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How to Bend Which bend looks neater? Smoother? More professional?
After you've mastered the basics of making PVC projects, here's how to form PVC pipe into the shape you want. Actually, it's pretty easy once you learn the way I've been doing it. No need to spend hundreds of dollars on specialized PVC pipe bending equipment... everything necessary to get set up should cost less than $35! First,
here's how
not to bend PVC pipe. Tools Needed Heat Gun PVC Pipe Cutter 1/2 or 3/4-inch PVC Pipe To practice, cut a length of "throw-away" 3/4-inch diameter (1/2-inch works as well) PVC pipe, about 3 feet long, then lay it on a flat surface... garage floor, sheet of plywood or whatever. (Read "Is Working with PVC Safe?") Turn the heat gun on high, place the "business end" about an inch, or thereabouts, from the section of pipe you want to heat. (Too close and you'll likely burn the pipe.) Slowly turn the pipe and move the heat gun back and forth 3 or 4 inches in each direction. Be sure to wear a good pair of leather gloves and work in a well-ventilated space. You'll see that, in just a minute or so, the pipe becomes malleable. Turn off the heat gun, pick up the pipe and slowly curve it to the desired shape.
Sand. The sand I use is clean sand which comes in a small sack that you can get from
most any hardware store. Or get a small bucketful of sand from a yard and garden shop, from the beach or wherever. NOTE: Do not glue the caps to the pipe. Heat the pipe as described above. The sand evenly distributes the heat and, of course, keeps it from kinking. Bend the pipe, then let it cool for a couple of minutes.
TIP: you can speed-up the cooling process by pouring cold water over the pipe. (But it tends to be a bit messy.) TIP: pull the pipe just a smidge beyond the desired radius. Because of the recovery characteristics of PVC, the pipe will "spring back" slightly after cooling. Make Your Own Next thing to know is how to get the same radius each time you bend the pipe for duplicate projects. Or, for example, the same curve for arms of a chair. For that, you’ll need to build a simple bending jig. Cut a sheet of plywood into a 3-foot square. (Depending on your project, the square can be bigger, or smaller.) On the plywood, pencil in the radius you want to bend. Then, hammer in a few nails along the line. Prepare the pipe as before, heat and, when ready, place the pipe alongside the nails and bend. Repeat to make as many duplicates of the bend as you need. TIP: Hammer a nail on the opposite "side" of the pipe at each end to hold the bend in place while cooling. To make a more permanent jig, cut a few short lengths (three inches, or so) of 3/8-inch diameter wooden dowels. Draw a two-inch grid pattern on the plywood, then drill holes at each intersection. Tap the dowels into the holes. You can then move them around for various radii. The tighter the grid pattern you draw, say one-inch instead of two-inch, the more variation you can achieve. Here’s one more way to make a PVC pipe bending jig... On the left-over sheet of plywood, draw your radius and cut it out with a jig saw. You can make several different curves with the rest of the plywood. Then nail the piece to the 3-foot square sheet of plywood, heat the pipe and bend. Again, tap in a nail at each end of the pipe to hold the bend in place while it cools. Bending PVC Pipe Made To make bending easier, quicker and to get all kinds of radii, I 've come up with an simple-to-build bending jig that utilizes a "peg system." And it's pretty slick.The tool can be made with scraps. But, if you have to purchase the materials, the cost should be under $20 (plus the cost of the heat gun). I've put full color photos and how-to directions into a handy manual. You can read more about it here. Anyway, with a bit of practice, you'll soon be curving plastic pipe into all kinds of shapes... just like a pro!
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