heat forming - trial on PVC pipe

[Screech]

While I was browsing around for bird toys I came across this page: Macaw Bird Toys by Nalani Toys

If you look down the list you'll see some formed PVC tubing. I never thought of this myself, but I know exactly how it is formed: heat and gloved hand. I looked around for how-to's on PVC forming and found this: HOW TO BEND PVC PIPE


My little experiment:
So after reading through about bending pipe, I decided to try for myself on a small half pipe of 1" PVC. My sample was only 4" long, so I decided I would form into a flat sheet. With the heat gun about 2" away from the material on high setting I was able to undo most of the curvature and form a flat-ish piece. I then examined to find any fumes from burnt plastic and on further examination I did find some bubbling. This is not a certain indicator, however, as I did not examine the sample's surface before applying heat.

Any thoughts on this? If heat forming can be done safely (it seems to be safe enough to market toys), I imagine very intricate play structures could be made without the use of any elbows.

 

[MikeyTN]

My thing would be after heating up and such, does it become a bit toxic to birds?? I know they're heated up to form it in the first place. It might be safe but I'm just a bit cautious.....

 

[Birdman666]

A couple of thoughts on this one...

Yes you can make some pretty fancy ones from PVC, with or without heating them up. And I have one that I bought that was heated and formed, and have been using for over a decade, though it still has screws to attach the "branches" to the body of the bird tree.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO HEAT THEM UP:

1. I would do two things. First I would wear respiratory protection, i.e. a mask, and use it in a well ventilated area preferably outside.

2. HEATING UP PVC PRODUCES FUMES THAT ARE POTENTIALLY FATALLY TOXIC TO PARROTS!!! So, do this away from your bird or you may accidentally kill him...

3. Same deal with the glue they use on PVC. THE FUMES ARE UBER-TOXIC TO PARROTS, and not necessarily something humans want to breathe in either. Ventilated area, away from the bird, wear a mask.

BUT YOU CAN MAKE SOME PRETTY AMAZING STUFF WITH PVC.

 

[Screech]

does it become a bit toxic to birds??

I imagine the biggest risk is oxidization of the compound as it approaches combustion temperature. That certainly would change the chemical properties, which could be indicated by a color change. Shavings left over from cutting the material are quite easily burned while heating, so it's a good idea to clean up the edges well.

Giving the material a couple of days before bringing it in to give it some time to release most of the bad gases won't hurt anyone.

 

[Betrisher]

While I agree with all the comments about possible toxicity concerns, I think it's a BRILLIANT idea to try heat-forming pvc pipe! Those elbow jobbies cost $$$ and it'd be easy as pie to simply bend the pvc around a metal pipe to form rounded corners or circular shapes. I'm going to get hubby onto this!

Imagine a pvc boing covered in vetwrap. Or a jungle gym of interwoven pieces. Or a spiral staircase with curved 'steps'. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for the post, Screech. It's great food for thought!

 

[Captsteve]

Another method that keeps you from burning the PVC is to heat a pot of antifreeze and put the PVC in it to soften, then form , stretch, bend to your hearts desire.

The PVC is like play dough using this method.

 

[Screech]

I did some more work to see what was possible with just a heat gun.



The upper left is 1 1/2" PVC and just to accomplish that took far too long and burned too many fingers. The plan was to shape it like a hardwood branch, but all I could do was flatten it a little bit. To get to that point took me five minutes; not really worth my time to try and finish it.

The middle one is a demonstration of using 3/4 pipe to connect a 1/2 pipe. The 1/2 was also used for a bend trial.

The lower right is a work in progress perch stand. I'll either use the sides as legs or I'll form a loop and join it in with a Tee to more solid 1 1/2" pipe mounted to a base.

 

[Captsteve]

Also, if you want the pipe to stay round when bending it, fill it with sand.

 

[Betrisher]

I wonder whether you might get a better result if you bend the pvc pipe around a metal pipe of, say, 1" or 2" diameter. The bend needn't be so acute then and steady pressure should make a nice rounded corner without flattening the pipe at the weak spot (corner).

 

[Mike17]

Also, if you want the pipe to stay round when bending it, fill it with sand.

Beat me to it- preferably dry sand. That'll stop the corners collapsing. It can also be mandrel-bent, like exhaust tubing, but few of us have the right mandrels lying around I'm quite annoyed at the cost of elbow joints for PVC tubing - many come out of China, worth a few cents each, end up closer to $2 or more, depending on diameter, in the hardware store.

I've been looking at making hifi speakers from PVC tubing, up to 100mm dia. but the elbows are very expensive, and you need a lot of them to make a compact "snake" of tubing. I'd also like to try bird feeders and waterers, I have one which came with an "aviary" which is 100mm tubing, OK for the water, no good for seed as the feeder's designed for chook pellets and would hold 4kg of seed- which would go off long before the birds could eat it.

 

[Screech]

A fold in the pipe is not necessarily a bad thing, in this case all I needed was a sharp angle while structural integrity will be provided elsewhere.

I was reading up more and some people use a 'heating blanket' to bring the pipe up to temperature. This could be a good DIY project for a tool to make a DIY project. All you need is a power source, nichrome wire, and some kind of cloth or other holder that can withstand the heat.

I have power supply and nichrome wire, now just to figure out something to hold the wire.

 

[Screech]

Here's some PVC heat forming in action from my current project

I found a new tool that works fine with low heat setting and also makes the heating process speed up quite a bit, it can be found here. Not sure if everyone can find it easily: it's expensive and might need special order.

 

[Kimma]

Your project is most intriguing. Are you going to add more things to the 4 corners?

 

[Screech]

Your project is most intriguing. Are you going to add more things to the 4 corners?

Thanks! I have a thread going on over here. I'll be adding double arches over the top of the whole assembly. I've divided each arch into 90 degree arcs measuring 31 inches that I've heated up in a special heat gun powered furnace using bricks and aluminum foil to trap the heat. Each arc takes me about two minutes and is they are set in shape by using a high powered fan, but a hair dryer with a cool air setting would probably work just as well.

More to come! ... just have to wrap things up tonight.

 

[Flboy]

Very old thread, yes, but just stumbled on a new idea! I just made JoJo a perch for his cage. I wraped it in sissal and me, being me, I washed it. I put it into the microwave to dry it -and when I took it out, I could bend it any which way I wanted to! Of course, within 30 seconds it hardened back up. I see potential in what I fell into! The water soaked into the sissal produced a controlled, even heat! It was about a bendy as a wired rope perch.

 

[Minimaker]

Very old thread, yes, but just stumbled on a new idea! I just made JoJo a perch for his cage. I wraped it in sissal and me, being me, I washed it. I put it into the microwave to dry it -and when I took it out, I could bend it any which way I wanted to! Of course, within 30 seconds it hardened back up. I see potential in what I fell into! The water soaked into the sissal produced a controlled, even heat! It was about a bendy as a wired rope perch.

Can you show us what you made? I'm interested in seeing how it looks.

I bought this table top perch on ebay so my macaw could be in the kitchen with me on the table without pooping on it. I knew it was bent pvc and I wondered how the seller did that: Feathersmart Large Bird Parrot Table Top Stand w Cups | eBay

 

[Flboy]

Been too much of homebrew's, but will post what I ran into!

 

[Flboy]

This is it. Since it was a perch that was already fit to the cage, I let it harden straight. But the concept is there! The wet string can only get so hot, and it was soft the entire length.

 

[babs7752]

Hi, I'm Barbara and I'm new to this forum. I have a 6-month-old ovaline, black-capped conure. I bought a Luxor Tub Storage Cart with 2 shelves. I will try to design a two level play gym that has an additional perch going over the middle to fit into the top tub. So far it seems that I will need 10 corners, 6 three-sided connectors, 2 four-sided connectors plus lengths of PVC to go in between.
I have a lot of questions as to how to create and was planning to go to Lowe's or somewhere for some advice. Any advice on how to measure or take into account the added length of the connectors and corners in the length and width of the structure.
I don't have a heat gun, dry sand or large disposable container to heat up anti-freeze. If my structure will be about 17" X 31", any guesses on how much this will be costing? I already have the vet wrap.

 

[1oldparroter]

I built an ultralight bi-plane once that required bends in the aluminum tubing. To prevent kinks I inserted wire rope or cable inside then bent it. jh PS: It doesn't need to fit, just fill most of the tubing. It would pull right out. jh