ItsMeBobO Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Flexing the 3/4" PVC arch today and it snapped at the joint! Only had some test wraps done so I only lost time and plans. Forced into switching to 1'' Sched40. I had ruled this out earlier since it didnt appear flexable enough to bend into an arch.Figuring it will take 3.5 more sets of 100 minis to cover the 14 foot arch. Going with 7 sections each 2 feet as that is the max my summer storage can hold. Joined sections will be 2-10-2 to reduce the joint strain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paullawrence Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 If you will 'install' them onto the ground with at least 3' of rebar sticking out of the ground, that will take some of the strain off of that 2' joint at each end. The same could be done if you put the joint at the top, although you would have to find a way to 'fix' the rebar in place there.ItsMeBobO wrote: ... Joined sections will be 2-10-2 to reduce the joint strain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hertig Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Was it the 'gray' electrical conduit or the 'white' water pipe? I understand that the gray stuff is more flexable, and that the built in connection joint is more secure (twice the penetration of the add on connectors). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Cherry Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 John Hertig wrote: Was it the 'gray' electrical conduit or the 'white' water pipe? I understand that the gray stuff is more flexable, and that the built in connection joint is more secure (twice the penetration of the add on connectors).I have rebuilt my first arch from the White 1" schedule 40 using glue on threaded connectors to the 1" Electrical gray using the built in expansion joint.One thing about using the glue on connectors is if you use too much glue, the pipe can actually be weaker where the pipe enters the connector. Also the connectors are hard to cover with lights.If you glue your joints or connectors, take a rag and remove access glue from the inside and outside.The expanded joint it thinner and the transition is smoother for adding lights. I also like the flex of the gray better. The gray pipe is designed to flex and the white is not.My arches have 9 channels, almost 20 feet long and the separation at the base is 12 feet with no major indication of stress on the pipe or joint in the center of the arch. I have one in my hobby room setup for the last 2 weeks for testing of sequences using LED G12 lights. Had to modify some sequences to get the effect I wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 ItsMeBobO wrote: Flexing the 3/4" PVC arch today and it snapped at the joint! Only had some test wraps done so I only lost time and plans. Forced into switching to 1'' Sched40. I had ruled this out earlier since it didnt appear flexable enough to bend into an arch. I presume you were using schedule 40 PVC also on the 3/4" pipe instead of the thin stuff? I'm surprised it broke on you. I'm even more surprised you would be able to get 1 inch pipe to not break with the same length. I took the precaution of heating up my pipe a little bit in the garage with a hair dryer to make it more flexible. This was because I was working on it one cold night last week. When I set them up for the final display, I think I will leave them out on the concrete in the sun for a couple hours before setting them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale W Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 ItsMeBobO wrote: Flexing the 3/4" PVC arch today and it snapped at the joint! Only had some test wraps done so I only lost time and plans. Forced into switching to 1'' Sched40. I had ruled this out earlier since it didnt appear flexable enough to bend into an arch.Figuring it will take 3.5 more sets of 100 minis to cover the 14 foot arch. Going with 7 sections each 2 feet as that is the max my summer storage can hold. Joined sections will be 2-10-2 to reduce the joint strain.Get a PVC Socket saver and drill out the broken piece of debris from the socket. It will save you time and effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 The gray electrical PVC comes highly recommended by a lot of people.I used gray for mine. Each 20’ arch is made from two 10’ sections of 1” gray. They haven’t been out for Christmas yet. But I did have them setup twice to play. Each time they were up for a week. The only issue I had was that I needed to tap the two sections apart with a hammer when I took them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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