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Pex Tube


Little_b

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Quick question for those who use 1" pex tubing for arches-

When you buy the 100' roll from Lowes/Home Depot, how are you straightening it out? 

I have started playing with it today, but it looks more like a mushroom than an arch as the bottoms are trying to turn in making a circle.  I bought a 10' section for testing which made a nice arch, but I need pieces that are 10' 6".

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I never could get it to straighten out.  The last thing I tried was to put it under close to a half ton of pull across my yard and leave it out in the hot southern California sun for almost four months.  When I loosened the tension, it went right back to the original coiled size within a few minutes.

I ended up using the 3/4 inch straight pieces that Home Depot sells.  See:

http://newburghlights.org/CCP_Arches.html

 

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I cut mine to length and put a piece of EMT inside the 1" Sharkbite.    Left them out in the SoCal sun for a few days and they were fine.  There was still a slight bend at the ends but once I put them in the bases it wasn't noticeable.  A heat gun might help too

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  • 1 month later...

I use pex for circles but created cross-braces from pvc to help keep it in shape. I also use larger pex for a driveway arch but its a pain to work with and keep it in the desired shape. So far, I've got two pieces of gray pvc, tie-strapped to the pex, in order to get the arch shape. Still not perfect but better.

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  • 2 months later...

I got a full roll for 4 arches, tywrapped it to 3/4” PVC. It curls a little at the ends, but has worked for 3 -4 years now. I take the CCR out every year and store them empty along side the house till next year. 

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On 4/18/2019 at 9:50 PM, Little_b said:

Quick question for those who use 1" pex tubing for arches-

When you buy the 100' roll from Lowes/Home Depot, how are you straightening it out? 

I have started playing with it today, but it looks more like a mushroom than an arch as the bottoms are trying to turn in making a circle.  I bought a 10' section for testing which made a nice arch, but I need pieces that are 10' 6".

Make circles instead. (initial problem solved) They make great arches if you really want arches. I trashed all of my arches after making my first 4 circles. Now up to 8 circles. Everyone that visits my shows love the singing faces but are memorized by the circles.

Brian B has the write up in the circles on SuperStarlights. com 

My arches were grey PVC pipe which held the arch shape great using rebar that was driven in the ground.

Just my .02

JR

 

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Will losing that 6" REALLY make that much difference? At worst you lose a couple of pixels on each end.

 

I bit the bullet and made mine smaller so I could use the straight pieces. The heavier PVC I used for the base cuts off a couple of pixels and the end of each arch, but I'M the only who knows, or cares. OK, and now everyone reading this knows , too.

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Wow I forgot about this post.  In the end I got lazy and went with 10' straight pieces and ended up making 1-2 additional arches to fill the space.  I was waaaayyyy over thinking it.

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44 minutes ago, tlogan said:

And don't forget....a little acetone will take the printing right off.

If anyone can see that printing from the street at night or daytime they have some wonderful vision. 😆 

JR

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1 hour ago, dibblejr said:

If anyone can see that printing from the street at night or daytime they have some wonderful vision. 😆 

JR

Could be, but my arches are like 3 feet from the sidewalk. I could see it from there in the daytime, didn't check at night. But, it only took about 10 minutes to clean them up.

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