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Hi guys,
I was working with PVC pipes for making a mock chassis recently, and i wanted to make it pretty close to the actual cad model. I tried a few things to attach the pipes rigidly to each other at joints using :-
1. PVC solvent (used to make joints leakproof in plumbing) - not strong enough
2. Duct tape - holds, but is not exactly as rigid as i'd like
3. Plaster of paris - Did not adhere to the PVC surface well, and was really brittle
I also tried melting the pipes into each other :P , but it was a bit of a disaster.
I could not use any fittings due to the oblique angles at joints.
Has anybody else faced this issue?
Can anyone point me in the right way?
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Are you notching the pipes together as you would for welding? That alone will help with strength a lot, not to mention be good practice for the real thing. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoti...on_biggrin.gif
I'd try hot glue for sticking the tubes together. Hot glue will cure pretty quickly, you can easily lay it on thick if you don't have a perfect fitment of tubes, and is mostly removable if you have to change something.
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Mocking with PVC is not incredibly accurate, and should only be used as a very quick guide. In that case the tape is good enough.
I prefer to mock with steel. It is amazing how quickly you can mock something up with whatever cheap steel you can find. Just rough end preps and tacks and a group of 3 people could put together a full frame mockup easily in a day, that will be much more accurate and rigid than PVC.
In 2011 the mock (made in 2 half days) at ECU ended up as a rolling chassis with a lot if final parts attached. It was incredibly easy to do and informed the final chassis design much more than a month of solid modelling.
Kev
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@canuck:i am notching it, i have some other ideas in mind now.
@kevin hayward : I believe i will buy some cheap MS pipes of small OD and use spot welds.I think that should do the job.
Thanks