Homemade 6″ Wye’s for Dust Collector?
Bill1608
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I need quite a few 6″ PVC S&D wye’s for my dust collector piping and they are $16 or more each. So, I am going to try to make them by cutting sections of pipe with a band saw fixture. Has anyone here ever done this? I was thinking about lacing the the pieces together in a half dozen spots with wire and then caulking around the joint with construction adhesive or some other strong adhesive. I think it will work. I plan to use metal HVAC elbows for all the angled joints. They fit nicely inside the 6″ S&D pipe and you can get better looking runs than with using the standard 45’s (sweep 90’s are not available in the 6″ S&D).
Replies
I've seen some templates for cutting these... where I don't remember... It could have been Bill Pentz site, or a link from it.
I think if you get good ai it you'd be able to use PVC adhesive to lock them together.
Regarding the long radius elbows. You can create them from smaller angle joints (3 30's, two 45's). While not true long radius, I found they were similar enough and half the cost...
Maybe it isn't worth the effort. Considering the waste, I could probably only get 2 1/2 to 3 wyes out of a 10' pipe, which means the savings would be less than $10 each.
Look around on the net, someone has info about heat bending their plastic dust pipe. Maybe that would help?
Edward
http://www.billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/PVC.cfm
or
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Bending_Plastic_Pipe.html
Edited 9/23/2009 6:45 pm ET by ef
If you use a bandsaw fixture, make sure the pipe can't shift. It can cut nicely, but if it twists or rolls as it passes through the blade the plastic can shatter and effectively explode. Use DC. Ordinary PVC cement works OK, but it's not all that strong unless you make the surfaces very smooth first.
Building Y's may not be feasible, but making your own LR 90's is quite doable.
Once you calculate how much pipe you need, cap one end (No glue), fill with clean fine sand, cap the opposite end.
Start heating the pipe with a good heat gun. The sand helps distribute the heat evenly and prevents collapsing and kinking. There is always a danger of stressing the wall, but if you take your time you should be ok.
There are a number of sites recommending this method. Do a search on bending PVC pipe.
Don
This site will allow you to make paper template cutting guides.
The templates for 6" pipe are pretty large; it takes several sheets of paper for each piece of pipe.
What is your source of S&D pipe? I was able to get 10' lengths of 6" pieces from a local plumbing supply, for $16 each. Other sources in the area were 50% more.
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