pvc mock up????

[snappy]

Has anyone used pvc pipe in a bender to play around with chassis mock up rather than wasting dom?

 

[98xjjeep]

Are you talking about heating it up and bending it? Im pretty sure it will break in a bender.

 

[snappy]

yes heating possibly with heat gun or torches....

 

[rockcity]

I've only used cheap conduit which works well for the most part

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

back during my mini-baja days, we used pvc to mock up the chassis, but we didnt bend it, we just did miter cut corners...

 

[jeepinmatt]

I've heated and bent PVC, but if you bend it in a bender, it will break.

 

[rockcity]

back during my mini-baja days, we used pvc to mock up the chassis, but we didnt bend it, we just did miter cut corners...

we did that in the mini baja days but used socket joints without glue, just some self tapping screws

 

[Yay!Gurrr]

I've got a 10 sticks of 3/4" gray conduit I planning to use for mock up when I get to the tubing part (maybe even this weekend!!). I also bought a few 45 and 90 elbows for the big bends and was gonna play with my heat gun or torches for the smaller ones... I was just gonna ducktape them in place and see how it went... Maybe construction glue if needed...

 

[Caver Dave]

I've mocked up smaller/individual parts using PVC...

- Use Schedule 40 (cheaper & possibly a bit thinner)
- Using a heat gun or propane torch on shorter bends works fine. A rosette tip on an O/A rig is best for heating up longer sections
- Once heated/pliable, *manually* (move PVC, *NOT* the bender!) using the benders die will make the bends repeatable...
- Keep a (dripping) wet rag/towel for cooling it in position (will take minutes to air cool)

 

[carter3]

They make a bender for bending PVC. It's a spring that goes in to hold the shape. Same concept as mandrel bending. No heat is used with these. For small pipe 1/2", 3/4" and 1" you slide this in and bend with your hands.
Check it out http://www.thepipeviper.com/

 

[Ron]

we always bent conduit with a hotbox....

 

[carter3]

we always bent conduit with a hotbox....

We also use a hot box. We use a heat gun if only running 1 or two small pipes.

If you are trying to only use one size pipe for mockup, I think the pipeviper would work good because of the ability of using it with your bender dies, not worrying about deforming, or trying to cool it to hold it's shape.