Removing glued fittings

Fnord · Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:45 pm

So, apparently it can be done.

Recently, I made a little 1" porting pvc plinker since I was bored. After some tweaking I was ready to assemble it for good. Since I was using pvc and I wanted the piston serviceable, I used a re-inforced cleanout cap(nsf-pw plugs apparently don't exist here).

After applying a goodly coating of PTFE, I proceeded to crank 'er down nice and tight.

*crack*

(insert FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU guy)

Well, that didn't work. The female adaptor split, taking a bit of the piston housing with it (did not affect the tee).
I did not want to start over, so I decided to see how well pvc glue really does bond fittings...

After about 20 minutes of slowly heating with a pencil torch and peeling it away with vice grips, I removed the cracked fitting with no damage to the valve. At this point I am certain of my solvent welding ability and that the cans of primer and cement were fresh. PVC glue simply does not join as well as the prophecy foretold.

You may have noticed the paint. To answer a question posed a while back by JSR,
this is why I dont make nice things!
I plan on trying to remove the inner pipe as well, then redoing it with a layer of fiberglass around the new threaded adaptor. I doubt it will break again.

wyz2285 · Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:50 pm

Well I´m not good with pvcs, so I´m not going to say any useful things here, but I have to say that I like you paint job

mark.f · Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:25 pm

Sweet paint job.

I've heard of people boring out fittings with a hole saw/lathe/etc (Mr.Plow did it for his Banjo Cannon barrel IIRC), and I've actually seen a tutorial on here for removing fittings using heat and a screwdriver.

Glad to see it worked for you.

EDIT: piston pics please.

Fnord · Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:23 pm

Here's the piston, plus the pilot assembly.

The piston is fiber-reinforced bondo, with high-temp silicone cast directly into it as a sealing face. Floating oring, silicone bumper, yada yada.

Cleanout cap has epoxy cast into it for extra strength. Cheers, JSR.

PVC Arsenal 17 · Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:29 pm

I've had PVC fittings crack apart like that a few times. It's certainly a discomforting thing to witness when you regularly subject solvent-welded joints to high pressure. Glad to see you could fix it, though.

jackssmirkingrevenge · Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:54 pm

Fnord wrote:To answer a question posed a while back by JSR,
this is why I dont make nice things!

Ditto

Removing glued fittings

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