I did it! I won! I won the prize for dumb!

[Jim C Bradley]

I have been installing 6" PVC dust collection ducts. Being a lightweight I hired a Marine (great source of good strong helpers) to help. We worked up a great routine and became very efficient at cutting pipe with a reciprocating saw. I put the pipe up on an old table (with V blocks) and rotated it. The marine held the reciprocating saw and viola---nice straight cuts.
So far, so good. He left and then I realized that I forgot the outhouse (what we call shed with dust collector, air compressor, etc.) DC plumbing. I am alone. I can't rotate pipe and handle saw at the same time.
Got a brilliant idea. Since the remaining sections are fairly small I will set up a support and trim the pipe on my Delta Band saw. The saw had a fine blade in it. It worked really great. However the plastic dust was everywhere (talk about static cling). I dusted. I vacuumed. I brushed. I blew.
I was talking with my son Glenn. He asked, "Did you check those new tires you just put on the band saw?" I opened Delta and there was a ton more dust. More vacuuming etc. The tires were coated with PVC particles. I scraped and scraped. That left only 25,000 small particles embedded in the tire. I removed these with my fingernails and the back edge of a knife.
The particle picking only took an hour and a half. Then I had to start on the bottom tire. DUMB! DUMB!
Now two thoughts---well one question and one suggestion:
1. Would a coarser blade make less of a mess? Any other suggestions?
2. Recommendations: If you are going to cut PVC use a reciprocating saw OUTSIDE and have a helper.
Enjoy,
Jim

[Chuck Lenz]

Would a metal chopsaw or a miter saw of worked ? Outside ofcourse lol

[Bart Leetch]

Do not use a metal chop saw with a carborundum blade. I purchased a chop saw with one of these blades that had been used this way because it was there and it was only 1 quick cut. WRONG the blade had to be thrown away it was glazed over with PVC & try as I might I couldn't get it to cut steel.

[Larry Cooke]

Try a hacksaw, granted it's not going to help you make hundreds of cuts per day, but it will do the job and not gum up the works on your power tools. That's what I use BTW.

Also, you really don't want to use a coarse blade cutting PVC, it will catch on the wall of the pipe at 90 degrees to the cut and it wouldn't be fun if/when it happens.

[Don Morris]

I don't get it. What mistake did you make? Until the end it sounded like just what I would have done. Not sure about the BS blade but I also recently had an incident with PVC pipe. I had to run some PVC pipe down from a PVC pipe that was exiting from a recently installed HVAC system in our 2nd floor and came out through the siding. The water drip left a mark on the siding and roof tile and LOML didn't like the looks of it so she asked me to make a run of PVC pipe from the exiting pipe right to the gutter. I put up the ladder and usually put a heavy pot up against the ladder to stabilize it, but LOML just put some flowers in that pot and admonished me not to forget and step back on my way down onto the flowers. I figured I just better not do that and just leave the pot where it was and "be careful". On the way down, the ladder slipped out and I spent 10 hrs in the ER confirming I just tore the s__t out of my rotator cuff. Dumb, dumb and there's yours truly, dumber. And did you thank that Marine for his service to his country?

[Don Morris]

BTW...the recommended saw for PVC is a short, thick saw which I used on my almost completed job. The system is connected, it just has to have the last joint cemented. That's going to have to wait.

[Cody Colston]

When I installed my 6" pvc ducting, I made a "miter box" out of some scrap 1/2" plywood and placed it on a benchtop. The box was about 3' long an just wide enough to place the pvc inside. A quick-grip clamp across the side boards squeezed it enough to keep it from rotating. I cut it with a handsaw.

Now, in case someone misunderstands, I cut the pvc at 90 deg. I didn't miter it. :D

[John Schreiber]

You can apply for the prize for dumb if you want, but I don't think you have a chance with this one. You've still got all your body parts and most importantly, it seemed like a perfectly good use of a band saw to me.

[JayStPeter]

When I installed my 6" pvc ducting, I made a "miter box" out of some scrap 1/2" plywood and placed it on a benchtop. The box was about 3' long an just wide enough to place the pvc inside. A quick-grip clamp across the side boards squeezed it enough to keep it from rotating. I cut it with a handsaw.

Now, in case someone misunderstands, I cut the pvc at 90 deg. I didn't miter it. :D

I did the same, except a different type of scrap. A $9 stanley handsaw worked great. Hacksaws were too fine and took a while to get through 6". The blade was also a little on the short side when you get to the middle. The handsaw I used appears to have laser cut teeth that were not too coarse.
When I made my blast gates and needed small rings, I used my bandsaw and an old dull blade. I did have DC hooked up though and it only took a few minutes with the vac to clean up afterward. I found DC more effective with the PVC than with wood.

[Jim O'Dell]

I used my cheapie Ryobi MS. Cut slowly, very slowly, no problems. I did cut some on the TS, but that gets pretty hairy. Did have a couple pieces grab and shatter. Pretty scarey when it happens. I was lucky both times...no imbeded plastic in the fleshy parts. :eek: Jim.

[Michael W. Jackson]

Now I'm cleaning up my wheels too!

[Fred Gross]

......hired a Marine (great source of good strong helpers) to help.

Muscles
Are
Required
Intelligence
Not
Essential

:D

[Steve Campbell]

Jim and the rest of you that have cut PVC pipe on a band saw, You may be luckier than you think. It's never a good idea to run anything round through the band saw without it being supported so that it can not rotate as it is fed. I know more than one guy that had the piece "MOVE" just a little. The best you can hope for is a bruised ego. Most of the time you will end up at least breaking your best blade.
Yes I have done it and got by with it several times but it only took once for me to learn my lesson.
Hope this helps someone.
Steve

[Al Willits]

I've had good luck using a keyhole wood saw, cuts though pretty quick and is easy to clean up.

Al

[Tom Cowie]

Sometimes ya just gotta laugh Jim,


I cut some Styrofoam on my bandsaw last year not thinking.

The neighbor had 7 4'x8'x4" sheets that he wanted to cut into 2'x4'x1" pieces for insulation for his shop.

I hooked the shopvac up to the bandsaw because we moved it outside my shop and started cutting..


The first thing that I noticed was the lower guides (ceramic) were gumming up. This wasn't to much of a problem. I just stopped cutting for a minute and popped the hard foam off them.

I must say all went well until we took the lid off the shop vac to dump it into a trash can,,,,:o :o


It was in early August and when the top jumped off the vac it looked like it had snowed in my whole back yard. It didn't help that the wind was blowing about ten miles an hour...:(

Need less to say the other neighbors were in shock.

As I look back it was quite funny but what a mess to clean up..:)

Tom

[Micah Kaufman]

If you have not, you should consider grounding your plumbing... similar static build up with fine wood dust = boom or fire?

[Jim C Bradley]

You are darned right I thanked him. Whenever I need someone to help me I contact <hiremarines.com> or <hirepatriots.com>. I say something like, "Need some help installing attic fan." OR "Need some grunt work in the yard" OR etc. "Pay $15.00 / hour. Estimate x hours needed."
I help a guy or gal who is serving my country and who wants some extra income for something. Yes I could hire an illegal---probably for less. But the illegal is "Illegal." He is sponging off of my country. He is not risking his life for me. He is not putting up with s--t to protect me. Guess I better stop now. This is not a good subject to get me wound up on (pardon the poor grammer but it says it better than proper English.)
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi Jay,
The dust collector sounds great --- BUT I was building the dust collector system at the time. I suppose I could have had the ShopVac going and helped myself.
I have worked with other plastics in the past though not with a bandsaw. I should have known the plastic would love my bandsaw tires. I believe the expression is, "Think ahead."
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi John,
Yes. Thank God I still have all of my body parts. They may be old but I love them (I started to say, "I'm attached to them."). I can kid about my dumb because it was not serious...just aggrevating.
I am in a position where I see a lot of really stupids such as battery exploding in face of guy who didn't follow directions for a jump start...or the guy who got a stick of wood in the eye because he was only going to make one cut...etc.
Normally I sign off with, "Enjoy." But with the above I will just sign off
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi Michael,
Consider this a sympathy card.
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi Steve,
I had the PVC supported in a home made V-Block so it could not travel. It was also braced so that it could not pull into the blade. The maximum cut I could make was the thickness of the wall. The cut was made by rotating the cylinder making a cut with less depth than the wall thickness and making a couple rotations.
Does that make sense to anyone but me---the guy who wrote it?
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi Tom,
I'm laughing so hard tears are running.
Thanks for cheering up my day.
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Thanks to all of you, serious and humerous. I learned some things and I had a good laugh.
Enjoy,
Jim

[Jim C Bradley]

Hi to all,
About the time I think I can get a reply to come up where I want it---it does not.
Will some brain tell me how to do that?
Enjoy,
Jim

[Matt Meiser]

I just use my miter saw. Yes, the blade gets coated in melted PVC (which now that I think of it can't be very healthy, so make sure you have good ventilation). The chips go everywhere and stick to everything, but vacuum up with the shop vac OK.

The Boeshield blade cleaner (forget the name) takes the PVC film right off with a couple minutes soaking and makes the blade as good as new as far as I can tell. Laminate flooring is much harder on the blades than the PVC pipe.

[Sam Shank]

Has anyone tried one of the wire saws? They sell them at home depot, and they're really easy to use. Very convenient if you have to saw something in a tight spot (installed plumbing) where you can't get a "saw zaw" (I saw one on craigslist spelled like that.)

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Jim,

I did it! I won! I won the prize for dumb!
Move aside - I'll step in and knock you down to second place :D

I used a chain saw once on a piece of PVC....

Yes - it worked - and yes - I had a gazillion pieces of the stuff everywhere.

Big difference was mine were all coated with oil...:o

FWIW - Miter saw & fine blade or masonry blade is the easiest.

[Rick Gibson]

Muscles
Are
Required
Intelligence
Not
Essential

Fred - spoken like a true ex. marine. :) (I was Air Force)

I usually just use a hack saw when cutting pvc.

[Jeff Raymond]

I can't get into PVC for anything myself.

As for dust collection, I always use galvanized steel and make sure to ground it! Especially if you are using larger equipment, you are creating a huge static electricity experiment with dust collection and there have been instances of shops blowing up from the combination of explosive material (sawdust) and static electricity at high speed.

No kiddin' around with this: And I was in the Air Force too, so go figure.