Home made pvc 6-4-4 Y fittting

[marty shultz]

I needed a inexpensive way to get two 4" Y's out of a 6" PVC pipe. I simply heated the the two 4" Y's with a heat gun then shoved them in the 6" fitting then filled the gap with expandable foam. It has worked very well.

[Kurt Heninger]

Marty,

A very timely post for me as I was trying to solve this exact problem. I haven't tried heating pvc before. Any hints on how long to heat it? I don't have a heat gun, do you think a propane torch would work?

[marty shultz]

Kurt,

I tried water and a hair dryer but they didn't work well because more heat is needed. I wouldn't use a torch. I got a heat gun from harbor freight for around $15 that worked great.

PVC vapor is very harmful when heated. I recommend you work outside and wear a chem mask if there isn't a slight breeze.

[David G Baker]

I have used movie lights to heat PVC for shaping but a heat gun is better. If you can find a way to rotate the pipe while heating makes it much easier to shape if you have one hand free.

[Lornie McCullough]

Very clever, and nicely done.

I used a heat gun to reshape pvc pipe to fit the odd-shaped dust port on my planer. The heat gun gets used more often than I would have imagined.

I did not glue any of the joints in my pvc ducting.... I use shrink-wrap (stretch-wrap) to seal any joints I suspect of leaking, and I can change or modify the position of any tool or duct line at will.

Lornie

[Jim Becker]

That's a workable method, for sure. One small thing to consider is how the 4" pipe loses area as you compress the two together. You might want to see if you can come up with a trimming plan for the ends that insert into the 6" pipe that will reduce the distortion and improve air flow for your next version of this.

[Michael W. Clark]

On a side note, that's a pretty slick RAS and MS stand on wheels with DC.

Mike

[raul segura]

That looks like a quick way to accomplish the job, very nice !
I use a torch to shape my PVC ( out side ! ). I don't have the patience for the heat gun, at the same time it is easy to burn or get an even softening when rushing the job.
I also found a good calculator for making joints here:

http://www.harderwoods.com/pipetemplate.php

[Michael Weber]

That looks like a quick way to accomplish the job, very nice !
I use a torch to shape my PVC ( out side ! ). I don't have the patience for the heat gun, at the same time it is easy to burn or get an even softening when rushing the job.
I also found a good calculator for making joints here:

http://www.harderwoods.com/pipetemplate.php

+1 Beat me to for the above template calculator. It works beautifully. I even used it for very thin sheet metal ducts. Print out the generated forms, tape to your pipe, cut and glue together.