16, 2014 05:29pm | #20

    I second the 8" duct method.

    I second the 8" duct method. A couple of additional comments that might help:

    1. wrap the duct in fiberglass insulation. I used metal tie wire wound loosly around it to hold it in place.

    2. support the pvc on a pc of fibercement siding. It fits nicely inside as a shelf.

    3. I used a propane fueled redi-heater and funneled the heat (roughly; not sealed) into the pipe with duct boot adapter.

    4. use an 8"  end cap with a few drilled holes drilled into it to allow a restricted, but positive flow of  heat.

    5. ck the pvc with a laser thermometer; it takes a bit of time, but it will get it up to a workable temperature.

    6. never leave this set up, or any flame source heater, unattended.

    1. florida | Feb 17, 2014 11:33am | #21

      That sounds like just the ticket! I'll give it a try. What size heater did you use or does it matter?

      1. User avater
        deadnuts | Feb 17, 2014 09:37pm | #22

        Heater

        In my case I used a 40K BTU Propane fueled heater made by Dayton. I find this forced air system keeps the pipe pumped full of hot air very nicely. You may note that I made some plywood bucks to hold the duct up off the ground so was easy to set up the heater position. I use this heater to heat job sites anyway, so total investment for me on this set up is under $50.

        NOTE: I use this set up to work 4' long pcs of PVC for arched caps, but if I were to do longer pcs (like 8' to 12') I think I would try using two opposing heaters (with boots on each end). I would also probably put a "T" right in the middle and let the opposing forced hot air vent there (thereby maintaining  positive air flow across the material) to get more even heating of the material.

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