{"id":17,"date":"2012-06-26T22:06:44","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T22:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/?p=17"},"modified":"2012-06-27T18:45:38","modified_gmt":"2012-06-27T18:45:38","slug":"reversible-semi-permanent-pvc-glue-joints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/reversible-semi-permanent-pvc-glue-joints\/","title":{"rendered":"Reversible, semi-permanent PVC glue joints and custom fittings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Two PVC pipes joined with Polycaprolactone. This joint can be undone with gentle heating.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fans of PVC pipe know that once a PVC joint is cemented together, it is impossible to take apart without destroying the pieces. Until now. The formula is simple:<\/p>\n

PVC + Polycaprolactone = Awesome<\/p>\n

Poly-capro-what you say? You can read More about Polycaprolactone<\/a> aka PCL here<\/a>. The awesomeness of PCL is well documented by Make Magazine in their article The Many Uses of Shapelock<\/a>, but I have discovered one important use that they missed!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

When PVC meets melted PCL, the result is sticky<\/p><\/div>\n

My displeasure at the failed experiment was short lived when I realized the many implications of this happy accident, which I summarize with a simple photograph.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Two PVC pipes semi-permanently joined with a ball of low-melting point polycaprolactone plastic<\/p><\/div>\n

As you can see, the putty like nature of the PCL combined with its adhesion to PVC allows for some very non-standard \u00a0joints. \u00a0 I also found, as you can see below, that it works very well on traditional joints that need to be strong, yet not permanent.<\/p>\n

Recipe for making\u00a0reversible, semi-permanent PVC glue joints<\/strong><\/p>\n

0) Acquire Polycaprolactone. List of places to buy<\/a><\/p>\n

1) Heat beads of PCL in very hot water until clear and putty-like, then form into an O-ring like shape<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A ring of PCL ready to glue two pieces of PVC together<\/p><\/div>\n

2) Stick the o-ring onto the male side of the joint. \u00a0Pre-warming the PVC with very hot water will ensure a good bond and keep the PCL from cooling too quickly.<\/p>\n

\"PCL<\/a>

The PCL O-Ring has been attached to the male side of the joint. When pressed together, some will be forced into the gap, and the excess will squeeze out.<\/p><\/div>\n

3) Press the fittings together and wait for the PCL to cool<\/p>\n

Once cool, the result is nearly as strong as a cemented joint. For extra strength, you can CAREFULLY pour near-boiling water over the entire assembly after the joint is pressed together to ensure a good bond.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Finished joint is watertight, nearly as strong as cement, and can be undone by gently heating<\/p><\/div>\n

If you ever need to take the joint apart, (gently!) heat the joint under hot water and pull the fitting apart.<\/p>\n

Some thoughts on safety<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although this should go without saying, I’ll say it anyway:<\/p>\n

– be careful around hot water<\/p>\n

– heating plastic with a heat gun or hair dryer is a bad idea due to fire risk<\/p>\n

– joints formed with this technique are neither suitable nor advisable for any plumbing application<\/p>\n

– joints formed with this technique may unintentionally come apart if heated (duh)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have fun and be safe!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fans of PVC pipe know that once a PVC joint is cemented together, it is impossible to take apart without destroying the pieces. Until now. The formula is simple: PVC + Polycaprolactone = Awesome Poly-capro-what you say? You can read … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,7,6,13,8],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-instamorph","tag-pcl","tag-polycaprolactone","tag-pvc","tag-shapelock"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.waters.to\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}