[RE-wrenches] poly pipe welding/fusing machines

Eric Youngren ericyoungren at gmail.com
Mon Nov 23 11:07:59 PST 2015


Hi Jay,

I picked up a used McElroy 2LC butt welding set-up on Ebay for $600 a few
years ago and I love it.   It has jaw insert adapters for different size
pipe and can work with 1/2" up to 2".   Mine is an older version of this
brand new one on Ebay now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/McElroy-2LC-Pipe-Fusion-Fusing-Machine-HDPE-Poly-Welder-/111701412359?hash=item1a01ec4a07:m:mIqZWpBNUDEB4pAMRmqAjMw

I mostly use it for coupling lengths of pipe together for irrigation and
drinking water systems, and for connecting Tees and SS pipe thread
adapters.    Usually it seems I'm using it in (or near) a ditch and with my
Honda EU2000 to power the heater plate.

The newer approach is socket fusion instead of butt fusion.  I have not
tried it but it looks to have some advantages over butt welding, especially
if you are using a lot of fittings.     The welding process is more
foolproof, the fittings are cheaper and the welds don't leave as big a bead
of plastic on the inside of the pipe. It also looks like the same welder
can be used with MDPE as well as HDPE.     The only downside seems that you
need to use coupling fittings for straight splices and you probably have to
have the exact perfect pipe with the same SDR rating as the fittings and
other pipe,  whereas small variations in O.D. or I.D. are tolerable with
butt welding.

BTW, in a pinch it is entirely possible to butt weld HDPE without any of
the expensive equipment.   My first experience with the process was helping
build a village water system in Nepal in 1989 where we used an iron plate
on a long handle heated in hot coals before using it to soften the pipe
ends for welding, and then pushing the ends together carefully by hand.
And then years later but before I got my McElroy gear I successfully used a
teflon coated hot plate to heat the pipe ends and a simple wooden jig with
hose clamps to hold the ends together for a few welds.  It works, but it
takes significant time and getting reliable results takes practice.
Trimming the end faces with a razor knife so they match perfectly for the
weld is the most difficult and time consuming part.    The McElroy
equipment is much easier, faster and reliable for professional use.

Best,
Eric


On Sun, Nov 22, 2015 at 3:55 PM, jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:

> I’m looking into buying a  poly pipe welding/fusing machine.
> 1”-2” sizes
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations/experience?
>
> thanks in advance
>
> jay
>
> peltz power
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