RichardG
If at first you don’t succeed have a cup of tea.
I’ve been wanting to add some fixed dust extraction to the workshop for ages and have been saving off-cuts of 110mm soil pipe as this seems to be a robust and cheap solution. I also decided to make all the tee joints and bends too, which turned out to be really easy.
Here are the finished items.
To make the tee you only need 4 straight cuts. I went down the template route. There are several handy sites on the internet that will do the hardwork of making the required template. I used https://cq.cx/tubejoin.pl to generate mine and here's a link showing the actual design but I've attached the 2 template pdfs as well.
Once you've printed the templates you wrap them round the pipe ensuring it's square and then use some tape to fix. I used a fine hardpoint handsaw to make the cuts required. As always cut on the wast side and then use a file to clean up. To join I used the standard solvent weld glue as this actually melts the pipe and makes an extremely strong joint. So cover the edges on the spigot and saddle and then assemble but twist/slide the pipes against each other to ensure the plastic melds together. Leave for 24 hours for max strength. I also ran a line of hot glue over the joint as a couple had a very small joint gap but I think it would make very little difference in practice.
The 90 degree bend doesn't require a template as you're cutting a set of mitres. I made a mitre jig. The angle is dependant on how many segments you fancy, I used 3 segments which means you need to divide 90 by 8 to get 11.25 degree angle. Start with a longish bit of pipe, slice off the first section, then twist the pipe 180 degrees and then cut the 1st segment, twist 180 cut 2nd segment etc. To join use the samme solvent as before.
To join the pipes I expanded a 50mm length of soil pipe over a former which is then a good sliding fit over the outside of the pipe. To make the former, take a 100m length of pipe and split it lengthways using a fine saw. Find something that is the same thickness as the wall of the pipe, I used a bit of aluminium, and insert into the cut to expand the former. Mitre off the corner to offer a lead in, hopefully the photo makes sense (ignore the cuts as it was an off-cut). Cut a load of 50mm lengths and put them in the oven at 150-160C and leave for 20 minutes. Using your wife's best oven gloves (important this!!) take then out and they will easily stretch over your former. Cool by submerging in a bucket of water and then knock out the spacer which will allow the stretched pipe to be removed. Repeat.
Sliding couplings allow any segment of pipe to be removed easily. Sure they're not 100% air tight but its good enough. An even easier option is just to use duct tape.
In all 6 tees, 2 bends and 12 joiners took me about a 1.5 days and saved about £70 (not that I was doing it to save money) as I used pipe offcuts which were free and it was really satisfying. Toolstation are selling 6m of pipe delivered for £18 so it's a cheap solution even if you have no offcuts.
This may be of use to use to someone else?
Here are the finished items.
To make the tee you only need 4 straight cuts. I went down the template route. There are several handy sites on the internet that will do the hardwork of making the required template. I used https://cq.cx/tubejoin.pl to generate mine and here's a link showing the actual design but I've attached the 2 template pdfs as well.
Once you've printed the templates you wrap them round the pipe ensuring it's square and then use some tape to fix. I used a fine hardpoint handsaw to make the cuts required. As always cut on the wast side and then use a file to clean up. To join I used the standard solvent weld glue as this actually melts the pipe and makes an extremely strong joint. So cover the edges on the spigot and saddle and then assemble but twist/slide the pipes against each other to ensure the plastic melds together. Leave for 24 hours for max strength. I also ran a line of hot glue over the joint as a couple had a very small joint gap but I think it would make very little difference in practice.
The 90 degree bend doesn't require a template as you're cutting a set of mitres. I made a mitre jig. The angle is dependant on how many segments you fancy, I used 3 segments which means you need to divide 90 by 8 to get 11.25 degree angle. Start with a longish bit of pipe, slice off the first section, then twist the pipe 180 degrees and then cut the 1st segment, twist 180 cut 2nd segment etc. To join use the samme solvent as before.
To join the pipes I expanded a 50mm length of soil pipe over a former which is then a good sliding fit over the outside of the pipe. To make the former, take a 100m length of pipe and split it lengthways using a fine saw. Find something that is the same thickness as the wall of the pipe, I used a bit of aluminium, and insert into the cut to expand the former. Mitre off the corner to offer a lead in, hopefully the photo makes sense (ignore the cuts as it was an off-cut). Cut a load of 50mm lengths and put them in the oven at 150-160C and leave for 20 minutes. Using your wife's best oven gloves (important this!!) take then out and they will easily stretch over your former. Cool by submerging in a bucket of water and then knock out the spacer which will allow the stretched pipe to be removed. Repeat.
Sliding couplings allow any segment of pipe to be removed easily. Sure they're not 100% air tight but its good enough. An even easier option is just to use duct tape.
In all 6 tees, 2 bends and 12 joiners took me about a 1.5 days and saved about £70 (not that I was doing it to save money) as I used pipe offcuts which were free and it was really satisfying. Toolstation are selling 6m of pipe delivered for £18 so it's a cheap solution even if you have no offcuts.
This may be of use to use to someone else?
