drillingholesinpvcpipe

Drilling Holes In PVC Pipe

How to make perfectly centered holes in PVC Pipe

PVC water pipe has been called Tinker-Toys for Adults, and Legos for Adults, but just plugging parts together with conventional fittings occasionally leaves something to be desired in the area of stability and appearance. Conventional wisdom has been to drill holes in this material and bolt it together for added stability and reliability, but that involves some problems. How do you insure that the bolts go straight through the center of your pipe and that they emerge at the exact center on the opposite side? How do you make sure that a hole in one end of a section of PVC pipe is aligned at exactly the same angle as a similar hole at the opposite end?

This web site helps you with these problems and suggests some methods and a few easily manufactured jigs to assist you in making professional looking assemblies from PVC pipe.

First we need to fully understand the characteristics of readily available PVC water pipe. This material is available in 3 basic types, PVC, CPVC, and a close cousin

• Rigid Nonmetallic Conduit (RNC) is a non-metallic unthreaded tubing.
• Electrical Nonmetallic Tubing (ENT) is a thin-walled corrugated tubing that is moisture-resistant and flame retardant. It is pliable such that it can be bent by hand and is often flexible although the fittings are not. It is not threaded due to its corrugated shape although the fittings might be.
• PVC conduit is the lightest in weight compared to other conduit materials, and usually lower in cost than other forms of conduit. In North American electrical practice, it is available in three different wall thicknesses, with the thin-wall variety only suitable for embedded use in concrete, and heavier grades suitable for direct burial and exposed work. The various fittings made for metal conduit are also made for PVC.